NCIS

McGee had never been so happy to hear the word "housecleaning" in his life. Housecleaning involved organizing old case files and clearing them out of the team's computers, desks, and cabinets in order to make room for new ones. The cleanout was expected to take at least two days given that there were three years of cases that needed to be organized and backed up, and the new cases were handled by another NCIS response team. The brunt of the computer work fell on McGee, but he happily accepted it as backing up files was something he could do in his sleep and without too much interaction with Gibbs.

He'd had little sleep for the past few nights as he stayed up late writing his book but woke up early to walk Jay. Getting up earlier would have to be a permanent adjustment, but he'd made excellent progress with his writing and hoped to be done the rough draft by the weekend. Occasionally while he waited for something to process on his computer, he'd jot down a thought or a line he wanted to use into a notepad app on his phone. This helped reduce distraction while he was working even though he easily glided through the tasks. The additional bonus was that he only needed limited interaction with Gibbs just to get to his computer, while Gibbs dealt with the hardcopies of the case files along with Tony and Ziva.

By Thursday morning, McGee had gotten enough backup hard drives from Supply to begin transferring the files. He had a small cart completely filled with the drives sitting next to his desk while cables ran to all four of the team's computers, connecting them and allowing McGee to monitor and manage the backup from his own computer. Once the transfer started, he only had to make sure that nothing went wrong. He and Ziva were the only ones in the bullpen, though they were each preoccupied. Ziva's slamming of her hole-punch stopped startling McGee after about ten minutes while he kept his attention focused on the transfer screen and the drives. He only looked up when he heard Tony yelp after another one of Ziva's slams.

Ziva grinned at her prey. "Last day of housekeeping, Tony."

He glared at her with his cell phone in one hand and an open cup of coffee in another. "Well, keep it to a dull roar, will you? I got a hot beverage here."

McGee's ears pricked up with danger. "Keep it over there, please," he warned and peeked over the cart at Tony. "I'm finally able to back up our cases. I don't need you shorting out three years of our lives with one spill."

Tony sniggered and strolled over to Ziva's desk. They whispered quietly back and forth, but McGee didn't see Tony switch out his coffee cup with an empty one and fill it with holes from Ziva's hole punch. Tony made it halfway across the bullpen before Gibbs came swooping in.

"What have you all been doing? I've been calling," Gibbs scolded them.

Ziva picked up her phone but there was no dial tone. "Mine's out."

Gibbs picked up his own phone and also heard no dial tone, then McGee's program started buzzing with warnings and the screens around the bullpen began to shut off. The elevator bell dinged in the distance.

McGee's heartbeat jumped with panic. "No, no, no!" He raced back and forth between the backup units and his computer to find what was wrong. "It's got power, but I'm getting no connection. The router must be acting up."

Tony raised his hands and backed away. "It's not my fault, I didn't do it this time."

"That's right, DiNozzo," a familiar voice replied. "We did."

Special Agent Tobias Fornell marched into the bullpen with a small contingent of agents in tow. Gibbs looked up at him with surprise, as did the rest of the team.

"Tobias," Gibbs greeted. "What's going on?"

"It's a shutdown, Gibbs," Fornell explained.

Fornell continued to explain the finding of La Grenouille, the arms dealer they'd once been hunting, murdered. They were all shocked when they heard, and even Director Shepard had come down to hear the briefing. McGee was about to feel relieved that they could put La Grenouille behind them when Fornell declared:

"This entire unit is under investigation."

McGee's mind raced through his illegal hacks of the FBI and the CIA in pursuit of La Grenouille while the FBI agents escorted the team down to the Evidence Garage. McGee looked around at the agents, but Mathis wasn't among them.

Abby was already waiting very impatiently and pacing in panicked circles while they each considered the FBI's intent. Eventually she settled down and sat next to him on a large packing crate with a heavy sigh.

He gave her a half-hearted smile. "Feeling better?"

"Not really, but I'm not exactly getting anywhere exhausting myself," she huffed. "How's my buddy, Jethro?"

"I changed his name to Jay, actually," he corrected. "It's going okay, so far no problems. I'm trying to get used to walking him, I've just been really busy."

She nodded. "The book?"

"Yeah. It's almost done, but I'm still working on the ending. I haven't quite figured out the right way to tie it off."

"You think Riley will like it?" she asked.

He smiled. "I hope so. I haven't called him yet though."

