JF1

DISCLAIMERS AND WARNINGS:

Minor character death mentioned, as well as grief and loss, as well as suicide.

If you find yourself being triggered by these issues, please seek help.

"Kell?" Gibbs asked, surprised to see her, standing there in his kitchen, putting food in his fridge. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going with Naomi, to Delaware for the week." Kelly loading his fridge and freezer with food wasn't the unusual part, it was that he had thought that she was away in Delaware with her friend.

"Naomi took her boyfriend instead, Dad." Kelly answered him, absent-mindedly as she checked his pantry over making a mental list of what needed re-stocking. "Now, there's some of that beef casserole you like in the fridge, pasta bake and chicken and vegetable soup in the freezer too, Dad. You need to eat healthier."

"Thanks, Kell." Gibbs hurriedly told her, trying to rush her out the door. McGee was meeting him here to help him set up for an op. It wasn't a black op, but it wasn't on the completely on the books. Only three people knew about it: McGee, Vance and Gibbs. They'd like to keep it that way.

"What's going on, Dad? Hot date?" she asked, teasing him. She hadn't seen him like this before, but she definitely knew something was up with him. He was being squirrelly and secretive; she didn't like it.

"Ah, one of my agents are coming over." he told his daughter. "McGee, actually. He needs some help with something." He lied. Kelly couldn't know why he was coming over, or what they were planning. More importantly, they hadn't met yet and he was hoping to keep it that way. He had his reasons.

"Ah, Dad? Does he drive a Porsche Boxster?" she suddenly asked, movement from the driveway catching her eye. At her father's affirmative nod, she commented. "He's here." She watched him as he loaded up some boxes into his arms. She admired how good looking he was and the muscle under his tee that she could see. Kelly had thought he was a good-looking man and wanted to make sure her father introduced him to her.

As Tim let himself into the house, carrying the two large cardboard boxes, Gibbs tried again to dismiss his daughter. Kelly shook her head no and he internally groaned. He knew that she was as stubborn as he. Agent McGee was the only one of his agents she hadn't met yet and he had a gut feeling that she wasn't leaving until she had met him.

"McGee? This is my daughter Kelly, Kell this is McGee. Tim McGee." Gibbs introduced her to him. His voice was dry, but polite, despite the dread he felt. He had been avoiding the chance that the two of them might possibly meet, for a while now. But he couldn't avoid it any longer.

"Nice to meet you." Tim told her, putting the boxes down on the floor and offering her a handshake, in his gentlemanly way. "I've heard only good things." Tim smiled at her, in a warm and friendly manner.

"Agent Tim McGee, it's so nice to finally meet you too." she smiled at him widely in return, taking his hand in hers for a handshake. Gibbs could see the sparks fly between them. He groaned as he realised that this was why he had been avoiding the possibility of the two of them meeting. "Wait, Timothy McGee? As in Thom E Gemcity, the world famous, best-selling author?" she asked, realising where she had heard his name before.

"The very same, how did you know?" he asked, surprised she saw the connection. He thought maybe Gibbs may have mentioned it, but he couldn't see Gibbs telling her about Deep Six and he certainly had nothing in his Gemcity bio that would link back to him.

"I'm the Editor in Chief for Merk Publishing House." She admitted.

"They published Deep Six." he murmured in a low tone. "Thank you for your signature on my royalty cheques each month." He laughed, his voice low and playful.

"Here's my card, I'd love to meet up with you, to discuss Gemcity writing another book." Kelly said, pulling her business card out of her purse hanging from her shoulder bag.

"Gemcity is retired." Tim declared. He was determined, never to write again. His sequel to Deep six sat in the safe in his study, unfinished and untouched since the fiasco with Landon.

"Are you contracted elsewhere? Penguin? Random house?" she asked him. She was determined not to let his vehemence stop her. If she had her way, Gemcity would continue writing.

Tim shook his head no. "Gemcity is retired." he reiterated. There was no way he was ever publishing another book. Not after the drama that the first book had created and the crazed stalker thinking his notes for the second book was real.

"Then a little cup of coffee between friends never hurt anyone." she smiled sweetly at him. "Here's my card, let's get something set up next week."

"I'll give you a call." he smiled at the vivacious auburn-haired woman before him. He recognised some of her tactics, must be a family trait. Gibbs used them on him too. Their hands touched as they exchanged cards and Gibbs swore, he could feel the heat from that spark he had seen between them earlier.

"My personal cell number is on the back." she said to him in a stage-whisper. "Feel free to call me, anytime."

