Tim arrived at the agreed time and was surprised to see Ducky's Morgan parked in the driveway as well. Surprised, but thankful. Gibbs and Ducky were sitting in the living room when Tim let himself in, Kelly came downstairs to greet him with a kiss on the cheek and she took him by the hand and lead him through to the kitchen. "Where do you want this?" Tim asked, holding up a tray of grilled vegetables.
"Here, I'll take that." Kelly said, taking the glass tray from him, letting her fingers brush his. Kelly placed the tray on the stovetop and Tim reached out for her hand and pulled her into him.
"Are you ok? You're very quiet today." Tim whispered, pulling her closer, his hands resting on her hips, gently caressing them.
"I have to tell you something," Kelly said in reply. She rested her arms on his chest, the palms of her hands resting on his shoulders. "At lunch, we'll be talking about Rebecca's funeral."
"Rebecca? Gibbs' wife? That Rebecca?" Tim asked. He thought back over the last few days. "I'm sorry to hear she's gone. I've never met her, but I've heard some stories. How are you both doing?"
"Dad's hanging in there, I'm doing ok." Kelly admitted, shyly. "I didn't know her as well as I should have. Mainly trying to be strong for Dad."
"If you ever need to talk, you know my number." Tim whispered, gently lifting her chin to look him in the eye. "I mean it."
"Thank you." She replied and she reached up on her tip toes, kissing him softly on his lips. "Mmm …" she moaned against his lips. Kelly's moan spurred Tim on, he kissed her back, opening his mouth a little wider. Kelly introduced her tongue into Tim's mouth and he retaliated accordingly. Tim's hands pulled her closer to him, their body's almost flush. His hands moved tighter to her back as her found his face and wandered up into his hair, her nails stroking his scalp.
He moaned into her mouth in desire, finding her bottom lip and nibbling on it, before she redirected him back to her mouth.
"I'll just go grab the potatoes, Jethro." Ducky offered as Gibbs was tending to the fire in the living room. Ducky quietly went into the kitchen, spying the foiled potatoes on the bench behind Kelly. He saw Tim and Kelly tangled up in each other, lips on lips, hands on each other's bodies. Rather than interrupt, Ducky backpedaled into the living room. "Sorry Jethro," he explained. "The potatoes aren't quite ready."
"Kelly and Tim?" He asked, he was pretty sure he knew what they were doing in there.
"It would seem they are …" Ducky tried to explain, struggling to find the right words. "Being friendly."
"Not surprised here, Duck!" Gibbs laughed, shocking his dear friend. "I'm leaving it alone. Letting them figure everything out themselves."
"That's a good attitude, Jethro." Ducky cheered his friend on, this was a huge jump forward for the overprotective father. "In the past you've normally been …"
"At some point, I have to take a step back and become a spectator. Can't be her number one man forever." Gibbs sighed.
"I'm proud of you." Ducky said proudly. "That takes a tremendous inner strength."
"Besides, it's McGee." Gibbs explained. "It's not like he's a stranger."
"Here's the potatoes, Dad." Kelly said, bringing them into the living room to go on the hot coals. Tim was in the kitchen, catching his breath and warming up the grilled vegetables that he'd made.
"Thanks baby." He said softly. He watched the couple as Tim joined them in the living room. The younger duo seemed hyper aware of each other. Kelly prepared the salad while Ducky engaged Tim in small talk on how they managed to solve the recent case.
The conversation flowed along nicely and Gibbs was even being polite to McGee. Not that he was ever mean-mean, but he was Tim's boss and he did enjoy intimidating his subordinates. "Kelly told me you went to Georgetown U after MIT, what did you study there?" Gibbs asked him and Tim shot Kelly a look.
"Well, promise not to laugh?" He asked, seriously for a moment and the two older men stopped eating. "I've not long finished my doctorate in Justice and Criminology."
"That's not in your file, Doctor McGee." Gibbs chastised gently.
"Well, that's because I have just finished my final edit and defend only four months ago. Haven't actually got my certificate yet." Tim explained and Kelly felt so proud of Tim. It can't have been an easy feat for Tim to have completed FLETC and worked full time at the agency, studying and completing a doctorate degree in his spare time. Not to mention the added stress of being a full time field agent and his transfer to the MCRT.
