AN: OK, avoiding a repeat of last time. Since I'm headed back down the East Coast in the morning, I'm posting tonight. :) Another shorter one, but hopefully it answers some lingering questions. Although it might add a few new ones to the list...

Chapter 25

Friday, March 26, 2010

Tony was glad for the Quantico case and the one after it and the one after that. They'd had enough dirtbags to keep them busy all week, but they were all fairly routine cases, nothing to bring in Vance or other agencies or anybody outside the team.

He'd been able to get out on time Wednesday night to make his first appointment with the shrink Jimmy had suggested, and if the first session was mostly to make sure Tony was comfortable with the guy, that was fine with him. He was pretty sure next week's session would make up for it in intensity.

Dr. Palletini had given him homework before the next session, so tonight he sat at the kitchen table working on that while Tim perched on the sofa with his laptop fine-tuning the training course that was starting Monday.

Tony hated sitting down and making himself think back through the list of memories the shrink had asked him to recall: first memory of his mother, first one of his father.

First time he said he loved somebody. That was easy, if painful. After Paula died, he remembered going to Jeanne's apartment and telling her, hugging her close to shut out the pain of losing a friend in the line of duty, and not able to tell Jeanne that's why he was crying, that's why he had dust all over his black suit.

First time he knew he loved somebody. He'd never really known, not with Jeanne. He thought he did, but even when he'd thought that, he knew it was built on lies and he was just deceiving himself. He remembered the second time he'd said he loved somebody, back when Tim had saved him from death by splat in the parking garage. He hadn't know it until then, but seeing McQueasy pull him up from a seven-story drop the day after he'd frozen on the third rung of a ladder — granted one that was 10 stories up — he'd realized that he'd been hiding his feelings about Tim for a while, that if Jeanne was what he thought love should be, Tim was love in reality: cranky probies and goofy nicknames and teamwork and the knowledge that he would do anything for Tim — and Tim would do the same for him.

First time he knew somebody loved him. He remembered when he was six and he'd fallen off the wall that ran around the estate, skinning his knee and banging his head. His mother had hugged him when he limped in the house and cleaned him up, sitting him on her lap while she read to him. It was a warm spring day, but Tony still felt like he'd been wrapped in a warm, fuzzy blanket as she cuddled him close and stroked her hand across his hair.

First time he felt safe. A case not long after he'd started at NCIS. He'd had to go undercover alone with minimal backup. Gibbs was keeping an eye on him, and when it all started going down, Gibbs was the one who rode in to the rescue. Gibbs was the one to drive him back to the Yard, to make him go see Ducky. Ducky patched him up, made him drink some strong, sugared tea and told a story. And then Gibbs drove him to his own house, the first time Tony had been there, and packed him off to the guest room to sleep it off. When he woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare, Gibbs was there with water and a fresh T-shirt. He didn't ask questions, the way Tim later would. He didn't worry out loud, the way Abby would do with future nightmares. He just gave Tony what he needed, sat with him until he fell asleep and never mentioned it again — except to make sure Tony was never alone the night after an undercover assignment ended again. If Tony had told Gibbs about Jeanne, that whole year might have gone better.

A dozen questions. Tony's stack of notes and pages was getting almost as tall as Tim's pile of freewriting. He was just finishing off the last one when there was a knocking at the front door, and Jethro headed there, tail wagging.

Tony put his pen down and headed into the living room as Tim let Sarah in.

"You could have just come in," Tim said. "The door isn't locked when we're home."

"It's Friday night, Tim," Sarah said. "For all I knew, you and Tony were doing things I don't want to see."

Tony grinned. "Now there's an idea. Hey Tim, once I finish my homework..."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Oh, like you've ever needed encouragement to go there."

"So what's up, McSis?" Tony asked. "Not that we don't love seeing you or anything..."

"Yeah, I know." Sarah sighed and dropped down on the couch. "I need to talk to Mom and Dad, and I'm hoping you'll come with me."

"Now?" Tony looked at the clock. "It's 2300."

