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 NOTgive permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
Tim led an extremely excited Teddy towards the entrance to the zoo next morning, with Rosie happily sitting in the stroller, hoping that his Mom wouldn't keep them waiting too long. He hadn't expected Teddy to recognise the area outside the Smithsonian from so far away but he supposed he should have. Teddy was a bright and very observant little boy and he and Hadrian had Bought a yearly pass and had taken Teddy to various exhibitions in the museum as well as to the zoo on multiple occasions.
Luckily, Heather had beaten them there and Tim was pleased to see she had dressed less formally in jeans and sensible shoes for a day out walking.
"Hi Mom! Teddy can you say hello to…" Tim stopped in panic not knowing what his mother would want to be called.
"Hello Teddy, I'm Tim's Mommy, so do you want to call me Grandma?" Heather offered.
"You're Daddy's Mommy?" Teddy asked astonished. He hadn't known Tim even still had a Mommy or a Daddy.
"That's right I'm Daddy's Mommy," Heather confirmed. "What does he call Hadrian if you're Daddy?" she asked her son.
"This is your Grandma Heather," Tim said to Teddy, remembering that Teddy had called his grandmother Grandma when he lived with her. "They call Hadrian 'Papa', it got too confusing with two Daddies. And this is Rosie," he said turning the stroller so she could see the baby properly now that she'd said hello to Teddy.
"Hello there, aren't you a pretty girl in your yellow dress," Heather gushed. She still couldn't tell whether Tim or Hadrian was the father but it seemed to matter less with the baby right there grinning at her so adorably. This was her granddaughter, in love if not in blood.
"Rosie can you say Hello to Grandma?" Tim asked.
"Hewwo Gamma" Rosie repeated as best she could.
"Hello Rosie," Heather replied.
"Good girl Rosie," Tim said proudly. "Where are we going first?"
"ZZZoooo" Rosie exclaimed.
"Yes we are at the zoo. We are going to see the animals, Teddy what animal do you want to see first?" Tim agreed.
Letting Teddy lead the way they headed first towards the wolves and coyotes. Teddy kind of understood the difference between a werewolf and a real wolf as much as a five year old could though he'd never seen a transformed werewolf except in a book and hopefully never would, but he still loved to watch the wolves. The reminder of his birth father didn't make him sad. Teddy couldn't imagine a better life than the life he had now with Hadrian and Tim as his parents, but Hadrian had told him about his birth father being a werewolf and he thought it was cool. He didn't remember the prejudice he'd faced in Britain with Andi as the son of a known werewolf and they'd never come across it in America. There was still some fear of actual werewolves of course though outright discrimination was illegal, but Teddy wasn't a werewolf though he had some of the traits around the full moon he'd never transform and nobody knew about Teddy's original parents. Here he was just Hadrian and Tim's son.
From the wolves they moved along to the monkeys after Heather told Teddy that they were her favourite. The baby orangutan was out on show and tumbled around like a small child on the children's play equipment in its enclosure, making Teddy laugh.
"You're right, I did like your friend," Heather admitted to her son.
"Yes," Tim said matter-of-factly as if he'd never envisioned any other possibility.
"I didn't find him overtly feminine though," Heather sounded surprised.
"Why did you expect to?" Tim asked. "I love him for who he is. He's not some sort of replacement for any girl."
"Well you're not," Heather said.
"Not what?" Tim asked.
"Not feminine in your mannerisms or tastes," Heather replied.
"It doesn't work like that Mom. Yes, Hadrian does complete more of the traditionally feminine jobs in our household, like the cooking and cleaning and child rearing because he works less hours than I do and he enjoys cooking more than I do, he's better at it too having learnt as a child. But that's just the way our jobs work, it's not really a personal preference. He also does more of the gardening and home and car maintenance than I do too. If you met him on the job he's just as capable as any other agent. More than a lot of the agents his age. He's a highly decorated war veteran," Tim said.