"You we're going to tell us, weren't you?" Ducky asked, seriously. He wished he had of known what his young friend had been up to. He'd have been the young man's number one supporter.
"Eventually." Tim answered softly. "Honestly, I was going to tell you all. That's why I've been blowing off invitations for drinks for the past two years. Every spare moment I've had, I've spent working towards this."
"I'm proud of you, McGee." Gibbs said, smiling at him. "Don't let anyone ridicule you about this. It's by no means an easy feat."
"I expect to be invited to the graduation ceremony, my dear boy." Ducky added, proudly.
"I was planning on inviting our whole team and the Director. Especially Director Shepard, she has been a great supporter of mine." Tim explained. "I'd like you to come too, Kell." Tim smiled, looking at her with his charming smile.
"I'd be thrilled." She replied with a smile of her own. "I'm proud of you too. All your hard work and sacrifices have finally paid off." She gushed.
"Thank you," Tim resigned sadly. "I'm not the only one who sacrificed for my doctorate." Ducky exchanged a look with Gibbs. Ducky, being able to read Gibbs like a book, most of the time, didn't like what he'd seen. He'd seen a father, who's heart had broken for his daughter and her decisions. He saw a man who was, albeit indirectly, blaming himself for that.
/FLASHBACK/
"Tim, we need to talk." Kelly said as Tim returned to his little apartment, off campus at Georgetown.
"What's up Kell?" He asked, unpacking his book bag.
"It's time." Kelly said sadly and Tim immediately stilled. He looked up at her and noted that she had tears in her eyes. "Tim, I love you. But I'm going off to Berkeley for grad school and you're just starting your doctorate, here. Long distance relationships suck."
"Kelly, we can make it work." Tim begged. "I know we can." He gathered her closer, pulling her into a hug.
"We can't. We'd end up hating each other and I don't want that." Kelly sobbed into his chest. Mostly to muffle the sounds of her sobs.
"I love you Kelly." Tim cried, hastily wiping tears from his eyes. "No, don't leave." He begged, hugging her tighter.
"I love you too, Tim." She cried too, hugging him back. "I just feel off we let it fester, we'll become bitter and hate each other. I don't want that for us." She kissed him softly, conveying all of the emotions she was feeling into the simple kiss.
"We won't." Tim vowed and Kelly shook her head, no.
"Sooner or later we will, we both know that." She reasoned, her tears falling harder.
Tim wiped the tears away from her face with his thumb, then scrubbing his own away. "I will always love you." He vowed.
"Me too." Kelly kissed Tim one last time, picked up her already packed, duffle bag and she walked out of the apartment door.
After they'd discussed the funeral and now confirmed the time and day of the event. Kelly had even asked Tim to escort her to help her through it. Tim had immediately accepted and Gibbs had nodded along at his answer. Ducky would sit beside Tim, with Kelly on the other side, next to her Grandpa Jackson and Gibbs would be next to his father.
Gibbs had agreed that anyone else from the agency who showed up would sit in the row behind them, with Rebecca's small family on the opposite side of the church. They weren't expecting a big crowd of people. It was a relatively private service that she'd planned. Ducky told Gibbs he would handle notifying Ziva, who'd be back at work after her trip to Israel on Monday, Tony, Abby and Director Shepard on Monday and that he'd be best off taking his bereavement leave from Monday and that he'd make sure they kept their distance, giving the man the privacy he'd need.
Ducky took his leave and Gibbs left the couple alone while he made his way to the basement. He was pondering on his speech of what he was going to say Tuesday night. He was struggling to find the words and threw his mug of bourbon across the basement floor, the mug remained relatively intact. A broken handle, assorted chips and a small hairline crack was the end result.
"You ok, Gibbs?" McGee had asked, as he entered the basement.
"I'm fine." Gibbs said in a whisper.
"If you need anything, you can ask me, you know?" Tim reminded the older man. "I do consider you a friend."
"McGee, you're a writer. I need help" Gibbs began, feeling uncomfortable. He hated asking for help, when he did, it was normal for him to go to Ducky. Not one of his subordinates. "I want to write something special for Rebecca. Can't find the words."
