Introducing some characters in the next few chapters from NCIS: LA. This is NOT a crossover as such, they're simply going to feature for a couple of chapters.
Tim woke up in Kelly's bed with Kelly wrapped around him. It was 0500 and he needed to get a move on or he'd be late to work, thankful he didn't have to meet Ziva in the gym this morning. He grabbed yesterday's casual button down shirt and jeans, opting to go commando until he got to the office. He kept an extra change of clothes including socks and shorts in the bottom drawer of his desk drawer, as extras, just in case. He gathered his cross trainers and his suit, packing them back into his suit bag, before heading into Kell's ensuite for a quick shower.
He kissed a sleeping Kelly gently on the cheek, whispering that he loved her in her ear, before creeping downstairs into the kitchen to set the coffee machine to brew a pot for 6am.
"Mornin' Tim," Jackson greeted him cheerfully, startling him as he entered the kitchen. Tim was expecting to be the only one awake. He handed Tim an empty coffee mug and pointed to the freshly brewed pot. "Breakfast?"
"No thank you." Tim replied, "I am going to be so late."
"Need this?" Gibbs asked, coming in to the kitchen, holding up his sig and clip, badge and NCIS credentials that Gibbs had stored in his lock box with his own yesterday afternoon when he'd arrived.
"Thank you." Tim said, taking the weapon from Gibbs, holstering it , clipping his badge on and pocketing his credentials.
"Here, borrow my jacket. You'll look more like you meant to dress this way and less like you've spent the night away from home." Gibbs advised him, handing him a black blazer he had pulled out for him, that had been in the back of his cupboard. Gibbs had gone upstairs at 0130, for a shower and he'd checked the top floor. Mike had been snoring on the sofa downstairs and Jackson was blissfully asleep on his bed in his bedroom downstairs. He opened the door to Kelly's room and saw Kelly and Tim intertwined together, sleeping soundly. That's when he'd pulled out a jacket for Tim to borrow that was suitable for work and one he, himself hadn't worn to work in over ten years.
Tim had said thank you and inhaled his coffee. He quickly poured himself a second cup. Figuring it was a quicker commute from Gibbs' house in Alexandria to the yard than what it was from his apartment. Kelly come down stairs in her pj's in search of coffee too.
"Good morning, Special Agent McGee." She cooed, reaching up for a kiss good morning. "Don't you look handsome today."
"Morning sweetheart." He said to her in reply. "If we don't catch a case, can I take you to dinner, tonight?" He asked her sweetly.
"Sorry Tim, we're having dinner here. Whole family, includes you. Dad and Mike are leaving tomorrow afternoon."
"So obviously not tonight. Friday?" She asked him.
"We are invited to dinner with Zee on Friday." Tim told her.
"So we're staying at yours on Friday night? Cool, I'll pack a bag."
"You missed Thursday there, Probie's Probie." Mike told him, using Tim's new nickname.
"I'm on the MTAC encryption team. I'll be at the office until the small hours of Friday morning." Tim told him and the cowboy's eyes glazed over.
"What the hell does an encryption team do, Probie?" Mike asked Gibbs.
"How the hell should I know?" Gibbs retorted. "One person from each team is on it and all I know is, that Tim has been doing it for the MCRT since he arrived at the navy yard. Both Director's have been impressed with his work and skills. They have no complaints."
Kelly and Tim were all snuggled in at the table together. Jackson was scanning the paper, half listening to the conversation around him. "Aren't you going to be late, son?" Jackson asked and Tim jumped up apologising, rinsing his mug and leaving it in the sink.
"I'll walk you out." Kelly told Tim and Mike raised his eyebrows at that.
"She really likes him?" Mike asked his dear friend. "I don't think I've ever seen her more serious about someone than she is, with him."
"It's serious, Mike. Serious enough that I know she loves him. Her loves her, too."
"Yeah, looks like it too." Mike said, as he could see them from his chair, kissing each other at the open front door. "Probie's Probie. Get to NCIS, now! Or I'm getting the hose onto you two!" He threatened and Gibbs chuckled, as did Jackson.
