So the clean up is slow and tedious, internet service is mostly restored. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, everything has just taken longer than I expected it to. Please, please, be patient. I'm updating as fast as I can.
Reviews are always welcome!
Gibbs did the best he could, but he got embroiled in a delicate case which took him to the LA office for three weeks, he'd left DiNozzo and David instructions to help Tim out, but both got pulled into an assignment with Balboa, leaving Tim to drag himself through umpteen number of apartments himself. All inadequate to suit his needs or meet the requirements of his security clearance.
"You look beat kid, what's up?" Tobias asked his young friend as he sat on the edge of the young man's desk. Tim was leaning back in his chair, breathing deeply and trying to get the kinks out of his tight, sore muscles.
"It's been a long week of cold cases." Tim admitted. "I've got six days left on my lease and I still haven't found anything yet." Worst of all, he felt exhausted from it all. He had needed some help from another agent today on a case and everyone he asked was too busy or shoved him aside.
"I'm off this weekend and Emily is with Diane and the new boyfriend. I can help."
"Thank you so much." Tim breathed a sigh of relief. "I appreciate it, so much."
"Think nothing of it. Trust me, I'm glad I could help." Tobias said smiling. "Now, maybe you can help me on a case."
Tobias proceeded to fill him in on the cold case he was working on. It had a strong navy connection but had occurred in the transition period between NIS and NCIS. The FBI agent investigating didn't notify NCIS because it was his last day and he didn't want to work the case with NIS. So he tidied up, wrote in his journal, letting the case go cold, before going home.
Tobias' idea of going to Tim for help was a stroke of genius. He knew the kid wrote computer programs to suit whatever his need was, so he knew Tim would be able to help. He handed Tim the file and he looked it over. Tim wordlessly started typing furiously, he had put a search up in the plasma to make it easier to read.
While the search program was running, Tim began writing a new program looking for specific anomalies, particularly relevant to this particular case. Tobias sat down at Gibbs' desk, amazed at what Gibbs' youngest agent could achieve. "Agent Fornell, what are you doing here?" Asked Vance on his way through the bullpen on his way to the hill.
"Agent McGee has happily agreed to assist the FBI with this cold case, that has a navy connection. It seems the FBI agent who originally took the case, was lax in notifying NCIS." Tobias explained. Vance did a little grumble about following protocol, but even he could see time was of the essence, with the statute of limitations due to expire in two days.
"Very good work Agent McGee, next time notify me first. Thank you for helping out the FBI. I hope you've notified your Director, Agent Fornell." Vance said as he bid the gentlemen farewell.
The case was almost fifteen years old, a nineteen year old (at the time) law student at Georgetown University was drugged and raped outside the limelight bar on M street on the evening of July 4. She was found by a good samaritan in the back alleyway and the only thing she remembered was a man in a navy uniform, wearing a naval Commander insignia.
Tim started by tracing the woman's movements for the night in question, before cuing up what little surveillance footage of the woman and her subsequent attack. The footage was grainy and he wrote a program to clean up the footage. Tobias was on Gibbs' desk phone to his Director, once again praising the progress that Agent McGee was making on this case in the mere two hours he'd known about the case.
"Gotcha!" Tim said as his computer dinged. "Meet the now, Admiral Johnathon Timothy McGee!" His face went paler than usual as he said the name. "I can't be involved in this." He declared suddenly, just as Vance returned.
It was late into the evening and many of the agents had left for the day. The main over head lights were off and only the desk lamps illuminated the MCRT bullpen.
"What seems to be the problem?" Vance asked, taking a seat at DiNozzo's desk. Tim mirror imaged his desktop to the plasma and explained to Vance the dilemma.
"I am sorry," Tobias said softly to McGee. "I'd hoped my suspicions were wrong."
"Tobias, I have no doubt my father did it." Tim replied sadly. "He is quite the womaniser, worse than DiNozzo Senior and Junior combined." Tim said, catching Vance's eye, subtly telling Vance how bad his father actually is.
"I'll re-run the searches myself, Tim. I'll put my name on it." Vance said suddenly. "Fornell, take Tim to eat some dinner, I'll get started on the warrants and legal, by the time you get back everything should be sorted and we can go arrest the Admiral."
