Chapter 51
"So...Agent McGee...what caused you and Gibbs to take up the elevator for so long yesterday?" Tony asked with exaggerated care.
Tim looked at Tony and glanced at Ziva. Tony was looking at him, but Ziva was pretending to stare at her computer screen...and she was obviously listening with interest.
"We...were talking."
"About what?"
"Stuff," Tim said with a smile.
"What stuff? And how did it turn out?"
"It turned out...okay. Gibbs and I are...on a more even keel now than we were before. We just needed to discuss it a bit. We did. Things are better. Not perfect...but better."
"Nothing is perfect," Ziva said, giving up her pretense of working. "Nothing is ever perfect."
"I'm beginning to see that," Tim said ruefully.
"You've got to have known that already," Tony said.
"Yeah...sure."
"You don't sound very sure."
"Maybe I'm not. Doesn't matter. I've started seeing it if I hadn't before."
"Sounds good to me," Ziva said. "It is a good thing to know. I am glad of it. We are not perfect."
"Neither am I," Tim said.
"And you know what? That's okay, too," Tony said.
"Yeah."
"And Abby's not perfect, either," Tony said, after hesitating for a moment.
Tim looked at him in surprise.
"I hope I didn't...overstep here."
"You didn't. Just wasn't what I was expecting to hear."
"Good. I don't want to stick my nose in. That was my problem in the beginning of all this. I just...wanted to point it out."
Tim nodded. "Thanks."
"So...uh...we need your help," Tony said finally...moving on from the awkward conversation.
"With what?"
"Stopping your wife from ruining Jimmy's graduation by throwing him an insane party."
Tim smiled.
"It's not funny! You didn't hear her last night, Tim!" Tony said. "She's insane!"
"I think that we must stop her from making a circus."
"A circus?"
"She's being literal," Tony said. "Abby threatened to reserve a circus...and make us...trapeze artists."
Tim laughed.
"Laugh if you like, but she was serious."
"If that's what she is thinking, I don't know if I can change her mind. I can try."
"Please, please, please try," Tony said. "I wouldn't put it past her to get the evil clown from IT!"
"She's not that bad," Tim said.
"You may be able to rein her in," Ziva said. "We are going to plan more tonight. You must come along and help."
Tim laughed again but he nodded. "I'll be there."
"Thank you!" Tony said.
Gibbs strode in and they all got to work. Tony caught Tim's eye one more time.
Thank you! he mouthed silently.
Gibbs raised his eyebrow at Tim.
Tim nodded.
That was all.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim went with Tony, Ziva and Abby to a bar after work and they talked for over an hour, arguing about what kind of a party they should throw for Jimmy. Abby wanted to go over-the-top as a way of making up for Jimmy not being able to share his good news. Tony and Ziva were insistent that they should take him out on the town, to a club or something like that. Tim suggested something tamer. Dinner or something.
"You know...perhaps we should...ask Jimmy," Ziva said finally. "Maybe he himself has a preference."
"But then it won't be a surprise!" Abby said.
"But he might actually enjoy himself. Is not that more important?"
"I guess..."
"I'm okay with asking him," Tim said, shrugging.
"I'd like it to be a surprise," Tony said, "but I guess maybe it should be Jimmy's choice. It's supposed to be his graduation."
"Then, let's call him," Tim said. "Invite him to join us and throw out his options."
"Sure!" Abby said. "Tony, call him!"
Tony widened his eyes and then nodded. He called Jimmy and invited him over to the bar without telling him why. When he arrived, they instantly told him what they were doing. He tried to tell them that they didn't need to throw him a party, but they insisted that he was going to get a party. It was just a matter of what he wanted from them. Jimmy nixed Abby's idea (she pouted), but he liked the idea of dinner...but maybe with something more than just dinner. Dinner and something more after. He said that they could surprise him on that, but nothing too crazy.
It turned into a mini party right there with Abby suggesting crazier and crazier things which turned into them all trying to one-up each other, culminating in a suggestion by Jimmy of a trip in the Vomit Comet. By the time they left, they were all laughing, not because they were drunk (they had to work the next day), but because they had been having fun.
Tim and Abby went home together and went to bed without talking much, but Tim stayed awake, as he had for the last few nights and thought about the woman he was holding in his arms. An idea began to grow in his mind, something that might or might not work but was worth trying.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Abby watched Tim as he got ready for work. There was something on his mind, and she couldn't figure out what it was. It was as if he had withdrawn but not exactly because he was focused on her...more than usual, actually. Whenever she looked at him, she found that he was already staring at her with an expression she couldn't read.
"Tim?" she asked as they were cleaning up breakfast.
He leaned in and kissed her gently.
"Ask me tonight," he said softly. "I'll tell you tonight."
"Okay. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. There are some things that I need to do today, but I'll tell you tonight."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim looked covertly around the bullpen. Tony and Ziva were out for lunch. Gibbs was...somewhere else. No one would see him go up to Vance's office. He wasn't sure if Vance would be there, but he wanted to get up there without witnesses...who would ask awkward questions he wasn't ready to answer and would probably never want to discuss in detail.
Quickly, he ran up the stairs and into the outer office.
"Hi, Pamela. Is Director Vance in?"
"Yes, Agent McGee, but he's in a meeting. Do you have an appointment."
"I don't. Is there a chance that he'll be done soon?"
"I can ask him. If he can't answer, he won't. Would you like me to?"