"Don't you laugh, Leroy. I remember threatening you and her mother with the hose a time or two, as well." Jackson told him and Mike laughed at the older man. He'd never heard that story before. He had met Shannon on a case and she was gone before he met Gibbs. He'd never known them as a couple. "That girl is just like her Mumma and he is just like you." Jackson reiterated to his son. "Just a little less jaded."
"A lot less." Gibbs amended.
"Good morning, Ziva" Tim said cheerfully as he entered the bullpen. He had an extra spring in his step and smiled extra widely this morning.
"Good morning, Tim. You are extra preppy today, are you not?" She asked, mixing up her idiom.
"I think you mean peppy and yes I am." Tim admitted. Tony arrived from the other side of their level In Balboa's bullpen. He'd noted from across the room, Tim's exceptionally good mood this morning. He hated to be the one to ruin his Wednesday morning.
"Morning McLucky, Abby was here at 5:30am waiting for you, take five minutes and go see what was so important she had to speak with you as soon as you arrived." Tony said.
"No thank you." Tim declined politely. "It's not necessary. I have a job to do, at my desk."
"McGee!" Abby bellowed as she came stomping into the bullpen and he internally groaned to himself. "I have been waiting for you, since 5 am. What took you so long to arrive and where were you? I went by your apartment to pick you up and you weren't home. Why didn't you let me drive you home last night?! I can't believe you made Gibbs drive you home. That's so insensitive, he buried his wife!" She was carrying on and previous experience told him to just let her rant and try to correct her when she was done.
"First off," Tim told her in a low quiet voice. "Where I was is no concern of yours. I don't have to answer to you and nor should you expect me to. Second of all, I didn't need a ride home, nor did I require or request you to pick me up this morning. Thirdly, I did not make Gibbs drive me home. Now, what did you want Abby?"
"I wanted to know why you didn't call me back to comfort Gibbs. He would have been so upset. First his wife dies and then I had to leave him to go home. He would have been distraught." Abby ranted. Tim and Tony traded looks as she continued to rant.
"Miss Sciuto." Jen interrupted firmly, as she entered the bullpen on her way upstairs. "It is not your place to interrogate a co-worker on their whereabouts. Agent McGee was on comp time and not required on call or be in the office. He could have been unreachable for all I care. If you do not have enough work to do, there are plenty of cold cases for you to do. Nice blazer, Agent McGee." She said with a wink. She thought she recognised the jacket. She had bought it for Gibbs for his birthday when she was a Probie agent and they were stationed in Russia together.
"Thank you, Director." Tim said with a small blush.
"Cold cases, let's go." Tony announced, getting the team back on track, Abby moving back to her lab and the Director to stop making small talk with McGee! There was a time when Tony was the favourite one and all of a sudden it was McGee and he didn't like it
"We should have invited Tim too." Ziva said as she took her first mouthful of beer.
"Absolutely not, McGee's a jerk. He got me in trouble with the Director today." Abby added, refilling her glass from the jug. She had already downed a whole beer whilst Tony and Ziva weren't on call but both ordered soda with their dinner.
"You got yourself in trouble, Abs." Tony answered her truthfully. "What was so important that you had to drive McGee to work?"
"Don't you get it, Tony? He stayed over at Gibbs' house last night. He refused to let me drive him home. He actually said no to me." Abby explained. "Gibbs didn't want me to go."
"Ah, Abs." Tony began. "Kelly lost her stepmother. I don't think she wanted to be alone. Remember when we got back to Gibbs' house from the service? You were looking for him and Gibbs said he was upstairs. I had been watching the couple. He grounds her, Abs. She makes him happy. When we left, Gibbs wanted to be left alone. That's why we left."
"It's true Abby. I'm having Tim and Kelly over for dinner Friday night. I want to get to know her, seems she is going to be around for a long time." Ziva added.
"Why would you? That's ludicrous. They've been together for two seconds. It's probably not even serious." Abby argued, feeling hurt and betrayed that Ziva would do that, to her.
"Abby, get over it. They were together when they were MIT, for over two years and now they've rekindled that. It's great, I'm happy for Probie." Tony said firmly. "You're acting like a spoilt brat."
