JF11 - Thanks for all your amazing reviews and support. Momcat: line dancing is super easy, there are plenty of tutorials on you tube if you really want to learn. I recommend sticking to a beginner's video first. Luckily for me, I started as a young child at school. Being Australian, we used to have what's called a bush dance and we would learn all the different dances for the end of year dance to show our parents. Now, I attend casual classes at the local community centre, and I have been teaching my daughter, because it's never too early (or late) to learn. It's good fun and great for the cardio.
In case you're interested the dances I mentioned were a simple country two-step, advanced copperhead road line dance and a Texas Time Partner Dance. There are multiple videos on you tube if you're bored and want to see (and/or learn) how they're done.
Tuesday night found Penny passing Kelly. Penny as she left for her faculty meeting and Kelly arriving for dinner and some dancing tutorial. Tim had passed his exam and been discharged from the outpatient's department of the hospital today and Rachel had been pleased with his progress and was happy to sign off on the KIT days.
Penny smiled to herself as she passed the young Gibbs woman. She wasn't aware of the particular plan the two had made, just that the young woman would be visiting them, at their home in Reston, tonight. Tim had been fluttering around, trying to pull together a quick meal for the two of them after his session with the crisis counsellor had run into overtime.
As soon as Kelly had rang the doorbell, Tim was there, ushering her in and taking her coat. She had been home to change her clothes before arriving. Unless she wore 7/8 skinny black jeans and a singlet to the office today.
Tim offered her a glass of wine that she respectfully declined, opting for some juice instead. He returned quickly with said juice and two bowls of chicken and vegetables stir-fry with egg noodles. "Eat up." he encouraged her with a smile.
"You don't have to feed me." she grinned, thanking him for dinner. "It looks delicious."
Dinner conversations were filled with Kelly's day and an amusing story of how one of the authors whom she worked closely with had messed with her lolly jar on her desk. Before Tim gave her the good news he had been saving. "I'm back at work." he announced, explaining that he would be returning to work on a light duties schedule, starting tomorrow morning; three days a week.
After dinner, Kelly offered to help with the dishes, to which Tim cheekily told her they were already done and when she didn't believe him, he led her by the hand into the kitchen and showed her, as Tim put their two bowls, two forks and two glasses in the dishwasher and started it.
Chuckling, he led her through the house to the library where he had set up his portable Bluetooth speakers and moved a couple of the chairs out of the way.
For the next hour Tim ran through the basics of line dancing, starting with a slide and moving on fairly quickly from there. After they danced a couple of dances, slower than usual, putting the steps she learned into practise. She was proud to say she had the hang of it.
Next up, Tim introduced her to a two-step dance, which she found so easy; she had felt foolish for worrying over it. She had to admit, that Tim knew what he was doing. She liked that some of the footwork for line dancing and two step resembled the odd tap dance move she had known since she was young.
Once she had a good grasp on a two-step, they stopped for a break. "This is such a beautiful old homestead." she told him, looking out the windows.
"It is." Tim grinned at her. "As a Navy brat, we moved around a lot. But here, it was always home for us. Grandpa and Penny bought this place when I was four or five. Grandpa had just been assigned to the Pentagon as a part of the joint chiefs. Penny wanted a permanent family home. She had been a good, faithful Navy wife for almost thirty years by then, moving from base to base. Wherever Grandpa's career took him. I am convinced that Penny chose this house with it in her mind, making it a family home for me... and later on, Sarah, my sister. We don't have any cousins on dad's side and on mom's side there was one cousin, but he died I was twelve in a motocross accident. He was older than me."
"Having met Penny and getting to know her, I think that's exactly what she did. Didn't you say you lived with Penny a fair bit as a teen?" she asked, recalling a conversation over the weekend about Tim living with Penny when his father had been transferred back to Okinawa and when, in his senior year, he had been transferred back to San Diego.
"On and off, over the years, until I left for school. After my first semester at JH, I just never really went back to living with my father. Much to his dismay."
"I remember telling Dad I wanted to live with Grandpa a lot as a teen, too." Kelly confided. "I think from the day I turned fourteen to the day I turned nineteen, dad and I did nothing but fight. We fought over rules; house rules and those life rules of his, boys - we had a lot of fights about boys and about everything in between. Curfews, oh, I was good at missing curfews. But I learned something, arguing with dad; all it did was cause us both pain and heartache."
