Week twenty-three

"You're up early." Chris Wood watched his husband roll out of bed after a quick kiss.

"Our new lovebirds are looking for good books to get them started in the bedroom. Thought I'd surprise them."

"Oh, good idea, but why stop at just the books?" When Trevor turned, Chris gave him a wicked grin. "Remember the gift basket Isabel bought for Tommy and Eric?"

Trevor returned the grin. "Perfect, do you know where she got it?"

Chris was already reaching for the phone. "I will in just a minute."

-NCIS-

"Here you go, Dr. Ryan. Here's the ID you requested."

Samantha Ryan took the stack. Driver's license, State Medical Board, Federal Employee ID and three credit cards, all with her picture and the name Dr. Rachel Cranston. She smiled up at the new intern, too green to know if something was wrong and too scared to ask questions. "Perfect. Now you go up to Baltimore and have a wonderful day with your girlfriend. Take my van. Just be sure to bundle up, the heater's not all that good and it's kind of chilly this morning."

Keys in hand, he hurried out and she watched him put on his heavy coat and cap. Finally alone, she swapped out the fake ID for her real ones, putting the real ones in her pocket next to the cell blocker. "All right, Jethro, it's time I met your little man."

-NCIS-

"You all set?" Gibbs finished his coffee and set his plate in the sink before refilling Tim's juice glass.

Tim was enjoying the breakfast Gibbs had fixed for them. "Yep, Rachel is coming after lunch so that gives me the entire morning to research and shop."

"Good. Make sure you get yourself some more of those bikini briefs, too."

"Yeah?" The ex-girlfriend had given him several pairs. They were much more comfortable than traditional briefs and lately boxers always felt like they were going to slide down if he moved wrong, but Tim was pretty sure Jethro's interest was a little less practical. "You liked those, didn't you?"

Gibbs stepped behind Tim and bent to kiss the back of his neck before nibbling on his ear. "Other than Thanksgiving dinner at Ducky's, we've got a four day weekend coming up where we don't have to do anything. Make sure they're here in time and I'll show you exactly how much I like them."

"Overnight shipping it is."

-NCIS-

Gently shooing her last patient of the morning out the door, Rachel turned to her receptionist. "All right, I'm out of here. I've got my session with Agent McGee and then that's it for the week. Enjoy your holiday, Jennifer."

The petite psychology student gave her mentor a smile. "I will, Dr. Cranston, thank you. Have you got big plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Just my husband, the kids and a twenty-seven pound turkey. I'll be cooking all day Wednesday."

"Wow, well, I suspect you'll be eating turkey sandwiches for all of next week, then."

"Did I mention my kids?" Still laughing, Rachel went down to the parking lot. She was halfway into her car before she realized it was sitting at an odd angle. Walking around, she found the cause – a flat, right front tire. Grumbling, she called back up to her office. "Jennifer? I've got a flat tire. Would you call road service for me? Oh, and find out how long they're going to be. I might take a cab to my appointment if it'll take too long."

Sure thing, Dr. Cranston.

-NCIS-

As much as Tim loved the attention and the closeness he'd been getting from Jethro, spending the morning bouncing between shopping and gaming had been fun, but he'd needed to scramble a bit to have his lunch finished before Rachel arrived. Pleased with his purchases, he put the laptop away and padded into the kitchen to heat up some of the leftover lasagna.

-NCIS-

Cassie Yates was on guard duty in the front of the house when a black sedan pulled up. She waited for the driver to shut off the engine before approaching with a smile. "Hi, could I see some ID?"

Smoky blue eyes looked back at her as the window slid down. "Of course. You know, I don't think I've seen you here before. I'm a little early for my session with Timothy and hoping he doesn't mind. I've got a lot of cooking to do before Thursday."

Looking over the ID, everything appeared to be in order. She'd heard that Tim's therapist would be coming by that day. "I'm sure it won't be a problem, Dr. Cranston. I'll walk you up." She waited while the doctor locked up her car and then they walked up onto the porch.

Cassie punched in the code and opened the door. "Tim, your doctor's here." She could hear his voice from the kitchen.

"Thanks, send her in. I'm just finishing up my lunch."

Ryan gave what she hoped looked like a sincere smile to Cassie as the agent turned to return to her post. "Thank you so much, Agent Yates."

-NCIS-

Tim was just finished the last of his lunch when he heard Cassie. Picking up his plate he answered her as he moved toward the sink. "Thanks, send her in. I'm just finishing up my lunch."

Chuckling to himself over how Rachel would react to his expanding shape not hidden away, he called out as he heard footsteps across the living room. "I'm just grabbing some juice. You want anything?"