"He is in love with her." Ziva added. "She is in love with him too. They are starting a life together."
"There's nothing that you can do about it. You didn't want him, but you don't want anyone else to want him, either. Is that it?" Abby looked indignant.
"It's not fair, Tony." Abby began whining as she pouted. She looked like she was trying to turn the waterworks on for a little more sympathy from Tony and Ziva. "I've been Gibbs' bestest friend for years. Years before he met Tim. Now Tim's getting to spend the night at his house and comfort him. Gibbs has always implied that I was his favourite, all of a sudden he tells me I'm not and 'he treats us all equally.' I have always been like a daughter to him and he stabs me in the back by treating McGee this way." She was working herself up, into a rant, again.
"As opposed to his biological daughter, his own flesh and blood. She introduced her boyfriend to her father and her father accepts him. A man whom he knows and trusts. A man he has literally trusted with his life." Tony explained to her. "Tim isn't some stranger off the street, Abs. He's a member of our team."
"McGee," she emphasised. "You always called him McGee. His name is McGee, not Tim. Or call him Probie or one of the Mc nicknames. Now you're using his first name too. You're only calling him that because Gibbs has started calling him that."
"Ok, that is it. I am done. You are cut off!" Ziva said firmly in her no nonsense tone, sending the remaining alcohol on the table away with a passing waitress. "Come on Tony. Help me get her to her apartment. She can sober up, there." Tony and Ziva threw their money on the table and it was enough to cover Abby and a generous tip too.
Abby was resisting them and didn't want to get in the car. Eventually after some gentle persuasion from Tony and Ziva threatening her with bodily harm, they got her back to her into the car, up to her apartment and on to her sofa.
At Gibbs' house, dinner was quiet. But it was a peaceful quiet. Jackson had made some Mac and cheese bake, while Gibbs had grilled some steak, Kelly had made some vegetables and Tim had bought an apple and strawberry pie from the gourmet bakery near the gate that he and Gibbs liked, that Tony hated. He'd made sure to buy Gibbs' favourite pie on the menu, as a little pick me up. Mike had broke open another case of the beer he'd purchased that day. "How was work today, Tim?" Gibbs asked, wanting to know what was happening at the yard.
"Cold cases, meeting with Singapore office in MTAC, helped cyber crimes out again and gym session."
"So a normal day?" Gibbs joked with him.
"Oh and the Deputy Director of the state department, cut in on my conversation with Yates, looking for the Director. Still won't talk to me." Gibbs laughed at that, out loud and Franks looked puzzled. Kelly and Jackson looked eager to know why.
"The case is classified, but Tim here has a lot of guts." Gibbs explained, vaguely.
"My supervisory senior agent gave me an order, I followed that order, to the letter." Tim defended himself, laughing too.
"I didn't think you'd actually do it." Gibbs chuckled. "I just hope one day when you have your own team, or maybe if you surpass me up the chain, that she's still in office. I'm sure she's going to want everyone to know that the little Probie agent in his first year as a field agent, told the deputy director of the state department to 'stick it'. "
"Damn Probie's Probie, you've got some game. I've told the brass to stick it before, but never anyone as high on the food chain as that." Mike commented and a proud look passed his face.
Tim's cell phone rang and he quickly opened it and answered with a friendly, but firm "McGee!"
"It's Cynthia, please hold for the Director." The female caller told him.
He put his hand over the mouth piece excusing himself from the table. Gibbs gave him a look, asking if it was a new case and Tim shook his head no. Then mouthed 'Director' to him.
"Hello Agent McGee," she stated and he quickly said a hello. "I am afraid we have a situation out in OSP that needs your attention. It's classified to the highest level."
"Understood Ma'am. I'm with Gibbs at the moment and he's going to want to know why I'm heading in, we're in the middle of dinner."
"Gibbs has the clearance to know, but no one else. Bring him in to be briefed, he may be pulled into the op at a later date. Not Kelly and I'm assuming Franks is still hanging around. Not Franks." She told him. "I'll brief you both when you get into the office. Prepare to be gone for a month or so. Casual clothes, no suits. You've been to OSP before?"