"Come on, Tim. Let's go." Fornell ushered Tim up from his seat and into the elevator.
After a quick dinner that Fornell managed to get Tim to eat at Gibbs' favourite diner, they were on their way back to the Navy Yard. "Got anything you want to say to him, after we interrogate him?" Fornell asked Tim. "I'll give you a chance."
"Sometimes, I feel like it's not possible to be related to him. He's a sexual predator, do I have that inside me?" Tim resigned.
"You're nothing like him, Tim." Fornell stated firmly, almost snapping. "You're kind and caring, you're respectful, nothing like him at all." He reiterated. Fornell didn't believe Tim to be capable of the Admiral's alleged behaviour.
"What did I do to deserve such an A-hole father?" Tim asked, he was feeling really low. He felt like he owed the victim an apology on behalf of his family. "Ya know, when my mum left us, she took Sarah and left. Left me with him. Left him to raise me, not that he did 'parent' me. She'd like to make comments 'like father, like son'. I've tried not to be like him my whole life."
"You're not Tim. Despite, how you were raised. You're nothing like him. You're a good guy, now let's get this bastard, once and for all. You with me?" Fornell asked, trying to rev up Tim and refocus him.
"Let's go!" Tim said as they made their way back through security into the MCRT bullpen to be met by Director Vance.
"I wish to see my son!" Admiral John McGee stated, he was being uncooperative with Fornell and Vance. "In fact, I demand it. Don't you know who I am?!"
"You're a rapist!" Tim shouted, letting himself into the interrogation room. "Abby just ran the DNA against the system. You're a match to the sample they removed from the victim's SAE kit almost fifteen years ago."
"That just proves we had intercourse, so what?!" The admiral replied. "We all know I wasn't the best husband and father in the world."
"Funny thing about DNA." Tim added. "A son should be a fifty percent match to his father."
"You're my son, despite how worthless you are. A computer programming paper pusher. How the mighty have fallen?!" The Admiral taunted. "We are naval royalty, Timothy. Since the beginning of the the US Navy in 1775, a McGee has always served, there has always been a McGee in active combat. Up until you that is. A worthless piece of crap, that's all you are and ever will be. You're so selfish, you can't even serve your country honourably."
"Enough!" Vance boomed. "Your son is damn fine agent, most of his work is highly classified. McGee serves his country with pride, not with his ego, like you. Besides, we're here to talk about you, not berate Agent McGee!"
Tim left interrogation, hurling an insult at the Admiral on the way out. Vance and Fornell managed to get some information out of him. They were at it for another three hours before he finally cracked and told them everything. "I'm glad Timothy is not my son! He's a worthless piece of crap, just like his whore of a mother was!" The Admiral shouted as the NCIS Director and FBI agent prepared to leave the room.
"You ought to be damn proud of that boy!" Fornell seethed, getting up in his face while clamping his hand down on the Admiral's shoulder painfully. "He's nothing like you. You're the worthless piece of shit! You should be damn proud he called you his father!"
"You want the piece of crap, geeky, useless boy so much as a son! He's yours, you can damn well have him!"
"With pleasure!" Fornell spat back and joined Vance and McGee in the observation room.
"Sorry again Tim." Tobias began. "But I meant what I said to him. He ought to be been damn proud of you. How are you doing with the news?"
"I'm relieved, is that bad?" Tim asked.
"No son, no, it's not bad at all." Tobias stated, comforting the young agent.
"It's his loss, McGee," Vance added, patting the young man on the back. "We can organise an external lab to run your DNA. It's expensive and we're not guaranteed a match." He offered. "But it's an option."
"I'll think about it." Tim decided. "Right now, I need to focus on my living situation. I'm five days away from being homeless."
"I'd never let you be homeless, Tim. You know that, right?" Tobias asked softly, smiling. "We'll store your belongings and get you into my guest room." He offered, putting his arm around the young man. "Or you could sell everything and live in your Porsche." Fornell joked and it made Tim smile widely.
"Can I sleep first? I'm wrecked." Tim asked, through a yawn.
"Of course son!" Tobias said as he put his arm around Tim in a comforting manner and lead him out of the observation room, to his desk to gather his belongings. "Let me get you home."