"No, tomorrow," Sarah said. "I need to tell them about Josh and about my exams."

"What about your exams?" Tim crossed his arms. "Does this have anything to do with the study session you had with Abby on Wednesday?"

"I passed that one," Sarah said. "At least I'm pretty sure I did. I felt like I did."

"So which ones didn't you pass?" Tony sat down at the other end of the sofa.

"Math and my Mark Twain class." Sarah sighed. "My Twain professor is letting me make it up because I was doing really well before that, but my math professor said since I was only getting a C beforehand he can't justify anything special to help me make it up. If I don't get an A on the final, I won't get a high enough grade for it to count for my math requirement and I won't be able to graduate."

Tony looked at Tim. "Sounds like some McTutoring's in order," he said.

Tim nodded. "I can do that." He turned to Sarah. "Why did you save a required class you struggle with for your last semester?"

"Because I'd sooner be staked to an anthill than take a math class," she retorted. "And believe me, I've spent all week telling myself I'm an idiot. You don't need to start."

Tim sighed. "I'm not. It's just been a long week."

Sarah nodded. "And I'm making it longer. I'll head out now. Can you guys pick me up tomorrow or should I take the Metro over here?"

"We can pick you up," Tony said. "Need a ride to the Metro station?"

Sarah shook her head, but Tim nodded.

"Sarah, it's dark out. Let one of us give you a ride." Tim raised an eyebrow at her.

"Come on, Sarah. I need a break anyway," Tony said. "Tim, I'll be back in 20."

He went to the mudroom for his jacket and sneakers, and Sarah followed him out the side door.

"Tony, is everything OK?" Sarah looked up at him. "Tim sounded... beyond tired."

Tony huffed out a breath. "He's fine, but he is tired. It's just..." He decided Sarah should know what was going on before they had to talk to Sean and Eileen. "I was beating myself up about Josh Sunday after you left because I felt like I should have said something when I knew what kind of background he came from. And Tim got fed up with me and we both got mad and said some stuff we didn't mean. And then Jimmy walked into the middle of it and he was helping both of us out and I'm not sure what happened after that, but he and Abby are having issues. He's talked to Tim about it, but I'm still not clear on it."

Sarah nodded as they navigated the streets of Silver Spring. "I picked up on some of that when I was at NCIS Wednesday to get study help from Abby, but I wasn't sure what was going on. It seemed like Jimmy was annoyed with Abby and Abby didn't seem to realize why, and she was ticked off at him because he was kind of snarky. You know, like Tim gets when he's ticked off."

"Oh, believe me, I know," Tony said. "He was doing plenty of snarking on Sunday." He sighed. "I don't know what's up with Jimmy and Abby, but if they haven't worked it out by Monday, we can lock them in an interrogation room until they get it out of their system."

"That's how you guys solve things? Maybe I should get Josh into one of them," Sarah said. "Seeing you guys all interrogate him would be a lot of fun. We were talking about it Sunday. Abby suggested Tony getting him to blab everything, then Gibbs scaring the heck out of him. Then she wanted to edit it into a video showing what a rat bastard he is without mentioning me or any of us and post it on YouTube."

"As much as that appeals to me - we could make him into the man no woman would ever date - we don't have a leg to stand on. If he shows up near a case, we'll take him in with pleasure," Tony said. "But unless we do, he'd just yell for a lawyer and claim harassment and with his family's high-priced lawyers, he'd either win or drain us all of money trying."

"Oh, like he can talk about harassment," Sarah said. "He's the one who's been asking me to take him back."

Tony whipped his head around to look at her as he pulled into the Kiss-n-Ride entrance of the Metro station. "He's been stalking you?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, just when he's seen me around he's been trying to convince me it was all a mistake, a one-time thing, and he's sorry and he wants me back. I think this last time I convinced him hell would freeze over first."

Tony nodded. "If he does anything else, let us know. You might be able to report him for stalking if he keeps pursuing you even after you've said no."