Tim opened his wallet and handed her his NCIS issue business card, taking the pen from his pocket, he scribbled down his cell on the back of his. "Just in case I forget to call. Sometimes, things can get pretty crazy." he told her with a grin. Some people could have called it charming, but Gibbs thought it looked more boyish and hid his own smirk in his coffee mug, as he watched whatever this was, unfold.

The two of them stood before him, looking at one another and smiling and Gibbs could have slapped them both silly. He willed his hands to stay by his sides and not head slap either of them. He had let whatever was going to happen, play out before him because his daughter was a grown woman, and she was an adult. She was capable of running her own life. She didn't need his input anymore and hadn't for a while. Just as Tim was his agent and definitely didn't need his boss to play wingman, to help him pick up a woman.

Tim excused himself to allow the father and daughter some privacy to say goodbye, as he headed through to the kitchen. Kelly bid her father a quick goodbye, before lingering a moment or two longer. He watched her, as she leered at his agent, biting her bottom lip as she watched and stared at him in want. McGee, naively bent over to retrieve the boxes up off the floor and take them through to the kitchen. Before pulling out his laptop that had been stowed away in a bag that was hanging from his shoulder and setting it up on Gibbs' kitchen bench.

"Do you want to eat first or get down to business?" Gibbs asked, startling him. He had been lost in what he was setting up and not paying attention to anything else.

Gibbs suspected that he was forcing himself not to think about the woman he had just met. He had seen Tim McGee meet women before and seen the effect he had on them. He wasn't really surprised by his daughter or her reactions. She was far from a blushing virgin. What surprised him was his agent's reaction. He was usually a lot more awkward, stammering more and more shy and reserved than what he was tonight. Tony had always thought he was the ladies' man on the team, but the team leader had always suspected that their youngest team member could and did, give him a run for his money, whether he intended to or not. Of course, no one would ever tell Tony that. It had taken a long time, but after Ziva had left for good, never really coming back to NCIS or The US after Eli's death. The two boys had achieved a camaraderie between them. A friendship that was budding and it was blossoming, every day.

"Lost in thought." Gibbs told Tim. It was clear that Tim had answered the question, but his answer had gone in one ear and out the other on Gibbs as he thought about the dynamics between his male agents. "We'll eat first."

"So, you were listening to me." Tim teased his boss lightly. "I already said that." He grinned at Gibbs and Gibbs sent one back at him. He rarely let his agent's see him grin, but he knew it had taken Tim a lot of courage to tease him.

Gibbs and Tim prepared the fireplace for the steak together, the potatoes were in foil, some green salad for the two of them - at Tim's insistence, Gibbs having remembered Kelly's grumble at him and the steak itself, seasoned and ready to go on the fire. The two men had sat on the sofa to eat, their plates resting on the coffee table that was pulled closer than normal.

"You do know Kelly's single and doesn't need my permission to be asked out on a date?" Gibbs began, tossing it out there as a one liner intending for him to say it and be done with the conversation. He didn't expect Tim to reply to him.

"You do know I'm seeing someone? I'm not the kind of man to see more than one woman at a time." Tim tossed back at him. At Gibbs' surprised look, he continued. "I'm seeing the DOD analyst we worked with last month, Delilah Fielding. We had been seeing each other before we worked on that case together. I told Tony, I asked her on a date when the case was done. Never said it was a first date, that I asked for."

"You kept that pretty quiet there, Elf lord. How long have you been seeing her?"

"Almost three months now, Gibbs." Tim told him, in a sigh. "She's not a fan of the whole Elf lord thing and the gaming world."

"I thought I was the only one who called you, Elf lord to your face." Gibbs teased him but smiled at him, letting him know it was meant as friendly banter. "But she seemed nice ... if you like that kind of girl. She seemed very serious to me."

"Yeah, she is." he told his boss in a sigh. "But..."

"But...?" he asked, he could see it. He knew Tim and he knew Tim treated women respectfully. "What's going on, Tim? Talk to me, I have experience dealing with practically every type of woman there is, out there."

"You ever meet someone, they're nice and you have a lot in common with them. Your personalities gel together, and you click with them...but they're emotionally unavailable and at times, can be manipulating?" he asked. At Gibbs raising his eyebrow, he continued. "Take for instance, tomorrow night, the Conrad Gala. She's getting an award and it's a big deal. Apparently, I need a tux, which is fine, but she wanted me to buy a new one, just for this event. I already have two of them, but she wanted me to but another one. One that isn't tainted with undercover work. Seems kind of ... frivolous. I don't waste money like that."

