Not Beta'd; standard disclaimer applies.


"Ooohh, think we could hear them?" Tony asked when Gibbs closed the office door after McGee entered.

"Nope," Abby shook her head. "My office is sound proof and bullet proof for security reasons."

"Damn it," he muttered, curious about what was going on now. "What do you think that's about?"

"My guess is the twins."

"Well, yeah, obviously. That much is a given," Tony drawled. "I need specifics."

Abby just shrugged, figuring that Timmy would tell her later. After all they shared everything, well almost everything, she corrected, looking through the glass towards the sleeping twins.

"Do you think he's yelling at Probie? Or maybe he's checking to see if McGee does need to see a doctor? It has to be pretty personal if he closed them in a sound proof room."

That had Abby shaking her head. It was so like Tony to contradict himself. There he was talking about how he wanted, needed to know what their conversation was about and in the next breath was saying how personal it must be.

Tony snorted, "Nothing to hear anyway," he muttered, watching the two men just stare at each other. "Apparently they're both using their psychic powers."

Abby nodded absently before his words registered, "Wait," she cried, turning to Tony, "Timmy has psychic abilities? Since when?"

The field agent shrugged, "Recent development," he said before explaining what happened earlier in the week.

"Whoa, they're talking now," he said, eagerly turning to Abby, "You can read lips, right?"

"Yeah, but Gibbs knows that."

"So?"

"So, look at how they're positioned," she commented, nodding over to the two men behind the glass. "The only way I could ready both sets of lips was if I was standing over there," she explained, pointing to an area in her lab, "Making it completely obvious what I was doing."

"Oh. And that would be a bad thing, right?" Tony asked, receiving a glare in return.

"Just shut up and play," Abby remarked, drawing his attention back to their card game. The game continued, with Tony keeping one eye on men visible through the glass wall.

"Whoa-Oh!" he said with a whistle, gaining Abby's attention. "Tell me again why your office is sound proof?" he asked as he watched Tim angrily stand up to Gibbs, literally and figuratively.

Noticing where he was looking, she turned around, frowning at the scene in front of her.

"I wonder what happened."

"I don't know, but it can't be good."

"I don't think it can end well either."

They both knew that they should turn away, but like watching the scene of an accident, it was almost impossible to do so.

"Looks like Probie might be storming out."

"As long as he doesn't do anything drastic," Abby worriedly stated.

Tony snorted, "Storming out on Gibbs after he pulled you aside for a private conference isn't drastic?"

Abby shrugged, "No doubt Timmy has a lot on his mind right now. It probably wouldn't be hard to push him over the edge. Walking away is one thing, yelling that he quits and throwing his badge at Gibbs is another."

The image that invoked caused Tony to chuckle, "Can you honestly see McGee doing that?"

"A week ago, heck, yesterday, could you imagine that Tim was a father and didn't remember being with the mother?" she asked angrily.

Tony stopped laughing as his mouth opened then closed as he realized what she was saying. "Understood, under certain circumstances anything is possible." He also realized what she wasn't saying, "Come on, without sound this show isn't worth watching."

"Go where? We can't just leave," Abby objected, pointing to the glass wall.

"Get a Caf-Pow, get some fresh air, get a change of scenery, stretch our legs, rest our minds," he shrugged. "The twins are in there with them, so Gibbs and McDaddy will know if they wake up, and you can leave a note to let them know where we went if it makes you feel better."

Abby jumped up, "You had me at Caf-Pow," she said as she wrote a quick note and left it on the table.

After they exited the lab, they got in the elevator and took it to the ground floor. They then walked outside, enjoying the unseasonably warm temperature.

"So was your hand that bad?" Abby teased.

Tony shrugged, "Can't really remember. I wasn't really concentrating on the game."

"Yeah," she muttered in agreement.

"I don't know how Probie won all those hands, I would think he would be more of a nervous wreck than I am."

Abby smiled sadly, "Timmy has already accepted the fact that the twins are his. He is just waiting confirmation before he announces it to the world."

Tony stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "You want to talk about it?"

"About what?" she asked, not looking at him, nor shrugging off his arm.

Tony just gave her shoulder a squeeze, hugging her closer.

They walked like that for a few more minutes.

"Nothing to say," she said finally with a shrug. "He has a family now with someone else, everything's going to change."

"Change isn't always a bad thing," Tony commented.

Abby just shrugged in reply.

"You know they're not together," he added a few minutes later when she was still silent.

"They were, even if he can't remember it. And they have two children together. They will be. You know Timmy will ask."

Tony hesitated, after their talk earlier today, he wasn't sure what Tim would do. He said he didn't think marriage just for the sake of a baby was the right thing, but the mother is one of his best friends. Someone he has known and loved for years.

"Doesn't mean she'll say yes," he finally settled on.

Abby snorted, "Of course she will. She'll be crazy not to."

"You didn't, wouldn't have," Tony replied softly, correcting himself as he stopped and turned her to face him, placing both hands on her shoulders to keep her from leaving. "Tim told me."

"Told you what?" she hissed angrily.

"Abs, it's okay," he assured her. "He told me about why you two broke up, and about the scare."

Abby looked away, not knowing what to say.

"Do you love him?"

"Of c-"

"Don't," Tony warned. "Be honest with yourself, even if you're not with anyone else," he ordered, stopping and staring at her. After a few minutes of the two looking at each other, Tony shared what was on his mind. "You have a habit of getting upset when he's involved with someone else. You get jealous and territorial, yet the minute that other relationship ends, you forget about him and date someone else, like you don't want forever, but you don't want him to have it with anyone else either.

"No doubt it was easy and a bit fun playing house for this last week, but Tim isn't playing anymore. Most likely, he's their father. For life, not just a night or two of babysitting, but forever.