"Thanks, Tony." Sarah reached over and hugged him. "I think he knows when he's beaten, but if not, I'll let you and Tim know so you can go all big-brother on him."

Tony had to be satisfied with that, but he made a note to mention Josh's antics to the others so if any of them heard Sarah say something, they could report him. He'd already had one sister stalked — with Abby's crazy ex — it wasn't happening to another.

When he got home, Tim had put his laptop away and was just making some Irish coffee with what was left in the coffeepot.

"Mmmm," Tony said. "You are a genius."

"So you always say," Tim said. "Sarah get to the Metro OK?"

Tony nodded. "I filled her in on everything she missed this week, figured she should know before we went to tell Mom and Dad."

"Thanks." Tim used his free arm to pull Tony in and dropped a kiss on his temple. "You know, I was thinking while you were gone."

"You're always thinking," Tony said. "So what were you thinking about?"

"You know how Sarah said she thought she might be interrupting something?"

Tony nodded.

"Well, it seems like between work and everything else in our lives, we get some time for us, but not much in the way of dates. Not that I want to stop the game nights or anything — I think they're a lot of fun, even if we did decide to bag this week's so everybody could get some sleep. But I was thinking we should set aside a time every week just for us."

"I'd say Friday night, but we get stuck at the office more weeks than not," Tony said.

"I was thinking about Sunday mornings," Tim said. "We almost never get called in then, and your pick-up basketball and football games with the guys aren't until afternoon."

"So brunch, or maybe breakfast in bed? Just something special with the two of us?" Tony thought about it. "I like the sound of that, Tim. And why don't we make it a surprise? One of us will plan one week, the other one the next."

Tim grinned. "That works. I'll take this week, because I already have something in mind. Good thing I didn't tell you what it was."

"Hmmm... Should I be worried?" Tony winked at his husband, then took him by his free hand. "Come on, up to bed."

-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-

Saturday, March 28, 2010

Eileen laced up her sneakers and grabbed her basketball from the bin in the front hall. She figured she'd shed her ancient MIT Mom sweatshirt once she got going, but for now the air was still chilly.

Sean was upstairs walking on the treadmill they had purchased so he could keep up his exercise regimen despite his challenged lungs. As she started dribbling on the driveway, just getting warmed up, finding her rhythm, Eileen thought about how much things had changed in the past few months. She was glad he had suggested moving after retiring. If they had stayed in Annapolis, she would be worrying about how he would adjust to his forced retirement. But by moving to D.C., they both had made so many changes in their routines that the retirement-related ones had gotten lost in the shuffle.

She still hadn't found a new basketball team, but Alexandria's parks and rec leagues would be starting up soon for the spring. Sean had taken to stopping by Gibbs' basement at night to hang out while he was working on projects. They hadn't spent huge amounts of time with the kids, but all three had been busy. Eileen made a mental note to find a day for a family dinner once Sarah was done with midterms.

She moved around the driveway, just taking shots from set spots, loosening her shoulders, feeling the muscle memory kick in. The pavement was uneven in places, and she made another note to look into getting it repaved once it got late enough in the year.

Eileen moved on to layups, dribbling her way to the hoop and shooting, then retrieving the ball after it swished through the net.

"Nice shot."

She looked over to see Gibbs standing on his front porch, wearing a paint-stained sweatshirt and faded jeans. He held a paint scraper in one hand and one of the ever-present surgical masks in the other.

"You guys finally got enough down time for you to do some work at home?" She grinned at him.

"House needs paint," he said. "Figured I'd start doing the hard part since the weather's decent."

She nodded. "It's the first decent weekend in a while, figured I'd shoot around a bit. I was hoping the boys would have time to stop by — Tony's always a challenge to play against — but we haven't heard from them since Tim came by Tuesday." She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She never asked Gibbs about the boys — that felt like it was stepping over the line — but after seeing how miserable Tim was, she had to ask. "Are they doing better?"

Gibbs frowned. "Seem to be," he said, finally. "They were still a little off Wednesday, but by Friday they seemed back to what passes for normal."

