JF9
It was almost 0400 hours, when Tim heard his bedroom door open and soft footfalls on the half-spiralled staircase that led up to the next floor up, where his bedroom and ensuite was located. "Tim" a feminine voice called out. "It's me, Kell."
"Kell?" he asked, his voice sleepy. "That you?" Tim was groggy, he hated being woken up before his body was ready. Especially with less than two hours sleep. It had been after midnight when they had bid everyone good night and he'd urged Kelly to sleep off the wine.
"There's a leak in my room, coming from the window. The dripping is keeping me awake." She told him, as she came closer to the bed. She was wearing a small skin coloured camisole and white cotton boy shorts, with a short cotton robe untied.
Kelly couldn't believe the size of his room. It spanned the entire length of the top floor and was half the width. The far end of the room was closed off and she assumed there was the ensuite and she could see the entrance to what looked to be a huge walk-in closet. A large Californian King four poster mahogany bed was nearby where he had been asleep, with matching bedside tables. A lace canopy similar to one on Kelly's bed and in the room, they had allocated to Ellie and Jake was covering the top of Tim's bed. Ten feet away was two, three-seater sofas facing one another with a large area rug and a coffee table in between them. In one corner of the far end of the room was a desk, filing cabinet and double lowboy storage drawers, with a matching bookcase. In the opposite corner, Tim had two comfy chairs and a telescope that were angled perfectly towards a set of double doors that led to a balcony and up to a rooftop platform. Kelly could just imagine Tim taking his telescope up to look at the stars on a clear night.
"I'll take a look." Tim said as he climbed out of bed, it was a warm night and his attic bedroom was extra warm from the heat of the day, so he was only in a cotton pair of shorts. His chest was now a wonderful range of colours from some greys and some darker spots to varying shades of brown, green and yellow bruises from his injury. He hadn't taken anything or needed any pain relief since Tuesday, which relieved Tim because he hated taking pain meds, of any kind.
As the two of them entered, Tim could immediately see the problem. The rain that was currently tumbling down in the gentle summer storm outside had the waterspout backed up and the overflow was coming in through the windows seal. It had happened before and could be fixed in the daylight. He couldn't do anything about it, right now. "Grab your gear, I'll fix it in the daylight." Tim told her as he placed a bucket to catch the drips. Forever thankful he had insisted Penny leave the tile from when the last renovations were done. There used to be doors there, but when Penny and Tim had switched rooms, Penny changed the doors to windows. "You can either go and bunk with your dad, Tony or me."
"You couldn't possibly need to use that whole bed." Kelly retorted and Tim resisted the urge to groan. Not that he didn't like Kelly, but he hadn't slept in the same bed with anyone since before Delilah had been killed. "Is that OK? I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
"It'll be OK, I won't even know you're there." Tim said. "Besides, I can take the sofa in my room."
"Don't be ridiculous, it's like you said, you won't even know I'm there." Kelly grabbed her cell phone and followed Tim back into his bedroom.
Tim took Kelly by the hand to make sure she didn't stumble or trip on the stairs in the dark. When they made it to the attic level, Tim didn't let go of her hand as he led her over to the bed and pulled back the covers on the opposite side of the bed, before joining her on his side. He leaned over and switched off the lamp before nodding back off to bed.
The next morning, Gibbs and Penny were the first ones awake in the house, followed Ducky and Ellie. Jake had left, he had received a phone call around 0200 with an emergency at the NSA and had to return to DC. Ellie had opted to stay, saying Gibbs would give her ride back to DC.
After the morning pleasantries were exchanged, and coffee was consumed, Tony had joined them also. "Where are the dynamic duo this morning?" Tony asked in a sing song voice. "Sleeping in? That's unlike McGoo."
"I thought Kelly was up already, her bedroom door was open when I got up to go to the bathroom at 0530." Ellie commented confused.
"Timothy is not awake yet." Penny announced, looking at her rear yard. "The cover is still on the pool; he always removes it while his coffee is brewing."