"Yes, I realised that talking to him," Heather said. She'd had ample experience with the differences between the marines on base that had served in a war zone and those who had not and it was easy to see that Hadrian had been in battle.
"I guess what I really want to know is why, Tim? Why would you choose to be with him? You've had girlfriends. You had to know it would be more difficult to be with a man, especially while working for the Navy," Heather asked, a hint of disapproval entering her voice and expression.
"I've never felt the way I feel about Hadrian for anyone. From the moment I met him on that plane, looking like he was running away from something he touched my heart. We talked all the way and by the time we landed in Washington I knew I wanted to keep in contact, that we could be the greatest friends. I invited him to crash at my place until he found an apartment and by the time we talked to the super about the apartment a couple of days later we were lifelong friends. The rest came slowly. When I realised I was deliberately ignoring women making passes at me because I'd rather hang out at home with Hades, than go on a date with even the hottest woman that had ever spoken to me, I knew I was in love. Finding out he felt the same was the happiest moment in my life up until then, and every time I think I couldn't love him more or be happier than I am now he proves me wrong in the best possible way. To simply say I love him doesn't seem enough to describe my feelings. Hadrian is my everything. He and our family are everything I've ever wanted."
Heather looked at her son, she saw the happiness that was in his face when he talked about his husband, the fatherly affection he had for the two children and thought about the all-encompassing joy she'd seen in his eyes when they'd arrived at the restaurant and found Hadrian waiting for them. Her boy was in love and he was a father. Tim was right, it didn't matter whose biological offspring Teddy and Rosie were. They were Tim's children.
She also saw his protectiveness and his determination. If she wanted an ongoing relationship with her only son she needed to accept his new family. Thinking it over it was an easy decision for her to make. All her life she had only wanted her children to be happy. Her heart had ached for him during his teen years as he faced bullying at school and impossible expectations at home. She hadn't stood up for him as she should have and part of her regretted it now but she was never one to dwell on regrets. She turned her attention to getting to know her grandchildren.
Hadrian rang Tim to get their location then used his invisibility cloak to apparate to a staff area nearby and hurried out to meet them. He was a yearly member of the Smithsonian so he wasn't worried about depriving the zoo of the entrance fee.
Tim spotted him first and called his name. Teddy looked around then took off running towards him.
"Hey Teddy-bear. You mustn't run off like that it isn't safe and you could have knocked someone over" Hadrian scolded lightly. "Have you had a good morning?"
Teddy babbled away happily, telling him about the wolves and the monkeys and seals. "Grandma Heather says the Rangtangs are her favourite," he finished up.
"Orangutans," Hadrian corrected smiling. Things must be going well for Heather to let the little boy call her Grandma.
"Are they called Orangtangs because they're orange?" Teddy asked.
"No Teddy they're not, they were named by the people who first found them and they weren't English speaking. Orang utan means 'person of the forest' in their language," Tim replied.
Hadrian grinned at him picking Rosie out of her stroller to give her a hug. "They played like people, didn't they?" he said.
"Yeah they have the same climbing frame as me!" Teddy shouted excitedly.
That was no surprise to Tim, Hadrian had re-transfigured it one evening after being at the zoo with Teddy a few weeks ago and Tim had grinned when he saw that the orangutans climbing frame had been the inspiration. "Lucky orangutans, that climbing gym is a lot of fun," he commented.
"Is it really the same? It must have cost a fortune," Heather asked.
"Some of it is very similar. Teddy's is modular so we can alter it as his skills develop, we've been adding to it for years and have recently taken the earlier parts out for Rosie to have separately," Tim replied giving the impression that the orangutans had a bigger climbing gym. "Are you hungry Teddy. Hadrian can only stay for a little while before he needs to go back to work and he should eat lunch while he's with us so he doesn't go back to work hungry."
"No, I want to see more animals," Teddy replied.
"You can see more after lunch," Tim replied.
"Teddy, do you want toasted cheese like we had last time? It was good wasn't it?" Hadrian asked, heading off the argument. "We could grab some toasted cheese and have a picnic over there where we can see the meercats. I think the meercats were Alvin's favourite, weren't they?"