"High Maintenance, is what comes to mind." Gibbs laughed as he spoke. "Reminds me a lot of Diane."

He saw Tim wince, but he also knew that he appreciated the honesty behind the comment. "Thanks Gibbs." Tim told him, with a smile as the men took their dishes into the kitchen and began looking at the equipment that Tim had managed to confiscate for the unsanctioned op.

"Is this all you managed to get?" he asked, he expected a few more bugs maybe a snake camera or pen camera too.

"The last box of supplies will be arriving any moment now." Tim told him cryptically with a wide, cheeky grin.

Not even three minutes later, the unmistakable sounds of Ducky's Morgan filled the air and Gibbs smiled at him. His probie agent had really been studying him lately. He would have done the exact same thing to get that much equipment out, undetected. "That's good work there, Tim." Gibbs told him, with a wan smile as he moved to the porch to greet his dear friend.

"Here gentlemen. As promised Timothy, I did not look in the box." Ducky said handing the box to them. He didn't come in and he didn't stay to chat.

Gibbs and Tim worked well into the night and Tim fell asleep on the sofa somewhere around 0400 hours, not before Gibbs dozed off around 0430 hours on the other part of the L sectioned sofa.

Kelly slipped into her dad's house at 0630, surprised to see both her father and his agent asleep on each part of the sectional. She wondered what time they had succumbed to sleep if they were both still in dream land this late in the morning. It was a Saturday morning and she had already been to the gym and for a run. Kelly and her father had a standing meeting for coffee every Saturday morning at 0500 at the diner, before she went to the gym. His non-attendance had sent up a red flag with her and had sent her to his place in search of him. Breathing a sigh of relief at seeing him, peacefully slumbering away, she settled in to wait.

It wasn't long before Gibbs realised someone was watching him. It had felt creepy to him and wasn't the feeling he was used to feeling when he had woken up. "Good morning, Sunshine." Kelly teased her father. Opening one eye to confirm the owner of that cheerful voice was indeed his daughter. he quietly shushed her, pointing to McGee's sleeping form on the other part of the sectional. "You should have let him use my bed, He's too tall to sleep on the sofa." She chastised her father. "I wouldn't mind having him in my bed."

Gibbs groaned, he had actually thought about it, last night. But finding out his agent was seeing someone and the few things he had let slip about his relationship with the delightful Miss fielding from the DoD, he thought it wouldn't go down well with her if he slept in another woman's bed, even if she wasn't there. "Kell." he groaned, partially in warning and partially to just stop her from talking.

He couldn't remember if he and McGee had packed up their plans and schematics last night or if they had left everything where they had been working. Then he remembered he had closed the laptop and tucked all the paperwork back up in the closed boxes and had taken them down into the basement before coming up to check on McGee, which was promptly when he had dozed off too. He pointed to the kitchen and signed to his daughter to start the pot of coffee, knowing that Tim would do better if he woke to the smell of coffee and not to Gibbs shaking him awake. Enough out of town cases together, Gibbs had that fact, down pat.

They had a bit more work to get through before tonight's op. The surveillance operation that they were running at the Conrad Gala. Benham Parsa was going to show, they both knew it. All the guests had been vetted and there was no way any agency was going to let NCIS run a surveillance operation at the gala. But Tim had a way in, and he hated to do it, but he had no other choice, they wanted ... no, needed Parsa caught. So, Director Vance had deemed it need to know and Gibbs and Tim hadn't told anyone else, yet. They were officially operating on rule 4. Tim hadn't even told Delilah his plans. Luckily, she was an analyst, not a field agent and had no clue what gadgets Tim had had access to.

"Don't wake him, let him wake to the smell of coffee." Her father informed her. "He's as bad as me with coffee."

"Dad!" Kelly exclaimed, automatically blaming him for his agent's coffee addiction.

"Hey, don't blame me." Gibbs defended himself. "He has been like that since before I met him."

"Since Johns Hopkins, actually." Tim corrected them both from the doorway as he stretched and yawned. "While everyone was on the green tea band-wagon, I stuck with straight black coffee and graduated with honours, in half the time."

"Morning, Sunshine." She grinned at McGee, and he yawned again.

"Since when?" he mumbled, as Gibbs handed him a coffee mug, full of his own rich, dark blend, extra hot. He never felt human until he had his first cup of coffee in him.

"Somewhere around midnight." Kelly deadpanned and Gibbs groaned at his daughter's sass-mouth.

"We have some more work to do, Gibbs." Tim commented, "Is it in the basement or did we pack everything away?" he asked his boss.

