By the time McGee pushed through the doors at Mogies, he was running forty-five minutes late. His explanation for his lateness died in his throat when he saw only Ducky sitting at the bar. Frowning, he made his way over to the Medical Examiner and sat down.
"Timothy, I'm so glad you made it!" Doctor Donald Ducky Mallard greeted with a smile. "Drink?"
McGee gave the older man a smile before ordering a Whiskey, neat, from the waiting waitress. "How you been, Ducky?" He questioned and nodded at the waitress when she sat his drink down in front of him on a napkin. "Thanks."
Ducky took a sip of his scotch and sat it back down on his own napkin. "I've been well, thank you for asking, Timothy. And how have you been?" He took a moment to look over the young Agent with a medical eye. From the once over he was able to detect a slight loss in weight but gain in muscle mass. His eyes stopped and each and every, visible, bruise. Some looked to be almost faded while others were more recent and colored pale skin a deep purplish blue. Finally his eyes came to rest on the cast that covered Tim's left wrist. Under the cuff of his shirt he could detect writing upon the simple white cast.
"I've been good." McGee answered and waved away the waitress' attempt to refill his now empty glass. He liked Ducky but he had never really been close to the older man so their conversation faded into a slightly tense silence.
"What happened to your wrist, Timothy?" Ducky asked when the silence threatened to overwhelm him. "Were you in a fight? Are your new employers mistreating you?"
McGee chuckled at that. "I'm better treated where I am now than I ever was at NCIS." He answered, honestly, then launched into his cover story. "I'm apart of a team that responds to threats on foreign and domestic soil. We're called in as a last resort and only if all else fails. A couple weeks ago we get a call from another team, they had been in this village for weeks , telling us that a...warlord...was threatening to attack. We geared up and went in. But the team had been wrong or mislead or whatever because we came under attack from the villagers. We were forced into a nearby forest where we stayed for two and a half days before we were able to escape. Later we found out that a terrorist sleeper cell had been using the village as a base for months, right under our guys noses." He shook his head as if at the irony of the situation.
Ducky didn't know what to say to that. So Timothy really was special ops, when Ziva had mentioned it, he thought she was mistaken, but now he knew she was correct. "So you're fighting terrorists?"
"Just doing my part, Ducky." McGee wanted to change the subject. "So where is everybody?"
"They were called out but promised to return once they finished." Ducky knew the other man was trying to change the subject so he let him. "They were all quite put out and I'm sure Jethro will receive a number of complaints tomorrow."
McGee fiddled with his empty glass. "I'm sorry I was late. I tried to get away sooner but they wouldn't let me go!" It was almost comical at how he sounded.
Ducky shook his head and smiled at the waitress as she refilled his glass. "Director O'Neill wouldn't allow you to leave?" That sounded odd even to him.
"None of them would! They're all pains in my ass!" McGee said with a fond little smile on his lips. "They said it wouldn't be the same without me but I know the real reason."
"And that would be?" Ducky was having a hard time following the chain of events that lead Timothy here but he kept quiet and let the other man speak.
McGee's grin widened. "Jack just wanted my money." His eyes were sparkling and alive.
Ducky blinked. "Jack, you mean Director O'Neill?, wanted your money? Whatever for?"
"Well, I said the Red Wings were going to win and he said the Penguins. Tonight was the deciding game and he wanted me there so I could pay up." A smirk transformed McGee's youthful face into something more sinister. "When I left the Red Wings were winning and Jack was moaning into his beer."
"Are you talking about the Stanley Cup playoffs? Hockey?" Ducky wasn't aware that Tim liked sports of any kind let alone such a violent one.
McGee nodded his head. "I know what you're thinking." Ducky was easy to read. "And I don't like sports, much, but Hockey is kind of a tradition with the team. Jack got them started back when he was team leader and they kept the tradition of Hockey night alive after he got promoted and sent to Washington. I guess you could say it's a team bonding ritual and it keeps us all close, not that we aren't close already. I mean when you working seventy-two hour days, nine days a week, you tend to get close to the people you're with. I've only been with them a short time but we're a family, you know?"
Ducky did know and that made his heartache even more. Tony and Abby were positive that Tim would be returning after he had enough of his new adventure but now that he heard Tim talk, he wasn't sure the young Agent would be returning to NCIS anytime soon. "And you're on the same team as your brother?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say Daniel is one of the founding members. He's been apart of it since it's conception ten, almost eleven, years ago. I hadn't realized how much I missed him until Dad died and he showed up to offer comfort." McGee sighed. "This year isn't going how I imagined it."
