Day 3- 9:30 am

"You can't be serious," Tim said as he stared down at the water.

"You were told about this the other day," Joe replied.

"I know… I was just hoping it would be canceled or something."

"Nope."

Tony came up behind them and patted Tim's back. "Little Timmylicious here is afraid of heights."

"Am not."

"Are too; don't deny it, McBadLiar."

Tim sighed.

"It's not that far up," Joe said, trying to be encouraging. "It's only about a foot above the water."

"Yes, but then there's the other six feet and one inch to add to that, making it seven feet and one inch between the water and my face."

Joe looked back at Tony. "Wow…"

Tony nodded. "I know."

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Joe asked.

"Not me!" Tim announced, going off to the side and sitting down.

"Already figured that one out."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Abby exclaimed, jumping up and down with her hand raised.

"I take it you want to go, Abby?" Joe asked.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Okay. Who wants to go with Abby?"

"I will," Ziva replied.

Abby smiled and clapped and Ziva smiled as well.

"Okay. I'll explain what you're doing one more time. You're both going to walk across the plank together, using each other to either stay up or fall down. Anna, as you can see, is in the water just in case someone needs help if they fall."

"Let's get this partay started!" Tony yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

Gibbs just looked over at him, not even saying a word.

"Calming down, Boss," Tony replied.

Abby and Ziva took their places and started across the plank. They held onto each others hands as they crossed and the rest of the team cheered them on.

They seemed to work together perfectly as they never even almost fell into the lake.

Once they got to the other side, they turned towards the others and bowed while the men cheered.

"Okay, next up, Gibbs and Ducky. Then, Gibbs, if you don't mind going again, you can go with Jimmy."

"That's fine," Gibbs said, trying not to sound like he hated the fact he had to do this in the first place. He figured that maybe if he tried to be a better sport then everyone else would too, and that seemed to be working.

"You know, Jethro, this reminds me of a time-"

"Just cross it, Duck," Gibbs interrupted, momentarily forgetting his "positive attitude" decision.

They crossed the plank without problem then Gibbs walked back over to do it again with Jimmy.

Jimmy and Gibbs held on to each others sleeves as they crossed. It was the same thing that Gibbs and Ducky had done before.

However, Jimmy didn't seem to have the balance that Ducky did. Halfway across he stumbled a little bit and, before Gibbs could stop it, they fell backwards.

As they came up from under the water, Jimmy spit some water from his mouth. "Oh God, Oh Gibbs, I'm so sorry. I didn't… I just… I mean… I-"

"Jimmy," Gibbs replied, slicking his hair back.

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

Everyone tried to contain their laughter, but found it hard to do. They kept thinking back to the faces both Jimmy and Gibbs made as they fell back and it was too funny to not laugh.

Once all of that got situated and the laughing and snorting died down, Joe turned to Tony and Tim. "You're up."

Tony immediately jumped up, but Tim was slightly hesitant.

"Come on, McGoober, it'll be fun!"

"You're gonna make me fall on purpose."

"Now what makes you think that?" Tony replied, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Everything about you makes me think that."

Tony sighed. "Don't be such a McCryBaby. Come on!"

Tim took a deep breath and walked up to the plank with Tony ahead of him. Tony grabbed onto Tim's arm, but Tim didn't move.

"Okay, McGee, the whole point is for us to use each other for support, which means you gotta touch me. I swear, I'm clean."

"It… It's not that, Tony. It's… It's just…" Tim couldn't pull his eyes away from the water beneath him and, for the first time, Tony saw just how scared Tim really was.

"What is taking so long?" Ziva called out.

Tony turned back to all of the others who were waiting. "Just… Technical difficulty! It'll only be a sec."

He turned back to Tim, "You're really terrified, aren't you?"

"Please, no jokes, Tony."

"I'm not joking, McGee. Why are you so scared, though?"

"It's just… a long story. Let's just go, you can throw me into the water and I'll become even more scarred for life. No big deal."

"Tim, I know I kid you a lot about the heights thing, but I've never seen you this bad, and we've been up a lot farther than this before."

"That's because the other times I had at least something to distract me from the fact I was up so high. Either a man about to commit suicide, you about to fall to your death, etc.. But, right now, there's nothing to distract from it. Nothing."

Tony let out a deep breath, then stuck out his hand.

Tim noticed the hand and looked away from the water. "What are you doing?"

"Take my hand."

"Why?"

"We're gonna cross over this plank together, and we're gonna be dry on the other side. The fact that we're holding hands will be your distraction from the water and the height."

"Are… Are you serious?"

"Take my hand, McGee," He said again, a little more demanding this time.

Tim took his hand.

"Ready?" Tony asked.

"No. But let's go anyway."

Tony nodded. "Let's do it."

They began their way across the plank and the hand-holding did make for a good distraction. The weirdness of it all took over Tim's mind and he hardly noticed what he was doing as he and Tony walked across the lake.

They made it across and Tim let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding.

After the clapping died down, Tim walked over to Tony. "I owe you one, Tony. Thanks."

"Oh and I will collect," Tony replied, only half joking.

"I'm sure you will." Tim went to walk away when Tony called him back.

"McGoo?"

"Yeah, Tony?"

"I would like to collect now, please."

Tim sighed. "What would you like, Tony?"

Tony stepped closer to him. "On your story-telling night, you will let us all in on the reason you are so terrified of heights. I know there's a story to it in that head of yours and I want to know it."

Tim shook his head. "Tony, I-"

"I held your hand, Tim. This isn't up for debate." Tony patted Tim's shoulder and walked off.

Tim took a deep breath. "Crap."


Look a that! I actually updated this story! WHOOOAAAAA! haha Sorry it took so long, it's just with school, family stuff, and the fact I've got a ton of other stories going right now, I was a little packed with things to do.

I hope you liked the update. I wanted some McGee/DiNozzo brother stuff, so I decided on this. Thanks for reading and reviewing!