"He hasn't talked to me either," she frowned. "He's not here, is he?"

"I didn't see him," he replied and shook his head.

The elevator door opened and an agent in a gray suit stepped out. "Agent McGee?"

Both he and Abby looked up, then at each other.

"Good luck," she whispered.

McGee nodded, then got encouraging looks from Ziva and Ducky but a sarcastically suspicious look from Tony. He rolled his eyes and went with the agent. His heart pounded while Fornell questioned him about his illegal hacking and the part he played in the pursuit of La Grenouille, as well as Gibbs, Shepard, and even Tony. Part of him wondered if Riley was behind the glass watching him, but he was more nervous about ending his or someone else's career by misspeaking when answering Fornell.

After about an hour, he was finally excused and allowed to go back to the Evidence Garage. He made sure to wipe his brow with his sleeve before the elevator door opened. He didn't want the others to see any possible sweat. When he arrived, the agent escorting him called for Ziva to be interrogated next. Gibbs casually approached McGee after Ziva and the agent had left, while Tony and Abby leaned in to listen.

Gibbs whispered, "What did he ask you?"

McGee sighed uncomfortably recalling the last hour, then quietly replied, "Mostly stuff about why we started investigating La Grenouille, the Director's father's suicide, Tony's mission, Canada, pretty much everything we'd already documented. I'm not sure what they're looking for."

Gibbs continued staring at him, but it was more of a pensive stare like he was thinking rather than silently evaluating McGee's statement. McGee still felt uncomfortable being too close to Gibbs, and had trouble interpreting Gibbs' intent. He moved away and sat back on the crate next to Abby looking around. The interrogation and wondering about Riley being behind the glass made him think of a possible scene for his book, so he opened the notepad app on his phone to make a note of it.

He noticed "OMNI" typed on the next line of the notepad, then frowned at it as he didn't remember putting it there. He thought back through the course of the day if maybe in passing he had put it in when thinking of another scene, but he couldn't remember. Shrugging it off he quickly erased the four letters and proceeded writing his thoughts for a new scene.

Two more hours dragged by with both Ziva and Ducky each being interrogated. After Ducky returned, he and Gibbs whispered back and forth at one of the tables. McGee returned to tapping through his phone until he was snapped out of it by the chime of the elevator. Gibbs was standing very close to the FBI agent guarding the elevator, which McGee thought was strange, but Gibbs then approached the man coming out of the elevator, Assistant Director Leon Vance.

McGee strained to listen in, then when he heard Vance growl "… intimacy between management and staff…" his eyes shot wide open. He stared at Gibbs and wondered if he had been asked about what happened between them, or what may have happened with Gibbs and Riley. He didn't know what that had to do with La Grenouille, but if the FBI was trying to stain Gibbs' character as an agent to pin the murder on him, a romantic history with two subordinate agents would definitely do the trick.

Vance turned to the rest of the team. "If you've been interviewed by Agent Fornell, you're free to go. Just to be clear, do not investigate this case." He glared sternly at them and turned back into the elevator.

"Ugh!" Abby moaned. "Come on!"

Gibbs pointed to Ducky, McGee, and Ziva, waving them over to him. "Come on, let's go. Work to do."

Ziva eyed him dubiously. "On what?"

McGee nodded in agreement. "We can't investigate the FBI's case."

"We investigate the FBI," Gibbs explained. "McGee, go home and get whatever equipment you can and meet us at my house. Go quickly."

NCIS

"Wait, that's not evidence!" McGee shouted over the bustle in his apartment. "That's my writing!"

Five FBI agents were searching through McGee's belongings, bagging any electronic device that could store data including the iPod that Abby bought him. Jay was barking as people went in and out carrying bags and boxes from the rooms. McGee became alarmed when they started rifling through his writing desk as well, pulling out the organized pages of his future book.

"That's all fiction," he explained to the agent. "It's a book I'm writing."

She quickly skimmed the first couple of pages. "This references agents by name. We're confiscating this."

"They're fake names!" he argued.

She shook her head and tuned him out. He looked over to the agent clearing his desk of his computer components, and swiped up the charging cable for his phone. The agents all glared at him and positioned themselves to tackle him, but he held his hands and the cord up.

"It's just to charge my phone," he pleaded. "It's just for my phone."

They looked at each other conspicuously, then they each agreed.

"Sir, it's best that you wait outside or leave the premises while we search." The supervising agent stepped up to him and started leading him towards the door.

