"Could today have been any longer?" Tim unlocked the door and trundled inside, dropping the diaper bag next to the stairs so Tony could take it up later.

Tony had Eva and followed him into the kitchen, putting her in her high chair. "You need to find us a loophole so we can shoot defense attorneys when they get too annoying."

"You mean, when they pass the bar?" Tim had taken the pan of left over beef stew out of the fridge and was just staring down at the potatoes and beef chunks.

"It's still good, isn't it?" Tony couldn't imagine what was wrong with it.

Tim dropped the lid back down on the pan. "It's fine, but do you really want to have it for a third day in a row?"

"Not really." Usually, when they made a big batch of soup or stew, they'd have it for two days and then freeze the rest. However, last night they'd been too tired to bother and they hadn't been to the store for anything else either. "Pizza?"

"We had that for lunch. Chinese?"

Tony perked up at that. They both really liked it and Eva loved to feed herself rice even if only a fraction of it actually made it into her mouth. "China Grill or House of Dynasty?"

They both loved the food from House of Dynasty, but they didn't have a delivery service. While China Grill did deliver, and fairly quickly, it was a distant second in taste. "Let's get the good stuff. You call it in and I'll go get it. Make sure to order some of their dumplings."

"Two orders of dumplings so one actually makes it home?" Their steamed vegetable dumplings were McGee's secret treat, but Tony always had to tease him just a bit.

"Just for that, maybe I'll eat them all."

Tucking his phone under his chin, Tony made the call as he fixed Eva's strained peas and carrots. Once she saw the rice, she'd lose interest in her vegetables, so he had to get them down her before McGee got back with the Chinese food.

-NCIS-

Admiral McGee drove down the street, checking the house numbers. After the call he'd received a few days ago, he'd taken some leave time to deal with the situation. Slowing down under a street light, he checked the address he'd been given for a second time. This was a much nicer neighborhood than he was expecting. They must pay federal agents much more than they used to for his son to afford such a place. He found the house with the matching numbers and pulled into the driveway. It was an older, but well maintained home with very stylish landscaping. Obviously, a professional company came in and dealt with that, unless 'he' was into that sort of thing. John McGee thought this nonsense of Timothy's had been handled years ago, but the call that his son was shaking up with another man told him otherwise. No other car was in the driveway, but he couldn't see into the garage. However, lights were on in the house, so John got out of the car and walked up to the front porch.

-NCIS-

"That's my good girl, you ate all your carrots and almost all of your peas. We'll have to tell Grandpa that. You know, he doesn't like peas. Silly Grandpa, right?" Tony reached past her to put the empty containers on the counter and Eva leaned forward and rubbed her face on his sleeve. "Oh yuck, Eva."

Usually Tony changed before feeding her, but it had been a long day. Standing, he dropped a handful of cheerios on the high chair tray. It was an Armani shirt and strained carrots tend to stain. "Daddy will be right back." Unbuttoning as he went, Tony went into the laundry room and stripped off his shirt. Tim had him trained and he sprayed the pre-treatment before dropping the shirt in the washer. They'd get the load going after dinner as he was sure Tim would have a few dress shirts to add in. Vance had promised them they weren't on call for the next two days, so he grabbed a couple of beers out of the spare fridge while he was there. Just as he was coming out of the utility room, the front doorbell rang. Since he was right there, he answered the door, even though he was shirtless.

"So, it's true."

Tony stared blankly at the man standing on their porch. It took a moment to recognize Admiral McGee in civilian clothing. "Sir?"

"My son, the fag, found himself another one. After his husband, I'd hoped he was done with this nonsense. Since he's not, I'm done with him." The Admiral spun sharply on his heel and marched back to the car, leaving Tony staring in shock.

"What the hell? Tim was married? Tim had a husband? He lied to me?" Unable to identify the feeling in the pit of his stomach, Tony slammed the door and marched back into the kitchen.

-NCIS-

There was a grocery store just a few door down from the restaurant so Tim dashed in there for diapers and a few basics before he picked up the food. They'd have to do a big shopping during the next two days that they had off, but at least they wouldn't have to go first thing in the morning. Parked in the driveway, he hooked the plastic bags on his fingers before picking up the box of Chinese food, determined to make it all in one trip.

Usually Tony was right there at the door to open it and help, but not this time. Probably still getting Eva cleaned up from her evening foray into strained veggies. Tim juggled everything and managed to get the door open. Once he was inside, he dropped the diapers on the floor by the diaper bag. It could all go up at the same time. Still no sign of Tony, so Tim went into the kitchen. He was slightly surprised to find Tony just standing there, leaning against the counter, beer in his hand.

