JF35 - Thanks for all of your reviews and support. Welcome to all of the new followers I have found this story has since I posted the last chapter. Each of you certainly made my day. But a huge thanks to Momcat, Alix33, chainguns, Astrahan, cldiva, DeeTease and EarthDragon, who have been with me since the beginning of the story.
Tim immediately headed for the cybercrimes department as soon as the trio of men cleared the security desk. Gibbs and Vance headed straight to the director's office suite. It was late, well after 0200 in the morning, and the skeleton crew was minimal. "Tim's really got a handle on this situation." Leon muttered in a low voice to Gibbs. "He's all over it, strategical planning, logistical planning, background work, and doing the physical leg work. It's impressive."
"It is." Gibbs agreed, not really sure where the director was going with this. "But that's Tim for you, always chasing the illusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He is good like that, Leon."
"With biological parents like Tobias and Sarah, is it any wonder he is like that?" Leon asked his friend. Leon had been contemplating this chain of thought for a while now. At least a few days now. "Should we bring Tobias on board? Ms. Porter is on her way in."
"If Ms Porter is on her way in, then no doubt Tobias will be lurking around, somewhere close by." Gibbs mused out loud, smirking at the implication. Yesterday, he had planned to stop by Tobias' house, only to see the SecNav's car in the driveway, again, so he kept driving. That was the third time that had happened now. It had been late enough in the night that it couldn't have been a professional chat. He had wondered what the two of them were doing but decided he didn't want to know. He just hoped it turned Tim's world upside down any more than it already had been.
Gibbs and Leon shared a look of surprise at Gibbs' implication of the two people in question. "I don't think I want to know." Leon muttered as Tim allowed himself into the room.
"Agent Lewis is on board." Tim announced, as he let himself in, and both Gibbs and Vance looked confused for a moment before Leon remembered that Tim knew Agent Dean Lewis personally. That Tim was a year behind the agent in question at MIT. "Dean did his undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University in the Silicon Valley. He came out to MIT for his post grad studies. That's where we met. He did his doctorate in computer sciences at Caltech, in Pasadena, California." He told them, looking towards Gibbs. "He joined NCIS almost two years ago. He doesn't know Ziva or have any knowledge of what the case is about. He is swamped by his own workload, but he said he would make time to double check our coding, Director."
"Very good." Leon declared. He didn't know Agent Lewis personally. Lewis answered to McCormack, who was the head of cybercrimes here, at the Navy Yard. But he was more than impressed with the man's educational background, and Tim had said that the man was good. Tim knew what good was, because he was one of the best in the business, himself.
"Gentlemen." Sarah Porter greeted them as she arrived. She looked over each of them individually, letting her eyes linger over her son a little longer. "Where are we at?"
"Agent Lewis is on board, Ma'am." Tim announced, immediately slipping into agent mode. "He will check our coding before the three of us make the trip to implement it at the server farm."
"Did the ladies get off, ok?" She immediately fired off next, looking at Leon and Gibbs.
"Yes, Ma'am." Gibbs replied, he too, slipping into agent mode. "Sheriff Ed Gantry will meet them at Benton Airfield and escort them to Stillwater. Ed and I go back a long time. We didn't always get along. But that was mostly teenage angst stuff from a small mining town, but I trust Ed. The danger of Ziva showing up there is minimal."
"Good, I am considering bringing in Tobias to liaise with Leon, as this could be considered an attack on the agents of this agency." She announced, and Gibbs wasn't surprised. "Have we had any word from Agent DiNozzo since the initial warning with the rules?"
"No, Ma'am." Tim answered. "We have a code system in place, and unless there is trouble, he won't check in and risk revealing his location until it is time for his next check-in. I could do a remote check-in, but I prefer not to risk it unless we have a really good reason to. I sent back a code telling him we were activating our plans at this end."
"No, don't. That's very good, Tim." Sarah said, sending her son a smile. She was surprised at how reassured she felt that Jethro, Leon, and Tim seemed to have everything under control. "What about the remaining members of the MCRT?"
"Ducky, Jimmy, and his wife, as well as Abby, are currently being escorted into the building by various agents of our agency." Leon told her. "Initially, we were going to use Doctor Mallard's as a safe haven. However, it would be too easy for them to track, I have decided we will use an agency safe house."