McGee added, "Okay, just don't let Jay get loose. Abby will kill me."

The agent slammed the door behind him.

McGee's heart pounded in his chest from the chaos. He felt like a suspect which, in this case, he actually was. Nonetheless he couldn't stand to see his apartment being torn apart, so he sprinted down to his car and peeled off to Gibbs' house. The FBI sedan following him made no attempt to stay hidden which didn't help McGee's nerves. He dialed Ziva.

"Are you on your way?" she asked immediately upon answering.

"Yeah, but I'm being followed."

"Shake them. Don't let them think you're heading to Gibbs'. Gibbs wants you to make sure to park two streets over and enter through the hedges in the back yard."

"Okay, any tips on shaking them?"

"Stay away from parking lots and garages, also double back when you can."

McGee smiled wondering how many times Ziva had evaded police, then quickly mapped out the first route that came to mind. He remembered a few back alleys that helped him dodge traffic to and from Riley's apartment during rush hour and decided to use them. He used Ziva's suggestion of doubling back on a few streets while also cutting through some of the traffic, keeping the FBI car further and further behind him. After rounding several corners and blocks, he couldn't see the car anymore and proceeded to Gibbs'.

Per his instructions, he parked two streets over and cut through a few side yards to get behind Gibbs' house, then found an opening in the hedges. He'd never been in Gibbs' back yard, and realized he'd rarely ever gone to Gibbs' house. He remembered briefly what Gibbs had told him about Riley being there often, but he had to remain focused on work so he put the thought to the back of his mind. He didn't see any cable lines or satellite dish that would give him hope for internet access and had to wonder what Gibbs' plan would be.

He made his way inside and down to the basement. Ziva paced by herself with her arms folded and looked up when she heard him.

"There you are," she called. "Gibbs and Ducky are both gone. Ducky's getting the autopsy reports, and Gibbs needs you to hack into Agent Fornell's computer."

McGee shook his head. "Well, I'm gonna need to go to a public site. They've taken all my computer equipment."

Ziva grimaced and tried to restrain a stressed chuckle. "Well… Gibbs does have… that," she pointed to a dusty rectangular plastic box.

McGee examined the box and realized it was a Zenith laptop which he estimated was from the 1980's, just barely younger than himself. On top was a screwdriver and an ID badge matching the FBI agent guarding them at the Evidence lockup. He wished he had another "get out of jail free" card like the one Gibbs gave to him the last time he went hacking the government, but he doubted this could be legally justified in any way. He needed to be extra careful with how he proceeded. He opened the lid of the laptop and examined it, checking it for any port of use. Side-by-side, he thought it made his phone seem like something out of Star Trek.

"You've got to be kidding me," McGee moaned.

"I'm not even sure what that is," Ziva cringed. "But Gibbs seems to think it'll work, or at least that you can make it work."

"Um," McGee stammered as his mind tried to formulate a solution. "We can probably find a way to connect it to my phone and use the cellular connection, but we're gonna need a lot of wires. Look around and see what we can use."

They split up and examined the basement. Separate from the hanging tools by the workbench, McGee's eyes spotted something out of place – the blue handle of a pocketknife jutting out from the middle of the wall. He continued looking around for any sign of wiring when they found some small spools of insulated wire near sets of lightbulb sockets and electrical plugs. As he worked to boot up the computer and figure out connecting it to his phone, he found the day weighing on him and couldn't stifle a yawn.

"Tough day, McGee?" Ziva asked. "Did they cook you that hard?"

"Grill," he corrected with a half-smile. "It could've been worse, but it's just a lack of sleep. I've been staying up writing too late."

She looked coyly at him. "Writing?"

"Don't even start," McGee warned. "It doesn't focus on your character or Tony's."

She huffed satisfactorily. "Just making sure."

He connected the phone to its charging cable and started running wires to the computer. He went through several command lines on the computer trying to get it to recognize the phone, then he checked the phone to make sure it had signal. They connected, and he grinned as he realized it could actually work. His new phone was successfully tethered and providing data to a computer that was close to 20 years older.

"Here," he handed the phone to Ziva. "Take this and walk around until you get a signal"

She nodded and slowly walked around, letting the trail of wires swing as she moved. Still with no signal, she climbed onto the boat's cap and held the phone as high as she could.

"I think it's getting something," she called.

