A/N: This was written for the LJ Reverse Bang where I was given an artwork and I had to write a story inspired by it. I enjoy this kind of challenge. This story is set, more or less, in season 5/6. I've always felt that Tim's writing was done very badly by the writers on the show. So I've written a few stories myself that made his writing important, not a joke.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I don't know if I'd even recognize most of the characters at this point. I'm not making money off this. I'm just enjoying playing around.

A Thousand Words
by Enthusiastic Fish

Chapter 1

"...if you even think about writing a third novel, I'll kill you."

Tim sighed as he sat at his typewriter. More and more, he yearned to get back to writing again. He'd kept away from it for a long time. It had been months after two men had been killed by his delusional fan that he'd even allowed himself to sit at the typewriter again. But then, he'd started typing again. ...but not really writing. He'd tossed all of Rock Hollow into the trash, never saying another word about his book again. Abby had asked him a couple of times early on, but Tim had put her off. She had finally given up and it seemed that everyone had forgotten. He told himself that it was a good thing. He didn't need to have that attention. They hadn't ever liked it. It wouldn't matter. He had a good job and it was one he enjoyed. He didn't need to write.

But he wanted to write again. He wanted that thrill. And he wanted to publish and see other people enjoying what he wrote. Would his agent still be willing to be his agent? Possibly not. Lyndi had been furious with him after he told her he couldn't finish his book, especially given how put upon she had felt. He definitely couldn't go back to her unless he had a finished product to show her. It might be a moot point anyway. Could he still handle writing? Maybe he'd lost all that. He'd already been stuck on Rock Hollow. Maybe Deep Six had been a flash in the pan and never could be repeated.

...but he wouldn't know if he didn't try.

After a few more seconds of consideration, he put a new piece of paper into his typewriter and began to plan out what he would do. If he was going to try it, he was going to do it right and very organized.

1. Plot idea.

2. Location scouting

3. Photos to help with situating the story accurately

Here, Tim paused. Accuracy in his descriptions is what had led to those two men being killed. Tim had been so detailed in his description of the men he hadn't known but had seen on occasion that it had been possible to track them down. He sat there for a moment. He couldn't be that irresponsible again. He couldn't let that happen.

"So I won't take pictures of people," Tim said aloud. "No people in the photos. Just locations. Even if I can't cut all the people out of the pictures, I can make sure that they're not identifiable. Nothing to influence me even a little bit."

That would work. He kept typing.

4. Scene breakdowns

5. Start writing

He smiled at himself and added one more step.

6. Finish writing.

"Okay. I can do this. Once I get some kind of a plot idea. I just won't tell anyone for now."

Decision made, Tim carefully removed the piece of paper from the typewriter and spent the rest of the evening free writing, letting his mind wander over various plot ideas. He didn't settle on anything by the end of the evening, but he was feeling better than he had felt in a long time.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"What's going on with you, McGee?" Tony asked.

"Huh?" Tim asked, looking up from his computer.

"You've been in a good mood for the last week. What's the deal?"

Tim furrowed his brow.

"What are you talking about, Tony? And since when is it a problem that I'm in a good mood?"

"You've been moping around for months."

"No, I haven't!"

"I think he is right," Ziva said. "You are much more upbeat than you have been."

"I think you both are making things up," Tim said.

"I think you all should be working, not gossiping," Gibbs said as he strode through.

Gratefully, Tim looked back at his computer. Just last night, he'd come up with a possible plot idea for his book and he was excited to have the weekend off to do some location scouting for where he'd set the action. He wasn't telling anyone about his return to writing. He'd enjoyed himself with Deep Six a lot before Sarah had spilled the beans and he had not had nearly the same amount of enjoyment afterward. Too many comments from the team. He wanted to be able to just sit and write without Tony figuratively (or literally) hovering over his shoulder.

Reminding him of how bad things had gone with his last book.

No, he was going to be careful this time. No real people in his book. No one would know he was even writing since he hadn't in so long. He was a has-been. ...but maybe he could be something again.

Without hurting anyone.

He returned his attention to his work and tried to set his thoughts aside until he had time for them.

They finished out the day and Tim quickly gathered up his stuff, not wanting to be interrogated again.

"Hey, McGee, want to get a drink?" Tony asked.

"No, thanks. I'm going to revel in a free weekend," he said. "See you guys next week."

"Have fun with your computer," Tony said. "Shoot an orc for me."

"Ha, ha. Very funny," Tim said, but inwardly, he was glad for Tony's assumption. Less likely to be bothered if Tony just thought he was playing video games.

Then, he said good night and headed home. Once he got there, he ordered pizza and went straight to his typewriter. First, he set his jazz going. It still rankled that Tony was so dismissive of his preferred style of jazz. Just because it wasn't Coltrane didn't mean it wasn't jazz music. He liked Coltrane and had some of his records, but Coltrane was not the only jazz musician and it bugged him that Tony was so superficial in his dismissal of jazz that he just didn't know anything about. Oh, well. It wasn't like Tony was here at the moment anyway. No reason to let him be annoying when he wasn't even around. Tim smiled to himself and shook his head and focused on the paper waiting for ink. He started typing up some of the plot ideas. He wanted this one to be a thriller, something that would take the reader from the glitz of the National Mall to the seedy underbelly. Perhaps, in this one, he'd let Agent McGregor take the lead. He'd wanted to do that in Rock Hollow, but then, he hadn't been able to handle it. Maybe it was a case of being in the wrong place and at the wrong time. That could be fun.

