Note: There is a scene in this chapter in which Crowley kisses Gibbs. This is not slash; it plays on the idea in the SPN universe that a Crossroads Demon will kiss their victim to seal the deal.

Chapter 4

"Boss He's coming... the one who-"

"You should have left while you had the chance, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs jumped up and whirled around to find a stout man standing behind him, wearing a black suit. He immediately went for his gun, but he was disarmed by wave of the intruder's hand. His gun flew out of its holster and across the room, hitting the wall and breaking into pieces.

"You..." Gibbs was trying to hide his fear. The demon could sense it. He grinned evilly.

"I can feel your fear, Gibbs. You can't hide it from me. You never could."

"Leave him alone!" Tim half-shouted as he managed to stumble to his feet. "He's got nothing to do with this."

"Oh, I know that..." Crowley held out a hand, and Gibbs felt himself being propelled backward. He slammed into the wall with a grunt, and was held there by an invisible force. "Gibbs and I have had a play date for quite some time now... haven't we?"

Tim tried to move, but found himself frozen in place.

"Crowley, what the hell do you want! Why can't you just leave me the hell alone!"

"You still have power, Timmy... you were supposed to give it all up to me. We had an arrangement."

"I had no idea, I swear... It just started. If I had known-"

"Enough!"

Tim flinched at the sound of Crowley's voice, and fell silent.

"I'm going to have to make another withdrawal, Timmy... this is going to hurt."

The invisible force holding Tim's feet to the floor suddenly forced him to his knees.

"You don't deserve the power you have, Nephilim," Crowley said, moving closer to Tim, who was trembling on his knees. "You're an abomination."

Crowley held his palm out in front of him, flat, facing Tim.

Tim closed his eyes and did the only thing he could think of... he prayed.

"Leave my son alone, Crowley."

Everyone turned their heads. A man had appeared in the middle of the room.

"James... how good of you to join us," Crowley said.

"Timothy is of no use to you. Leave him be."

"Your abomination and I had a deal... I get his Grace, and he gets to live. I've come to collect the pieces I've obviously missed."

James looked at Tim for confirmation. Tim nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

James nodded and turned his attention to Crowley.

"What have you to gain from a few silly dreams? You have already stolen half of who my son is."

"A deal with me is a binding contract... I get everything. No exceptions, and no bargaining."

Crowley looked over at Gibbs, who had been silently watching the exchange. Then he looked back at Tim, who was quivering on his knees. He walked toward Gibbs.

"You remember our bargain, Gibbs?"

Gibbs nodded.

Crowley sighed, clearly annoyed at what he was about to do.

"Timmy can keep his premonitions, on one condition." He looked at Gibbs. "You cannot let anyone interfere with his premonitions. If a premonition doesn't play out, I'm going to suck every last morsel of energy from his body, and your miserable soul is mine. Are we understood?"

"Boss, don't do it."

"Shut up," Crowley said. He waved a hand at Tim, and all of a sudden, Tim found himself unable to speak. Crowley turned back to Gibbs, who was still pinned against the wall.

"Do we have an understanding?"

Gibbs glared at the Demon in front of him, inches from his face. He wanted to tell him no, really wanted to, but he knew he couldn't.

"Yes."

"Goody. You two behave, or the next time you see me, we're going to be having more than just a little chat."

With that, Crowley was gone. Tim and Gibbs were immediately released from their invisible bonds. Tim slumped forward onto his hands and knees, trying to regain his breath. James went to his side.

"Are you all right ?"

Tim nodded as he pushed himself back to his knees. Gibbs joined them a moment later.

"Why did you do that, Boss?" Tim asked.

"I'm sorry, Tim. I had no choice."

"You should have just let him take it."

"Timothy," James interjected. "If he had attempted to take your premonitions from you, it would have killed you. Stealing your Grace tore a part of you apart... if he had tried again, he would have destroyed you."

"Then let him destroy me!"

Tim tried to push himself up to his feet, but found that he was too weak to stand, and fell back down to his knees.

"Crowley has taken much energy from him," James said. "He needs to rest."

"We can take him to my house," Gibbs said. "It's safe there."

In the blink of an eye, James was gone, and had taken Tim with him.

Gibbs went out to the squad room to join Tony. It seemed as if out here, it was business as usual. No one seemed to have an inkling of what had just happened 200 feet away in the conference room.

"You wrap up the case?" he asked Tony as he approached his desk.

"Already done, Boss. I e-mailed it to Vance 20 minutes ago. Where's McGee?"

"Sent him home," Gibbs said quickly. "He wasn't feeling well."

"Maybe some rest will do the Probie some good."

Gibbs went over to his desk and started to gather his things.

"You leaving too, Boss?"

"So are you, DiNozzo. Take the rest of the afternoon off."

Tony hit 'save' on the report he was working on, and powered off his computer.

"Works for me."

"Get your ass here tomorrow at 0700."

"Absolutely, Boss."