"They are Simon and Theodore's favourite too," Teddy said excitedly. "Can we go see the meercats, Daddy?"
"As soon as we have our picnic lunches," Tim replied. "Would you like toasted cheese too, Mom? Or I do have some chicken salads and fruit in my bag."
"I think I need to taste this great toasted cheese, Teddy's so hungry for," Heather said laughing, impressed with their handling of the little boy to head off a tantrum without giving in to him.
"I'll get the food, you find us a place to sit, Teddy do you want to come with me and help carry the food?" Tim said passing the backpack to Hadrian so he could spend a little extra time with the children before he had to return to work.
Hadrian managed to find a nice sunny patch of lawn near the edge of the meercat enclosure and quickly spread out the waterproof blanket. It had a slight cushioning charm but he didn't think Heather would notice. Heather sat down beside him and reached towards the baby Hadrian had just set loose on the mat with a couple of toys from the bag.
"She's been asleep most of the morning," Heather said.
"Yeah, she's down to two sleeps a day. She should be awake now until about 1500 but she had an early morning today for some reason," Hadrian said pulling out her food and opening the containers.
"What has she got there?" Heather asked.
"Mashed sweet potato and pumpkin, they're one of her favourite vegetable combinations to eat cold. I also have some pieces of cheese and chicken for her and some grapes. She'll probably want to eat some of my sandwich too when she sees them, though toast is still a little hard for her to eat," Hadrian replied. "She always wants to eat and do whatever Teddy is doing."
"Sarah was the same with Tim when she was small. It caused him no end of frustration when she'd get into his things and mess them up trying to play," Heather shared.
"It isn't quite that bad because there is less of a gap between them but I'm always afraid she's going to get hurt trying to keep up with him. She has no fear," Hadrian said.
"Neither did Sarah," Heather said laughing ruefully. "That's one of the reasons Tim became so protective of her, she'd be following along behind him trying to do the things a teenager could do and inevitably she'd get hurt if he didn't realise she was there in time."
Tim and Teddy came back with lunch and they persuaded the little boy to sit and eat his lunch while Tim and Hadrian told him all they knew about the meercats and Teddy told them about how the chipmunks had loved watching them. Which led to him telling his new Grandma about the chipmunk movies, then they went to look at Hadrian's favourite tigers until Hadrian had to return to work.
-o0o-
"How are the Admiral's meetings going? Will they be wrapped up tonight, or are you here for the weekend?" Tim asked as they stopped for ice-cream. Teddy was starting to tire and Tim wanted to get him home before he became too grumpy. The day had gone well and Tim wanted to leave Heather with a good impression of the children.
Heather sighed, "I don't think they will be, he sounded frustrated on the phone. He's organised dinner with some colleagues so I've got to go soon to transform myself into the perfect Admiral's wife and be a credit to him."
Hadrian laughed but Tim tried to look sympathetic. "I hope that dinner isn't too boring," he said.
"He didn't say who we're going to dinner with, or where," Heather replied. "I wouldn't mind trying to see a show or something if we are to be here all weekend."
"Well call me if you find yourself with a couple of hours free tomorrow or Sunday, there are some decent free air concerts on this week," Tim replied.
"I still want to try to catch up with Sarah too," Heather said uncertainly.
"No pressure Mom, it was just an idea," Tim said casually. "Or we could double team Sarah so she doesn't drive you broke shopping."
Heather laughed. "She's capable of sending us both broke," she said ruefully.
"No, she isn't," Tim said quietly.
"You mean you've learned how to say no to your baby sister?" Heather asked sceptically.
"Learning to say 'no' to puppy eyes and act in the best interest of a child is part of good parenting, Mom," Tim said cheekily. Learning to say no to his sister's whining had come easily with Hadrian there to back him up and give him the time to tell the difference between her wants and her needs. And it was a skill further developed by parenting Teddy and now Rosie.
Heather slapped him on the shoulder.
