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"I need to talk to Kingsley," Hermione said to his secretary as she entered the outer office of the minister for magic, Thursday afternoon.
"You don't have an appointment and I'm afraid he's left for the week. He won't be back until Monday," Leanne Tinker replied.
Hermione leaned in and said very quietly to her former housemate, "Is he going to see Harry. If so, I have something I want to talk to him about before he goes."
"I'm sorry Hermione he didn't confide in me what his plans were, and I'm not going to interrupt him, this is the first weekend he planned to have off in months," Leanne replied. "I can slot you in to see him at four o'clock on Monday."
"Okay thanks," Hermione said thoughtfully. She walked away disappointed and decided to call it a day early and go home to take Rose to the park for a couple of hours for some quality mother daughter time. She had enjoyed being a mother much more now since nobody was demanding that she give up the career she loved to do it full time.
-o0o-
Sarah rang them Sunday night. "I think she's told the Admiral," Tim said sighing before he answered. Hadrian looked concerned and the children weren't with them so Tim put her on speaker so Hadrian could hear what she said directly.
"Hi Sarah, what's up?" Tim answered knowing this probably had something to do with the time she'd spent with her parents.
"Tim, you were right!" Sarah said miserably.
"You mean I was right about the Admiral being a bigot, and being incapable of letting his prejudices slide in order to be a decent father?" Tim asked bluntly, hoping his sister's eyes were well and truly opened this time. She'd tried to mediate their relationship before and it had always ended badly but her endlessly rose-coloured view of their father and desire for a harmonious family had led her to ignore Tim's request to leave things alone and convince herself that it really couldn't be that bad, at least once or twice per year.
"He says he's disowned you, that as long as you're in a relationship with Hadrian or any other man you're no longer his son," Sarah said crying.
"He hasn't wanted to acknowledge that I'm his son in public since I was eighteen and refused to go to Annapolis," Tim said calmly. "I've known he would react like this if he found out about my relationship."
"Don't you even care?" Sarah demanded in shock.
"Of course I cared. I would have loved to have a loving supportive family growing up. But I came to terms with the Admiral's lack of love and approval a long time ago, Sarah. He's never been the father to me that he is to you, not since I was old enough to go fishing with him and grandpa and spent the whole day being seasick," Tim said sighing.
"But there's a difference between you two just not getting along and him disowning you, he's talking about visiting his lawyer next week to write a new will," Sarah raised her voice.
"Are you trying to make me upset about it?" Tim asked.
"No, but I don't understand," Sarah said.
"There is nothing new Sarah, so he writes me out of his will. I don't need his money. So he's disowned me, I've only seen him twice in the last six years and he threatened to disown me last time I saw him as well. There's not really much difference between being disowned and knowing I would be disowned if he knew about my life. You're acting like it changes things but it honestly doesn't," Tim said.
"But our family is ruined!" Sarah wailed.
"No, your family is not ruined, we are all still talking to you. Unless you told him where I live? You just need to remember not to mention me when you're with Mom and Dad," Tim replied.
"No I didn't tell him. But what if he goes to the Naval Yard?" Sarah asked anxiously.
"He will be at the Naval Yard for meetings next week anyway but I'm protected there. NCIS is a civilian agency and abusing agents is not tolerated for any reason. I'll be careful travelling to and from work and make sure I don't go on the lunch run by myself but the Admiral has to know that attacking me at the office or anywhere near the Yard will harm his career more than mine," Tim said.
"Will it harm your position at NCIS?" Sarah asked.
"I don't think so. Hadrian isn't a secret and Gibbs will definitely have my back, but making an enemy of an Admiral isn't something anybody takes lightly," Tim said sighing. He wanted to ask what his mother had said but if Sarah wasn't volunteering the information he assumed she hadn't argued with the Admiral. He would have to wait and see whether she followed his orders to cut Tim and his family out of her life. He cursed to himself, it would've been better if she hadn't come to the zoo and met the children and tried to re-establish her place in his life if she was going to walk away again. Hopefully if he and Hadrian didn't mention Grandma Heather, the kids would forget about her.
"I'll talk to you later Sarah," he said when it seemed obvious she didn't have anything else to tell him about the meal with her parents.
-o0o-
"She didn't say she was sorry," Hadrian observed.
"She admitted she was wrong, she probably thought that was enough," Tim replied sighing. "And I did suggest she should tell the Admiral that I'm gay and see how he reacted before telling him about you and the children."
"You told her it was a terrible idea to tell him anything and if she refused to believe you she should tell him you were gay and watch his reaction because you knew she wouldn't keep her mouth shut about us any other way," Hadrian corrected him.
Tim sighed. "Yeah."
"It sounded like she told him about me anyway," Hadrian said. "But at least she didn't give him our address. Will he be able to find it through official channels?"