Gibbs pulled on his coat, grabbed his bag and hurried to the elevator. He had to get home, and fast.

~~~

Tim woke up on Gibbs' couch. He sat up slowly, confused at first about how he'd gotten there. A few seconds later, the memories started to return. He remembered Crowley, and Gibbs, and James appearing... and then blackness.

"You are awake."

Tim nearly jumped a mile at the sound of James' voice. The angel was sitting in Gibbs' armchair.

"You really need to warn me next time you decide to just appear out of thin air," Tim said.

"I'm sorry about that. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a bit better. I don't understand... I've been held down by Crowley before. Why did it take so much out of me this time?"

"You felt him coming, didn't you?" James asked.

"I remember talking to Gibbs in the conference room, and then feeling this overwhelming darkness... an evil. It was excruciating. I thought my head was going to explode."

"Your abilities are evolving, my Son. The gift of premonition seems to have evolved, and given you the ability to sense demons before their arrival."

"So what happened to me when Crowley showed up will happen every time I sense a demon?"

"You are still overwhelmed by your new abilities. You must learn to control them."

"How do I do that when I don't even know when the visions are coming?"

At that moment, the door opened, and Gibbs came in. He shut the door behind him and locked it. He immediately turned to his Agent.

"Are you all right, McGee?"

"I'm fine, Boss. Are you all right?"

"No, I'm not. We need to talk." He looked at James. "Privately."

"I shall return later to check on you, Timothy. You know what to do, should you need me again."

Tim nodded, and James disappeared.

Gibbs sat down next to Tim on the couch.

"What the hell happened in that conference room?" Tim asked angrily.

Gibbs took out his cell phone, turned it off, and set it on the table.

"What I'm about to tell you is something I've never told another soul. It doesn't leave this room. Am I clear?"

"I promise I won't tell anyone."

Gibbs nodded.

"After Shannon and Kelly died, I didn't know which way was up anymore. Eventually, it lead me to my father's old cabin, with a gun and a bottle of Jack Daniels." he looked at Tim with a seriousness that the young Agent had never seen before. "I wasn't planning on coming back from that trip... until something happened to me that I've never discussed with anyone."

~July, 1991~

The bottle of Jack Daniels lay empty on the dock next to him as he stared down at the gun in his hands. He had been sitting there for hours, drumming up the courage to do what he'd driven up here to do. There was nothing left for him in this life - he might as well put himself out of his misery.

He expertly checked the clip and cocked the gun. There was no point in waiting any longer. He raised the gun to his temple, and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. The gun clicked, as if were empty, or jammed.

"Having trouble?"

Gibbs jumped to his feet and turned around, to find a man standing with him on the dock, wearing a black suit.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you on my property?" Gibbs demanded.

"I'm someone who can help you."

"What makes you think I need help?"

"For starters, you were about to blow your brains out, until I helpfully jammed your gun."

"What the hell are you talking about? Get the hell off my property!"

The stranger waved his hand, and Gibbs suddenly felt his gun slip out of his hands, and fly into the lake. He looked at the stranger.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Crowley... and I can help you get the revenge you seek."

"What do you-"

"I know everything, Jethro... I know about your wife, and your little girl... and I know who killed them. I can tell you where he is, and I can help you kill him."

Gibbs lunged angrily at Crowley, intending to thrash him for bringing Shannon and Kelly into the conversation. He took a swing, and found himself stumbling forward as he swung at thin air.

"Now, now, Jethro... I can't help you if you don't watch your temper."

"You are NOT allowed to say ANYTHING about my family, do you understand me!"

All of a sudden, Gibbs felt his body being pulled down, toward the dock. Seconds later, he hit his knees, and was terrified to find that he did not have control over his body anymore.

"I came here to help you find the bastard who killed your family. If you don't want my help, I'd be happy to finish what you started just a moment ago. It's your choice, Jethro... death, or revenge?"

Gibbs stopped struggling against the force holding him down, and gave Crowley's ultimatum some thought. If he ended it all right now, the bastard that took his Girls from him would still be running around free, to hurt other people. If he chose revenge... he could stop him. For good.

He looked up at Crowley, all of the emotion drained from his tired eyes.

"I want revenge."

Crowley let him go, and Gibbs nearly fell flat on his face. He scrambled to his feet, afraid to be at a disadvantage to this - whatever he was.

"Here's the deal, Jethro... I'll put you in a position to find and eliminate the man that killed your family - but I want something in return."

"What?"

"In time, Jethro. There will be something I ask of you in the future, and whatever I ask, you must do it. If you don't, I will lay claim to your soul."

"My soul?"

Crowley's eyes flashed a deep black, just for a moment. Gibbs knew right then that whatever Crowley was, that he was evil. Somehow, Gibbs didn't care at the moment. All that was on his mind was revenge.

"Do we have a deal?"

Gibbs held out his hand before he could change his mind.

"Yes."

Crowley moved past the outstretched hand, grabbed Gibbs' face, and kissed him, to seal the fate of the broken Marine.

~~

"After he sealed the deal, he disappeared, and I never saw him again. Two days later, Franks handed me a file on Pedro Hernandez, and said he wouldn't stand in my way."

"So the thing he wants in return..."

"If I let anything interfere with what you see in your premonitions, he's gonna come for me, and probably you, too."

"What if whatever I see involves someone we care about? We're supposed to let them get hurt? Or worse?"

"I don't like this any more than you do, Tim , but we have to, or we're both going to die... and probably end up in hell for our trouble."

Tim thought for a moment, and came up with an idea.

"I have a friend who might be able to help us."

"The one who helped you when Crowley took your - whatever it was?"

"Yeah. I can call him." Tim took out his phone, but hesitated. "Crowley is going to know if I call him. He always seems to know."

"Use the basement. It's warded."

Tim grinned.

"That explains why you always hang out down there."

Gibbs cuffed him lightly on the back of the head.

"Go make your call."

TBC...