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"Are you fighting with Sarah? She was a bit harsh," Heather said.
Tim sighed. "I let slip that I knew the Admiral wouldn't be getting the promotion that he told her about. She's not allowed to know about magic, so she thinks it's because of the scene he made when he attacked me in the Navy Yard or that I put in a complaint about it, which I managed to reassure her I didn't. Now she thinks that I should have handled coming out to him better or managed to avoid him at the Navy Yard so he had time to deal with it in private," he admitted.
"Don't make excuses for her," Heather replied. "She's the one who told your father you were dating a man, so you had nothing to do with the timing of coming out and from what you said the Admiral went out of his way to find you that day, his attack wasn't a spur of the moment loss of control. It was entirely Thomas' fault but if she wants to blame somebody other than the Admiral she needs to look in the mirror."
"That might be part of the problem, she's feeling guilty about all this. She knows she was in the wrong, if she'd just kept her mouth shut like we asked her to I wouldn't have been disowned and the Admiral wouldn't have been censured for trying to attack me at work," Tim replied. "She was too stubbornly sure she knew better than us and now she wants to try and fix it."
"I don't think that there is a way to fix your relationship with your father, or from what you've told me, to gain him the promotion she thinks his reaction to her telling him you're gay has caused him to lose," Heather said flatly.
"I don't think so either but Sarah isn't ready to admit that. Just like she couldn't admit that I was right in not telling the Admiral I was in love with a man," Tim replied.
Heather groaned, "And look how well that turned out!"
"I'm hoping she has learned enough from that debacle not to interfere again," Tim said. "I'm really afraid she might start to think forcing us to talk or forcing the Admiral to meet Hadrian and the kids will fix things." Tim knew Hadrian had used a compulsion charm on his sister to make her more likely to keep her mouth shut but neither of them could guarantee that her stubborn will wouldn't override it.
"I thought she had accepted that she needed to stay out of my relationship with the Admiral until she seemed upset with you over my absence from home during an Admiralty dinner," Heather replied sighing pessimistically.
Tim sighed. "I don't know what gave her the idea that she could bully me into making you go home for that dinner, let alone why she thought I should even try," he said.
"Don't let your sister get you down. Thomas' career has been stalled by his own actions, not yours," Heather said.
"I know that doesn't worry me. It's just hard to know that my father and my sister are a threat to Hadrian's and the children's world," Tim said sighing again.
"I'm sure Hadrian doesn't hold you responsible for that," Heather said gently.
"No of course he doesn't, he's never said one negative word about it to me. But you heard what he said when you questioned him. He considers me to be a victim of a hate crime and the Admiral to be the chief co-conspirator in authorising it, and we both have to watch what we say to Sarah and make sure she's never alone with the children because her attitude to other people's secrets makes her a threat to all of our safety and freedom. If the children ever use magic in her presence she will have to be obliviated whether we like it or not. Luckily it hasn't happened yet and Teddy at least is old enough to know she's not allowed to be told."
"You don't know that your father is such a huge threat to the entire magical world," Heather said.
"No but I don't know that he isn't either and I cannot take the chance with my children's safety. He took my access to my magic away from me when I was a child because it didn't fit in with his plans for my life, and he had to have noticed how it affected me yet he made no attempt to reverse it. He hates the fact I married a man, going so far as to risk his reputation attacking me inside the Navy yard in front of his fellow officers over it. Magic is just one more way that I am different from him and from the son he expected me to be. His expectations have always been more important to him than my wellbeing, and I was his son. How then would he treat grandchildren and a step grandson that he's never met? Teddy is my son in every way that counts but you know the Admiral wouldn't see it that way," Tim replied.
"Do you think Sarah will offer to attend the Admiralty dinner with your father like you suggested?" Heather asked.
Tim chuckled. "She won't want to. She hates those type of functions but if she feels that it's her fault you're not home to attend then her guilt may prod her into offering. I don't know if the Admiral would accept the offer though."
"I don't know that either, on one hand he likes to have someone there on his arm, on the other hand he knows Sarah doesn't have the training or the patience to play nice with the other senior officer's wives," Heather replied. "I do think that he may regret it if Sarah does go with him."
-o0o-
In the end Sarah must have decided not to offer to attend the admiralty dinner and to stay out of the fight between her parents, scared of making things worse, or perhaps Thomas turned his daughter down. Thomas McGee certainly didn't mention her when he rang though he had a few choice words for his wife when he realised that she wasn't planning to return home in time to accompany him, but Heather told him sharply that it was speaking to her in anger like that which had caused her to feel unsafe home alone with him and certainly wouldn't persuade her to return. That he needed to remember that she was his wife, not a junior member of his crew. Then when he continued yelling she simply hung up on him, texting that he may call her in the morning when he'd had time to calm down before turning off her phone for the rest of the night.
