Within the open air of the squad room, the next morning, anger, discontentment and concern seemed to hover in the air so thick, it was almost tangible. By the time Ziva and Tony had quietly greeted each other and got busy, silence had returned and now reined across the usually bustling work space. Finally, Ziva broke the silence by questioning Tony as to why he was so obviously angry, since he fairly radiated with the heat of it and she couldn't help but notice it. The Senior Field Agent remained silently perusing his emails almost as if he were deliberately ignoring her question. When she pushed the issue by asking the question a second time, Tony spared her a glance along with a shake of his head to let her know he wasn't going to talk about it and he didn't want the subject pushed. Since Gibbs had not come back to his desk from his coffee run yet, Ziva got to her feet and approached her teammate's desk, unwilling to let him get by with this silent treatment when one of their own was in trouble.

"Tony, why is it you cannot speak this morning? And why did you not call me last night when you found out what was going on with McGee? You promised to do so and yet I heard nothing."

"Well, Zivah. Maybe that's because there's nothing to tell. He was asleep when I got there." Tony finally spoke, his feelings quite obvious in his tone.

"All right. But, you spoke with Gibbs and Ducky about McGee coming back here last night, yes?" Ziva tried to rein the negative pall of emotion back in before it ran away from them.

"Nope." Tony replied in a clipped tone and leaned forward on his desk saying nothing further.

"Tony, that does not make sense! You were just as worried about his return to the squad room last evening as I was. You were supposed to talk to him so you could get a better idea of what was going on with him. AND, you were going to let me know if everything was okay, yes?"

"Apparently, some of us aren't privy to that kind of information, Ziva." Tony replied caustically. "Although, you'd think that after working side by side with the Probie for the past six years, that wouldn't be the case, but then, what do I know?" Tony's anger won out and he stood up, throwing his pen down on his desk in frustration.

"You done?" Gibbs' quiet question startled Tony into silence as his eyes flew to the boss' face while trying to steady his shocked heart at the man's silent entry into their midsts. The gleam in Gibbs' eyes was sharp as he glared at his agent. Tony glared back momentarily as the last vestiges of anger left him. He looked down at his desk, finding the mundane every day clutter remarkably interesting.

Without another word or even a glance, the boss turned on his heel and headed towards the elevator finally speaking over his shoulder as he walked. "You two, with me." He directed without looking back. Tony and Ziva followed the boss as he led the way to a conference room and gestured for them to take a seat while continuing on to the window that overlooked the harbor.

"Gibbs? Is McGee alright?" Ziva asked tentatively, the worry palpable in her voice.

"He'll be fine." Gibbs declared in the tone no one argued with if they had any sense. He didn't' turn away from the window, leaving Ziva and Tony glancing at each other with confusion.

"Will be?" Tony questioned angrily. "So you're sayin' he's not okay now? Why d…?"

"Did I imagine it or didn't we have this discussion just two weeks ago?" Gibbs interrupted with a deceptively calm tone that promised a coming storm.

"Two weeks ago? Boss, that 's not…"

"Not, what, Tony? Not what you're fishing for? Isn't it? Do you even remember what was said two weeks ago, DiNozzo?" Gibbs' cool, calm, toneless voice signaled an impending wave of anger or sarcasm, garnishing a wince of recognition from Ziva as she waited with bated breath for the storm to unfurl, her own memory of that conversation, coming back to her vividly.

"Don't have to remind you this was a personal vendetta against McGee. Important thing for all of you to remember here is that he is just as much aware of that as you are but, he's the one having to live through it."

"So, what you're saying, Boss, is that we shouldn't talk to him about it or push him to talk about it." Tony offered as clarification.

The piece of the conversation that fit his own irritated ranting came back to Tony quickly, as well. He sat there confused and found more questions in that memory than anything else. "Well, yeah. But what's that got to do with this? There's no doubt that all of this is really personal for Probie. That's not the p…"

"It should be." Gibbs interrupted. "Since we're working on cold cases right now, the two of you have just been given a new assignment. I don't care if you work on it together or not, but don't come out of this room until it's done."

"Umm. Okay. What's the assignment, Boss?" Tony asked with a touch of uncertainty.

"Remember exactly what I said two weeks ago."

"C'mon Boss, that's not…."

"Use that to find the answer to one question."

"Okay, I'll bite; what's the question?"

"If you were in McGee's shoes, what would you need from your teammates right about now?" The boss supplied as he looked at his Senior Field Agent sternly for a moment and then turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Tony fumed as the closed door.

"Tony. It is not difficult to understand what Gibbs is trying to say." Ziva admitted quietly, having already put the pieces together. She understood the underlying message behind Gibbs' words and knew the exact reasons why the Boss, had done what he had.

Taking in her quiet tone and her almost statuesque posture, Tony quietened down and looked her in the eye. "Talk to me, Ziva. What's this about? We're not McGee so how the hell…?"

"No, Tony, we are not McGee. That is not what this is about. This is about our conversation from two weeks ago, Tony. Yours and mine." She reminded him quietly as she repeated what had been said between them about their teammate.

"Well yeah, Zee. I get that but…"

"Tony. Look, what happened to McGee, or at least what we suspect his experience had to have been, was horrible. He is not trained the way I am and has a gentle heart. How…"

Tony shook his head. "He's doing it the way he wants and we've just gotta let him."

