Kate walked in to work Monday morning with Tim in tow. Because he'd been suspended for the fight, and she had no one to watch him, she had to bring her son into work for the next few days. She'd cleared it with both Gibbs and the director. Tim would be spending his time at the lab with Abby while he was there.

Tim's eyes landed on Tony the second he stepped off the elevator. He immediately made a beeline for him. "Hi, Tony."

"Hey, buddy. I hear you'll be spending a few days with us," Tony said.

"Uh huh. Is this your desk?" Tim asked.

"Yep! It's cool, huh?"

"Yeah, but not as cool as you and Mom catching the bad guys. I wanna do that when I grow up too," Tim said.

"No, you don't," Kate said, though it was mostly in humor. She did not want her son being any kind of agent, putting his life on the line on a daily basis. She would of course be proud of it, but she'd prefer he pick something safer. But he was only nine, so she wasn't too concerned about it. He'd probably change his mind in a week. Still, she would try to steer him away from the idea if she could.

"Of course you do," Tony said as though Kate hadn't spoken. "We do cool things, especially me. I'm kind of in charge," he said before unconsciously checking to make sure Gibbs wasn't in the vicinity.

Kate laughed.

"Mom says Agent Gibbs is in charge," Tim said.

"Well, yeah, but after him, it's me. I'm called the senior field agent. It's a really important job," Tony bragged.

Kate rolled her eyes. Of course, Tony would boast to her nine-year-old son. He was probably the only one on the planet that would be awed by it.

"Cool. What do you do that Mom doesn't?" Tim asked.

"Well, for one, he makes other people do the work he doesn't want to," Kate joked. It was in fun. Tony worked hard, even if sometimes it didn't appear that way, but she had to give him a hard time, especially when he was bragging so much.

"Well, yeah, that's one of the perks," Tony said as though it were obvious.

Kate shook her head and looked down at her son. "Okay, let's get you downstairs. I've got a lot of work to do."

"I'll take him, Kate. I know you've still got a lot of paperwork to do from last week," Tony said.

Kate smiled. She and Tony ribbed each other a lot, but they had each other's back, which she was grateful for. "Thanks, Tony."

Tim gave his mother a pitiful look. "Can't I stay with you? I won't bother you."

"No, honey. We talked about this. You have nothing to worry about. Abby is very nice. Now, I already told her not to, but if she forgets and tries to hug you, politely tell her you're not comfortable with it."

"Okay," Tim said a little unhappily.

"Here's your bag. It has your school work and your video game in it. The latter you will not touch until you've done at least two hours of school work," Kate told him as she handed him his backpack. She wanted her son doing some work while he was off of school, so she'd gotten all his work. While she had no intention of punishing Tim for being suspended, she also wasn't going to let him treat it like a vacation. She didn't expect a problem though. Tim was good when it came to doing his schoolwork. Most likely, he'd do mor than the two hours she stipulated.

"Yes, Mom," Tim said as he put his back pack around his shoulders.

"Okay, I love you. I'll come get you for lunch," Kate told him before ruffling his hair for a second. "Oh, and Tony, I already told Abby this too, but remind her that if she lets him see anything case related, I will kill her."

"Got it," Tony said with a chuckle before leading Tim to the elevator. Once inside, Tony hit the button for the lab floor. "Your mom's right. Abby's super nice, and she's looking forward to meeting you."

"Really? Why?" Tim wondered.

"Because your mom's her friend," Tony said. Abby had been asking to meet Tim since she found out about him, but Kate was worried because Abby could be very enthusiastic, and Tim was very wary around strangers.

"I hate being so scared of people," Tim said quietly. He knew it wasn't normal to be so frightened. He was that way because his dad would hit him, and that made him scared of other people. His mom said that it was because what his dad did messed with him being able to trust most people.

"Being wary of strangers is always a good thing. Too many kids aren't more cautious around people they don't know," Tony said. He said it to make the kid feel better, but it was true. As a cop, he'd seen too many missing kid reports because they weren't afraid of strangers.

"It's different with me," Tim said.

"Maybe, but it's not your fault. You're a great kid," Tony told him. The elevator soon stopped, and he led the boy out of it.

Tim immediately put his hands to his ears. The music was blaring loudly.

"Abby!" Tony yelled as they entered the lab. When the goth turned to them, he made a cutting motion with his hand, indicating that she should shut the music off.

Abby immediately used the remote to turn off the music. "Sorry."

Tim tentatively lowered his hands.

An excited Abby ran towards them. She started to go to hug the young boy with Tony, but at the last minute, she remembered Kate saying he didn't like that, and instead held out her hand to him. "Hi, Tim. It's so great to meet you. I'm Abby. Your mom and I are good friends."

Tim hesitantly shook her hand for a minute before pulling his back. "Hi."

"Your mom told me you like science. There's some really cool stuff here I can show you if you want," Abby told the boy.

"Okay," Tim said. So far, he liked her well enough. She was still a stranger to him, which he didn't like, but she was offering to show him some things, and he had to admit that her lab looked cool. He wanted to explore it, but his mom had been sure to tell him not to touch anything without permission.

"Uh, on that note, Abs, Kate asked me to remind you of her threat of murder if the kid saw anything not age appropriate," Tony told her.

"I remember. I won't show him any evidence. I don't even really have any evidence to show him anyway," Abby said.

"Just relaying a message. I'll see you later, Tim. Maybe I can get your mom to let me tag along for lunch," Tony said.

"Bye, Tony," Tim said with a wave.

Tony waved back and headed for the elevator.

"You seem to like Tony," Abby said.

"Yeah, he's cool. He saved me and played video games with me," Tim said.

"Well, let's see if I can compete. Like I said, I've got some cool things. I've also got a few computer games you can play later. Come on," Abby said.

Tim eagerly followed her, deciding that being her might not be so bad.