"Gibbs!" The MCRT team leader answered gruffly, he was still in LA and the caller had obviously forgotten the time difference.
"If you don't want to lose McGee as an agent to the FBI, I suggest you give him a call and tell him good work. He and Fornell just closed a fifteen year old cold case of Rape one and the perpetrator was McGee's old man." Vance advised. "DNA evidence tied the Admiral to the rape, but didn't match Agent McGee."
"Shit!" Gibbs swore, "he got anyone he can ask about who his father might be?"
"My impression was no." Vance replied. "But Fornell got in the dirtbag's face and told him he ought to be proud of McGee anyway. Then the dirtbag practically told Fornell that he could have McGee."
"Fornell better not be taking that literally!" Gibbs snapped.
"Don't know, but Tim's going to be living with Fornell. Of course, he's going to try and poach the man across. You and I would both do the same thing if the roles were reversed." Vance advised him.
"I'll deal with it, where's DiNozzo and David? They're supposed to be there helping McGee and be the MCRT on rotation. The assignment Balboa had for them was finished couple of days ago."
"I don't know, but leave that one to me!"
Later that afternoon, Tim met Fornell over at the Hoover Building, he made his way through security and was escorted up to Fornell's office. "Agent McGee, so glad you could make it." He cooed as he allowed the younger man entrance into his office and closed the door behind him. "Sorry about that Tim, my Director wants me to make you a formal offer of employment." Tobias explained. "Had to make it look like I was schmoozing you."
"So I should reject rather loud and vehemently?" Tim laughed.
"Not necessary, but just know the offer is always there." Tobias said, seriously. "Give me five minutes and we can get this show on the road."
Tobias and Tim hit the apartment open for inspection with the realtor, with an open mind. Tim immediately rejected three based on proximity alone, as his security clearance doesn't allow for ground floor apartments. Tobias rejected one based on the amount of mould in the bathroom, not wanting Tim to get sick. They looked at seven apartments, three condos and one townhouse with three more townhouses scheduled for the following morning.
"Have you thought about buying a place?" Tobias asked as the men prepared dinner in the Fornell home.
"I have actually. I've got a pretty good chunk of a down payment saved up, I started looking a while back, but gave up when I couldn't find anything I liked." Tim explained.
"You should look at the house across the road." Tobias recommended "it's got good bones and needs some love, but I reckon the Buckmen family would let it go for a good price. They're desperate to sell. Their daughter married an Englishman and they want to move to the UK to be with her and her family."
"Can't hurt to have a look." Tim agreed and the duo made plans to look at the house across the street from Fornell.
They finally got a look at the house across the street from Fornell three days later and Tim liked the house. But he wasn't one hundred percent sold on it. It needed some work to make it liveable, the house needed rewiring, which he could do in his spare time. The carpet was all but worn away to the underlay and tack strips, which was ok, because Tim wanted to put down hardwood floors. The kitchen cabinets needed a complete overhaul, the chipboard that had warped over time, with one shelf expanded from moisture. The range hood and in kitchen was dead, as was the oven. The walls needed a coat of a paint, the skirting board needed to be repaired in the living room where it had been partially removed to allow a tall cabinet sit. The bathroom, ensuite, utility room and guest bathroom all needed re-tiling with broken or chipped tiles and grubby or missing grout, some of the vanities weren't in the best condition, but Tim told Tobias he'd probably gut them and start fresh.
The basement, garage and tool shed on the other hand were totally finished and look like they'd been done recently. The garage was a triple garage and had shelving that lined the walls, overhead storage and a huge subzero fridge/freezer combo for extra storage. The landscaping was also kept up to date with as the Buckman's had a gardener who automatically arrived every two weeks and spent the day working, the front yard was pretty standard with a front garden of fragrant roses across the front of a twelve foot wide porch, a paved path leading to the front steps. The backyard had a tool shed leading off the back of the garage, it had a nice grassy area off to the side. There was a heated lap pool down the other side, under a climate controlled roof and three side were controlled based on the roof, the open side allowed access to the huge back deck area. The decking needed a re-oil, as did the front verandah, but that was an easy fix.
Apparently the son in law had started re-doing over the entire property, but had been transferred to the UK for work before he had a chance to start inside.
