Not Beta'd; Standard disclaimer applies.
A/N:
Tim remembering events and giving the team a summary, might not be word for word of the memory (I only bold the line before the memory/flashback and a few words of the italicized memory)
{{ Tim remembering events, but not sharing it with the Team }}
[[ Gibbs's POV memory, Tim was not present at the time. The team is not told about it; whether or not Tim knows will (maybe) be revealed later ]]
High noon often used by journalist to refer to a crisis or event which is likely to finally decide what is going to happen in a conflict or situation
This is a chapter that some of you have been waiting for...(and I don't just mean because it's the next update) :)
High Noon, Next of Kin, Chapter 22
"Okay, I…well, it's been fun hearing about all this, and yeah, would love to hear more later," Tony emphasized, "but now, explain the son thing."
"You do not know biology?" Ziva teased, "How a son is created?"
"We already know that's not the relationship here," Tony snapped in reply, more than ready for answers. "If it was, it would be easy to say and understand, well kinda," Tony admitted, wrinkling up his nose, "Definitely easier to accept, as would the case be if Probie was his stepson, the son of one of Boss's many ex-wives or soon-to-be ex-wife, but I don't believe that's what happened either, yet out of the blue, Gibbs is 'dad' and Probie is 'son'."
After finishing his rant, Tony rested his crossed arms on the table and leaned forward to meet the younger man's eyes, an emotion in them that Tim couldn't identify, but one thing he was sure of, it certainly wasn't joy or happiness for the other two male team members.
"It is more than blood that makes a family,"
"Yeah? Like what? Shared interests? Common goals?" Tony's voice belayed his disbelief that that was the case in this situation.
"Seriously, Probie, how the hell did this happen?" Tony barked when Tim didn't say another word. "We need to know what's going on, McGee."
"All you need to know is that Leroy Jethro Gibbs is my father and I am his son," Tim angrily snapped as he moved to stand. "Our friends and those that might need to know are aware of the details," he added before giving everyone else a quick nod and walking away.
Tony stared in disbelief as McGee walked away. Around him all he can hear are the others saying his name. Whether it was in exasperation, in disappointment, in anger, or in confusion, they all said the same thing, 'Tony'.
"What?" he finally asked, not addressing any one in particular.
Now that Tony had acknowledged them, Ziva held up a hand to silence the others, she then moved that hand to tightly grasp Tony's chin and moved his head until their eyes met. "I am not sure exactly what is going on, but you need to figure it out fast. I suspect that Tim is heading towards his car to leave and if he reaches it and drives away, I do not believe there is any hope of reconciliation between the two of you or even the team as a whole."
"But-"
"If Gibbs returns to work, do you think he will just accept working with someone who has expressed such anger at his son? As Timothy had shared, we rely and trust one another to have our backs, to protect us in the field, and make sure we return home every night. Gibbs did not want to risk his relationship with his son or our team by having us work together, and apparently, he had cause for that, even if it was not the reason he had expressed to his son. Whose side do you think Gibbs, or anyone," she added, arching an eyebrow, as she surreptitiously glanced around the table, "would be on?"
"But-"
"You are wasting time," Ziva snapped, believing that she had explained the situation well enough for the other man to jump into action rather than open his mouth with what would no doubt be a ridiculous and pointless argument. She shot another glance out the window, where Tim had been stopped in the parking lot by Elaine. "It is now or never, do or die, ma-"
"I get it," Tony injected, holding up a hand to stop her since he didn't want to hear more.
"If you had really gotten it, you would already be gone," Ziva argued, her eyes daring the older man to delay another minute.
Getting up from the table, Tony absently muttered, "What do I say?" He had meant it as a question to himself, to get his mind thinking about how to approach the younger man, but since it was heard by everyone at the table, all of them felt the need the give their opinion and advice.
"An apology would be a good start,"
"The truth,"
"It is more how you say it than what you say; this is a serious situation, don't just joke around, this is too important to treat it like everything else."
"Whatever you do, do not be a-"
Tony quickly hurried away, not wanting to hear the ending of that last statement. Besides, he had a Probie to catch.
