AN: OK, so I know there's not actually any place to eat near the Navy Yard. But TPTB apparently think there are lots of takeout places in the area, so I'm going along with canon rather than reality. :)
Chapter 46
Tony poured coffee into a travel mug the next morning.
"Tim! Coffee's ready." He inhaled the aroma as he heard Tim clatter down the stairs. "Autopsy Gremlin's got good taste in coffee. This stuff smells great."
Tim snagged one of the blueberry muffins from the box Palmer had left for them. "Who would have figured Palmer would be the next one to find out?"
Tony poured another mug of coffee and handed it to him. "Ducky has to know. No way Palmer figures it out before him."
"I'm just surprised he told us. Even if he didn't do it to our face." Tim sniffed the coffee and smiled, then drank.
"Gibbs." Tony had been thinking about it since they had gotten home to find the breakfast gift waiting for them. "Palmer saw me in the gym. Gibbs called you to get me out of there. You know Palmer must have told Gibbs what I was doing. He probably blurted something out and tried to backtrack, and Gibbs told him to just tell us."
Tim cocked his head as if the physical action was jump-starting the McBrain. After a few seconds, he said, "That sounds like Palmer. Gibbs always has him stumbling over his words. Wonder how he figured it out?"
"Does it matter?" Tony crammed the rest of a muffin in his mouth, a few crumbs spilling down his shirt.
Tim snorted and brushed away the crumbs from Tony's chest. "Would it really have hurt you to take two bites instead of trying to prove you can stick more than just your foot in there?" He ducked as Tony reached over to head-slap him. "No, it doesn't matter. But if Ducky doesn't know, you know Palmer's going to spill the beans at some point."
Tony just nodded as he chewed, trying to finish so he could tell Tim-
"Don't worry, I'll let Palmer know we appreciate breakfast and his note, and warn him not to let Sacks know. I'm pretty sure we're just on the right side of the nepotism rules, but I don't want to put that to the test. And Sacks is so by-the-book, he'd be the first to make a fuss. Of course, since Palmer saw you beating up the defenseless punching bag last night, he's probably already figured that out."
Tony rolled his eyes and swallowed. "Should I be worried that you can read my mind now?"
"After learning how to anticipate Gibbs, figuring you out is easy. Just don't ask me to read Abby's."
Tony snorted. "If you can't read her mind, nobody can. You're the only one who can even understand her most of the time."
"True." Tim looked at the clock. "You're going to be late for your appointment with Brad if you don't get going."
"Yeah, yeah. On my way, McTimex. I'll call when I'm done at Bethesda and fill you in." He could feel the tension building in his shoulders already, wondering what Brad would say.
"Hey," Tim said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be OK. Brad will have a better treatment for you to try, and Gibbs will have scared Sacks into submission by the time you make it back to the Navy Yard."
Tony took a deep breath. "OK. Let's plan to go running after work." He refused to believe Brad would keep him from running. It just wasn't going to happen. And if he acted like it wouldn't, planned his day like it wouldn't, maybe the universe would listen to him for once and Brad would have good news for him. He picked up his travel mug, kissed Tim and headed out.
This was his first time driving to Bethesda from their new home. The traffic wasn't bad, but he thought with a little exploration, he could take a couple of back roads and cut the time down. Even so, he reached Brad's office about 15 minutes early, but the doctor was already there.
"You're early today, Tony. Gibbs got you on a hot case?" Brad looked up from his seat behind the desk and motioned the agent in.
"Hot case, but I'm early because I didn't know how long it would take to get here from the new place," he said, dropping into a chair. "Not as long as I thought, obviously."
"You guys all moved in?"
"Moved in. Moved out, too. At least out of the closet."
At Brad's surprised look, he explained. "Gibbs, Ziva, and Palmer all told us they know."
"They're OK with it?"
Tony nodded. "Gibbs actually thinks we're good for each other. I think he and Tim's dad are bonding."
Brad laughed. "I've never met a family quite as unorthodox as yours, but it seems to work."
"So far." Tony thought of Gibbs' words. "Now as long as Abby gets the hint."
"Abby?" Brad paused, furrowing his brow. "Oh, your forensic scientist, the goth."
"And Tim's old girlfriend. Gibbs and Ziva think she wants him back." Tony groaned. "Why is my life never simple?"
"Says the man who survived a medieval disease because his boss ordered him not to die." Brad snorted. "You'd be bored stiff with a simple life."
"Good point." Tony took a deep breath. "OK, Brad, spit it out. What's the word?"
