"Don't you get it Tim?" Gibbs said to an exasperated looking Tim. "All you could see was the negatives, that you were never the person solely responsible for anything, that you were weak. Tim our weaknesses make us who we are. You came into a team that was burdened by them and that made me realise most greatly how flawed we were and yet how strong at the same time, because in a team one person's weakness is complimented by another's strength. You filled a void that no one ever realised was there because no one had taken the time to appreciate it. You think so highly of Tony and Kate and Ziva and me and everyone else but never yourself, even before when you wouldn't put your name into a sentence. You have done just as much as we have, dealt with and overcome just as much as we have, experienced just as much loss and tragedy as we have and at times taken it with more grace and respect and dignity than any one of us. You are just as strong and important and significant as everyone else in my life and you don't understand just the affect you had."

"You changed me too. Changed my thought on probies, on tech nerds, made me realise there was more to an agent than being able to run fast and shoot a gun, made me more aware of what a team needed, that different people with different skills could come together and work together and when they did it was a beautiful thing. You made me realise that everyone has flaws but in a team you counteract that, you have a diverse group of people that can pick up the slack where someone might fall and vice versa. A team is more than just a couple of tough, gun wielding, burly men and women that are smart and good at profiling as well as kicking ass, that there can be a softer edge and that in bringing that into the team others learn from it. The jovial, cocky womanizer can suddenly have more respect for technology and the people of the cyber world as well as for people in general. A single female, kick ass profiler in a group of men can appreciate having someone other than themselves that is picked at and learn that smart comes in different forms and that not every guy is a jerk. A trained assassin can realise the importance of understanding your limits and how far you can push them as well as accepting your strengths for what they are. The very guy who comes into the team nervous and unsure of himself can discover how strong he really is and the strength it takes to be the person he is. And a grumpy old timer can realise that the young blood needed in his team can actually teach him new tricks, whether he wants to learn them or not."

Tim's eyes were red and puffy and Gibbs' own wet with tears. He could see the disbelief in Tim's eyes, the uncertainty and the want to believe every word he said, the innate self-doubt making it difficult.

"I told Tony once he was irreplaceable. Truth is, no one is expendable. People can be replaced, people can take over, take another agent's place in a team but never in someone's heart. You never fully believed in yourself, I never showed you that I did, that was on me. The first time we ran into your father and he was there, smug and asking questions over your pitiful government job pushing papers to keep him safe I don't think I've ever been as angry. The only thing I can compare it to was when Senior was an ass to Tony. That one man could be responsible for your entire state of mind, it sickened me, but it also made me realise how careful I was being, how maybe too careful and yet I still did nothing about it. I should have told you a long time ago how proud I am of you Tim. I haven't and I'm sorry. In my mind you needed to figure out your worth on your own but I should never have been a reason you ever doubted it."

Tim was silent a long while after Gibbs stopped talking, both sitting with bourbon between their fingers, Tim attempting to digest Gibbs' words and Gibbs attempting to not stop him from doing so by interjecting anymore. Tim had been still longer than Gibbs deemed acceptable before he cleared his throat and his face of stray tears.

"All this time. I just thought you didn't get me. I didn't know you had pushed so hard for my place. I knew you'd questioned Abby, she told me, but I didn't have any clue. You went with your gut."

Gibbs nodded slowly, worrying for a second that Tim was going to fly into a fit of rage or break down in tears. He was knocked backwards against the boat when Tim flew into him seconds later in a hug. He let go quickly, looking uncomfortably to the floor but Gibbs' face broke into a smile and he reached to brush the last tear from his cheek and ruffle his hair lightly, as best he could given the varying height. The one single moment of embrace between the two of them seemed to have cemented something in his heart.

Tim's own smile vanished, replaced by a more sombre expression as he remembered the very thing he had been intending on telling Gibbs from the beginning. Impending conversation brushed aside for a minute, he shuffled nervously on his feet and an air of awkwardness and uncertainty returned to the room. Gibbs was patient, something he felt he hadn't been in a long time.

"It's been a long hard few months."

"That it has." Gibbs nodded after a pause.

"So I'm going to take some time. Couple weeks, spend some time making things up to Delilah, I think I owe her that after all the crap I've been giving her. Tony's offered me a night or two at his place as well, two men and a ninja baby I think he advertised it as. I think he's missing adult company."

"I don't doubt that." Gibbs chuckled softly. "Take as long as you need Tim. We'll still be here when you get back, job isn't going anywhere."

Tim nodded.

"And despite the B I've been well and truly living up to recently, my door is always open, quite literally."

"I appreciate it Gibbs."

His eyes were still stinging and the power of Gibbs' speech made his heart ache a little but they needn't say anything more about the story Gibbs had just relayed to him. Neither one would mention it and neither one had to. They were silently agreeing on drawing a line over the last few months, understanding that their ways of dealing with things wasn't that unlike and that if all the other needed was a quiet room and comfortable silence then they had it, no questions asked. Tim had a greater understanding of Gibbs' actions, and inactions. He respected him above all else, despite everything, and Gibbs respected Tim all the same in return. Everything from the second Grace walked into the squadroom had been out of concern for the other, Tim's concern for Gibbs and Gibbs' concern for Tim, both just had very different ways of showing it. Tim had never fully felt he fit into a place in Gibbs' life until now. He had always been full of uncertainty and insecurity and that had no doubt come from his father. Tim couldn't deny that, no matter how he and his father had ended things, there had always been that nagging at the back of his head that he was never good enough. They had resolved their differences to an extent but mostly it had left Tim with more questions than answers. This time though, with Gibbs, he had avoided the tiptoeing around the subject and they had gotten to the very heart of the matter and how Gibbs had opened up in a way Tim had never seen in an attempt to show Tim where he sat meant maybe Tim could perhaps try to close a door on the demons that plagued his head over it. There was much left unsaid, that was obvious, but the silence too spoke a thousand words. He wasn't Tony and he didn't need to be because Gibbs had never needed him to be anything but Tim. That Gibbs was willing to confide so much emotion in him to prove it reassured Tim of that.

"I'm going back to Grace. I think I have plenty of my own to sort out. I got a little way there with Taft, I think I owe it to him to try harder after how much he fought to get Grace onto me. I owe you the decency of knowing when I need to help myself."

"Owe it to yourself before anyone else, otherwise why do it at all."

Gibbs closed his eyes and nodded.

"She's good Gibbs, she's good for you. A little on the obsessive side but still good."

Gibbs hid a smile.

"She knows too much, makes her good at what she does and good when it comes to guys like me."

"And me apparently."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"You know she'll be a nightmare because of all of this?"

"I'm willing to try. Tony used to have a therapist. I don't suppose it could hurt."

"She is good. Even if she does break more than one rule to do it."

Both took a sip of bourbon, emptying their glasses and met the other's eyes as they lowered them.

"If it's anything, I am still sorry Tim."

Tim smirked. The last few months had still happened, they had still been at loggerheads, fought- sometimes silently- against each other, made mistakes and tried to go about resolving things in every way but the right one. He was still tempted by the idea of drowning his sorrows in the bar a few blocks away, still felt an ache in his heart every time he thought of Ziva, still struggled to keep composed every time Gibbs' words reverberated around his skull. He was still struggling, still hurting but now he understood that Gibbs was too and that if Gibbs could admit that out loud to a shrink, then maybe he could too. This time he accepted the apology willingly because he had to, for his sake more than Gibbs'.

"I know Gibbs, me too."