"I've got your six, boss." Tim said smiling at him. "Show me what you've got so far."
The two men worked down there, in the basement for almost two hours before together, they'd written the best eulogy for Rebecca, conveying all of Gibbs' feelings and emotions. "Hey McGee," Gibbs began as he made his way to the stairs to find Kelly. "Tim, thank you." His voice thick, "you're my friend too." Before sending him a rare smile.
Tim took his leave after helping Gibbs in the basement, with the promise to return in two hours to collect Kelly for their planned dinner. He'd excitedly made reservations for restaurant he knew. It was an intimate restaurant, with linen tablecloths, candlelit tables and a small dance floor with a house band that played slow, soothing jazz.
As promised, Tim arrived back at Gibbs' house promptly at 1830 dressed in a beautiful grey Armani suit and black shirt, polished dress shoes. The suit was an impulse uy that DiNozzo had talked him into one day when they were at Tony's tailors shop. "Tim, you're back. Kelly shouldn't be too much longer." Gibbs said, meeting him at the door, having gotten up off the sofa at the sound of his car in the driveway. "You look sharp, there."
"Thanks Boss." Tim said and looked up to see Kelly coming down the stairs.
Kelly had on a little black number with spaghetti straps and a v cut into the front. The dress finished just below her knees, with a split up the left side that stopped two inches above the kneecap. It was a backless number with the spaghetti straps crisscrossing on her back. "Wow Kelly." Tim said going to greet her instantly. "You look beautiful." Her golden auburn hair was swept up in a ponytail, with a wrap of hair covering the hair tie. The pony tail in light curls that cascaded down her back.
"You look pretty handsome yourself there." She said, playing with the lapel of his dinner jacket.
Gibbs watched on from the sofa, he could see they were in their own little world, lost in their own little dreamland together. "Aren't you going to be late?" He asked, bringing them both back to focus. He had to admit that they looked good together, both dressed up. He'd seen McGee in a suit plenty of times for work, but never dressed to the nines for a date.
DiNozzo on the other hand, he'd seen him dressed for a date, more times than he could count. Either from getting ready after work or calling him in for a case, occasionally even a stop by the basement after a date, if he needed to talk.
"Sure." Kelly said dreamily to her Dad and Gibbs contemplated if he shouldn't sneak a photo of the duo. Kelly's megawatt grin that had been on her face since they met again in the bullpen was back in full force.
"Shall we?" Tim asked and offered his arm to her. She didn't hesitate to take it and they bid Gibbs a "good night" as he escorted them to the door before heading out to the car. Tim, ever the gentleman, held open the passenger door to his car for Kelly to enter before going around to his side of the car.
Dinner was lively and full of conversation. Kelly finally extracted the story of how Tim got his Porsche, including the confession that he'd written the bestselling novel 'Deep Six', in which Kelly had confided that she was a huge fan. He told her, that he'd began work on the sequel 'Rock Hollow' and his publisher was predicting it to be even more successful than his previous novel.
The house band had began playing a soft slow moving jazz piece that Tim loved and Kelly immediately accepted his wordless invitation to dance. Their bodies swayed in tandem, Tim occasionally spinning Kelly out of his arms. "I forgot how good of a dancer you are." Kelly whispered in his ear and he blushed. "Remember when we danced last?"
"Steven and Nicole's wedding. The week before we graduated." Tim answered automatically, with such fondness. He treasured his memories from that night.
"They divorced three years ago." Kelly said sadly. "Steven is now - Stefan and he lives in Milan with his husband. A fashion designer." She filled Tim in on the latest.
"Well, that explains it all." He said shocked. "Nicole wasn't a very nice person." He explained.
"She was a bitch!" Kelly agreed. "But he found himself after Nicole took off."
"I'm happy for him." Tim answered.
Tim lead Kelly from the dance floor back to their table, where they scanned the dessert menu before opting for just coffee. "I know a great little gelato place that's nearby, fancy a chocolate brownie swirl cone?" He asked, dangling her all time favourite dessert in front of her.
"I shouldn't, but I can't resist a good chocolate brownie swirl cone." Kelly answered in a blush, leaving Tim to call for the bill and handing over his credit card to pay.