"First, we'll add some more tests to the ones we do every week," Brad said. "The ones I ran last time gave me a sense of how the steroids were affecting your lungs, but I want to expand on that. I also want a better idea of how being on for a week and off for a week worked." He frowned. "To be honest, Tony, I'm flying a little blind here. You're coming to me at a much earlier point than most of the sailors and Marines I work with, so a lot of the usual risk/reward tradeoffs don't apply to you. I don't want to handicap you in the field with side effects from the treatment, but I don't want to hold back so much that you end up losing your field clearance anyway."
Tony nodded. "I don't want that either. But if you'd kept me on that stupid prednisone, it wouldn't have mattered. If I hadn't driven Tim to kill me, Ziva or Gibbs would have. I was grumpier than Gibbs has ever been."
"I saw him during the plague. I think I get it."
"Oh no, he's been much worse. That was pissed Gibbs. Grumpy Gibbs is a whole different story. When I had the plague, he had a solid lead to investigate, and he had a goal — to find an antidote for the plague before it killed me. Even though it turned out there wasn't one to be found. But the year before that, a terrorist infiltrated NCIS, and Gibbs didn't know who he was or how to find out who he was and was grumpier than a bear with a sore tooth. The day McGee figured out who Ari was, I suggested Gibbs needed to watch Moby Dick. I thought he was going to pitch me off the stairs."
"Ari?"
"That was his name. He's the bastard who killed Kate. Turns out he was Ziva's half brother."
Brad massaged his temples. "Did I say unorthodox? You left unorthodox three exits back."
"You don't really think any normal people could handle working for Gibbs, do you? Before me, only one agent had ever lasted more than a few months with Gibbs, and that was Stan Burley. He stuck it out for five years before he decided he didn't want to spend as much money on antacids as he did on food. I've been with the Boss for nine years, Tim for six and Ziva for five. And none of us is going anywhere." Tony frowned. "Well, as long as Tim and I don't screw things up and get him sent to CyberCrimes." At Brad's look of confusion, he explained Gibbs' ultimatum. "We'd still rather be together than work together if we have to choose, but we'd rather not have it come to that." He sighed. "Of course we won't have to worry about that if I get my field status yanked."
"Now I know why Gibbs head-slaps you," Brad said. "I'm not going to let you lose your field status." He pulled a paper from out of a file. "This is the information on a breathing therapy I want you to do. It's going to be some pretty intense work — it's not going to feel good, and you might finish some sessions as wiped out as if you had just finished chasing a suspect, so you might be better off scheduling it for later in the day. I've already talked with a corpsman who's trained in this type of work, and he knows the situation. The good news is he splits his time among here, Anacostia, and the Navy Yard, so you can schedule your sessions for the two days a week he's at the Navy Yard. If Gibbs has any questions, he can call me. Tim, too."
"Thanks, Brad. And thanks from both of us for taking Sean on as a patient. Tim's still worried about him, but I think the whole family feels more confident knowing you're the one taking care of him. Me, too."
Brad smiled. "Thanks, Tony. I'll do my best."
"I know." He stood. "Come on, let's get these tests over with so I can get back to chasing dirtbags."
He finished the tests and drove back to the Navy Yard, calling Tim to let him know how things went on the way. After their discussion earlier that morning, he was curious if Ducky knew about them. He decided the new breathing therapy was as good a reason as any to stop by Autopsy and see the medical examiner, maybe drop a few hints and see if he picked up on them.
"Ahh, Anthony. To what do I owe the honor?" Ducky asked as he walked in.
"Brad's got me seeing a corpsman for some breathing therapy twice a week, but those are days the guy is stationed here at the Yard, so at least I'm not trekking to Bethesda even more. I wanted to show you the information he gave me, figured you should stick a copy in my file."
Tony boosted himself up on one of the empty tables. "I think Tim's just glad he didn't put me back on the prednisone. I was not fun to live with that week."
Ducky nodded. "I rather wondered about that." As his kettle whistled, he turned to shut off the hot plate. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"I think I can spare some time," Tony said. "Tim said Sacks was in the bullpen, mask in place, but I'd rather not deal with him. I'll just let Tim know I'm back in case Gibbs is looking for me." He punched in Back. W/Ducky & tea. Think he knows - confirming and sent the text.
He slid off the table and wheeled a chair over to the metal table Ducky was using for his tea supplies. He waited for the medical examiner to pour a cup.
"Things are working out in your new home?" Ducky asked after a sip of the steaming Earl Gray.
"Better than I thought, actually," Tony said. "I'd stayed at Tim's enough before that we were kind of used to sharing space, but it's different living together than one of us staying over." He paused and looked at the older man.