"Hold it steady," McGee instructed as he typed quickly on the computer. The connection was intermittent, but with that old of a computer it was just enough. He continued smiling as his hacking tricks weren't even necessary to get into the FBI's systems.

Gibbs returned and sprinted down the stairs. "You got anything?"

"Just barely getting a signal," McGee replied. "Stay right there, Ziva."

She looked disbelieving at him as she knelt on top of the boat with her arms stretched high. "Are you serious, McGee?"

Gibbs stood next to McGee, not as close as he once did but close enough to see the old computer's tiny screen. "Is this gonna work?"

McGee smiled as the connection started going through and reporting data. "I'm just getting into the mainframe now. This thing is so ancient it doesn't even have the protocols modern day security systems defend against. We should be able to-"

The computer beeped as the connection was terminated.

"Ziva!" he called. "Hold still!"

"I didn't move!" she yelled. "Your phone just shut off though."

Frustration surged through him. "What? No, the screen must've just shut off. Try moving a little to the left."

She moved over and also clicked the power button. "Uh, McGee? You should look at this."

He walked over to her and she handed him the phone. The phone began booting back up, but the screen came up stating:

Activate iPhone

Connect to iTunes

McGee glared at it in disbelief. "It… it… it did a factory reset! Everything's gone! It wiped itself!"

Gibbs' phone chimed with a text message. He looked surprised as he fished his phone out from his pocket, then stared at the phone screen. "I think it had help."

He tapped McGee on the shoulder and handed him his phone. McGee's heart rose to his throat as he saw the text message was from Riley.

Riley Mathis: Really, Jethro? If any of you think of leaving before I get there, I'm sending in the team from outside to arrest you.

NCIS

McGee, Gibbs, and Ziva paced downstairs, none of them saying a word. They heard the footsteps inside the house and turned to look up at the basement door as Mathis came through with another agent behind him. He held a very stern look on his face as he rotated looks between the three agents. McGee felt pangs of loneliness and guilt reach past his walls and send his heartbeat skyrocketing. Mathis reached the middle of the staircase, then in a quick and smooth movement he opened a pocketknife in his hand and sent it singing across the basement, lodging its blade dead-center inside the largest gash in the wooden column. McGee could sense the tempered anger and focus from Mathis, but in his face he looked exhausted.

Gibbs hid the smile twitching at his lips, then approached the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Mathis. "You're working with Fornell?"

"No, but I knew you were being investigated, so I gave a little proactive assistance," Mathis retorted smartly. "I just didn't think I'd catch either of you being this stupid, especially you, Tim." Mathis stared at him, but was avoiding his eyes.

McGee gulped and gripped the workbench tighter. "How did you detect me? That computer went right through FBI detection protocols."

Mathis took a couple of slow steps around Gibbs as he explained, "Did you even think for five seconds before starting an illegal hack from your personal cellphone while knowing the FBI was quarantining all of your devices? Did you even consider getting a burner phone to mask your tracks? Or did you just jump into action at his orders-" he turned with unveiled contempt and narrowed eyes at Gibbs, who looked away uncomfortably, "-getting your hands dirty like a good soldier?"

McGee was stunned for a moment, then groaned quietly to himself at realizing how careless it was to use his personal phone. He never had issues masking himself from his computer at NCIS, and while he thought he did the same with his personal phone, if the FBI was onto him then they would've seen the data connection going out. He had hoped that he wouldn't see Mathis during the investigation and now that he had, he felt his chances for reunion dissipating. He noticed the palpable tension and especially anger from Mathis directed at Gibbs, though Mathis also carried a weight of disappointment. Gibbs' face looked somewhat disarmed when confronted by Mathis, the same way he looked when he was at McGee's apartment opening up about his feelings.

Mathis continued in a low growl at Gibbs, "I wish I could say I was surprised. Why didn't you ask me for help? Rule Twenty-Eight."

"I couldn't," Gibbs almost whispered. "You're FBI, you're with them. I couldn't put you in that position."

"That's bullshit, Gibbs," Mathis raised his voice. "Now you've put us all in a bad position, especially him," he pointed over his shoulder at McGee.

He turned on his foot and crossed the basement, retrieving his knife with an easy tug. McGee thought he heard some kind of crinkle as Mathis walked, but wasn't sure over the click of his shoes on the concrete floor.

Gibbs sighed. "Why are you here, Mathis? Don't make this personal."

