Finding Home, Chapter Twenty Five

Early Sunday afternoon, Matt drove up just as Pete was helping Tim take his stuff inside the office. Tim gave Pete a look but the man just shrugged, "It was his idea, I told him what you said."

Tim huffed, "I've gone from the team pariah to the team burden, not a good trade off."

Pete nearly growled at him. "That had better be a joke Timothy, none of us take family lightly and I don't think you do either. You need to learn to accept help gracefully."

Tim swallowed, Pete was right. "Sorry, used to being on my own. I'll work on it."

Pete patted him on the back, "That's the right answer son and all I can ask." Luckily Matt missed the exchange and Tim smiled at him as he approached. "Hey, let me get that, Tim. Pete, I can take that too."

"All right you two, behave yourselves. Tim, you're not going to your class tomorrow night, right?"

"Unless I'm too tired I'll probably go and do some leg work, Pete, some things I can do without hurting. And I can watch Matt go through his stuff. I really want to tell our instructor about using that new move on the perp."

"Unless you're too tired."

"Yes sir."

Pete took off as the two younger men entered the building.

"So how was it staying at the Russells?"

"Oh you know…wonderful. Great people including the kids, delicious meals, good conversation." Tim laughed, "I usually refer to my former teammates as having been raised by wolves but now I'm sounding like it too. If I get grumpy Matt, it's because I'm not used to having anyone take care of me or help me out. I really am glad you're here, glad and grateful."

"No need to be grateful, Tim, that's what teammates do. So…you've been the one giving, not the one receiving?"

"Pretty much."

"Guess that does take some getting used to."

Tim stopped at the stairs and Matt laughed, "Yeah, you're only allowed one up and down, huh?"

"It's two sets today but yeah, have to think about this."

"Hmm, well let's figure out what you want to do first."

"Good idea."

"So…?"

"Well, we could sit outside for awhile."

"Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest again today?"

"Yeah and I will, but I'm feeling kind of restless right now. How about we go outside and you practice your moves and I'll critique you, help you out. You know, since you'll have the spotlight all to yourself tomorrow night."

"Uh, ok. I didn't practice at all yesterday."

"Yeah, I heard you were napping when Pete called. So no practice yesterday means double the practice today man. C'mon, I'm not going to be able to do anything, George is going to think we're not serious about this."

"Hey, we could get Kim to go with us tomorrow night!"

"Devious, I like that, you should be a federal agent! Let's call her later."

"All right, in the meantime, I'm going to go change so I can do my double practice in comfort…because I know you're not going to let this go!"

Tim shook his head, "Nope, you're right; what do you want to drink?"

"Just water and give me your bags, I'll take them up with me."

"Leave the laptop in case we decide to watch a movie down here later. I'll just catch up on my e-mail while you're upstairs." Matt set the case on the table and Tim took it out and plugged in the power cord before he sat down. Sitting wasn't as painful as it had been Friday night or yesterday; it was using his body to get up and down that was still giving him some pain. He'd taken a pain pill after breakfast and was not due for another one until 1500, so he would need to be extra careful until then. He opened his e-mail, noticed a message from Ducky and saw he'd missed it last night. He read Ducky's note and the brief note from Tony. He had to think about that, he didn't know if he was ready to respond. He really didn't want to deal with both Gibbs and DiNozzo at the same time; he had too much going on. On the other hand, you couldn't exactly tell people they'd have to wait in line. He left it for now and moved on to his other messages. One was a note from his friend StarsInHerHair about clothes for clubbing. Laughing, he sent her a quick reply thanking her for the tip and that he had that covered, he'd send pictures later.

Matt reappeared and they headed outside. Tim remembered seeing a folding chaise lounge in the shed, so Matt got that out and set it up for him. After Tim was settled, Matt practiced for an hour, stopping when he realized Tim hadn't said anything for a long time. He turned and saw that his friend was sound asleep. That's just what he had been hoping for, so Matt went in and grabbed the throw from Pete's office and put it over him. Then he continued his practice.

