JF12
Saturday morning dawned bright and early, Gibbs had arranged to meet Kelly at her apartment but had received a text a little after one in the morning, that she was crashing at Tim's new place. To meet them both, there. A tray of coffees sitting on top of a pastry box in one hand, Gibbs had already been to the yard and grabbed Tim's bags. His bags were slung over his shoulder as he signed in at security desk of Tim's building and let himself go up to Tim's new apartment. Tim had given him an elevator code when he had been here last and this morning, he input his code into the elevator and was marvelling as the doors automatically opened into the foyer of Tim's apartment.
The apartment was silent. He could hear some soft sounds coming from the guest room. Putting the coffee on the bench, he went in search of the guest room. He poked his head inside the open door and smiled at what he saw. It was still early for the rest of the world, but for he and Tim, it was a late start. Inside the guest room, Kelly was asleep in Tim's shirt he wore last night, it had lost its crispness and Tim was shirtless beside her. Tim wasn't under the covers with her, though. He was in a sleeping bag on top of the bed and Kelly was under the covers. But that hadn't stopped either of them from gravitating towards one another, with Tim's tall, taut, lanky frame wrapped around Kelly's smaller lithe body.
Gibbs leaned against the door jamb and watched for a moment, grinning like a fiend, as Tim and Kelly began to wake. He knew he should leave them be or alert them to his presence, but seeing Tim gently roll her off his chest to get up stopped him. He watched as Kelly tried to latch back onto him from her new position. Instead, Tim placed his pillow in her arms instead. Before rolling away to get up.
He had almost fully stood up and dropped the sleeping bag, before he saw Gibbs. At the last second, he kept a firm grip on it. Gibbs chuckled at that, "Morning." he whispered. "Clothing malfunction?" he asked.
"I let Kelly sleep in my shirt and shorts. It was really late, when we got back. We were both pretty tired, it's been a big week. Haven't moved my clothes over, yet." Tim told him softly as Gibbs passed Tim his bags. "Coffees on the bench. Get it while it's hot." Gibbs chuckled out loud, all the way back to the kitchen. Only someone as gentlemanly as Tim would sleep in a sleeping bag naked, on top of the covers, to give a lady something to wear to bed. When Tim entered the kitchen, Gibbs grinned at him. "Found some clothes, I see." he teased the younger man.
"You almost saw more of me than you ever wanted to, Boss." Tim returned the good natured teasing. "There's a lesson for you in there about sneaking into other people's bedrooms, Gibbs."
"Got it." Gibbs snagged a pastry from the box that was sitting on the bench. "Didn't think after the beach house incident, I'd find the two of you in bed together, again." Gibbs kept his voice low; he didn't want his voice to carry and wake Kelly up.
"It was after two when we went to bed." Tim defended himself. "I've got no sofa, my bed's still at my old apartment and the other spare bed; the mattress was cleaned yesterday and was still wet. The floor was the other choice and I wasn't sleeping on he floor when I'm trying to heal my ribs, still."
"Morning." Kelly grinned at the two men and joined them in the kitchen, as Tim handed her the coffee cup that Gibbs had bought her. As she drank her coffee, Tim took in her appearance; Tim's dress shirt was unevenly buttoned, his plaid cotton shorts sat low on her hips and his black socks from last night covered her feet. Tim had to admit to himself that he enjoyed the sight of her the next morning, in his clothes; her hair tussled. Knullrufs. That was what went through his mind.
Thwack!
"Ow," Tim whined, rubbing the back of his head. "That hurt, boss. Can I remind you; I recently had a nasty concussion?" he grumbled. That was probably the hardest head slap Gibbs had ever given Tim. Gibbs hadn't even been giving out the head slaps very often since Ellie joined the team.
"Channelling Tony there, McGee." Gibbs warned with a chuckle. "So, are you two going to tell me how last night went, or am I supposed to guess?"
"It went fine." Kelly said with a wide smile. "Went very fine." She repeated herself as she recalled that kiss the two of them shared and Tim's seductive words, hot in her ear.
"Great." Tim agreed with a knowing smile of his own, not quite meeting Kelly's eye.
"Oh, I'm sure it did." Gibbs said, suspiciously as he eyed the two of them closely. "That's why Ethan was on my doorstep shortly before midnight last night. He told me my daughter's new boyfriend had turned her into a sex craved maniac and he was a deranged, lunatic cop with a vendetta against him."
Kelly and Tim laughed out loud. "What?!" Tim exclaimed, surprised. "How'd he get all that from the one, forty-five second conversation we had."