Ducky was wondering if something had happened to them. "Are we sure?" He asked, wondering if he could come up with an explanation for his missing friends. "Perhaps Kelly and Timothy went for a run on the beach."
"Nope, those doors were locked when I got up." Gibbs said. Gibbs had unlocked and opened the doors when he woke up at 0500. He suspected Kelly was in bed still, hungover. He had seen how much wine his daughter had consumed last night, but even he had to admit, she looked a lot more relaxed than Tuesday when he had seen her last.
"If Tim's asleep, I say it's high time I woke him." Tony grinned widely at the group. "Have to do my duty, I wouldn't be a good big brother if I didn't, would I?"
Despite all of their protests, Tony took the stairs, two at a time, finding Tim's bedroom door at the end of the hall. He was surprised when he opened it to find another staircase. Once at the top of the half-spiralled staircase, He silently gasped at what he saw. He pulled out his cell and snapped a couple of shots before dialling Gibbs.
A quick call to Gibbs from Tony had everyone running up the stairs and sneaking into Tim's room, too. "What am I looking at?" Gibbs asked Tony gruffly, his voice low, not looking at the bed yet. As Ellie, Ducky and Penny arrived, Tony pointed to the bed at the far end of the room.
In the middle of the californian king bed, the duvet had been kicked off to the side, with nothing but a sheet covering them, as the two bodies completely intertwined with one another, lay slumbering peacefully. Tim's naked back, which still bore a few colourful marks and scratches from his injuries was on display to them, as one of Kelly's hands were splayed over it, her other hand on the nape of his neck, her fingertips in his hair.
Kelly's small nude coloured camisole blending in with her skin tone, in the dim light of the bedroom, making it appear that she was naked. Tim moaned in his sleep, shifting onto his back and pulling a sleeping Kelly onto his chest with him as he moved. Kelly appeared to snuggle in a little deeper, resting her arm across his naked torso, her other hand was propped under her cheek, resting on his pectorals.
As she moved to snuggle into him deeper, the sheet dipped lower, and his hip bone became visible. At that stage, Penny and Ducky ushered Tony, Ellie and Gibbs out of the room, leaving the slumbering couple alone. "Ah... Do we think they...? You know?" Ellie asked, once she had recovered from the shock. The look on Gibbs' face, had stopped her from elaborating further.
But Tony had no such sense of self-preservation. "Did the mattress mambo? Did the deed? Or the dirty? Played with the fire? Laid back and thought of -"
"Enough, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, furiously. "I don't care what they did or didn't do. Those photos that you took better get deleted, too." Gibbs' tone left no room for debate.
"I wouldn't dare, boss." Tony tried to deny, but a glare from Gibbs had Tony showing Gibbs his phone as they were permanently deleted. Gibbs knew his SFA too well.
"Discovered what went wrong" Penny announced, coming out of the room she had assigned to Kelly. She explained that the storm had damaged the weather seal in the window and there had been a leak. "Timothy must have offered to let her crash with him for the night."
Gibbs muttered that he needed coffee and found Ducky already in the kitchen, steeping his tea and starting another pot of coffee. "Are you OK, Jethro?" he asked his friend.
"Fine, Duck." Gibbs answered in a monotone. "They're both adults and can make their own decisions. It's just that Tim's pretty vulnerable right now and I don't want to see either of them hurt or taken advantage of. Having sex or rebounding with each other, it's not really a good idea, Duck. Someone's going to get hurt."
"For an investigator, you weren't very observant, Jethro. Timothy had some plaid cotton shorts on, and Kelly was wearing a skin tone coloured singlet. The two of them were hardly naked. My guess would be that they were innocently sleeping after the leak Penny discovered and mutually went seeking heat or warmth, possibly comfort." Ducky commented and watched the shoe drop on Gibbs' face. "It is also not any of our business, if something is developing between them. Whether something happens or not between them; you need to let it play out without getting involved."
"Then what's with the nicknames?" Gibbs asked. "They're new, they didn't have those on Tuesday when I saw Tim and Kelly together last."