"If you ever meet the Admiral, you will know why I broke so many rules. Ask your dad, he's a blow-hole." Kelly laughed at Tim's description.
"I didn't realise dad had met him." Kelly said. "As in actually had a conversation with him."
"As far as our team is concerned, no one is immune to dad issues. Each time one of our father's shows up, Gibbs pulls out the kid gloves and treads lightly and at the end of the day, the dad's gone again and Gibbs is the one left helping us pick up the pieces." Tim told her as they settled into the sofa in the library. "Your grandpa, we all saw the good come from that one. It gave us all a sliver of hope for our own relationships with our father's. Tony's dad, Ziva's dad, Ellie's and then mine. Well, two out of five went OK."
"Ellie seems like she wouldn't have too many issues with her dad." Kelly surmised. "She looks like she could be a daddy's girl, especially being the baby of the family with three older brothers."
"Only that according to her, they're too much alike and it drives her nuts. No Ellie and her dad are OK, compared to the rest of us on team Gibbs." Tim confided in her. "Actually, the issue isn't confined to just dads. It's probably just more of parental issues, in general. Ziva, Tony and I all have something else in common, too. We lost our mom's when we were young. I was six, Tony was nine and Ziva was ten."
"I was eight, when my mom was killed." Kelly said softly. She knew the pain of losing a mother, just like they did too. "Dad proceeded to marry three of the most irritating women on the planet, after that. They made my life hell."
"That's something else too, having met all three of Gibbs' ex-wives. I couldn't imagine living with any of them; especially Diane." Tim shuddered. "Tony's had countless stepmothers. Senior, he's a womaniser. Ziva's dad, Eli, he never married them, but he kept them on the side so Ziva didn't have too much experience with them, but she knew about them. Me, I have two that I know of, both not very nice women. Laurie and Sam. The Admiral and I have only spoken, maybe five times in the last twelve years and two or three of those times were case related. So, who knows what he's been up to that I haven't heard about?"
"Do you ever think about talking to him?" She asked softly. Kelly knew that his father was a sore point with him. She had picked up enough subtext between Tim and her dad on Sunday night. "You know, reaching out and extending that olive branch again, seeing if he accepts."
She was glad that her dad and Tim had such a great relationship, now. But sometimes, it confused her. Her dad had certainly proven himself over the last month or so, since she had met Tim, but she wasn't sure about before that. She knew that her dad and Tony were tight, though. They had been for years and years, at least a decade. She and Tony had a brother/sister familial relationship, but she didn't know how to define her and Tim's newfound friendship. Besides being just friends.
"I try and I try, I guess I'll keep trying. He might let me in, before his time is up." Tim sighed sadly. "He has cancer, it's advanced, stage four."
"That's horrible, Tim. He knows the end game is near and he still won't talk to his son? What a blow hole. Wait? What did dad call him? An asshat? That's better." She let out a small laugh at Tim's grin. "Dad really doesn't like parents who abandon their kids, though. It strikes a raw nerve with him. He and grandpa might have had a severe rift between them, but they always rose above it, for my sake."
"Your grandpa is amazing, Kell." Tim told her. "You're really blessed to have Jack."
"Wait, you've met my grandpa too?" she laughed, before the realisation dawned on her. "Of course, didn't you guys have a case that took you all to Stillwater?" Tim nodded at her and suddenly the silence between them grew.
"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Tim asked her softly, deciding to man up and bite the bullet.
"You mean on Saturday night when you kissed me? Sure, at the last minute you slightly detoured. But it was still a kiss." Kelly said in reply, keeping her tone light. "I blame Tony and to a lesser extent Ellie. We had been drinking and the two of them and their peer pressure, making suggestions. They put the idea in your head."
"And Ellie? Here, I was wholly blaming Tony. Sometimes he's that annoying voice in your head, the one you just can't shut off." Tim said. "Like Jiminy Cricket, but not as good or wise. Kate once referred to him as an x rated Peter Pan."
More than anyone, Tim knew it was a weak excuse. She had bought up Tony and he had run with it. They both knew it was a cop out excuse. Especially since they had been both aware that they had been openly checking out each other in that bedroom.