"Yes ma'am, when Agent Macy was in charge." Tim commented and felt he was no longer alone. He knew it was Gibbs standing behind him.
"Good, so you know it's an undisclosed location. You can't tell anyone, but Gibbs where you're going or what you're doing. I'll have a burn phone for you at your briefing."
"See you in one hour." Tim told her. The Director said her goodbyes and disconnected the call.
"Tim?" Gibbs asked, keeping his voice low.
"It's classified Gibbs, but grab your gear, you're getting read in too." Tim told him with a chuckle. He'd always wanted to tell Gibbs to 'grab his gear.' "We have to stop by my place, too. I need some clothes."
"Do I need a bag?" Gibbs asked.
"Not yet, you're just being briefed. I'm headed out." Tim told him and Gibbs understood exactly what was happening.
Tim went into the kitchen and said a quick goodbye to Jackson and Mike. He kissed Kelly and told her he loved her and he would be back in a few weeks. "Call me." She called out as Tim ran upstairs to gather the clothes he'd left in Kelly's room that morning and her father told her no.
"He'll be unreachable, Kell." He said with a worried face. Tim hadn't done much undercover work before, 'talk about throwing him into the deep end' Gibbs thought.
"Are you going too?" She asked, close to tears.
"No, but I'm back on duty from Friday night, so I'm going to be read in." Gibbs told her. Tim reappeared with all his belongings.
Dinner was abandoned and everyone filed into the living room. Both Jackson and Franks shook Tim's hand as he said goodbye and Franks surprised him by pulling him in close for hug, which surprised everyone until Gibbs noticed his former boss whispering in his Probie's ear. Tim answered in a whisper "copy that" with a smile at the retired cowboy.
"Dad, Mike. I'll be back in a couple of hours, I'll meet you in the car, two minutes, McGee!" Gibbs told him. He was giving the couple a private moment to say goodbye to each other.
Gibbs leaned against the hood of Tim's Porsche gently and watched as his daughter said goodbye to her boyfriend. He knew that she was heartbroken, but if the were going to have a future together, she'd have to get used of this. He saw Tim kiss her gently, he angled his body away from Gibbs and spoke in a whisper to her. Whispering so softly, Gibbs couldn't hear it with his supersonic hearing. 'He knows me so well.' Gibbs thought, as he realised that whatever her said to Kelly must have been something private between the two of them. She smiled through her and kissed him, then playfully shoved him towards the car.
"Here," Tim said tossing the keys to his car to Gibbs. "I trust you." Gibbs gleamed like a little school boy in a candy store.
Gibbs tore McGee's car out of the driveway and headed for his apartment to gather some more clothes before heading to the navy yard.
"What'd Mike say to you?" He asked Tim, on their way through security at the yard. Gibbs had accompanied Tim upstairs and was amazed at how fast and efficient that he packed, everything rolled and with military like precision.
"A knife doesn't run out of bullets, watch your back" Tim quoted and showed Gibbs the small but lethal blade from the edge of his belt. "Ziva gave it to me after our first assignment together." Gibbs admired it, it was a quality knife. Their team mate had obviously had this knife handmade. Tim handed it over to his boss inspect. It felt awkward in his hand. "It's for left handed people, but Ziva trained me to use it with either hand." Gibbs handed his knife back to him and he was proud of both of them. Something had happened on that assignment and neither of them had said what it was. He had suspected it was Ziva who'd had Tim's back at the time. Now he was revising his opinion, especially if Ziva given him a gift, it had meant he'd probably saved her. He'd recently found out they were friends away from work and now he was proud that the deadly assassin had taken Tim under her wing.
The briefing was in Jen's office. "Agents Deek and Bligh have gone dark, their SSA Agent Lange is missing too. I'm sending Tim in with Vance, Leon Vance." Jen told him. Gibbs hated this, mostly for Kelly, but he was proud of Tim. He knew he'd do well under the tutelage of Vance, Callen and Hanna.
Gibbs personally knew Callen, he was a good man and a good agent. His skills were legendary undercover and in the field.
He had only met Hanna once before, but Callen trusted him and had previously told Gibbs to trust him, so Gibbs trusted him.
