not beta'd; standard disclaimer applies.

This might be a chapter a lot of you have been waiting for...

Alternate title for chapter was 'Hair and now'...yes, it is meant to be hair and not here

Science doesn't lie, chapter 11 Synonyms

When Gibbs returned to the bullpen he was heartened to see that Tim had returned, though curious about where his other two agents had taken off to. He spent a few moments observing the younger man unnoticed. He still needed to talk to Tim, but was hesitant about pulling him into the elevator given the current situation. Noticing that his presence had garnered the attention of several of their coworkers, he immediately dismissed the idea of talking to Tim in the bullpen. He quickly debated whether or not to use a conference room, but wasn't sure which one, if any, would be free.

Feeling Gibbs' gaze on him, Tim looked up. His boss gave a slight nod towards the elevator. "McGee, with me," he requested, deciding that changing his habits would most likely bring more attention to them.

Tim sighed before standing up and following the older man. He had been expecting this since he pulled Gibbs into the elevator earlier, yelled at him, and then walked out. Not doubt he'll be getting a lecture and a headslap.

"Boss?" he asked when Gibbs failed to stop the elevator or start talking.

Gibbs stared at his junior agent, studying his face as if trying to memorize his features. "Abby's positive that there is no contamination on the samples and that she didn't make an error on the test."

"Which she shouldn't have done," Tim muttered angrily.

Gibbs gave a slight inclination of his head in recognition of his comment as he paused the elevator. "I know, but she did, and we can't change that fact," Gibbs pointed out before giving a brief overview of his discussion with the Director regarding the DNA results. As per Vance's order, Gibbs did not mention Abby's actions or what consequences she might face since Vance wanted to talk with Tim about that himself.

"How do you think it's possible?" Tim asked, finally asking the question that he had wanted to from the start.

"Don't know," Gibbs admitted, honestly. "Good thing we know some top-notched, seasoned investigators who can find out."

Tim smiled briefly, "So first step, confirm those test results by running it again."

"Yeah,"

Tim nodded, "And if it comes back with the same results, we run my DNA against yours to eliminate the possibility that the connection is between the two of us; then I'll contact Kelsey to get a sample from her."

Gibbs frowned, "Why eliminate?"

Tim shrugged before stating what to him, seemed obvious, "If we were closely related, wouldn't it have come up before now? Besides, can you really see us as being related like that? We're nothing alike. Plus, what would the director say about relatives being on the same team? Best we get those results documented," Tim replied.

"Vance knows," Gibbs began.

"Knows what?" A frustrated Tim asked. "We don't even know what the hell is going on, including if or how we're related."

"He knows that we could be related, whether through your kids or something else. He's okay with us using NCIS resources to investigate, as long as official cases come first. We'll continue with cold cases while the various tests are running."

"Of course," Tim readily agreed.

"Bring in the samples tomorrow and we'll get it started as soon as you arrive," Gibbs started, restarting the elevator.

"Ah, boss?" Tim hesitated, "I have their samples with me, er, at my desk," he clarified.

"Why? How?"

"I did a cheek swab on both of them when I went to lunch," he admitted. "After the morning I had, I really wanted to see them and I figured there was a good chance the Director would want to run it again and I wanted to be prepared. Even if he didn't request that the retesting be done, I wanted it done," he sheepishly added. "In that case, I would've talked to you about going to a private lab for it."

Gibbs nodded as the doors opened on the main floor. "Okay, good thinking on getting the samples, that will save us some time. We'll start the test today." He pressed the button for the bullpen before exiting the elevator, "You go back up and get the sample, I'll meet you down by the lab," he ordered as the doors shut, not giving Tim a chance to disagree.

"All set, McGee?" Gibbs greeted Tim when the elevator doors opened on the lab floor.

Tim looked at Gibbs, "Got 'em right here," he commented as he took the two labeled bags out of his pocket. "Still can't believe this is happening."

Gibbs didn't comment on Tim's remark but instead turned and headed towards the lab, confident that his agent would follow. When he didn't hear any footsteps behind him, he turned around.

Tim stood in the doorway of the elevator, holding the samples out for Gibbs. "Here, I labeled which was which," he said as the older man retraced his footsteps to once more stand before him.

