Posted with tremendous thanks to everyone following this story and especially to those who have posted a review! Thanks as well to Leiru!
Tim barely makes it down the stairs and into the hallway nearest Abby's lab when his cell rings. "Hello?" he asks, and even with the hard plastic case of his phone pressed tightly to his ear, Tim can still almost feel Tony's hot breath—minty and inviting and five minutes too old to be real—along his lobe.
"Tim!" Even if he hadn't checked the caller ID first, McGee would have placed the perky alto with all due haste.
"Jenna!" he halts his motion, almost holding his breath at hearing her excitement. "What did the seller say?"
"Not only did he agree to the sale, he accepted the terms of the quick turnover you suggested! He already okayed the forms we drew up that will give you immediate possession of the condo! He said he needed a couple of days to finish collecting his furniture, but if you sign the paperwork today, you and your partner can start moving in on Monday morning!"
"Ha!" he fists his free hand, needing Tony to be here to give him a high five. "That's fantastic! Oh wow!" he blinks, picturing Tony commandeering his kitchen, wooden spoon at the ready and a dishtowel over his shoulder in case Tim got out of line while dinner was cooking. "I can't wait!"
Jenna laughs in her own excitement, "The sooner you get over here, the faster we can get this deed into your name!" she teases him.
"Yes," his mouth forms an 'o' as he pauses to think for an extra second. "Yes, of course!" Surely Boss will let him take an early lunch for something this big? Abby has to start logging the new evidence from Jamie Lerner's apartment first anyway, and she's generally excruciatingly tetchy about anybody handling incoming evidence before she has it organized to her liking. Not to mention that between Carmen's confession and the Bedford County Sheriff Department's identification of the keylogger last night, Lily Wakowski over at Justice managed to get an injunction to prevent any further potential activity on the kiting operation.
Tim switches hands and then transfers the phone to his other ear so he can twist his wrist and check the time. "Yeah, okay," he confirms his time frame to himself. "Let me speak with my Boss really fast, but I'm sure he'll give me a window to get over there this morning."
"Fantastic!" Jenna practically squeals. "I'll see you then!"
He hangs up and stuffs the phone into his breast pocket rather than taking the time to refasten it to his hip. Then he bounces into the stairwell and runs up all four flights to the bullpen. He's breathing hard but doesn't have so much as a stitch in his side when he bursts onto the tang-colored floor. Tony hangs up his desk phone, standing in alarm when he spies Tim scurrying past O'Brien's empty desk on the way to their cubicle.
"You're not going to believe this!" he can barely speak, even more breathless from his excitement than from his run.
Tony's furrowed brows shoot upward. He claps his hands together and whips out from behind the desk. "The condo?"
"Our condo!" Tim confirms, arm already extending Tony's way.
Tony completes the high five in milliseconds. "Holy crap!" he grabs hold of Tim's hand rather than pulling away and yanks him close to smack him on the back hard with his free arm.
Tim smacks him back excitedly, "I know!" he's about two seconds away from calling Tony 'Bro,' which is, quite frankly, an instinct that Tim never would have previously imagined he possessed, when Ziva saves him from himself.
"Condo?" she questions, rounding her own desk to meet them in the space between.
"I'm buying a condo!" Tim twists a space open between him and Tony just large enough to yank Ziva into a group hug.
"Truly?" she smiles and leans into them, getting handsy with them both.
"Yes!" he grins up at Ziva when he feels a single poke in his side, immediately shifting to poke her right back. Her eyes gleam up at him, and Tim knows he's beaming right back at her. Belatedly, he glances to Tony, but his partner is still directing his billion dollar smile Tim's way and seems not to have noticed the impromptu poking at all. "And," Tim feels his own grin grow, "We can move in on Monday!" he finishes, gaze locked with Tony's.
Eyes popping, Tony shakes his head once even as a huge grin overtakes his face, "Monday? But you said it would be months! How—"
"You said our condo," Ziva interrupts. When Tim turns back to look at her, there's an inquisitive tilt to her head, but her smile is just as wide as a moment ago.
Tim licks his lips and looks back to Tony, his heart feeling like it's stretching and widening in his chest, feeling just as excited about the thought in this moment as he did mere days ago with his cold, hard cell phone case in his hand and Tony's breath in his ear when they agreed on their new living arrangements, "Tony's moving in with me."
Tony beams at him, "You know what goes well with Chicken Cacciatore, my friend?"
"Ooh!" Ziva smacks Tony once in the chest. "I have a fantastic recipe for tiramisu!"
"Not where I was going with that," Tony points at their partner, "But I like the way you think!" Tony shakes his head, checking back and forth between Tim and Ziva, "I was thinking more along the lines of the Godfather dualogy!" Tony finishes with glee, squeezing at Tim's back and probably Ziva's, too, as he pulls his arm back around her.
"Dualogy?" Ziva's forehead crinkles, and her grip on Tim's back eases by a hair, "But isn't that—aren't there 3 Godfather movies?"
"No!" Tim and Tony answer as one while Tim feels himself shudder and just spies Tony wince beside him.
Ziva squints at them suspiciously, but Tim simply shakes his head, trying to maintain Ziva's innocence about the train wreck of a film. Her eyes remain pinched for a beat, but then a grin crawls across her face as her gaze relaxes. "So when are we watching the dualogy?"
Tim looks past the top of Ziva's head to Tony. Next Saturday's really the only day the team can (mostly) commit to each other for dinner and a movie, but Tim's Saturdays belong to Tony.
With a soft smile, Tony nods, "We're going to need help moving next Saturday," Tony leads and shifts his gaze to Ziva, the sweetness of his smile nearly turning into a smirk as he does.
