Cassie stared at the second set of ID for Dr. Cranston she'd seen today. Her gut was telling her that this was actually the right one, but she still had her doubts. "Can you wait a moment while I confirm this?"
"Confirm what? Just what happened today?"
"Well, you're the second Dr. Cranston we've had today."
"The second...? Samantha."
"Yeah." Cassie had called for Dorneget to join them from the back of the house. When he appeared, he recognized Rachel right away.
"Hey, Dr. Cranston, I'm sure glad you finally made it."
"Ned." Rachel gave him a nod while Cassie returned her identification. "Is Tim all right? I can't imagine Sam trying to physically hurt him, but I'm sure she caused enough problems."
"More than enough." This time Cassie walked into the house with the doctor and called out. "Gibbs, Tim, the real Dr. Cranston is here."
-NCIS-
Tim was just unbuckling Gibbs' belt when they heard Cassie call out. "Crap."
Gibbs couldn't help but laugh. "I swear our lives are one big interruption. I'll stall them while you get dressed."
He was halfway to the door when Tim realized what they'd been doing. "Jethro, your belt."
Gibbs looked down at the partially undone belt before grinning at Tim and leaving it that way as he went downstairs, making a show of buckling it as he came into their view.
"Ah, the real Dr. Cranston this time. It's good to see you."
Cassie took that as her cue. "Gibbs, what happened earlier was totally my fault."
"Yes, it was." He'd promised Tim that he wouldn't kill her, but making her squirm wasn't part of the bargain. He waited just a moment longer before offering an olive branch. "Just make sure it never happens again."
"It won't, I promise." Taking the hint, Cassie scurried out, leaving Rachel alone with Gibbs. Rachel studied him carefully.
"How bad?"
"We're working on it."
One eyebrow went up, she'd seen him bucking his belt. "Sex won't fix everything, Gibbs."
"No, but when she was trying to convince him that he's somehow trapped me and that eventually I'll be disgusted by the very sight of him..."
"Point taken." Rachel had more to say on the subject, but Tim was coming down the stairs and the words died on her lips. "Wow."
Tim knew exactly what he looked like. Barefoot, the clingy pants and a shirt that didn't fully cover his belly, he looked almost ready to pop. "Hi, Rachel." Grinning at her stunned expression, he walked past her and into the kitchen for the juice he'd never gotten earlier.
She followed him, still staring. It hadn't been that long since she'd seen him but it was the first time he wasn't actively trying to hide his shape. "You've... you're..."
Glass in hand, Tim turned to lean back against the counter. "Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen?"
Rachel burst out laughing. "Yeah, that about covers it." Turning serious, she shook her head. "Tim, I am so sorry that Sam used our session to get to you."
Tim looked at Gibbs for a moment with such a loving look that it took her breath away before returning his attention to her. "Whatever she did to your car, make sure to send her the bill and we'll call it even."
Worry evident on her face, Rachel watched him. "You know that whatever she said to you was just some mind trick of hers, right? I hope she didn't get to you."
"She did at first, but Jethro helped me work through it." Tim stepped closer to Gibbs, receiving a hug and a lingering kiss. They were both panting slightly when they pulled away and Rachel chuckled.
"You should let her watch you make out. If that doesn't convince her, nothing will."
"We'll take that under advisement.." Gibbs swooped in for another kiss before stepping away. "I'll let the two of you talk." Giving her a careful look, he headed for the basement to give them at least the illusion of privacy. Rachel knew that one yell from Tim would have him back up the stairs in a second.
They sat at the table, Rachel watching how he moved. "Is it that you're not hiding it anymore, or have you really gotten that big?"
"A little bit of both, I guess. I'm not wearing this out in public, but I'm not going to hide myself at home. Jethro and I are going to be parents and we deserve to enjoy every moment of it. That includes watching my expanding waistline."
"You seem much more confident today than I would have expected after what happened earlier."
"Jethro and I had a good talk." Tim saw the look she was giving him. "Hey, when it's important to him, he talks and this was important to him. He told me things about himself that he's never told anyone. That, more than anything, told me everything I needed to know."
Rachel was curious as hell, but it wasn't her place to ask. Instead, she came up with another question. "So, what happens now?"
"We live our lives and get ready for our son to arrive. We're moving upstairs, you know."
She did know that, they'd discussed it during several sessions. "Any timetable on that?"
Tim smiled as he remembered the night before. "Trevor was here and brought his husband, he's a designer."
Rachel couldn't help her quick glance around the simple home. "Gibbs agreed to a designer? I figured you'd end up just buying a bed and calling it good."
"Jethro is building us a bed." Tim's whole face lit up as he told her that. She wasn't quite sure the significance of that. He recognized her confusion and filled her in. "He built a bed for Shannon."
"And not for any of the ex-wives?"
"Nope."
-NCIS-
Finished upstairs with Tim, Rachel went down the basement steps to see Gibbs. True to Tim's words, Gibbs had several sketches laid out on his workbench, fine-tuning what appeared to be the most recent versions.
"So, you really are going to build a bed. How long is that going to take?"
Gibbs gave the designs a half smile before looking up at her. "Well, my woodworking skills have improved since the last time I built one."
Rachel perched on one of the sawhorses. "You really didn't do this for any of the ex-wives?"
"Nope, and it'll take as long as it need to. I'm building something we're going to spend the rest of our lives on."