A yawn escaped from Tim's mouth and Kelly let out a small smile. She always thought he was cute when he was tired or sleepy. "I should let you go. Back to work tomorrow for you. I bet you can't wait."
"I can't." He grinned at her. "Even I can admit I thrive on routine, and I've been a little out of my element since the explosion."
"You'll be fine, Atlas. Come on, walk me to my car." she said, as they got up from the sofa and headed to the door.
"You'll call me, let me know when your home?" he asked her, as he opened her car door for her.
"Do I have to? You sound just like my dad." She whined with a grin that told him everything he needed to know. Seriosuly, grown woman here. I can take care of myself."
"Would you rather I just tracked your cell?" he asked seriously, knowing that Gibbs would kill him if anything happened to Kelly on her way back from his family home in Reston.
"You can do that?" she asked, impressed. "Of course, you can, you're the cyber ninja extraordinaire, the very Special Agent Timothy McGee of NCIS." Tim gave her a pointed look. "Fine, I'll call you." Tim leaned over and kissed her cheek, making sure not to get too close to her mouth this time before he helped her into the car, and they bid one another good night.
True to her word, thirty minutes later, she called him as he was crawling into bed, eager to return to work the following day.
Driving on to the base, felt pretty good to Tim as he pulled up in his usual parking spot. Grabbing his go bag and his coffee cup, he found himself smiling slightly. He was happy to be back.
It was early, probably a lot earlier than he should have been, but he needed to do a system clean up and was hoping to catch Ducky or Jimmy for a quick opinion on his ribs while he was aboard the yard too.
A lone triple chocolate muffin in a silver, decorative bakery box sat on his desk, under a card. Looking around the bullpen he saw Gibbs at his desk and working hard on something. Tony and Ellie both weren't here yet, either. "Welcome back, McGee." he grinned at his subordinate, glad to have Tim back aboard his team. "That was there when I got in at six, wasn't me."
Opening the small square card, it had a sketch of a computer, a badge and gun. Tim rubbed his fingers against the textured card stock. This card was handmade, and Tim was impressed with the details in the sketch. Opening the card, he grinned widely, trying to muffle the chuckle that was threatening.
You've got this, Atlas!
Gibbs was watching his agent over the top of his own cold case file. Tim didn't realise he was projecting his thoughts out loud. He watched as Tim opened the card, giving Gibbs a good look and the handmade card and the sketch on the front. That sketch was pure, McGee. He saw Tim smile wider and wider, before he was grinning. He watched as the younger man bit his lip and smothered his laughter. He was pleased that someone had managed to try and make his return to duties a good one.
Soon enough, he put the cupcake and card in his desk and booted up his computer, before going to the filing cabinet to get started on cold cases.
Tim had worked a solid hour through, not even realising where the time had gone, his cup long empty when another cup appeared on his desk. He looked up and nodded his thanks at Gibbs who placed a fresh coffee on his desk. Going back to work immediately, he felt someone sit in the edge of his desk, just to his right.
"KIT day Tim, you're supposed to have a five-minute break every hour." Gibbs lectured the younger man, sternly. "Go get Ducky to look you over and have him fill in a medical eval report. You can attach it to the RTF eval when you get the 'all clear' to resume full duties. It keeps HR off your back, afterwards."
Downstairs, in Ducky's domain, Tim interrupted the good doctor's paperwork frenzy for a much-needed break. "Timothy, this is a surprise. Hop up lad, let's see those ribs." Ducky patted the metal autopsy table and Tim automatically obliged him.
Ducky poked and prodded him, before giving Tim a clean bill of health, but noting although he was healing, he was not yet for to return to full duties.
By the time Tim was resettled at his desk, Ellie and Tony had arrived. As he went into his desk drawer for a new pen, the personalised card from Kelly had caught his eye. He pulled it out and looked at it again. Re-reading the inside message and he smiled widely. Not noting that it was a much more respectable hour of the day, he pulled his cell phone out and sent a text with a smiley face and an emoji of the sun, a purple heart and a cupcake.
Gibbs stilled back into their bull pen. He had been standing in Balboa's bull pen, helping the man when he saw Tim come back in. He had seen Tim pick up the card again and it made him wonder who sent it. He watched as Tim pulled out his cell and send something. By the time he was resettled at his own desk, Tim's phone vibrated against the desk, echoing through the silence of the bullpen. A brief glance at it had him grinning wider than he had seen Tim grin in a long time.