Tony knew exactly which direction to head in, since he too had watched Tim and Elaine talk in the parking lot. He didn't rush since Tim didn't appear to be in a hurry, nor did he call out at first, since the other man was engaged in a conversation. He had hoped that Elaine was helping to calm Tim down and persuade him to reenter the diner, saving him from bearing his soul to the junior agent. Unfortunately, within moments of Tony exiting the building, Elaine had kissed Tim on the cheek and headed back this way, while Tim continued towards his car.
"You might want to run," Elaine suggested, stopping to stand by him.
"How mad is he?"
"Mad?" Elaine repeated, shrugging her shoulders, "He doesn't really get mad, and even when he does, it's not the anger that you need to be wary of."
"Then what?"
"What he's feeling right now. Hurt, disappointment, and a touch of anger," Elaine stated. "The anger flares up quickly, but subsides even quicker, especially once he vocalizes it. The other feelings tend to linger. He's put up with a lot from you these last few years, much more than Jethro wanted him to," she added.
Tony startled at that. "What?"
Elaine rolled her eyes, "That man considers himself Tim's father, had acted in that capacity for years, and it's been official for almost half of that time. Do you really think he didn't know or that he approved of how you mistreated his son?"
"Mistreated?" Tony numbly echoed.
"The only reason why he didn't intervene is because Tim assured him that he could handle it," Elaine responded, not bothering to clarify her earlier words. "Now, Tim has forgiven you a lot, and no doubt will forgive you even more, but he won't forgive or forget if you hurt his father and are responsible for breaking up their teamily."
"I'm not go-…teamily?"
Elaine smiled and looked him in the eyes, "It's how Tim often refers to the team. You're more than a team, you're like a family. Gibbs uses the term as well," she added.
He could hear the truth of her words, "I gotta go,"
"Best hurry," she encouraged.
"Tim hasn't left yet," Jimmy observed.
"Yes, well," Ducky hesitated, not sure what to say since all of them could see that. If Tony was there, no doubt he would've said something along the lines of 'Thank you, Captain Obvious'.
"Tony hasn't said anything to him, stupid or otherwise yet, either," Abby noted, "Of course, that could be because he hasn't had a chance since Elaine is talking with Tim."
"Do you really think Tony is capable of 'or otherwise?" Ziva inquired. "Especially in a situation like this?"
Jimmy frowned, "I can't imagine there ever being a situation like this. I mean, finding out your boss and your teammate are father and son or rather," he frowned, attempting to be more accurate, "Consider each other as father and son, given that Tim said it wasn't biologically true. Then to mee-"
"Mr. Palmer," Ducky interrupted, "We are quite aware of the details, after all, we, too, are present."
"Oh, yes, of course," Jimmy said, falling into silence with everyone else as they continued to watch the parking lot. "Um, Ziva?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you say that if they didn't reconcile now, they might not ever do so? Do you really believe that or did you say that to motivate Tony into action?"
"A bit of both," Ziva honestly replied. "Tony definitely needed to do something, other than sit here and watch Tim walk away. I also know both of them fairly well, if Tony did not go after him, next time Tony saw Tim he would simply act like nothing had happened, that he had not done anything wrong. Most likely Tim would never bring it up either, thus creating resentment on his side to fester. The longer it went on, the larger it would grow and the more Tim would distance himself from Tony in hopes of preserving the team and the status quo."
Jimmy frowned, "But if Tim distanced himself, wouldn't that be changing the status quo?"
"Exactly!" Ziva nodded, pleased that Jimmy had seen the problem. "Things might appear to be the same, but underneath they would not be, making the team unstable and more susceptible to outside influences. Eventually, it would collapse on itself and-"
"Poof!" Abby woefully injected, "The team is no more."
"Poof?"
Abby nodded, "It would be like magic, since things appeared to be good, appeared to be the same, but well, as Ziva said, Timmy would distance himself, at least, emotionally, especially now that we know about him and Gibbs. He wouldn't mention anything to Gibbs, not wanting to be seen as weak or running to 'daddy' for help. He also wouldn't want to upset Gibbs, particularly now that Gibbs is once more grieving for his family, er, his original family?" she corrected questioningly. "Tim said Gibbs considered the team like family, so Tim also wouldn't want to put his father in the position of having to choose.
