Alex' Pov
It was a while later that Uncle Jethro and the team returned, I had drawn two pictures in that time, one of me killing Angel with a stake and the other of Cordelia. My phone kept ringing, it had been ringing on and off for the past hour or so. Uncle Jethro stopped by the desk
"Are you going to answer that?" he asked
"Nope."
"Want to tell me why?" He asked again
"Because he doesn't have anything to say that I want to hear."
"Meaning?" I sighed and stopped drawing Cordelia, to look up at him
"Meaning, there is a lot going on and I thought he might have been able to help me and answer some questions, he remembers that night by the way, but then he wouldn't tell me if what his other half said was true or not, he just kept telling me that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone."
"Alex, what did you say to him?"
"I said, 'I'll take it as a no it isn't true then' and he told me again that he didn't want to talk about it over the phone, so I wished him luck and hung up, he's been trying to call back ever since, and in that time, I've drawn two pictures." I pushed the two pictures towards him, he looked down and picked up the one I'd draw of me killing Angel, and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I huffed and crossed my arms
"Don't you want to hear what he has to say?" I shook my head
"Not at the moment, I'll need a while before I can talk to him without bursting into tears alright?" he nodded and set the picture back onto the desk before moving over to his own desk.
The team started to get to work on their case, I continued to work on my drawing of Cordelia.
-Night-
At some point after eating I'd laid my head down on my arms on the desk, and nodded off, only to be woken a few hours later by Uncle Jethro
"Come on kiddo, pack up, we're going home." He said, I nodded and put my sketch book into my bag along with the pencils, I stood and grabbed my phone, sliding it into my pocket, I followed Uncle Jethro to the Elevator. The ride down to the car was silent, apart from my constant yawning, the walk to the car was the same too, quiet, we both climbed into the car and fastened in "If you nod off in the car ride home, don't worry, I'll wake you when we get back." I nodded "Also, you'll be staying at home tomorrow too." I nodded
"Fine by me." He nodded and started the car, I leant my head against the window and let the rumble of the car lull me back into sleep.
It seemed like too soon that Uncle Jethro was shaking me awake, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that we were back at the house, and Tim was already back too
"When did Tim leave?" Uncle Jethro chuckled
"About An hour before we did, he's probably just got back from taking Jett out for his last walk." I yawned
"He takes Jett out at this time? What time is it?" Uncle Jethro chuckled
"It's about 11pm and yes he does, and early morning when he can fit it in." I smiled and we both climbed out of the car, I yawned as we headed into the house
"It's about time that you two got back." I heard Tim call from the Kitchen "Either of you hungry? I know it's late, but I'm making something for myself." Uncle Jethro looked down at me and I shook my head
"I'm gonna head up to bed." He nodded
"Off you go then Alex, I'll see you in the morning." I nodded and headed off upstairs, Jett trotting closely behind me, I sighed tiredly as I changed into my night wear, and flicked off the light, I slipped into bed and Jett hopped on curling up at the foot of my bed.
-The Next Day-
I woke up the next day to the sun light flooding into my eyes, I groaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I realised that Jett wasn't in the room, I frowned knowing that he was in my room last night when I went to sleep. I shrugged and climbed out of bed, I grabbed a change of clothes and got a quick shower, I then grabbed my phone and headed downstairs, Jett was curled up in his dog bed, I reached down and gave him a pat on the head. I headed into the kitchen not expecting Tim to be sat at the kitchen table working on his Laptop
"Tim?" he looked up from his computer and smiled
"Morning Alex, did you sleep well?" I nodded
"Yeah, did someone let Jett out of my room this morning? I didn't wake up to the usual slobbery kiss." Tim chuckled as he stood from his seat with a mug and headed over to the counter
"Jethro got Jett out of your room last night, he thought you could do with the sleep, not that it wasn't hard to get him out, he's become quite attached to you Alex." Tim explained while he poured himself a drink of what I assumed was coffee
"Oh, um, why aren't you at work?" Tim sighed
"Jethro left before me this morning, not long after he got there and just as I was about to leave, he rang me, we had the case taken off us again, so Jethro wanted me to do some work on cold cases from home for a while and go in this afternoon instead."
"Taken off you again?" Tim nodded and sat down at the table again, I joined him, sitting across from him
"The case that we got the other night, why we were late back, the Director took it off us, gave it to another team."
"Why?"