"Well, you three certainly have a handle on things." She smiled at them, feeling better about the call in at the very early hour of the morning. "You three should spread out and get some shuteye. It is going to be a very long day. I will brief Tobias upon his arrival."
Tim and Gibbs weren't going to argue with that and nor was Leon. Gibbs climbed up on the conference table and stretched out, while Vance indicated to Tim to stretch out on the sofa, and Leon took the other sofa for himself. He noticed that Sarah had herself at home behind his desk, using his foot stool to prop her small frame, upright.
As the plane touched down and the pilot gave them the ok to move about. Ellie had Kelly confirm that it was indeed Gantry waiting for them. She sighed in relief when Kelly identified the Sherriff as Gantry. So far, their plan was progressing well. She would feel much better once they arrived at Jackson's store.
Ellie realised that she hadn't met Jackson Gibbs before and was looking forward to doing so. She had heard so much about him from Tim and Tony, she felt like she had known him already. She was sure that, like with Penny, she was about to be adopted. "We need a cover story for the townsfolk, just in case people get suspicious. It's a small town, right?" Ellie asked her friend.
"I know quite a few people in town. I've been coming here every year since I was born. Dad grew up here." Kelly explained to Ellie. "It's a mining town. They're used to seeing newcomers. But it's probably best to stick to the truth as much as possible. I am a worse liar than Tim. Definitely didn't inherit Dad's undercover skills."
"We're friends and having a holiday with your grandpa?" Ellie offered, figuring to stick to the truth as much as possible. it was like Kelly had told her; she wasn't a good liar. Neither was Ellie.
"Best friends, but you can't be an agent or law enforcement. Dad and Tim both said they didn't have a warm reception when they came here on a case." Kelly remembered the story and that an agency sedan had been blown up.
"I'll be a writer. You're helping me write my first book." Ellie suggested. "Even better, we're collaborating on a novel together."
"That's actually good." Kelly agreed as they retrieved their carry-on luggage, preparing to exit the plane. "Tonight, Tim mentioned to me I should use this downtime to write a book. I've always dreamed of being a writer, but you know how those who can't do. Teach. Those who can't write. Edit."
"If Tim believes in you, then so do I. You can do it." Ellie encouraged her friend, wholeheartedly. "Tim always believes in me."
"Trust me, that's good. I am not surprised, from the first moment I saw the two of you interacting together, it seemed like you guys just clicked." Ellie smiled at her, reassuringly. "As soon as we've got some free time, we're going to sit down with a bottle of wine and have a long talk." Ellie told her. "It's been a while since we've spent some time together and had some good old girl-talk. Life has been so busy lately."
"Definitely!" Kelly grinned as they debarked from the plane and she meant it. Her and Tim had been investing a lot of time into their relationship and with Naomi in Delaware and Nicole now living on the far outskirts of Maryland, on her farm. She didn't have very many friends left in the city. A lot of her friends had split when her and Ethan separated, after she had found out about the affair. Although she had always remained polite and ok terms with Abby, they were not friends. Kelly couldn't stand her juvenile behaviour. She met Ziva once, but Ziva seemed very militant to her, cold and rigid and had looked down her nose at her, probably because she was her father's daughter. But as soon as Ellie and Kelly had met, Kelly had hoped they would become friends. Kelly could even admit, if only to herself, that there had been a moment of jealously when Ellie had touched Tim. That was probably because she had been attracted to Tim, from the moment she first laid eyes on him. even if he was with Delilah back then. Hell, Tim had flirted with her too and it made her wonder what would have happened and where they would be if Delilah hadn't of died in the explosion.
Gibbs woke up second, waking to the sound of keys clacking away on the keyboard and sighs of frustration. He looked over and was surprised to see that it was Leon, clacking away on the keyboard. "It's early, Leon. Is everything ok?" Gibbs asked in a whisper, noting that they had only rested about ninety minutes.
"Just wanted to get Tim started on the coding, but it's more difficult than I remember." He sighed, feeling frustrated again. "Wait...wait...wait. Yes!" He exclaimed, excited, nut still keeping the volume down. "I've got it."
