Chapter 37

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or NCIS or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

-o0o-

Hadrian was thrilled to receive a package from Tim's mother the day they arrived back in DC. It seemed that they'd underestimated the woman's love for her son. He took it into Tim and Tim smiled as he saw the label. "I guess she can stand up to the Admiral when it matters after all" he said opening the package.

"I guess not" he said flatly a moment later seeing the gifts that he'd bought for both his parents unwrapped and returned. He searched through the packaging carefully but there was no note.

"Maybe Sarah would like them" he said doubtfully.

"Throw them out so you don't have to think about them anymore. You don't want them sitting around reminding you" Hadrian said hugging his husband. "I'm so sorry."

"No you have no reason to be sorry" Tim said returning the hug. "This was there decision, not yours. And if I had to make a choice between you I'd pick you every time."

Hadrian called Tollie to come and look after Teddy and led Tim upstairs to their bedroom. Climbing onto the bed he put Tim's favourite documentary channel on the TV and they snuggled together watching quietly.

Tim took comfort from the familiar embrace and let himself be distracted. "It's not like we've been close for years" he said softly.

"I know" Hadrian agreed.

"I love you" Tim said kissing his husband.

"I love you too" Hadrian replied, kissing back.

-o0o-

Ziva watched Gibbs and McGee carefully when they returned to work, looking for differences in their behaviour to see how Gibbs reacted to finally being told that the wedding was a prank, of course it was possible he'd known all along but he really wasn't the type to go along with a prank.

Tim arrived while Gibbs was away from his desk, he looked relaxed and cheerful but not more than normal for him over the last twelve months or so. Not like she would expect him to behave if he was newly married. He sat and booted up his computer and began going through his emails as they didn't have any ongoing cases because of their leave.

Gibbs arrived back and Tim greeted him casually. "Morning Tim. Have a good trip back?"

"Uneventful" Tim replied. "Which is the best you can hope for when travelling with Teddy."

Gibbs grinned. "Ain't that the truth" he said amused.

Ziva was confused, Tim and Gibbs had seemed closer since Tim came back after being shot in the shoulder but this joking camaraderie was new. Perhaps Gibbs had been in on the joke.

She noticed Tim was wearing a ring she hadn't seen before. It looked antique, like one of the old head of house rings used to seal the wax on letters but fancier. He wore it on his left ring finger but it didn't look anything like any wedding ring she'd ever seen and a ring that old was probably too valuable unaltered to have resized, Ziva rationalised. She discounted it as a wedding ring, Tim was too traditional, in her opinion, not to wear a gold wedding band. She wondered where he'd got it and if it was part of the prank.

Tony arrived just minutes before Gibbs would consider him late, half an hour before the start of the workday. "Hey Tim, how'd it go?" He asked.

"Great Sarah and Penny both came" Tim said smiling. "And some friends of Hades' from England. It was everything we'd hoped for."

Tony grinned, though he was a little hurt that Tim could consider the wedding 'everything he'd hoped for' without him there.

"How about you Ziva? Did you have a good holiday?" Tony asked cheerfully. "Kill anyone interesting? Start an international incident? Wage war on the CIA?"

"Tony stop being a turkey. I spent the weekend with friends in New York" Ziva replied.

"I think you mean 'Goose' Ziva" Gibbs said hiding his amusement as always. He answered his phone and spoke abruptly for a moment. "Gear up. We've got a dead Navy dependent down at Norfolk."

The three of them jumped, gathered their things and hurried to the elevator, bickering about who was going to drive the truck.

Hours later on their return, Gibbs sent Tony down to Abby's lab.

"Hey Abbs" Tony greeted her.

"Tony, you haven't been down all day!" She exclaimed.

"We got a call out as soon as I got here" Tony said handing over the evidence and explaining to her the priorities. "Did you have a good rest of your holiday?"

Tony had been roped into taking Abby to the concert she'd been so upset about Tim refusing to take her. It had been an eye-opening experience. Usually Tony prided himself on being able to fit in almost anywhere, especially anywhere in the club scene. Instead after dutifully responding to Abby's introductions her friends had ignored him, and the rest of the crowd had looked down on him in his regular clubbing outfit of well-fitting leather pants and a silk shirt. The music had been horrendous at an ear-splitting decibel, the venue was cold and drafty, the drinks were watered down and Abby had insisted on him driving so he couldn't even attempt to drown out his misery. He could understand why Tim was so adamant that he didn't enjoy going out with Abby. The thought that he was only there because Tim was off in Massachusetts getting married and hadn't invited only rubbed salt into the bleeding wounds his ears felt like they'd become.