"It's not," he replied and reached back to his belt to take out a pair of handcuffs. He turned to McGee, though still wouldn't look into his eyes. He quietly murmured, "I'm sorry, Tim," then with a deep breath he announced, "Timothy McGee, I'm placing you under arrest for acts of computer trespassing, fraudulent access to government property, and attempted use of a computer to commit espionage."

McGee's stomach sank and his eyes went wide with panic as Mathis put the first cuff on his wrist. Ziva began to take an offensive stance awaiting Gibbs' command. Gibbs held her off with a small wave of his hand.

"Wait, stop," Gibbs urged and grabbed Mathis' arm, but Mathis pulled away quickly. "It's my fault, I ordered him to do it. Arrest me instead."

A dry smile inched up the corner of Mathis' mouth, though he tried to hide it. "Is this true, McGee?"

McGee's heart raced. He didn't want to shift the blame to Gibbs, but he had been following orders. "I… Yes, but I…"

"Okay," Mathis replied. "Corbin, arrest Gibbs, too."

"I said it was my orders! Just me!" Gibbs shouted as the other agent wrenched Gibbs' wrists behind him and into cuffs.

"That's not how it works, Gibbs," Mathis countered icily. "You put him in the line of fire, and he's getting hit. Read him his rights, Corbin."

The other agent began reciting the Miranda Rights to Gibbs as the three NCIS agents exchanged frantic looks.

"Boss," McGee pleaded, wondering if somehow they could get out of it.

"Look at me, Tim," Gibbs ordered, staring into McGee's eyes as he was being pulled towards the stairs. "You'll be okay. This is my fault. I'll take the fall, just tell them the truth. It'll be fine."

"Let's go, McGee," Mathis gently nudged McGee to follow Gibbs and Corbin up the stairs.

McGee's heart pounded and his breath was shallow as he slowly walked up the stairs, slightly imbalanced with the cold cuffs binding his hands behind his back. He started feeling some relief from Gibbs' assurance, and as it sank in he realized what it entailed. If Gibbs took the fall for both of them, not only would he get jail time, but he would never be able to serve in the government again. He was keeping his word that he would protect McGee, and he was giving it his all. McGee felt his tension towards Gibbs slipping away, and he decided he could try trusting Gibbs again.

They reached the top of the stairs, but instead of turning to take them out the front door, Mathis and Corbin steered them out through the back. Gibbs tried to look back towards Mathis to understand but was pushed forward by Corbin. As they started crossing the back lawn, Mathis pulled McGee to a halt.

"You go ahead, Corbin," Mathis called. "I need a word with Agent McGee."

Corbin nodded, and kept leading Gibbs out through the small gap in the hedges. McGee looked with confusion at Mathis, who kept watching as the other two disappeared. Mathis sighed, then he gently took McGee's wrists and started unlocking the handcuffs.

"What?" What are you…?" McGee stammered as he felt the cuffs loosen and release. "What's going on, Riley?"

Mathis chuckled and smiled, his tired eyes still avoiding McGee's gaze. "The FBI doesn't actually know we're here, and Corbin owed me a favor so he's going along with it. I'm just rattling Gibbs' cage a little bit, reminding him that he's not invincible and neither are you. Gibbs shouldn't be making you commit crimes to satisfy his suspicions. As soon as I saw the active investigation into your team, I knew it'd only be a matter of time before Gibbs took matters into his own hands."

McGee frowned as he massaged his wrists and started feeling awkward not knowing what to do next. "So… you're not taking us in?"

"Not today, but don't ever pull a stunt like that again," Mathis chided playfully but distantly. "I had to reset your phone and wipe your SIM card so you couldn't hack again before I got here."

Their eyes met for a moment. McGee could tell Mathis was very guarded and there was uncertainty behind Mathis' walls that made him quickly break their eye contact.

"Oh, and here," Mathis continued and started untucking his button-down shirt from his suit pants. "I brought this for you." He reached around to his back and retrieved a thick file folder tucked inside his shirt and waistband. "It's the crime scene sketches and statement information you were trying to get."

McGee's jaw dropped as Mathis handed the folder to him, then Mathis took a few nervous steps back and nervously scratched through his dark hair. None of this was playing out as McGee had expected, which seemed to be the theme of the day. He felt somewhat guilty and undeserving of Mathis' help.

"I- I-… thank you," he stuttered out. "Why are you doing this? Helping us?"

