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More Questions than Answers, Science doesn't lie Chapter 5

"What'd ya find out?" Gibbs asked when Tony reentered the bullpen. Ziva had entered a few minutes earlier, when asked where she had been, she had honestly replied, 'Bathroom,' ending that conversation and easing Tim's fears that his teammates had been gossiping about him.

"Just that I have a lot more questions," Tony muttered.

"I don't want questions, I want answers," Gibbs snapped.

"Don't we all," Tony replied, his gaze pointedly shooting between Gibbs and McGee.

"Somebody better find me something!" Gibbs snapped before he started walking away.

"Boss?" Tony asked the older man before he could leave.

"This better be about the case, DiNozzo," the older man warned as he turned around to face his SFA.

Silence greeted him.

"Damn it, DiNozzo, when will you learn to mind your own business?" Gibbs asked, staring at the other man. "As I said, we need answers, not questions, especially about things that don't concern you."

Hearing those words, Tony shot Ziva another look. It definitely wasn't looking well for the future of their team.

It hadn't taken long for Tim's suspicions that Gibbs was wrong to be confirmed. All morning he couldn't help but notice all the looks that were aimed in his direction. Several of them also including Gibbs, or at least the older man's desk, letting Tim not that they were not just curious about the fact that Tim was a father.

He could hear a few mutterings from where he sat, most too indistinguishable to make out. And the few times he had gotten up, he could swear that all conversation around him stopped, only to start up again after he passed by. The only thing that hadn't happened was people, other than Tony, asking him questions. Of course, that could be because he barely moved from his desk and that Gibbs had mostly been present as well.

"So, you and Gibbs were on vacation together," Tony stated after Gibbs had disappeared from the bullpen again.

"I was on paternity leave," Tim stated firmly.

Tony snorted, "An awfully short leave," he commented, noticing that Tim didn't say anything about their boss.

Tim rolled his eyes, "I applied for intermittent leave a few months ago," he shared. "Once it became clear that the situation wasn't normal,"

Tony snickered softly at the understatement.

"With the twins being born early and their medical issues, I needed some extra time to prepare for them," he continued his explanation. "The original due date was only a few weeks ago," he admitted. "We were told that twins often come early, but I was completely unprepared for them to be born almost three months early. Thank God for G-good benefits," he hurriedly corrected. "It allowed me to take what I needed, when I needed it. A couple of hours at a time to meet with the Doctor's and the last month to finish preparing my home and learning to care for them before they were released."

"That's why you asked for all that time off?" Tony asked before he could stop himself.

"Well, yeah. Do you really think I would've taken a vacation on a beach somewhere when I had two 3-month-old babies?" Tim retorted remembering Tony's teasing this morning about his lack of color when he returned to the office after his weeks of leave.

"I, well, no, of course not," Tony admitted, now that he thought about it. "At the time, I didn't know about the kids, that you were a father, had been for three months. Your time off wasn't planned, so I didn't know what to think," he tried to explain. "All we knew was that you would occasionally come in late or leave early for 'appointments', some days, you weren't in at all. The last day, before you went on vacation, all you said was that you weren't going to be in the next day. The next day we found out that you would be out for weeks," Tony shared, remembering the fear and worry he had at Probie's unexpected absence. "We called and left messages asking how you were, if Sarah was all right; all you said was that the both of you were fine. Gibbs promised us that you weren't hurt, when he also took a week off, and didn't seem worried, we figured it wasn't anything serious. We even joked that you probably won some radio contest for a week's vacation or had a book tour or something. Hell, we even wondered if Sarah was getting married or graduating or something."

"I was fine," Tim repeated. "Feeling a bit overwhelmed once the twins were in my care 24/7, but I wasn't sick. I took intermittent paternity leave because the kids were in the hospital. These last few weeks were last minute since the Doctors finally gave me a date the twins could leave the hospital."

"You could have take more time off, right?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "But I didn't want to be gone too long and leave you guys short handed."

"But if you are entitled to the time," Ziva began, "This is a major lifestyle change. We would understand, right, Tony?"

"We wouldn't have when we didn't know about the twins," Tony muttered softly, before adding, "Yeah, now we would."

Tim gave a slight smile, "I know, but given my kids rocky start in life, I might need time later. I'll rather not push Gibbs's or Vance's understanding too far."

"As fathers I'm sure Gibbs a-" Tony broke off when Tim glared at him before grabbing his coffee cup and exiting the bullpen without another word. "He must really need some coffee," Tony muttered as he stared after him.

"Really, Tony?" Ziva asked glaring at her teammate before returning to work.

"What?" Tony asked in confusion, "What did I do?"

"Abby," Gibbs called as he entered the lab.