A knock on his door interrupted his stream of consciousness and he jumped to his feet and went to the door, got his pizza, and then brought the whole box over with some napkins and some soda and sat back at his typewriter. He spent the next hour eating and typing. He ate half the pizza and then forced himself to put the box in the fridge. He went back to the typewriter.

He spent another two hours typing up his thoughts. Agent McGregor forced to go on the run, hoping for help from his teammates. It would end with an exciting showdown. McGregor, on his own, facing down the bad guys. He was so excited at the possibilities that he filled up page after page of just free writing, letting his mind cast over the ideas that were bombarding his brain. Part of it was that he thought the ideas were good, but part was just the joy at the realization that he did still have the writing inside him. Maybe this wouldn't turn into something he could publish, but he was feeling the thrill he'd felt when he wrote before, something that he had thought might be gone forever.

Finally, after midnight, he forced himself to stop. He pushed himself away from the typewriter, turned off his jazz and went to bed.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Saturday, he woke up late after his late night, but he was still in a great mood and after breakfast, he went out and started driving around the entire Metro area, deciding where he'd start the action and where Agent McGregor would end up running. After a while, he decided that he couldn't confine it to just DC itself. It wasn't a big enough area and if he was going to do some kind of big chase, he needed to take in a larger area. He might need to head over to Baltimore as well although that would be kind of far for what he was thinking of.

He decided to pick up something for lunch and keep driving. He drove over to Baltimore and cruised around, just thinking about the possibilities. As he did, he couldn't help thinking that it might be more fun to set the story in Baltimore. Get them out of DC and into a different part of the region. There was plenty going on in Baltimore and it had plenty of rundown places. All right, he was almost decided. He headed back home with the idea that he'd come back and take some photos the next day. After all, a picture was worth a thousand words and if he got really inspired, he'd print them off and hang them up as he'd done with Deep Six.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Sunday, Tim woke up early, eager to get out and about. He decided to eat breakfast at home, but he also took a travel mug that he planned to fill with coffee as he went driving. First, he went to the National Mall where he had planned on things starting. He grabbed his camera and headed off to his day of pretending to be a photographer.

He found a place to park and spent a couple of hours making sure his photos had as few people in them as possible. It was easier to achieve that early on a Sunday morning. He walked around, taking picture after picture, imagining some of the scenes and how they might progress.

After that, he drove to Rock Creek Park and spent some time photographing a few areas there, isolated running trails, some of the historical sites, bridges and streams. Always making sure there were no identifiable people in his photos. He actually went so far as to delete a couple of pictures when a runner had come into view right as he took the photo. No people to inspire him this time.

Then, on a whim, he decided to ride around on the Metro for a while, taking pictures of the stations and the trains, thinking that it might be kind of exciting to have a chase scene on the Metro. Stereotypical? Probably, but still interesting and fun to write. There were obviously people in these photos. He couldn't avoid it, but the mass of people made it harder to see details of any individual and he tried not to worry about it.

By lunchtime, he decided he'd got enough there and he decided to do as he had done the day before and get lunch on his way to Baltimore where he planned on taking more photos. On the drive to Baltimore, he stopped a few times just to take some pictures for fun. Tim realized that it had been ages since he'd had a day like this and it was actually quite fun to take pictures of the place where he lived.

When he got to Baltimore, since it was a city he didn't know quite as well (he hadn't got out much as a college student), he started at the tourist areas but then, he went to some of the places he'd scouted out the day before. One place he decided to park and walk around was at Sparrows Point. There were still some old buildings from the days of Bethlehem Steel. There were modern warehouses. It was simultaneously industrial and rundown.

And it looked like a great location for a showdown. Tim found a place to park. Some areas were blocked off and he couldn't go there. So he walked around, finding places where he could kind of sneak in by avoiding the main roads.

Taking photographs all along the way.

What amazed him was how close all this was to housing developments. He couldn't imagine that, in the early days, there would have been much concern about environmental impact, but steel manufacturing had to be problematic as far as that went. While he wouldn't stay until dark, Tim could easily imagine these places being very eerie at night.

Speaking of, it was getting pretty late in the afternoon and he had to work tomorrow. It would be best to head back home. Tim made his way back to his car and when he got there, he turned and took a few pictures toward the bay. He was surprised to see some people down by the water. He hadn't seen a single soul on Sparrows Point. Oh, well. They were too far away to identify anyway. He reached his car and headed home, deciding just to finish off his pizza when he got back to his place rather than eat out somewhere else.

All in all, an exciting and successful weekend. Tim figured that he could take the photos with him to work and check out some of the places on the sly.

This was going as well as he could have hoped.