"Yes, please," Tim said, feeling more nervous about what he wanted to do.
"Have a seat."
Tim sat down and started bouncing one of his feet on the floor. Pamela called into Vance's office with a raised eyebrow at Tim's tic. He smiled and tried to stop fidgeting.
"Hello, Director. Agent McGee is out here and was wondering if you had time to speak with him."
"Tell him it's not urgent," Tim said quickly.
"He says it's not urgent," Pamela repeated dutifully.
There was a pause while she listened and then nodded and hung up.
"His meeting should be over in about five minutes if you'd like to wait."
Tim nodded. "I would."
"All right. How are you doing?"
"Fine," Tim said, awkwardly. He hadn't made much conversation with Pamela in the past and sitting there across from her felt weird. He didn't know what to say...so he lapsed into silence. Pamela didn't seem unsettled at all. She just went back to work and let Tim sit there. Awkwardly.
After a few awkward minutes, the door to Vance's office opened, Tim slid back on the chair, not wanting to be noticed if possible. He didn't recognize the man who came out of the office, but he dropped his eyes to the floor. For some reason, he felt like a kid in the principal's office, like he was doing something wrong...even though he knew that was silly. He saw the person walk by...or rather, he saw the shoes pass by.
"Agent McGee?"
Tim forced himself to raise his eyes.
"Director."
"Come on in."
"Thanks. It shouldn't take very long."
"That's fine."
Vance gestured and Tim hurried to go into the office.
"Have a seat."
Tim sat down with a thump and flushed.
"Why are you so nervous?" Vance asked.
"Well...I have something to ask you, and if the answer is absolutely not, I completely understand. Abby and I...in the last...year...we've missed a lot of work, and so if it's possible..."
"Ask me, first, Agent McGee," Vance said with a bit of a smile. "Then, you can let me decide."
Tim flushed again and nodded.
"Okay. What I wanted to ask is if Abby and I can take a weekend off. Friday and Saturday...and Sunday and we'd be back on Monday. I'm pretty easily replaced since I'm just one part of the team, but I know that Abby is harder."
"Don't discount your own place, Agent McGee, and Mrs. McGee has spoken with me a few times about the possibility of her training an assistant who could carry on in her absence."
"Abby said that?" Tim asked in shock.
"I may have suggested it first, but she is starting to see the wisdom in having a trained replacement. This won't help for your current request, but in the future, it will make the possibility easier to accommodate."
"Wow. I had no idea. Huh." Tim thought about it for a few seconds and the refocused. "It would be two days off since neither of us generally work on Sundays, but it would be...two days off."
"When?"
"This weekend, if it was possible. If not, then, whenever it was possible."
"This weekend won't work, but I don't see any reason why next wouldn't. Put in the request to HR, let Agent Gibbs know. If there are any questions from either of them, forward them to me."
"That's fine. Thank you."
Vance nodded and then sat down beside Tim.
"Now, can you tell me why you're making this request?"
Tim nodded. "There are a couple of reasons. When all this started, after Abby told me what she'd done, we had discussed taking some time off just to be together and start figuring things out. Obviously, that didn't happen. So we've had to figure things out another way. But there are other things that...that we need to address and I feel like it will be easier if we have some extended time alone together, away from here, no call in to work, not dealing with the others, just for a couple of days."
"Sounds like it could be a good idea."
"I hope that Abby agrees. I haven't talked to her about it yet because I wanted to make sure it was going to work."
Vance smiled. "All right. Would you two like to join us for dinner this weekend...since you won't be going on a vacation?"
Tim grinned. "I'll ask Abby about that, too."
"Good. Don't forget to submit the request. If you put it off, HR may complain enough that I'll have to give in."
"I understand. Thank you."
"Go back to work, Agent McGee."
Tim stood. "Yes, sir."
He hurried back down to the bullpen, relieved that he'd beat everyone back there. He got back to work, thinking about how he'd suggest this to Abby. He hoped she'd be happy about it, but he wanted to make it clear that it wasn't set in stone as yet.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Abby was working on a sample from Norfolk, preparing the slide, hoping to get it done quickly. She didn't want to stay late.
After she put the slide in for analysis, she watched the machine get started.
...and then she was startled by arms sliding around her waist...and a gentle kiss on her neck. She leaned back and felt Tim's familiar form. He hadn't been so...close to her in a long time.
"What's the occasion?" she asked softly.
"I wanted to ask you something."
"What's that?"
"How would you feel about taking next Friday and Saturday off and...and going somewhere by ourselves for a weekend?"
Abby wanted to turn around, but she was sure that her shock was showing on her face and she didn't want Tim to see that.
"By ourselves?"
"Just the two of us."
"Don't start singing," Abby said, starting to smile.
Tim chuckled. "I won't. I wouldn't want to inflict that on you."
"Thanks. I would love to do that...if we can."
"We can. I checked with Vance, just to be sure it would work out. Next weekend if that works for you. Jimmy's graduation party is in a few weeks. So we still have time to plan."
Abby turned around and hugged Tim tightly.
"Yes! Tim, yes! I am so excited!"
Tim let out a loud exhalation that sounded relieved. Had he really been worried she'd say no?
"So where are we going?"
"I thought we could figure that out together."
Abby pulled back and smiled.
"That sounds great."
"Oh, and Leon invited us to dinner this weekend."
"Okay."
Tim hugged her tightly. He took a breath.
"I do love you, Abby."
"And I love you."
