JF15
Kelly was sitting at her desk, counting down the minutes until she could leave for lunch and go and meet Tim at the diner. Flowers had been delivered that morning, with a card that had simply been signed with his name. They were in a leaf wrapped glass cube vase, a punchy assortment of colours and personality. The flowers were bold, beautiful and she knew Tim had been sure, that they would make her smile. And they did. They were all brightly coloured and every time someone came into her office, they commented on how pretty they were.
As soon as the little digits in the right-hand corner of her computer screen hit 12.00, she locked her computer, grabbed her cell and her purse and hightailed it out of the office, using the back stairwell, eager to meet Tim at the diner.
Arriving at the diner, she smiled to herself when she saw Tim leaning against his Porsche, waiting for her. The sight of him, leaning against the Porsche, cell phone in hand made him look younger, boyishly charming and a little more carefree than his usual self. He was doing something on his phone, but she had no doubt he would know the second she arrived.
"Hey Sunshine," he called out to her, hearing her approach him. He looked up and gave her that boyishly handsome, charming smile, the one he always had, just for her.
"Atlas, hey, " she greeted him back. She stopped short in front of him as he tucked his cell phone inside his pocket and looked at her carefully. "I'm sorry about Friday, I said some insensitive stuff. Stuff I shouldn't have said." she said to him.
"I am sorry, too." Tim returned, softly. "I was frustrated, and I took it out on you. You didn't deserve it."
"Can I have that hug now?" Kelly asked, timidly. She hadn't realised how much she missed not being in Tim's arms, until they'd had this fight.
"Sure." Tim grinned at her, holding his arms out for her.
Kelly went straight into his outstretched arms, soaking up his presence. It had only been two days since their argument, but she had missed him. Kelly had spen Friday night in her bedroom, at her dad's house. Saturday evening, she had spent curled up on her sofa with her dog.
Tim enjoyed the feel of having Kelly in his arms and by his side once again. Especially having her in his arms. He had missed her. Pressing a kiss to her hairline, he felt something he had been fighting for a while now. He felt the rush and the thrill of adrenaline that came with holding the one you hold highest in your heart.
"Let's go inside." Kelly beamed at him, pulling back slightly. He nodded at her, and he led her by the hand up the steps inside and into their favourite booth.
Elaine smiled at them as she saw them come in. She was surprised to see her favourite customer's daughter and his agent come in together and holding hands, but she schooled her face and gave herself a mental note to chastise the young woman's father for not telling her that his daughter and his baby agent were an item.
She automatically bought them coffee, fixed how they both like it, not bothering with a menu. They both had the menu, memorised to the point where Elaine could almost hazard a guess of what they would order.
After both ordering lunch and Elain promptly delivering each of them a chef salad with chicken and an egg, the two of them began acting one another up on everything the two of them missed out on doing while they were fighting. Kelly offered to cook dinner for the two of them at her apartment and Tim felt awful that he had to decline. "I am really sorry; I am going out of town on assignment in the morning. I need to prep the rest of my files and pack. But if you're still interested in dinner, we can order some Chinese at my place, and you can help me pack."
"Am I allowed to know here you're off to or is it classified?" she asked, with a sarcastic smirk. She had clearly heard the classified line, a lot growing up as the daughter of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
"You can, but for your protection, I'd rather you not know. I haven't been briefed and I don't want to put you in danger." Tim resigned. He knew he would never willingly put Kelly in any danger.
"Believe me when I say, I understand." she smiled at him, widely. "Chinese take-out and helping you pack, it sounds fun. You'll call me when you're finished for the night?"
"Regardless of if we catch a case or not, tonight I have to be done by 1800 hours at the latest. Director's orders, my flights at 0800 in the morning. Gotta be at the airport by 0600 to get through security."
"Have you got a ride? I want to drop you off." Kelly said softly as they finished up their lunch.
"Thanks, that would actually be helpful, there's no way I want to leave my Porsche in the airport car park." Tim told her, grateful she had offered. "You can spend the night at my apartment if you like, park your car in the underground lot in my other space. You know the code."
"Thank you, thank you." She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. "That is OK, right? That I kissed your cheek."
"C'mere." he whispered softly, pulling her close to him. Their bodies almost flush against one another. Discreetly wetting his lips with his tongue, he lowered his lips over hers in a soft move, keeping it chaste and platonic. "Before the argument, we were doing OK. We were figuring things out and going at our own speed. Don't know about you, but I was letting my head sort out my heart before making a move. I want to be one million percent sure, before I make my move."
