Tim stepped off the elevator and walked to the doorway of the lab. He stopped as he watched Abby busily working, dusting all of the photos for prints.
He could tell that she was very upset when she had left out of the conference room, and, while he knew that everyone on the team was upset with him… the thought of Abby being mad at him was the worst.
After a moment, he walked into the lab, "Hey, Abbs," He said, keeping some distance between them, knowing she wouldn't want him close.
"Tim. I am busy, you will have to return later."
A small smile crept across his face. He knew it was the worst time to smile, but when she gave him the cold shoulder and talked in her matter-of-fact voice, it humored him sometimes. And this was one of those times. She wasn't facing him, but he forced the smile away quickly anyway.
"I need to talk to you."
"I told you, I don't have time."
"It won't take long, I need to get back to work anyway."
"You can talk, but I can't promise that I'll listen."
Tim sighed. He took a few steps closer to her before he began, "I'm not completely sure why you're mad at me, but I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."
Abby turned around quickly, "You could have told us, Timmy!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air, "We could have helped from the very beginning. You lied to all of us, saying you were sick all those days, and blaming neighbors for lack of sleep… and we're supposed to be family!"
"Abb-"
"Now your sister is hurt, and I know that's hard on you, and I'm so sorry about that. That's horrible. But, maybe if we knew about it before, it wouldn't have come to this."
"Abby."
"What?"
"What if it was your brother and your parents?"
She swallowed hard, "What?"
"What if it was your brother and your parents?" He repeated, "What if you knew, without a doubt, that if you didn't follow some strange man's rules, that he would hurt, and kill, your family? What would you do?"
"I… I would go to Gibbs."
"Abby, be honest."
She sighed, "Okay, I get it. I would do whatever it took to keep my family alive."
He nodded, "Thank you… And you're right, you and the rest of the team are like family to me too, but I still couldn't risk it."
She rushed over to him and gave him the biggest hug she could manage, which he, of course, returned, "I'm so sorry you are going through this, Timmy. This must be terrible for you."
"It does kind of feel like a nightmare."
"We'll fix this, Tim," Abby replied as the hug ended, "We'll find your sister, and this jerk, and you and your family will be safe."
"I believe that, Abbs. Thanks." Tim ran his fingers through his hair, "This is all so… insane. My parents will be here soon, and I'll have to tell them about… about Sarah. About everything! They're gonna go crazy. My mom won't be able to handle it, and my dad-"
"Tim," Abby said calmly, "It's going to be okay. Just relax. It'll be hard to deal with, but you'll get through it. And, if you need me, I'm always here for you."
Tim nodded, and held back the tears that threatened to fall, "Thank you."
"Anytime."
"I, uh… I better get back to work."
"Me too."
Tim turned to leave, but Abby called him back, "Tim?"
He turned around, "Yeah?"
"Have you told the others what you told me? You know, about what if it were them… so they'd understand."
He shook his head, "No."
"How come?"
He paused, "I can deal with them being upset at me right now. I know that they'll get over it in time, but… it's different with you. I didn't want to wait for time to fix us."
Abby smiled, "I'll… I 'll let you know if, I mean when, I get something."
"Okay, later, Abbs."
"Later, Timmy."
It was getting late in the day… A day that had been very busy, but showed no progress. Tim waited for another phone call, expecting Jack to want to know how things were going… that call didn't come.
Ziva had talked to all of Sarah's friends, and the last one to see her said that she was leaving the library late that night to go to her apartment and go to bed… That was the only new information they knew.
No prints, besides Tim's, or DNA was found on the photos, envelopes, letters, or the cellphone.
Tim rested his elbows on his desk, and laid his head in his hands, "This is ridiculous. I thought once I was allowed to tell, and once the whole team started working on it, then everything would move faster."
Tony, who was the only other one in the bullpen at the moment, sighed, "We'll find her, Probie."
"Not if we keep moving at this pace."
Tony walked over to Tim's desk. Yes, he was angry that Tim had kept the secret from them all, but right now that didn't matter.
"It seems that most of what we know, comes from this guy-"
"Jack. Call him Jack."
Tony nodded, "It seems that most of what we know, comes from Jack. The clues are probably where you can find her."
"I know that, but three pictures of the same green, glassy block doesn't help much."
"True."
The elevator dinged and opened, revealing three NCIS agents, and a couple probably in their mid sixties.
Tony nudged Tim, who was still holding his head in his hands, "That your parents?"
Tim looked up, then stood up quickly. He moved past Tony and walked up to them, "Thanks for bringing them up," He said to the agents. They nodded and walked away.
"Mom, dad-"
"What's going on, Timothy?" His mom asked.
"It's- It's a long story."
His dad stepped up, "Timothy McGee, if you don't tell me why I was pulled out of a peaceful sleep this morning by the police, telling me to get my things together because I had to go to DC immediately but not giving me a reason why, then-"
"Dad, I swear I am going to tell you both everything, but this isn't the best place to do it."
"We thought something had happened to you," His mom said, tears filling in her eyes. She pulled Tim into a hug, "It's good to see you, honey. We don't see each other enough."
"I know, mom. It's good to see you too."
Tony slowly walked up behind Tim, a grin on his face. He had never met the McGee's before, and although this was in bad circumstances, he couldn't help smiling as he saw the two people who knew his Probie when he was just a little guy.
"Who's this?" Tim's dad asked as he pointed to Tony.
Tim's mom let go of him and he turned, "Oh, this is my partner, Tony. Tony, there are my parents, Carol and Mike."
Tony reached out and shook both of their hands, "It's nice to meet you both."
"It's lovely meeting you, too," Carol said with a smile, "I feel like I know you, I've heard to much about you."
"You're the one that gave my boy a hard time," Mike said, a glare on his face. He was the same height as Tony and Tim, but with his deep, husky voice and piercing green eyes, he seemed like a giant.
"Dad," Tim said with embarrassment, "That was eight years ago, before I was even actually a part of this team."
Mike continued to stare at Tony, who couldn't find the strength to look away, "He doesn't give you a hard time anymore then?"
"Uh… no. He's fine."
"Mhm."
"Mom, dad, why don't you both come with me. We're gonna go to the conference room and I'll explain why you're here."
Carol smiled at Tony again as she passed by, "Once again, lovely meeting you."
Tony looked away from Mike, and smiled nervously at Carol, "Yes, you too."
Tony watched as Tim led his parents off. He noticed Mike limping a little bit, so Tony looked down at his legs, and even though he was wearing long pants, Tony could still see that he had a prosthetic leg.
Tony wondered how that happened, and why Tim never mentioned it… Then he wondered how the heck Tim survived with a dad like Mike. Tony shook off all of his "wonderings" and got back to work.
As Tim and his parents entered the conference room, Tim felt more and more like he was going to vomit.
"Please, sit down wherever you want."
"Did you get into some kind of trouble, Tim?" Mike asked, "Did you do somethin' illegal?"
'Well, I did hide and contaminate evidence, so yeah.'
"I- I am in trouble, but not like you're thinking."
They all three sat down.
Carol reached over and took Tim's hand in hers, "Whatever it is, Timothy, we're here for you. We're listening. Just tell us what's wrong."
Tim took a deep breath, "There's no easy way to say this, but…"
I love writing for Tim's parents. It's fun to write about the parents when you have little information (from the show) to go on... That being said, I would love McGee's parents to be on the show. It's not fair that we've met all of the other agents dads, but not Tim's.
Anyway, I'm excited for the new NCIS tonight! I can't stand EJ, but I'm looking forward to everything else :) What about you guys?
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