"He mentioned that the new boyfriend said she was insatiable, and he could bring her orgasm with his words, alone." Gibbs said, watching their reactions closely. "Did you really say that?"
"Yep." Tim grinned, snagging his own pastry. Tim wasn't sorry for what he had said. The most successful undercover work he had ever done had involved mixing a little truth in with the fiction. That was how Ziva taught him to lie, and she was an expert. After all, she was Mossad.
Kelly bit her lip in surprise. "No wonder he went to Dad, concerned." She looked to Tim and lowered her voice. "Ethan's jealous, it was always such a hard task for him..." Kelly sighed and then excused herself.
"Kell, in my bag is my NCIS sweats. There's toiletries too and towels in bathroom closet, help yourself if you want to." Tim reminded her, grateful Gibbs had bought Tim's bags from the yard.
"Did you have to go overboard and insinuate that?" Gibbs asked, exasperated. He had read Ethan carefully last night and that was what had sent the man to Gibbs' house after midnight. "That's what sent up red flags for him. I was hoping never to see that asshole again."
"You know I can't lie to save myself. When I'm undercover, I tend to stick to true facts as much as possible, it's like my own variation of rule seven." Tim explained, chuckling. "At MIT I ended up with a bit of reputation by accident. Kind of like Tony, but not quite the same. One of my friend's started a rumour that if I wanted to, I could sweet talk my way into any woman's bed. That rumour grew and when I ended up paired with Lacey, for my statistics class. We went to an 'anything goes' party, and I did manage to talk the hottest woman on campus into bed. I should mention; she was an infamous blue baller on campus, but actively avoided actually sleeping with any and all men, planning to stay chaste until marriage. She enjoyed the chase and always left her prey wanting. Within five minutes of talking to her, she was having her very first orgasm, ever." he recalled smugly.
"I'm impressed, Tim." Gibbs grinned at him. "For all DiNozzo's bragging, that's one I've never heard before."
"It's not something I'm proud of, Gibbs." Tim told him seriously. "I've never been the kind of man that could pick women up at a party or in a bar like that. I'm not usually a one-night stand kind of guy, either. But it is a particular skill set that I possess, it has been very beneficial in the past and I knew Ethan would find it intimidating. The few men who know I can have this effect on women have been both impressed and intimidated by it."
"Well, he was intimidated all right." Gibbs reminded Tim. "Just wait until Tony finds out."
"Oh God, don't tell Tony." Tim begged. "He will want me to teach him it." The last thing Tim wanted to do was, to have Tony begging him to teach him the art of seducing women with just words.
"It's going to cost you." Gibbs grinned. He had suspected that Tim would give Tony a run for his money, but he had never suspected that Tim had something that had women swooning at his feet.
"Not really." Tim replied, staring at Gibbs conspiratorially. "You keep this quiet, and I keep the leaves of three, quiet."
"Deal" Gibbs said smiling, and they sealed their deal with a handshake. "Now, what's today's plan?"
"As soon as Kelly is finished in the bathroom. I'll get dressed; we can drop Kelly off at her place to change. If you can drop me at the yard, then I can get my car. We can drop your car back here and go meet the movers at ten. Kelly will be meeting us back at my new place at twelve, she's promised to bring lunch." Tim told Gibbs and he grinned at the Tim's plan. Especially, the part where Kelly was planning on coming back.
Everything had gone according to Tim's meticulously detailed breakdown of how the day would go, in his head. They had dropped Kelly off; she had needed to change and check in with her office. Gibbs had taken him to get his car and Tim had managed to get into and out of the building without being stopped or waylaid by anyone, even Keith the security guard. Abby had been surprised to see him, but hadn't even waved hello to him, so he just nodded at her and kept walking. He didn't really have the energy to deal with her right now. They were on a tight schedule, and he didn't want to have Abby throw his schedule off. Abby was easily capable of distracting him and he hadn't wanted to keep Gibbs waiting any longer than necessary.
The movers had arrived promptly. Gibbs looked around the small, cramped apartment, surprised to see it looked vastly different than it had when he was here last, only six days ago. The entire place was all boxed up. It was clear that Tim, and possibly Penny had been very busy this week. while he had been working KIT days. Gibbs couldn't wait until Tim was back on full duties. He didn't like working with a fractured team.
Gibbs packed up the only thing that hadn't yet been packed. Tim's fancy coffee maker that he loved, and the two mugs that Tim had left, unpacked. He had managed to talk Tim onto leaving the Porsche Boxster in the tenant parking of his new building and taking his truck, just in case.