Gibbs was glad to see a genuine, natural smile grave his face, before they both settled in to get some serious work done on the case.
Before Tim knew it, it was time to leave for the day. Prior to leaving, Gibbs asked Tim if he would kind coming in late Friday afternoon instead of the morning because they needed him to work on the encrypted laptop from the crime scene with a cryptologist from the Pentagon, who was only available to help out from 1300 to 1500 on Friday.
Tim happily agreed, he and Kelly had plans to line dancing on Thursday night and Friday night they would be meeting in the city and Tim had been planning to crash at his new apartment.
Thursday night came and Tim took Kelly to his favourite Chinese place in the city, before they headed over to Anacostia, to the bar on Bleaker Street. Stepping inside was like stepping into another world for Kelly. She was glad she had her favourite jeans on and had been shopping for a new pair of boots. Tim had surprised her with a black stetson of her own. They grabbed a table and Tim ordered two beers and requested that the waitress open them at the table. At the waitress' raised eyebrows, he explained that he had heard too many horror stories from young women, including his sister and he wanted his date to be reassured that it was just beer in the bottle.
The two of them enjoyed their beer as they watched the dance floor. Tim explaining some of the fancier footwork that some people were doing, before reassuring her that they wouldn't be doing anything that fancy. After their beer's, Tim offered Kelly his hand and they joined the dance floor in a two-step to an old country number. "That's it, two quick, two slow." Tim encouraged her as they began. "Remember a quick is one beat and a slow is two beats, always moving counterclockwise around the room."
"It's not rocket science, Tim." Kelly winked at him as they moved together around the dance floor, in a counterclockwise direction, sticking to the outer edge.
"That's it." Tim beamed at her. She picked it really easy. It was like Tim said, it wasn't rocket science. At the conclusion of the first dance, they went back to their table and this time they ordered a couple of sodas and watched carefully as one of the more advanced dances were performed.
Across the way, Ellie and her husband were finally enjoying a night out, much to Jake's dismay he had allowed Ellie to choose the activity and she had chosen a country night because she missed home and wanted a taste of it, without actually having to travel all the way to Oklahoma and deal with her family, in person. "Hey, isn't that McGee and Kelly Gibbs over there?" Jake asked, hoping to avoid having to get up to dance. Over the years, Ellie had taught him how to line dance and he was ok at it, but he hated having to do it in public.
Catching Tim's attention they exchanged waves, before Ellie came over and invited her friends to join them. "What are you guys doing here?" Ellie smiled widely at the pair. No one in the office had mentioned the country night, so she had been surprised when Jake had pointed Tim out.
"Kelly saw a video of me when I was younger and wanted to learn, so I gave her a few pointers and here we are." Tim answered. He was surprised that Ellie had invited them to join them, it seemed like the married couple were having a date night. He was good at reading Ellie; there was some underlying tension between her and Jake. She seemed grateful that Tim and Kelly had agreed to join them, and he filed that piece of info away for later.
"He's really good." Kelly crowed, smiling wide at Ellie. "I suspect he is a lot more talented than he shows any of us know."
"Really?" She flashed her grin at him. "Can you do that?" She pointed to the dancefloor where they were starting a twenty-four count, four wall dance advanced dance to Copperhead Road.
"Can you?" he countered, playfully before Jake nudged them both out there.
"Settle it like real agents, you two." he said, playfully glad to not have to get out there himself. Tim looked at Kelly, wordlessly asking would she be ok, if he did. In which, Kelly beamed widely, nodding. She was looking forward to seeing some of Tim's true skills.
Tim offered Ellie his hand and at the next turn they jumped in, joining in the count. Kelly and Jake watched eagerly as Tim and Ellie both moved in sync with the rest of the dancers. Kelly wondered how long it would take to learn that dance. It looked easy, but it was danced at a fast pace. At the end of the song, Jake and Kelly cheered and clapped for them and Tim flirtatiously tipped his stetson at her, as he returned to the table, causing a small giggle from Kelly.