"Needs a lot of work, probably going to take a while." Tobias said to Tim as they sat around his kitchen having coffee. "What did you think?"
"It's a great house and I loved the pool. Growing up all over the world, swimming was the best way to keep fit. Every winter my Mum would get me a local pool pass and I'd spend hours swimming laps. But it is a lot of work to make it liveable."
"Don't let that get in the way, if you really like it, let's do another walk through. We can get an inspector out to look at it, maybe bring Gibbs too and you should look at your finances and see if it works within your budget. If you need a home loan, probably best to start the ball rolling there, better to go in with a pre-approval than nothing organised. As much as it pains me to say it, you could even discuss the tax benefits with Diane? I'm sure she'd help, even if she did give you a hard time at first. But when you were sick, she did really care. Sometimes, she's a good person - deep down inside - and only some times! "
"Thank you Tobias," Tim said sincerely. "Your help has been invaluable."
Tim contacted his financial advisor, his bank and a realtor. His financial situation was actually better than he thought, better than anyone who didn't know about his other nom de plume would expect. He had three pen names; Thom E Gemcity for crime and mystery, Thomas Blythe for romance and erotica and Nathaniel Thomson for western and sci-fi. Of course, everyone at NCIS knew about Gemcity, or at least the MCRT knew. He'd been a lot more secretive about the other two. His books as Thomas Blythe were constantly at number one and women (and some men) went crazy for them worldwide. They were constantly at number one and once he had three books of the same series ranked one, two and three worldwide. He knew Ziva was a huge fan of his, she was constantly reading one of his novels, he'd even spied one of his western novels in Gibbs' seabag while away on a case once. Abby didn't really read but he knew she liked Nathaniel Thomson's sci-fi work after Gibbs had informed her that he also wrote sci-fi.
When they'd search the crime scenes in peoples home it amazed him how many people actually owned one of his books from one of his nom de plume's.
His banker advised a small mortgage to allow for the repairs and help with the equity in the home. His financial planner had agreed and they'd started the ball rolling there.
His realtor didn't have much to add, but agreed that depending upon how much he invested in the repairs he could get upto fifty percent more back in a resale if he ever needed to flip it.
He was serious about Tobias' advice and even invited Diane to meet with him to pick her brain. Diane couldn't meet with him as Emily had her science meet, but she agreed to cook for dinner at him at her house that night.
Tim went to dinner, which Tobias insisted upon coming with him, knowing Diane would behave and be civil if he was there, after all, he and Diane had agreed never to fight in front of Emily. Which mostly, they were ok at, although, they constantly got bitchy and snippy at each other.
"The tax benefits are better than renting, Tim." Diane had told him. "Keep a small mortgage, under one hundred thousand dollars. If you pay it off under ten years, there's a bigger tax incentive again."
"Thank you, seriously." Tim said, kissing her cheek as they left that evening. "And thank you for dinner. It's been a long time since I've eaten chicken risotto, that was home cooked. It was delicious."
The following day was Friday and he'd taken a days leave from NCIS to get moved into Tobias' home. Vance hadn't even blinked at the request and signed the form immediately.
Tobias had gone into the Hoover building with the promise he'd try to get away early to help. Tim had been up at 0500 and began packing up the last of his belongings before dismantling the bed. Tim had borrowed Tobias' truck and allowed Tobias to take the Porsche, on the condition that he didn't smash it. He loaded up Tobias' truck and made his first trip to his storage locker and had unloaded by 0700.
His phone pinged and it was a reminder that the florist was open and he ordered a huge bouquet of flowers from his favourite florist, having them sent to Diane at the IRS. He thanked her for, as he put it in the card for 'last night'. Which made her blush, knowing that anyone could take it the wrong way, but she knew he'd left it ambiguous deliberately because like in his job, Tobias' and her's, there were dirty agents. He'd simply signed it 'Tim' with no way to trace it back to his agent persona.
"McGee, need a hand?" Gibbs asked as he let himself into Tim's almost empty apartment. "Vance said you'd be here."
"Hey Gibbs, you're just in time." Tim said, inviting his boss in. "When did you get back?"
"About an hour ago. Vance called and gave me the day off, he told me you took a day too, knew your lease expired today, figured you'd be here. You find somewhere?" Gibbs asked, Tim thought it was the most Gibbs had ever said to him that was unrelated to the job.
