McGee had taken the week off when he was closing escrow as it was scheduled to happen on the Monday and by 1700 hours that day, Tim had the keys in his hot hands. Gibbs met Tim at the house at 1800 and they quickly began gutting it, almost completely. The kitchen was completely demolished, the only thing that was kept was the lead glass cabinet doors which Tim wanted to repurpose the glass. The bathrooms and ensuites were gutted too, leaving the tiled floors and walls in the wet areas and the utility room until tomorrow afternoon. By then, the dumpster would have been delivered and they could begin ripping up tiles, carpet and underlay.
The following afternoon, Gibbs was tied up in meetings with Vance so Tim made a head start. He tossed everything they'd stripped out the day before into the newly delivered dumpster and began to remove all the tiling and the two bath tubs in the bathrooms. Before he made his way up to the attic. He switched the fans on to auto mode. He hadn't been up there at all, but he knew both Gibbs and the building inspector had been up there. He was surprised to find it a mostly finished room up there. Figuring that once he had the house sorted, he tackle the basement and attic. He left to start moving the rest of the debris into the bins.
With still no sign of Gibbs he went into the beg he'd bought with him from across the street and changed into his swim gear. He'd take this time to both test out the pool and squeeze in a work out. He knew they had their yearly physicals coming up the following month and intended to surprise Ducky and slim down and tone up further than he already had last year. He executed the perfect dive into the water and glided through it seamlessly. Swimming laps was as cathartic as he remembered and was seriously regretting ever giving up this sport. He felt the stress and the overwhelming feelings he'd been having, leave his body.
Gibbs was cursing Vance. Vance had known he'd had somewhere to be and droned on and on. When he'd finally escaped the Navy yard, Tobias had called him over to chat a minute while Tobias changed his clothes too, intending to offer some free labour to his young friend. With no Emily this whole week, he had time to put in an extra effort with Tim. With both of the older men changed out of their work clothes, they made light work of getting over the road to McGee's new house. A few knocks on the locked front door, they'd raised their eyebrows in surprise when there was no answer, although his car was in the driveway. "Follow" Tobias instructed his friend, as they made their way through the side gate and down the far side of the rear yard. From their vantage point on the deck, they silently sat on the deck steps and watched.
Tim pushed himself, further than harder than he had in a long while, freestyle up, turn and backstroke back, turn and repeat. He'd gotten into the zone, blocking out all external stimuli. Mentally, he'd began timing each lap and counting his strokes. He promised himself he'd do more of this, he felt great. He loved that one end of the pool was deep enough to actually dive in and not smash his head on the bottom of the pool. He was planning on three more laps before he stopped for a water break.
"How'd you know?" Gibbs asked his friend. Gibbs had been admiring Tim's long strokes. He didn't know much about the sport, but he knew that Tim was good. He'd been timing Tim mentally and noticed that in addition to being good, he was picking up speed with each lap.
"I guessed." Tobias said flippantly, remembering what Tim had said about his swimming and Gibbs raised his eyebrow, silently asking his friend to explain. "He told me, ok? He said that no matter where McGee was stationed, his mother always made sure he had access to a pool."
"He'd give me a run for my money, that's for sure. Probably DiNozzo too." Gibbs surmised. And Tobias nodded in agreement. He'd give Tobias a good run for his money too. "DiNozzo was a jock too, physical education major at Ohio State."
Tobias and Gibbs sat silently, watch Tim hoist himself out of the pool and onto the end before taking a drink of water. Tobias was about to call out to him they were here when Tim stood and suddenly dove back in, he swam harder and faster, this time not alternating his strokes as he went. He was flawless as he glided through the water, he executed his turns perfectly and he finally came to a stop at the end of the pool, nine minutes later. He immediately grabbed his phone to see the time and noticed he had an audience. "Please tell me you haven't been here long." He begged not looking at either of the men, feeling embarrassed. He was only dressed in his swimming briefs and felt uncomfortable at either men seeing him. He was always subconsciously covering his body to avoid explaining his scars.
"Long enough McGee." Gibbs answered as Tim had taken the towel that Gibbs had offered, he'd left it resting beside where Gibbs had sat down. "You're good."
"No I'm not." Tim answered, seriously and in a somewhat annoyed tone. Annoyed at himself, feeling out of shape. "I am drastically out of shape I'm a second too slow coming out of my turn and I'm hesitating at the wall again. My diving execution is poor and it's going to take some serious discipline to get myself back in shape.
"Bit harsh on yourself there, Tim." Tobias said firmly. "You're not competing. It was a swim to destress in your own private pool, in your own backyard. You're not even in public."
