Left behind in the wake of this most unpleasant and unwanted turn of events, Ziva found herself angry on Tim's behalf, saddened for Abby and guilty for pushing the Lab Rat to talk about this in the first place, even if she had done it out of a deep concern for Tim. It had been wrong and now she'd played a sad part in possibly damaging a friendship that had started out strong and been forged long before she'd ever gotten here to this team.
"Abby, I am so very sorry." She tried to begin making amends, knowing it may not be enough.
The Lab Rat smiled weakly through her tears. "It's not your fault, Ziva. I should have been able to stop myself from getting so upset about it. Then I could have kept the fact that I'd figured things out from Timmy."
"Still, had I not pushed you to talk about it, this would not have happened." Ziva asserted.
"Maybe not exactly like this, but it would have come out – eventually." Abby eased her friend off the hook with a smile that genuinely forgave her. "C'mon, let's get our meals boxed up so we can eat them later. Timmy needs to eat more – and he'll already be struggling with his appetite. He always does when he's upset."
The walk back to the office was a quiet one, neither of them having anything further to say. What had started out as an enjoyable lunch hour between three friends and co-workers had unexpectedly turned into something none of them would have ever wished for. Individually, the women both hoped for the opportunity to present itself where they could apologize to their friend and colleague before the day was out. Both of them knew it was the least they could do for him.
***NCIS***
Tim settled in behind his desk in the thankfully empty squad room, with just minutes to spare on his lunch hour. He was no longer angry enough to chew through steel since the walk back to the office had given him the chance to let it out through the force of his steps and the harshness of his breathing he'd allowed to get almost out of control; until he'd calmed down enough to take it back in hand. Once he'd reached the building, he'd taken advantage of the extra time he'd had left and taken himself to the overlook at the water's edge from where he'd had an excellent view of the magnificent USS Bary where it sat docked as a landmark. Looking at it for a long contemplative minute seemed to bring home to Tim the fact that there were many much bigger things in life than this situation, no matter how difficult or painful it had been and was continuing to be.
That thought process brought him back to Abby. He couldn't really fault her completely. Putting puzzle pieces together was part of who she was. It was what made her damn good at her job and most of the time it made her a damn good friend to have – so long as she wasn't off into one of her 'off' moods where she seemed to turn on those she cared about.
If he stopped to think about it long enough, he'd have to realize she hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't as if she'd spilled anything specific and even a blind man could have seen how upset she'd been when she had put things together. The one thing Tim wasn't sure of was whether she'd gotten upset like that because she'd figured things out or because she didn't like the picture the 'things' she'd figured out had presented.
It didn't matter, in the long run. What mattered was that everyone be able to put this whole mess away – for good- and get back to what was normal; well, as much as that were possible. Tim was still mindful of the few things he had no choice but to change for his own protection and self-preservation. He definitely wasn't looking forward to the moments when those changes would become known to the rest of the team.
Realizing that also meant realizing that his wish that it could all be dropped like the hot potato it was, wasn't realistic. Tim frowned as he got his computer back on the searches and turned his eyes to the apology he needed to send to Abby through her email so she could know he didn't blame her and wasn't mad at her any more. Until the things that had to change, had been dealt with, this would still be hanging over his head, whether he wanted it to be or not. Damn it!
***NCIS***
In no hurry to return to the somewhat stuffy office building and no longer hungry, Gibbs had spent his hour sitting on the bench ensconced within the beauty of the small dedicated area – used just for that reason. With the tall shade trees more than adequately shielding him from the sun's glare, he sat lost in his thoughts as he struggled to wrap his mind around Tony's attitude towards Tim since Friday night's turn of events. It was almost as if the Senior Field Agent was blaming Tim for everything that Tony perceived wasn't right between him and Gibbs. Sadly, it seemed as though Tony was even blaming Tim for stumbling across what happened in the break room Friday night. If that were true, Tony was in for a long and uncomfortable time of it until he got his head on straight and came back around to looking at things more objectively.
His musings had been interrupted by the blur of motion out of the corner of his eye that turned out to be his youngest agent walking back to the office, obviously pissed about something. Knowing he'd gone to lunch with Abby and Ziva sent Gibbs' stomach twisting. He'd really hoped Abby hadn't operated in her normal mode of digging for the answers no matter what. As he'd silent watched from his position on the bench, not 100 yards from where Tim had stopped and stood at the water's overlook, he'd pondered the possibilities of what might be going through the young man's mind at the time.
It had been with a sense of relief that he'd noticed Tim begin to relax as he stood there looking out over the water. The young man's shoulders had loosened up and his hands had no longer been clenched at his sides, but rather holding on loosely to the railing in front of him as he'd lifted his face to the sun just enough that had been obvious that he was taking the time to enjoy the day. Gibbs couldn't help but smile at the sight of his youngest agent finally being comfortable enough to relax and just be himself. It wasn't often the Team Leader got to see this side of this agent. The moment was gone when Tim had heaved a huge sigh and turned around, walking back to the building, headed back to work.