"Kissing me just now, that wasn't making a move?" she laughed nervously. She actually agreed with everything he had just said, and her feet felt like lead weights. A kaleidoscope of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach and she thought she might faint.
"Trust me when I make my move, you'll have no doubt in your mind, that I have made it." Tim grinned at her. Pulling his boyish look off perfectly, she felt her knees fumble a little at that remark.
"I look forward to it." She whispered, dropping her voice low, lacing it with want, and he heard every word.
Tim made it back into the bull pen with a whole sixty seconds to spare, finding it empty. He knew that they hadn't caught a case because all of their go bags and NCIS issued kit bags were still behind their respective desks. Gibbs came back into the squad room, noting Ellie and Tony had left and he smiled behind his tall white paper cup on his desk at the sight of Tim. Tim had a fresh coffee on his desk and had left a fresh cup from Elaine on Gibbs' desk, too. "Hey?" he said, garnering his young agent's attention.
At the look Gibbs was giving him, he nodded he affirmative and let him show the boss that he was OK. "Look, I told Kelly she couldn't know where I was headed, I would appreciate it if you would back me up, there. Told her it was for her safety. I don't know what the case is or what I'm walking into down there. I'll do whatever I can to protect her."
"She actually bought that?" Gibbs was surprised, very shocked. "I've been telling her that, her whole life and the day she turned seventeen, was the day she stopped buying it. Unless it's classified, she always gets it out of me."
"I think she gave me the benefit because we had been arguing." Tim gave him a rueful grin.
"Have you got a ride to the airport tomorrow?" Gibbs asked, suddenly. Realising that he would never leave his beloved Porsche at the airport. "I can drop you off."
"Thanks for the offer, but it's all sorted out." Tim told him and settled in to get some work down. Deliberately not asking where Tony and Ellie had disappeared to.
"Kelly?" he asked, with a smile. He knew without a doubt that she would be her. "No doubt she finagled an invitation to dinner. My advice is pack before she gets there, or she'll be rummaging through everything, making sure you have enough underwear."
That made Tim laugh out loud. Not only because he could imagine Kelly doing that, but because he pictured Kelly doing it to his boss. "Actually, she invited me to her place, I declined and offered take-out as a substitute."
"And you can then have her spend the night and get you to the airport on time in the morning." Gibbs guessed, looking at Tim closely. He looked carefully as a small blush graced his cheeks and the tips of his ears began turning red. "You two are so predictable." he grinned at him.
Tony and Ellie came back from the lab, annoyed at Abby. Ellie was rummaging around in her desk, one handed, looking for the acetone nail polish remover she had stashed in there, back when Tim told her of his probie days. Her other hand had her fingers widely spread in fear of them sticking to another finger, or something else.
Tony, with two pieces of paper stuck to his fingertips, was pulling at the paper trying to separate them from his skin, carrying on that it was hurting the skin. "Damn you, Abs!" Tony growled as Tim and Gibbs exchanged amused looks.
"Tugging at it only makes it more painful, Tony." Tim warned him, with a gleeful grin. He had no idea what Abby had done or why it was her fault, but he felt it was a karmic experience for Tony.
"Wait, is this how you felt all those times I superglued you to your keyboard?" Tony asked, realising that his prank had been mean and cruel.
"Worse, that's just your fingertips stuck on paper." Tim grinned at him again, enjoying the sight of Tony getting a taste of his own medicine. "Now imagine your whole hand glued on the crime scene camera and no acetone to be found, anywhere."
Tony shuddered, as did Ellie. Tony remembered the prank that he and Ziva had played on Tim, the one that he mentioned, in particular. It had retaliation for using them, in his book. He remembered Gibbs reaming them out too because Tim had been sent home from work by Ducky, his hand wrapped in a bandage. He saw it a week later and the new skin underneath had been all red and tender. That had been when he had stopped using superglue on Tim. "I am sorry, Probie."
"Tony! Tony! Tony! I found it." Abby screeched, coming into the bullpen with the acetone and a swab stick in hand. "Let me help you." Tim watched in a warped fascination as Abby helped clean the superglue off Tony and separate his fingers from the lab report. When she was finished, with another swab stick, she helped Ellie clean the dried glue off her fingers. "I am so, so sorry, you guys. That wasn't meant for you. Don't you be snickering over there, Mister Stands People Up. Balboa told me you would look over that laptop for his case, over your lunch break. That prank was for you. Kind of a welcome back, prank."