Ducky chuckled. "You're not very subtle, my dear boy. But since you are not inclined to ask, yes, I had figured out that you and Timothy have developed a deeper relationship. I rather think it has done you both good."
Tony smiled, thinking of Tim. "Thanks, Ducky. You know, you're the first one who hasn't come by the house to tell us you know. Gibbs stopped by with Chinese on Sunday and an offer to help us move Tim's furniture into our bedroom. Ziva brought pizza by Monday, and Palmer left coffee and muffins, along with a note, on the doorknob last night."
Ducky held out his tea cup. "Perhaps I should invite Timothy down to join us for tea, since sharing food along with the news seems to be rather the order of the day. Of course, you came to me."
"After Ziva came by Monday, we talked it over and decided we weren't going to actively hide anymore. Vance and Abby are the only ones who either don't know yet or haven't told us they know." He looked at his phone as it beeped. Sacks on rampage - stay put. Who's next, Vance or Abby?
Tony sighed. "Tim says Sacks is on a tear. Mind if I hide out here for a while?"
"Not at all. It will give me a chance to satisfy my curiosity. However did you and Timothy manage to keep this a secret? I don't think any of us realized you were together until recently."
Before Tony could answer, Gibbs walked in.
"Hey, Boss," Tony said. "Tim told me Sacks was pissed, so I figured I'd stay out of firing range until he simmers down."
Gibbs nodded. "Good thinking. Fornell is up with Vance, but he'll be back soon. He better get Sacks under control."
"Jethro, just what is Agent Sacks thinking? I've never known anybody not to back down when you turn your considerable ire upon them."
Gibbs glared. "Sacks doesn't seem to know how to take a hint. Almost ready to call in Leon."
Tony set his tea cup down. "The director? Great. Like having Sacks on my case isn't bad enough."
"Vance will be more than happy to have an excuse to take the FBI down a peg. He's not going to give you a hard time. About anything. He knows better." Gibbs said. "Just be careful. Sacks finds out about you and McGee, I might have to let Ziva kill him."
"I didn't realize Agent Sacks was homophobic," Ducky said.
"Don't think he is, Duck. Definitely DiNozzo-phobic though. Don't understand, but don't want him making trouble. Vance can look the other way on the nepotism regs if he doesn't officially know about DiNozzo and McGee dating. Sacks starts mouthing off at the Hoover building, and Vance has a lot fewer options. Not letting an FBI agent with a grudge break up my best team because he files a complaint, and Vance ends up with the wrong government HR flunky making a ruling about whether two of the best agents in the agency can keep their heads in the game if they're in the field together."
Tony finished his tea and headed upstairs, tying his mask on as he went. He came around the back way, hoping to sneak in the bullpen. Instead, he could hear Sacks and Fornell at the bottom of the stairs.
"Sacks, you need to stop mouthing off. This is a joint case, and if you can't work with them, I'm taking you off it," Fornell said. "This isn't your first time with NCIS. They're not your typical ARMFED. Stop expecting them to be and stop pissing Gibbs off, and everything will be fine."
"OK, Fornell. I'll ease off. I don't want to give David an excuse to kill me. She's got this thing for DiNozzo, jumps on me if she even thinks I've said anything about him she doesn't like. It's kind of creepy. But not as creepy as the freaky lab goth. You ever see her and McGee together? That has to be the oddest couple I've ever seen..."
Fornell snorted. "In comparison to them, David and DiNozzo look pretty normal."
Tony smacked his head lightly against the wall and decided to stop this conversation before Sacks said something about Abby that would force Tony to hurt him.
"Toby, Toby," he admonished as he walked up. "Are you really sure you want to go there? I mean, you did marry Gibbs' ex-wife."
"DiNozzo," Fornell said. "Agent Sacks here was just telling me what a pleasure it was to work with NCIS."
Tony grinned, knowing they couldn't see it behind the mask. "Glad to hear it, Sacks. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do. I'm sure McBrain and Gibbs have all the angles figured out for tomorrow night, so I need to find out what's going on before the McGees show up."
He sauntered off to the bullpen, where he joined Ziva in tracking down known associates of the men they suspected were involved with the earlier kidnappings, while Tim continued trying to trace cell phone signals. Gibbs had exiled Fornell and Sacks to the conference room again to go through all the earlier kidnappings for clues. The boxes of more than 50 cases from six different local LEOs filled the table and half the back corner of the room.
A few hours later, Abby and Palmer walked into the bullpen with sandwiches from the deli near the Navy Yard. They dropped them on Tony's desk. "Come on, guys," Palmer said. "Lunch is on us. You guys deserve a treat after dealing with Sacks all week. Dr. Mallard was meeting Dr. Hampton for lunch, but we have food for the rest of us."