Arriving back at Tim's new place was a piece of cake and Tim entered his access code for the underground car park, instructing Gibbs to pull up beside the Porsche in his other designated spot. His apartment came with two parking spots and right now, he was grateful for that.
The movers arrived promptly at twelve and Tim let Kelly in a little bit after. She had come laden with grocery bags, that was stacked under a tray of uncooked Lasagna. "Hey Sunshine." Tim grinned at her as he took the grocery bags from her. "You didn't have to cook for us."
"This is for us, for dinner. I got the stuff to make some subs for lunch." She smiled at him. "By the time we get everything unpacked and in place, who's going to have the energy to cook?"
"Thank you, you're too good to me." Tim said, genuinely. He meant it too, it had been a long time since he had had a friend as good to him, as what Kelly was.
"You're welcome." Kelly said, reaching up and pressing her lips against his softly. Tim steadied her with his hands on her hips and pulled her into a hug. "Anytime." he whispered, kissing he hairline.
Gibbs had heard Kelly's voice and had left the movers to see what was to eat. He hadn't expected to see his daughter reach up and kiss his agent softly on the lips. Nor did he expect to see Tim pull her close for a hug or kiss her hair. The warm smiles they shared and the blush that had graced Tim's face had warmed his heart to see. Now, he could see why Ellie was trying hard to curb her enthusiasm. That it seemed they were attracted to one another. He stepped back a bit and gave them another minute before entering the kitchen, pretending he didn't see anything.
"Food?" he asked, coming back in and making his presence known. It still amused him that even though they were side by side, not touching, both of them still jumped in the air at his question, managing to startle them. "Coffee?"
"Almost ready." Tim told him, as Kelly moved to pour a new mug of coffee for her dad to have with his lunch. Kelly handed Tim his, their hands brushing against each other and smiling at each other told them so much. Tim passed Gibbs his chicken salad sub too, before taking a long swig of coffee. Over lunch, Tim told Kelly about Jake and Ellie wanting to take samba lessons, with the plan that they would join them.
"The samba? OK, I'm in. My time to shine, though. I've done a little, bit my background in ballet, jazz and tap. I'm the teacher, this time." Kelly winked, telling him as if he was laying down the law.
"Good, then it's your turn to cook dinner." Tim quipped at her, making Gibbs laugh out loud.
"Don't think your apartment is going to be big enough for practicing in, Kell." Gibbs gleamed at them, watching both of them as the penny dropped. "I'll clear off the back deck."
Tim could have been all red and embarrassed at the thought that Gibbs might see him, but Tim's mind was more focused on the fact that the Samba was a dance where he'd get to have Kelly in his space, some more. More than he would with line dancing.
The unpacking went quickly with the three of them working together. Gibbs helped Tim tweak the position of the sofas a little. Gibbs was bypassing the master bedroom and noticed it was completely void of any furniture. "Tim? Where's your bed?"
"Sold it to my old neighbour. I can't sleep on that bed again." Tim admitted and Gibbs knew how that felt. Since Shannon had passed, he had only slept in the bed they shared a handful of times. When he had been married to the ex-wives, they had slept in the upstairs guest room. Not in the bed that had been his and Shannon's marital bed. "I'm going shopping for a new bed in the morning. In the meantime, the bed that we slept in last night was comfortable enough."
"Enough, but not big enough. You didn't even fit on that thing." Gibbs griped. He knew what Tim was feeling, he was only an inch shorter, and he too needed the longer length in the bed. He had splurged three years ago and upgraded the size of the bed. His knee had been giving him a hard time and when it was finally time to have the knee replaced, Ducky had thought it a wise investment, also.
Dinner was a quiet one, Tim could not believe that the three of them got everything done, including his closet and office unpacked and sorted. He was sure he'd still be unpacking after work on Monday. Kelly had even helped him put the other guest room, back in order.
Kelly had been happy to help Tim out today. Today felt like Tim had taken a step forward in his grief. But she suspected that he would have to talk in depth with his crisis counsellor about all the changes he was making. He had been doing a good job of holding everything together, but even she knew that would only work for so long. Until it all came tumbling out again.
Gibbs had to admit, with Tim's furniture inside the apartment, it was beginning to have the same homey vibe that his apartment in Silver Spring had. He liked what the young man had done with the space and had to agree, bit by bit, seeing Tim, in this space, it had been the right decision for his young friend to move. Tim was much too young to know the heartache of losing a lover, but he did. It wasn't until that thought, though, that Gibbs realised; he was only three years older than Tim is now, when he lost Shannon. Maybe it was Gibbs' perception of Tim, that for a long time, he was the baby of the team. Or it could be that Tim is the same age as Kelly is. But with Ellie on the team now, he knew he needed to change his mindset.