When Tim woke, he found himself covered with a throw and Matt was sitting at the patio table doing something with his tablet. Tim looked at his watch, it was nearly 1700, he'd slept several hours and he'd missed his pill time. He grunted at the time, he could start watching for flight information now as Rob's flight should be in the air.

Matt grinned "Have a good sleep?"

"I guess so! So much for being restless, huh? Did you get your practice in?"

"Yeah and I was perfect."

"I'm sure!"

"I sent Kim a text about tomorrow night and she said yes."

"Ah good, that'll make up for the lack of…me."

"You know Pete was right, you might be too tired tomorrow night."

Tim opened his mouth to protest and then shrugged, "We'll see. You guys will go even if I don't, right?"

"Yeah, no worries! Here, you want your phone or laptop?"

"Uh, I think I'm going inside, it's a little chilly out here."

Matt snorted, "We're so spoiled, it's November, and we're sitting outside and getting chilly at 5 in the afternoon!"

"You're right, but we deserve it!" Tim thought for a moment. "I'm going to call Carla; I haven't talked with her in days."

"Good idea, I talked to her yesterday. Hey, did you talk to your brother yesterday?"

"Yeah I did. And his flight should be in the air now so I'm going to see what the status is." Matt was a younger brother himself and was used to an older sibling checking up on him. He just nodded and then tried not to tense up as he watched Tim work himself out of the chaise lounge. He first sat up and swung around, getting his feet and legs positioned and then got up without too much difficulty. He stood and beamed at Matt, "Did it! It wasn't pretty but I did it!"

Matt chuckled, "And no help from the peanut gallery!"

"I'll probably need help getting upstairs later."

Tim headed inside and pulled his phone out to call Carla. He didn't want to sit again so he rested a hip against the kitchen counter. Carla answered the phone saying, "Yay, it lives!"

Tim laughed, "Hey, how are you?"

"Me? Doing great, better than you I think!"

"Aw, I'm ok, just got a little bruised. Hurt like hell but it's better now."

"A little bruised! Pete told me it covered your entire abdomen and some of your chest. You're lucky you didn't have any internal injuries. And Tim, don't pooh pooh it to me. I'm not DiWhateverhisname is."

"Ok, ok, I just didn't want to worry you."

"What else have I got to do?"

"I had an idea about that."

"Oh thank God! Talk to me."

"There must be other women around the world who've been or are in the same situation you are, on bed rest until it's safe to have your babies. You should write about it!"

"What? I should be another Gemcity?"

"Oh yes please, take the name, I would owe you forever! No, well yes, if you'd like, but what I was thinking about is a blog."

"Oh…I've read some, they're written about all kinds of different subjects, aren't they?"

"Yes, just about anything you can think of and some differ from time to time, bloggers change topics to match their lives. I was thinking you could be specific about being on bed rest."

"And you think other women out there, also on bed rest, would respond?"

'"I do."

"Hmm, that does sound sort of fun."

"I can show you how to get it set up if you'd like."

"Maybe, let me try to figure it out first, ok? I'm kind of a cranky student."

Tim laughed, "Oh yeah, been there, experienced that. How about you let me know if you need help?"

"I forgot to congratulate you."

"Thanks but…you know."

"Yeah yeah, just doing your job, although I heard it was a new martial arts move that you learned last week that brought the guy down!"

"I'm pretty proud of that. Now if I just hadn't gotten myself injured."

"Don't worry about it, can't be perfect all the time and you're all right. Pete says you might be released for the field as early as Wednesday."

"Yeah, I have to see the doctor Wednesday morning to get cleared." Tim laughed, "I'm used to just popping downstairs to Autopsy to see our M.E. who also served as our primary physician."

"Spoiled rotten."

"I guess; Matt and I were just saying that about the weather, that we're spoiled rotten."

"You say that now, wait until summer."

"Huh, you ever been to DC between May and October?"