"I set everything up downstairs. Go on down, Tim. I'll be there in a minute, as soon as I get rid of my irritating daughter." he joked, and Kelly rolled her eyes at her father. Tim awkwardly made his way down to the basement. He had woken up in a grumpy mood, not used to sleeping cramped up in a ball, on a small sofa. He normally slept on a Californian King size bed on a plush mattress, not a sofa that was so hard a former, grumpy, hard-ass marine slept like a baby on it.

Tim was using as little words as possible to make sure he didn't say something that he would regret later on. He had a habit of being short with people when he hadn't had enough sleep. "You OK, Tim? You're really quiet, this morning." Tim told him about how he was short when he was grumpy and tired and he needed to schedule a nap in before the gala, tonight.

The scene was set; Gibbs wired into the op, but physically in the office with Tony and Ellie, who was on loan from the NSA, both none the wiser of the op the three men were running, and Vance was in a non-descript surveillance van, which was posing as an extermination company.

So far, Gibbs had tuned out everyone. Suddenly, Gibbs had found the clue they were after and was calling Tim. "EVACUATE THE BUILDING!" he was shouting down the phone line, "DRONE STRIKE!" but the call was cutting in and out. His gut knew that he didn't hear him. Gibbs grabbing his service weapon and Tony following suite, as the trio made their way into an agency sedan and began racing towards the event. Clearing the Navy yard, a huge explosion caught their eyes and Gibbs punched the steering wheel in anger. "Damn it!" he cursed.

Tim had stepped into the foyer when he had seen the caller ID was Gibbs. He had to take the call, annoying Delilah in the meantime. She had muttered about how they couldn't handle anything without him, and she wished they'd leave him alone for one night. When he had answered his boss' call, all he had heard was unorganised garble and electronic interference from the drone frequency. He had looked outside and seen the drone coming straight for the front of the building about thirty feet out and dove into the alcove under the staircase.

Vance had been watching and waiting. Tim's contact lens camera was showing everything in 3D technicolour, and he was getting perfect quality sound from the earwig in his ear and the bug he had planted in the necklace Delilah was wearing and the small bug under their table.

The suspicion that Parsa had targeted them because of their work with the DOD had been a real possibility and he admired the fact that Timothy McGee had thought of it, despite his budding relationship with Delilah. They were all but positive that he had infiltrated their mainframe through Delilah linking her laptop into their network. That Delilah was the link between Parsa and NCIS.

The Director watched as Tim's cell rang and he held it up to his eye line to show Vance the caller ID through the contact lens camera. All of a sudden, he could hear a garbled noise and the interference of a drone. Tim looked up and saw the drone. Then the audio and visual of all the bugs and cameras dropped out and a god-awful noise echoed through the surveillance van as it shook in the aftermath.

Leon manoeuvred himself from the back of the van and out the driver's side door, as he had locked himself in there, for security reasons and freed himself from the surveillance van onto the street. He noticed that the glass in every window, on every house had been blown out from the intensity of the explosion.

His cover story was he was getting takeout for dinner at the Golden Dragon when the blast had happened. He had a receipt from there and a credit card transaction, too.

Tim opened his eyes; it was dark and dusty. He couldn't hear anything. All was quiet, suddenly he could hear sirens and screaming. He looked over and he could see an arm next to him. It wasn't attached to a body, and he prayed it wasn't his own. He couldn't feel anything, and he had tried to move and found he couldn't move his body. He tried to move his neck to look to the other side of him and realised that he would not be able turn his head. Something was stopping him from moving his head. He tried to shift his body again, but to no avail.

Tim tried calling out but ended up with a mouthful of dust and debris which he managed to spit most of, out. But he worried because he knew some had been swallowed and inhaled. He looked around for something he could use to alert rescuers to his location and came up short.

He knew he had a head injury, his head felt like it was going to explode, and he knew he shouldn't sleep, but the urge to just that was too strong, and he couldn't fight it anymore, his eyes slipping closed.

"Gibbs!" the Director called out from the crowd gathered. No matter who he showed his credentials to, no one would let him through. "Over here!"

Gibbs set off in a run, Tony and Ellie taking the moment to lock up the sedan. "What's the word?" Gibbs begged and he shook his head no.

"They haven't pulled him from the rubble yet. That cop, over there, is checking the survivors off against the guest list as they're pulled from the rubble. Vance explained, as Tony and Ellie arrived too. "They've pulled Delilah from the rubble, already. She didn't look good. No word on McGee yet, they haven't found him.."

"How many dead?" Tony verbalised the question, it had been on the tip of Gibbs' tongue, but he hadn't been able to get it out.