"I call Tim that after the Greek Titan God Atlas, who personified the quality of endurance. He was punished to carry the weight of the world for his actions in a war against Zeus. Tim carries the weight of the world and although it's not a punishment for him, he doesn't complain about it. He silently endures whatever life throws at him. I was going to call him the Mr Marathon Man, but Tony has a gutter brain." Kelly answered as she joined the two of them in the kitchen.
"Morning baby, where's Tim gone?" he asked, kissing his daughter's cheek.
"He's on the roof, just started fixing the window seal so he can have his bed back." she replied an absent-mindedly, fixing a coffee cup for herself.
After breakfast, Tim had fixed the window seal and changed into his sweats. Tony Ellie, Penny and Ducky were playing a game of rousing monopoly. Gibbs was sitting on the back deck and saw Tim slip by through the side gate, down onto the beach from his vantage point where he was reading the Saturday paper. Tim had his ear buds in, and Gibbs knew from past experience that Tim wouldn't have been able hear him if he had of called out. He watched Tim leash Sharni from the dog run in the side of the house where she had been staying and off, they went together, man and dog.
Tim put one foot in front of the other one, pushing himself harder and faster than ever before. The comfort of the sand, helping absorb the impact of the jogging on his ribs. But he knew why he was running, stopping by the rocks, knowing it was the two-mile marker and turning back spot, he sank to the closest flat rock. The one he had sat on a lot in the past.
Tim had been mortified; when he had first began coming online, this morning. He had managed to twist himself up in the sheets and had been curled around Kelly. His hand had been massaging her breast and he had been rutting into her lithe body from behind with his impressive morning wood. Kelly had been enjoying it, too. She was making these throaty sounds that had been encouraging him, spurring him on. When he was finally awake and registered what he was doing, he gently pulled away as not to startle the sleeping woman in his arms. Kelly hadn't laughed or teased him about it. She had whimpered lightly at the loss of the body heat though; she hadn't mentioned anything about it. She just smiled at him, kissed his cheek good morning and got up and started her day.
He hated himself. His behaviour wasn't very gentlemanly, nor was it faithful to Delilah or her memory. Tim felt that was the biggest betrayal his body had made to him. He wasn't sure he could forgive himself. "Ready to tell me what's going on?" Gibbs asked as he sat down on the rocks next to the man who had been clearly preoccupied. "I could guess, but it'll be better if you tell me."
Tim jumped at the sound of his boss' voice. He hadn't been expecting to see him and certainly thought he was aware enough to notice if he was no longer alone on the sand. Pulling out the ear buds, he switched off his music and asked Gibbs to repeat himself. Tim tried denying anything was wrong, but he failed miserably. Gibbs could always see right through him. "Don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'll guess." Gibbs began, scrutinising the younger man before him. "I know you and my daughter spent the night in the same bed. If I had to guess, biology, right? Something biological, happened that was beyond your control. Now you're questioning your fidelity to Delilah. It's happened to all of us, it's just biology, Tim."
"I know that." Tim told him, and in his head, he knew that was true. But that didn't explain practically feeling Kelly up and rutting against her in wanton desire, nor kneading her breast. That was the part, he planned to take to the grave with and if he confessed to Gibbs, he would be the one ending Tim's life. "It's just..."
"You weren't unfaithful, Tim. Sure it probably feels that way, but you weren't, not really." Gibbs reiterated to him. "The reality is that Delilah stopped being your partner the second her heart stopped beating. Sounds cruel, I know, but that's the advice Jack gave me when Shannon was killed. Guess what, though? As harsh as it sounded, he was right. Still, it didn't stop me from feeling like that the first time I slept with a woman who wasn't Shannon. I definitely felt like I had been unfaithful, too. It means you were a loyal partner to Delilah." Gibbs watched Tim agonise over his feelings as he took on board what the older man was telling him. "The first time, with a new woman, all the same feelings you're currently feeling are going to come rushing back to you, tenfold. It's because you're a gentleman, Tim. I know nothing untoward happened in that bed, but because of who you are, the man you are, you feel lousy about it. You wouldn't be you, if you weren't upset. That's not a bad thing, Tim, just the opposite. That makes you a hell of a guy, Tim."