"Knew you'd figure it out." Sarah whispered, causing both Leon and Gibbs to jump. Neither man had realised she was awake. "Looks like Tim isn't our only coder, here." She grinned at her friend, on her way to check on the sleeping form of her son.
She stood over him, watching him sleep, still and soundly. She brushed a stray strand of his hair off his face and sighed softly. "You should tell him." Gibbs advised her softly. "Tell him that, as his mom, you love him, have never stopped loving him. It's ok to let him in and let him know that you care."
"From the moment I met Tim, something inside of me wanted me to let him in. Let him get to know the real me, not the public figure, me." Sarah told the two men. "He gets under your skin and before you know it, you find yourself worrying over him. Hoping he is ok, wondering how he is doing, if he is eating enough." She saw Gibbs smirk at her and returned it with a straight-lipped smile of her own. "What?!"
"Good to see you." Gibbs grinned at her. "The real you. The you who is a mother, not just the politician, you."
"You've known Tim a long time, Jethro. What was my boy like when you met him?" Sarah asked him, with her curiosity burning to know.
"He was green, but that was from lack of experience and nothing else." Gibbs smiled as he thought about the kid who had been wearing a mask and gloves, sitting on the crime scene kit, on the dock in Norfolk. All those years ago. "He was only a case agent and the case was a dead body. But he showed me the potential he has, from that very first meeting. He even stood up to me, he didn't back down when I challenged him. When I got him TAD again, he took the challenge head on. That's when I knew I needed him on my team. I taught him to anticipate and every challenge I set him; he smashed it. I didn't get a glimpse of how smart he really was until he literally wrote a computer program to identify the terrorist that had infiltrated autopsy and held Ducky, Gerald and Kate hostage, shooting me in the shoulder. He never whined or complained about any assignment I gave him, and having DiNozzo train him; there was some doozy ones. Each challenge he faced; he came out victorious. The day Kate died, that terrorist shot at him, first. The way he handled himself, time and time again, I'll never forget it. It was with the airs and grace of a much more experienced agent. I was proud of him, how he and Tony stuck by one another and stuck by me. I didn't learn until earlier this year, that the same week that Kate was killed, his ... err... grandfather, Nelson McGee had passed away. He never said a word, he just focused on his job. He welcomed Ziva to the country, to the agency and to our team. He was the first one, probably why he feels like he has been betrayed by her, so much. They were friends, off the job. They lived in the same suburb and spent time together away from the job."
"Romance?" Sarah asked, surprised and Gibbs vehemently shook his head no.
"Never. It just wasn't that way between them." Gibbs smiled softly. "We had a case and the lone witness was a brilliant scientist, Erin. She was an MÌT graduate, too. She was almost perfect for him. It was the first case I had sent McGee on. It was a loose statement at best and I sent him to get his feet wet. But he said there was a case there and we rolled. As I said, he was still a rookie. He failed to clear the room properly and Erin was strangled in front of him by the killer. He took her death hard. I learnt from Kate afterwards that Tim and her had clicked. Kate told me that she wouldn't have been surprised if, when the case was over, Tim would have asked her on a date. But even then, he has always kept his head on straight. I am proud of him for that. Leon can attest, that's not easy for any agent to do, especially a green rookie and he was green. He had a bit of a tough go of it under Jenny Shepard, but things got a lot better once Vance came onboard."
"Not at first." Leon argued, butting into their conversation. "I was disappointed. I had heard from various members of our agency and some people outside the agency, about this shy, genius agent and I was disappointed when he didn't volunteer for the assignment to Iraq. It was the perfect opportunity for him to get his feet wet with some combat experience. I didn't learn until later that DiNozzo had screwed him over for the assignment. Tim followed the advice of his senior agent, whom had told him that volunteering would make him seem too eager and he shouldn't do it. Just wish I had of known before, what I know now. And I wish I hadn't of chewed him out for not volunteering in front of the entire bullpen."
"He what?!" Gibbs exclaimed, before looking down to see if his outburst had woken Tim up. "How come this is the first I am hearing about this?"