"You, too, Gibbs," Abby said, motioning for the team leader to join them. "Tim, we picked up a couple of sandwiches for your parents, too."
"Thanks, Abbs," Tim said, looking at his watch. "They should be here soon." As soon as he said it, his phone rang.
When he got off the phone, he wheeled his chair over to Tony's desk. "They're here. Security is bringing them up."
Abby handed him a sandwich. The six team members crowded around Tony's desk and began talking about the upcoming op.
"Tony, I didn't realized you still played piano," Abby said. "I thought you only took lessons as a kid because your mother made you."
Tony shrugged. "She did. They stuck after a while. I just like to play around at night on the keyboard, nothing fancy."
"Don't listen to him," Tim said. "He's really good. I'd rather listen to him than my jazz recordings."
"Not that you're biased or anything," Tony retorted.
"Hey, at least the first time you guys host a party, you'll have entertainment all taken care of," Palmer said.
"I would love to hear you play," Ziva said. "My training was all in classical pieces. I have learned that listening to jazz and blues is quite a different experience."
"I'm no performer," Tony said. "This is just for the op. We'll have you guys over sometime, but the entertainment will probably be movies."
The McGees were escorted to the bullpen just then. Gibbs got up and pulled two chairs over to Tim's desk for them, and Abby handed them sandwiches as everybody exchanged greetings.
"We'll get to the wires after lunch," Abby said. "I have everything right here." She tapped a bag she had slung over the back of her chair.
Gibbs moved his chair to sit with the McGees, and Tony smiled as the group divided itself between the two desks. "I guess this is the kids' table," he said.
Everybody but Ziva started laughing. "I do not understand."
"At big family gatherings, the whole family doesn't always fit at one table," Abby said. "Mine never did, not with all my aunts and uncles and cousins. So they would set up a table in another room for the kids to sit at."
"Tim always hated the kids' table," Eileen said. "He said it was more fun to talk to the adults."
"That sounds like our McGenius," Tony said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.
"I didn't mind the games after dinner," Tim said. "I just liked talking with the adults better than Sarah and my cousins, because they were all girls."
Tony smirked, but held back on the comments that came to mind. He'd just give Tim a hard time at home that night.
"What kind of games?" Ziva asked.
"We used to play board games once the table was cleared," Tim said. "Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Sorry, Mousetrap. When I got older, we played Scrabble."
"No Monopoly?" Palmer said. "That was my favorite."
"Took too long," Tim said. "We played Perfection sometimes, but the buzzer always scared Sarah."
"Oh, she's so going to kill you when I tell her you told us all that," Abby said. "My favorite game was Twister."
"Of course." Tim, Tony and Palmer all spoke at once. Ziva, once again, looked confused.
"I do not know these games," she said.
"We should do a game night," Palmer said.
"Oh, that would rock," Abby said. "Timmy, Tony, you guys could host it. If we all bring some food and the games we have, it wouldn't be any trouble."
Tony looked at Tim, who shrugged. "Sure. I've got Monopoly somewhere. That was the only game my father ever approved of."
"I've got Clue and Scrabble, I think," Tim said.
"We've got a few you can borrow," Sean called over. "No Twister, though."
"Oh, I have Twister," Abby said. "Scruples, too."
Tony waggled his eyebrows. "With this bunch of unscrupulous characters? We'd be better off playing Truth or Dare."
"No," Tim said. "Not a chance."
"I'm with McGee on this one," Palmer said. "I don't trust Tony or Abby with either Truth or Dare."
Thinking it over, Tony decided Truth or Dare probably wasn't a good option. Once Abby figured them out, god only knew what she would dare him and Tim to do.
"OK, so game night it is," Tony said. "Next free night."
"Which isn't going to be tomorrow," Gibbs said. "If you're lucky, you might get Saturday night."
"I think it's time for me to head back down to Autopsy," Palmer said, crumpling his sandwich wrapper and tossing it in the trash.
Within a few minutes, they had cleaned up from lunch, and Abby had spread her kit on the end of Gibbs' desk. She passed eyeglasses to the three agents, then pulled out a necklace with a big pendant of multicolored glass and metal.
"Mrs. McGee, this necklace has a little video transmitter in the pendant," she said. "It will send a video feed back to the tech van, where Gibbs and an FBI agent will be monitoring everything." She pointed to the spy glasses, and Tony put his on.
"We'll have these," he said. "They also have video feeds to the van. We'll also have earwigs, which means Gibbs, Tim, Ziva, and I will be able to communicate with one another."
