Not Beta'd; Standard disclaimer applies.

Science doesn't lie, Chapter 9, What a friend would do

After Tim left, his two teammates continued to stare at the spot he had vacated.

It was several minutes before one of them finally spoke.

"So it is a matter of trust."

"But not in the field," Ziva was quick to point out.

Tony shrugged, "Trust is trust. As a federal agent, it is very hard to compartmentalize your life. Things spill over. If Tim didn't trust us to know about their kids, Gibbs probably didn't tell us because of him."

"He was respecting McGee's choice," Ziva offered as an explanation. "Allowing him to tell us when he wanted."

"More like if," Tony snorted, continuing before Ziva could respond. "All it would take is Tim mentioning something else to Gibbs and slowly, the trust we have in the field would be gone," he explained, returning to their earlier conversation.

"Tony, you cannot think-"

"I've seen it before," Tony interrupted. "Hell, I've lived it. How close were you coming to not trusting me when I hid that undercover op from you?"

Ziva nodded, he had a point. She knew something was up, knew Tony had been lying to them about things, but did not know what or why.

"And you really think that they are together?"

Tony shrugged, "Don't really know and for the most part, don't care," he honestly admitted.

Ziva gave him a skeptical look, "Then why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"Because they're still not telling us," Tony exclaimed. "Hell, McGee's barely talking to us."

"He did earlier," she reminded him.

Tony snorted in disagreement. "A few lackluster conversations, which were basically comprised of minimal sentences and that you mostly started. And you heard him earlier with Gibbs, when he was asking himself why he told Abby about the kids when he could've told anyone. Ducky, Jimmy, you, but when it came to me," Tony paused and shook his head, "He said even Tony probably would've been better."

"Tony,"

"He doesn't care if we know or not," Tony said, trying to explain why he was so hurt and upset about everything that had happened today. "Doesn't care if we're a part of his and his kids' lives. Why else wouldn't he talk about the fact that he was about to become a father? I mean, this is McGee! He talked for days when he was thinking about getting a dog. And don't give me that crap he did about how we didn't ask," he said when Ziva opened her mouth to reply. "We didn't ask him if he was getting a dog and last I knew, kids, a family wasn't part of Don't ask, Don't tell," he snapped.

Ziva gave a slight frown at that reference.

"The kids are already three months old," Tony continued his rant. "Do you really think McGee had any intention of telling us any time soon?" He asked looking at Ziva and waiting for a reply.

"I-I am sure he would have," she hesitantly stated, her voice illustrating the lack of confidence she had in her words.

"Really?"

"I…he had to," she replied, her voice slightly firmer. It was more like she had to believe he would tell them, but she didn't want Tony to know that fact. "He could not have kept that hidden."

"He's done a pretty good job of it for the last nine months," Tony observed. "And he didn't say anything earlier this morning."

"It was only his first day back," she explained. "He was probably trying to find the right way and time to tell us," she offered. "It is not something you can casually drop into a conversation."

"Really?" Tony repeated before heading over to stand behind McGee's desk.

Ziva frowned as she wondered what her coworker was going to do. Surely, he wouldn't use this opportunity to snoop. "Tony, do not-,"

Tony just waved her away as he placed his hands on Tim's chair. "Guys," he began in a poor imitation of their absent coworker, "There's something I need to tell you." He then began pacing as Tim was often seen doing when he was nervous, "I know I haven't been around much lately, joining you for drinks or dinner or even Tony's great movie nights, but, well," he carded a hand through his hair, "My life has gotten a little crazy lately. A lot of changes have been going on. I recently become a father," he gave a sappy grin. "Twins! They're three months old. I'm hoping the next weekend we are off, you guys can come over to see them." Tony concluded. "Oh, yeah, and by the way, I moved," he pointedly added.

He looked up and noticed Ziva staring at him. No doubt she was in awe of his ability to simplify things.

"See? Not that hard," he added.

Ziva just continued to stare at him.

"He even could've added the kids' names or asked us to be Godparents, that would've gone a long way in asking for our forgiveness."

"I do not know where to begin," she muttered.

Tony smirked knowingly, "So you agree with me."

"No," she denied. "I know several languages and none of them can express how much I do not agree with you and what you just said."

This time is was Tony's turn to stare at her.

"What?!" he asked incredulously.

