A/N: I apologise for the delay.

DISCLAIMER: I Do not own NCIS or its characters.

Seven O'Clock found Gibbs buried under paperwork at NCIS; and Tony and Tim both lost in their own thoughts as they ate their way through a breakfast of milk and cereal. Silently cleaning up after themselves; both seemed to be no closer to figuring out how to even take the first step toward bridging the gap that was currently between them.

There had been so much misunderstood between them. Too much antagonistic history; too much of a lot of negativity under the bridge; yet the fact that the bridge was still standing; and that the team was counting on them to repair this gap; Gibbs had told them he was "Trusting them"; meant that at this; they were not allowed to fail.

What was it someone had said; "Nothing beats a failure but a try?" Well, where to begin? Neither seemed to know. It was too early in the game for checkmate; something needed to give. As they both sat lost in their own confused notions of who needed to say what; Tim's cell phone rang. Looking at the caller i.d; he was surprised at the name he saw there. He quickly took himself outside to answer this call; he needed the space to speak freely;

"Boss?"

"Tim; how's it going?"

"It's not, Boss."

"Whattaya mean?"

"Neither one of us; apparently; knows where to start."

"Tim, have you considered letting him in on just how much you were carrying around on your shoulders? Or, ask him to do the same; tell you what he was carrying around on his? I know letting him in is an issue for you; but think about it like this.

"You want to feel like everyone on this team has your back. Just remember; everything that you need from this team; they need from you, too." Gibbs quietly reminded him.

"Thanks, Boss."

"Sure thing. Now, I want to hear a different answer to my question; when I call back next time." Gibbs ordered patiently.

"On it, Boss." Tim promised with a smile in his voice.

"All right; let me talk to Tony."

Tim walked into the house and handed a silently brooding Tony his cell phone.

Tony silently took the phone and took himself out back from where Tim had just come; taking his own turn at having the space to talk freely.

"Boss?"

"Tony, what's wrong? I thought you needed to talk to him? You know you have to talk about it." Gibbs quietly asked; concern evident in his voice.

"Gibbs; I don't want this to turn ugly; we have the potential to really hurt each other here; and the more I think about it; the more I don't like the idea of trying to talk to him about anything alone." Tony's voice was quiet enough that Gibbs was less than comfortable about the way things were going. Tony was using his at home tone and openeness. It said a lot more to Gibbs than the little that Tony had said.

"All right; it can wait for a while; just hang out; watch a movie together or something." Gibbs quietly let him off the hook; this wasn't gonna work out if he pushed too hard.. He'd find another way.

"Thanks, Boss." Tony's chipper response almost brought a smile to Gibbs' face. There was just a little too much at stake for it to quite be humorous though; and Gibbs hung up the call; and set about making plans to help things along. It may be fairly early in the morning; but; drastic situations called for drastic measures; and this certainly qualified in Gibbs' book.

With instructions to Ziva that she catch up on paperwork and man the phones; and the promise to bring lunch back with him; he headed to the home front to see what could be done to move things along and keep them peaceful.

Twenty minutes later found Gibbs walking silently into a peaceful; yet tense atmosephere. While Tony had indeed taken his suggestion and popped a movie in and was comfortably watching it; Tim; was no where to be seen. With the stealth and silence; his years of training had taught him; Gibbs searched the house for Tim; finding him laying out on the guest bed; staring at the ceiling. It wasn't the silence that disturbed Gibbs; it was the air of barely concealed emotion that seemed to fill the air; from both of his agents. Even though they were rooms apart from each other; you could still feel it in the air.

Gibbs decided to start with the agent in front of him.

"Hey." He greeted quietly as he walked into the room. Closing the bedroom door behind him; he pulled the chair up to the bed; and sat down facing an extremely startled Tim.

"Boss." Tim managed when he'd gotten his heart beating again.

"Talk to me." Gibbs requested.

"Whatever I say to him; is gonna be too little too late; and will probably be taken wrong anyway."

"That all of it"

No. But, it's the biggest part; the part keeping me from saying even the 1st thing."

"So, this has nothing to do with wether or not you're ready to actually let him in?"

"No. I mean. if I even think on that; I cant' think straight." Tim's honesty was insightful; and Gibbs knew he just needed someone to break this open for him; which was an easy fix.

"Come on." He patted Tim's foot; hanging off the edge of the bed; as he got up and walked out of the bedroom. Making sure his agent had followed him; he walked out to the living room and greeted Tony.

When Tony had recovered his breath; he sat up and turned the movie off. Waiting with bated breath; he watched Tim come out from behind Gibbs and move to sit down on the couch.

"All right. Apparently, neither one of you feel capable of talking things out without a mediator. Since I'm the one that knows what's going on with both you guys; I'm it. Again. Let's get this show on the road. My rules this time are simple; I ask you to speak; you do it. You need a break; you say so. No lies; no half-truths. If you're not prepared to answer a question; say so. Questions?