Mathis shrugged, still looking away. "I don't know. I guess I feel a little bad about what happened the other night, how I yelled at you. I was upset, shocked especially, but I don't think I was really fair to you. I don't like leaving things messy. It's not like I volunteered to tell you about me and Gibbs. I couldn't, but I probably could've. I don't know, does that make any sense? I've just been all over the place. I kinda blew up at Gibbs too."

"Me too," McGee admitted, which caught the other man's attention. He took a deep breath to build his gumption and continued, "Gibbs came to me and told me what happened between you two. I… I had no idea how badly I hurt you and I can't say enough how sorry I am. You were right, it was real to me and I hadn't dealt with it as well as I should've. I know he asked you not to tell anyone, and I'm sorry you had to keep that a secret. There's still a lot that I don't understand, but… but I've had time to think about what he said, and… well now I'm hoping things will be okay."

Mathis' expression dropped and he folded his arms defensively in front of him. "Oh… So, you and Gibbs are going to…?"

"What?" McGee asked in confusion, then clarified, "No, I mean you and me. I… I want to try again. I want to make this work."

Cracks appeared in Mathis' defenses. "I… I…"

Tim felt a spark of hope and let his walls fall, hoping Mathis would do the same. They stood only a few paces apart, and Tim felt himself being drawn like a magnet towards Mathis. He just needed to know that Mathis wanted him back. Neither of them noticed Ziva covertly watching from inside the house, trying to understand what was happening.

Riley trembled slightly and kicked gently at the ground. "I don't know, Tim. You and Gibbs are two completely different people and yet somehow the exact same thing happened. I wound up second place against something I couldn't compete with. I don't want to do that again. I- I… I honestly didn't even think we'd ever talk about this again. I thought you'd choose Gibbs."

"I know, but I'm choosing you," Tim pleaded. "I never got real closure from Gibbs before, and now I have. I promise, it's you and only you. No secrets, no lies, no one else, no other feelings in the way. I've even changed the book to have the real you in it. It says everything about how I feel and what's happened with us better than I could ever say out loud."

Riley's mouth slowly opened in shock. "The book? But… but Tim, why? Your publisher said-"

Tim cut him off with a smile. "I don't care what my publisher said. The story's not worth writing without you in it, and neither is mine."

The air between them buzzed with electric anticipation. Tim looked at Riley, who was visibly struggling to emotionally restrain himself. The sun made Riley's blue eyes shine as they locked onto Tim's, and Tim could see Riley's breath catching in his throat. Tim didn't know if there was anything else he could say, or if he needed to make another move. After a minute, Riley finally cracked a smile.

"That was a really good line," he admitted with a quick laugh and a slight blush to his face.

Tim let out a nervous laugh and took a step forward. "I thought of that earlier today and put it in my phone, but I suppose that's been wiped too."

Riley smirked. "Probably for the best. It was good, but it was cheesy. I don't know if Agent Matthews would've gone for it."

Tim grinned and took another step forward. He smiled when he saw Riley also take a step towards him. They were within arm's reach of each other but both still feeling unsure.

Tim continued, "What would Agent Matthews want from Agent McGregor in this case?"

Riley chewed his lip hesitantly. "I… think he wouldn't want McGregor to risk something he treasured just for a chance to see if they'd work. If he loved McGregor, he wouldn't want him to be anything other than himself, right?"

"Does he still love him?" Tim whispered earnestly but fearfully, taking a half-step closer and staying locked into Riley's gaze. He understood what Riley meant, but he needed to hear the words that would make everything better.

Riley's eyes glistened with moisture and his lip quivered as he looked up at him. "Dammit, Tim."

He quickly closed the small gap between them and kissed Tim hungrily. Tim threw his arms around Riley and held him tight, his heart leaping in his chest. He would go through the entire chaos of shocking revelations, painful dog bites, federal interrogations, having his apartment torn upside-down, and being arrested a hundred more times if only to make sure Riley was in his arms at the end like he was now. Back in the house, Ziva threw her hands into the air at the ridiculousness of the whole scene and trudged back to the basement to wait.

Riley gently broke the kiss and nuzzled his face up against Tim's. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," Tim hummed as he ran his fingers through Riley's hair. "I wanted to call, I really wanted to call, but I didn't know if you wanted me to."

Riley smiled. "I don't really know what I wanted. I definitely wasn't expecting a whole book."

Tim chuckled. "It made sense to me, but that's not saying much."