Seeing Tim openly flirt with Kelly made Jake and Ellie smile at one another, like co-conspirators. Ellie had worked it out over the weekend, but Jake had only just seen it as she watched Tim, her mouth open in awe, as Tim and Ellie danced the advanced line dance to Copperhead Road together.
When the emcee called out the next dance as the Texas Time Partner Dance, Ellie immediately pulled Kelly up into Tim's personal space by the hand, before taking Jake's hand and pulling him up to join her on the dancefloor. "This one is super easy Kelly, just let Tim lead you. You can't mess it up, even Jake can do this one."
Out on the dancefloor Kelly noticed some solo dancers in the middle as Tim led her over to the edge of the dancefloor beside Ellie and Jake. "It's really easy, like Ellie said, lots of shuffling and turning, like we did on Tuesday night." Tim whispered as the music began. She enjoyed this dance as much as the two-step because she got to have Tim's arms around her, again. "I'll talk you through it."
As the music started Tim spoke to her; soft enough others couldn't hear, but loud enough she could hear over the music. "5,6,7, walk, right, left, shuffle right, shuffle left, step, quarter. That's it, Kell."
"That was so easy." She beamed as she hugged Tim tightly, throwing her arms around him at the end of the song but she kept her body off his. She didn't want to risk hurting his ribs. "Thank you for tonight, I've had the best time."
Ellie was watching with glee. She was so happy for her friend Tim, she thought she might squeal. Jake tapped her arm to reign her excitement in. He had seen the toll and heartache that losing Delilah had taken on him. He was glad to see Tim was beginning to live again. He just hoped that Tim would continue to heal.
Friday afternoon, immediately after lunch, Tim came into the bullpen, suit bag slung over his shoulder and both his work bag and go bag, too. "About time you showed up." Tony teased him with a wave from his desk. Tony looked like once again, he was on hold and judging by the music coming from his speaker phone, it sounded like the Department of Defence to Tim.
"Hey Cowboy." Ellie grinned at him as she returned to the bullpen from her lunch break. Tim was blushing hard at her high praise. "Hey, don't get embarrassed, you can dance circles around the real cowboys back home. Own it!"
"Thanks Ellie, Kell had a great time too." Tim told her. "Maybe you and Jake could join us again sometime?"
"Absolutely, Jake said he enjoyed not having to try the advanced stuff with me. That's when he doesn't enjoy it. We were saying on the way home that we want to learn the samba." Ellie told Tim, dropping her voice low so that it didn't carry to Tony's desk.
"Kelly and I are looking at taking some classes, somewhere. I'll check with Kell, but we'd love to join you two."
Gibbs was loitering on the catwalk from up above, watching his team from below. He was waiting for the Director to come out of MTAC from a secure briefing. Gibbs rose his eyebrows high in surprise at Ellie's nickname for Tim. He didn't know Kelly and Tim had met up with Ellie and Jake. That surprised him, what didn't surprise him was Tim bringing his suit for Kelly's work function, so he could shower and change here, not having to backtrack to Reston or Georgetown in peak hour traffic.
He was about to whistle at them to refocus them, but Tim manoeuvred Ellie to her desk, reminding her that it was Friday, and they had a case to solve before the weekend. Soon enough, the cryptologist from the Pentagon arrived and Tim took him to the conference room, so they could work without distraction. Tim working with the cryptologist proved invaluable and by 1700, the case was closed, and Tim was finishing up for the day, as the rest of the team was sitting down to write their ROI's (Report of Investigation) and AAR's (After Action Report).
Coming back into the bullpen at 1800, Tim was freshly showered, shaved and changed, dressed in an onyx black Armani suit and a black tie against a crisp white shirt. "Very nice, it's Geek, Geek 007." Tony complimented him. Ellie tells him he looks amazing. Tim is thankful that Gibbs is upstairs with the Director, briefing him on closing the case. He didn't think he wanted Gibb to see Tim all dressed up, especially since Kelly was picking him up.
However, Tim had no such luck as Gibbs made his way downstairs, returning to his desk, once again. Once he opened that top folder he would find Tim's ROI, fully completed. Being on KIT days meant that Tim had minimal to write up, as he had very limited part of the investigation.