However odd that was, the bags were starting to give, so Tim quickly set everything down as he started talking. "We'll have to do some serious grocery shopping at some point, but I got bagels for breakfast. They didn't have those herbal ones you like, but I got you the cheese ones instead with the herb and garlic cream cheese. Oh, and I grabbed a bag of diapers, too. I couldn't remember how many we had left, but you can never have too many, right?"

Tony was still staring at him and Tim was getting worried. "Tony, is everything all right?"

"I don't know, Timmy, you tell me. In fact, while you're at it, why don't you tell me about your husband. You know, the one you never mentioned in all the years I've known you."

"What?" Tim's mind was spinning, trying to figure out how Tony knew. He watched as Tony took a drink from the bottle in his hand, apparently finishing it, before adding it to the other bottles in the sink. He didn't know what to say, which was the wrong response.

"What? No answer? So, it's true? You're gay and you were married to another guy. What the hell, McGee, that's kinda big to hide, especially for all these years."

Feeling his world crumbling away, Tim leaned against the island, at the other end from Tony, and slowly nodded. "Yeah, it's true."

"So, you're gay."

"No, I'm bi."

"No, what you are is a liar. All these years and you kept something like this a secret."

Eva was starting to cry as Tim tried to explain. "If I wanted to keep my job, I had to."

Tony stepped closer, visibly trembling as he shook his finger right in Tim's face. "No way, don't you dare put any of this on Gibbs. The man doesn't have a prejudiced bone in his body."

"And you do? Since when?" Wanting to scream, throw up or hide in a corner, and not necessarily in that order, Tim threw his hands up in the air as Eva cried harder. "I can't do this right now. I'm gonna get a motel room for a couple of days before one of us does something stupid."

"You already have, McGee."

-NCIS-

Gibbs had managed to leave work only about ten minutes later than DiNozzo and McGee, but finding Bishop in the parking lot with a dead battery had kept him aboard the Yard longer than he'd expected. After jump starting her truck, he'd followed her home to make sure she got there safely. Jake would be home soon and they'd take it in for servicing in the morning, so now he was home. When his phone rang and the display showed 'McGee' he was hoping for a dinner invite.

"Hey, McGee."

Boss...

He sounded, Gibbs didn't know how to describe McGee's voice, but he was already getting up off the sofa. "Tim, what's wrong?"

Tony's home without a car. I... I thought you should know that, in case there's a call-out or something. He'll need a ride.

"Where are you?"

I'm going to drive around for a while and then I'll be getting a motel room for a few days.

It sounded like the boys had had a fight. They'd certainly sniped at each other on occasion, but nothing like this. "Tim, what happened?" There was a long pause.

Tony found out about Sam. It... it didn't go well.

"Tim..."

No, Tony's right. I've lied to him for years. I should have expected this. Just take care of him, okay?

There was something in the way that McGee was asking that didn't sit well with Gibbs. He grabbed his jacket and pulled his SIG out of the gun safe before heading for his back door. "Call me when you've checked in so I know which motel."

Boss...

Gibbs could practically hear him shaking his head. He could definitely hear him crying. "You let me know, otherwise I'll have to track it down myself."

Okay, okay, I'll send a text.

It was a compromise, but it would do for now. The line went dead and Gibbs jogged across the two back yards. Through the window, he could see Tony pacing, holding a fussy Eva. Using his key, Gibbs let himself in the back door and the first thing he did was to take Eva to calm her down. "What happened?"

"How did you – he called you?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to know you'd be there without a car if something happened. Said he was getting a motel room." Gibbs looked at Tony closely, trying to get a better handle on the situation. "You two have a fight?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Tony was pacing, and Gibbs could tell he wasn't sure what to say. He took that as a good sign. At least Tony was, in his own way, trying to protect McGee by not outing him. "How did you find out about Sam?"

Stopping and spinning around, Tony stared at him. "You knew? But I thought..."

"Morrow put the restrictions on him when he was hired. Remember, DADT was still in effect back then."

"But he told you." Yep, there was that hurt at not being told and Gibbs shook his head at the mess.

"When you were in Israel, about the time you were making this little lady." He was bouncing Eva on his hip. She had stopped crying and he finally got a smile out of her. "We had a case involving his former father-in-law. He really didn't have a choice after that."

"Otherwise he never would have told you either, right?"

"Hey, did I tell any of you about Shannon? Sometimes when the pain is that bad, it hurts less to hide it away, at least for as long as you can." Gibbs waited, hoping Tony would put the pieces together. Judging from the way Tony was staring at him, it worked.

"Wait, Sam is dead?"

"He and Tim were visiting Sam's grandmother at the World Trade Center on the morning of..."

Tony's shoulders finally slumped. "September eleventh, right?"

"Yeah. Piece of shrapnel took most of the back of his head."

"They were together? Tim saw it happen?"

