Chapter 26

There were plenty of awkward moments. There were bound to be after the kind of thing that had happened to the MCRT. Particularly at the beginning, it seemed as though no one knew how to act around each other anymore. Tim, when he was working, sat in almost total silence at his computer, hardly interacting with the people around him. Tony and Ziva only seemed able to act normally when they were away from him. Even Gibbs found himself reacting to the revelations with things that weren't like his usual self.

Tim and Ducky had patched things up quite quickly. In fact, Tim seemed to look forward to going to Autopsy more than he ever had in the past. He lingered down there with Ducky and Jimmy, only coming up when it was necessary to continue doing his job. And that increased the strain on the team itself, knowing that he was more comfortable down there than with his teammates. It got to the point, about a month after Tim's return, that Vance was about ready to say that it wasn't working. He had watched them more closely than they realized and he didn't like what he was seeing.

Then, the day after he'd made his decision, he was walking along the balcony, not even really watching what was going on below but he saw something that made him change his mind.

Tony called Tim some variant of the McNicknames he thought were so clever (and really weren't). It had slipped out without a thought...and only then did he stop and look worried. He glanced at Tim and then at Ziva. ...and obviously wasn't sure if he should apologize. Tim rolled his eyes, crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at Tony...hitting him in the face. He didn't throw it hard. It just bounced off Tony's nose, leaving him as stunned as if Tim had hit him with a barbell.

"I'm not made of glass, Tony! Nor is my ego!"

Thereupon, Tony bent over, picked up the piece of paper, examined it closely...and then threw it back. Tim ducked and it missed him...but the second missile Tony sent soaring across the bullpen didn't. They were both taken by surprise when Ziva took it upon herself to hit them both...with rubber bands. The childish battle continued until Gibbs walked it, gave them all death glares and then sat down. The tension had dissipated. Vance didn't kid himself that it was gone for good.

...but he figured it probably could be eventually and that was good enough.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Three months later...

"Where is he?" Gibbs snarled.

"I can't get a visual, Gibbs," Tony said anxiously. "Ziva's going around the building...but..."

"...but you can't see either one."

"No. Boss...I'm sorry."

"Focus on getting McGee out of this. We'll worry about blame later...but it's not your fault." Gibbs reined in his annoyance enough to reassure Tony on that score. The things that had bothered Tim before...and were being changed...slowly... were things that could be universally applied to his team. It took an extra two seconds to tell Tony that this situation wasn't his fault.

Ziva rejoined them, shaking her head. "I can see no way in. There is a possibility around the side...but not when we have no idea where they might be."

"I've got your man in here!" The voice was strangely amplified, impossible to tell its exact location. "I've got him and if you want this...this geek to stay alive, you'll do exactly what I tell you!"

Ziva cocked her head to the side, trying to discern a point of origin. Gibbs and Tony also focused more on finding the location than on the words being spoken.

"You hear me out there?"

Gibbs nodded to Ziva and Tony to begin circling.

"What do you want?" he called back.

"I want out of here!"

"Come on, Raglan, you know that's not going to happen!"

"Then, there's no reason for me to keep this geek alive, is there?" Raglan shouted back.

"Yeah, there is! If you kill him, you're no longer just a thief. You're a cop killer! You think you'll last even five seconds with McGee dead?"

Gibbs gave a small gesture with his hands when he saw Ziva's signal that they had found Raglan's location.

"Come on, Raglan! You give me proof that McGee's alive and I'll see what I can do!"

"Not good enough!"

"Best I can do when you're threatening to kill one of my people."

"Fine!" Raglan's voice changed, became a bit muffled. "Go ahead. Tell them you're alive."

"I'm stupid, Boss!" Tim's voice sounded shaky but okay...for someone likely staring death in the face. "Didn't see him in time...around the corner when–"

"That's enough, geek! He's alive!"

Gibbs suspected that Tim had just been forcibly silenced, but it bought him time and it told him that Tim was not only alive, but more or less unhurt...for the moment. Tim had also managed to give some information about his location. He didn't like being stuck out here while one of his people was in danger, but he had to trust Tony and Ziva to do the jobs for which they'd been trained.

