Perpetual Motion 4
In this story, I'm giving the name Matthew/Matt to Agent Balboa, in honour of the man who played him the one time he has been seen on screen, Matthew Del Negro.
In a move that surprised both Tim and Kelly, Gibbs met their flight late Sunday afternoon, how he knew the exact details was anyone's guess. Tim felt surprised, especially since Gibbs greeted him hello, with a handshake before kissing Kelly's cheek and taking her carry on luggage. "How was your flight, you guys?" He asked cheerfully, as they made their way to baggage claim.
"Smooth." Kelly answered for them both. "Beats the three hours driving."
"I'm glad, have you two got dinner plans?" He asked.
"Nothing beyond me checking in." Tim answered.
"Good, dinners waiting at home. Tim you're already checked in to the apartment at the Navy Lodge opposite the Navy yard. You're in apartment 9, top floor." Gibbs said, handing him the key. "Thought that way we could head straight to the house."
At baggage claim, Tim had two large suitcases and his suit bag. Once he had his bags, Gibbs automatically took one of the two larger bags from Tim. "I've got it," Gibbs said gently, with a smile taking it from Tim's grasp. "Let me help."
Kelly and Tim exchanged a look of drawn eyebrows and their eyes crinkled in amusement that Gibbs seemed to have done a complete three-sixty on his attitude from a mere three days ago.
Tim had been curious, as to Gibbs' change of heart and change of behaviour, but went along for the ride to see where it lead them. Sure enough, true to his word, There was potatoes wrapped in aluminium foil all prepped for the fire, a salad had already been prepared and the steaks were in the fridge, already prepped, waiting to be grilled. "Tim, how do you like your steak?" Gibbs asked, he lit the fire and began to prepare the fire for grilling. He quickly tossed the foiled potatoes onto the now forming coals to beginning cooking.
"Medium rare, thank you." Tim answered. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Tim offered, as he took the mug of piping hot coffee offered by Gibbs wordlessly.
"I got it, take a seat." Gibbs said gently, gesturing to the sofa. "While we have a few minutes, let's chat about this TAD assignment." Kelly had gone upstairs to unpack and return some emails before work the following morning. "I only have one request. Don't tell anyone you're dating my daughter. Only a few people in my office know about Kelly and even fewer have met her."
"Gibbs, I'm a very private person, I don't share my life outside of work with my colleagues." Tim explained. "I was always taught it's unprofessional to do so."
"Good, next." Gibbs began. "My front door is always open, I expect you, everyone really, not just you, to use it. It's a well known fact, it's never locked. I'd prefer someone to just walk right in, needing to talk, rather than to be found wherever, having eaten their own gun."
"Thank you for the offer." Tim replied, "I'll keep that in mind."
Dinner was eaten and Gibbs actually shared a story of his with his own TAD experience, when he was assigned to Russia. He didn't give the details away of said mission, just explained the complexities of the TAD assignment, especially as he arrived and didn't know the language when he arrived. Of course, by the time he was finished the assignment, he was fluent in Russian.
After dinner, Kelly offered to take Tim to the Navy Lodge, only to find her Dad already planned for Kelly to loan Gibbs' little Honda that used to be Shannon's, so Tim borrow could borrow Kelly's truck.
Tim reported at 0700 at the Navy yard. He met Gibbs up in the bullpen, as requested the night prior. Tim settled into his desk and checked his email before picking up a cold case and getting down to business. He was barely fifteen minutes into his first cold case when he asked Kate to run through a theory he had on the case. DiNozzo listened intently and bought it up with Gibbs, whom in turn praised Tony for his good work, much to McGee's ire. "Gibbs, that was McGee's idea, not DiNozzo's!" Kate admonished Gibbs. "Credit should go where it's due!"
"Good work, McGee!" Gibbs sniped snarkily at Kate and she visibly recoiled.
By lunchtime, Gibbs was shouting "grab your gear" as they headed to Rock Creek Park for a dead petty officer.
By the time that they'd returned to the navy yard, ID in hand, Tim had already done the background check on him as well as ran searches, looking for anomalies in his banking, phone, emails and social media accounts. He'd found a withdrawal for ten thousand dollars and a wire transfer for twenty thousand dollars withdrawn from his account just yesterday and it lead them to the Petty Officer's housemate who was blackmailing him and had killed him when he refused to pay him the other twenty grand he'd asked for.
After the arrests were made and the interrogation was completed, the trio of agents sat down to do their reports while Gibbs headed up to the Director's office, as summoned. "So the first case was solved quickly." The Director stated.
"It helped having a fourth member, I'll admit that." Gibbs said.
"How'd Agent McGee mesh with your team?" Tim Morrow asked the MCRT team leader.