Unfortunately, the following morning's phone call was an almost replica of the night before and with Tim and Hadrian's support, Heather again hung up texting that she would not receive his calls until he text her an apology and a promise to try harder to maintain his temper. She received and declined to answer multiple calls from him throughout the morning but didn't allow them to upset her time with her grandchildren. It took until the following day for him to apologise and several days after that before he promised to attempt to speak calmly and rationally if she would as well.
Knowing that it wasn't really the promise that she'd asked for but also that it was as good as she was likely to get Heather rang Thomas.
"When are you coming home?" Thomas asked without saying hello.
"I'm very well thank you for asking. How are you?" Heather replied, as she always had to her children when they called asking for something without being polite and trying to have a conversation before making their request. It went without saying that she'd had to do it to Sarah far more often that to Tim. It saddened her that she'd only just realised that it was because Tim was a lot less confident in her love for him than his sister was, and didn't want to make too many demands in case he pushed her or the Admiral too far.
"Stop being facetious, when are you coming home?" Thomas McGee demanded.
"Sometime after you stop barking orders at me and start conversing like a reasonable man should speak with his wife," Heather said uncompromisingly.
"Where are you?" Thomas demanded.
"I'm staying with Timothy," Heather confirmed.
"And that poofter boyfriend of his?" Thomas asked sneering.
"Yes, he is a delightful young man, and they have both made me feel most welcome to stay for as long as I feel I need. I'm perfectly safe here, Thomas," Heather replied.
"You're perfectly safe here at home," Thomas snapped.
"Perhaps, but I didn't feel safe with the way you were pacing in anger as you yelled at me and threatened to make me change my mind about loving my son," Heather admitted.
"What! Of course, you were safe enough. I've never in my life hit a woman! You know that!" Thomas said crossly.
"You'd never before gone out of your way to hit an NCIS agent going about his regular work in the Navy Yard before that day you tried to attack your son either. And Tim and Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo were concerned you were not going to stop at merely punching him they were concerned you were going to throttle Timothy. They had to pull you off him before you totally destroyed your career," Heather retorted.
"That pervert should be sacked, the Navy doesn't need perverts like that protecting their interests," Thomas snorted.
"Timothy is my son. I won't force you to talk to him, visit him, or to meet his partner, but you will respect my feelings about this and not insult him in my presence or demand that I stop treating him as a son," Heather said determinedly, before hanging up on her husband again.
Thomas McGee looked at his phone in disbelief, his wife had never disagreed with him before let alone defied him so openly, and to do it now in favour of the son who refused to join the Navy, who had never done what he was expected to do as the only son of a McGee, enraged him. The boy was a disgrace and an embarrassment to his family and his didn't understand why his wife just couldn't see it. His daughter too, refused to abandon contact with her disappointment of a brother.
-o0o-
Hadrian and Tim both stayed close and kept a careful watch on Heather the afternoon and evening of the Admiralty Dinner. They understood that she'd be feeling guilty not being there for her husband. Tim said it was drilled into all Navy officer's wives the importance of giving a good impression to the upper brass and attending these events no matter what was going on in their personal lives. Heather's absence at this dinner was going to draw a lot of attention and Heather expected that most of her fellow admiral's wives would be calling to see if she was okay, or hear the gossip on why she hadn't attended the dinner with her husband.
-o0o-
The wards were also set at maximum with the Admiral in town and the children were being kept close to home other than schooling for the next few days, as far as they knew Thomas McGee didn't have their address or the ability to track their phones but they didn't want to take any risks.
Earlier in the week Heather had considered meeting Thomas at the Admiralty dinner to present a good show like a proper navy wife, Hadrian had offered her invisible protection if she wanted to go. But when they still hadn't managed ten minutes of conversation at a time without it devolving into him shouting at her or insulting Tim she changed her mind. She was concerned that it would create a worse impression if they met at the dinner and Thomas couldn't keep his temper than if she was absent.
Tim got called out on a case late in the day, luckily it had nothing to do with the upper echelons of the navy, a marine Sargent had been found dead in Rock Creek Park. It was an area of the park they'd been to before and it made Tim wonder just how many murders occurred there each year. They spent the rest of the weekend investigating but Gibbs kept Tim in the bullpen most of the time running financials. They linked the dead Sargent with some weapons that had gone missing during transport. He couldn't have done it alone so they were looking for a partner. It wasn't until Monday that they were able to piece together the timeline of the thefts and clear the rest of his squad's alibis and look further afield finding friends he'd served with in the past. There finally they hit pay dirt. A friend he'd served with on the Reagan five years earlier had been dishonourably discharged a year ago and had since been seen in the company of an arms dealer.