He knew Vance from an assignment in a Russia with McAllister in the 90's, he was tough, a former boxer. Big on the technical side, like Tim.
'Jen was obviously grooming Tim for his next role by sending him out there.' Gibbs thought as he listened to Jen. 'Going to call Callen tonight too.' He mentally reminded himself.
"You're going to learn and take in every thing you can. You'll be physically training and learning on the job too. They know your skills and are aware of your skill levels in all areas. You'll be given your part in the mission when you arrive and are briefed deeper by the OSP team." She told him. "Prepare your desk and any unfinished files, you leave in two hours."
The duo headed silently to the bullpen. Tim had very few belongings at his desk. Gibbs disappeared for a minute, returning with a box. "I'm not coming back here, am I?" Tim asked Gibbs in a small voice.
"Don't focus on that, right now." Gibbs told him, "Keep your eyes open and your head in the game."
"You're right." Tim agreed and began packing his personal belongings, grateful that every night before he left, he always finished all his case files and backed up all his reports and data that he'd worked on that day. He didn't have much personal things in his desk, either. Like Gibbs, he had a few mementos. Tim also had a computer part and his beloved pen. "Look after Kell" he told Gibbs. "Can you give her this?" He asked, handing his boss a piece of paper that'd been folded in quarters. "You can read it if you like, it's not secretive or private." Gibbs opened it and smiled.
'Remember that I love you, always - Tim x'
"Sure" Gibbs swallowed. The note was simple, he remembered leaving one very similar for Shannon when he left for his first deployment. In fact, except for the name on the bottom of the note, it was word for word. "Program my number in your burner, just in case. Put it under B, for Boss." Tim quickly programmed Gibbs number in. "Callen will have your back, he's a good friend of mine. But if things go south and you need backup. Call me." Tim handed Gibbs his cellphone, pocketing his 'new' cellphone.
"Hopefully, it won't come to that." Tim told him.
"Be safe, Tim. Kelly and I have buried enough people we love, we don't want to add you to the list." Gibbs told him.
"Ready, Agent McGee?" The Director asked, she had changed from her suit and was dressed casually in jeans and tee too. She wore an oversized NIS sweatshirt and Gibbs laughed. "What?" She asked. "If Agent McGee can wear the blazer I bought you for your birthday in '94. I can wear your sweater from '94 too." She joked.
"I only loaned him that jacket, do you know long I've been looking for that?" Gibbs asked her in a flirty breathless voice.
"Yep." She answered, popping her 'p' along the way.
Gibbs watched as the Director escorted Tim out of the bullpen and into the elevator. "Watch your back." He called out.
"Your boy get off ok?" Mike asked as he returned. At Gibbs enquiring glance, Mike continued. "Oh Grandpa Gibbs is upstairs. Our little lady is distraught."
"Really, that's a little melodramatic, Uncle Mike." Gibbs laughed. "Well, I have something that's going to cheer her up." Gibbs brandished Tim's letter to him and Mike laughed.
"Lover boy left her a note?" Mike chuckled out loud at that. "Mark my words, he'll have popped the question by Christmas."
"Hey, I could have a lot worse for a son in law." Gibbs jested. "I could have McCormack's son in law." Both men shuddered at the thought of that. McCormack was an agent they worked with they worked alongside from MI6. His son in law ended up killing seventeen woman, not before brutally raping them and poisoning them during the '80's in the UK. The son in law killed McCormack in a murder-suicide in '89.
"She's asleep, finally." Jackson said, coming down the stairs slowly, cane in hand. "Poor girl."
"Thanks Dad, I'll just go check in on her."
"Don't you wake her up, Leroy." Jackson warned his son, seriously. "You're not too old to be taken over my knee."
"Jack, head slaps. Much more effective at our age." Mike advised him in a friendly, mischievous tone. "Better for our bodies and keeps him on his toes."
Gibbs quietly let himself in to her room and saw Kelly sleeping on her bed, his dad had obviously been comforting her. Judging by the tissues in her waste basket and the tear stains on her pillow. He softly kissed her forehead, leaving her note from Tim on top of her cellphone for her to find when she wakes up. "He'll be ok, Kell. I promise." He whispered to her and she didn't even stir.