Riley hummed in amusement as he took a step back, letting their hands glide together. His eyes drifted to Tim's neck and to the bite scars he hadn't noticed from the distance. His eyes shot open. "Oh my god… what happened?! Your neck…"

"It's okay," Tim assured him with a squeeze of his hands. "I'm alright, I promise."

Riley nodded, still clearly worried. "What happened?"

Tim shrugged, "I got attacked by a dog on a case. He was dosed with cocaine and I ended up shooting him to get him off me. He's healing up now, and now that he's clear of the drugs he's pretty nice. Then," he paused and chuckled to himself, still not over the irony of it all, "Abby convinced me to adopt him so he wouldn't be put down."

Riley gawked at him in disbelief. "You… you adopted a dog that attacked you?"

"Yeah. Believe me, I still can't quite believe it myself," Tim added. "Abby tried to keep him but couldn't, so she asked me to adopt him. He's a German Shepard."

Riley's jaw slackened into a smile. "What's his name?"

Tim opened his mouth to reply but hesitated for a moment. "Well… his name is Jay, but that's short for what Abby named him. I swear, it was her idea."

"Oh god, tell me it wasn't…"

"Jethro, yup," Tim answered.

Riley's face scrunched as he cackled hysterically and slapped his palm to his forehead. "Oh god," he groaned defeatedly. "There's just no getting that man out of our lives, is there?"

Tim shook his head and pulled Riley closer. "Maybe not, but I think there's still time to change the name if you think I should."

"No, it's really fine," Riley chuckled, then his smile faded, and he chewed his bottom lip nervously. "So… what now?"

Tim sighed, "Well, I'd like for us to be able to talk some more. I don't know how else to say what I want for us, but I'm hoping when you read the book you'll understand what I mean, and we can work it out. I'm trying to finish it, but the FBI confiscated my writing since they thought it contained case details, so I'll have to wait until I get it back before I can keep going. I'm having some trouble finishing the ending, but I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Can I bring it by for you to read?"

"Oh, er," Riley paused as he remembered, "I'm actually going to be at the cabin. King, my boss, told me to take some time off since I've been really stressed out for a few weeks. I didn't really have a choice. I haven't been myself lately and it's shown at work. I'm leaving tonight and heading up there until Monday or Tuesday, depending on if anything comes up."

"Oh…" Tim paused. "I guess I can understand that. I haven't been myself the last few days, since… well…" He skirted around the words 'fight' and 'breakup,' deciding he would rather seem vague than negative. "I'm on call this weekend, but I think I can make the time to be there."

"Yeah," Riley sighed tiredly. "Listen, I'm not really sure where I'm at right now. It's not just us, it's… I haven't had a real break in a while. Everything's been a bit of a whirlwind and I haven't had time to really stop and think about, well, anything. I just know that I've been miserable, and I've missed you. So… if you finish by the weekend, what would you say to you and Jay swinging by the cabin when you're off-duty? Then we'll see where we go from there."

Tim nodded pensively. It was a promising plan of action, not the neatly-tied best-case scenario he'd hoped for, but it was a good place to start. The team was scheduled to be on-call that weekend, but he figured he could sneak away for a few hours just to deliver the book. He could see how tired Riley looked, and hoped things at the cabin would go better the second time around. "I'll be there," he promised.

Riley smiled weakly. "I should probably get back and let Gibbs out of his cuffs. He's probably already figured out what's going on, so there's no point in letting him stew. Just don't let me catch you hacking Bureau again for another couple of months, alright?"

Tim nodded but leaned down to pull one last kiss from Riley's lips before he put up his 'agent walls' again. "Want me to call tonight?"

The other man hummed happily into his chest. "Yeah."

"Good," Tim smiled and released him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Riley answered without hesitation as he started walking back towards the hedge.

Tim lit up at finally hearing the words he needed, and he felt instantly refilled with confidence. He barely remembered why he had a file folder in his hand, but after reading the first page he snapped out of his romantic reverie and sprinted down to the basement, not even bothering to wait for Gibbs.

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall grumpily dropped her coat and purse onto the desk of her blank, private office. She drank deeply from her morning coffee as she connected and booted up her OMNI laptop. She liked when she only had to meet with Atlanta, DC, and New York since their time was only an hour ahead of hers. However, once Frankfurt or Zurich got involved she had to deal with a seven-hour time difference. Noon was the latest Frankfurt could risk delaying operations awaiting their report, which put a rather begrudging Agent Hall in her office at 5 AM on Friday morning while still having a full day of work at the FBI ahead of her.