"He did. As hard as it was to lose Shannon," Gibbs closed his eyes for a moment. "The one thing that Mike never let me see were the pictures of Shannon and Kelly's bodies after the accident." Now he took a deep breath, opened his eyes and looked directly at Tony. "I can't imagine living with the memory of watching their last moment. Of seeing their bodies..." He couldn't finish, but judging from the sudden pallor of Tony's face, he'd made his point. Tony sat down hard on the sofa.

"No wonder he had such a hard time with Kate's death."

Gibbs didn't say it, but the ya' think was clearly on his face as he watched Tony process it.

"That was right before his birthday, his twenty-first, right?"

"Yeah."

"God, he was so young. Too young to have to face something like that on his own."

Gibbs didn't say anything as he shifted Eva to his other hip, letting Tony continue to sort it all out in his head. Eventually, Tony leaned back in the sofa and scratched his head with both hands. "I really over-reacted, didn't I?"

This time it was verbal. "Ya' think, DiNozzo."

Restless, Tony was back up on his feet, prowling around the family room as he thought. "He's in love with me, isn't he?"

The anger was back, but Gibbs wasn't sure why. "And that's a problem because..."

"But he doesn't love me enough to do anything about it."

Gibbs' hand popped up without him even realizing, but he stopped before he made contact with the back of Tony's head. As angry as that statement made him, it wouldn't have been a tap to get Tony's attention. "No, he loves you so much that he will give you anything you want, no matter how much it hurts him. He'd do anything to protect you. Anything." He knew where it lived, the hiding place Tim had created after Tony had come out of the coma, so he stormed into McGee's office. Tony scrambled to keep up with him.

There was a play area in the office for Eva and Gibbs set her down on the blanket, making sure her favorite bear was within her reach. Bottom left drawer, he'd helped Tim with the thin wood veneer. It was a tight fit, after Gibbs removed everything else in the drawer, he had to use his knife to pry the thin wood up and remove it.

Most false bottoms hid some space, this hidden compartment was only deep enough for one piece of paper and Gibbs reverently lifted it up out of the drawer.

"What's that?"

"Did Tim ever tell you everything that happened while you were in the hospital?"

"No, he always manages to change the subject."

Gibbs had always suspected that was the case, had always expected Tony to show up in the basement one day, asking questions. Questions or not, it was the time for answers. "Your father showed up and was talking to the transplant coordinators within his first hour at the hospital, even before he saw you."

Tony frowned at him. He'd been in a coma at the time but now he was fully aware of what injuries he'd sustained. "I didn't need any kind of transplant. I just had a head injury." Gibbs just waited, knowing the realization would come, and it did. "To take my organs?"

"Yep."

"He wouldn't have had any say in the matter. Tim's my medical proxy, has been for years. It would have been his decision, not my dad's."

"Yeah well, your dad showed up claiming to have a lawyer and managed to get McGee kicked out of the hospital while I was dealing with the FBI. Actually tried to get a judge to over-ride the proxy as your next of kin." Tony was just staring at him so he kept going. "Tim never doubted for a moment that you would make your way back to us. He kept telling everyone that would listen that you just needed more time. That your dad was giving up way too soon. That he had to save you, no matter what it took."

Gibbs looked down at the paper he was holding before turning it so Tony could see it. "It's your marriage certificate. Probably his best work. If your dad had actually followed through with his threats, if he'd managed to void the medical proxy, after that only your spouse would have been able to over-ride your father."

He held it out and Tony gingerly took it, almost as if he were afraid of it, trying to make a joke to cover his fear. Gibbs wasn't surprised. "He's usually better at forging your signature."

"I signed my own name. Abby did, too. By the way, there's a wedding ring around here someplace with your DNA all over it."

That seemed to get Tony's attention, Gibbs suspected that it was suddenly very real in his mind. "If he'd gone through with this and I'd really been a vegetable, he'd have been stuck with me for the rest of his life."

"I know. So did he. Still question him?"

Carefully, almost reverently, Tony handed the certificate back to Gibbs and watched as it was returned to its hiding spot. He laughed – it was bitter sounding but no longer angry. "My dad was probably already spending the life insurance money. He'd have gotten a hell of a surprise because he's not my beneficiary, Tim was. I did it when I found out the truth about that supposed hedge fund he put all his book money into. It all went to charities. He's too soft-hearted; I wanted to make sure he was taken care of."

It was on the tip of Gibbs tongue to tell DiNozzo that that's what you do for the person you love, but that was the answer in romance novels. This was real life. "So, what happens now?"

Tony was watching Eva as she rolled from side to side, trying to reach another toy. "Can you take Eva for the night?"

There was a portable crib and everything she needed in Kelly's old bedroom, though it was seldom used. He'd need to bring diapers and her food, but that was easy. "You going to do something stupid?"

For some reason the question made Tony chuckle even though he wasn't smiling. "No, but I think Tim and I need to talk without any interruptions."