"I can't imagine the relationship the two of you have. The friendship, the closeness, the two of share is unlike anything I've experienced," Tony quietly admitted. "You two as friends are closer than I've been to anyone, even We-anyway," Tony corrected, not willing to talk about his past, "Probie will always care about you, that's the type of guy he is, whether he's the twins' father or not; whether he marries their mother or not. He values his friends, and you are one of his best friends. The only one capable of changing that fact is you," Tony added pointedly.

"Think about how you feel and what you want. Probie's been hurt a lot," the unspoken, 'especially by you' was understood, "and he has a lot going on right now. You need to figure this out and be sure of what you want before you start something."


"Fine," Gibbs agreed, not willing to admit he was wrong. "Any other topic of conversation can and will wait until everything is confirmed."

Tim sought out his eyes, judging the truth of his words. Nodding, he sat back down. After taking a few minutes to calm down and gather his thoughts, he continued from where he left off.

"I talk to Charley as often as our schedules allow. At least once a week, more if possible. Sometimes, though, often it is only through messages on voicemail, occasionally it's reduced to text or email," he admitted. "She knows almost everything about me. My history, my family, school, work."

"Lizzie?" Gibbs asked softly.

Tim shook his head, "No. If I was there with her when she was pregnant, I would've told her, but," he shrugged, "it never came up. She knows about Sarah, obviously."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, since that was what clued them into Tim being a likely candidate for fatherhood, yes, it would be a safe assumption that she knows of Sarah.

Tim frowned, "She knew I wanted kids, a family, so I'm not sure why she didn't tell me. I know she would've needed the help, especially this last year."

Gibbs eyebrow rose up, curious about what his agent meant. His gut was telling him it wasn't just because Charlie was a single mother to twins. He decided to leave it for now, the last thing he wanted to do was upset his young agent again. Besides, he was more curious about the name, his name.

Noticing Gibbs staring at him, Tim shook his head, as a signal to Gibbs to leave that topic alone and to clear his head and refocus on the issue at hand. "Anyway, she knows I don't get along with my father, and probably haven't since I learned to talk. She also knows why. My father didn't have any use for math, science, or computers, at least not if I was involved in those subject. To him, all that mattered was that I was a McGee, and that meant I was meant to join the Navy, like he did, and his father before him, and his fath-well you get the point. It was tradition, and since I broke that tradition, in his eyes, I wasn't worthy to be a part of the family, a disgrace to the name McGee.

"I think Charley didn't give them my name because she knew how my father would feel about them, about their future. McGee equals Navy, nothing more to be said. More importantly, she knows how I would feel about their future, that I would want them to be who they wanted to be, do what they loved and wanted to do, Navy or not."

"Gibbs?"

"I'm not sure why she didn't give them her name instead," Tim started, not directly answering the question.

"We talked a lot about names," Tim admitted. Charley was one of his few friends who knew about his books, in fact, she was the one who helped name his characters. "We both agreed that names should have meaning, value, power," Tim added softly. "A connection to the people, places, values we hold most dear." He paused, his children's names, and he firmly believed that they were his children, definitely held true to that.

"I know in some of our many conversations we both agreed that we were traditionalist in the aspect that children should carry their father's name, or at least a hyphenated version. With my name off the table, so to speak, surely she knew I would understand and agree with them not carrying my name, but hers instead, especially if, I'm right and she did it to protect them from my father. I would've been, correction, I am, fine with it. She should've been fine with it."

"McGee," the older man warned.

Tim nodded, "When we talked, I mentioned you guys a lot. You know that she knew all of your names, but she also knew your personalities, your quirks, our interactions, what each of you meant to me. You probably came up the most," Tim admitted, and at the inquiring look, confirmed, "Even more than Abby.

"You had a huge impact on my life and career. In the beginning because you added me to your team as a field agent, something I had wanted. But even since then, your support, guidance, direction, approval, meant a lot to me. In many ways, that made me who I am today.

"She knew I considered the team my family," he explained. "Tony the annoying, teasing, harrassing, older brother; Kate the watchful, helpful, but still able to torment me, older sister, a role Ziva took over, even though she's technically younger than me; You," Tim stopped and took a deep breath.

"She knew I wished my relationship with my father was half as good, no a tenth as good, as it is with you," Tim snorted, before this case, he and Gibbs weren't especially close, which revealed a lot about the relationship he had with his father. "She knew, since I sometimes admitted it," Tim continued, looking away, knowing he couldn't control the embarrassment that was about to be forthcoming, "That I often wished you were really my father. That in my mind, you often filled that role. You've done more for me, supported me, helped me, taught me more in recent years than my father ever had. Knowing how I felt about you, and how both of us felt about children carrying their father's name, I think she decided to honor us both by giving them your surname," Tim concluded honestly, still not looking at the older man.

Gibbs stared at him n shock. That was not what he was expecting to hear.

"Tim." he paused, not knowing what to say.

"It's okay," Tim shrugged, still not looking at him, "You don't have to say anything."

Gibbs nodded but spoke anyway, "Tim, look at me," he directed, waiting for McGee to comply before continuing, "If your kids are anything like you, a tenth of you, I would be as proud of them as I am of you, whether they share my name or not."

Tim flushed again and looked away, as the two remained silent for several minutes.

With a nod, knowing that there was not much more to say right now, Gibbs headed towards the office door, stopping and looking at Tim when he started speaking once more.

"Another possible reason for your last name, I already mentioned how we felt names should have meaning, and, well, she had to get you in there somewhere with the rest of the team, and there was probably no way she was going to name her kids Leroy or Jethro."

Gibbs laughed along with Tim at that comment.


7-24-18