"It was great!" Abby said enthusiastically. "I went to Jinx's after party and then to a gathering out in Georgetown. Where'd you get to?"

"I went home. I obviously wasn't needed and the music was giving me a headache" Tony replied.

"You're as bad as McGee! I thought you'd be more fun" Abby said crossly.

"If you ignored McGee the way you did me the other night I'm not surprised he ducks out as soon as you look like you've got someone else to look after you" Tony retorted. "The only thing that surprises me is that you were able to convince him to go out with you more than once."

He turned and left the lab not wanting or needing to hear the tantrum the lab mistress was about to throw.

By the time Abby got results, she was fuming. Gibbs hadn't been down to see her all day, neither had McGee but she told herself that she didn't want to see that big fat liar anyway. Even Tony hadn't come down since he dropped off the evidence this morning. Now she had results and Gibbs infamous gut had let her down.

She grabbed the printouts and marched up to the bullpen. "Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs" she called rushing over to his desk. "Where is he?" She asked, not seeing him.

Tony picked up the phone and started chasing down the security tapes he'd been trying to talk Tim into getting for the past twenty minutes.

"Coffee" Tim replied shortly.

"He'll be back in a minute Abby. Can I help you?" Ziva asked.

"I have results, important results. Gibbs always comes down when I have results" Abby replied.

"Maybe he's down in your lab looking for you" Ziva suggested.

"Why didn't you come down to see me?" Abby demanded looking at Tim.

"Why would I?" Tim replied. "You've either yelled at me, called me a liar or refused to listen to me every time I've spoken to you in the last month. So forgive me for wanting to stay up here with people who're less likely to insult me to my face." He too picked up his phone and started following up on the information his computer searches brought up.

"Timmy" Abby screeched in protest. "You did lie. You didn't get married."

Tim ignored her and she stamped her foot and started yelling. "You lied to me. I can't trust you with anything anymore."

"What ya doing Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"Timmy's ignoring me" Abby declared smirking.

Gibbs turned to his newlywed agent and heard the end of the phone call. "Looks like he's working" he commented. "What ya doing up here?"

"I had results, important results that could solve the case and you didn't know that. Are you okay Gibbs?" Abby asked trying to feel Gibbs forehead for a fever. 'He must be sick if his Gibbs gut wasn't working' she thought.

"What results?" Gibbs asked, brushing Abby's hand away and looking at DiNozzo and McGee."

"Don't know Boss, she was waiting for you" Tony replied.

"What results Abs?" Gibbs repeated visibly trying not to yell.

Abby told him about the DNA results implicating a female blood relative of the victim.

"McGee background on the victim" Gibbs ordered.

Tim put her picture up on the plasma describing what he'd found out about the petty officer's wife, followed by Tony with information on the petty officer himself. "He can't have done it boss, he was on duty and the security logs and cameras have him in meetings two hours away at the time of the crime" Tony wrapped up his information while Tim typed furiously on his computer setting up searches into the victim's female relatives.

Because of the difficulties due to the fact it was the end of the workday, it took him another hour to get enough details to identify which of them was the killer and Gibbs sent Tony and Ziva out to bring her in before turning to Abby. "How long had you had that information before you told me?" he asked.

"Gibbs?" Abby replied.

"How long Abby?" Gibbs demanded. "And why didn't you give it to Tony or Tim. What would you have done if she'd killed someone else in the last half hour because you didn't pass on the information Tim needed to find her in time?"

"But… but… you always come down to get results. Especially when they're important results. Your gut would've told you to come" Abby protested.

"Do you always wait for me to come and give you the results?" Gibbs asked surprised and angry. "This was the turning point of the investigation. We didn't have the sister on our radar as even a potential witness let alone a suspect. And we're dealing with a woman depraved enough to kill a visibly pregnant woman and the baby. Surely you can see that we need to apprehend her as soon as possible?"

Gibbs was interrupted by his phone.

"Gibbs" he barked into it.