"Agreed." Gibbs backed up Fornell. "You don't even have to use the pool for laps. No one will fault you and no one will care. Relax!"
"Don't you get it? I need to be better than I am now. This isn't me. I'm usually better than this."
"Relax McGee, you haven't been swimming in how many years? It's been years since you've swam for exercise and probably even longer since you've swam competitively." Gibbs advised, in his best boss voice. "Now dry off, we've got work to do and dinner to order."
With the food ordered and eaten, Gibbs got to work on measuring up the kitchen cabinets while Tobias and Tim finished sweeping up the remaining debris. "I've called for a flooring company to come give me a quote to put in some brand new hardwood floors tomorrow afternoon." Tim told them. "The cabinet company will make the cabinets into flat packs that we can build and install ourselves for a fraction of the price."
"That's a great starting point, Tim." Tobias told him. "We can go to the hardware store tomorrow and start choosing some paint colours."
"That's a wonderful idea, Tobias." Gibbs told them both. "We can get that done while we wait for the floors and cabinets to be ready."
A trip to the hardware store with Tobias and Gibbs proved to be interesting, with each man having their own ideas as to what he should do with his own home. "Look!" Tim interrupted the two older men "I have my own ideas of what I like." Tim chose a quarter strength teal in colour for a feature wall in his bedroom, a colour he adored and enjoyed looking at daily. He knew it would match with his Californian redwood coloured stained bed and matching furniture.
He went for a half strength milky white for the rest of the house, he'd told the other two gentlemen that he only wanted the one colour. He bought a bright, ice white colour for the ceilings and skirting boards.
The following morning, Tobias was awake at six, he went over to Tim's new place to check in on the young man. He'd told Tobias and Gibbs last night that he'd just finish up painting the hall and then head over to the Fornell home to get some sleep. But he'd never come back over. Quietly letting himself in the back yard, thinking of how they found the young man swimming in his pool yesterday morning.
With no sign of Tim outside, he let himself in through the utility room door, he knew Gibbs hadn't been able to fix the lock on that door until the hardware store opened today. He noticed that everything had been painted. Every room in the house, as had the ceiling and the skirting boards. He turned back to the utility room and found the door for the basement. Only to find it was fully painted too (except the exposed beams, he'd left them as he'd promised he would) . He continued, back down the hallway and into the master bedroom, expecting to find Tim curled up asleep on the drop sheets somewhere. He followed the walkway into the master walk in robe and found that the small spiral staircase to the attic was open. Inside there was Tim, painting the last of the skirting board, the whole attic painted too, except the exposed beams, to tie in with the basement.
"Tim?" Tobias whispered softly, causing Tim to jump.
"Damn it Tobias, you frightened me!" Tim cursed.
"Have you slept at all?" Tobias asked, amazed at what the young man had achieved once the older two had left him alone.
"Sleep, no. I've got two feet of skirting to go. Then I'm having a swim and going to bed before the flooring company get here." Tim vowed.
Tobias just shook his head at the young agent. "Go on, have your swim and then get some sleep. I've got the rest of it." Tobias took the brush gently out of Tim's hand and ushered the young man down the stairs.
Tobias made light work of the remaining two feet of skirting, leaving the attic fans on to dry the paint. He gathered up his supplies, taking them to the utility room to clean up. After he'd cleaned up, he noticed the lack of noise from the pool. Automatically, he set off to investigate and their he found his young friend, asleep in a pile of drop sheets, his pool towel as a pillow and Gibbs standing over him. "He's been here all night?" Gibbs asked, noting how truly tired the young man looked.
"Come see for yourself." Tobias offered and Gibbs kicked off his work boots before entering the house.
"He did all this himself?" Gibbs asked, looking through the whole house, noting the basement and attic was also completed. "No wonder he's passed out."
"Help me get him across the street and into bed." Tobias whispered and Jethro joined Tobias in helping get Tim onto his feet and across the road.
Having successfully gotten Tim into his bed, in the guest room at Tobias' house, Tobias made quick work of removing his joggers, socks and hoodie. Leaving Tim in his sweats and a tee, he pulled the covers up over him and closed the bedroom door over. "Coffee Gibbs?" Tobias offered and the older two made their way to the kitchen.
"Not going to say no to coffee." Gibbs answered. "He really did a number on himself."
"I think he's mentally exhausted. Between the now ex-Admiral, moving, buying a house, the demo and painting he's done for." Tobias added. "He hasn't stopped and processed much of it yet."