"Oh! Was that your injured shoulder?" she asked horrified, remembering the injury he had last time she remembered seeing him. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"Relax Mom, my shoulder is fine. It fully healed over a year ago," Tim replied.
"It's really been that long since we've seen you?" Heather said sadly. "Had you and Hadrian already started planning to have a baby then?"
Tim panicked for a moment, he couldn't exactly tell his mother that Hadrian had been pregnant but he hadn't been told that it was possible for the man to get pregnant let alone that there was a baby on the way, and he couldn't say no because Rosie was born about six months later. Nor could he adequately explain why they would arrange a surrogate and start the process of insemination before they even got engaged or officially moved in together. He thought quickly.
"Yes. We already knew Rosie was on the way," Tim said. "The opportunity came up with a surrogate we liked and trusted and we jumped on it rather than waiting three or four years for her to be available again."
"So, you started planning to have a baby without proposing? Or even bringing him home to meet your family," Heather said shocked.
"We both know how bringing him home to meet Dad would go. He took one look at him and tried to tell me to break off our friendship before he even knew we were more than friends. Besides, it wasn't legal for us to marry here, so it didn't really occur to us, until Hadrian realised that he'd inherited a property from a distant cousin that qualified him as a ratepayer in Boston even though he'd never been there," Tim replied.
Heather looked sympathetic. "That hadn't even occurred to me."
"I'm just glad NCIS is a civilian agency and I hadn't actually joined the Navy or we wouldn't have been able to get married," Tim said.
Heather frowned, "Did you know, back when you refused to go to Annapolis that you might be gay?" she asked, wondering if this was the real reason for the difficulties between Tim and his father.
"I knew I was bisexual. I also thought that my sexual orientation wouldn't matter, if I really wanted to join the Navy I could restrict myself to only dating women the way I did when I started at FLETC. I never expected to feel the way I feel about Hadrian for anybody, man or woman. But I never wanted to join the Navy, it didn't make sense when I couldn't go on a boat without being seasick. Even on the Carriers in a calm sea or on a boat in port I get sick every day and it doesn't ever get any better, I would have been given a medical discharge within months of starting my first tour of duty because my seasickness is caused by damage in my vestibular system," Tim said. He refrained from saying that the damage was his parents' fault because without the memory of their decision to bind his magic they would never understand or believe him. He also didn't mention that the damage had been magically cured by Healer Roberts because the damage wasn't fixable using muggle methods.
"When did you find that out?" Heather asked.
"I had it investigated a couple of years ago after I spent a week out on a carrier and ended up in sickbay dangerously dehydrated, most sailors become accustomed to the movement after a few days but for me it wasn't getting any better and none of the seasickness remedies worked, the ships medical officer treating me told me of his suspicions and recommended it. It means there's an exemption in my file stating that I can never be posted as an agent afloat even temporarily which is a real relief." Tim said.
"You never considered telling your father?" Heather asked.
"Why would I? He already thinks I'm not really good enough to be a McGee," Tim said bluntly. "It came as a relief that I had diagnosable damage that would have prevented me from following the path he wanted for me. It validated my decision to make my own choices for my life. You know I really thought hard about taking Hadrian's name and letting the McGee name end with the Admiral?"
Heather was shocked by that and looked torn for a moment but she didn't have time to stay and sort things out. Tim had already shown a reluctance to believe that his father cared for him and it was going to take more than stating the fact to change his mind. So she let the subject drop, she was going to have to hurry to get dressed up to the Admiral's standards in time to meet his colleagues for dinner as it was.
-o0o-
Tim spent the weekend waiting for the other shoe to drop but Heather didn't get back in contact with Tim that weekend though Sarah called and told him she was having lunch with her parents on the Saturday and invited him to join them. Tim called back and declined claiming to be busy.
"You don't have a case. You would've said so!" Sarah declared.
"No, I don't have a case. But I'm spending the weekend with Hadrian and the children. You know full well how the Admiral would react if I brought them to lunch. I'm not subjecting my children to his bigotry," Tim replied.