"Gibbs!" She returned excitedly, spinning to face him. "Did you come to see how you and McGee's kids are related? I can run another DNA test to com-"

"No,"

She shrugged him off, "It's no problem, I just nee-"

"No, Abby," Gibbs repeated firmly, causing Abby to step back and tilt her head at him inquiringly.

"No what? No that's not why you came down or No to the test."

"Just no," he repeated.

"Then why are you here?" she asked. "Don't get me wrong, you know that you are always welcome, even if you don't have a Caf-Pow," she stated, pointedly looking at his empty hands.

"Trying to figure out what the hell you were thinking, Abs."

She blinked both at his words and his tone. "I was trying to protect Timmy," she began.

"Tim," Gibbs corrected, he had recently found out how much that nickname bothered his agent. "He's a grown man, not a kid or a puppy. And I don't believe he asked for your protection."

"He's worse than a kid or a puppy, they can protect themselves better than he can," she retorted.

Gibbs glared at her before reminding Abby, "He's a trained field agent," the 'by me' was left off, but conveyed in his glare, "He can handle himself just fine."

"In that field, maybe" she capitulated, "but the dating field?" she snorted doubtfully. "Plus there's the fact that he never asks. How often has he called you to ask for help? Has he ever shown up at your door asking for help?"

"Never, no," the older man admitted.

"And how often did he need it?" She asked, continuing when Gibbs didn't answer, "Sarah, Erin, Benedict, Amanda, to name a few. He never asks so I wasn't going to wait for him to do so since I knew it wouldn't happen."

"Still shouldn't have done it," Gibbs commented. "It wasn't your place."

"I'm his best friend," Abby argued. "And I'm just trying to help."

Gibbs glared at her, "And if this ends up hurting him more than helping?"

"I'd feel bad, but can't regret it," she admitted.

"None of it?" he asked incredulously, studying the woman before him. "Even announcing what you did to everyone? What you thought of Tim's kids?"

Abby shrugged. "I did what I believe was right. Those kids are your family."

"You kids, this team is my family," Gibbs snapped back. "And because of what you did, your actions, we might lose it."

Another shrug, "Timmy'll forgive me, he's done so before."

"You've stolen his kids DNA before?" Gibbs asked dryly.

"No, silly," she chided. "But, well, I haven't always been as nice to him as I should have," she reluctantly admitted, not going into details. "But he's always forgiven me, this won't be any different."

Gibbs shook his head, "This time, I think it is. You went too far."

"Why?" she pouted. "Nothing bad happened. This is a good thing, you have family," she repeated joyously.

"End doesn't justify the means, Abs. You should know that."

She snorted, "Pot meet kettle."

Gibbs inclined his head, "I always think about the consequences of my actions before proceeding and am willing to pay the price. Can you tell me that you did the same?"

Silence was his only answer.

"That's a shame," Gibbs replied, "Because there will be consequences."

Abby's head snapped up and she looked at him, "But you-" she stopped when Gibbs just shook his head.

"Won't get you out of this one, Abs," he informed her softly.

Abby pouted as she lifted her eyes to Gibbs.

"Don't even ask," he said his voice firm, when she continued looking at him expectantly. "The only thing not against regulations is sharing Tim's secret about the kids, breaking a confidence isn't illegal," he pointed out, his tone informing her how much he disagreed with that fact.

Abby's mouth transformed into a tight thin line as she realized that at this moment, she was on her own.

Gibbs remained silent for another few minutes as he paced and debated how to proceed. This whole situation seemed like a nightmare. Not even in his wildest dreams, one of McGee's books, or DiNozzo's absurd movie plots would he have expected something like this.

"Hell, Abby, you're a grown woman; you're smart. Why do you do such stupid things?" he asked as he paced around the lab. "Running the DNA test without permission was taking stupidity to a new level, but what you did next," he stopped and shook his head, realizing the futility of mentioning it again, she already admitted that she didn't, couldn't regret it.

"What would you have done if I wasn't included in the results?" Gibbs asked suddenly. "If Tim wasn't included?" he added, watching Abby closely for her reaction.

Shaking his head, he switched topics again. "The conclusion that you jumped to, that you shared with everyone…How the hell was that the only thing you thought of? And why didn't you talk with us privately about the results first?"

Abby was glad that Gibbs couldn't see her face as it no doubt mirrored her thoughts. It wasn't the only thing she thought of. "I wanted it to be true," she admitted.

"Why?" a puzzled Gibbs finally asked.

"Because you have changed," she replied. "A lot in a short time. You were happy and I didn't want anything to change. You're a family man," she tried to explain. "I realized that since I first learned about Shannon and Kelly. You deserved a family, deserved to be happy. Deserved a second chance to raise a family."