"Kelly..." Tim began, but Gibbs gave him a warm smile, standing up and patting the quiet dog, before offering Tim a hand up too.
"I bet she was a real class act about it, too." Gibbs smiled again. "Probably pretended not to notice and slipped out of bed. Kelly's a lot like her mother, that's something Shan would have done."
"First she kissed my cheek and wished me a good morning." Gibbs guessed that if she was close enough to kiss Tim's cheek, she was close enough to feel what had been going on too.
"Good news is, when you're finally ready and you do eventually move on. Something tells me we'll be having this conversation again." Gibbs smiled at him, as they began walking back to the house. He looked Tim over and wondered what his young, shy, genius friend was thinking. "Or if, it's Kell you move on, maybe not." Gibbs guessed trying to make him laugh.
"We're just friends, Gibbs." Tim reiterated, his tone sounded firm and sure of himself. To Gibbs, it was amazing how quickly Kelly and Tim had jumped on the "just friend's" bandwagon. Both of their collective memory's seemed to have lapsed, temporarily, because they both seem to have forgotten, that he was there when they met. He saw the spark between them. He was the one who had informed Rachel about it.
As the two men approached the McGee family's beach house again, Gibbs had already had all the information about how Tim had been doing out here. Gibbs was surprised that Tim was already up to running four weeks from all that rib damage, but then remembered that he had a good twenty-five years on Tim. Obviously, Tim was going to bounce back quicker. "You free next weekend?" Tim asked, as they started the trek up from the main beach line to the house together.
"Ah, yeah. We're on call, but Balboa owes us so many favours I can call one in. What's up?" Gibbs asked, as Tim stopped and took a seat on the lounger.
"Penny's giving me the Georgetown apartment that Grandpa Nelson used when he was in D.C, on business at the White House or the Pentagon." Tim told his boss. "Wondering if you can help me move? I've got to get away from Silver Spring. Kelly already said she'd help, but I think I'm going to need someone a little stronger. Someone who won't make wisecracks or comments at every turn."
"You're moving?" Gibbs knew Tim had mentioned he wanted to move, but he hadn't taken him seriously. He thought it was just something Tim was saying in his grief. "Where's this apartment?"
"Let's just say, I'll be a hell of a lot closer to the yard. Closer than your place." Tim grinned, knowing he would be officially the closest MCRT member to the yard. "It's on the outskirts of Georgetown, near Foggy Bottom."
"Where?" Gibbs asked, surprised. He knew the McGee family had money and dabbled in real estate, but he didn't know about anything that close to the yard. He only knew about Norfolk, Reston, Silver Spring and Alameda.
"Let's just say, under five miles to the yard, an eleven-minute drive and the penthouse has a great view of the Roosevelt Island Park." Tim grinned at him. "Penny and I have organised movers to come in and pack everything from my apartment in Silver Spring and move everything, but they can't touch my desk. I don't trust them to move it."
"I noticed your desk was in a little need of TLC, seems like a good project we could do together. Restore it to its former glory." Gibbs offered, knowing Tim might need a distraction, especially once he returned to work on light duties.
"Have you ever worked with antique oak before?" Tim asked Gibbs. "That's a family heirloom, Gibbs. Literally, part of American Naval history. Admiral Farragut McGee, the first McGee in the US Navy. He built that desk. He ordered his adjutant to ship it to whichever ship he found himself stationed on. The first navy vessel it was ever onboard was the USS Delaware in 1798. It was onboard, as was he, the day that it captured the French privateer Le Croyable, as well as the following year when the frigate Constellation captured the French frigate L'Insurgente. That was the US Navy's first victory over an enemy war ship. In my file, when it says the McGee family is navy royalty, it's not a lie an until me, every male McGee has served in the US Navy."