Gibbs looked at the bags before meeting Tim's gaze, "You can bring them into the lab and get the test running."

"Uh, no boss, not a good idea."

"Why not?" he asked, receiving an incredulous look from his agent that spoke volumes. "I know you know how to use all that equipment."

"I do," Tim admitted.

"And by running the test yourself, you'll know that the results weren't skewed."

"True," Tim admitted, seeing the logic in that statement. "But I probably shouldn't see or speak to her right now. I don't think I'm ready for that," he reluctantly admitted, not even noticing that he refused to say her name.

"I thought you said you could work with her?" Gibbs asked.

"I can, I will," Tim promised, upset that his boss might be hinting that he lied earlier. "But this…" he waved the evidence bags. "This isn't work. This is because of Abby. This represents how she does what she wants, when she wants without any consequences, how she consistently seems to be an exception to following the rules."

Gibbs frowned as he wondered where all of this was coming from. What rules has she consistently broken. Two things immediately came to mind, "If this is about the music in her lab and the dress cod-"

"I could care less about those," Tim angrily replied, his voice a harsh whisper. "This is about how Abby needs to respect others, both their privacy and their professional opinions. It's about Abby following protocol and directions, not doing whatever the hell she wants with impunity. She's out of control, has always been, but lately it seems t be getting worse, but this time," Tim's voice faltered and he paused.

"We'll figure it out," Gibbs replied, knowing that this wasn't the time or place to discuss those issues.

"What's to figure out?" Tim snapped. "How many times do I have to say this? She stole my kids' DNA, took it without permission, ran it, not just against my DNA, but against the whole damn system. She then shared the results with everyone in hearing range. Oh, yeah, and also came up with the ridiculous idea that you and I are in a relationship and that my kids were genetically engineered in a lab, something else she felt compelled to share with the world. God," Tim ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "The first part was bad enough, the second compiled her mistakes, but the last? She could've pulled you and I aside to ask us about it. She knew I hadn't told the team about the kids, and well, now I don't have to tell anyone, because she informed the whole damn building.

"She didn't expect what would happen," Gibbs began. He really did understand why Tim was so upset, but it was so strange to see the young agent act this way. Instead of his anger dissipating, it seemed to grow with every moment that passed. In truth, he was beginning to worry. If there was one thing he knew, it was anger and hate, he didn't want to see Tim consumed by it.

"That doesn't matter," Tim hissed. "She expected something. She expected that mine wasn't a match. No, she didn't expect both our DNA to come up as a match to their DNA, but she still expected something to happen.

"What do you think she would she have done if there were no matches? Do you think in that instance she would've talked to me in private, quietly telling me what she did and what the results were? I don't," Tim answered firmly. "I think she would've announced that to the entire team as well, gloating in the fact that she was right!"

Tim met his boss's eyes, "Her actions have made me realize how little respect and care she truly has for me. I can deal with her on a professional level, but anything else…" He trailed off and shook his head. "Bottom line, I can't forgive or forget what she has done, at least not now, don't ask me to."

Gibbs looked at his agent, and noticed the pain in his eyes. As much as he wanted Tim to begin the retest himself, perhaps it wouldn't be best to force Tim to see, talk, and interact with Abby right now. Before he could say anything, an impatient Abby headed over to them.

"Good, you're here!" She exclaimed. "C'mon, let's get this retesting done," she said, the tone of her voice letting them know what she thought about them questioning her results. She pulled McGee out of the elevator and herded the two men into the lab before they could react.

"Okay, there are a few ways we can do this," she began once they were securely in the lab. "One, we can run the DNA samples Timmy got from his kids against samples of DNA from the two of you. Two, run their DNA the same way I ran it the first time, through the entire database, or Three, compare the DNA sample Timmy got to the DNA I ran the first time," she concluded, holding up her samples.

The sight of those evidence bags jolted Tim out of his shock of seeing Abby before he was ready and enflamed the spark of anger he felt. "You cut their hair!" Tim angrily shouted. "I can't believe you did that," he hissed as he reached out and took possession of Abby's specimens, staring down at them as if in mourning. "I can see that page in their baby books now: 'First haircut: done by mad scientist to illegally run DNA so she could prove she was right'."

"Mad scientist?" Abby repeated.