"McNicknames from Tony and eyerolls from Tim?" Eileen tried not to laugh at Gibbs' expression of surprise. "Give me credit for knowing what the kids are like, Jethro."

He let out one of his rare smiles. "They are pretty predictable. I always know when I come back from my morning coffee run, they're all going to be giving each other a hard time and Tony's going to say something that requires a head-slap."

Eileen tossed the ball a couple of times. "I know Tony plays, and Tim doesn't even when his shoulder is fine. How about you?"

"You challenging me to a game?" He put the paint scraper and mask down on the porch. "Tony says you're pretty good."

Eileen grinned. "How about this: One-on-one to 25 points. Loser pairs with Tony the next time we can talk him and one of the other kids into playing, just to even up the teams."

Gibbs thought for a second, then nodded. "Unless Sarah takes after you, none of the others are huge basketball players — Jimmy maybe. Seems fair." He grinned. "And Tony's going to love getting the chance to beat me."

"Oh, you like trash-talking?" Eileen dribbled the ball while Gibbs walked around the fence to join her in the driveway. "We'll just see who's talking trash at the end."

Gibbs reached out to steal the ball, but Eileen blocked him as she pivoted toward the basket, quickly putting up two points. Gibbs snagged the rebound and dribbled out farther. She shuffled sideways to guard, stretching to block before realizing he was faking, shuffling back to block his path to the basket. He worked his way back, his eyes alert. Eileen spotted an opening and went to steal the ball, only to have him hang onto it and sneak around the other side to shoot.

They battled back and forth, matching each other basket for basket. Eileen knew Gibbs would have a height advantage, even if it was only a few inches. But he wasn't a basketball player, not like Tony, so she hadn't expected the game to be this close. She'd forgotten all the stories about his stealthiness, which had let him sneak a few baskets by her. That and sheer determination were keeping it close. She was up by three, 20-17, when she heard Sean cheering and risked a look over to see him sitting on the porch. Gibbs took advantage to drive past her to the basket, but he winced as he dropped down from the layup. Eileen grabbed the rebound, then held the ball.

"You OK?"

Gibbs nodded, flexing his knee gingerly. "Just jarred it," he said. "I can still take you."

She raised one eyebrow and started dribbling, changing direction a few times to see just how much his knee was affecting him. He was a step slower, his moves not quite as quick, but when she drove it in, he held his ground. She got the shot off, but bounced off of him.

"Charge!"

Eileen and Gibbs both looked over to see Tony, Tim, and Sarah getting out of Tony's car. Tony was grinning, and Eileen knew who had yelled.

"You going to referee or play?" she called back.

"You're just trying to get out of playing with him next time," Gibbs said.

"Oh, just let him take the two shots, Mom," Tony said.

Gibbs sank both baskets, and Eileen grabbed the ball as it swished through the second time, dribbling out to the end of the driveway to go for three. She sank it, then raced to the basket to try and get a hand on Gibbs' next shot. It went in, but she only needed one to win. A quick dribble and she was able to sneak around Gibbs, who wasn't moving as smoothly as he had been, sinking the winning basket.

"Nice moves, Boss," Tony said. "We're definitely roping you in next time."

Eileen used her sweatshirt sleeve to wipe her forehead. "What brings you kids out here?"

Sarah looked at Tim, then Tony, from her perch on the front steps.

Gibbs tossed the basketball to Tony. "Thanks for the game, Eileen," he said. "I've got to get to work, though." But she noticed when he crossed back to his own yard, he headed inside.

Eileen leaned against the side of the house and looked at the kids, all on the steps, then Sean, who had heard the noise and come to stand in the front doorway. "Somebody start talking." She looked at Tim, since he had always been easier to read than Sarah.

"Don't look at me," he said. "I'm just the moral support."

"Yeah, great job there, McDeflecter," Tony said.

But Eileen noticed both boys put a hand on Sarah's shoulders and her daughter had slumped down like a turtle trying to pull her head into a shell.