"No."

"Ok, I'll let you know after this summer. Hey did either Pete or Matt tell you about the deal we made with Vance for a junior agent?"

"Both of them did and I think it's the best idea I've heard in…forever. We get to keep Matt and train someone else the right way."

"Yep."

"Speaking of training, I want to hear the real story on Joel's junior. Pete said I had to wait and hear it from you."

So Tim told the full unabridged story of the hapless Laurel Miller and her upset tummy. When he finished, Carla made a noise.

"Where did she do her probie year, do you know?"

"I think it was the Southeast office."

"Someone didn't catch on to her lack of common sense, that's for sure."

"Or they did and it was ignored."

Carla made a rude noise, "Like that doesn't happen! I'll be interested to see what happens with her."

"Fired or more training?"

"I don't know; can you learn common sense?"

"Good question."

"Personally, I'd fire her ass, but I'm not Joel."

"Yeah, I don't know. Pete told me last night he would have fired her on the spot." Tim chuckled, "Did he tell you we had her on our list as a possible junior?"

"Wow, talk about an epic fail."

"Yeah, I do feel kind of sorry for her; I suffer from seasickness and have had to take a lot of Dramamine in my life, anytime we get near a ship. But my boss always knew about it, sometimes he was the one giving me the Dramamine."

"Huh, wonder if Joel knew…no, never mind, stupid thought."

"That reminds me…the SFA from London."

"Lydia, what about her?"

"What can you tell me?"

"Professional, good at her job, not very personable from what I've seen. I've never warmed up to her or her to me although we're both strong and opinionated, you'd think that we would have bonded. Why?"

"Joel sent her to Brindisi to relieve Jack and me from babysitting Miller and she was something of a snot."

"Oh My Heavens, she must have been a total bitch for you to say that."

"I've seen worse and I wasn't in a very charitable mood considering it was her junior agent; I gave the attitude back to her. Wondered if you knew her."

"You thought maybe we were friends and she was upset because you replaced me?"

"Uhhhhh...yeah."

"Or that she wanted the spot for herself and was pissed at you?"

"Oh she was definitely pissed at me, it sure felt personal, business-personal; you know what I mean."

"Huh. You tell Pete?"

"Yeah he was the one who came up with the idea that maybe she wanted the spot for herself. I'd just like to know before I have to work with her."

"Call her on it, Tim, confront her. I imagine that's her style but she won't be expecting you to make waves, since you're new out here. You'll probably shock the shit out of her by doing that."

"Yeah, I don't see another good way to find out and I need to know before some other case throws us together."

"And of course you'll let me know! How about you and Matt come for dinner Tuesday night? Unless…you know."

Tim laughed, "Yes for me, I'll ask Matt. Hey, Kim's going with us to our martial arts class tomorrow night."

"Oh great! Wait, you're going?!"

"I'll just go and watch unless I'm too wiped out from the day; I want to tell our instructor about me taking down the perp with my new move. And I might be able to do some leg work without hurting anything."

"Do I trust your judgment?"

"Yes because Matt and Kim will be there."

"That sounds about right."

"I'll see you Tuesday night, let me know what to bring. Now I have to go; my brother's flight to London is in the air and I'm over an hour late freaking out."

Carla started laughing and was still laughing when Tim disconnected. He immediately checked the status of the flight and found it had left on time, was still in the air and the ETA had not changed; the flight was still scheduled to land at 22:40. He set his phone alarm for an hour to check again and was just replacing the throw in Pete's office when his phone rang. Thinking it was Carla, he answered without looking at the id. "I'm all done freaking out for now, I'll check again in an hour. Did you forget something?" He walked back to the kitchen as he talked, wanting something hot to drink.

And a very non-Carla voice said, "No, Agent McGee, I haven't forgotten anything, just calling my injured agent to see how he's doing."

"Director Vance, hello! Sorry, I'd just been talking with Carla and…never mind. I'm doing much better, sir, thanks. Pete drove me home, er, here after lunch today and I've been napping out in the garden."