"He shouldn't be, but he's an Admiral. Having someone of his rank owe you a favour would be attractive enough to tempt most junior officers, and I'm not the only one that can hack well enough to find a homeowner's address if he asks. That's why we put up the cameras, and you checked and added to the wards" Tim replied.
-o0o-
"Hello Hermione," Kingsley greeted her. "Sorry I missed you last week."
"Hello Minister Shacklebolt. I have information I need to get to Harry without it being intercepted. I'm willing to swear on my magic that I do not mean to harm him in any way," Hermione said earnestly.
"Is this something to do with his job chasing escaped death eaters?" Kingsley asked curiously. He knew Harry and Hermione had been trying to rebuild their friendship but he was also privy to Tim's concerns that Hermione was too inclined to see her own point of view and fears of what she might do if she believed Hadrian needed her help. Her refusal to call him by his preferred name was a sign of her stubbornness.
"No it's something personal," Hermione replied.
"Please tell me the Weasleys aren't planning on causing trouble again?" Kingsley asked sighing.
"I'm afraid I wouldn't know. I think Ginny and Molly are in St Mungo's under the care of a mind-healer but after I tied up Ginny and kept her petrified in our spare bedroom from the time she found out Harry was here for the Longbottom Christening until I knew he, Tim and the children had left the country and then had her committed for mind healing, her mother and father aren't talking to me or Ron," Hermione admitted.
"You do realise that you just admitted to an Auror that you kidnapped your sister-in-law? I might be minister but I do still have active Auror status as well," Kingsley asked amused.
"Not kidnapped, merely detained, she entered my home voluntarily and I would have let her go as soon as she vowed not to try to hurt Harry's family, she refused and was planning on trying to crash the Christening," Hermione said seriously. "While I don't know of any plans and I don't think Ginny or Molly know where to find Harry, Ginny is still a serious threat to Harry, Tim and the children."
"How did you manage to keep it from Ron that his sister was in the house?" Kingsley asked.
Hermione sighed and decided that telling the truth was the best option, even if she got Ron into trouble alongside her. "I didn't, I told him as soon as he got home. He took Ginny in her dinner and tried to reason with her but all he got was ranting and threats so he silenced her again and left her tied up. She didn't come to any harm. You know as well as I do that Ron wouldn't let me hurt his sister."
"Relax Hermione, I'm sure you were right in your assumption that Harry and his family were safer with Ginny tethered while they were here, and you saved my Aurors the trouble of having to arrest her. I won't be pressing charges. Nor are any of the Auror's likely to take her seriously if she does try to make a complaint," Kingsley said. "Can you tell me more about the information you need to give Hadrian?"
"I'd rather not," Hermione replied. "I want him to get it straight from me directly so I can answer all his questions and he can make a decision unimpeded. I'm willing to take a portkey to meet him anywhere he chooses."
"I'm going to need that vow that the information will not hurt him or his family and that you won't force him to act on it if he doesn't choose to," Kinsley said.
"I Hermione Jane Weasley nee Granger vow on my magic and my life that it is not my intention to harm or mislead Hadrian Potter Black or his family with this information and that I will explain all of the risks associated with this as far as I know them and I will then let him make his own decision what to do. So mote it be," Hermione vowed.
Kingsley looked shocked for a fraction of a moment before he locked down his expression and thought through what she said, checking for loopholes.
"Okay I'll get a message to him but it will take a week or two he's away on assignment," Kingsley promised.
"Can you tell him that I need to talk to him without his husband being present. He can have someone else there and ward the place any way he likes," Hermione said seriously.
"I'll tell him that's what you want, but it will be his decision," Kingsley reminded her.
"Thank you," Hermione said.
-o0o-
Tim had a quiet word with Gibbs, Tony and Ziva the next morning telling them that Sarah had let slip to their father that Tim was involved in a relationship with a man and that the Admiral had reacted very badly. "I'm expecting him to have more sense than to approach me here in the Navy Yard and cause trouble but this is the only place he knows to find me, he doesn't know where I live and I'd like to keep it that way," Tim said.
"He didn't know about Hadrian and the children?" Tony asked.
"Not until this weekend, I've only seen him twice since I met Hadrian, the first time when he was in DC for meetings and heard I'd been shot in the shoulder. Hadrian and I had a fight immediately before I was shot and were still sorting things out, and I'd just come out of the hospital so it wasn't a good time to add my parents and their bigotry into the situation, the second time we went to visit them specifically to tell them about our engagement and invite them to the wedding but we had a falling out before we could tell them anything."
"But your Mom knew, wouldn't she tell him?" Tony asked.