"Well, thank you for your prank. But Balboa never asked me to look over any laptop and I'm a little too busy to look over it right now." Tim said, returning to the file clean-up he had been running on his computer.
"Maybe when he gets back, Abs." Gibbs added, taking control. He had no doubts that Balboa had said that, but he had probably posed it as a question and Abby had thought it as gospel. That Abby had a history of doing that much, especially when it came to Timothy McGee. "Tim's heading out on assignment. Leaving early in the morning. He has a list of things both me and the Director want him to do before he leaves tonight, and he has to be out of here by 1800. So go back to your lab and stop distracting him." Abby turned on her clunky boots and started stomping off to her lab, like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. "And Abs! I've told Tony and he listened, now I'm telling you. No more superglue, unless it's being used in forensic science, only."
"Ooh, solo assignment, McGoo." Tony cooed at him. "Where are you going? What are you doing?" Tony was a naturally nosey and extremely curious man. He was also known as a bit of a blabber mouth. Not about the classified or need to know stuff, but gossip and whatnot. Yeah, he ate all that up and was happy to spread more.
"Need to know and you, don't." Gibbs answered before Tim could even open his mouth. At Tim's unasked question, Gibbs smirked at him. "Rule four, McGee."
Letting himself in, he flopped onto the sofa face down and stayed there. The whole afternoon had gone to shit after Tony's inquisition. Gibbs knew that Tony hated not knowing and was deliberately not letting him tell Tony, which had led to Tony's inquisition. He was so relieved the moment the clock struck 1800. He was packed up and out the door, so quick. He couldn't wait to get out of there and Ellie barely had a moment to wish Tim the best of luck. He made a mental note to send her a message later on, once he knew she had left the yard for the evening and there was no chance of Tony getting her phone.
He sighed when he realised, he still needed to pack and order dinner, that Kelly would be here any moment. The sounds of the elevator opening in the foyer made him groan out loud.
"Tim?" a male voice called out. It wasn't Kelly's sweet melodic voice. "Agent McGee?" it said again, and Tim took note of it. How did the Director bypass his doorbell?
"Atlas? It's me. I bumped into the Director out in the lobby and bought him up with me." she called out as they made their way into the living area. "Oh Tim, what did they do to you?" she asked, she was concerned with the mental state of her friend. In all the time she had known him, she'd never seen him flop down on the sofa, face forward like that in exhaustion.
Leon Vance stood back, internally he was grinning with delight at bumping into Kelly Gibbs in the foyer of Tim's apartment building. It had been a few weeks since he had had the pleasure of watching the friends interact together. He knew it was a guilty pleasure for Jethro Gibbs, but he had to admit it always put him in a good mood, too.
"Would you back up, Kell? I'm OK." Tim reiterated to her, as Kelly hovered, trying to help him up off the sofa. "It's just been a mentally taxing day. I'll take that hug now."
Vance was the only one there to witness Kelly step into Tim's arms, reach up looping her arms around his neck and plant a kiss on his lips gently, before holding her body against his tightly in a full body hug.
"Kun Lon or Fu's?" she asked, her voice muffled against his shirt, hugging him. "I'll order while you see what Leon was wanting."
"Order from Fu's. What would you like, Director? You're welcome to join us for dinner." Tim asked, inviting the big boss to stay for dinner.
"Thanks Tim, I'll have a sweet and sour Duck with pineapple and rice." Leon answered. Tim knew, that like him, the Director had had a hard day too.
"Great. I'll just go and order." Kelly announced, stepping into Tim's bedroom.
While Kelly had stepped away, Leon told McGee about the change in flights. How he would now be flying with SecNav out of JB-AB to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. Agent Pride and LaSalles would meet him at the JRBNO, LA.
Kelly re-joined the men in the living room dressed in Tim's NCIS gym tee and a pair of his sweatpants that she had helped herself to.
Over dinner, the three of them began discussing their mutual plans for thanksgiving and Tim and Kelly reminded the Director that the MCRT team always gathers at Ducky's house for that holiday and that this year, the plan was no different. "My mother Katherine is still in town; we've always celebrated Thanksgiving two days later. You're both welcome to join us. Gibbs and Ducky will also be there, and Ducky has extended the invitation to include my family, including Kayla, Jared and my mom."