"Yeah, tough case. Along with the housing situation, figured I could afford to take the day." Tim explained. "The housing situation, well, that's not cut and dry. You busy tomorrow morning at 10?"
"Not for you, what do you need?" Gibbs asked, smiling at him.
"Looking at a house with an inspector and I'd love another set of eyes. The house is got good bones, but it's in a bit of disrepair." Tim explained. "Needs some work, but it's at a nice price, in a good neighbourhood and good school area."
"Sure, I'll be there." Tim handed Gibbs the address. He raised his eyebrows at the address, but didn't verbally ask why it was near Fornell's house. "Hey Tim," he stopped the younger man, putting his hand on McGee's forearm. "Vance told me about the case, as hard as it was, good job. He told me about the Admiral too."
"What can I say? I'm relieved, he wasn't the nicest guy and I now know, it really was just me he hated." Tim said sadly.
"You're not a bad guy Tim and you definitely weren't a bad kid. Bad kids don't grow up to be men like you. It's the Admiral's loss. If you decide you want help, looking for your biological father, I'm happy to help." He pulled his agent in for a comforting half hug, patting the back of Tim's shoulder.
"Thanks Gibbs." Tim patted the older man's back in return. "What can I say? I'm relieved. He wasn't the nicest guy and I now know, it really was just me he hated." Tim said and it gave Gibbs a sense that maybe he'd missed the mark when it came to McGee and his family support.
"Now tell me what's the plan?" Tim explained how he needed to have everything out of the house by 1400, leaving the last three hours of his 1700 hour deadline for final cleaning in order to get his security deposit back. Gibbs buckled down and helped McGee do another run to his storage locker, before telling Tim that once his months rent on the storage locker was up, they'd empty it all to the spare room at Gibbs' house so he didn't have to 'keep throwing your money away', to quote Gibbs.
The only thing left to move was the bed and his clothes, which needed to go over to Tobias' house. Yesterday, Tim and Fornell had moved the guest bed into storage to allow Tim's king bed to go in the guest room. Tobias wanted Tim to be comfortable in his home and knew that sleeping on the smaller guest bed would eventually cause problems for the taller agent. They loaded up the bed and Tim's clothes and took them to Fornell's home. Gibbs wasn't surprised that Tim now had a key to the Fornell family home. They got all of Tim's stuff into the room with ease and Gibbs even helped the young man unpack his clothes and make the bed. Before the duo headed back to the apartment to clean and make the 1700 hour deadline.
The following morning at 0955 Gibbs met Tim, Tobias and Emily at the address Tim had given him the day before. Fornell had to take a call but Emily and Tim dutifully followed Gibbs, the building inspector Gary and the realtor inside the home. Gibbs immediately began making a list. He was actually impressed with what he saw.
"Come on Em, I'll drop you at either your Mum's house or Nonna's. I've just caught a case." Tobias called out from the front door.
"Dad!" Emily whined, "can't I stay home with Tim? He's not on call and I've had enough of Mum this week. Plus I have algebra homework to do."
"Tobias, I got this. We're not on call." Tim said. "Happy to have Em tag along for the day. I'll even make sure she has her homework done."
"Thanks Tim." He said patting Tim's back. "You're a life saver." Gibbs watched Tim with Emily out of the corner of his eye as he continued his inspection and making notes. He saw how comfortable Tim was with his friend and his pseudo niece and it broke his heart a little. He was determined to put in more of an effort with Tim.
"Well?" Tim asked, as they settled into Fornell's kitchen with a hot mug of coffee each. Tim had already set Emily up in the living room with her homework and had her start working. "What do ya think?"
"I think with a little work, it'll be bloody brilliant." Gibbs said smiling widely. "This is what I think needs doing, I could probably even do most of this list myself, with an assistant of course." He said winking at Tim. Gibbs told him what he'd estimate the repairs were worth and they compared his list to the building inspector's list and found them to be identical, which relieved Tim immensely.
"I guess I'm putting in an offer on a house." Tim said enthusiastically and Gibbs was proud of Tim. He'd never thought that four weeks ago Tim was going to buy instead of rent, but it seemed that Tobias had been a good influence on him, steering him in the right direction.