"Tony, on the other hand, would become more insecure, wondering what else they might be keeping from him. What the two of them might be saying about him. By the time Tony realizes what he must do to change the course, it would most likely be too late. He would be too angry, too hurt, to prideful to admit that he didn't handle things right, in the end, he would be too late."
"Trust will slowly be ebbing away, and where there is no trust, there is not a functioning team."
"Oh," a despondent Jimmy muttered, turning to look out the window rather than at the saddened faces of his companions. "Oh!" he repeated, more hopeful. "Tony's chasing after Tim, now."
Eagerly, they all turned to the window, in hopes of witnessing a reconciliation.
"Probie!"
"Go away," Tim called back, not even turning around.
"McGee, wait!"
"Not happening, DiNozzo," Tim stated, reaching his car and unlocking it.
Tony flinched at the use of his last name, something that the younger agent rarely did. "Tim! Please, I want to talk to you."
"I don't want to hear anything you have to say, especially about this," he said, before encasing himself in his car and moving to close the door.
"Gibbs Jr!" Tony called, hoping that would at least startle Tim enough to give Tony enough time to reach him.
Unfortunately, not as much as Tony would've liked. The only response was a shake of Tim's head before Tony heard the door shut and then the car starting.
"Damn it, Tim!" Tony muttered, losing any hint of subtlety and running the last few feet to stand in the middle of the parking lot's only entrance/exit.
"DiNozzo, get out of the way." After several minutes of the two men staring at one another, Tim had finally rolled down his window to order Tony to move.
"Not until you move your car, take the keys out, and walk over here."
"Tony."
"Tim," the older man returned in the same exasperated tone, leading to another staring contest.
"Don't be so stubborn!" The two agents shouted at the same time.
"Me? You're the one being stubborn!" Once again in unison.
Both men had to fight to hide their amusement at the situation.
"You know, I can get around you, right?" Tim asked.
Tony spread his arms out waving them around and began to move around randomly, all to decrease the chances of that happening.
"I could probably still get around you," an amused Tim drawled. "Plus, if I headed toward you, you would most likely jump away out of instinct. I will eventually try it," Tim promised.
Tony looked at the width of the asphalt, the fences on either side, and the width of Tim's car. Yeah, from how he was standing, Tim probably could, especially if he fainted to one side before quickly heading in the other. After thinking about it for a few more minutes, Tony came to a decision.
"Late night, last night, ya know?" he said suddenly stretching and giving an exaggerated yawn. "Might lay down and take a nap. Huh," he said looking at the ground, mock surprise on his face. "This place seems like it might be comfortable," he said, before moving to lay parallel to the road. "Good luck getting out without hitting a fence or me, especially since you won't be able to see if I move."
Tim went silent for a moment, his mouth fallen open in disbelief as the scene played out in front of him.
After several minutes with Tony not moving, at least from what he could see, nor the other man speaking, Tim finally spoke. "Really, Tony?"
"I just want to talk to you before you head home to Daddy Dearest." Tony called, remaining in his 'sleeping' position.
Tim's face shuttered, "Yeah, no. Not when you make comments like that," he said before revving the motor.
Tony frowned as he shot up, quickly getting on his feet. "What? What did I say?"
Tim glared at him before leaning his head out of the window. "Look, I get it. This information came as a surprise to you, and you are still trying to process it, maybe trying to understand it," he continued, his tone tinged with doubt. "That's what today was about. I agreed to this to help you guys with that, so that it wouldn't effect the team. I've been patient, letting everyone, mostly you, lead and dictate how the conversation progressed, but the one thing I won't condone is you or anyone else disparaging Gibbs."
"I didn't," Tony vehemently protested, "I wouldn't!"
Tim cast a skeptical look. "Daddy Dearest?" he repeated.
