Tim was in the living room watching TV. He wasn't a big TV person, but there wasn't much to do without his phone or laptop. It was either this or talk to the others. He wasn't interested in that. He was on the outs with everyone in the house. Shannon and Kelly for obvious reason and Gibbs… well, he had gone out his way not to talk to Gibbs since their blowup the day before. He was trying to avoid another incident like that.

Tim was pulled from his thoughts when Kelly entered the room. He ignored her at first, but then she came to sit next to him and started talking.

"Tim, do you think we could talk?" Kelly asked.

Tim debated. He really didn't wanna talk right now. He would just get angry and probably start yelling. Then Gibbs would get involved and it would turn into another battle. But that it all seemed unavoidable. He and Kelly were going to have to have this out sooner or later. They might as well get it over with.

Tim shut the TV off. "Where are your parents?"

"I asked Mom to keep Dad busy for a little while. I think they went upstairs. I don't wanna think about what they're doing up there," Kelly said in an attempt at humor. It didn't seem to work, as her husband didn't even crack a smile. "Anyway, she'll keep him away for a little while."

"Well, if anyone can keep Gibbs on a leash it's Shannon," Tim said. His mother-in-law was a force to be reckoned with. Even Gibbs would be hard pressed to one up her. "If you wanna talk, go ahead.

Kelly took a deep breath. She knew how hard this conversation was going to be. "I know how angry you are at me. You have every right to be. You have every right to hate me."

"I don't hate you, Kelly. Sometimes I wish I did. You couldn't hurt me like this if I hated you," Tim said. Over the years, he'd tried to scrounge up hate for Kelly so that the pain would go away, but it never worked. Despite how much she'd hurt him, he'd always love her.

"I didn't want to hurt you. It was quite the opposite actually. I love you so much, Tim. I just wanted to protect you," Kelly said.

"That doesn't fly! You don't get to protect me by leaving me. That's not your choice to make! And if you were so worried about my safety, why'd you marry me in the first place?" Tim asked.

"There hadn't been a lot of activity with the Reynosa Cartel at the time. I guess I convinced myself we'd be safe. And I loved you. I wanted to be with you. It was selfish of me, but I just couldn't give you up," Kelly said.

"Except that that's what you did to. And worst of all, you didn't give me a choice or even an explanation. You just left me some stupid letter saying it was for the best," Tim said with pain and anger laced in his voice.

"I knew that if I told you the truth, you would've insisted on coming with us. That wouldn't have been fair," Kelly said.

"And this was fair? Making me wonder if my wife ever truly loved me was fair? I would wonder that all the time, up until the day I learned why you really left actually. I would wrack my brain trying to figure it out. I came to the conclusion that either you stopped loving me or you never really had in the first place," Tim said.

"I never wanted you to think that. I just…"

"You wanted to protect me. Yes, you've said it many times. I get it. But that doesn't make it okay. You don't have the right to make my decisions for me. You just don't. And you don't get to lie to me either, which you've been doing since the moment we met." Tim said. He understood why she didn't tell him at first. She hadn't really known him in the beginning. For all she knew, he could be the enemy. But she should've told him something before agreeing to marry him.

"What was I supposed to say? That I'd spent most of my life running away from drug dealers who wanted to kill both me and my mother. That's not exactly what you say to a guy you hope to be with one day," Kelly said.

"No, I get why you didn't tell me at first. But after you knew you knew I wasn't going anywhere, after you accepted my proposal, you should've said something. God, Kelly, I didn't even know your real name," Tim said.

"No one has, Tim. I couldn't tell anybody my real name. It was too dangerous. And, yeah, I realize that lying to you about when once we were married was wrong, but I couldn't tell you," Kelly said.

"You know I'd heard of you? All these years working for Gibbs, I'd heard of his daughter. I'd heard of Kelly Gibbs. All these years, I've known all about you. The only thing I didn't know was that my wife and my boss' daughter were the same person. You know how shocking it was to find that out?" Tim asked. He was still reeling from the information. Never in a million years did he think that his Kelly was Gibbs' as well. It was beyond shocking to him.

"I never expected that either. I never thought you'd know my dad. Then again, I thought my father was dead," Kelly said.

"He thought you were dead too. I wish I would've known. I could've told him the truth if I'd known," Tim said. And he would've. Despite the intimidation he knew he would've felt, he would've told Gibbs the truth if he'd known. He would've relieved his boss of the horrible nightmare that his family was dead.

"I didn't know either, Tim. You can't blame me for that when I didn't know either," Kelly said. She would take any amount of blame Tim could throw at her for leaving him and lying to him, but she couldn't be blamed for something she knew nothing about.

"I'm not. I'm just trying to work it out in my head. It's hard, you know? It's hard to reconcile my wife with my boss' daughter. You're the same person, but it's hard to believe. And then there's the crap in my head from you leaving me and lying to me for so long. It's a little bit much to take in after one day,' Tim said.

"I know. I'm so sorry I hurt you, I really am. I…I don't wanna lose you, Tim. Please tell me there's a way for us to survive this," Kelly begged as her voice began to crack.

A part of Tim wanted to grab ahold of his wife and comfort her, but the other part of him was still way too angry for that. Still, she was his wife and he needed her to know that he didn't hate her. "I want us to survive this. I never filed for divorce because I couldn't bear the idea of losing you. I still can't. But you need to give me some time. I'll do whatever it takes to get us through this, but it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take time and work for me to forgive you, but I'll find a way.

Kelly dried her tears and nodded her head. After how much she'd hurt him, that was the least she could do. "Okay."

Tim stood up from the couch and headed upstairs.