A ding from the main elevator signalled the arrival of Kelly, looking stunning in a forum fitting black evening gown. Her whole dress was shimmering in paillette black sequins, which was contoured with a fitted bodice showing a wide scoop neckline. Thin spaghetti straps lend support to the bodice, which criss-cross and ties open from the back. A long sheath skirt which blended perfectly, elongating into a delicate sweep train. "Wow, look at you Sunshine. You look gorgeous." Tim praised her, kissing her cheek gently. Gentle murmurs of agreement followed from Ellie and her dad smiled widely at her, while Tony was a lot more vocal. He did rein himself in at both the look on Gibbs' face and Tim's glare.
Gibbs looked up from Tim's ROI to see Kelly's arrival. He had to admit, they looked wonderful together, dressed to the nines. "The town car is downstairs, are you ready to go?"
"Let me just grab my weapon and I'm good to go." Tim said as he unlocked the drawer, he pulled out his weapon and slid the ammo cartridge in place, locking it into position and holstered his sig. Tim locked his car keys in his weapon drawer, and shoved all his bags under his desk, as he slid his wallet and his NCIS creds into his breast pocket.
Tim offered his arm to Kelly and together they left the squad room, arm in arm. Gibbs was hiding his smile behind his coffee cup. DiNozzo grinned ferally, he knew the boss too well and knew the grin he was hiding. As for Ellie, she made a high pitch squeal of excitement. "Aww McGee and Kelly!" She gushed in a high pitched; sing-song voice. "Weren't they so cute together?"
"That may be the case Agent Bishop, but lease keep the excitement to a minimum. This is a government building." Vance warned her as he was cutting through their bull pen. He stopped and turned to Gibbs, lowering his voice as he spoke. "Did I see things right? McGee and your daughter on a date?"
"Not a date. Thom E Gemcity is escorting Kell to a publishing house shindig. One where the wine flows and they spin their BS, all night." Gibbs grumbled. "Someone always drinks too much; an author always promises more than they can deliver and one of the suits always breaks their marriage vow."
"Sounds like you've been to one of these before." Vance grinned at him. "I suppose Gemcity's appearance has everything to do with literature and nothing to do with rubbing it in the face of the bastard that cheated on her?"
"For my sanity, I chose not to know the answer to that," Gibbs grinned widely at him.
Tim exited the town car first, assisting Kelly from the car. He put his arm around her and walked her into the Adams House ballroom.
Finding their seats, she led them to their table, introducing Tim to the CEO and CFO of Merk Publishing who were seated on her table, alongside Lyndi who was Tim's editor and publicist and Cooper, Lyndi's assistant. The CEO, Robert Rowlands remembered Tim as a client of theirs, Thom E Gemcity. "Great to see you again, Tim." Robert beamed at him. He had liked Tim when they had met, and he had respected Tim's choice to not continue the Deep Six series after hearing what had happened on the case with the deranged fan.
Lyndi looked at Tim, seeing the faint, almost healed wound on the hairline. "Tim, what happened to you? Your head looks like it took a nasty knock." she asked concerned about her former author.
Tim flinched; he hadn't been prepared to answer questions about the Conrad Gala. Seeing and feeling Tim flinch, against her, Kelly felt awful. She felt guilty that she hadn't pre-warned Lyndi not to ask about the still slightly visible cut on his forehead. "Got injured in the line of duty." Tim said, hoping no one wanted him to elaborate on it. Kelly took his hand and squeezed it, hoping that he would feel her unwavering support.
"Did a suspect get a little rough with you?" the CFO, Peter Stanley asked. Peter's brother was an FBI agent and loved hearing his brother's war stories. He had been a huge fan of the Deep Six novel, very much looking forward to the next instalment.
"I know you're all curious about it, but even I can't know what happened. It's part of an ongoing investigation." Kelly lied, smoothly and Tim bought her hand, which was still linked with his own hand to his lips and kissed it in gratitude.
As the evening progressed, Kelly and Tim mingled with a few of the staff they both knew. Ethan and Sherry were yet to make an appearance, but Kelly knew him too well. He liked to make an entrance.
After dinner, Tim excused himself, heading off to the men's room, Kelly promised to meet him at the bar. When Tim came out of the men's room, he saw Kelly speaking with a man he didn't know or recognise. She didn't look comfortable with him in her personal space, nor did she seem to want to speak to him, only answering when spoken to. His gut told him that the man was Ethan, Kelly's ex.