"We'd love to, right Tim?" Kelly asked with a wide comforting smile for the Director and Tim just smiled at her and agreed.
As they began eating, Kelly laid out all their choices on the dining room table of their banquet of Chinese food, allowing Vance and Tim to make their own plates, as they were discussing the pros and cons of the different Star Trek realities. "We over-ordered again." Kelly grinned at him. "Director, the bulk of this is untouched, give your mom the night off cooking and take the leftovers home for tomorrow night."
Leon fussed over it, reminding the two of them that it wasn't necessary, that he was the head of a federal agency and didn't need leftovers.
"I'm going to be away on assignment for who knows how long. It isn't going to get eaten here, take it." Tim reminded him. "Kelly won't eat Chinese two nights in a row."
As their dinner drew to a close, Leon Vance bid them a good night, but not before offering to walk Kelly to her car. "Thank you for your offer, Director but Tim and I are spending the night together." Tim gasped slightly at her, mortified as he realised the words that Kelly had told the director. "Oh, not like that. No, I just meant that we have plans to watch a movie."
"Of course." Leon reassured the young woman. He sent Tim a reassuring smile, too. "Don't forget, you're flying out of JB-AB now, not Dulles."
"Damn, I was planning to drop Tim at the airport." Kelly cursed, disappointed. She was hoping to get to spend as much time as possible with him as she could before he left.
"There's no reason why you can't still do that, I'll alert security, that Miss Gibbs will be with her father to drop you off. Gibbs will be here to collect you both at 0730 to leave for JB."
As soon as the Director left, Kelly took Tim into his bedroom and began pulling out the begs he needed for his trip away. First was his computer bag, that held his laptop and anything else he needed for his flight. Next was his roller case, Kelly started rummaging through his walk-in robe, looking at his clothes. At the raised eyebrow look that Tim was giving her; she stopped and looked guiltily at him. "Sorry." She said, sheepishly. "Sometimes dad has needed me to take control, you're definitely not my dad."
"Has needed?" Tim asked her, amused as he raised his eyebrows at her. "Ever think that maybe you're not good at being the one left behind when someone is going away?" He said sarcastically.
"It's me." She confirmed, softly. "How about I go and take my shower while you pack? Then you have your shower. We can curl up in here and watch that movie." She offered to him. She wanted him to offer to join her in the shower, but she knew Tim wasn't ready yet and she had to stop pushing him to be. She was already regretting kissing him hello when she hugged him earlier. Not because she kissed him, but because she did it in front of the Director of NCIS. Both Tim and her father's boss.
At Tim's nod, Kelly raced off and had a quick shower, opting not to wet her hair, knowing that her and Tim were going to watch a movie in his bedroom. Upon her return, she saw that Tim was fully packed and had already changed. He had decided he would shower in the morning. Kelly realised that Tim had set up the DVD player in his room and had already selected a movie to watch. A Star Wars movie, their mutual favourite one.
By the time the credits were rolling, the two occupants of the bed were sound asleep, facing each other, but not touching.
By 0500 hours, Tim was awake and cooking breakfast. Kelly joined him at 0515 and by 0615, Gibbs was letting himself into Tim's apartment. "Mornin'" He called out, seeing the two of them at the breakfast bar, just starting their second cup of the day. Tim dressed in his best jeans, lavender dress shirt and black blazer and Kelly in her black pinstripe pants suit and cream coloured blouse, her hair out and wildly loose, which was different from usual twisted updo she normally had her hair done in for work.
"Morning Boss. Coffee is in the pot." Tim greeted, as Gibbs made his way over to the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee. He would never say no to an extra cup. He had arrived early at Tim's thinking that he may be running behind schedule, but it seemed like they were both organised.
A ringing cell phone interrupted their comfortable silence. Kelly recognised the tone as her phone and stepped out of the room to answer it.
"You all packed?" Gibbs asked, as he took Kelly's newly vacated seat. He noticed that the kitchen was tidy, the dishwasher was stacked, ready to be started with their coffee mugs. The apartment was more tidied than normal, and he was glad to see that Tim had found time to sort out the place between leaving the navy yard last night, having Kelly here and this morning. "Got everything you need?"
"All packed, Gibbs. Business attire, casual clothes, Laptop, computer parts and my notebooks, all packed. LaSalle will meet me at the other end with Pride." Tim recited to his boss. Kelly came back out of wherever she had disappeared to and looked at Tim, hard. "You, OK?" he asked her, seeing the look on her face.