"The director says it's because we're not a full team, because one of members is still away, but Jethro seems to think it's for other reasons." Tim shrugged "By the way, your phone was ringing Early this morning." I frowned and pulled my phone out of my pocket, I dismissed all the missed calls from Angel and looked at the Text messages I had received from him instead
\I get that I upset you Alex, but please don't ignore me\
\We got all the children out safe, returned to their homes and the demon is dead, thank you again for getting that information\
\Alex if you don't answer my next call, I'm going to head over to DC\
\I'm on my way to DC, we need to talk\
I sighed and then spotted there was a message from Giles
\I'll be there tomorrow afternoon at the latest, I stopped overnight in a motel and I'm setting back off on the road now\ I saw that that message had been sent at 7.30 am, at least he didn't drive through the night
"Good news or bad news?" I looked up at Tim and shrugged "Jethro told me a little about what happened with Angel, you know he could have just meant that he really didn't want to talk about it over the phone right?" I nodded
"I suppose so, but when he already knows my feelings about him, because he remembers that night, and he doesn't say anything, it hurts Tim, and I don't know what I'll say to his face when he turns up here."
"Wait, he's coming here? To DC?" I nodded
"That was one of the messages he sent me this morning at." I glance down at his last message "4.30am"
"So, he'll be here tomorrow afternoon at the latest then, considering that he'll drive through the night, but how will he drive through the day?" I shrugged
"It's been a while since I saw him last, something could have changed." Tim smiled
"Well, look at it this way, you've got time to mentally prepare yourself."
"That doesn't make me feel better Tim." He chuckled
"Do you want anything to eat? I can make you something before I continue working." I shook my head
"No thanks Tim, I'm not really in the mood to eat at the moment, mu appetite has left me." He gave me a sympathetic look, before returning his attention, back to his laptop. I sighed and looked back at Angel's last message
\I'm on my way to DC, we need to talk\
I sighed and stood from the table, I headed towards the back door and Jett was suddenly at my side, I chuckled as he looked up at me wagging his tail. I opened the back door and Jett shot out, I grinned and stepped onto the back porch closing the door behind me, I watched Jett dart back and foth across the garden and then glanced down at my phone. I huffed and hit the dial button and held the phone to my ear. It was seconds before it was answered
-If you're calling to tell me not to come, you're a bit late-
"Angel if you had just answered me yesterday you wouldn't have needed to come out here, and it also wouldn't have been the reason I was ignoring you in the first place."
-So, you were ignoring me then?-
"Of course I was Angel, did you really think I wanted to speak to you after the way you dismissed me?"
-I wasn't dismissing you Alex, I just felt that it was something we need to talk about in person-
"Well, I don't think there is actually anything to talk about, you know what was said that night, clearly Angelus was lying to me, so he could get into my pants, so, you might as well turn back and go back to LA, I'm sure they need to there, that team of yours can't seem to function with you."
-Alex, Angelus didn't lie to you!-
"Then tell me right now."
-Alex, I broke speed limits so I could get to you faster, I'll be in Washington tomorrow morning, this conversation can wait until then.- I sighed
"Don't bother."
-Stop being so stubborn!-
"Then stop brushing me off! You've aready done it once, you clearly don't want to talk about this, so why even bother coming here?"
-Because this is not a conversation that I want to have over the phone, so I'm going to hang up and I'll see you in the morning- then the line went dead, I growled in frustration and shoved my phone into my pocket and slumped down to sit on the porch step, trying to stop the tears of frustration from falling down my face and failing miserbly
"Alex?" I heard Tim say, before he sat down on the step next to me "Oh, Alex." I huffed and wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face "You called him didn't you?" I nodded
"I wanted to try and persuade him not to come here."
"And I'm guessing it didn't work." I nodded "Did your uncle ever tell you how we got together?" I shrugged
"He sent a lot of letters, I still haven't managed to read them all, but in the ones I did read, he mentioned you a fair bit, from the sounds of it, he was ready to jump you if his control ever snapped." He chuckled
"Well, it didn't, I'll tell you that right now, when I first met your uncle, I was such a green Probie, it probably looked like I would hurl any time you saw me." I grinned "But your uncle terrified me, but his brashness also intreguied me, I wanted to know more about him, so I searched and searched, I originally worked up in Norfolk, so any chance I got to work with Gibbs and his team I took, even if it meant getting hazed by DiNozzo a lot."