Gibbs didn't want either of his boys hurt, so he studied Tony carefully. The anger was gone and he was right, there was a lot the two of them needed to work through. "Okay, but you call me if either of you need anything, all right?"

It didn't take long to pack up formula, bottles, clothes and grab the new bag of diapers. Tony changed her diaper again before kissing her and handing her back to Gibbs. "Night, night sweetheart. You be good for Grandpa."

Gibbs gave Tony an encouraging nod before walking out with Eva in his arms and a very packed diaper bag on his shoulder. "Just you and me tonight, Sweet-pea." He turned back to look as Tony opened the drawer and stared down. He couldn't see the marriage certificate anymore, it was properly hidden away again but Gibbs was glad he knew it was there.

-NCIS-

McGee had driven around for a while before pulling over at a viewpoint. Now he was sitting on the hood of his car, staring at the Potomac River. It was hypnotizing, really, how the water swirled around every rock and then continued on its way. His phone rang and he pulled it out of his jacket pocket.

The display showed Tony's grinning face and Tim sighed before he accepted the call. "Tony, I'm sorry, you were right. I should have told you."

My overreacting kinda suggests you were right. You gotten a room yet?

Tim sighed again. "No, not yet. I drove up to Langley Oaks, just watching the water."

Good, come home. Eva's with Grandpa for the night and we need to talk.

Honestly, Tim couldn't see any good coming out of this, but there was no point in putting it off. "Okay, see you in a bit."

-NCIS-

Judging from where McGee said he was, Tony figured he had about a half hour so he finally went upstairs for a shirt. Up there, he paused and really looked around. He hadn't missed his old place a bit, even after all the years he'd lived there, and moving in with McGee had felt like the most natural thing in the world. Technically he had more square footage on the second floor than he had back at his apartment, but he and Eva spent little time up here. Most of Eva's toys were downstairs, his movies were either downstairs or in the partially completed man cave and his favorite chair had migrated down next to McGee's favorite spot in the family room. Realizing how integrated their lives had become gave him pause, but he didn't know how to define what they had become. Debating between a t-shirt (folded by McGee) and a dress shirt (ironed by McGee), Tony chose the t-shirt and headed back downstairs.

Three empty beer bottles in the sink made him cringe and he quickly rinsed them out and stuck them in the recycling box out in the garage before fixing a plate of the now cold Chinese food. As soon as he heard the sound of McGee's car pulling into the driveway, he stuck the plate in the microwave and waited for McGee to come in.

A key in the lock, then footsteps so slow that the food was hot before McGee made it in far enough for Tony to see him. He hated the defeated look in Tim's eyes and hated even more that he was at least partially responsible for putting it there. He opened the microwave and retrieved Tim's dinner, setting it on the table in the breakfast nook. "Here, eat and then we'll talk."

Tony fixed his own plate and joined Tim, watching him carefully as they ate. He saw the man that had sat across from him all these months, the man that had watched his back all these years. Tim hadn't changed. He was still the same sweet, nerdy guy that Tony had picked on and depending on, no matter what. With that much settled, Tony began to eat.

Tim managed about half of his food before he slowed down and started to pick at his beef and broccoli. Tony stayed quiet, waiting to see if he'd say anything.

"I should have told you, but I made the decision to only date women even before I joined the Agency."

"Why?" Tony was genuinely curious, but Tim only shrugged so Tony tried a different approach. "How did Morrow find out?"

That got a reaction and Tim looked up. "How?"

"If it wasn't Gibbs, it had to be Morrow."

Tim nodded, possibly agreeing with his logic, but definitely agreeing with his statement. "Background check, I guess. I really wasn't actively trying to hide it in the beginning."

"Morrow didn't have the right to ask that of you."

"I was used to that kind of reaction."

Tony winced at that, but now the father's reaction was starting to make more sense. "I don't really have a problem with you being gay or bi and I guess it makes sense that you never told me or any of us about it."

"I told Gibbs about it back when it was just the two of us working. You were in Israel and things happened." Tim looked up, fear flashing across his face. "I had to tell him, please don't be mad at Gibbs for keeping my secrets, Tony."

Tony had already heard the basics of the story from Gibbs, but he wanted Tim's side of it so he nodded and listened very carefully. "What happened?"

"We were supposed to go interview the commander of the Naval Support Activity's Northwest Annex."

"Okay?"

"He's Sam's father."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, he blames me for everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah. Sam outed himself and got kicked out of the Academy because of something that happened to me. Then we were in New York to celebrate going to Europe and..." Tim's voice broke and he dropped his fork. Tony debated, then decided that total honesty was the best option under the circumstances.

"Gibbs told me what happened to Sam. I'm so sorry you lost him like that."

Tim nodded, but he was still staring at the table. Tony raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then finally laid it on the back of Tim's neck in a sign of silent support.

a/n - first of two chapters today.