"You alone there?"

"No sir, Matt's here. He's still out there practicing his moves for tomorrow night; we have our martial arts class Monday evenings."

"The two of you?"

"Kim's starting tomorrow night too."

"And are you going?"

"Maybe, if I'm not too tired. If I can do some leg moves without killing myself I'd like to do that. Otherwise I'll just watch; I really don't want to risk not being cleared for the field."

"My thoughts exactly although I can see why you might feel a little conflicted. Pete tells me the move you used to bring your target down was one you learned last week?"

"Yes sir."

"Impressive, Tim! Now what were you freaking out about and why are you doing it again in an hour?"

"Oh, my brother's flight to London is in the air and I just did my first check on the status and I set my phone alarm for an hour to check again."

"Is your former flatmate meeting him?"

"Yes, I had an e-mail from him that he was all set, he'd check the flight before he left for Heathrow."

"That's good. I know your kids are well balanced, but flying internationally for the first time is a bit daunting, especially alone."

"You too?"

"Yes, my mission in Amsterdam was my first time outside of the U.S.; at least Rob's heading into a country that speaks the same language. In theory anyway." He paused, ""Have you talked with Joel?"

"No sir, Pete said he called yesterday but I slept nearly all day so I missed all the calls…yours too."

Vance chuckled, "I might have been upset if you'd been awake and not following doctor's orders!"

Tim laughed, "To tell you the truth, sir, even if I hadn't been injured I probably would have had a nice long nap yesterday. Pete and Matt both admitted they'd had long naps. I think it was the flying to and from in such a short time frame, plus all the adrenaline!"

"Could be, I'm just grateful that you weren't hurt any worse than you were and that no one else was injured…except for Agent Miller's illness. "

"Uh sir, about that, I just didn't think the entire European contingent of NCIS needed to hear it."

Vance sighed "No, you're right, Tim, discretion was a good choice. So you haven't heard from Joel today."

"No sir, but should I be talking with him? I can call him tomorrow…"

"No, no, I'm sure he'll contact you if he has any questions or anything, I'm just being nosy."

Tim laughed, "Well, it is your agency, Director, I'm pretty sure you're allowed to know what's going on!"

"Funny guy. So you need another name for your list now."

"Yes sir, do you have anyone in mind?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure yet, I'll do some more checking tomorrow and let you know."

Just then Matt popped into the kitchen from the garden and evidently didn't see the phone in Tim's hand. "WHOOHOOO, I am so gonna kick butt tomorrow night! I've got the moves, oh yeah."

"That'll be great, Director, we can use more names. I sent the list we have to Major Fleming last week, hoping to hear something in the next day or so."

"Are you taking your pain pills and following doctor's orders?"

"I have been but I'm running a couple of hours behind now, Matt's getting me some crackers so I can take one now." Matt's eyes were still popping out of his head, had been since he'd heard Tim say the word "Director" after he'd done his Kung Fu banshee yell while entering the kitchen. He looked up with a puzzled expression when he heard his name, then shook his head to clear it and started opening cupboards looking for crackers.

"And why are you behind?"

"Because I was asleep most of the afternoon sir, I've only been awake for about 15 minutes now. Matt's making me a snack so I can take the pill." Tim and Matt spotted the pill bottle on the counter at the same time and Matt made a big show of putting it on the table with the crackers and a glass of water.

"See that you continue to follow your doctor's orders or I shall be forced to tell Dr. Mallard."

"Oh Lord, sir, don't do that, please!"

Vance started laughing, "All right, I won't, take it easy. Let me talk with Matt while you take that pill."

"Sure! Thanks for calling Director; you know what that means to me." He handed the phone to Matt who looked like he thought it might explode in his hand. Tim deliberately turned his back while he ate a few crackers and then swallowed the pain pill. A couple of minutes later, Matt handed the phone back to him, "Wants to talk with you again."