Tim quickly managed to check his DMV record and had a bolo put out on his car while he started tracing his financials and Gibbs took Tony to check out some of the places he frequented. Ziva frowned over being ordered to stay close to Tim in case the Admiral made trouble while he was in town, but didn't argue. It had hurt her to see her friend attacked at his desk, somewhere he should have been safe from anything more malicious than Tony's pranks and by the one man he should have been able to trust above all others. It seemed that the three of them, she Tony and Tim had more in common than she'd ever thought. Tim had been lucky enough to rise above it and find someone he could love and trust enough to start a new family with and she envied him that and wanted to protect the family and life he'd made. So she would stay back with him without complaining and if the Admiral came anywhere near then she would show him some of her Mossad training before he could get close enough to hurt her friend.
Tim was frustrated but touched by Gibbs, Tony and Ziva's attempts to protect him from the Admiral. He believed the Admiral wasn't stupid enough to make the mistake of attacking him inside the Navy Yard twice, and in fact would prefer to be approached here in the yard than near his home. The wards on the house would protect them but Teddy still left the wards most days to attend school and after school activities and Rosie and Daisy had their own play group and kindy gym sessions. Hadrian had done his best to buy up real estate around those activities so he could at least partially ward the buildings there were still gaps that left his children vulnerable as they travelled to and from them. Hadrian was leery of buying too much residential property in their area because it would change the feel of the neighbourhood to have mostly renters instead of homeowners.
-o0o-
Thomas McGee paced angrily around his motel room. He'd dismissed his staff for the afternoon having no commitments other than the Admiralty dinner. He had called Heather several times that day but he had lost his temper when she had refused to attend the dinner with him when he asked last night and she hadn't answered his calls today.
He rang Sarah, who refused to tell him Tim's address. "Tim said he'd never speak to me again if I did and Mom backed him up. I'm not allowed to tell you," Sarah said apologetically, her resolve secretly backed up by the compulsion Hadrian had placed on her when things started to fall apart with the Admiral.
"He has my wife!" Thomas bellowed.
"Tim isn't keeping her prisoner, you know. Mom's staying with Tim because I don't have a spare room and they do," Sarah said. "If she isn't answering her phone it's because she's punishing you for yelling at her last time you spoke. She told me that she was doing that, she used to do it to me when I was a teenager."
"I am not an unruly child!" Thomas yelled.
"And Mom is not a disobedient petty officer or insubordinate ensign," Sarah retorted. "We are your family and you need to learn to talk to us as family instead of ordering us around like your subordinates. Mom is your wife, she deserves to be treated like an equal. I wouldn't put up with anyone treating me like you treat her, and you wouldn't want me to!" Having her father yell at her like that had got her back up and she finally saw for herself why her mother was upset with the way she was being spoken to. As the realization sunk in, she was proud of her mother for standing up to him and amused at her tactics, not that it would do to tell the Admiral that.
Thomas looked taken aback. Sarah was right, he would be angry if he heard anyone speak to his precious little girl the way he'd been speaking to Heather the last few days. He was glad that Heather's father wasn't around to hear it or he would have had his ass kicked. He needed to apologise to his wife, maybe then they could talk rationally and she would see why he needed to cut Timothy out of his life and concentrate on the family they had left.
-o0o-
Thomas found the Admiralty dinner extremely tedious, everyone he spoke to asked after his wife, who up until today had done an exemplary job of making herself appear to be the perfect navy wife, supportive of his career and a true asset to have at his side. He also had the misfortune to be seated with Admiral Brett Spender, a former subordinate that had been promoted to a position above his six months ago though thank heavens the man wasn't in his direct chain of command. To make matters worse Spender had recently run into his son and had some very complimentary things to say about the NCIS Agent's skill and professionalism, and the young man in general. Worse he went on to tell the table that SecNav himself had introduced his team of advisors to the young man claiming that they owed him their lives which he had apparently saved by quashing a terrorist attack on the officer's box at the Army/Navy football game earlier that year. Thomas himself had been at the game and finding out he owed his life to the son he disowned was a humbling experience. Finding out that SecNav was on first names with his son and had actually crossed the room specifically to speak with him and his date made Thomas fear what had been said and he sat silently shaking from a mix of anxiety and anger. If he could have left without making a scene he would have walked out.
He endured the meal waiting for the announcements that would come between the main and the desert courses. There were a few commendations made but he wasn't interested in them. Two newly promoted Admirals were presented to their colleagues, neither of whom were the men Thomas thought should have been given the promotions. Then SecNav announced the movement of senior staff among the current admirals and Thomas was incensed to hear that instead of being promoted to Washington like he was certain he deserved he was being posted to the naval base Point Loma in San Diego, in a move that was little better than a lateral transfer. It was a slight promotion with a small upgrade in pay and retirement benefits but it was also a purely land-based position that virtually sidelined him out of the running for future promotion to Washington. The last four holders of this post had remained in it until their retirement. He was furious about being overlooked for a real promotion and disgruntled about having to move back to the west coast and underlying all that was a small fear that his wife would refuse to go with him. With all that going on in his head it was small wonder that he was rudely abrupt to everyone that spoke with him for the rest of the night, confirming to his peers that the brass had made the right decision not to promote him to a more political position.