"I only told Mom a couple of weeks ago and she met Hadrian on Thursday and Teddy and Rosie while the Admiral was working Friday. I asked her not to tell the Admiral because he wouldn't accept it and he would forbid her from seeing us. She was excited to be a grandmother and agreed. She's never been any good at standing up to the Admiral but several times in my childhood she got around what she knew he would want by simply not talking to him about things. She wouldn't have told him. It was Sarah that thought she was doing me a favour. When the Admiral complained about me not joining them for a family meal on the weekend she thought by telling him she would take away my excuse for not seeing him," Tim replied.
"Okay Tim, you're not to leave the yard unaccompanied until the Admiral returns to his command in Florida, Tony, Ziva that means you are on the lunch run for the next few days. Cold cases people," Gibbs ordered before going upstairs to have a quiet word with the director. The team settled down to work.
-o0o-
Late the next afternoon the meetings between the Admirals finished and they prepared to return to their commands. During the week the men had been discussing their children and grandchildren that had followed them into a navy career, hoping to use their influence to get their offspring noticed by their commands in order to get considered for promotion. Admiral McGee had kept silent, still annoyed and ashamed after all these years that his son had not enlisted and he couldn't talk with pride about his achievements. Today went a little differently though.
"Hey McGee, didn't your son join NCIS, Tim and his team were involved in investigating a cyber attack on base, he did some damn good work. You must be proud of him," Admiral Painter said.
"Agent McGee's your son? I see the resemblance, scuttlebutt has it that he and his team foiled a terrorist attack that would have taken out SecNav, SecDef and the Joint Chiefs and most of us +at the Army Navy game last month," Admiral Johnson added.
Thomas McGee fumed, here for the first time he heard accolades about his son, the son he had thought would never amount to anything since he'd refused to join the Navy, and to add insult to injury, the son he'd just disowned. He wasn't about to change his mind though, so what that the boy's team had solved some important cases he was still a faggot who refused to carry on the name McGee. His name and family line would end with him. He bit down on his anger and put on a pleased face listening to the men describe the things his son had achieved. Underneath though his anger festered and a more self-perceptive man would realise he was angry with himself for not seeing the man his son had become. Instead he continued to direct his anger at the man who was suddenly not the boy he thought he knew.
He left the meetings and made his way to the Navy Yard intent on letting his son know how disgusted he was with his choices in person. He wanted to make it clear so there would be no misunderstanding, Timothy was not to contact him, his wife or his daughter ever again. The faggot was not welcome in his family.
As a Navy Admiral he passed through base security without being questioned and made his way to the building NCIS headquarters was housed in and asked for direction to find his son. Having been warned by Gibbs one of the guards rang up to warn Gibbs while the other accompanied him up to the bullpen.
Gibbs got up to meet the elevator, wishing Tim and Abby were still on good terms so he could send the young agent down to work in her lab and avoid the confrontation, but if it had to occur it was better that it happened in the bullpen full of witnesses. Tony and Ziva remained at their desks following orders, each poised to jump up and protect their team-mate if it became necessary. Tim typed furiously at his computer trying hard to concentrate on finding Gibbs the lead they needed to break their case and ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He wished Hadrian could be here with him but knew that in the long run it would probably only make things worse.
Thomas McGee brushed past Gibbs before he could stop him. "Timothy," he barked.
"Sir," Tim replied politely but without deference. He would not cow before the man. He looked up but did not stand.
"Stand up when I'm talking to you," Thomas growled.
Gibbs gestured for him to remain behind his desk.
"I'm not one of your sailors Admiral, I'm a civilian," Tim replied remaining seated.
"You will stand up when I'm speaking to you," Thomas roared.
"Admiral McGee, you are not involved in any case we're currently investigating. Do you have a crime to report?" Tim asked pulling over a legal pad and preparing to take notes.
"You know Damn well I don't!" Thomas McGee yelled.
"This is my place of work and I'm not a child that can appropriately be scolded and humiliated in public because you don't happen to agree with the decisions I've made with my life. Decisions that have nothing to do with you," Tim said firmly.
Thomas was taken aback for a moment, Timothy had never dared to speak to him like that, he couldn't detect any false bravado either, the boy firmly believed that Thomas was the one in the wrong in this situation. That didn't help his temper at all. He leaned over Tim's desk getting as close as he could to leaning over his wayward son. "You are no son of mine! You are not to attempt to contact any of my family again! Ever! Understood?" he said fiercely.
"I don't believe you have the right to speak for your mother, wife or daughter, I won't contact them but I also will not refuse to speak with them if they contact me," Tim replied. "They have the right to make their own decisions."
Thomas looked like he'd been slapped for a moment before raising his hand.
Gibbs went to step in but before he could Tim spoke again. "I believe you were hoping your meetings this week might lead to a promotion, being arrested for assaulting a NCIS agent will not increase your chances of achieving it," Tim said calmly.