As they made their way to Tim's Porsche, Tim flushed at the memory of their first chocolate brownie swirl cone.
/FLASHBACK/
"I'll have a chocolate brownie and a vanilla swirl cone." Kelly told the young teen behind the counter.
"Plus a bowl and a spoon." Tim added, before ushering her to wait for their ordered items. Picking up the proffered items they took a table and Tim immediately began scooping out the vanilla ice cream. He took the chocolate brownie from her hand and broke it up, crumbling it into the vanilla ice cream before mixing it up and scooping it back into the cone.
"Why?" She asked, looking at him like he was crazy.
"You'll see, try a bit." He encouraged, holding the cone to her lips. Her tongue darted out for a lick and Tim's mouth parted slightly, enjoying the visual delight.
"Oh my god." She moaned in pleasure. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten in my life … so far." Sending him a wink.
"Add chocolate sauce next time." Tim advised her and she looked up and kissed him softly. "Delicious." He replied, licking his lips.
"Next time, you bring the chocolate sauce. It'll be even better." She looked at him thoughtfully. "Whatever we don't use on the ice cream, we'll take home and finish off later."
"Really? How much better?" Tim asked her, wondering if his mind was really on the right track or if his mind had ran away from him.
"Not as good as it could be, but we'll just have to keep experimenting until we find the right combo." Tim swallowed hard.
"Kell," he moaned, his voice strangled a little. His voice was lust filled. "Maybe we should head back to your place for that movie."
"Your apartment's closer."
"Remember the first time you made this for me?" Kelly asked, shaking Tim out of his thoughts.
"Definitely not something to forget." He answered with a wink, his cheeks reddening softly, as did hers.
"I hate that it's so commercialised now, I miss the old days of mixing it up ourselves." Kelly sighed as they made their way back to the Gibbs family home.
He opened the door for Kelly, Tim always being a perfect gentleman and escorted her to the door. The lights were on in the living room and there was another truck in the driveway, in addition to Gibbs', forcing Tim to park on the street.
"I had a wonderful night, Tim." Kelly gushed as they sat on the front porch together on the swing seat there. "The best night I've had in the longest time."
"I'm glad." Tim smiled and kissed her softly on the lips.
"Could at least kiss me like you enjoyed yourself too." She teased. Tim stood up, pulling her off the swing too. The couple wandered over to the front door.
Tim tilted her chin up, gently guiding it with his forefinger. Slowly they moved towards each other, lips parting, before her soft lips met his. She opened her mouth a little wider and he didn't miss the opportunity to indulge himself a little. He pulled back slightly, and kissed her again, this time capturing her bottom lip, the one he had always loved to nibble on.
When he finally pulled back, he wished her "good night" and headed off to his car.
Inside, he and Tobias were in the living room, having had dinner and having a couple of beers, when they heard the roar of Tim's car pull up. Fornell was curious and made his way to spy "Don't you dare!" Gibbs warned him before he could touch the curtain. "Leave them be."
"So you're ok with this?" Fornell asked, unable to believe his ears. "Your agent took your daughter out for dinner?"
"They're old friends, just catching up." Gibbs explained.
"You're in denial, Jethro." Fornell warned, returning to the arm chair he'd sat in earlier, before his friend had chastised him. "McGee is a man and wants what all men want. She's your daughter!"
Suddenly the door opened and they immediately stopped talking. They heard the roar of the engine from Tim's Porsche as it took off from the sidewalk. "Hey baby, how was dinner?" Gibbs asked with a smile. He noted her eyes were glazed over a little, her lips a little plump, void of the lipstick she'd left the house in and her cheeks a little flushed. Her huge grin still plastered on her face.
"Fine Dad." She said dreamily as she passed the living room for the stairs. "Night Dad" she called out making her way upstairs.
As soon as she was out of sight, Tobias let out a huge bellied laugh. "She didn't notice me. What did McGee do the her?!" He asked, trying to rile his friend up. Getting slightly annoyed that it wasn't working.
"Leave her alone." Gibbs advised him firmly. "Just leave it be."
"This proves my point about McGee." Tobias argued. "He just wants what all men want."
"He didn't come inside." Gibbs noted, pointing out to his friend.
"Well yeah, it's called self-preservation." Tobias chuckled.