After dinner, Tim scraped the plates and rinsed the dishes, loading them into the dishwasher. A luxury he didn't have in his old place. Gibbs had taken the beer Kelly had bought and Tim hadn't taken one and Kelly had followed his lead. Tim hadn't been much a drinker and he rarely drank so much that he was drunk, or that he lost control.
"Dinner was wonderful, Kelly." Gibbs said as he stood. "But I have to get to the hardware store, before it closes. You need a ride?" he asked his daughter. He could see clearly that she didn't need a ride, that she wasn't even preparing to leave.
"Nah Dad, Tim and I are going to watch a movie before I head out." Kelly answered softly. "My car's in the guest lot."
"You're welcome to stay." Tim added, making sure he knew he was welcome and didn't have to leave. Gibbs grinned at them both as he grabbed his toolbox and bid them a good night. He could have stayed to watch the movie too, he knew that. Tim had invited, but since that kiss in the kitchen he had witnessed, he felt like he should leave them be. They'd been exchanging looks and grins all afternoon and he definitely was ready to get out of the road and as Ducky said, let whatever was going to happen, happen.
"Nah, besides I want to get to the hardware store and get some more sandpaper. Going to make a start on your desk." Gibbs told him, as Tim walked to the door. "Night, you two."
"Tomorrow afternoon, after I've hit the furniture shops. I'll come by and get a start on the workbench light." Tim told Gibbs, reminding the older man that he hadn't forgotten their deal.
Sunday afternoon saw Tim letting himself into Gibbs' place this time. He was laden with his purchases. He had been there earlier this morning, on the from porch only, by the meter box. He had been looking at the safety board, to see the exact kind of switches he needed. Gibbs hadn't even known that he had had an early morning visitor, either. Which had amused Tim.
Tim began laying cables and running some wiring for both the new switches and the new fuses, as well and the wiring for the new work bench light. While he was in the crawlspace, Tim was checking over the rest of the wiring in the house.
Gibbs had heard Tim moving around and some slight cursing. He was amused by the curses, Tim rarely cursed. Gibbs was in the basement working on Tim's desk and his daughter had joined him with her dog that morning. She was reading a manuscript for work, and she giggled at the sound of the curses leaving her friend Tim's mouth. In all the time she had known him, she had never heard him curse before.
What little light they did have down there was now extinguished, as was the electricity to the rest of the house. "Guess McGee's working on the electricity box now." Gibbs muttered as he took in his daughter. It had been a while since he had taken a good look at her. "So, are you going to keep your head stuck in that manuscript all afternoon? Or are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Tim?"
She blushed under her father's close scrutiny. "Nothing's going on, Dad. We're just friends." she told him. Her ears were turning red, and Gibbs always knew that was Kelly's tell. "You like him, though?" he asked. Gibbs wasn't one hundred percent sure that he really wanted to know the answer, but he asked anyway. On one hand, he had made it clear to Tim when they first met that he didn't need his permission to ask Kelly on a date. On the other hand, he knows of the stress and pain of being the first partner after the loss of one. Not because he had been in those shoes, but because he had seen it wear on Diane's face, every day from the beginning of their relationship to the day that they had their final divorce decree. He wasn't sure he wanted that for Kelly, no matter how much of a good guy Tim was, or how much she liked the boy.
"I don't know." she sighed softly, curling in on herself a little. "I am confused. I'm scared. He's scared, he's confused. He's still broken, and I don't know how to help him. Most importantly, right now, neither of us are ready to jump into anything, Dad."
"Kelly, it's normal to be scared. What you've been through in the past, it can make it hard to trust anyone. Even to trust a guy like Tim, can be hard for you and that's understandable. What you've been through is traumatic. What was you told me? After I discovered Diane's infidelity?"
"I said a lot of things, but I have a feeling it's about to come back and hit me in the ass, she Sass mouthed her father.
"You said that once that trust is shattered, it's hard to put back together again. Even if you had the world's best super glue and the world's best puzzle person. There's going to be some pieces missing still. You were right, you know? But there's something I need to tell you. " Gibbs took a deep breathe. He had told her this already, twice before. Both times she was unconscious. He's kicking himself, because this was definitely something that he should have old her, long before now. "There's a Japanese artform of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. It's called kintsugi. It embraces the flaws or imperfections in the object. By that rationale, keeping an object around even after it has broken; it can also be a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage. The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, "Waste not, want not". It is their own version of rule five; You don't waste good. "
"So, you're saying that something that's broken, can be repaired into something more beautiful than before?" she asked. She did wonder why her dad had never mentioned this before. "In this scenario; who's the kintsugi? Me or Tim?"