Tim picked up the explanation. "Our team's going to be exchanging information. Mom and Dad, you're not going to be in the loop for the audio, so there'll be times when what we say isn't going to make sense to you."
"I've seen some surveillance operations from the background," Sean said. "I have an idea of what the conversation will be like."
Gibbs nodded. "Three goals. Get video of as much as possible. Might spot the dirtbag that way. Also, watch and listen for clues. Finally, prevent another abduction." He pointed at the necklace. "This will help with video. You're also going to help by giving us a cover. Keep the conversation normal. Just your son and a friend coming to watch his roommate perform. That way it's OK if somebody recognizes McGee. Anything starts happening though, duck and cover."
"We understand, Gibbs," Sean said. "Now, you and Tony mentioned something about us practicing?"
Tony nodded. "It takes practice to not react to the earwig audio so we don't tip people off. You and Eileen don't need to worry about that, but you do need to be comfortable with the way the conversation is going to go and not get thrown when Tim and Ziva start feeding information to the team or answering our questions as though it's part of the conversation you're having at the table."
"We'll use Gibbs' desk as our table," Tim said. "Abby and Gibbs will sit around the corner like they're working tech in the van. Tony will pretend he's playing the piano at his desk."
They set up as planned, earwigs and video equipment in place.
Tony pretended to start playing the piano. "We've got quite a crowd tonight," he said, winking at Ziva. He pulled out his lounge lizard mask and started flirting with the imaginary audience. "I'm Tony, and I'll be breaking your heart with my music tonight. Yes, even you, you lovely ladies in the corner."
"Zee, that looks like your friend Rachel in the corner there. Was tonight her sister's birthday party?" Tim said, getting into his role.
"The six women by the fireplace? No, I do not think so."
"Good work. Watch for anybody who approaches them," Gibbs said. "McGee, can your mother move so her camera is focused on them?"
"Mom, why don't you trade places with me so you can sit next to Dad," Tim said, shifting out of his seat.
"OK, Tim." Eileen sounded confused, but she didn't ask or hesitate as she changed seats. "Oh, this is a much better view of the stage, too."
"Dad, why don't we go get drinks," Tim said.
"A gin and tonic for me," Eileen said.
"My usual please," Ziva added.
Tim got up and led the way to Ziva's desk, the "bar."
"Two gin and tonics, two club sodas with lime," he said, then turned slightly as though he was scanning the room.
"McGee, go back. Who's that standing behind the table of women?"
"Dad, you were right, this is a nice place," Tim said. "They treat the regulars well, too. The waiter over there seemed to know you when he took our orders."
"Yes. Yes, Will is a good guy. He just started a couple of months ago, but he always remembers our favorites off the menu." Sean mimed taking two of the "drinks" Tim handed him and they walked back. Tim looped past Tony's "piano" and by his desk before leading the way back to their "table."
"Good work, McGee. Abby's isolating and running facial recognition now," Gibbs said. "OK, rehearsal over." He and Abby returned to the bullpen.
Tony pulled his earwig out and took off the glasses, watching as Tim and Ziva did the same so Abby could pack them up. "Good work, Sean and Eileen," he said. "You did a pretty good job of running with things."
"I didn't realized we had started when Tim asked me to switch seats," Eileen said. "But then when I thought about what you had said, and then what Tim said to Ziva, I figured it out. After that, it was easier to follow."
"Did good, Sean," Gibbs said. "Picked right up on McGee's cue about the waiter."
"After Tony and Tim's comments, I figured that anything club-related was probably part of the op," Sean said, leaning against Tim's desk. "It took me a second to figure out what to say, but I knew Tim was trying to flag something about the waiter. Well, the imaginary waiter."
Ziva nodded. "It will not be as difficult tomorrow because we will actually be seeing this take place. It is perhaps more challenging to stroll with the punches when you cannot see what is going on."
"Roll, Ziva," Tony said. "But you're right, being in the actual nightclub will help."
"DiNozzo's right," Gibbs said. "This was practice. Tomorrow night's the real test. We'll meet at your house at 6."
Sean nodded. "We'll be ready."
He and Eileen turned to leave, Eileen hugging first Tim, then Tony as they left. For once, Tony felt his ears flame instead of watching Tim's change color. He'd never understood why his friends got embarrassed when their parents showed affection in public. He would have given anything for his mom to be alive to embarrass him, or his father to care enough to show affection. But getting hugged at work? He got it now. It was nice, and he was glad Eileen thought of him like that since he wasn't planning on going anywhere. But it was definitely embarrassing.