"Now, you serve and protect it, alongside the Marine Corps." Gibbs said proudly. "You're a good agent, Tim and I think you made the right call, joining NCIS. Despite whatever your father thinks about it all. He should be damn proud of you, I know I am."
Tim didn't reply to Gibbs' praise verbally, just nodded at him and led him up the path, passed the pool and into the kitchen.
The rest of the day was spent in boisterous laughter as everyone exchanged funny stories from various times in their lives. Kelly told Tony and Ducky about Ethan getting engaged to Sherry and how she had a work function coming up on Friday night and the CEO was planning on a special toast and celebration for the couple who had found love at Merk Publishing House. "I'll go with you, save facing them alone." Tony offered her. "You know, you could say you're dating the NCIS Agent extraordinaire; Tony DiNozzo."
"Thanks, but that's not necessary, Tony." Kelly said. She was still holding out hope that Tim would accompany her.
"Mr Thom E Gemcity is escorting her." Tim announced coming up from behind Kelly with wan smile.
"You're the best, Tim!" Kelly exclaimed as she threw her arms around him and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. She had been aiming for his cheek, but she hadn't counted on the force of her hug, moving his face.
Gibbs, Ducky and Ellie had heard the commotion from their poker game and come out onto the deck to see what was happening. Gibbs was not expecting to see his daughter with her arms around Tim and her lips on his face.
Poor Tim blushed profusely, thoroughly embarrassed at Kelly's excitement. At her father's questioning look, Kelly quickly explained that Tim was going to accompany her to her work function as Thom E Gemcity. Telling her father that Ethan and the woman he cheated on her with, would be there too.
"Playing boy-toy, McGee?" Ellie asked, surprised. She couldn't picture it, her friend Tim was a wholesome man, a gentleman. However, she had noticed that Kelly and Tim had been touchy feely with one another all weekend and it hadn't surprised her. She was a firm believer in fate.
"Whatever you want, Sunshine. I'm yours, for the whole night." Tim declared with a wink, his voice was melodic, and Kelly willed her body not to react. The timbre in his voice was an octave higher than she had ever heard before and it thrilled her. This morning she had enjoyed waking up in his arms, feeling his body sheltering her, protecting her, keeping her warm and safe, securely in his arms.
"Swoon!" she deadpanned with a wicked gleam in her eye. Gibbs had seen it, as had Ellie. But Tony and Tim had totally missed it.
Tony had started teasing Tim about the burn and Tim had decided to hook up the extra speakers to the sound system. Tony and Tim had been planning most of the morning to throw an impromptu pool party for the four of them. They were going to hook up the speakers and play some tunes while they drank and swam the afternoon away. There were plans to take the small portable grill down to the beach, for a picnic dinner and possibly a bonfire.
Gibbs had plans to talk to Ducky and Penny about Tim, now he had been able to talk to the young man this morning. Plus, he wanted to know if his contemporaries were on the same page. He could almost swear that he'd been watching them flirt a little more than usual. All the awkwardness from this morning had gone and that surprised him. He knew Tim was generally awkward and shy around girls.
The music pumping from the back deck was already giving Gibbs, Penny and Ducky a headache, as Penny lead them down to the basement. As soon as she closed the door, she removed the ear plugs. Much to their relief, the basement was soundproofed. "We've held many pool parties over the years. Timothy's the third generation that has lived in this house. This was something Nelson did when John graduated from the naval academy. That graduating class partied really hard, that was the wildest party we've ever had here. A lot of those men, those party animals are now very high up in the Navy. Hard to believe, the defence of this country is in those hands oof those men." She chuckled, as the three of them took a seat at the table and Penny began shuffling the deck of cards, preparing to start a new game of poker. "Good news is two hours of whatever the hell they're up to out there and the music goes off. Timothy knows about the sound curfew imposed on all beach tenants."