"Some juice sounds wonderful, thank you."

He spun at the unfamiliar voice to find a strange woman standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He may not have met her before, but her picture had come up repeatedly in his research for the case. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Now, now, Timothy – can I call you Tim? Is that any way to greet a guest?" She smiled and stepped closer and he subtly took a step to the side, putting him nearer the knife drawer.

"My friends call my Tim. You can call me Agent McGee, Dr. Ryan, and you're not exactly an invited guest, are you?"

She pouted, but he didn't believe the sincerity for a moment. "What? We can't be friends? I'd like to be your friend."

"Because friends always break into each other's houses. Why don't I believe you?"

"I didn't break in. Your guard just opened the door and let me in. After all, I have such a trustworthy face."

"And damned good fake ID, I bet."

"Well," she shrugged with a half smile. "There was that, too."

"I see. So, where is Rachel?"

"Having car trouble, I believe. I thought I'd fill in for you – so you wouldn't miss a session, after all. I must admit, you're much bigger than I expected, but then a man's body really isn't designed for that, is it?"

Feeling like he was trapped in a cage with a cobra, Tim leaned against the counter and watched her carefully. "My body is managing just fine. Now, what do you really want?"

"I just want to talk."

-NCIS-

"Take Miss Banks into Interrogation Room 1 and put Mitchell into room 2." When Ziva and Tony took their two suspects into their respective interrogation rooms, Vance shook his head at Gibbs.

"You're serious? She did that to her own father for the money? Most girls her age are still trying to figure out how to get their fathers to loan them the family car."

"Yeah." Gibbs was ready to wash his hands of the whole, sordid mess. "I'll just be glad to send this case to the DA. Let him deal with them." Anything else he might have said was interrupted by his cell phone. "Gibbs."

Jethro, it's Rachel. I'm running late and I tried to call Tim to let him know, but there's no answer.

Gibbs frowned at that. "How long ago?"

The last time I tried was about fifteen minutes ago.

"I'll take care of it, Rachel."

Becoming alarmed, Gibbs was already moving toward the stairs, Vance at his heels, as he disconnected and called Cassie. "Yates, Tim's not answering his phone."

Probably because he was having his session with his therapist, Gibbs.

"No, his therapist just called that she's running late. Who in the hell is in there with him?"

I'm... I don't know. She just left.

Gibbs could hear her running into the house and calling for McGee before she came back on the line.

He seems to be all right, Gibbs, but he's just sitting there. He's not answering me.

Gibbs didn't answer either, just jumped in the car and burned rubber out the parking lot.

-NCIS-

Cassie was standing on the porch, wringing her hands as Gibbs arrived. "I'm so, so sorry, Gibbs. Her ID said Dr. Cranston and she even apologized for being early. She said she was hoping to get started on cooking for Thanksgiving."

The Director's SUV pulled up to the curb and Vance jumped out of the back seat in time to hear what was said. "Describe her, Agent Yates."

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Cassie rattled off what she remembered. "Umm, about my height, thin, short gray hair, dark blue eyes, commanding presence. She knew what she was doing, even commented that I was new on the detail."

Vance could tell that Gibbs wanted blood from Ryan. "I'll deal with her, you take care of Tim."

Gibbs nodded, the side of his jaw twitching. "This is strike two for that woman, Leon. I don't care how important she thinks she is." He glared at Vance a second longer before going in the house. On the porch, Yates turned back to the Director.

"I take full responsibility for this, Director Vance. I didn't catch that the ID she showed me was fake and I didn't walk inside with her. If I had..."

"That ID was as good or better than any we put together for an undercover assignment, I guarantee you. We've all been underestimating her since she first came aboard the Yard." Vance understood how upset Gibbs was, but technically protocol hadn't been broken. Just twisted by someone who knew their way around the system. "Give Gibbs a few days to calm down and try not to take it too personally in the meantime."

"Yes, Sir. It's just that Tim is my friend and I feel like I let him down."

"I know, Cassie, I know."

-NCIS-

Gibbs heard the discussion on the porch as he closed the door, but his attention was on the figure sitting on the sofa. Quietly he crept in, but speaking softly before he sat down as to not startle the pregnant man. "Tim, did she hurt you?"

Tim gave a shake of his head, but didn't utter a sound.

"Did she touch you?"

Another silent shake of the head, but this time Gibbs lifted the down-turned face to look him in the eye. "She's messing with your head because she's fixated on me. Apparently since I didn't fall to the floor in awe of her womanhood, I'm a challenge." That got a trace of a smile. "Don't let her get to you, Tim."