"In fact, it might make it difficult to retain your current rank, or even earn you a dishonourable discharge instead," Gibbs added. "If Tim or his husband are injured in any way, at any time, the first suspect will be you."
"Are you threatening me?" Thomas McGee demanded.
"No just stating a fact. It's true that Tim has taken down some violent criminals, and the same could be said of his husband Agent Black so you wouldn't be the only suspect but you will be investigated," Gibbs said conversationally.
"Now Tim's quite happy for you not to be part of his life, I'm sure he'd even be willing to change his name if it meant that much to you. But that's as far as it goes, you will let the rest of the family make up their own minds. Of course, suddenly having Tim take his husband's name will draw some attention, our team does work regularly for Admiral Davenport, especially as the Admiral knows Tim's been married for a while," Gibbs continued to talk mildly as if he wasn't threatening the Admiral with a public scandal where it would hurt the older man the most.
Thomas McGee might have been nearly so angry he couldn't control his reactions but he was no fool. He turned to Gibbs, glared and stalked off. He couldn't afford to attack either man in public and Gibbs had made it clear that an attack in private wouldn't remain private either. He'd also insinuated that Tim's partner was also an agent.
"Thanks Boss!" Tim said.
"You're welcome," Gibbs said casually. "Are you tracking his movements to make sure he doesn't go after Hadrian and the children?"
"He doesn't know about the children, or where we live. Sarah promised not to tell him and she
actually kept her word about that, at least as far as waiting to see how he'd react to me marrying a man before she'd tell him," Tim replied. "I've set a trace on his cell phone with an alert if he gets within half a mile of the house or Teddy's school. And Hadrian and I spent yesterday setting up security cameras around the house and beefing up the locks and alarm system. He's not going to get into the house and Hadrian and Barbara have promised to be extra careful when leaving so they aren't followed."
Gibbs nodded approvingly but had one final warning, "Don't drop your guard."
"We won't, I know better than most how long the Admiral can hold onto a grudge or a slight," Tim replied.
"Proud of you the way you stood up to your Dad, I know it isn't easy," Tony said clapping his shoulder.
"Thanks Tony, but I have given up trying to win his approval. After I met Hadrian I decided that the price is just too high. And since becoming a father myself I see that the fault really wasn't mine. It isn't the kid's job to be perfect enough for the parents to love, a decent parent loves their kid no matter what," Tim replied.
"Yeah, you're right. When did you become smarter than me?" Tony asked, pouting ridiculously.
"I've always been smarter than you Tony," Tim joked sticking his nose in the air exaggeratedly.
They both laughed at that until Gibbs head-slapped the pair of them and demanded they get back to work.
-o0o-
"Did the Admiral show up like you expected?" Hadrian asked that night.
"Yeah he tried to make me cow to him like when I was a kid. I reminded him that making a scene when he was being considered for promotion wasn't a good idea and then Gibbs threatened him that if either of us are attacked in any way he will investigate the hell out of him and do his best to force a dishonourable discharge," Tim said.
"That's good," Hadrian replied.
"The admiral tried to forbid me from speaking to Mom, Sarah and Penny," Tim said sombrely.
"You know there isn't a chance in hell of Penny listening to him and I can't see Sarah toeing the line for long either," Hadrian tried to reassure him.
"Mom will though," Tim said.
"You really think he could come between Grandma Heather and her grandchildren?" Hadrian asked.
"I don't know but I guess even if he does, we're no worse off now than we were a couple of weeks ago. It was just really good to spend time with her on her own. I missed her," Tim replied sighing.
Hadrian hugged him without saying anything, but inside he cursed Heather coming back into Tim's life if she didn't have the strength to stay.
A/N: Thank you to charm13insomnia, aisa.32, xDarklightx, julschristine975, lilly-flower15, BeepKeeper, starie78, BCgurlie, DS2010, KEZZ 1, Rainbow2007, stkatie00, Lady Kaiki, kirsty21, daithi4377, DarkRavie, luramos, Lucky Guard, Levinson, acherongoddess, jayswing96, siobhan.22, Kourtney Uzu Yato, lia (Guest), catspaw439, Harriverse, mooneysfate, Fallow54 (Guest), buterflypuss, Merlenyn, Rori Potter, Firehedgehog, wildcat1144, Silvermane1, Gottahavemyncis, delia cerrano, sandipi, TruGemini, LadyDrak75, kimbarn30, Yuuki Heartfilia-Dragneel, HeroLeagueClub, madnessdownunder2, Kris (Guest), fayriegirl, Gime'SS, knuckles 8, Locket1, Melikalilly, snuffles101, LoVeInVaInTrYsTiLl, Vladimir Mithrander, Serpent91, musme, Guest, Beth9891, Chanel (Guest), DevilishAngel666 and all those who followed and favourited for your support.