"Too many." Vance muttered. He turned to Gibbs and looked straight at the team leader. "The package is safe."

Suddenly, there was a cacophony of noise and lots of screaming and shouting, interrupting their conversation, before medics went rushing over to a particular area in the debris. A flurry of activity was before them, before a gurney whizzed past them and an unidentifiable man was rushed past into the back of a bus and whisked away.

A couple of minutes later, a foot patrol officer walked over to the edge of the crime scene tape and toyed with the edge, discreetly speaking to them as he checked the perimeter of the scene. "Agent Timothy McGee, alive, taken to DC Memorial." he told them in a low voice. "My Serg cross checking the names of the injured off, was ordered not to tell anyone the NCIS agent had survived. I owe NCIS a lot, they saved my kids when my ex took off with them." as the patrol officer continued checking the perimeter.

Vance nodded at him with his eyes and immediately dismissed Tony and Gibbs to head to hospital. He had already been rather vocal, as he had enquired about McGee repeatedly. If he disappeared now, it might tip their hand. He had Ellie stay with him. He knew the MCRT team leader was hoping to recruit her over from the NSA on a permanent basis and it was a chance to assess her skills.

Gibbs took the streets like a madman, while Tony hung on for dear life. He had ridden plenty of times with Gibbs in all kinds of different driving situations and tonight, he seemed to be channelling the former MCRT ninja and her infamous driving skills.

As he threw the agency sedan into a park by the entrance to the emergency department, the two agents ran into the waiting room, only to pull up to a sudden stop. There were people everywhere, injured in various ways. From gashes on the head to broken bones and no two injuries were the same.

"I'm going to see if I can get some information on McGee." Tony announced, manoeuvring himself through the maze of patients that lined the waiting room, taking every chair and spare floor space.

Gibbs knew he should be calling Ducky, Jimmy and Abby and that he should have someone checking on Delilah for Tim. Tim did like the woman, he had to respect that. He knew that Tim would be worried about her, too.

Although at that moment, Tim was his priority. Besides Tim being in a relationship with the young woman, he owed her nothing. But he didn't want to call them until he had something to go on.

"Gibbs?" Tony called him over to the admin desk. It looked like they were going to be taken through to him. As Gibbs approached him, he heard Tony thank the young woman for letting him and his dad in to see his brother. Gibbs offered the young woman a smile and went along with the story.

Inside the cubicle, Tim was unconscious, and a nurse had the suction going, cleaning out his throat. Tony and Gibbs could both see the debris that was being sucked up, coating the clear pvc tubing. Bi-nasal prongs were attached to the O2 cylinder on the wall and were attached to Tim's nose. In a kidney dish by the bed on the table, was a dose of activated charcoal waiting to be administered and several emesis bags opened and waiting to be used. "Come in, Dad." the young doctor, not much older than Kelly said with a grin. "Your son is going to be OK. He inhaled a lot of debris, and he has some fractured ribs and some colourful contusions. He's got a nasty headache and some lacerations, but he looks worse than he is. We're going to keep him a few days, just to be sure."

Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you know where his girlfriend is?" Gibbs asked. He knew that when Tim regained consciousness, he would be more worried about the woman he was seeing, than himself. "Delilah Fielding."

The doctor apologised. "It's a mad house in here, maybe try the admin desk. If not, she may have been taken to one of the other hospitals in the area." A look from Gibbs had Tony scurrying off to the admin desk. Gibbs took his seat beside Tim and pulled out his cell. Squinting at the screen, Gibbs texted Vance that 'Located Tim, seen him, Dr says not too bad. Will call soon.'

Tony returned to Tim's bedside. "It's bedlam out there, worse than before. Admin couldn't tell me much, just that she's in the hospital." he reported, and Gibbs was happy with that. At least they knew where she was. Their probie agent would have to settle for that.

"We're going to move him upstairs in a moment and he'll be much more comfortable, and it will definitely more quiet and less chaotic." the doc announced and to Gibbs that was great news.

"Oh Doc, do you have his contact lenses? They're those fancy reusable ones." Gibbs asked and shot Tony to look to stay quiet. The doc handed Gibbs a specimen jar with the spy camera contact lens inside them and Tony went wide eyed.

As soon as the doctor stepped away, Tony went to open his mouth, but Gibbs shushed him. "We will talk more when he gets upstairs."

It was barely ten minutes later the two senior agents were following Tim upstairs into a private room. As soon as they had him settled in the room, his nurse had taken his vitals, Tony closed the door behind her and gave Gibbs a look. "Explain, Boss."