"Tony, while some of the mannerisms might have been McGee's, the words were mostly you, the entire approach was you," she tried to explain. "The last part about-"

"Godparents," Tony injected, nodding. "Yeah, that would've been cool. I mean, godfather," he grinned.

Ziva closed her eyes, silently telling herself not to reach for a paperclip, that hurting or killing Tony would make things worse, not better. "No, the part about inviting us over on our day off," she corrected. "That would have been Timothy's style. He would have invited us to his new place and told us there. He definitely would not have told us at work if he had a choice, he values his privacy too much."

"Whatever," Tony rolled his eyes. "Then he could've substituted the beginning by inviting us over saying his life had changed a lot and he wanted to share that with us. The rest could've been said in the privacy of his own home," he sarcastically added.

"Which brings me to my next point," Ziva began. "In your either scenario, would he have been able to say all of that without you interrupting or making jokes?"

Tony didn't answer.

This time is was Ziva who nodded knowingly. "Because the entire time you were talking, I could almost hear your snide commentary."

Tony frowned, "Side commentary. I think you mean side commentary," he corrected, his mouth curving into a smile.

"No, I do not," Ziva rebutted, staring at him.

Tony's frown deepened as the two continued to stare at one another.

Before either one could speak another word, the sound of footsteps alerted them that someone was quickly approaching, encouraging both of them to return to their desks to give the appearance that they had been eagerly at work this entire time.

After leaving Jimmy in the stairwell Tim couldn't help thinking some more about that DNA test results, if it was real, or if it might be part of some scheme Abby concocted. He was determined to find out the truth and was confident that the Director would want to as well.

"Hey, Probie, where's the fire?" Tony joked as Tim rushed into the bullpen.

Tim was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he really didn't see or hear anyone. He headed straight to his desk, grabbed his keys, and reversed his steps.

"Going somewhere?" Tony asked, standing up and moving, ready to block Tim's path.

"Out for lunch," Tim replied as he picked up his pace to dodge the SFA. "Tell Gibbs I'll be back soon," he added as an afterthought as he entered the elevator, once more leaving his teammates staring after him.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted. He had returned to the bullpen to find two members of his team staring at who-knows-what and the last one not even present. He had spent a few minutes observing them, wondering how long it would take before he was noticed before finally giving up on that idea. "Just because there isn't a hot case doesn't mean you can sit around doing nothing, get to work!"

Snapped out of their thoughts, Tony mumbled, "Sorry, boss," as he settled back in his chair.

Ziva added a "Yes, Gibbs," as they quickly turned their eyes to the case files now in front of them, though in truth, their minds were elsewhere.

"Where's T-McGee?" Gibbs asked when no explanation was forthcoming.

Tony looked up to reply, not sure if he heard correctly. "He went out for lunch, said to tell you he'd be back soon."

Gibbs frowned at that news. Not because Tim left, after all, it was past the time they normally broke for lunch and without a hot case or being ordered to stay on the yard, it was permissible, even encouraged, as long as they followed Rule 3-never be unreachable. No, it was more the fact that Tim hadn't contacted him personally, that was unlike his junior agent. Normally he wouldn't mind that Tim passed the message on through Tony or someone else, but today all Gibbs could think about was if Tim had done it to avoid talking with him.

Gibbs had hoped to bring the closer relationship he had recently developed with Tim outside of work into the bullpen, but it seemed like almost every conversation the two of them had today had resulted in Tim being angry, annoyed, or upset with him in some way, which would explain why the younger man wasn't talking to him. Gibbs was determined to protect Tim, even if Tim didn't see it that way. Scuttlebutt only got worse the more it was addressed, something he and Vance had actually agreed upon.

Remembering the meeting with Vance reminded him that he hadn't had an opportunity to share any pertinent facts with Tim yet. He had tried to track down the younger agent, but was unable to find him, giving more credence to the theory that McGee was avoiding him. Well, as far as Gibbs knew, Tim still worked there and was a part of his team, so there was no way to avoid him forever.

Gibbs leaned against the back of his chair and took a sip of his coffee, determined to be there when Tim returned. The only thing that would get him to move until Tim showed up would be the director or a fire alarm, he decided before taking another sip from his cup. Food and a refill of coffee when this cup was empty could wait until after he talked with McGee. His eyes narrowed as he mentally counted the cups he had downed today. Perhaps there was one more reason that he might be momentarily away from his desk. He just hoped that Tim would return before the effect of all that coffee made itself known.