"I don't imagine that it is, Timothy." Ducky patted Tim's arm and finished off his second glass of Scotch. "Would you think terribly of me if I asked you to tell me about you brother? I think we're all curious to hear about him."
McGee shook his head. "I don't know why I never talked about him, not that I talked about Sarah much either." He paused trying to figure out where to begin. "I guess you could say Daniel Melburn Jackson was my parents first child. They thought mom couldn't have kids because of her accident so they became foster parents to fill the void. Daniel was eight when his parents died and the same age when he came to live with my parents. Much to their surprise and delight I came along four years later and Sarah eight years after that. They never played favorites and we were all treated the same. I was four when he moved out of the house and into a dorm at school. But he always came home for the holidays and was even present when Sarah came screaming into this world. He stayed close to us, always taking us over the summer holidays and even on trips with him to some exotic dig site he was working on or consulting on. He was the ideal big brother." There really wasn't anything else to say.
Ducky tilted his head to the side as he processed all the information he had just been given. "He didn't stay close to your parents?"
"No, he felt like he was betraying his real parents by loving Mom and Dad so he cut them out of his life. He's been in contact with Mom since then but Dad just couldn't get over the betrayal of his oldest son. I know Daniel tried to mend fences but Dad was stubborn and wouldn't hear it. Now Dad's gone and Daniel's hurting, not that he'd tell anyone that, but I know." McGee ran a hand over his cropped hair. "It's a mess Ducky and I can't wait until we solve it and can move on." He whispered.
Ducky could only imagine what Tim was going through. "Were you close to your father?"
McGee shook his head. "Dad was a Navy man first and a family man second. He wanted a son that would follow in his footsteps. He thought he got that when Daniel came along so he put him in all kinds of sports only to find out he was more interested in reading than passing a football or hitting a home run. Then I came along and he got his junior and his legacy, so he thought. But I grew up with Daniel as my role model, not him. I loved books and computers and had no time for soccer, rugby, or fencing." He made a face at the thought of the one subject that caused him to have a less than perfect GPA when he graduated college. "And then along came Sarah, a girl, a daughter, an end to his legacy. He looked at his three children and saw nothing but failure on his part. None of us would carry on the families proud military tradition, not with Daniel going to school to be an Archeologist, me going to be a Computer Tech or Law Enforcement Officer, and Sarah going to be a Marine Biologist. Mom was proud but Dad..." He shrugged and looked at his watch. Two hours had passed since his arrival and the hour was growing late. "I'm going to have to go soon. We have an early flight in the morning."
"They are going to be disappointed that they missed you, Timothy, but in time, I'm sure you'll be forgiven." Ducky reassured him. "Just take care in what you are doing. We want you back in one piece."
"I'm always careful." McGee pulled out a twenty and laid it on the bar. "Drinks are on me." He spun around on the stool and slid off, heading for the door. Ducky's voice stopped him before he could exit.
Ducky pulled on his hat and coat, then followed the younger man to the door. "Do you happen to know a Carolyn Lam?" He walked out with him.
McGee slowed his steps and walked with the older man. "Doctor Lam? Sure, why?"
"Her mother, Kim, is a close personal friend, and she mentioned having met you. I had wondered how that meeting came to pass until she told me that her daughter now works out of Cheyenne Mountain under the command of her father, Hank Landry. He's also your commanding officer, if I'm not mistaken." Ducky stopped at the curb unsure which way Tim was going.
"Yeah, General Landry is Cheyenne Mountains commanding officer." McGee thought for a moment at where he had met Carolyn's mother. "Kim Lam." The name sounded so familiar. "Oh, oh! She lives two houses down from me." He finally remembered. "I help her with her groceries sometimes and I mowed her lawn once. I didn't even think to connect her to Carolyn, I wonder why?"
Ducky smiled. "She spoke highly of you. Said her daughter would do well if she found someone like you to take care of her."
McGee snorted. "Doctor Lam and Cameron, the leader of my team, are an item. You can tell her, the next time you see her, that her daughter is in good hands." He stood for a moment, in silence, just taking in the sights and sounds of Washington D.C. "It was good seeing you again, Ducky. Tell the others that I'm sorry I missed them and that I'll call them or something to make up for it." He turned and headed down the street to where his borrowed SUV was parked. He unlocked the doors, climbed in, and drove off.
"Be safe, Timothy." Ducky whispered as he watched as Tim climbed into a black SUV with government plates and drove off into the night. He could only imagine the disappointment the others were going to feel when he told that Tim seemed happy and content with his current employment. He turned and headed down the street to where his own car was parked, climbed in, and headed home.
