Once Tony had Sandy and Jethro settled onto the car, he decided to handle the young woman with kid gloves but at the same time be very firm with her, " Tim is my best friend, so I'm telling you this as his friend. Stay out of his personal life."
"Tony, I was only trying to..."
"That's been everybody's problem since this all began. Everybody is trying to help, but nobody bothered to ask him if he wanted the help. It may have cost him any chance of happiness with either man. Now we have Gibbs and Steve occupied for the time being, but he asked me to bring you to the hospital, so against my better judgment, I'm doing just that, because it is what he wants."
Tony stopped at a traffic light so he turned to look at the young woman to judge her reaction for himself. The thoughtful look at her face told him he may have gotten through to her.
"I understand." Sandy said softly.
"Good, Probie loves you, you know that right."
Sandy smiled, "Of course, and I love him to, so from now, hands off of his love life. Okay?"
Tony got the car moving again, "Okay."
The rest of the ride to the hospital was made in silence as Tony thought it would be a good idea to let Sandy think about the conversation they just had before she saw her brother.
The two men in the basement interrogation room of the Palace had stopped trying to take each others head off and began using the time and the gloves as a sparring match to improve their skills and learn from each other. After each man had gotten in a few decent hits, they decided to take a break.
"When did you know you wanted him?", Steve asked cautiously.
Gibbs stared at the man speculatively, trying to see if their was a hidden motive behind the question.
"Just asking. If you don't want to tell me I'd understand." Steve shrugged when the other man seemed hesitant to speak.
"The first time I met him, in Norfolk. He was a very green case agent then. I misjudged him horribly. Thought he would run in terror with a single glance."
Steve started to laugh, "He didn't."
"Nope, stood toe to toe with me taking my evilest glare. It was the first time I saw the hardness underneath the soft exterior. You?"
"When he took the laptop from my communications officer in the desert last year. Kind of the same thing as with you. I saw this soft, gentle man that when pushed could become so much more and I decided that I really wanted to get to know him better. What stopped you?"
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"But you guys are civilians?"
"We work closely with the military and I wasn't willing to risk either of our careers. I held him at arm's length for almost a year, before I requested that he be assigned to my team. Couldn't have him but I didn't want to be without him."
"And after Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed?"
"Same reasons, basically, he was the junior member of my team, couldn't risk his career of mine."
"What changed?"
"Found out he felt the same way. What about you, what stopped you?"
Steve moved to the corner of the room with the alcohol and reached for the gallon jug of bourbon and the two plastic cups that were left for them. Gibbs shook his head no, remembering his behavior the last time he had drank the hard liquor and they each reach for one of the plastic bottles that held the beer.
"When I looked into his eyes at the base hospital after his rescue, I realized that he cared for someone else. He tried to hide it, but it was there to be seen by anyone who was looking. I told him that when he could come to me one hundred percent I'd be waiting for him, but I don't share even a little."
"Well that's one thing we have in common, I don't share either?" Gibbs said with a grin.
"Here's to not sharing." Steve said returning the other man's grin and the two of the tapped the bottles they were holding together to confirm their agreement.
"Tim's decision?" Steve asked after taking a long sip out of the bottle.
Gibbs swallowed the beer in his mouth and nodded, "Tim's decision."
The two men each took another sip, acknowledging the truce they had just reached.
As Sandy and Jethro entered the room where her brother was recovering, Tony stated outside to speak with the two HPD officers that were currently providing protection to the young man.
"This is Felix Stein," he said showing them the picture of the man he had brought with him, "He is a person of interest in the attack on Agent McGee, if you see him call the Five-O headquarters immediately."
Both officers took a good long look at the picture and nodded to the federal agent, they had dealt with the task force before and neither wished to earn the wrath of the man who headed Five-O.
Once Tony had that taken care of, he entered the room of the man he considered his best friend and brother.
"The doctor confirmed that I should be able to travel under medical supervision in a couple of days, Director." Tim was on the phone when Tony walked inside, so he sat on the opposite side of Sandy and waited patiently for him to finish his call.
"Thank you, Director. Tell Ducky that I look forward to seeing him tomorrow, and I will make sure someone is at the airport to pick him up when he arrives. Just call me back with his arrival time."
"Good-bye, Director."
"So you're headed back to DC?" Tony asked almost bouncing in his seat thinking that Tim had made a decision between the two suitors.
"Yes." Tim said "But not because I have made a choice. I just want to be away from all of this to think. The Director has granted me medical leave for the next few weeks while I recover and I want to think about things away from both men."
Tim was still very angry at both men. Tony decided that discretion was the better part of valor so he quickly changed the subject. He pulled out the picture of the man they were looking for, "Do you recognize this man, Tim?"
Tim looked at the picture and closed his eyes trying to think back, "I've seen him before, but not sure where? He's familiar to me."
"His name is Felix Stein and he was eating with Watson right before the shoot-out."
When Tony brought up the shoot-out that had killed Sandy's father, Tim turned a worried glance in her direction.
"Don't worry about me, Tim." the young woman said "My father died years ago, I didn't even know the man you killed that day."
Tim took a deep breath and exhaled his relief at Sandy's words.
"He was also in the Middle East at the same time as you last year." Tony continued carefully watching McGee's face as he gave him that bit of information.
"I can't tell you anything about who was at the insurgent camp I was taken to last year. Either I was blindfolded, drugged or both the entire time I was held." Tim admitted looking down.
Tony realized the younger man was trying to figure out if he could have done anything more to aid in the capture of the insurgents that had held him. He softly tapped the back of Tim's head and when the other man looked up, he looked him straight in the eyes, "You survived. That's more than enough."
The unusual emotional moment between the two men was interrupted by the ringing of Tony's cell.
"DiNozzo."
"They are?"
"Wow! I'm heading back now so we can debrief them."
Tony turned a smiling face to the two other people in the room, "Well Boss and McGarrett have stopped trying to kill each other and have started drinking, so that's my cue to head back and get them updated on the search for Stein."
"Be careful, Tony." Tim said, a mischievous smile on his face. "I'm not there to have your six."
Tony put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and smiled, before nodding goodbye.
"See you kids later."
Stein watched as the Italian NCIS agent entered the hospital with Sandy and the dog. Now was the time. He got out of his car and entered the building. In only few minutes he managed to get his hands on a set of custodial keys, thanks to the maintenance man for the hospital that liked to spend time his girlfriend on company time. He never did look past the overalls Stein wore before handing him the keys and giving him a list of chores to do while he chatted with the woman of his dreams.
Tony almost ran the man over, leaving the building while Stein was heading out with a gurney to retrieve the two bombs, but Stein quickly pulled down the cap he was wearing and ducked his head down before changing directions.
The near miss cost Stein a few minutes as he detoured around the parking lot the other man went to, but before long he was bring the bombs into the hospital carefully hidden inside a body bag on the gurney. In ten minutes the hospital would give way to chaos.
AN: Hope this hit the spot. Please review with thoughts and comments. :) stray