Now all he had to do was make sure that this conversation with Tim went better than their earlier ones. Gibbs nodded, realizing that perhaps he should spend this time thinking about what he wanted to say and the best way to say it while he waited. Just as he leaned forward to make some notes, he heard Tony's angrily muttering, "Can't believe Vance benched us like this," the SFA complained as he hastily opened another cold case file to review.

"He didn't," came the automatic response.

"Boss!" Tony exclaimed in surprise as his head snapped up, he was so used to Gibbs not being at his desk today that he had completely forgotten that he hadn't left again. "Wh-"

"I benched you like this," he stated glaring at the younger man before rolling his eyes and continuing when he only received a blank look in reply, "I requested that we be taken off the case."

"What? Why?" An angry Tony inquired.

Another glare, "Can you honestly tell me that your focus was on our victim? On discovering the truth about that situation?"

Tony blinked, "I can multitask," he replied.

"Well, now you don't need to," Gibbs snapped. "I told you to leave Tim alone."

'Tim?' Tony mouthed, looking at Ziva. The widening of her eyes told him that he definitely heard correctly and that she was as surprised as he was.

"These last few months have been difficult for him, he doesn't need grief from you on top of that," Gibbs continued, feeling a bit guilty for even saying that, but hoping Tony would finally listen and leave things alone. "What Abby has done is bad enough, we don't need you, either of you," he pointedly added, looking at Ziva, "To compound it by harassing him."

"If we knew what was going on, we could've helped," Tony angrily snapped.

"Could've," Gibbs agreed, "But would you have?" he asked staring straight at his SFA. "Would you have acted like a friend would have or would you have acted like you have today?"

"A friend would have told us what was going on,"

Gibbs gave a slight inclination of his head in admittance of that before responding. "A friend would've congratulated him and then given Tim the chance to explain things in his own time rather than hound him for information that wasn't anyone else's business."

"He coul-"

"Enough, Tony," Ziva injected. "We could spend all day talking about what he, you, or any of us could have done differently, but it would not solve a thing."

"I'm not trying to solve anything," he pointedly replied. "I just want to know what's going on in his life. It seems really strange that he didn't, hasn't, won't, tell us anything."

"You should be trying to solve those cases, before I tell you a few things," Gibbs growled at his agents, giving both of them a pointed look.

"Right," Tony acknowledged and realizing that the conversation was over, returned his gaze to the file on his desk.

Despite his best efforts, it was the effects of the coffee that had Gibbs up and away from his team less than an hour later. Since he did not want to miss Tim again, he kept his ears open to the sounds around him hoping to hear his young agent's arrival.

What he heard was something very different.

'I guess it makes sense why he seems so distant from McGee now.'

'Did you hear what their teammates said?'

'No wonder none of his marriages worked out. He's gay.'

'Abby must've known they've been together all along; how else could it have remained a secret?'

'Can you believe it? The nicest agent ever and Second B is for bast-'

'Guess those rumors about McGee from his first year were true. Hey, you don't think…'

'How long do you think it's been going on?'

'Can't wait to see what Vance has to say about this.'

'And we thought he didn't like McGee," this was followed by a mocking laugh. 'Guess they fooled us.'

'Even Tony didn't suspect that they were together.'

'Good thing we're a civilian Agency.'

'It makes sense, why else would such a green agent get such an opportunity.'

He also noticed how silent it became when he stepped into view, only for conversation and multiple pairs eyes to follow him as he left.

He shook his head in sorrow as realization hit him. Tim was right. Everyone, not just those in the bullpen, had heard about the scene Abby caused there earlier this morning. Even hours later, it seemed like this was the only thing people were talking about.

He did his best to ignore everything they said, as he recommended Tim do. It was challenging at times, since his hand wanted to reach out and head smack some of them, especially when he heard some of the comments about Tim. The fact that he knew it wasn't true, made it a bit easier, he grinned as he thought about how idiotic they would feel when they realized the truth.

Truth, Gibbs thought shaking his head. People didn't really think he didn't like McGee, could they? After all, he fought to get him on his team. And he wasn't distant with him, either, right?

Too wound up to return to the bullpen, the comments he overheard still ringing in his ears, he decided to wander around HQ.

1-13-2020

Hmm, so Gibbs finally heard some of the rumors...Where do you think he will wander off to?

What will happen when/if Tim returns?

Thank you for all the reviews, look forward to hearing from you some more.