"Jethro" Ducky greeted before getting straight to the point. "The cause of death was the knife wounds, one of them nicked the abdominal aorta and she bled out in minutes but all the other wounds were shallower and all of them stabbed through into one of the babies. It's possible that the infants were the primary target, the victim would have survived an hour or more if the aorta hadn't been nicked. She would have been found in time to save her but not either of the babies."

"Babies? Twins?" Gibbs asked.

"Fraternal twins and from the look of them two different fathers. I'll need DNA to confirm of course but one looks Asian and the other Caucasian" Ducky replied.

"Abby go and get the new tissue samples from Ducky and run the DNA. I want the results the minute you have them" Gibbs ordered sounding closer to being angry than any of them had ever heard him be with Abby before.

"Tony did you investigate the victim's social life?" Gibbs barked knowing that Tony always looked for extramarital affairs.

"Husband has been afloat for the past six months and there was no evidence of regular contact with any males. Neither her phone records or credit cards indicate an affair. Boss?" Tony replied.

Gibbs looked up at the photo of the petty officer and his wife on the plasma. "She was expecting twins and at least one of them wasn't the Petty Officer's child" he said.

"There were charges on their account for a fertility clinic" Tim reported. "The amounts suggest IVF, and a record of a ten thousand dollar payment to a Connie Hays. I searched the name on line and came up with this" Tim said putting an advertisement for egg donation up on the plasma. "The strange thing is that her IP account and bank accounts are also linked to a Jian Cheung. He put the two women up on screen one a dark haired Caucasian with brown eyes and the other a fair skinned woman who looked half Caucasian and half Chinese. "Ten thousand's awfully cheap for an egg donor" Tim concluded.

"They questioned the sister and found that she had been furious to find out that her sister and brother-in-law had gone with an anonymous donor after she'd volunteered her eggs for them to have a baby.

When questioned the petty officer revealed that it had been his wife's decision, she'd been concerned that her sister was already a little overly involved with their lives and the way she'd looked at the petty officer had made them both a little uneasy.

They referred the perpetrator for psychiatric evaluation before charging her.

"I hate it when they turn out to be nuts" Tony complained.

"Being committed to a criminal psychiatric ward wouldn't be any less of a punishment than jail. And if we have her committed without charging her we can always keep the threat of charges to stop her from recovering too quickly if she's putting it on" Tim said.

"Yeah I know! It just seems unsatisfying somehow" Tony whined.

"Thanks Boss" he said as Gibbs slapped him across the back of the head.

-o0o-

Gibbs went down to get the DNA results from Abby when they were due. He didn't want to encourage her behaviour but he also didn't want her upstairs disturbing his team again either.

"What ya got Abs?" he demanded.

"Well the twins are half siblings and they are also not a genetic match to the victim. Maybe she's a surrogate trying to double dip by having two babies at once" Abby speculated.

"McGee said she was paying for IVF, if she wasn't intending to keep the babies she wouldn't have paid the bills" Gibbs replied.

"McGee is a liar. You can't trust him" Abby pouted.

"McGee is one of the most honest young men I have ever known. He doesn't lie to you, you just refuse to listen to him unless it's something you want to hear" Gibbs said wearily.

"He lied about getting married" Abby declared.

"No he didn't. It was a lovely wedding" Gibbs replied.

"Gibbs you can't have a wedding without applying for a licence" Abby stated.

"There are more than fifty states in the USA and Tim has lived in at least five of them. He didn't get married locally. There was no reason why he should. He was legally married last Saturday and it was your own fault you weren't there to see it. I don't want to hear any more about it."

"But Gibbs…"

"But nothing Abby. Let it go! That's an order" Gibbs said uncompromisingly.

"But…"

"Don't make me make it a rule" Gibbs ordered walking out of the lab.

"He didn't bring me a cafpow. I deserved a cafpow" Abby muttered angrily.

-o0o-

By the end of the day Ziva still hadn't seen anything to convince her that Tim was or wasn't married or that he'd got in trouble for trying to prank Gibbs and she put it out of her mind, more interested in her own love life which was going well, though she wasn't willing to share that information with Tony or the team. She realised that Tim may have felt he same way about his relationship but couldn't believe that he would feel ready to propose without feeling ready to tell the team. Eventually, she forgot the whole prank and life went on. Tim was still quite closed off with her and she missed their earlier friendship, on the other hand he seemed to be getting on better with Gibbs and Tony and the team was working well which was all Ziva was used to expecting from work colleagues. Tim and Abby, and for that matter Tony and Abby, were clearly not getting along and Gibbs was surprisingly indulgent with their attempts to avoid confrontation with her. In the past he'd just ordered Tim to go and make things right but now he either sent her down to the lab with evidence or called or went himself. Ziva was sure that Abby was quite happy with the increased attention from Gibbs though she always looked a little put out when Ziva appeared in her lab. This wasn't new though, the scientist and the former Mossad agent had never gotten along well. Ziva wasn't concerned by this believing that they were just both people who preferred the company of men.