She logged into the virtual conference room and found only Frankfurt there, though after another minute the other icons trickled in from Atlanta, DC, and New York. She didn't bother changing out of her zombie-like demeanor like she normally would since she knew Zero was not going to be presiding over the meeting. Instead, Frankfurt had the lead today, one of his laurels from killing an Original. Hall was in no rush to be heading a 5 AM meeting, though she felt a twinge of envy as she was still waiting for the opportune time to publicly take down her own Original prey.

Frankfurt's accent was still slightly detectable through the scrambler as he began, "The auction participants each have selected and reported their targets. Currently, from the United States we have the FBI, NSA, NCIS, DOD, CIA, and two independent buyers, from Israel we have IDF Counterintelligence and Mossad, Hamas and Al-Qaeda have also selected targets, along with three independent Chinese groups and two Russian groups. Profiles are uploading now. Our task is to find the most viable target for the demonstration."

One by one, documents and photos organized themselves on Hall's screen. She lazily panned through them until one caught her eye. The picture of Abigail Sciuto stared back at her along with her NCIS file loaded onto her screen along with the other profiles.

Frankfurt continued, "Zurich seemed to indicate that the Middle Eastern groups would prefer a target selected from the U.S. as a more effective demonstration."

New York's icon lit up. "Ordinarily it wouldn't matter, but with limited international presence we may want to consider their request. If all five U.S. agencies collaborate to come after us after the auction, we'll want to be on someone's good side."

Atlanta chimed in next, "With that kind of attitude, we may want to consider ensuring that none of the U.S. agencies win the auction and get the tracking program. If one gets it, they'll likely share it and become an even worse threat. DC?"

"It's possible," DC agreed, her scrambled voice still familiar to Hall. "But on the other hand, the users are encoded to each other, so only we and the winners will know who gets the virus. It discourages sharing, cooperation, and retaliation. Also, we have enough of our own operatives inside the U.S. agencies that it likely wouldn't come to that."

Hall pursed her lips and unmuted herself, letting her southern drawl mix with her voice scrambler. "We should also consider that letting a U.S. agency or non-militant group win would keep our foothold here established. With half of the buyers being political para-military groups or terrorists, we have to expect that this program could bring about the assassination that would start World War III. It's probably safe to say that the Chinese and Russian groups will likely target someone in the U.S. and keep quiet about it. But if the attacks come from the Middle East, they'll jump to claim responsibility which means it could get worse out there real fast. The U.S. government might turn on us as the supplier of the program."

"Agreed," Frankfurt replied. "We need to keep as much of our network intact as possible. Narrow down the profiles to the U.S. targets. DC, begin work on the auction platform to ensure that the Middle Eastern buyers have limited connection and can't be as active in their bidding."

"Understood."

Frankfurt lit back up, "Review the targets and send me your recommendations in one hour. I will present Zero with the target, estimated time for the demonstration will be Sunday at 21:00 UTC. Have all assets on standby. We want this to look as clean as possible."

The conference call ended, but Hall continued staring at the screen pensively while she pursed her lips. She contemplated her options, letting Sciuto wait for a few more weeks or taking advantage of her being offered by NCIS as a target. She thought of her initial plan, waiting until after the auction so that Zero would be more likely to allot her control of DC as well, which still seemed practical. However, she figured she could always kill Sciuto now and simply report her later. It would save the trouble of leaving her prey out in the open for one of the other Regional Directors to catch on that she's an Original.

Hall drained the last of her coffee and tapped through her operatives' reports on Sciuto from the last few days. No major cash withdrawals, no big purchases on her cards, nothing unusual in her call records. Her tracking program showed that the virus on Sciuto's phone last pinged at her apartment, but that the phone was currently off. She read the latest reports which indicated that a middle-aged man in a pickup truck dropped off some camping supplies for Sciuto, and then she loaded it all into a taxi and left. The taxi took her to a campground at Black Ridge Woods before sunset on Thursday evening, though she has yet to return.

Hall debated in her head whether the early unplugged weekend was coincidental or meant that Sciuto knew she was being targeted. Either way, Hall couldn't risk Sciuto disappearing entirely or being claimed by someone else. She needed her own operative to be the one ready. She quickly typed up an encrypted message to her DC operative with just two words: "Acquire, standby."