"You got Hazed?" he shrugged
"Every Probationary Agent does, especially when you start on a team, it's their way of testing that you can keep up." I nodded "Anyway, after months of backward and forwards between here and Norfolk, Gibbs requested I got transferred to his team, he told me I belonged to him." He chuckled "It made my heart flutter a little." I grinned
"So, how did you two get together then?" he smiled
"Two years, two years after I joined his team, it was filled it heated looks, glaring at me, I thought he hated me."
"What made you change your mind?"
"I overheard him one day, talking to Ducky."
"Evesdropping." He shrugged,
"I was on my way to see Ducky anyway, Jethro just happened to already be there." I grinned
"So, what did he say?"
"He told Ducky that, though he had feelings for me, he would never do anything about it."
"Then how are you together?"
"I cornered him in an elevator, set it going and then shut it down using the emergency stop, something Jethro often does, he glared at me, so I glared back, then I pushed him against the wall of the elevator and kissed him, it was quick, but could you blame me if I was scared? I kissed him, then I set the elevator going again and got out as soon as the doors opened and bolted for the stairs." I laughed "It's not funny Alex." I chuckled
"Sorry Tim, but it kinda is, you kissed him and ran." Tim huffed, but grinned
"Well, he didn't let me run for long, I practically ignored him for the rest of the day and was the first one out the building when he let us go for the day, I was expecting him to turn up on my apartment doorstep."
"He followed you?"
"No, he turned up later, I was just about to turn in for the night, when there was pounding on my door, when I answered, the door was shoved open wider, I was pushed against the wall, opposite to my open door, with Jethro kissing me."
"He took you by surprise then."
"No kidding, that was two years ago and we still haven't told the team." Tim sighed
"Do you want to?" he gave me a long look, before nodding "Then why don't you talk to uncle Jethro about it?"
"I have Alex, everytime I bring the subject up, he either changes the conversation, or he leaves the room, he's a very private person, but I don't like being kept like a dirty little secret." I nodded
"I get that, do you think he might be waiting for the right moment?" he shook his head
"I don't think he'll ever tell them, not without a push."
"Then push him." He shook his head again
"I can't, I don't want to loose him Alex, I fear if I push him too far, I'll loose him for good." He sighed, I gave him a sad look
"I'm Sorry Tim." He smiled at me and shook his head
"No, don't be, I shouldn't be talking to you about this."
"No, I'm glad you did."
"So, what else did Angel say?" Tim asked, changing the conversation, I sighed
"He told me, that he drove all night, breaking speed limits, just so he could get here faster to talk to me, he'll be here in the morning."
"That's a good thing right?" Tim asked looking slightly concerned
"Not really I don't want him to hurry here, if he's just going to tell me he doesn't love me or that it could never happen with us, if that's the case then I don't want to hear it."
"And if he's not coming to tell you that? What then?" I shrugged
"I'm setting myself up for disappointment Tim, anything more than that is good."
"Just good?"
"Well, that all depends on what comes out fo his mouth when he gets here." He gave me a sad look and patted my shoulder
"Everything will be okay Alex, I promise, I've got to get some more work done before I head into the office, I'll let you know when I'm heading off."
"Alright." Tim nodded and got to his feet
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" I shook my head
"I'm not really hungry, I've lost my appetite anyway, I'll make myself something later." He nodded
"Alright then." Tim said then headed back inside, just then my phone buzzed in my hand, I looked down to see a text from uncle Jethro
\Everything okay Kiddo?\ I smiled at his concern
-Not really, but I won't bother you with the details while your working.- suddenly there was a nudge at my leg, I glanced down and saw Jett sat there looking up at me with sad eyes, I smiled and patted his head, which he then lent forward to rest his head on my knee, when my phone buzzed again
\I can always take a break, I could use a coffee run anyway/ I grinned
-That's okay uncle, don't want to pull you away from important work.-
The response came through on my phone shortly after
\I'll come pick you up, I'll be there soon\
I huffed and got to my feet and headed back inside, to see Tim sat back at the table, typing away on his laptop
"Hey Tim."
"Yeah Alex?"
"Uncle Jethro's going to come pick me up." Tim looked up from his laptop and turned to face me
"Any reason why?"
"He messaged me and asked if I was okay, I told him not really but I didn't want to disturb him, he said he could use a coffee run and was going to come and get me." Tim nodded
"Alright, I'll head into work then, I should head in anyway, DiNozzo will definitely have something or say about me being late in." I shrugged
"Tim, were you staying at home because I was here?" Tim gave me a long look before nodding "Why?"