"Both. You need to heal from what happened with Ethan. As your father, I just want to click my fingers and be able to take your pain away, but I can't. The world doesn't work like that." Gibbs took a seat beside her on the old, battered sofa, where she had been working. Pulling her close to him and holding on to her. "In order to heal from Ethan, maybe you need to let Tim in a little bit more. Let him see the real you. The you that very few people know. In this instance, he's your rare metal that's going to bind the broken pieces together again; into making something even more beautiful."
"Dad. " Kelly sighed in her sob. She thought she was done with Ethan. She had gotten over him a long time ago, but now, here he was and still causing her pain. "What if I put my heart out there and it gets broken again?"
"Then someone else will come along and make it better. Doesn't mean you should be afraid to get hurt."
Tim declined the offer to stay dinner from Gibbs and Kelly. He thanked them for the offer, but he had dinner reservations with Penny in Old Town. He felt they deserved some father/daughter time, he had monopolised a lot of Gibbs' time lately. It was time to stand on his own two feet again.
From Gibbs' house, Tim made good time to meet his grandmother. "Hello darling" she cooed, eager to make him smile again. "Sorry, I missed out on helping you, today. I got tied up at the university."
"Gibbs and Kelly came by to help." Penny smiled at that. She was glad that Gibbs was helping out. She knew she had been wrong about the team leader when they had first met. She thought him to be exactly like her son, John She was extremely happy to be wrong, this time. What made her even more happy was that Gibbs' daughter, she seemed to really like Timothy, she seemed to click with him, and she hoped to encourage her grandson to reach out some more.
"That's what I like to hear." she grinned at him. "How did the shopping go? Did you get a new bedroom set?"
"Not exactly." Tim sighed. "I ended up lugging up the old mahogany bed head a frame from the storage shed and I bought new box springs and a new mattress. I also bought up the bedside tables and the matching dresser, but I left the mirror downstairs." Tim explained. He had been quite pleased with it. The bedroom will look good once the new box springs and mattress arrive tomorrow afternoon.
"That makes me happy, Timothy. I loved that bedroom set, but Nelson always thought it was too... Flamboyant for the space." Penny told him. "It's a different time and different fashion now, heavy woods like mahogany are back in style now."
Dinner went as well as he could have expected with Penny. She didn't have to say anything, he could read Penny like an open book. "So where are you off to on your next jet-setting adventure?" Tim asked her as he walked her to her car.
"Africa. First to South Africa, touring and guest lecturing in Cape Town, Pretoria, East London and then Johannesburg. From there, I'm taking a break to explore. I'll leave Johannesburg and I'm going on Safari. I'll be going to Zimbabwe and Botswana, ten days total, the safari finishes in Zimbabwe, at Victoria Falls. From there, I'll be doing some work with my friend Barry from Idaho. He works in one of those girls' schools in Zimbabwe. Barry and I will head to Nyrobi a month later, where we will tour the Serengeti. Over eight days, we will travel to Kenya and Tanzania. Before I will fly back to Johannesburg and meet Sarah to do some more sight-seeing in and around South Africa."
"Sounds amazing, Penny. Give Sarah a kiss for me." Tim told her, he felt truly blessed to have a grandmother who loved the adventure and the great outdoors as much as he did. It reminded him to pencil in some leave before the weather turned cooler, to take himself camping for a few days and decompress. Maybe between coming back from KIT days to full duties. "Remind her to visit sometime."
"Darling, I have one more question for you." Penny said as she reached up and pulled Tim into her for hug.
"Is this about Kelly?" Tim sighed. He had been expecting it, especially since Penny was like a bull in a china shop with her hints and suggestions.
"Make that two more questions." She grinned at him. "May I tell Sarah, about Delilah? And can you promise me, you'll think about moving on, soon? The last thing I want to see; is you wallowing in your grief and not living life to the fullest."
"I'll be fine, Penny." He promised her. "Tell Sarah whatever you want. I signed the Silver Spring apartment, back into the family trust this morning too, so make sure the family trust receives a copy of the paperwork."
Tim kissed his grandmother and hugged her safe. "Be safe, Timothy. I love you." Penny told him, softly. She felt herself tearing up at having to leave again, but she knew her grandson would be ok, because he had Kelly and he had Gibbs here.
"You be safe, write me. Love you too, Penny." With Tim's words, she nodded and drove out of the parking lot.