"OK, now you kids are starting to scare me," she said. "What's wrong?" She started running through the options in her head. Nobody looked hurt, but something definitely wasn't right.

"I screwed up," Sarah said.

"You didn't screw up," Tony retorted.

"Maybe not with Josh, but afterward," she shot back.

"And you're fixing it," Tim said.

"Does somebody want to tell me what's going on?" Eileen said. She looked over their heads to Sean, who had crossed his arms.

When none of the kids spoke, Sean did.

"Sarah. Report." It was his naval commander voice, the one he'd only ever used when there was an emergency or one of the kids was in real trouble.

"Josh cheated on me, I caught him and dumped him, then failed all my midterms because I let him mess with my head." She spit it all out, childhood habits still strong, then pulled further into herself. The boys each wrapped an arm around her, their heads touching above Sarah's. It would have been cute if Eileen wasn't still trying to wrap her mind around what Sarah had just said. "And then I made Tim and Tony and Jimmy and Abby fight."

"You did not make us fight," Tony said. "How many times do we have to tell you that?"

"And we made Jimmy and Abby fight, not that it's fighting because Abby still doesn't understand why Jimmy's upset, and that's only because of something they already had issues with," Tim said.

"OK, everybody inside." Sean turned and walked into the house, and Eileen just motioned for the kids to follow him.

Once inside, they settled around the dining room table.

"Can somebody start at the beginning?" Eileen looked around, but neither Tim nor Sarah was talking.

"Two writers in the group and I have to be the storyteller?" Tony rolled his eyes. "OK." He put a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Sarah walked in on Josh last Saturday to find he was cheating on her. Game night broke up early because of McSleepy, so evil Josh thought he was safe. Sarah came over Sunday morning, and we got Abby and Jimmy to take her to the lab and run tests for STDs and stuff, all of which came back negative. Meanwhile, I was being an idiot and blaming myself for not warning Sarah that Josh comes from a background where morals and ethics are more for show than anything else, so Tim and I fought and I slammed out. While we were dealing with my crap — sorry, Mom — the next few days, Sarah kept running into Josh, who wanted her to take him back. He had her so rattled she blew two of her midterms. She can do makeup work for her lit one, and she got Abby and Jimmy to help her study for the science one. Her math professor made her a deal that if she can get at least a A on the final, he won't fail her, so Tim's tutoring her the rest of the semester." He wound down, finally.

Eileen just looked at Sarah, who appeared miserable. "Sarah? Why didn't you come talk to us?"

Sarah shook her head. "I wanted to find out the test results first." Her fingers toyed with the end of her sleeve. "I only wanted to go through it once, and I didn't want to tell you about it, then have to come back in a couple of days and say he'd knocked me up or given me HIV or something."

"And you're sure he didn't?" Sean leaned forward. "Abby ran tests?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes, Dad."

"What kind of tests?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, which Eileen actually was glad to see. It was a small island of normalcy in this craziness.

"Dad, she said she ran the standard STD battery, whatever that is."

Tony jumped in. "Herpes, chlamydia, ghonorrhea, pretty much everything that might show up."

Sarah nodded. "She also ran an HPV test, which was negative. She said that was probably because I got the vaccine. She did an HIV test - also negative - which she said has to be repeated in June and September just to be safe."

"Pregnancy?" Eileen had to ask. "Testing for STDs is good, but that's the one I'd be a lot more worried about."

"She did that too, Mom. Not even one of the home tests, either - she drew blood. She said that was more accurate, and if I had been, she could have done a second test to tell how far along. But it was negative, so she only had to do the one."

Eileen breathed a sigh of relief. She and Sean wanted grandkids, but not this way. "So, everything's negative. You had to wait all week to find that out?"

Sarah shook her head. "I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to graduate because of the exams, so I wanted to see how those went." She swiped at her eyes. "And I felt like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot," Tim said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Josh was trying to get to you, and he did. That's what good manipulators do. But you didn't fall for his line, and you didn't take him back, which is what he wanted."

Eileen smiled, proud of both her kids at that moment.