"I…oh," Tony realized how what he said could've been misconstrued. "I was just going for the alliteration, I didn't mean anything by it, I swear."
Tim just stared at him, his head still leaning out the car window, unsure how to proceed.
"Look, I really just want to talk, to apologize."
"For?"
Tony shrugged.
Tim sighed and pulled his head back into the car, all the while continuing to look at his teammate.
"Too much," Tony finally said. "Everything," he continued. "Probably more than I even know about," he admitted. "I…Yeah, this is unexpected, and yeah, I didn't really know what to believe, but that's not a reason to treat you as I have."
Tim's eyes remained focused on him. "Why have you?" he finally asked.
"I…can we have this conversation without shouting and with you not in a position to run me over?"
"We don't have to have this conversation. We've never should've had to have a conversation like this. This is all because despite working with each other for two and a half years, and on the same team for more than half of that time, you didn't have enough respect for me to just talk to me about it. You didn't have enough trust in me to think there might be a reason why it wasn't previously mentioned and ask about that. Instead, you declared that I wasn't a friend of yours because of my actions, and practically made this meeting a condition of continuing to work with me. If Abby hadn't intervened or if the team wasn't already down a man, I wouldn't have been surprised if you had kept me from the investigation as well."
Tony flinched, "Yeah. You're right," he agreed, moving out of the way. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that and you shouldn't be forced to talk to me if you don't want to," he said, finally coming to a stop on the opposite side from Tim's car, as far away as possible. "That's not how a teamily should behave. You're free to go," he said, a sad, wistful smile on his face.
"Is he insane?" Jimmy asked after they witnessed Tony trying to prevent Tim from leaving by standing in front of Tim's car.
As soon as the question was asked, three of the people left at the table turned to fourth waiting for an answer.
"No, I do not believe so," Ducky finally responded, "Just desperate, I believe."
Abby snorted, "I'm going with insane, especially with Timmy's temper."
"Tim has a temper?" Jimmy asked. "More than what we saw earlier?"
Abby's head nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah. What we saw earlier was nothing. It takes a lot to come out, and sometimes burns out at quickly as it flares up, but for the time while it's there," she grimaced. "Yeah, not good. No rational thinking for Dr. McGee."
"Doctor?"
"Another story," Abby waved dismissively, turning to look outside once more. "Oh, God, definitely insane! He's laying down!"
"Maybe we should head out there? Help him?"
Both Ziva and Ducky shook their heads. "This is something Anthony must do alone. If we intervene, it will no doubt continue, each time getting progressively worse."
"Worse?" Jimmy repeated incredulously. "How could things get worse than Tony inviting Tim to run him over?"
"It's okay, he's up again," Abby cheerfully pointed out. "They must've made up!"
"I do not think so," Ziva argued. "Look at how Tim is staring straight at Tony, and how Tony-"
"Oh! Tony flinched! Whatever just happened it wasn't good."
They continued to watch silently, each one hoping for the best.
"I…Tim…he drove off," Abby whispered in disbelief, "What does this mean for the team?" she asked, each of them now turning their heads to look down at the table in front of them.
"Maybe he's turning around?" Jimmy half-heartedly offered. His words had each of them turning to face the window in hope of seeing Tim's car reenter the parking lot.
"Tony looks so sad," Abby softly uttered.
"He has given up," Ziva noted sadly.
"What do we do now?" Jimmy asked.
Ducky sighed, "I do not know what we can do, other than be there for all three of them and hope things don't implode."
At those words each of them gave a sigh, all thinking of how they might be able to do that.
"Stupid Tony," he muttered to himself, as he watched his Probie drive away. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Apologize, speak the truth, don't treat the situation as a joke," he angrily hissed to himself. "That's all you had to do, but could you? Nooooo," he sang, taking kicking at the ground in front of him. "Well, now what are you gonna do?
"I could follow him," Tony thought out loud. His keys were in his pockets and his car was right there, a few spots down from where he was standing. "But he was probably heading over to the Boss's place and it was clear that he didn't want Gibbs involved in this right now. That might only make Probie angrier."