Now, he stood in the shadows of the squad room watching his team begin to trickle back in from their lunch hours. It soon became obvious that Ziva was worried about something, until she presumably read her emails since she glanced across the room shortly after staring at her screen for a few minutes, and smiled brightly at his youngest agent. He couldn't tell what the young man's reaction was from where he was standing, but the atmosphere in the work area seemed to have warmed up a good ten degrees in those few minutes. At that point, Ziva relaxed and got back to work, as did Tim. The only one missing was Tony and Gibbs was willing to cut him some slack since he had to deal with the Evidence Lock Up snafu earlier. He'd give the guy ten more minutes and then he'd be calling him for a sit rep.
A small smile crossed his face for a moment before Gibbs returned to Tim's desk. It was time to attempt to talk to the young man because the chance of them picking up a new case was always imminent and if he let the rest of the day go by, then the chance of them not getting anything discussed before Tim split at the end of the day, greatly increased as well. It was a gamble Gibbs wasn't ready to throw the dice in on: not this time.
The Team Leader stood still long enough to realize Tim, in his determination not to address this issue, was acting different as much as he needed to even now, which meant he would not do as he usually did and look up to see what the boss wanted, unless specifically spoken to. Any proof he needed of that had happened earlier in the day when he'd attempted to talk to him and been shot down, politely but firmly by the young man. Hoping his voice came out the way he wanted it to; he made his attempt.
"McGee."
Hearing his name from the boss again, in the same almost sympathetic tone, Tim sighed and looked over at him expectantly.
This time, there were no further words spoken, instead the patented inclined gesture of his head, asking more than politely to accompany him, the look in his eyes actually resembling compassion, made it hard for Tim to refuse. It tugged at his heartstrings since he'd never been able to stay pissed at the man for very long before and it was extremely trying to do so now since the man had seemingly come around to actually being more objective than usual throughout the course of the day.
Letting out yet another sigh of pent up frustration, Tim gave in, happy that Tony wasn't here to see this; knowing the guy would take it whatever the worst way was for him to take it – and add it to the list of crap he was holding Tim responsible for. Hoping against hope that the boss would not confine them to the small space of his usual office, Tim was relieved when the man led the way, instead, down the stairs and outside, away from everyone and their prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.
Once outside, the silence between them remained, as if Gibbs was in no hurry to push Tim for anything. For that, Tim was grateful since he was having trouble stringing two words together at the moment. He really did NOT want to talk about this but he finally felt ready to hear what the man had to say since he'd been able to admit to himself that the Team Leader had made the effort to turn some things around, even if the effect wouldn't last very long.
Tim was tired; tired of being angry; tired of feeling wound up like an over wound watch; tired of worrying about what the next thing coming out of either Gibbs' or Tony's mouth was going to be and just plain tired. Suddenly, the fight oozed out of him and left him feeling drained and heartbroken. No longer willing to stay angry did nothing to take away the realization that his trust in these two men had been broken. He couldn't help but remain firm in his belief that by getting involved with Tony intimately, Gibbs was sanctioning every single thing the Senior Field Agent had done and was continuing to do in terms of harassing Tim and getting away with all the pranks and goofing off and being overly obnoxious towards his teammates, mainly Tim.
How could he explain to the boss that this was why he felt betrayed by him while with Tony it was not only that he'd climbed into Gibbs' pocket, so to speak, but was also making a mockery of all the mockery he'd thrown at Tim for supposedly being gay all these years? What was even worse was the slant this put on all the times Tony ridiculed him for not being able to become the ladies man Tony supposedly was.
Gibbs watched Tim walk slowly with his head lowered as if he wasn't willing to look around him. Realizing that the young man was most likely thinking hard about everything that had transpired since Friday night; possibly even since before that if Ducky was right, the Team Leader left him alone, choosing instead to silently walk a few steps behind him so he wouldn't crowd him. He hoped this meant that the two of them could finally talk. He was grateful beyond measure that he had gotten some sound advice from his friend and the behind the scenes information from Vance. Now he had a better understanding of this young man than he'd ever had before and he had this chance to make damn sure he reached out to him like he should have done a long time ago.
Feeling mentally wore out just from trying to process all this before he said a word for fear he'd say something wrong or leave something out, Tim took himself to the railing at the water's edge and turned around, crossing his arms against his chest as well as crossing his ankles crossed for added support, he leaned back slightly into the railing and settled in for this talk that was long overdue. Finally finding the one word he needed to start it all off, he looked squarely at Gibbs and opened his mouth.
"Why?"