He saw a hand. Tony, counting down.

"Raglan! This is your last chance to stand down, let McGee go. If you don't, I can't make any guarantees that..."

Gibbs broke off when doors were simultaneously kicked in on opposite sides of the building. He heard voices shouting, "Freeze! Federal agents!" ...and then gunshots. He took off at a run toward the back door through which Tim had walked only an hour before. He burst inside, turning the fateful corner...

"No one calls McGee a geek but me," Tony was saying viciously. "And that's only because I put a Mc in front of it. Without that, no dice." He had his gunned trained on Raglan's prone form while Ziva was cuffing him...rather roughly.

"You should apologize," Ziva said, yanking him up.

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Here, Boss," Tim said and came out of the shadows. He was limping a little but otherwise seemed okay.

"You all right?"

"Yeah. I think he wrenched my knee a bit when he hit me but..."

"He would like to apologize," Ziva said fiercely. She shook him. "Would you not?"

Raglan looked at Ziva like she'd lost her mind.

"I'd listen to her," Tony said. "She's impossible to reason with."

"Tell McGee you are sorry for calling him a geek."

"I am a geek, Ziva," Tim said, rubbing his knee. Gibbs then saw how Tim had been taken down. Clubbed down...it appeared from the matted blood on the side of his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. Apologize!" She shook Raglan again.

"Ziva," Gibbs said, almost rolling his eyes. "Just take the guy to the car."

"Here, I'll help you get him there," Tony said, grinning maliciously at Raglan. He grabbed one arm and none-too-gently propelled him forward.

"I screwed up, Boss," Tim said as he watched them go. "He was right around the corner, waiting for me. I started to turn but I didn't even make it halfway around." He took a step to follow and stumbled. Gibbs immediately caught him and put a supporting arm around his waist.

"Not that bad, Boss. I think I just twisted it. Hard to control your descent when you're almost unconscious." Tim smiled and then grimaced as he put more weight on his right leg.

"There's a trick to it, but hopefully you won't have to learn it."

"A trick to falling?" Tim asked.

"There's a trick to everything."

"Yeah."

"Could have been worse, McGee," Gibbs said as they approached the car.

"How?"

"You could be dead instead of limping."

"True."

Gibbs paused, causing Tim to stop as well.

"What is it, Boss?"

"There's another way it could have been worse."

"What's that?" Tim asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"You could not have been here at all."

Tim couldn't think of anything to say to that...and Gibbs didn't give him a chance. Instead, he continued walking. He sent Raglan with Ziva and Tony while he took Tim to be checked out at the hospital. It had only been a glancing blow and while Tim got a few stitches, neither his head nor his knee were seriously injured. He received instructions that he should take it easy for a couple of days and then convinced Gibbs to let him go back to NCIS...to get his car if nothing else.

"So...how's the wounded, Probie?" Tony asked as Tim limped into the bullpen.

"Wounded," Tim answered. "But not bad." He saw the elevator doors open and forestalled further comment by adding, "It's nothing serious, Abby. I promise."

It was a wasted effort. Abby nearly knocked him off his feet with a hug. "Good. Be more careful next time!"

"Yes, ma'am," Tim answered but he laughed and fended her off.

"You should have let me make him apologize," Ziva said, darkly. "It would have been no trouble."

Tim limped to his desk and laughed. "Ziva, the word geek is not going to make me fall apart. Besides, I am a geek. I've always known that."

"Yes, but he was saying it as an epithet," Ziva said. "That is not right."

Tim shook his head and smiled. "I don't care what Raglan thinks of me, Ziva. He's going to prison, for a long time. His opinion doesn't matter."

"But you're not just a geek, Tim," Abby said, possessively, hugging him again. "You're our geek."

Tim looked at them all and considered what Abby had said.

Finally, he smiled and nodded.

"I think I can live with that."

FINIS!