"You met him - Admiral McGee?" Gibbs asked, noting the tenseness of his friend's jaw.
"That bastard threw his son away, Jethro. Threw him away as if he was nothing!" Tobias spat! It made Gibbs' blood boil.
"He doesn't deserve him. Any man would love to have a son like him." Gibbs agreed and now Tobias was irked.
"Really?!" He retorted, exasperated. "Might want to remember that the next time you treat him like crap!"
"Got something you want to say to me, Tobias?" Gibbs asked, his friend seemed exceptionally angry with him this morning.
"Yeah, back off when it comes to Tim." Tobias growled. "How long are you going to pretend he matters before he fades into the background again? You're only helping him because you're worried that he might accept the job, I'm going to offer him."
"Really?!" Gibbs snapped. "You're going to coerce him to work for the FBI?" Gibbs was spoiling for a fight now. Clearly Tobias thought he knew his team better than Gibbs did.
Gibbs was still furious at Tobias, hours later when he was sitting at his desk. Most of all, he knew he should be furious with himself. He knew he'd dismissed McGee in the past. But he didn't seem to be able to break through to the young man. It was easier with Tony, Ziva and Abby. Their problems with their family was obvious and always took precedence over building a relationship with McGee.
When it was quitting time, he swung by McGee's place, noticed the big sign on the front door that had said 'no entry' and he walked around the back looking for McGee, noting the kitchen sliding door and utility room doors both had the same sign as the front door. His search was fruitless, McGee wasn't here. He went back out to his truck frustrated, he looked over seeing McGee's car in the driveway across the road. Not wanting to deal with Fornell, he drove himself home.
He'd been pottering around in his basement, when an idea struck him. McGee had that big open deck at the back, he decided he needed a trip to the lumber yard. He was going to make McGee a housewarming gift. He'd never made anything for any of his agents before, that none of them had ever purchased their own home before either.
The trip to the lumber yard proved fruitful, buying up some beautiful redwood for a large table, two long bench seats and two Adirondack chairs for the end. The table was long enough for the whole team to gather around, thinking once the team found out McGee bought his own house, they'd all be hanging out here. He decided to seal it all in a marine varnish to protect it from the weather and water.
Tim made his way over to his house at 0730 to see the flooring company beginning the installation of a beautiful, silky smooth hardwood floor. He'd chosen an Australian spotted hun floor, with a urethane two stage finish, loving the different colours in the flooring. While he was over there, he chose the carpets, choosing a plush, deep piled dark grey carpet. He ordered some custom rugs in the same carpet for the living room, front entry and hallway runner.
Gibbs called Tim, telling him that the cabinet company called and his matching spotted gum cabinets were ready, including the doors that they'd told Tim would take a week longer to make because he'd rescued the lead light glass from the old cabinets and requested that they in lay them back in the new upper bank of the cabinets. "Thanks Gibbs," Tim said into his cell. "I'll swing by and grab the flat packs after my swim this morning." Tim told him.
"If you can wait until this afternoon, I'll grab them and begin putting them together." Gibbs offered, noting that Tim had called him Gibbs and not Boss.
"Keep in mind, the floors are still tacky from the urethane. We can unload them into the he garage." Tim reminded him.
"We can do that." Gibbs confirmed.
Gibbs worked through lunch, before taking a half comp day at Vance's insistence. Gibbs went home, quickly changing and swapping vehicles, his challenger for his truck before picking up the cabinets. His friend's employee who he'd ordered the cabinets with had told him they'd be a flat pack so he was pleasantly surprised when he got there and saw his friend, the owner of the business had put them together for him. "Thanks Greg." Gibbs said, when he saw that the packs were pre-built.
"You're welcome, Jethro. Appreciate the business." The duo quickly loaded up the back of Gibbs truck with the cabinets and he gently sat the lead glass cabinet doors in the foot well of the front seat of his truck.
"McGee, let's get these unloaded." Gibbs called out as he pulled up and jumped out of his truck. He was excited to see the flooring.
"Hey Boss," Tim called out and Gibbs smiled a genuine smile at him, this time noting he called him Boss "can you come give me a hand? I'm on the back deck." Gibbs rushed around and saw Tim had wired up some outdoor lights in the alfresco area and an outdoor ceiling fan, he needed help hoisting the ceiling fan to the roof and finished.
"Didn't know you could wire stuff up." Gibbs commented when he was done.
"Yeah," Tim answered casually, "had my license since I finished at Johns Hopkins. Worked my way through MIT as an after hours and emergency electrician."