"Forgot to tell you the kids send their love."

"Back at them, how are they doing?"

"Pretty well, you might get some e-mails asking for help in math, Kayla's facing some challenges."

"Always happy to help! Just let me know." The two men said their goodbyes and ended the call.

Matt was smiling so wide it almost split his face. "He wanted to tell me he was impressed with my work and my potential and my "pitch in and help" attitude. He's in charge of this whole agency and he took the time to tell me that. "

"He makes it a point to keep an eye on young agents and employees just starting out. He's got a lot of positions to juggle; he needs to always have future juniors, SFAs, Team Leaders and SAICs in mind. Not to mention all the other positions – forensic specialists, crime scene specialists, profilers, volunteers for the Contingency Response Teams, Management and Administration positions…you know, who's next to run MTAC, etc. He's got 18 field offices and 165 other locations to keep staffed, so yeah, he likes to keep an ear and an eye out for promising employees."

"Wow, that's a lot and I know we're considered a small agency."

"Yep, small and mighty! Uh, Matt, now that I've got crackers crumbs all over me and have dribbled water all over my shirt, I've realized I need to do something really prosaic – laundry. And that means going upstairs."

"Ok, are your laundry supplies up there?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, let's take the laptop up then and maybe watch a movie." The laundry machine was in the hall bathroom and was a commonly used European model that functioned as both washer and dryer. While efficient, it also took much longer to do multiple loads of laundry for those people who used the dryer function and didn't hang their clothes out to dry. Tim had had to do that for all his years at the camp and vastly preferred the dryer method.

Tim started up the stairs, stopping halfway up. "Glad I took the pain pill, I can still feel this but geez I need to get moving!"

"You're doing fine, just take it easy."

He made it up to the second floor and stopped again to ease the twinges. He sorted his clothes and carried them down the hall to the bathroom, setting aside the shirt he'd worn Friday to take to the dry cleaners as it was a mess. He thought he'd wear button downs for a couple more days and then go back to his other shirts.

Once the first load was washing, the two friends settled in to watch a movie. Tim insisted Matt pick the movie as he figured he'd only fall asleep anyway. He did, about ten minutes into the movie and woke when his phone alarm chimed for his second status check on Rob's flight. It was also time to reset the laundry machine to dry. That done, Tim checked on the flight and found it was still proceeding as planned. He sent a quick text to James who answered him with "LOL, of course you're checking every hour."

He settled on his bed again, determined to watch the movie this time but once again felt himself drifting off. This time he was awakened by his phone ringing. It was Joel. "Did I wake you? You're supposed to be resting, I know. I just wanted to check in with you, see how you're doing."

"Hi Joel. I'm doing pretty well; Matt's staying with me today, helping out. Yeah, I was dozing but I keep doing that, I don't mind waking up!"

"Right, well you sound good, better than I'd hoped. I wanted to thank you again for taking care of Miller."

"Yeah sure, Joel, how long was your SFA stuck in Brindisi with her?"

"They didn't get home til yesterday. Miller slept so late there were no more flights Friday night. Lydia was not happy." Tim couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't generate questions he didn't want to answer, so he just waited. "I'm stepping out of protocol here, Tim, but since this directly affected you, you have a right to know. I fired Miller this morning."

Tim nodded to himself, he wasn't surprised. "It's too bad, Joel. It's not like any of us are perfect, we all make mistakes."

"If your CIA buddy hadn't been there, her actions would have compromised your part of the operation."

"True."

Matt looked over at him and Tim made a throat cutting gesture and the younger man nodded with a grimace, understanding who and what they were talking about. The London SAIC and Tim chatted a little longer and then disconnected.

Tim turned to Matt. "Wow, I guess that was a foregone conclusion, although I thought they might go for additional training." He looked at Matt. "In my ever present need to find some little tidbit to teach you this is what I'm getting out of that mess: If you have anything that could in any way affect your team or an operation, let your boss know. If you're worried about a sick friend or have suffered a death in the family or have a migraine coming on or need to take something that could change the way you do your job, let him or her know! It doesn't necessarily mean you'll get pulled, it does mean your team will be safer. You'll develop your own instincts for stuff like this as you gain more experience and grow in the job but until then, report in."