Abby awoke on the sofa, where Tony and Ziva had left her the night before. Feeling rotten for drinking as much as she did and realising she was very late for work, she changed her shirt and run out the door.
"Nice of you to join us, Miss Sciuto." The Director said as she headed to her lab, via the bullpen to thank Tony and Ziva, maybe glare at McGee. After all, if he'd just do what she wanted, she wouldn't have gotten drunk and slept in. "As I was saying, Agent McGee is temporarily reassigned. His new team is classified, he is uncontactable. I believe he is already, in position and on assignment for his new team. I believe Gibbs has his personal cellphone and his MCRT number. Do not try to track him, he has got a very high security clearance and there's no GPS in his new phone anymore, that includes you, Abby." The Director warned them.
Ziva looked around and saw Tony, he looked like he was a fish, opening and closing his mouth in shock. Abby looked mad, but wisely kept her mouth shut.
Ziva was a little worried, she knew her friend that was in every way like a brother to her had limited undercover experience. But she also knew that they'd done some preparation and played out scenarios. One weekend they'd gone away for the weekend to Baltimore together and played 'undercover', just for practice. Checked in under an alias and they'd gone to several different places and struck up conversations with people claiming to be that alias. Ziva knew Tim could lie to people he didn't know, she had taught him, but knew he still struggled with those who he did know. She knew her friend well enough to know when he was lying to her, too.
"Ziva?" Gibbs asked, interrupting her thoughts. "What's wrong? You look … blank."
"Nothing." She lied and Gibbs rose an eyebrow at her. "Elevator?." She nodded and the two of them discreetly headed into the elevator.
Stopping the elevator between floors, Gibbs gave her the look and she began explaining everything that her and Tim had been upto since their friendship began over the last few years. "It was after our first assignment, he told me he was scared of undercover work and asked for help. I promise I've taught him everything I know." Ziva said. When she was finished, she braced herself for a head slap.
Instead, Gibbs leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thank you." He told her. "I feel better knowing that. I have complete faith in him. It's just, he hasn't done much undercover work."
"I have a concern I want to raise with you." She went on to explain Abby and her behaviour of late, including the excessive drinking the night before and her constant barrage of abuse and whinging about Tim. "It's like she's jealous."
Gibbs was surprised at Ziva's concern, but kept his cool. He couldn't work Abby out, either. Lately she had become erratic and unpredictable. He had spoken with her and told her to clean up her act, obviously it's fallen on deaf ears. "I'll talk to her again, come to me if it happens again."
"Ok," she breathed out, frustrated. "But you're not exactly open to people criticising Abby, though. Tim went to you once and you ended up punishing him for it, the only reason Abby stopped was because I threatened her. I am not Tim, I will not tolerate being punished for Abby's lies to you." Gibbs glared at Ziva and Ziva threw the glare straight back at him. Gibbs didn't have a verbal come back, but restarted the elevator, which stopped in the sub-basement where Abby's lab was located. He sent Ziva back up to the bullpen, telling her to get to work.
Taking a deep, calming breath he crept in to the lab. She was on the phone with someone, so he planned to patiently wait for her to end her call, before making his presence known. "Why did they want McGee? He isn't even a good agent?" She asked, the caller.
"Tony, it should have been you." She paused again, obviously listening to Tony.
"Look, I know the Director said not to search for him. But I'll find out where he is, you can fly out this weekend and drag him back here. I need him to take me to Goth World Expo this weekend over in Woodbridge. You can't expect me to go by myself."
Gibbs was getting really mad at her by now. "I don't care if Kelly thinks she's McGee's girlfriend, he belongs to me. I got him the job here. He's only still here because I haven't convinced boss man to fire him yet."
Gibbs cleared his throat, "Gibbs is here, gotta go." She said firmly to Tony. "Hey Gibbs" she said lowering the receiver onto the hook. "What do ya need?"
"You in the Director's office, now." He ushered her by the elbow out of the lab and into the elevator. "Tony, Ziva, with me." He barked on his way through the bullpen as he escorted Abby up the stairs and into Jen's office.