"Tim never whines or complains. We both know that. DiNozzo never confessed his sins." Leon offered his friend. "But eventually, when we were chasing the mole who had stolen the domino and was trying to sell it, I saw Tim's true potential. He was a skilled cyber analyst. A well-trained field agent with the potential to be much better. That's when I started coming down harder on you, Gibbs. To train Tim better."
"I did, too. Ziva and I worked on his physical fitness. I taught him some MMA, as did Ziva. Tony had him at the range, a lot and I believe they would go paintballing and to laser tag, too." Gibbs told her. Leon had been right, the day he had given Gibbs the wakeup call regarding his youngest agent and his training. "We started running and going to the NCIS gym more often. But most of all, his weight loss. That was all him, his hard work, his sacrifices. I was never really sure of what he did to shed those pounds that quick, and to keep it off, but whatever it was, it worked."
"It wasn't anything special, just some hard work and exercise." Tim answered, yawning and stretching as he sat up. "I cut out refined sugar, alcohol and take away food. I started making healthier choices. Choosing wholegrains over white, choosing healthy oils over trans and monosaturated fats. I restricted my carbohydrate intake, increased my water intake and started a rigid exercise regimen. Why are we discussing this?"
"I asked, Tim." Sarah admitted, taking a step towards her son and sitting beside him on the sofa. "You seem reluctant to let me in. I just wanted to know about the kind of man you grew up to be."
"I grew up to be the kind of man that takes his job seriously." Tim looked at her. He knew she was trying, but now wasn't the time. Not when they could be all in danger from whatever Ziva has been planning. "A man who would love nothing more than to get to know his biological parents and his half-sisters, but right now is not the time. Not when the danger is so present and definitely unaccounted for. We need to focus on the threat. So that we have the time later to do everything we said we would do."
"Good point, Tim." Gibbs agreed with Tim. They would have plenty of time to get to know each, after the threat had ended. "No one's going to argue that you aren't a man of your word."
"Well, let's get to work." Leon grinned at him.
Tim and Leon started discussing what they needed to do to get the code written, while Sarah and Gibbs looked in baffled. They didn't even understand every second word as the two men discussed the coding in technical terms.
Soon enough, each man was typing furiously on their own keyboard. Tim was occasionally throwing out a command to Leon. In this aspect, Leon was happy to let Tim take the reins. Tim was the one who was much more advanced in the area of writing code. Tim was the one with the degrees. Tim was the one with the expertise and the skills. Tim was the one who knew what he was doing and it was Tim's idea, he's the one who set it all in motion. It was a brilliant plan and it came from his brain.
It was almost 1500 hours and Sarah Porter had long since left the Navy Yard, headed back to her office at the Pentagon. She and Jethro had already bought Tobias up to speed, both with what Tim's plan was and how they planned to execute it, as well as the status of the plan. They also brought him up to speed on the case itself and the theory that Tim and Gibbs had hatched in his kitchen last night. The one that Ziva, Jenny and Delilah were all connected somehow and that Delilah may have been playing them all.
After a lot of swearing and cursing from Tobias, including taking the lord's name in vain, repeatedly. Tobias thought long and hard about the facts that they had presented to him and his experiences with each of the said women, individually and then the interactions of Ziva and Jenny, together. He groaned out loud when he too, came to the same conclusion as the MCRT team leader and his newly minted Senior Field Agent. That the two women were definitely working with one another. He reluctantly admitted that it was possible that Delilah had been part of Ziva's plan. But the meeting hadn't ended there and Tobias had hated to do it to his best friend, but he mused out loud if Ziva had of had a more direct hand in Jenny Shepard's death than what they all had thought at the time. He knew for his dear friend, that this was trudging up old hurts from the past, but unfortunately, it was an avenue they now had to consider.
Tobias left the meeting with a promise to return at 1700 hours, with all the files the FBI had on Director Shepard's murder, as well the additional files they had on her. The FBI had been investigating her and had investigated her, multiple times before and when she was killed in that abandoned diner, in a shootout. The FBI had been investigating her for taking a bribe from a congressman, as well as for sleeping with a married senator. The married senator in question, happened to be married to the president's daughter, just to make it worse for the former director of NCIS.