-o0o-

Hadrian woke up gasping and quickly reached for the rubbish bin to throw up into.

"Your nightmares are getting worse" Tim said concerned, rubbing his back gently.

"The healer warned me they would. Something about the pregnancy hormones" Hadrian replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tim offered.

Hadrian shook his head and Tim pulled him into his arms rubbing his back comfortingly. Time passed and neither could return to sleep. "I keep dreaming that the baby won't be human" he said.

"Why? Because I don't have magic?" Tim asked.

"No I had these dreams before when I first got cursed. I think it's because I grew up 'knowing' that men couldn't get pregnant" Hadrian replied. "And before Voldemort came back in fourth year he'd possessed a baby and it turned all red and scaly and didn't look human. I keep seeing our baby look like that and being responsible for Voldemort's rebirth. Sometimes I dream about murdering our baby because it's Voldemort and other times I can't hurt it because it's our baby and it grows up to destroy the world." Hadrian had tears running down his face by this time.

"You told me you were sure Voldemort is gone for good this time" Tim reminded him cuddling him closely. "He can't come back and even if he could there's no reason to think it could be through our baby. You don't have a connection to him."

"I know it isn't rational but it just feels so real" Hadrian replied trying to stop crying.

"No don't hold back. You've been trying to hide this for long enough. Let it all out. Maybe it will help" Tim said rocking him gently.

Hadrian sobbed and screamed until he was almost choking on his tears. Tim held him firmly, murmuring reminders that no matter what he wouldn't be facing this alone.

Tollie popped in offering calming potions and sleeping draughts but Tim shook his head. "He's been upset about this for a long time. Unless he's hurting the baby I think it would be better to let him cry it out" he told her softly.

Tollie cast a spell. "Baby be's fine. Youse calls Tollie if needs" she reassured Tim before popping away.

Tim continued to hold him trying to exude calm in spite of his worry and eventually Hadrian exhausted himself and slept. Tim stayed awake watching over his husband.

The alarm went off and Tim dragged himself out of bed. He went and fetched cold water and a cup of tea for Hadrian who was slow to rouse.

"How're you feeling?" Tim asked.

"Urghh" Hadrian replied drinking gratefully and snacking on the crackers beside the bed.

"I think you should take the day off" Tim suggested gently.

"I don't want to fall asleep again on my own" Hadrian replied climbing out of bed. "I'll feel better after I shower."

"Would you like me to call in too" Tim offered. "They can call me if we catch a case."

"No you haven't told the rest of your team about me so it isn't worth the hassle it will cause to take a personal day without a reason. I'll be fine. I only have a couple of classes today and I want to finish up before the baby arrives."

"Well if you're sure. Call me if you change your mind" Tim said doubtfully.

Hadrian got up and showered before meeting Tim and Teddy downstairs for breakfast.

"Bye bye Teddy. I'll see you tonight" Tim said scooping up the toddler for a hug. He put him down and turned to his husband who happily took the little boy in one arm while hugging Tony in the other.

"Have a good day" Tim said kissing Hadrian on the cheek.

"You too. Be safe" Hadrian replied. "Love you"

"I love you. I'll be fine, don't worry" Tim replied grinning.

-o0o-

Tim arrived home looking injured and shaken. "What happened?" Hadrian asked in alarm rushing over to hug his husband. He was still used to being the one in danger and knowing the risks of his actions, not the one sitting at home safely hoping nothing had happened to the man he loved. The way Tim winced at even the lightest hug sent panic though Hadrian's gut.

"I was bitten by a Navy drug dog who they think may have killed its handler" Tim replied.

"You need to see a healer" Hadrian said getting his phone out to call the healer. "Have you seen a doctor?"

"Just Ducky" Tim replied. "He told me to stop at the hospital on my way home."

"He let you drive yourself home?" Hadrian demanded horrified.