"About normal, he's green and really inexperienced. DiNozzo will toughen him up."
"Don't let DiNozzo drive him away. Agent McGee is a valuable asset to this agency." Morrow reminded Gibbs. "I'll be watching closely."
"Yes Sir."
"Gibbs, how's that TAD working out?" Balboa asked as encountered Gibbs on a hunt for a snack in the break room.
"It was ok Matt, why?" He asked, curious as the what the other MCRT team leader had up his sleeve.
"Morrow said if he didn't go well, we might be able to loan him for our embezzlement case."
"It's only been one day, it's too early to tell. If we don't get a case tomorrow, I can send him over to help out." Gibbs offered. He and Balboa had a strange working friendship. They pretended to be rivals in front of each of their teams, but they were always happy to help each other out and swap schedules. Occasionally the two men would hide out in the conference room with dinner and discuss each of their cases, bouncing ideas off one another. Balboa and Gibbs both started at the agency at the same time, completing FLETC together. They'd even headed up a couple of joint task forces and ops over the years.
"Thanks Jethro!" Matt called out.
A knock at the door saw Tim letting Kelly into his apartment at the navy lodge. "Hey baby," she cooed in his ear as she hugged him and kissed him passions before he allowed her entry into his temporary home.
"Hey," he greeted, happy to see her.
"You know if my Dad was standing at the squad room window with a pair of binoculars, he'd be able to see your front door." Kelly said, laughing as she put her duffel bag down on the floor with a thud.
"That's a bit disturbing, Kell." Tim said lightheartedly.
"Yeah, he'd never do it. I just realised it as I pulled in. Anyway, if it's ok with you, I'd love to stay the night."
"Please do," Tim cooed into her ear and kissed her. His tongue slipped past her lips into her mouth almost immediately as he lowered her onto the sofa. The shrill sound of Tim's cell phone ringing broke the silence and he immediately pulled away to answer the offending device.
"Gear up, dead NCIS agent." DiNozzo barked into the phone and Tim immediately stood taller. Every agent always took it personally when it was one of their own found. "You better start heading in, I'll call you when you're closer to DC with instructions as to where we're at."
"Actually, I'm at the Navy Lodge across from the yard, want me to gas the truck and sedan?"
"Sure, see you in fifteen." Tony DiNozzo said disconnecting the call.
"Sorry babe, duty calls." Tim said grabbing his sig, go bag and jacket.
"Tim, you need to eat." Kelly said, quickly getting up to kitchen to search for food.
"No time, can't tell you what's going on, but it's bad." Tim said kissing her again. "I'll call you when I can."
"Be safe baby." Kelly cooed, kissing him again.
"Where the hell is DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked to Tim and Kate, they were ready to leave and there was no sign of the womaniser.
"Don't know, Sir." Tim said firmly.
"McGee, don't call me sir. I work for a living." Gibbs growled, getting up in Tim's face. "How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Gibbs."
"Yes Gibbs." Tim replied and Gibbs ran his palm down the front of his face in frustration. He'd barely been home fifteen minutes when the call came in, he'd been pondering what to cook for dinner or to get take out, since he'd found the note on the fridge that Kelly was spending the night (and possibly longer) with Tim. At least, unlike other times he'd found himself in this situation, Tim was with him. Not getting upto anything behind his back and no risk of walking in on them. That thought made him smile.
"Sorry boss," Tony panted trying to catch up. As soon as DiNozzo had come into Gibbs' view, he'd been prepping to leave. "Got a flat on the way back in and had to get it changed."
Gibbs growled in frustration 'Damn kids today, don't know how to change a simple tyre.' He thought. "McGee? Kate? Do either of you know how how to change a tyre?"
"Sure"
"Yes Gibbs." Both Tim and Kate answered.
"Good, DiNozzo. Report to the motor pool when the case is done. You're not leaving 'til you know how to change a damn tyre."
Arrival on scene was terse, Gibbs squared off with a pissed off Detective Moretti from metro. They wanted to fight jurisdiction and DiNozzo being late combined with the knowledge that McGee going back to the navy lodge, most likely to defile his daughter, had left him in a filthy mood. "Agent Loretta Cartwright" Tim announced looking down at the middle aged woman's body.
"Just how do you know that Probie?" Tony snapped off at him. He was beginning to get quite angry. He'd always been the favourite agent, but he'd heard Gibbs offer McGee to Balboa for a loan. Normally they all wanted him. Not the green Probie.
"I know her, DiNozzo." Tim retorted. "I've spent Christmases at her home, I've spent summers at their lake house. We've celebrating everything together from July 4ths, Birthdays, even a couple of st Paddy's days."