"Jethro knew you were upset, if he could help it, he didn't want you to be on your own, not that you would ever hurt yourself, but I don't think he wanted you to wander off and get hurt or lost for that matter." I nodded
"I can't understand that, so the story you told me earlier about your case being taken from you?"
"Oh, that was all true, it just gave me more of an excuse to stay home."
"Why? Is something else happening at work Tim?" Tim sighed and shook his head, before pausing and nodding
"Kinda, it's nothing serious, just Abby, she's pestering a little bit." I frowned
"Pestering about what?" He huffed
"Anything, everything, she thinks I'm dating someone."
"But you are, you're with uncle Jethro."
"Yes, but she doesn't know that, but she also doesn't like that I'm not exclusive to only her."
"Did you ever date her?"
"Once, before I joined Jethro's team, she didn't want anything long term and it was before I had any attraction to Jethro."
"So, she doesn't like that you're dating someone that's not her, but doesn't want to date you herself?" He nodded with a sigh
"Pretty much."
"But she won't stop pestering you until you and uncle Jethro tell everyone your together." Tim shrugged
"She might not even stop then." Suddenly we heard the door shut
"Alex? Tim? You both still here?" We heard uncle Jethro call
"Not a word about this to Jethro, alright Alex?"
"But Tim."
"No Alex, not a word."
"Not a word about what?" Uncle Jethro asked as he stood in the door way to the kitchen
"Nothing, I've got to get to work." Tim said picking up his latop
"Tim." Uncle Jethro said, reaching out to grasp his arm, but Tim jerked out of his hold
"Don't Jethro, I've got to go." Then Tim was gone, uncle Jethro turned to me
"What was all that about?"
"He doesn't want me to tell you uncle."
"Alex, I need to know why he's so upset, please tell me Alex, I don't like to see him upset."
"Then you already know why he's upset, uncle." Uncle Jethro went quiet and had a thoughtful look on his face, he then gave me a long look
"Because we haven't told the team about us? That's why he's upset?" I shrugged
"Can you blame him? How long have you been together?" Uncle Jethro sighed
"A few years now."
"Tim told me that you two got together, two years after he joined the team, how long ago did he join the team?"
"Four years."
"You two have been together for two years, and you haven't told anyone, I don't blame him for being upset, especially when Abby is baggering him about dating someone, and he can't say that he is with someone."
"Why is Abby baggering Tim? Did he tell you?" I sighed
"Tim didn't want you to know."
"Alex, I see Abby like a daughter, but Tim, Tim is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, if Abby doesn't like that, I don't care, now please tell me." I sighed again
"Abby doesn't like that Tim is dating someone that's not her, but doesn't want to date him herself, Tim wants to tell that team so badly…. Uncle Jethro, he gets that's you're a private person, but he doesn't want to be kept like a dirty little secret."
"He's not a dirty little secret."
"That's how he feels uncle." He huffed, and ran a hand through his hair frustrated, before sighing
"Let's go get that coffee, we'll talk more there." I nod and he lets out a shrill whistle, then Jett came bounding in and sat at his feet. "Shut and lock the back door kiddo, then we'll go." I nodded and walked over to the back door, I shut it and turned the lock, before walking back over to uncle Jethro, who patted Jett on the head and then wrapped and arm around my shoulders and led me to the door.
We stepped outside and I made my way over to his car as he locked the front door behind us. We both then climbed into the car and buckled in, uncle Jethro then started the car and backed out of the drive, and headed towards a coffee shop he knew. Suddenly my phone buzzed in my pocket, I reached into my pocket and pulled my phone out, it was a message from an unknown number
/I know you'll have told Jethro, he can pry information out of anyone, don't worry, I'm not upset, I'm sorry you got pulled into this Alex, I never should have said anything, I'll speak to Jethro later about it, but you should speak to him about Angel, he might be able to offer you some advice, Tim x/
I smiled slightly and saved his number to my phone
-Thanks Tim, and I am sorry I told him, but maybe someone else telling him, might help a little, we'll see-
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked out the window at the passing scenery
"Was that Tim messaging you?" Uncle Jethro asked as we pulled up to a red light, I nodded
"Yeah, he was apologising to me, he didn't mean to get me pulled into this thing between you two, he also told me he wasn't upset with me for telling you, because he knows you can pry information out of anyone." He chuckled
"I suppose so, but I'm glad you told me Alex, Tim would never have told me his feeling about this, I'm glad he confided in you, but I'm also glad you told me, I'll be able to talk to him about this now."