Tony sighed as he paced the small patch of ground he stood on, occasionally giving into frustration and kicking at it again.
"I could call," he muttered a few minutes later as the idea came to him. "'Course he's driving and Timmy, the boy scout, wouldn't dare talk and drive at the same time, so the phone would only go to voicemail, which he would probably just delete without listening to it. If I call him later, he might not answer for other reasons, or think that everyone else pressured me into calling, thus negating any effects my calling then would have."
"Ugh!" Tony grimaced as he thought about everyone waiting inside for him. He really didn't want to enter and tell them he messed up. Then again, he might not have to tell them, they would know when Tim didn't return to the table with him. Knowing those Nosy Nancys, they were probably watching the whole thing anyways, he thought. "Another reason to just drive off and leave," he muttered. "The only question was where to go? Not only to hide from everyone, but to fix this.
"Probie's apartment," Tony grinned as he spoke the answer out loud. He could wait there, McGee had to return home sometime today, right? He would even cancel his date if it meant making things right with Tim. He wouldn't even break in, just sit in front of the door, like a stake out. He could work out exactly what to say while he waited for Tim to return home. As he thought, he unconsciously spoke out loud in an attempt to weigh the success of his plan.
"Great, Tony, now you're talking to yourself," he muttered, noticing the odd looks he was getting from some of the patrons that were leaving the parking lot. "That's one way to solve things; you can make Tim feel sorry for you because you went crazy."
The table remained silent, except for the occasional sigh or look out of the window to check that Tony was still there.
After a few more minutes of quiet contemplation, Jimmy hesitantly spoke. "Ziva?"
"Hmm?"
"What did you mean when you said if Gibbs came back?"
"What?" Abby and Ziva asked at the same time.
"When you talked with Tony about reconciling things with Tim, you said 'If Gibbs returns to work, do you think he will just accept working with someone who has expressed such anger at his son?'. What makes you think he won't return now that he remembers?"
Ziva hesitated for a moment.
"Ziva?" Ducky calmly inquired.
"What do you know?"
"I do not know anything," Ziva answered the last question, made by Abby, first, "except that he is not fully recovered," she said to begin her explanation. "No doubt he will take some time to hopefully recover all of his lost memories, or come to terms with those he doesn't remember. There is also the fact that part of him probably still feels like he just lost his wife and daughter a few days ago, that will take more time to recover from than his physical and emotional injuries."
"What else?" Abby quietly questioned.
"How he left MTAC and NCIS," she admitted. "He was angry, not just at himself because it took him so long to remember everything, but because no one was acting on the information he had. He knows the system is not perfect, that politics can be involved, that is possibly why he has rule #18," she added, giving them a slight grin, in hopes of raising their spirits, "But this might just be the log that broke the camel's back, so to speak."
"Straw," Jimmy absently commented, "Straw that broke the camel's back."
"What?" Ziva frowned, "No, it cannot be. A straw cannot break someone's back, even the most injured or sickest of camels. A log, however," she trailed off, letting their imagination complete the picture.
"That's why it's the straw that broke the camel's back," Abby explained, eager to talk or think about something other than Tim and Tony. "It means something small or insignificant that normally wouldn't have much of an impact on its own, but as the last in a series of setbacks ends up being the one that actually had an effect. You know, that 'straw', combined with everything else that happened, became too much for someone to handle."
"Oh!" Ziva smiled, "That does make sense," she exclaimed, causing everyone to smile back at her.
"Now how about putting a genie back in a bottle?" A confused Ziva asked.
11-17-2022
So, Tim and Tony had a bit of a confrontation [I really liked the chapter title-almost called it 'shoot out at the OK Corral (for lack of a better title), when 'High Noon' popped into my mind]. What will happen next? Will Tony cancel his date and camp out at McGee's door in hopes of talking with him? Will he have to resort to going to Gibbs's place to see McGee?
Yeah, not the chapter that all of you have been waiting for (Tim finally telling everyone what happened)...still, I hope you liked it.
Thank you to everyone who continues to read this fic. A special thanks for all the reviews (I am truly grateful for all of them).