Tim furrows his brow, "You really think we can box everything we have up in a week while we're working?"
"Well," Tony tilts his head, seeming almost embarrassed by his own enthusiasm, "Maybe," Tony concedes, "But we should be able to get all the big stuff and most of our clothes good to go, so we can start living there right away." Tony squeezes fiercely at Tim's back at his pronouncement.
Tim ducks his head, not quite able to dampen his own grin, "Yeah," he agrees softly, picturing a thousand days dawning like the one he just had stretched in front of him like Christmas morning. Well, minus the back pain for Tony, but that meant, "I've got to get a new bed this weekend!"
Tony lifts his brows, "Do you?" he prods gently, and Tim can feel Tony's thumb smooth over his back in an arch even above the added thickness of his jacket.
He can already feel himself blushing, so Tim doesn't bother to try to meet Tony's eye. "I'll need to find something more suitable for my new place."
Ziva's gentle smile twists up a little more with a tender tease, "A queen perhaps?"
Tim feels his own grin getting a bit wider, feels his blush about to start becoming visible from space, but still, he leans a little closer in towards Ziva and says, "Not sure that's enough room for what I need."
Ziva's eyes flicker Tony's way before she seems to think better of it—not that Tim could blame her. Instead, she ends up meeting Tim's lean. A touch of pink colors Ziva's own cheeks when she declares throatily, "Now that is a thought I could keep in my head all day, McGee!"
Tim's still raising his brow at Ziva's flirtatiousness when Tony abruptly pulls his arm out from behind Tim and moves back behind his desk.
"Wow! We're going to have to get crazy busy if we want to get everything done this week!" Tony declares, reaching for his phone before he can possibly know who he might be trying to dial.
Tim offers a quick smile to Ziva, gathering his own arm back before turning to face Tony. He bites at the side of his mouth, feeling the need to reassure Tony, but not quite certain as to why he thinks Tony might need it or even how Tim might offer it.
"Hey, we should go out and celebrate tonight," he clarifies, "You and me," and hopes Ziva isn't offended that he's so obviously angling for a boys' night out right in front of her.
Tony eases the phone back into the cradle. When he meets Tim's eye, there's a sweet upturn to his lips.
"You know me, McKoolAndTheGang. I'm a celebrating machine." The accompanying softness in Tony's eyes remains even when his mouth dips into a smirk.
Tim squints at the stretch for a reference but can't help the way his grin grows anyway.
Tony bites his lip and turns to Ziva. "You in, David?" he asks her.
Immediately, Tim's stomach drops in disappointment, even as he realizes that it's his own fault for pushing the invite in front of Ziva.
When Ziva grins hugely, Tim makes his own smile reassert itself on his lips, realizing Tony's saved him from being carelessly unkind to Ziva—especially after her upset at being left out all week.
"I would love to celebrate with the two of you," her voice thickens with natural sweetness, and this time, the twist in Tim's stomach is guilt. She raises her brows, "Will it just be the three of us?" she pushes indirectly, delicately, not having to say Abby's name for them all to know the question is about her and not about anyone else Tim or Tony might invite.
"Yes," the word pops out of Tim's mouth before he can second guess himself. "Just us," he reaffirms, not wanting Abby's high maintenance hurt to harsh his own happiness. He looks down towards Tony, catching his partner's eye right away. Tony nods, an unexpected flush of satisfaction clinging to his features.
"Just us," Tony repeats, his gaze shooting towards Ziva a long second later.
Ziva seems to study the look for a long moment, and it feels as though she's weighing the situation. Just before Tim can truly begin to imagine Ziva considers him fickle, her chin lifts by a hair and her smile softens even more. "I shall look forward to joining your 'Boys' Night Out,'" she lifts her fingers in air quotes, like Tony always teases Tim for doing, though her brow furrows slightly as if she's unsure whether she's used the exact correct term.
Tim grins hugely at her, knowing what's coming, even if the form it will take will still be a surprise—
Tony drops his chin and swivels his head to look at Tim and point, "I blame you for this!"
Tim's eyes shoot back to Ziva. He leans over to squeeze her shoulders, seeing the look of mild confusion pinch her brow. "Nicely done!" Spontaneously, he bends a little farther down to press a dry kiss to her temple, before he winks at Tony and walks back towards the stairs, leaving Tony to explain his irrational irritation with the perfectly normal and useful gesturing of air quotes. Besides, Tim points over his shoulder, "I gotta find Boss and see if he'll let me hurry over to Jenna's office this morning to sign the purchase paperwork on the condo." He smiles one last time in Tony's direction before he twists his body to face the direction he's walking in.
"Got a tip from metro on Petty Officer Rodriguez's SUV," Boss's words round the corner a split second before he does, just barely allowing Tim to avoid slamming into Gibbs as they attempt to negotiate the same turn.
Boss reaches out and grabs Tim's bicep, turning McGee to walk in the same direction as he is. "Let's go, McGee."
Tim raises his eyebrows, dropping his shoulder to look at Boss just behind him.
Gibbs smirks, "You can sign your paperwork with the realtor on the way back to the Yard," he promises, offering a quick pat to the shoulder as he does. "Congratulations, Tim."
Tim ducks his head and grins, nearly feeling his eyelashes skim his cheeks as he blinks. "Thanks, Boss." The two men walk through their area of the bullpen hurriedly, and Tim just catches Tony's eye as they pass him. He offers his partner a smile, hoping the other man can see the layers of promises within it. When Tony smiles back, Tim's certain that he can.