"Insane, crazy, psychotic, demented," Tim mockingly offered as he got to work preparing the tests. There was no way he was going to let Abby anywhere near his kids DNA, at least, not when he had a choice and the sooner he started, the sooner he could leave her presence. "Take your pick. I'll also offer up: selfish, senseless, attention-seeking, ego-centric,"

"Hey, that's going a bit too far," she huffed, interrupting his list.

He snorted, "Seems accurate to me. Who else would steal DNA from a friend's children and secretly run it to prove they were right?"

"That's not why I ran it!"

"No?" Tim argued, barely sparing her a glance. "You sure as hell didn't do it to protect me. You couldn't even protect my secrets like I asked you to."

"You shouldn't have kept it a secret, you should've been happy about it, been eager to share the news."

"Why would I want to share aspects of my personal life with you guys if this is how you react? Deceitful, traitorous, prying, meddlesome," Tim snapped out what he thought of his coworkers. "I am happy to be father, and was eager to share the news, just worried and anxious because I knew the situation wasn't ideal. I told you hoping that you would be supportive and happy as well, instead I got, well, you at your worst," Tim added, grateful that he knew the setup of this lab so well since it allowed him to easily continued with his task of setting up the testing.

"You may not have expected the results you got, but you expected something. If it showed just me as a match, would you have even told me what you did?" Tim asked, looking at her. Though she did not answer verbally, her face gave away her response. "No, you wouldn't have. That right there shows me that a part of you knew it was wrong to do, yet you did it anyway, to prove your suspicions were right. And what's worse is that even now, you don't care," he pointed out, glaring at her for a moment before getting back to work on the samples.

"What if it came back with no matches? What would you have done then? Share it with the entire squad room, not caring the devastating effect it might have on me? Of course, you wouldn't have cared about that, only the fact that you were proven right would've mattered to you," he snapped. "Again, you think what you did is okay because of the results you got."

"But now Gibbs can have a family," Abby cried.

"And I could've lost mine!" Tim yelled. "And let's not forget that you informed Gibbs of the results in the gentlest way available," Tim added sarcastically. "Neither one of us know how those results are possible, potentially throwing both our worlds into turmoil. God, Abby, how can you not see how wrong you were to do this?

"And the fact that you didn't even try talking to me about it. Not your concerns and suspicions, not even about running their DNA," Tim paused for a moment, not only to press the appropriate selections on the devices screen and to jot down some information, but also to give Abby the opportunity to say something in her defense.

Tim initiated the test in the analyzer, then turned to look at Gibbs when Abby remained silent. "All set, the test is running, I've noted the test number and set the system to alert me, so I'll know if it's been stopped and restarted or tampered with in any way," he stated, giving Abby a pointed look. "I'm going back to work," he announced, as he exited the lab.

"Tim! Timmy stop,"

"Abby, let him go," Gibbs advised, blocking her path to keep her from chasing after him.

"But we don't know how he ran the test," she whined.

"Tim," Tony called. He had spied the younger man coming out of the stairwell and began to approach him, hoping that the two could talk for a moment.

"Tony, I don't have the patience to deal with anything you might have to say right now," Tim warned his teammate as he pushed past him.

"But-"

"No." Tim kept walking, doing his best to ignore his coworker.

"I ju-"

"No," Tim state again, still moving.

"I wa-"

"No," he repeated for the third time, wondering if he should provide multiple synonyms to get his point across, not that it worked on Abby, all it seemed to do was get her upset.

Tony snorted, "Can't wait till your kids learn that word,"

"What? Why?" Tim asked, his feet coming to a stop and he automatically turned as curiosity about Tony's words displaced his ban on conversing with the older man.

"Cuz if they take after their father, they'll be saying it constantly," he teased.

"Which father?" Tim angrily snapped, deciding not to wait for Tony to deliver the punchline and once more began walking away. He should have known better, he thought, shaking his head. At least the day was almost over and he would be able to head home in a couple of hours.

"Tim, I'm sorry," he burst out.

Tim snorted, not believing for a moment that Tony was really breaking rule 6 and apologizing. After all, Tony idolized Gibbs and his rules, especially that one.

"Sorry for what?" Tim asked, whirling around to confront Tony. "That I'm not as cute as my kids? That I had to rely on science fiction to procreate? That-"

"No!" Tony interrupted. "I'm sorry for how I acted. Abby's words didn't make sense, but yet, in my mind, they did."