Matt nodded. "How did you know I have migraines?"

"I didn't but I've known agents who've had them. How often do you get them and do you have the right kind of medication to stop them?"

"I haven't had one in two years, since I got out of college and yes, I have my prescription with me, I keep a dose here at work, one at home and two doses in my go bag. And Pete and Carla know."

"Ok, good and now I know too. You know what? I just realized I haven't reviewed your file!"

"We've been pretty busy."

"Mmm, I hate to keep bringing up examples of what not to do but one of the reasons I had so many bad experiences on my old team was that my boss never read my file. Never read anyone's but in my case reading it probably would have made all the difference in the world."

"So he didn't know about your background, wait, how did he hire you…or transfer you?"

"That was part of it, since he wasn't hiring me from outside NCIS he only looked at my experience and education, so yeah, he didn't know about the years on the street or my skill with a knife, the languages I speak besides English and a few other things."

"How come he never read anyone's file?"

"His mentor taught him to ignore the written stuff and to find the details by getting to know his agents. Unfortunately, Gibbs only paid attention to the ignoring part, not the getting to know bit, in my case anyway."

"So is that what he's doing now, trying to get to know you?"

"To some degree, yes, Vance made him read my file after I left and he's been trying to make things right between us."

"You're not going back, are you? I mean to work with him, once things are better?"

Tim shook his head. "No Matt, I won't go backward, need to keep moving forward. And I'm here now, not DC. You all are my team now, my job, my post."

"Good!"

"Have you been worried about that?"

"A little, I mean you left the top MCRT in the agency to come here and Pete told us a little bit but then when you got here you talked with your old boss and I… was confused."

"I guess that does sound confusing. Here's the deal, when you work with people long enough and I think you already feel this here, you become like a family. A work family and in the case of Gibbs' team a wildly dysfunctional work family. You know about us quitting last spring?"

"Um, I know there was something that Carla referred to as a witch hunt."

"Ok, it's complicated and really doesn't matter anymore but there were three of us who turned in our badges to save someone else's career and freedom. DiNozzo and I eventually returned, but Ziva didn't. She moved back to Israel, in essence, she "broke" the team. And there was stuff that happened afterward that showed me it was also time for me to move on. Anyway, the team has dispersed, but there is still the possibility of healing the family and that's what Gibbs and I are working toward."

"Oh, that makes sense then, especially because you don't have any parents. Um…I didn't mean…"

"But you're right! I don't have parents and I still need, still want a parent or two - or reasonable facsimiles of them." The dryer buzzed, Tim took his clothes out and put the next load in to wash. His phone buzzed, he checked the status and Rob's flight was still on target.

The evening passed slowly with the mundane chores of everyday life, laundry, cooking and eating dinner and washing dishes interspersed with Tim's hourly checks on Rob's flight. He fell asleep again during a TV show he and Matt were watching but woke when his phone buzzed. Eventually it chirped with a text from Rob, he was at Heathrow. Matt went off to bed while Tim changed into his pajamas and tried to concentrate on the same e-book he'd been trying to read for weeks. Finally he got the text that said Rob had found James and they were on their way to the flat. Tim sent a grateful goodnight text, put his tablet down and slumped down in bed, turning out the light.

Note: the information about the positions at NCIS and the number of offices "forensic specialists, crime scene specialists, profilers, volunteers for the Contingency Response Teams, Management and Administration positions…you know, who's next to run MTAC, etc. He's got 18 field offices and 165 other locations"… came from the website for the Real World NCIS. As fan of the NCIS show I found it pretty exciting reading about it. If you've never been to the website, I recommend it. Just Google it and find the real NCIS in the mass of TV NCIS refs.