-o0o-
Heather got several calls and texts from the wives of senior officers that had attended the dinner, asking where she was and why she hadn't attended the dinner. She knew most of them were probably more interested in the gossip than her health or wellbeing and ignored them.
Sandra, one of the few genuine friends Heather had amongst the wives at the dinner took note of Thomas' mood and quietly text her what had occurred and how Thomas had reacted, worried that he would go home and take his frustrations out on his wife.
Heather text her back thanking her for the warning and reassuring her that she was safely out of the line of fire until her husband calmed down.
"I'm glad to hear that, I won't ask where you are. I can't accidentally let slip what I don't know," Sandra said.
Heather laughed, she knew that Sandra wouldn't betray her whereabouts while she was worried about Thomas' temper. "It's no secret I'm staying with Tim and his boyfriend. Thomas doesn't know where Tim lives since he disowned him for loving a man," Heather replied. She was fairly sure she could trust Sandra not to say anything but as Tim wasn't keeping his relationship a secret and the top Admiralty all knew it wasn't important and she was unhappy enough with Thomas over it not to want to keep quiet for his sake.
"Does Thomas have the connections to find out where Tim lives?" Sandra asked.
"He shouldn't be able to. Tim's a federal agent, the GPS in his phone is untraceable without a special code and he's set mine up that way too, the house is officially in his partner's name and there's an alert on his personnel file at the agency," Heather replied.
"Have you left Thomas, or is this temporary?" Sandra asked sympathetically.
"I don't know. I left because Thomas was ranting and demanding that I disown Tim as well. He became so angry when I refused that I felt I had to get out of there until he calmed down. But it's been almost a week and we haven't managed even five minutes conversation before he starts yelling and I'm not going home until we can discuss this calmly and he accepts that Tim will always be my son," Heather said sighing.
"That's tough, especially as Thomas is about to be transferred to Point Loma in San Diego. You won't know anyone there to support you if you go with him," Sandra said.
"We've lived in San Diego in the past years ago when Tim was in elementary school, but I don't think I still know anyone there," Heather agreed.
"So it will be like going back to an old command," Sandra said. None of the officers liked to go back to bases they'd served on in the past unless they'd really enjoyed their time there.
"And to a land based command he never wanted, he's going to hate it," Heather said sighing.
Sandra winced. "And he's never going to go afloat and give you a break."
"I can always come and visit Tim for a month or two," Heather replied. "Are you being relocated as well?"
"No, we're staying here another year at least. You're sure you're not cramping their style?" Sandra asked.
"They bought a huge old run down house and are restoring it they have enough room for me to have my own bedroom bathroom and sitting area and they have assured me that I'm welcome for as long as I'd like to stay," Heather said.
"That's very nice of them. You'd be welcome to come spend time with us if you need to give Tim and his partner a break. Tim's done well for himself then?" Sandra said pleased. She'd had a soft spot for the politely spoken shy boy who seemed to grow in confidence with the longer his father was at sea only to retreat again as soon as the now Admiral returned.
"He has, his partner is a lovely man, also a federal agent but not for NCIS, and a fabulous cook. Sadly his own family were killed by terrorists so he's very supportive of Tim remaining in close contact with myself and Sarah," Heather replied almost gushing.
A/N: Thank you to Kourtney Uzu Yato, Ghostisreading, daithi4377, Reader Ethiriel, luramos, mother oracle, FraulCruz, Oogies4u, Corala, starie78, Fyreheart, Rori Potter, Winged Seer Wolf, knuckles 8, DarkRavie, Tetradical, Millie072, Melikalilly, lilly-flower15, Rainbow2007, sandipi, mithrilandtj, catspaw439, ellainaparker, xDarklightx, The Wandmaker, mooneysfate, Fallow55, Gottahavemyncis, Jostanos, OrabellaOcean, The View From Up Here, buterflypuss, aisa.32, jilumasam, Firehedgehog, Merlenyn, RainRaven, mizzrazz72, acherongoddess, DS2010, caged21hearts, Serpent91, mayawene, Guest, rmiser1994, siobhan.22, charm13insomnia, sillygabby, Silvermane1, little chibi cherub, Rocketgirllily, nintschibintschi, vepmoon96, staar81, Village-Mystic, Locket1, Calmzone1, Blosiom, MageVicky, FigsVsNewton and all those who followed and favourited for your support.