"You don't know he'd react that way! You're just scared," Sarah said scornfully.
"I tell you what Sarah. You tell the Admiral that I'm gay and sit back and watch the fireworks. Just don't tell him my address or where to find me," Tim retorted. "He has met Hadrian, he hated him on sight before we could tell him we are together. I mean it Sarah, if your father turns up here then I will know who told him. If he comes here and hurts one of my family, I will never speak to you again."
"Tim, he wouldn't!" Sarah protested.
"Sarah, I believe he would and I'm not willing to take that risk. If you tell him I'm gay and he comes and attacks me at the Navy Yard, I'll deal with it. I won't be happy with him but I won't be angry with you for being wrong about trusting him. But if he comes and threatens Hadrian all bets are off. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect Hades and our children. I'll take out a restraining order on all three of you if he so much as turns up here threatening me in front of the kids," Tim said firmly.
"But Tim…"
"Don't argue Sarah, it will be my family at risk if you're wrong so this is my decision to make and I have made it! You need to respect that!" Tim replied hanging up on her. In the back of his mind he knew it might have been the wrong approach to give his stubborn sibling an ultimatum like that, but if he couldn't trust her to keep his location secret it was better that he find out now while he knew the Admiral was in town and was alert to the dangers. And he trusted Hadrian's wards to keep any real trouble away. That didn't stop him from going to the electronics store and setting up surveillance camera's around the outside of the ward boundaries even though he had to get Hadrian to cast a notice me not charm on him as he illegally attached them to the light poles just far enough outside the wards not to be affected by their magic.
Hadrian and the children tried to distract him for the rest of the weekend, getting him involved in their games and the four of them went to the farmer's market and brought fresh produce for the week and a picnic lunch to eat in the park on the way home on the Saturday and to a children's movie on the Sunday.
"I'm glad with all the magic in their lives they still enjoy normal things like movies," Tim said.
"Yes but I think we're going to end up regretting introducing them to that one," Hadrian said ruefully, thinking of the catchy tunes that their children were already singing over and over on their way home. "It was fun watching it this time but once it comes out on DVD we're going to be heartily sick of those songs."
Tim laughed and nodded his agreement. "We could always break the disc if it gets too much," he suggested.
"We could. You know we won't do it though!" Hadrian said ruefully.
"Then you need to find some sort of charm to put on the disc so it can only be heard by children," Tim said. "We could make a fortune, marketing it."
"It would be too dangerous unless it was keyed that only adult witches and wizards couldn't hear it. Imagine if one of Teddy's friends borrowed the disc without telling us. There is no way we could pass a charm like that off as advanced technology," Hadrian said.
Tim chuckled. "I see your point but most parents would think it was a dream come true," he said.
"There probably is still a marketable value in the charm if we can get it to work for adult magic users though," Hadrian said thoughtfully. "Or we could put a nonmagical repelling charm on the disk as well so it can't be borrowed by his nonmagical friends. But of course it wouldn't stop us from having to listen to the children's rendition of the songs."
A/N: Thank you to Rori Potter, onidra, lilly-flower15, DarkRavie, Kourtney Uzu Yato, kirsty21, knuckles 8, starie78, Gime'SS, luramos, Fallow54 (Guest), Rainbow2007, xDarklightx, buterflypuss, charm13insomnia, Ashwini (Guest), delia cerrano, caw122182, Firehedgehog, DS2010, madnessdownunder2, Yuuki Heartfilia-Dragneel, julschristine975, Lucky Guard, TruGemini, Criminal Minds Queen, Silvermane1, Lady Kaiki, KEZZ 1, Harriverse, acherongoddess, daithi4377, Locket1, Serpent91, Melikalilly, Sakihinata, mooneysfate, kimbarn30, Village-Mystic, serenityselena, wildcat1144, Guest, Kyoko27, HeroLeagueClub, lia (Guest), , Guest, RainRaven, Merlenyn, Naezee and all those who followed and favourited for your support.
A/N2: Happy Australia Day everyone.