"Is it just me, or is that budding, new friendship between Tim and Kelly full of something else besides just friendship? Flirtation? Lust?" Gibbs asked, the three of them had exchanged enough knowing looks so far this weekend to know what the agent was alluding to. "Because if I have to keep hearing that 'we're just friends' line ..."
"I saw a spark." Penny declared, excitedly. "I first saw it yesterday, when she arrived. She gives him the sense of normalcy that he craves, and it calms his world when its chaotic. I think Timothy also feels guilty, like he hasn't mourned Delilah long enough, but wants to get back to having fun and living his life. Back to normal."
"Perhaps that's why he agreed to accompany young Kelly to her work function, as Thom E Gemcity." Ducky theorised, out loud. "Perhaps it's his way of giving back to her, thanking her for the security she gives him. We know why she calls him Atlas. What is it he calls her?"
"Sunshine." Penny supplied with a warm, infectious grin. "Seems pretty self-explanatory to me. They met at a time in Tim's life when he was at a very low point. You said it yourself Gibbs, she bought him out of his monosyllabic state at the height of his grief. She's been his sunlight through the darkness of his grief, lighting his path up."
Upstairs, Tony was giving his opinion on all the flaws in their plans. Tony and Ellie were approaching the plan for Kelly's work function like a critical undercover mission, one that they could not fail. "You two are going to have to get comfortable inside each other's personal spaces. Although this morning, there wasn't much space between you two." Tony jested at Tim, mostly so he could tease Tim playfully and see him blush.
"So, we know..." Ellie told Tim with a grin. "Your, ah... Penny. She came to rescue, saying that you rescued her after a window leaked."
"True, the window was leaking and rather than wake up Dad to bunk with him, Tim let me crash beside him. He has a large bed, not sure how we ended up that close, together."
"Gibbs, Ducky and Penny have disappeared somewhere together. It's just us here, now. You two should kiss now. Get all of the awkwardness out of the way now, so you're comfortable on Friday night with the PDA's." Tony suggested, waggling his eyebrows at the duo.
They had now turned the music down and the four of them were discussing Kelly's dreaded work function over beers on the sand, overlooking the beach. "Do I need to remind you; my girlfriend has only been gone four weeks, Tony?" Tim asked, trying to rein Tony's enthusiasm in.
"Do I need to remind you, that you need to be able to sell your cover; extra hard? Ethan is going to expect some charade, you need to be able to fool him." Tony persisted, genuinely. Tony actually thought now would be a good time for them to try because Gibbs wasn't hovering around. Gibbs would never know, and he and Ellie would definitely keep this secret for McGee. "It's not like Ellie and I are going to tell him. You can count on us to keep it a secret."
"Tony, we will be ready. Just not right now." Tim told him, knowing if Tony had said he could count on him and Ellie to keep it a secret then he cold. Things had changed between Tim and Tony after Ziva left, the boys were more open and honest with one another. Their relationship become less about one-upmanship and more about brotherly, BFF love and trust. "We're not going to kiss, just to satisfy you."
"Tim?" Kelly asked, seeing the grief in Tim's face. "You don't have to do this. Just come as Tim, my friend. I don't need to make Ethan realise what he's missing or make him jealous. I just need you to come with me and have a good time. No pressure, I already told you that." Kelly told him. "I am over Ethan, and I definitely don't want him back."
"Thanks, Kell." Tim said and kissed her cheek. Tony and Ellie watched as a slight blush coloured her cheeks a rosy hue. "You're the best."
About three hours ago Tony had realised that Tim was beginning to fall for their boss' daughter and that she was already crushing on him. Last night, with Kelly's slip of the tongue, this morning, finding them in bed together. 'Yep, they're liking one another, much more than they should.' he thought to himself as he watched the blush rise on her face.
For their dinner, they ended up having it down on the beach, starting the bonfire low, cooking their steaks before eating and building the fire up high. They were all sitting around the fire. Ellie had stolen Tony's jacket, as the cool breeze blew in off the water. Tony raised his eyebrows as he saw Kelly snuggle into Tim's side and Tim slip his arm around her, pulling her in closer to him. Gibbs caught his senior agent's eyes and realised that Tony had worked it out, too.