Formulating a game plan in his head Tim opened his jacket so the man could see his gold shield and service weapon. Tim pulled a blank card he had stored in the back of his wallet; it was the swipe card for his building elevator to override the pass code. Tim then approached them, stealthily. As he reached the bar where they were standing, Tim gently pulled Kelly into his embrace and kissed her lips, soft and sensually, but keeping it brief. Kelly was actively participating in the kiss too; she hadn't even hesitated. He dropped his lips to her ear and spoke low enough to seem like it was meant for her ears only, but loud enough for Ethan to hear too. Tim made sure his voice was low, smooth and seductive, putting on his best bedroom voice. "Ready to get out of here? I've ordered us a private dessert for two upstairs, in our room." Then he brandished the swipe card from his wallet, letting Ethan think it was a room key.
Kelly's physically reacted to Tim's voice low in her ear. As Tim spoke, his lips had brushed her ear, causing her to shiver. His words having a physical effect on her. "Let me get my purse." Kelly purred as she turned in his arms and moved against him. Tim slid his hands down her sides to her hips, one hand slightly one of her ass cheeks, before she kissed his lips, just a peck and left to get her bag.
The two men stood there, awkwardly for a moment, before Ethan offered his hand to Tim. "I'm Ethan, a friend of Kelly's." He schmoozed to Tim and Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Ethan's smarmy attitude.
"I know who you are." Tim said to him, not a trace of humour in his voice. "Thank you." Tim shook his hand. "Your cheating on Kelly bought her to me. Now excuse me, I have plans tonight that don't include you."
"You really think she's going to sleep with you?" Ethan called back as Tim left him, heading towards Kelly. "She's on the frigid side, not really sexually stimulating and she couldn't have an orgasm to save herself. Being with her wasn't sexually gratifying."
Tim plastered a wide grin on his face, the one that he used when he was about to get one up on Tony. Turning around, he stalked back to Ethan. His voice louder than usual. "I can get Kelly off, easy. In fact, I can bring her to an orgasm by just talking to her. She's insatiable, can't get enough. That must have been a problem with you, not her."
Quite a few people had stopped to watch the showdown between Kelly's previous partner and her 'new partner'. For the whole night, Ethan had sulked in the corner, taking advantage of Tim going to the men's room to make a move. "Asshole." Ethan called, pulling Tim by the arm around to face him, again. "I ought to knock you out."
Tim grinned at him, again. He hoped Ethan would take a swing at him. "I'd love to see you try." Tim pulled his dinner jacket back to show Ethan the gold badge and his weapon. "I'm on duty and I'd arrest your ass so quick your head would be spinning. I'm sure that your rap sheet will look really good with not only an assault charge, but an assault against an armed federal agent charge. That charge carries a mandatory jail sentence. Have a good evening, Mr Martin."
Out on the sidewalk, Tim put his arm around her and kept her close to him as they walked towards where the chauffeur driven town car was waiting for them. Once safely nestled in the back seat together, Tim kissed her hairline, keeping her close to him. "Are you OK? Sorry about the kiss and grope. I didn't have any way to warn you."
Kelly was shaking softly, before Tim realised it was muffled laughter. "Did you see the look on his face when he saw your badge and gun? He was shitting bricks." She nuzzled his face a little, letting herself get closer to Tim, enjoying the scent of his aftershave and an unidentified scent she was beginning to associate with pure Tim. "As for the kiss, you're a great kisser. It was fine."
"Just fine?" he repeated, tickling her side. Tim definitely thought it was more than 'just fine'. He had enjoyed having Kelly that close to him and kissing her. He had to resist the temptation to sink into the kiss they'd shared and introduce his tongue to hers. Seeing Kelly respond to his bedroom voice had been the cherry on the top of a great evening.
"Can I stay at yours tonight?" Kelly asked, her voice soft and purry. "I wouldn't put it past Ethan to show up at my apartment, unannounced. Especially considering that Sherry didn't show up to tonight's celebration."
"I suppose, but I only have one bed and it's a queen in the guest room. The movers are bringing everything tomorrow morning and the other guest bed, I had the mattress cleaned this morning. It's probably not dry, yet."
Kelly then instructed the chauffeur to drop them both at Tim's new apartment building.