"Ah yeah," Kelly said, but she was a little rattled. "I have to head in to work now. There's been an incident at the office that I have to take care of. But I feel awful, I promised I would take you to your plane." Her tone was full of sorrow.
"Hey, I'm a big boy. I can take myself to my flight. I will be fine." Tim told her, abandoning his coffee and rubbing her arms in comfort. "I promise."
"You'll take care of yourself, right? I mean, you're not doing anything too dangerous, right?" Kelly asked, wondering how she would stop herself worrying about Tim.
"I'll be fine, Kelly." Tim told her with a featherlight kiss on her forehead. "Besides, the men I am working with aren't complete strangers, I've worked with them before."
"Kelly, Dwayne Pride and Chris LaSalle are part of the team Tim's working on. He will be fine." Gibbs reminded his daughter, carefully. Not wanting to imply Tim would indeed be in New Orleans but mention names of people she had heard of. She had even met "Uncle" Pride lots of times, especially when she was a tween, and her dad was a probie at NCIS with Pride. The man used to come for dinner to their house quite frequently. She knew that Pride and her dad called each other 'brothers' and that they trusted one another.
"Come on." Tim said, excusing them from Gibbs. "Don't you have some incident unfolding at work?"
Kelly said goodbye to her dad, as he ushered her out into the hallway, by the elevator doors, stopping just long enough to let her grab her bag and her purse. He tilted her chin up to look her in the eye. "It's not forever, Kell. I could be back in a day or two, to a couple of weeks. Not really sure, but I can call you and you can call me."
"I just worry, especially with no dad, Tony or Ellie watching your back." Kelly told him, hugging him tightly.
"Hey, I am a capable agent. I've got my trusty sig. I'll be fine." Tim told her and he held on to her, kissing her hairline softly. "Now mop up, you gotta get a move on."
"Take care of yourself, Tim." Kelly smiled at him, breaking from his embrace.
"You, too." He smiled at her as the elevator doors opened.
Kelly slipped into the elevator and turned around to look at Tim. Without warning, she rushed at him, her force knocking him backwards into the wall beside the hall table, her bags smashing to the ground as her lips found his. She kissed him passionately, releasing all of her hidden feelings for the man before her, whose lips she attached hers too. Soon she was probing his mouth open with hers. Her tongue begging for entry into his hot mouth.
A loud crash that sounded like someone being slammed into a wall had Gibbs on his feet and rushing to the entryway of Tim's apartment, as his hand reached for his weapon and he unholstered his gun. What he found in the entryway to Tim's apartment stunned him into shock. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to. His feet felt like they were attached to concrete slabs. He knew his mouth was opening and closing in shock, like a fish.
As Tim rolled his back from the wall, spinning himself to lean Kelly against the wall. The two of them were still lip locked in a battle of wills. Their tongues duelling for dominance as Tim's hand explored Kelly's hips, her backside and her upper legs. Kelly's hands weren't idle either, as they roamed and explored his chest, his arms, his back and raked their way through his hair before resting on the nape of his neck. Tim hitched one of her legs up, pulling himself closer to her, as the continued their battle of passion.
Gibbs finally realised his body could move and wanted to before he rebolstered his weapon and ordered his body to retreat to the safety of the kitchen where he had been enjoying a leisurely coffee, before he had been startled, shocked and stunned.
Barely five minutes later, Tim returned to the kitchen, not a hair out of place, a blank expression on his face as he resumed his abandoned coffee, using the mug to smother his megawatt smile.
Tim was happy to leave as soon as he had finished his coffee. He had his bags by the door and a stupid, goofy grin on his face and for once; Gibbs didn't know if he wanted that grin to leave his young friend's face. In the car on the way to JB-AB, Gibbs tried to engage Tim in some small talk, but it seemed as if Tim's mind was elsewhere. As they pulled up at the gate and waited for their turn in line at security, Gibbs head slapped Tim. "Ow!" Tim grumbled. "What was that for?!"
"Get your head in the game, McGee." he snapped.
Tim gave himself a mental shakedown. He knew Gibbs was right, he needed to focus on this assignment. He couldn't afford the distraction.
As they pulled up at the airfield on base, Gibbs killed the engine and both men got out of the car. "Watch your six, Tim." Gibbs warned as he handed Tim his final bag from the trunk of his car and watched as Tim nod at him and made his way over to the SecNav's security team to check in, ready for his flight to New Orleans.