"Did Tim deserve having you announce break the trust he placed in you by announcing the existence of his kids? Did he deserve to be embarrassed by your idea that we are together? To be made the subject of rumors, to be teased by Tony, to be constantly fielding questions from his other coworkers?" Gibbs asked, glaring at Abby until she turned away.

"Abby, if you're his best friend, then you should know how much he values and protects his privacy and you should do everything you can to support him and help him maintain that privacy. You were the one person from NCIS he told that he didn't have to. The first person he wanted to know. You took the respect and care he showed you by telling you about his kids and introducing them to you and threw it back in his face. Think about that," he retorted as he turned to exit the lab.

Minutes after Tim left, he returned, a scowl on his face as he returned to his desk, slamming the coffee cup down.

"Whoa, Probie, what's wrong?" Tony cautiously began. "Coffee not to your likening?"

"Don't know, couldn't get any," Tim huffed. "Couldn't go into the breakroom."

"Why?" Tony looked at his watch. "It's too early for it to be packed for lunch, too late for the morning coffee rush. Oh, God," he muttered, "Did someone take it over to show off their vacation photos again?"

"I wish," Tim muttered as he began analyzing the data that his computer search gave him. Wishing that he had coffee. He also wished that this day was over.

Tony shuttered, "Yeah, well, apparently you missed Ruth's trip to Myrtle Beach with her grandkids, otherwise you would never wish such a thing."

"McGee," Ziva injected, hoping Tim would actually talk to them, "What is wrong?"

"You know, a problem shared is a problem halved, Probie. If you tell us what's going on, we might be able to help," Tony offered. "Even if we can't help, well, I'm sure you'll feel better."

Tim just snorted, "You mean you'll feel better because you would finally know the truth."

"To-may-to, to-mah-to," Tony replied dismissively.

Tim just shook his head, as he tuned out his coworker's questions and went back to work.

"McGee, with me," Gibbs called a half hour later as he stood up and headed for the elevator. Ever since he returned to his desk Gibbs noticed that the younger man seemed to be getting more and more distracted as time passed. The twitching and bouncing leg; the fingers freezing over the keyboard for several minutes before flexing and beginning to type once more; the hand reaching for a coffee cup before putting it back down without even lifting it to his lips; Tim's head angled for a few seconds before he shook it and refocused his gaze on the monitor; the way he tensed every time Tony opened his mouth and said something. Something had to change.

Tim stared at him for a moment, not sure if he should follow, before realizing that if he didn't, what Gibbs would do to him would be worse than anything anybody else could say.

Tim was surprised when the stop button wasn't pushed on the elevator and Gibbs exited on the ground floor and quickly left the building, Tim right behind him. He had debated whether to or not to ask what was going on, but decided his boss probably had something in mind. Besides, if he was going to be yelled at, better later rather than sooner.

As they continued to walk, Tim rethought that last part. Giving Gibbs extra time to think about things might not be a good idea. Either whatever was going on was worse than he thought and Gibbs didn't know how to begin or…well, honestly, Tim couldn't think of an or. Gibbs wasn't one for not speaking up. Not speaking, yes; but not speaking up and reprimanding his agents when things were wrong, to hesitate to correct one of them, that wasn't Gibbs's style.

"Heard you needed coffee," Gibbs finally said as he came to a stop and opened the door to a coffee shop around the corner.

"Er, yeah," Tim replied, wondering how Gibbs had learnt that tidbit of information.

Gibbs nodded before placing his order and inclining his head for Tim to do likewise.

"Not the best coffee in the area, but better than that crap in the breakroom," he commented after paying for their coffees.

Tim nodded, not wanting to discuss the breakroom, but also wondering why Gibbs brought him out here. He seriously doubted it was just because of Tim's need for coffee.

"Look, I know this is hard," Gibbs said after exiting the coffee shop and coming to a stop a few feet away. "You have a lot going on right now,"

Tim snorted at that understatement.

Gibbs looked at him inquiringly before continuing, "Two children to care for, the new place, returning to work. I know you wanted to keep it quiet, keep them separate, unfortunately, that is no longer an issue,"

"Thanks to Abby," Tim muttered as he took a sip of his coffee.

Gibbs shot him a look, but didn't say a word about his outburst, "Still, when you're here I need you focused 200 per cent on the job, on the case."

"Hummph," Tim replied, he wasn't the only one that needed to remain focused and said as much to the older man. "And are you going to have this discussion with everyone else? Tony, Ziva, and possibly Abby as well?" he clarified.

"Talking to you right now," Gibbs replied. He knew exactly where Abby, Tony, and Ziva's minds were at. It was Tim he always had trouble understanding, even though the younger man's emotions where often clearly shown on his face.