Gibbs felt he couldn't put it off any longer, he called Ducky, Jimmy and Abby into a meeting. He explained the threat and gave each of them the letters that Tony had left for them. Ducky had managed to calm Abby's anger and sorrow at Tony's departure, of which Gibbs was relieved for. He knew after the less than restful night he had had, he didn't have the patience to deal with her. What was a relief was that all three of them did agree to the protection detail. Ducky suggested they all stay with him, before Gibbs could and it was a relief for Gibbs to see that he and Ducky were on the same page. The last thing Gibbs did, before wrapping up the meeting was to warn Abby not to track Ellie's phone, Tony's phone, Tim's phone or Kelly's unless Gibbs or Vance issued the directive.
Gibbs did what he did best, while he waited for the coding to be done and the FBI files to arrive, he went for coffee. He was always sure to bring back coffee for Tim and Leon, as well as making sure that both men had plenty of food to eat and water to drink, as well as the coffee. When he arrived back in the Director's suite, from is latest coffee run, he smiled as he saw Leon leaning back in his arm chair, looking rather pleased with himself and if Gibbs was a little honest, rather smug.
"Tim's just checking it over, but it looks like it's almost ready to beta-test." Leon crowed, proudly as Gibbs put the drinks, he had just purchased down on the conference table in the Directors office suite. "Gibbs, it's some of his best work. The beta-testing should only take twenty-four hours. If all goes well, we could hit the server farm in the Appalachians on Saturday morning."
"That's great news." Gibbs grinned at them. Gibbs watched as Tim reached out and took the correct cup of coffee from the tray, without ever removing his eyes from the lines of coding of Leon's that he was double checking. Gibbs was actually impressed at that, but what had impressed him more, was that Tim had taken the correct cup. "Tobias is bringing the FBI files they have on Jenny Shepard over in about an hour. I think the four of us are in for really long night. Tobias said there's a lot to get through."
"As soon as we get that coding off to Lewis to be beta-tested, I want Tim to have a mandatory two-hour break. Perhaps, he can pick us up some dinner from the diner on the way back to the yard." Leon told Gibbs. Leon felt just as fried, as what he assumed that Tim would feel, too. But Tim's coding had to be written from scratch, at least Leon had a cheat sheet to copy from for most of it. Tim had written his whole piece, from scratch, by memory. "Especially if we have lots of files to scour through, tonight."
"It's done." Tim declared to Leon and Gibbs and Gibbs clapped him on the back, in congratulations.
"Way to go, Tim." he grinned. "Good work, Leon. Tim, go have a break, two hours, go. Leon, time to bring Lewis up here and get it tested."
Tim spent most of his two hours getting some fresh air on the roof. He was about to return to the Director's office to check on the status of the beta-testing when he remembered that the Director had told Gibbs that Tim should pick up some dinner for them, from the diner. So, Tim headed, out past the security desk and off base, towards Elaine's diner.
Tim felt drained, he was mentally tired. He had forgotten how much writing code took it out of you, on a mental level. He was doubly glad that when they had arrived, that Gibbs and the Director had headed straight for his office, while Tim had gone straight down to cybercrimes to talk to Lewis. Because neither man had stopped at their desk and locked their sigs away, as per the usual protocol. That had actually made Tim smile, because they were legally required to carry their weapons from portal to portal. Tim had had a moment of panic when he had realised that he had forgot to stop by his desk and pick it up, before remembering that he was so focused on getting started. Tim had forgotten to lock it away.
Tim had been so focused on his sheer, dumb luck, that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. A loud crashing noise in a nearby alley, startled Tim out of his reverie and Tim had ventured down the narrow alley to investigate the crashing noise. To Tim, it was the sound of something large and heavy, hitting the bottom of a metal dumpster.
He looked around, before cautiously entering the end of the alley and before he could unholster and draw his weapon, he was knocked out cold by an aluminium baseball bat to the head. He hit the ground with a thud, unconscious before his head hit the pavement. His assailant, caught his head softly and guided it to the ground, gently. Not wanting to cause further injury to the man she had just knocked out cold. She needed him unconscious, not dead.
"Hello Timothy, did you miss me?" the female assailant asked his unconscious form.