Both Tony and Tim shook their heads.

"Tony, as former Team Leader; and the person who carried the burden of that leadership; and all that went with it; the floor is yours. Let's hear it. I'll make it easy on you. Start with a question if you have one."

Tony took a deep breath and slowly let it out as he looked at Gibbs. "All right." Turning his eyes on Tim he asked him what he'd been wanting to ask him for a long time. "Why did you fight so hard against all the things I was trying to use to keep you on your toes so you wouldn't have to be rescued again?"

Tim also took a deep breath and slowly let it out; taking even longer to feel comfortable getting in to this. When he did speak; it was obvious he was treading very carefully with each word he spoke.

"Tony; when you started treating me like the newbie all over again…" Tim stopped for a second as he struggled to find the words. "It felt like I had been demoted. There was no sense of being looked out for; more a sense of being tripped up every chance you got; because there wasn't enough fun on the job; or you didn't feel empowered enough; without it being at my expense."

"It was never that I didn't appreciate you saving me from myself that night. It was more "what was the point?" Everyday, I asked myself "what was the point of you saving my life that night; if this was all there was to my life?"" When he'd finished trying to explain himself; his eyes found his shoes and couldn't seem to move.

Tony was too dumbfounded to speak for a minute. It struck him as funny; ironic funny; not humerous funny; that he and Tim had been at such extreme opposites of understanding about this for so long. The only problem was there was no humor in this irony; too much had happened. Obviously, he'd failed; not in keeping Tim from being his own worst enemy; but; from successfully helping him see that he was cared about and important to them.

Still, Tony felt like Tim had missed the boat entirely. The past few months weren't supposed to be an easy walk in the park for Tim. But damn it; they weren't supposed to be so damn hard on Tony either!

"What was the point? What was the point? I'll tell you what the point was! I kept it difficult for you; to keep you on your toes!"

"Tony, too much; is too much!"

"I was trying to build you up; not coddle you!"

"I already had enough to deal with; you weren't helping!"

"What the HELL else did YOU have to deal with?"

Tim sent a helpless look of desperation over to Gibbs; before he laid his head back against the back of the couch. It was obvious Tony was really pissed already; and they'd only been at this for a couple of minutes.

"Hey." Gibbs quiet call for attention snapped Tim's eyes open and moving over to Gibbs' face.

"Boss, I told you, I can't do this." Tim softly admitted; pain and conviction evident within his voice.

"Tony's out back cooling off. You and I need to talk." Gibbs reassured him.

"Though we already did."

"Tim, you want some real understanding to happen here; you're gonna have to open up. I'll be right here. I won't let it get ugly."

"You won't be able to stop how it affects him; how it changes the way he treats me once he knows."

"You're right; and I said I respected your need for privacy; I'm not trying to push; but I am trying to get the two of you to figure each other out a little better.

"I'll try, Boss." Tim wearily gave in; praying he wouldn't have to delve too deep into things.

Gibbs called Tony back inside and sat him down once again.. "Okay. Tony; any more questions?"

"Boss, can I…?" Tim asked; wanted to get off his chest what he could; both to hopefully move things along; and to let Tony know something that might help him.

"Tony?" Gibbs asked; leaving the ball in the Senior Field Agent's court.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead; speak." Tony was unwilling to discuss this further; but he knew Gibbs wouldn't let him crawl out of it until it was done.

"Tony, I admit; ever since that night; I have not very often thought of things from what could have been your persepective. However; after overhearing what Gibbs said to you last night; I realized that you've had a hard time with this too; albeit; for completely different reasons than I have; but difficult just the same. And I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making this hard on you. I'm sorry I asked you to keep everything a secret. I put you in a bad position and for that I am sorry."

"And thank you. Thank you for allowing yourself to save me from myself that night. Thank you for being there; for holding me up; for putting everything you had into looking out for me. It's not your fault that you didn't realize why I was taking it the wrong way."

Tim stopped for a minute. He figured that just about covered everything.

Tony was flabbergasted. Tim had just summed up everything Tony had needed to hear in lump serving. Not one for dragging things out; Tony actually felt satisfied that what he'd been thru had finally been noted and appreciated by the one he'd done it for. Yeah, the road to get here had been extremely rough going; and emotionally draining; but it was done. It was over. Almost. There was just one piece that didn't fit yet.

"Thank you, Tim. I've needed to hear that for a while now. I just have one question and then I'm good. We can consider this settled."

"I may be able to answer it." Tim warned; his gut telling him that Tony was getting ready to ask the one question Tim did not want to answer.

"What was it that you were dealing with; that kept you thinking every day of going thru with what you started that night?"

Tim's eyes whipped over to Gibbs; the naked pain of the possibility of having to talk about it again; plain as day.