That was wonderful to hear, but it didn't solve the problem that had started them down this path. "You two going to stay in the guest room until you finish? That project doesn't sound quick."
Gibbs hitched one hip up on the sawhorse across from her. "Monday, while we're at the Yard, Chris is sending a crew over here to refresh the hardwood floor. It'll dry overnight and then they'll paint the walls on Tuesday morning, move in the mattress and box springs that afternoon. We'll use one of those simple metal frames to make it high enough for now. When Tim's closer to term and in the hospital, we'll do the rest."
"What's left, other than the bed?"
After a quick glance at the stairs, Gibbs leaned close. "We're raising the roof on the back side and adding a master bath and an upstairs guest room. Then we're turning the downstairs bedroom into an office for Tim." With a sly grin he pulled a sketch Chris had left him out of a stack of wood.
Rachel looked at the drawing in amazement. The bedroom upstairs would be turned into a full master suite with a large, private bathroom and a walk in closet in addition to a cozy area for a loveseat. "Wow, does he know?"
"Nope." Gibbs took back the paper and returned it to its hiding spot. "It's a surprise."
It was hard not to laugh in sheer joy at the fact that Gibbs really got it, was actually willing to totally uproot his staid existence, trapped in the memories of the past, to build a full partnership and future with Tim. "Your secret's safe with me. He'll love it."
-NCIS-
A commotion in the outer office had Ryan on her feet before the door burst open and Vance stormed in with several agents in tow. "What is the meaning of this?
"Samantha Ryan, you're under arrest." Vance nodded to one of the agents who came around the desk and grabbed her arms.
"You can't be serious." She fought the handcuffs, but Vance had picked one of his physically strongest agents for that particular tasks and all her struggles got her were the cuffs placed even tighter. "Do you know who I am?
"Yeah, you're the woman that used government resources to carry out a personal vendetta against someone under my personal protection."
She looked up to find Secretary of the Navy Jarvis leaning against her office door, looking very unhappy. "Clayton, it's not what you think. I was just protecting an asset. Gibbs is too valuable..."
Remembering all the problems she'd caused for several of his friends at the War College, Vance got in her face. "Too valuable for what, Sam? Too valuable to be happy? Too valuable to have a life outside work? Or too valuable to be with anyone else. Yes, I think you believe he is somehow obligated to you just because he intrigues you." Vance glared at her before stepping back to allow her to be taken away.
As she was being ushered out, a team from legal came in and she looked at them in alarm. "What are they doing here? I have operational files of the utmost importance in here, records that are beyond top secret." They hesitated, but the SecNav nodded to them to continue before he turned to Ryan.
"May I remind you that in the last twelve hours one of your men was arrested for his involvement in a murder using your department's resources. Added to the fact that you were also using your department's resources to stalk, threaten and potentially harm an innocent man solely because he has what you've decided you want – well, that makes me wonder what else you've been up to. Just what else you've done and then used the claim of national security to cover up. You are hereby relieved of duty pending a full investigation and legal inquiry. I suggest you get a good lawyer, Samantha. You're going to need one." Giving her a hard look, Jarvis stepped back and allowed her to be taken away.
She was still yelling and claiming to know secrets that would bury them both as the elevator doors closed. Standing next to Vance, Jarvis shook his head. "Hell of a mess."
"Yes, sir. Appreciate the support on this."
Jarvis looked back at the elevator. "She's good at what she does, but it's too much of a game for her. She's lost touch with what's important."
Vance thought she was just a power-hungry bitch, but he knew this wasn't the time to argue.
-NCIS-
Gibbs offered to walk Rachel out and they met Trevor coming up the walkway with Cassie. She pointed to Trevor and smiled. "Him, I remember."
"Yep, he's good." Remembering Tim's insistence earlier, Gibbs turned to Cassie. "We'll put together a file of photos for everyone that would have a legitimate reason for coming here. We're all at fault for not anticipating something like what happened earlier."
"Appreciate that Gibbs, and thank you."
Having fulfilled his promise to Tim, Gibbs looked closer at Trevor and the large basket shaped package he was carrying. Trevor smiled at the curious look. "Chris is meeting a client, otherwise he'd be here with me. This is from the two of us for you and Tim."
"Well, come on in." Gibbs led him back to the house, calling out as he opened the door. "Tim, Trevor's here."
Tim met them in the living room and the three men sat down, Trevor handing the gift to Tim to open. "This is to get the two of you started. I know you were ordering books on the more physical aspects, so this is more about the fun plus a few books that we thought would help in the long run."
"Oh, wow, thank you so much." With a shy smile, Tim carefully opened the package. Instead of paper, it was covered in stiff cellophane, but it was colored to hide what was inside. What he discovered was a gift basket designed to look like a flower arrangement, but instead of flowers, there were sprays of condom wrappers, tubes of various lubes and assorted sex toys. Tucked against the back of the basket were several books and a stack of what looked like trading cards, each showing a different sex position.
Trevor laughed at the combined intrigued and embarrassed look that was on both of their faces. "When he was less experienced, especially, Chris loved the tush teaser. I think we've got through four or five of those over the years. Myself, I usually prefer something a little more substantial."
The looks were becoming a little more heated and he decided it was time to go. "Well, have fun, you two, and we'll see you on Monday."