"Trust me, I'm not the one asking questions or making comments about this situation," Tim stated. "Of course, if you would let me answer their questions and tell them what happened that would help," he added.

Gibbs shook his head again, "Nothing to tell," Gibbs stated. "Besides, that won't settle this matter, just open it up for more speculation. You need to let people come to the conclusion that it's not true on their own. By forcing it on them, will just make them think that you have something to hide."

Tim shook his head, he didn't agree with that idea when Gibbs said it earlier, nor did he agree with it now. Well, he mostly didn't agree. He knew you couldn't force it on people, but how could you expect them to arrive at the correct conclusion if they didn't have all the information?

"I know you weren't expecting any of this," Gibbs added. "We've been working on this case since you returned to work this morning. Add in the situation with Abby, and well, it's enough to throw anyone off their game. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Tim smiled into his cup, "I'm fine. Yeah, it definitely wasn't what I was expecting my first day back, but I don't know why not," he replied with a grin. "I've been an agent long enough to know that crime waits for no man. Abby...the thing with Abby has thrown me," he admitted, "And yeah, it's gonna take some time, but I will give this case 200 per cent," he vowed.

Gibbs nodded, as usual, he was proud of his agent. "I just want you to know that if you need more time, especially in light of everything, you have it. No one will condemn you if you decide to take the rest of your leave."

"What?" Tim asked, looking at his boss in surprise. Did Gibbs think he was weak? That he couldn't handle his being an agent and being a father or the situation with Abby? "No," Tim replied firmly. "I'm fine and can handle this. If I leave now people will think it's because of what happened, because of what Abby believes, what she said."

Gibbs nodded in approval, "Just remember that it's there, okay?"

Tim nodded his head. He hadn't planned on taking it before and wasn't about to do so now, but he did appreciate the thought.

Starting the walk back to their building, Gibbs brought up a happier topic of conversation. "How are the kids doing?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee. Knowing that Tim was going to spend the weekend telling friends and family his news, he hadn't stopped by lately, not wanting to visit at an inopportune time. He was surprised at how much he missed seeing the babies these last few days.

Grinning, Tim launched into a story about two of his favorite people.

"Coffee?" Tony said when Tim returned to the bullpen alone and in better spirits, a cup of coffee clutched in his hands.

"No, thanks, I have one," Tim joked.

"So I see," Tony said, watching as Gibbs exited the elevator on the mezzanine holding a matching cup. "You're in a better mood," he observed.

"Magical stuff," Tim replied holding up his cup. While he was grateful for the coffee, it wasn't just the coffee he was happy about. He had been afraid that his return to work would bring a return of his previous relationship with Gibbs. Where the only thing the two men talked about were the cases they were investigating, where Gibbs seldom commented or asked about Tim's well-being. He was glad to know that the new relationship the two had shared during Tim's leave hadn't disappeared even with Tim returning to work.

Tim still wasn't sure exactly what the purpose of the trip to the coffee shop was for, but he was glad for the opportunity to talk with Gibbs for a little bit and he definitely welcomed the opportunity to talk about his kids.

Tony frowned, "Gibb never took me for coffee before,"

Ziva snorted, "With all the sweeteners you put in it, I do not think it could still be classified as coffee."

Tony frowned, "Not the point," he retorted.

"Well, maybe when you become a father to twins and have a coworker reveal your secret to everyone, Gibbs would buy you a coffee as well." Ziva suggested.

Tim snorted, "It's not the first time," he said before he thought about.

"Do tell," Tony said as he raised an eyebrow. Turning to Ziva, he added, "And I never said he hadn't bought me coffee just that he's never taken me out for coffee."

Ziva frowned, "What is the difference?"

"Out as in not here," Tony replied simply. "Gibbs has brought coffee in for us before but has not taken one of us out for coffee. Well, not before today, at least," he suspiciously commented. "He must have had something really important to say that he didn't want anyone to hear," he added, looking directly at Tim.

"If you think he didn't want anyone to hear it, why would you think that I would tell you?"

"Because we aren't just anyone, we're your team, your family," Tony returned angrily.

"And you still are," Tim stated, trying to remain calm. "But do you always share everything with us?" he asked before emerging himself in his work, ready to prove to Gibbs and everyone else that he could handle his job and being a father.

8-3-19

hmm, yeah, not sure how I feel about this chapter. It took a bit because I had about fifty pages that I have been editing, reworking, moving around, trying to figure out what was best where, in what order. Part of the problem is that something I had happen, I didn't really want to happen, so I had to edit it out or at least tone it down.

Hope you all enjoyed it.

A bit of Abby and Gibbs...again, I think Gibbs would be more disapproving with Abby than angry/loud...