"Tony, that doesn't make sense," Tim observed.

"I know," he agreed sadly. "Which gives you an idea of my mental state for most of today, especially this morning. You and Gibbs didn't make sense, but as Abby said, Gibbs had changed lately, both of you have changed. He's been happier and I noticed that your relationship with him has been different lately."

Tim looked at Tony inquiringly.

"You guys talked more, he's calling you Tim, he brought you in coffee, took you out for coffee, he had the two of you paired up more often than not, before you went on leave," Tony explained.

"You were worried," Tim suddenly realized.

"No. Well, yeah," he admitted. "Add to that the fact that the kids were real and you never told me-us-about them," Tony shrugged. "I figured something was up. Either Abby was right or you were leaving the team and I didn't want you to leave. But if you were together, you were probably going to leave anyway, and nothing was said. You still didn't say anything to us. If we didn't have trust…" Tony trailed off.

Tim was quiet for a moment before he repeated Tony's sentence. "If we didn't have trust, it would be your fault," Tim answered, continuing when Tony looked offended. "You break into my apartment to snoop. Break into my desk to snoop, my computer"

"To snoop," Tony said in unison with him, getting the point.

"You take what little I do share as well as what you learn by snooping and use it to tease or mock me. Surely you can see why trust might be an issue between us."

"I…Yeah," Tony agreed, his voice filled with sorrow.

"But Tony," Tim waited until their eyes met, "I have never not trusted you in the field. And that's what matters most, that's what is important, especially since my kids and I are depending on you to help me return home to them each night."

Tony gulped, seeing why Tim has had so much success as an author, his words definitely had an impact.

"Do you think you'll ever trust me off of the field?" he quietly asked.

Tim shrugged, "Not today," he admitted, "But yeah. I have before," he admitted. "It's just that this…" he paused and shook his head. "I really wanted to tell you guys. I wanted to shout the fact that I was going to be a father from the rooftops, but the situation," Tim sighed. "Well, it was less than ideal. Every time I thought about telling you, I could hear some snide comment you might say in my head."

"You didn't give me a chance," Tony argued. "You declared me guilty based on your own thoughts, not my actions."

"Maybe, you wouldn't have said anything," Tim skeptically replied, "Maybe the Tony in my head is worse than the real Tony, but I wasn't in any state to find that out for certain; I didn't have the energy to deal with everything that was going on and you at your worst at the same time. This was especially true once the pregnancy was in danger. At that point, it didn't matter, I wasn't going to tell anyone else, for any reason. I became superstitious about it, afraid that if I shared the news, admitted to everyone how happy I was to become a father, that the opportunity would be taken away, that something would happen to them."

"Oh, Probie," Tony mournfully replied. "I wish you had told me that before,"

"And have you mock me for it? I don't think so," Tim injected.

"Along with the news of the pregnancy, I would have been there for you," he concluded. "Fear of losing a loved one is nothing to mock."

Tim blinked at the sincerity of Tony's words. Slowly he nodded, as he met his teammates eyes, "Okay," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"Okay, then," Tony repeated before giving his trademark grin.

Tim gave a slight smile in return before heading back to the bullpen.

"Hey, McDaddy," Tony called from behind him, "I have your six."

Tim smiled to himself as he returned to his desk, finally having some hope that things would work out with his team.

1-23-20

Get it? Hair and now...loved Tim calling Abby a mad scientist :)

Yeah, I was referring to the confrontation between Tim and Abby as the 'chapter' you might have been waiting for. I hope you guys liked it.

Wondering what you think about the scene between Tim and Tony as well. Is Tim right? Will things work out for the team?

Woo-hoo, another chapter (and posted so quickly). I will tell you that I am currently working on two one-shots that might be posted soon. One is pretty much completed (and short, only a little over 1000 words), the other, it seems like it's going to be longer, but haven't done a word count yet so don't really know for sure (plus it's not finished).

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read. I look forward to reading the reviews.

Oh, yeah, I would love to 'chat' with someone about this story, bounce ideas off of, get some extra input (I'm a little stuck on a few parts and could use some help), feel free to PM me if you are open to that.