"McGee?" Gibbs called him over. The unshed tears were formed in his eyes, threatening to fall. "You know her well?"
"Loretta was stationed at Norfolk with me. Her husband Rick is my father's aide now. Our families are close. Loretta and my mum were best friends since their whole lives, she and my mum were like sisters. Rick and Dad were inseparable, but unlike Dad, Rick has my back. He's been there for me."
"I get it, McGee." Gibbs said holding his hand up to stop him from elaborating further. "Any enemies you can think of?"
"No Gibbs, Loretta was the sweetest woman you could ever meet." Tim answered "Four months ago, Theo told me she had been recently diagnosed with PTSD from 9/11. She was stationed in New York at the time, when the first plane hit, she was called in to help."
"Theo is?" He asked, not recalling that name mentioned.
"Her son. Her oldest. We are like brothers, then there is Sam, he's three years younger and the there's Lucy and Evie. Evie died when she was five. She had leukaemia. It's been a long running joke that we're one big family."
"Ok, take a minute back in the truck. Then I need you to locate the husband." Gibbs ordered, seeing McGee needed a minute to pull himself together. It's always hard when you know the victim, normally agents are well into their careers, not a green Probie when they learn this hard lesson.
"Ah, Commander Rick Cartwright is on the USS Borealis. They're in the North Atlantic on a training exercise."
"Father's aide. Right, let's organise a video conference with the Commander. I want you with me in MTAC."
"USS Borealis is coming on line now, Sir." The MTAC technician advised Gibbs.
"Petty Officer, it's imperative we speak with Commander Rick Cartwright, immediately." There was a small lull in the transmission. The Petty Officer immediately went to see if the Commander was available to speak.
"Tim!" He greeted immediately and the Admiral stepped up behind the Commander.
"What are you doing wasting my time, boy?!" The Admiral snapped. "This technology isn't a toy, you can't just call up and say hi."
"Commander Cartwright?" Gibbs asked stepping forward into the view of the camera so they could see him on the other end. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, you know Special Agent McGee. We wish to speak with you regarding Special Agent Loretta Cartwright." The Commander sent the Admiral away with a look and Gibbs truly wondered if the Admiral had left or like had been, just standing out of sight.
"What's happened to my wife? Is she ok?" The Commander asked, his feelings seemed genuine to Gibbs. Gibbs nudged McGee, suddenly getting an idea.
"Sorry to be the one to tell you Commander, Loretta's body was found this evening, in her car by Patterson Falls." Tim said sadly. The Commander had collapsed, wailing in grief, whilst the Admiral came back on.
"This better not be your idea of a sick joke, you pathetic waste of space." He threatened.
"I can assure you it's not Admiral McGee." Gibbs said, stepping forward, exerting his dominance.
Gibbs took over questioning the Admiral and then, once recomposed, the Commander. At the conclusion of the interview, the Commander requested to talk to McGee again. "Sorry Tim," he'd said, assuming Gibbs had begged off too. "You know how he is. Can you tell Theo I'll call him when we get back? It's going to take at least three days to make landfall."
"Sure Rick. I'm sorry about Lols." Tim replied, Gibbs noticed the dramatic shift in their relationship once the Admiral had indeed left and he knew the Admiral had truly left by the switch.
"Me too, I'll see you at home?" He asked, Tim looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Gibbs nod.
"Absolutely, safe travels!" Tim signalled to cut transmission and knew he had some explaining to do to both Gibbs and Director Morrow.
"Speak" Tom Morrow demanded, having come in not long after they connected with the Borealis.
"The Admiral isn't a fan of me, my life choices and life decisions. Clearly!" Tim explained sadly.
"No child should ever be called a waste of space, especially by their parent." Tom said softly. "Even if they are a fully grown adult."
"It's nothing I haven't heard before, Director." Tim resigned sadly. "That's not even in the top ten."
"As an insider, how would you describe the Commander's relationship with his wife?" Gibbs asked, stopping McGee from having to divulge anything else. He could see by his body language and what little he knew about the man, that he'd been uncomfortable telling the Director that much.
"They're that couple that would still hold hands when they're eighty and bicker over who's turn it is to do the laundry. Known them my whole life, I've only ever heard them fight once. It wasn't violent or even loud. It was years ago, when I was younger. It wasn't about their marriage."
"What was it about?" Gibbs asked, but deep in his gut, he knew it was about Tim and the Admiral.
Tim explained that it was his fault they'd fought that day. That she didn't want him to take the Admiral's Aide job. That his mother had only just died and she needed him to be home with them, not away at sea for months at a time. She needed Rick to be there for Tim, because he's father never was.
"Let's go talk to the talk with the son." Gibbs said, patting Tim on the back. "I need you on top of your game, Tim. You and I are on point."