That was good. Gibbs knew he and Tim had been talking a lot since Delilah's death. But Gibbs also knew, when a time would finally come when Tim would need to confess about his changing feelings towards Kelly, he knew Tim would need Tony to confide in. Gibbs knew he wouldn't confide in him, because Kelly was his daughter. At least now, he and Tony could be on the same page, he just needed to get the senior agent alone and up to speed. Gibbs truly thought it was only a matter of time now.
Calling it a night, Gibbs and Ducky begged off first, with Kelly and Ellie following behind with Penny. Leaving Tony and Tim alone on the beach by the bonfire "Talk to me, Tim." Tony begged, taking in his best friends' appearance. "Tell me everything."
"The pain is still there; I am just taking one day at a time." Tim told him with a sigh. "Having Penny here is a big help, thank you for getting her, here. Being able to talk to Gibbs about it and having Kelly's friendship has been invaluable, not to mention everything you've done for me. I think it's because Kelly doesn't have anything to do with law enforcement or the DoD. It's that bit of normalcy that I've been craving. I'm not ready to move on, but I have been doing a lot of talking. To Gibbs, to Penny, to Rachel, I think every talk is helping."
"And the ribs?" Tony asked. "I saw your colourful chest earlier when we were in the pool, but how's the pain doing? I've noticed you've had the odd of glass of wine or bottle of beer, this weekend."
"Haven't had any pain medication since Tuesday when Gibbs and I went on a small hike. Running down the trail wasn't a good idea."
"Heard Abs crowded you and caused a flashback at the diner." Tony commented. Everyone had lectured Abby on her behaviour despite the fact that she tried to deny she did it and Gibbs had the security footage of her at the diner.
"I only remember bits of it. Gibbs being there afterwards and Elaine offering to call me a cab." Tim confided in Tony. "Never had a flashback before and haven't had one since."
"Abby ever yells at you again, I've got your six. Yell at her back, she has no right to verbally berate you. You haven't done anything wrong. Promise me?" he asked, he wanted Tim to know he had his support, no matter what. "Everyone is entitled to a private life."
Tim nodded his affirmative answer and on Tim's second yawn had the boys fully extinguishing the bonfire and heading back up to the house. The house was silent, and Tim locked up, letting Tony head on up to bed. As he reached the top floor, he saw Kelly's bedroom light still on and decided to tentatively knock on the door, whispering that it was him. Just to double check that there weren't any more issues.
Kelly called out softly, permission for Tim to enter. She was sitting up on the bed. Her nude-coloured camisole and soft, cotton shorts were showing off an enormous amount of tanned skin. The blankets and sheets twisted. She had definitely caught a little sun this weekend. "You, OK?" Tim asked, taking in her appearance. He tried to ignore the subtle swell of her cleavage, ensuring he was maintaining eye contact at all times. The problem with eye contact was he could see the slightly messed up sleep hair and it sent his mind into overdrive. Knullrufs; dishevelled, disordered hair from sex.
"Yeah," she whispered, not knowing how the sound travelled through the walls in this house. "Bad dream."
"Wanna talk about it?" he offered and began to regret his question as he felt something he hadn't felt since the night Delilah was killed, before the two of them had left for the gala. It had taken him by surprise, he hadn't been expecting to feel that way, especially about Kelly Gibbs.
"Thanks, but it's just the usual gamut of nightmares that plague me on repeat." She spoke low, sighing deeply and Tim tried not to watch the swell of her breasts rise and fall.
Tim couldn't help himself; he leaned over and gently kissed the corner of her lips softly. "Sleep sweet, Sunshine."
He mentally blamed Tony for his stupidity, aiming for the corner of her mouth, instead of her cheek, as he made his way back to his room, to sleep in his extra-large cold bed, alone. Tony had planted the idea in Tim's head and now, he couldn't shake it.