Tim stared at him for a long moment before he said anything.

"Did I trap you? Did I somehow become one of those women my father always warned me about? I've looked at other guys over the years and thought about it, but you're straight." Tim shook his head. "I don't want you to regret being with me, to think that you have to have sex with me to be a father to our son."

Wanting to stop that train of thought, Gibbs pressed his finger against Tim's lips while he thought through how to get his point across. Words had never been his strong suit, so he decided on a more hands on approach and pulled Tim to his feet. He needed a mirror and the only full length one was in the upstairs bathroom.

Tim obediently let himself be led upstairs, only giving Jethro a questioning look when they went into the bathroom and closed the door. Gibbs turned him to face the mirror mounted on the door and pulled Tim's t-shirt off as he watched him in the mirror. Next came the pants and he carefully helped Tim balance as he stepped out of them. Once Tim was standing in front of the mirror in nothing but the black bikini, Gibbs let his fingers trail up and down the sides of Tim's belly. Only then did he start to speak. "She tried to convince you that this is all I see when I look at you, didn't she? That eventually, after the baby is here and you look like you again, I'll be repulsed by the idea that I'm sleeping with a man.

Biting his lip as he heard the words in Gibbs' voice, Tim nodded but didn't say anything.

Gibbs moved even closer, his lips brushing against Tim's ear as he talked. "When my dad was here, I told him I was straight. He said that no one was totally straight and then he told me about a kid I went to school with, that he came out last year. You know what I told him?"

Another silent answer, but this time it was a shake of the head.

"I told him that Marty had been wearing women's underwear since he was twelve so I'm not so sure he was ever really in the closet. Now, how do you think I knew that?"

This time realization made the green eyes grow larger.

Gibbs had a far away look in his eyes as he remembered. "Small town back then, if anyone ever asked you, you were straight and any experimenting you did was just that. It was an experiment. You got it out of your system and then found a nice girl that would give you babies.

"Yeah, we were only twelve, but he was my first kiss. When we were thirteen, he was my first hand job and at fourteen, he gave me my first blowjob. We never went any further than that, but it wasn't because I found it repulsive. It was a little town filled with busybodies and it wasn't worth the risk. Then I discovered women and eventually Shannon." Gibbs' left hand moved down to stroke Tim's cock through the silky fabric while his right one circled his belly.

"I loved her, you know that, but part of why I loved her was that she was the strongest woman I'd ever met. Strong, determined and knew what she wanted out of life. If it weren't for the fact that she was a beautiful woman with long hair, the bigots in town would have accused her of being a lesbian. Some of them did call her a dyke behind her back."

"Because she stood up for herself?"

"Thirty years ago in Stillwater, that was unheard of. You know, she's the one that taught me the rules. Her first rule was never date a lumberjack."

"Guess it's a good thing I'm not a lumberjack."

"Sure is. After Shannon, I stuck with women for the same reasons. Small towns and the Corps back then, there really wasn't that much difference. I never met a man that was worth the risk, not until you. But you're worth the risk and with you, I get it all."

Gibbs touched Tim's chest, circling his fingers around one nipple, feeling the thickening tissue beneath. "I get this." His other hand was still stroking Tim's cock but now he tugged the fabric down, letting the organ pop free as he watched in the mirror. "And I get this. Plus I get the pleasure of loving a pregnant body, but I know you're still a man and I promise I'm not forgetting that. Okay?"

It was without a doubt the longest speech he'd ever heard from Gibbs. "Okay." Tilting his head up, Tim wrapped his arms up around Gibbs' neck and kissed his lips, the first time he'd been the one to initiate more than a simple peck. "I'm yours and you're mine."

"Exactly. Ryan will never understand that, but that's her own ego talking."

"She did seem to think that all she had to do was snap her fingers at you." Tim was still nibbling on his lips, but there was a smile threatening to burst out behind it as he rubbed his ass against Jethro's groin.

"Yep, and she's the kind that will just keep snapping those finger, expecting me to jump. She probably won't get it until she catches us making out behind the bleachers at Junior's high school graduation." Gibbs gently turned Tim until they were looking each other in the eye instead of watching their reflections. "You all right now?"

"Yeah." Tim let himself be pulled into a hug, melting in the strong arms. "Don't kill Cassie, okay? She really thought it was Rachel." When Gibbs hesitated Tim grazed his fingers across his stomach and then lower, the worried look from earlier being replaced by something more playful. Gibbs grinned back at him

"You gonna make it worth my while?"

"We've got a four day weekend coming up, right?"

"Oh, yeah."