"Yes, and while we are letting him, I continue to hope that being held against his will like he was does not hold his soul prisoner. I believe that Gibbs is concerned about that as well." Ziva stood up and moved to take Gibbs' place at the window. "I understand what Gibbs is trying to say but I do not know how we can get help Tim. I am not sure of the way. It is hard to know what helps a person recover from something such as what was done to McGee."

"I told you, Ziva. He'll find it. I still believe he'll find that strength he doesn't realize yet is there. He will get through this and land on his feet again. Even though we don't exactly know what was done to him that night, I still believe he'll get through it and come out stronger for it." Tony held his head in his hands and sighed. "We'll help him, but the question is how?"

"We should start by letting McGee know we are here for him in whatever way he needs us to be." Ziva said softly.

"But, isn't that what we were trying to do? Haven't you heard? Gibbs has a problem with that idea."

"That is not the reason for Gibbs' behavior, Tony. He simply wants us to think on this from McGee's perspective, hence the reason for this 'assignment'."

"As in how would we feel or what would we be thinking if we'd been done the way Probie has been!" Tony latched on firmly, now that his brain kicked into gear. "What would we need from our teammates."

"Yes and I for one, would not want anyone to be giving Gibbs a hard time about however he chooses to be of help to me, when the man is clearly trying to do what is best. We should be listening to his direction."

Tony huffed out a sigh of resignation. "Yeah, I know. And I wasn't' trying to be an ass about it. I just wanted to let Probie know I'm here for him. When I got there last night and Gibbs wouldn't let me see McGee, I saw red."

"Because you did not stop to think things through Tony. If McGee wanted that much attention brought to himself from you regarding this situation and how it was affecting him, do you not think he would have called you, himself?" Ziva questioned.

"So then how do we fix this?"

***NCIS*****

It seemed as though Gibbs had barely returned to the squad room alone when the elevator doors opened and Tim was stepping off and silently heading to his desk, obviously fully prepared to face the day.

"McGee. What are you doin' here? Thought I left instructions for you to get some sleep?" the boss asked without raising his voice.

"You did. Thanks for that, but I'm fine. Ducky was ready to come in so I just hitched a ride with him." Tim answered with a small smile of thanks as he turned his attention to his workstation and dug into the beginning of his work day. He'd woken up feeling rested and ready to face the day and had only found a moment of worry when he'd realized he'd been allowed to sleep in and treated with kid gloves because of the end results of what he'd done.

Ducky had treated him to a nice late breakfast, but Tim had been too antsy to do more than eat it quickly in order to get to work even while his brain kept returning to the crucial unspoken law he'd broken and the rising worry about the punishment that was surely coming his way. He had been relieved when Ducky had accepted the idea of Tim going in to work without any arguments. The ride in had been peacefully quiet since Tim hadn't wanted to talk about anything and the M.E. had respected that obvious choice.

It wouldn't leave him alone, the realization that he'd gone against the boss' orders to leave for the night and had instead returned with determination to have his own way and hear what was being said last night. He'd screwed up and he knew it. His crime of disregarding a direct order from Gibbs now sat in his gut like a dead weight and it truly began pulling him down in spirit even as he continued to do his best to get back to normal with work.

After what seemed like forever, it apparently occurred to him that half the team was missing. Even though he was dealing with his personal brew of uncertainty, he suddenly felt a wave of worry that something was going on with his teammates that he knew nothing about. "Boss? Are Ziva and To…DiNozzo…?"

Gibbs, who had taken a moment earlier, to scrutinize his agent as the young man returned to what was normal for him and for the team, before getting back to his own work, now looked over at him to see what Tim's question was all about. He hadn't missed the fact that Tim had not been able or at least willing to call Tony by his first name since the incident in Observation last night. Obviously, there was a problem there that needed to be addressed, but until it became more clear what that problem was, there was little he could do about it. Choosing to get things back to normal, he calmly answered the question.

"Doin' something I needed them to do. C'mon, time for a coffee break."

Tim watched in amazement as Gibbs headed out of the squad room, obviously serious about the break for coffee even if Tim had only been working a scant thirty minutes or so. Shaking his head in a moment of amusement, Tim hurried to catch up with the boss, his own empty cup in hand. After the events of the last few weeks and especially the genuine conversation they'd had last night; the first ever between the two of them, the silence that settled in between them now was much more amicable than what used to be and both, it seemed, were happy to relish it instead of disturbing it.

It wasn't long though, before the guilt of disobeying that order from Gibbs last night came crashing back down on him, his shoulders inadvertently slouching in response to the weight suddenly added to them. Tim had no idea that he presented quite clearly, the perfect picture of someone with a boatload of problems that he was trying his best to shoulder alone but wasn't able to hold it all up much longer.

Gibbs watched out of the corner of his eye as the added weight of whatever had just crossed his agent's mind, settled onto his shoulders almost visibly. There was little doubt in the boss' mind that whatever it was; was presumably something dealing with what Tim had been trying to get past. Finally, the Team Leader couldn't stand it for another second and he stopped walking and put his hand out to stop Tim from taking another step as well. Spotting a bench nearby, he gestured in that direction and followed after Tim as he walked that way. Placing the drink trays down, the two of them then sat down,

Shaken by this sudden turn of events precipitated by the boss, Tim could only shift uncomfortably as he sat on the bench, his eyes gluing themselves to the water out beyond the row of seaworthy vessels where they remained docked off in the distance. This was it, the time had come for him to face his fate. He prayed that the death of his career he suspected was coming, would be a quick death, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be a painful one.