Gibbs steadied him with an encouraging nod.

Tim laid his head back and closed his eyes. He knew that Gibbs wanted no secrets on his team; but Gibbs also respected their privacy; so where was the middle ground here?

Tony, in frustration; got up and walked into the kitchen for a drink.

"Tim, you're gonna have to decide; to either let him in or not; but just tell him whatever it is you decide."

"Boss, I can't talk to him about this. You know that. I can't talk to anyone about this. Except you.. You said you understood. Don't make me do this."

"I do understand. You know I'm not making you do this. But, you also know that in order to clear the air; something's gotta give here. Just give him a reminder of the bare facts of what happened that night." Gibbs suggested.

Tim opened his eyes and looked at his boss. "Can't you talk to him for me?" Tim's tortured whisper tore at Gibbs' heart. The guy had been through more than enough. Maybe it would help if someone else filled in the blanks for Tony; the barest of them; anyway.

"Yeah. I can do that. You decide what I tell him; though."

"As little as possible, please!"

"Ok. I'm gonna take Tony with me back to the office; you hang out here and relax; all right?"

"Ok. He won't roll back up in here ready to take my head off , right?"

"No, Tim' it'll be fine."

"Thanks, Boss."

"Welcome."

Gibbs smiled at him and then turned and went into the kitchen to tell Tony they needed to go to the office.

Once in the car; Gibbs asked Tony where he wanted to go for an early lunch. Enroute to Tony's choice; Gibbs began explaining what Tim had not previously told Tony about that night.

"Tony, when you got to the hotel room that night; and you packed up Tim's things; what exactly did you have to pack up?" Gibbs began by asking.

"Some clothes; some shower and shaving stuff; his badge, id and gun." Tony answered. "Why, Gibbs?"

"There's a bigger part of what happened that night that Tim has kept locked away inside himself, Tony. It was too painful for him to let anyone in on. That's what's kept him wanting to end it all; every day; not you. Although they way he interepreted your choice of looking after him; only made it worse for him".

"I'm not following you. Gibbs."

"Tony, you every put together one of those flip photo things where; when you flip thru the photos in the stack; they appear to be like watching a movie?"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about."

"Okay. Take one of those; input what Tim told you that night; and add it all up. Tell me what you get."

Tony's mind went back to that night and he remembered that Tim had told him about dating the girl; getting tricked; the stupid party; they guys the drink; and the memories it had all triggered of something that had happened when he was 10. He also remembered that Tim had not given him any details.

"Which part, Gibbs? "

"Tony; we're talking about two separate traumatic events here. The one when he was ten; and the one that ended in that party. Now when you take each event; insert flashes of vivid memory into one of those photo stacks; and flip through them; whattaya get?"

"Oh!"

"You seeing it now? Okay; in Tim's version; you need to add a note they left him; thanking him for his generosity while telling him he had just been useful; but wasn't good enough. AND replace the memory of the party with an actual stack of video stills; taken when'd he'd been too drugged to know what was going on. Because they left him that too.!" Gibbs voice was vibrating with the anger he once again felt on Tim's behalf. "Then, stack them on top of each other; and flip through them over and over again."

"Oh, hell!" Tony wasn't dumb. He got it. He knew now; exactly why Tim had never been able to shake the desire to end it all; it had all been stuck in his head in perfect clarity.

"Tony, neither one of you have been sleeping for a long time now.. You can't sleep because you can't the picture out of your head of how you found him that night; and he can't sleep because these flip photo shows; the real photos and the memories are all, to this day; still locked in his head. That's why I asked you to play a funny movie last night; to hopefully help him replace some of that crap with something better."

"Oh HELL!" was all Tony could say. He closed his eyes; suddenly overwhelmed with the reality of the much more detailed picture of what Tim had endured. Suddenly, Tony realized; that knowing; Gibbs; there was more; things he wasn't saying. "What else is there?" Tony asked.

"What makes you think that there's more?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"I know you. There's always more." Tony explained.

"Then you know if it was mine to tell; I would have told you already. I'm telling you what Tim is comfortable with you knowing; barely." Gibbs explained.

"Why? What's his deal?" Tony felt a little hurt.

"Tony, he's very vulnerable right now and he can't take any of this backfiring on him. What you think of him is important to him; so is your respect."

"It certainly would have changed the way I handled things if I had known! This whole damn thing could have been a lot less painful; for everybody!"

"Tony; are you a mind reader? Is Tim? You certainly didn't talk to each other. Just let this go. Let it wash under the bridge. You both need to be able to move on. This team needs to reconnect." Gibbs reminded him.

"Yeah. I know. What do we do now?" Tony asked.

"We wait. Let Tim have the meeting with the Director and me; and we take it from there."

"Oh Hell!" Tony thought.