"Well he'd cleared me for duty and Gibbs made me drive the dog back to the yard" Tim replied.

"You mean the dog's body?" Hadrian asked.

"No, I shot it and knocked it unconscious but it's still alive" Tim replied.

Hadrian huffed furiously. "You will tell me the rest later" he demanded before apparating Tim to the healer's rooms.

Hadrian insisted on accompanying Tim to the healer. "He needs the injury fully documented for the mundane authorities" he told him firmly.

"That's not necessary" Tim argued. "If I put in an injury report then I'll have to let it heal the mundane way. I just want to get it healed and forget about the whole incident.

"You were injured in the line of duty and none of your colleagues even bothered to send you to a doctor. You could have had your throat ripped out. You almost died" Hadrian whispered almost in tears.

Tim hugged him tightly and turned to the doctor. "Is there any way for you to heal my injury at least enough to take away the pain and restore function while making it look like it has to heal the mundane way?" he asked.

"I can take away the pain, prevent the risk of getting an infection which is quite high from an animal bite and guarantee it will heal fully without making it look healed but you still wouldn't be able to use the arm while it finishes healing the mundane way and it will scar though I should be able to keep the scarring to a minimum. I mean the minimum scarring you could have if it healed without magical intervention. Or of course I could take extensive photos then fully heal the wound and apply a glamour to make it appear unhealed. You of course would still have to act like it's injured to pull off the deception" Healer Roberts replied. "You would also have to come back perhaps twice a week to have the glamour reapplied to show some healing.

"Okay, document it fully and then heal it" Hadrian compromised. "I'm not willing to risk inflicting permanent scarring on him just to report his team for negligence."

"Yes, write me up a full report and I'll come back twice weekly for the transfiguration. Of course that might be difficult if we get a case" Tim agreed.

"You won't be able to go on cases. You need to pretend that you're still injured and that means staying on medical leave. And you'll include the medical report in your report on the case" Hadrian pressed.

"Yes indeed, if we left this to heal without magic then I'd be writing you up for at least four weeks in a sling without using that arm at all which includes no driving or using your hand to type, or even shower and dress yourself" Healer Roberts said firmly. "And probably another eight weeks of light duty after that."

Tim sighed. "It's going to cause trouble" he said. "It's really not worth it."

"Of course, you're worth it" Hadrian snapped. "They deserve to get in trouble for not taking your injuries seriously. You should have been sent straight to the hospital. They need to be reprimanded so that it doesn't happen again" Hadrian demanded. "I swear to you if I lose you due to their negligence I'll make each of them beg for me to kill them."

Tim was slightly taken aback by his fierceness, this was the Harry Potter who had stood before the Dark Lord and won because his desire to protect his friends was stronger than anything that Voldemort had ever seen before.

"Okay Hades, I'll include the medical report" Tim promised his lover, not mentioning that whether the inclusion would get further than Gibbs wastepaper basket remained to be seen.

"Good" Hadrian said fully prepared to take a copy to the director if that's what it took to make sure Tim's team knew not to ignore a teammate's injury again in future.

Later that night after waking up with nightmares for the third time Tim told Hadrian the full story of what had happened. How he'd been forced to drive the dog home, how Abby had taken the dog's side and told him off for shooing the animal, what had happened to the new jacket Hadrian had bought him, and about the dog attack CD DiNozzo had found so funny.

Hadrian was struggling to contain his anger as he comforted Tim.

-o0o-

A/N: Thank you to charm13insomnia, Locket1, Almonda, julschristine975, Kourtney Uzu Yato, Rori Potter, mayawene, Dedicated4reading, lilly-flower15, Lientjuhh, xDarklightx, lia (Guest), Firehedgehog, SpiritBlackPaw, buterflypuss, Village-Mystic, DS2010, acherongoddess, DarkRavie, Gracie15Trowa, Silvermane1, PercyJacksonROCKS4ever, serenityselena, Merlenyn, .9, Queen Slytherin 92, laloonay, SJReynolds, Damien Evermere, dragonbrother forever, TheThaw, Nekoraychan, ShiroHollow96, dax12, BlackPhoenix913, Fixtictious Fanasty, ShadowsInDreams, Amazing Girl, Kerral, LiveFreeDieWell, SassyTyrone, sourstrawberries, grapes'-paperweight, BooksCoffeeLife, ghh422, Illyriel, forgiving and Lightning Fox Elemental for your support.