JF43 - small spoilers for 13x09. People and some lines changed, but essentially, just how it played out. (Search MCRT protects Ellie, NCIS on you tube to see original clip)
The following morning, Kelly and Tim had a playful and passionate, but functional joint shower, trying to keep the noise to minimum as they each got ready for work. Ellie had begged off to bed, shortly after dinner, but not before another examination from Ducky. This time at Ellie's insistence, which had surprised Gibbs and Ducky, but not Tim and Kelly. They were surprised to see Ellie starting the coffee maker, as they entered the kitchen. Kelly in her black slacks, coffee coloured blouse, her favourite black blazer and boots and Tim in his business-casual work jeans, lavender shirt and his favourite tweed blazer. "Morning." She greeted the lovebirds. She wasn't happy and wasn't perky, but there wasn't any trace of the tears that had plagued her yesterday. Ellie dressed in her favourite jeans and woollen sweater.
"Morning." Tim smiled at her, as he pulled the apron over his shirt and removed the skillet hanging from the Search hook above the stove. "Eggs?" he offered the ladies, with a grin.
"Is that smart? Can he cook?" Ellie asked Kelly, with a worried look on her face. "No offense Tim, but I don't know many men who cook, especially breakfast."
"He is an amazing cook." Kelly gushed, winking at Ellie. "He can give Elaine a run for her money."
Tim quickly whipped up some scrambled eggs, as Kelly went to work on the toast and soon enough, three healthy, nutritious breakfasts were plated up and Ellie was suitably impressed. Especially seeing Tim immediately rinse the skillet and load it in the empty dishwasher, ready to start. "I am impressed." She commented, as she ate her first bite of eggs, which she thought were absolutely delicious. Kelly had been right; Tim could give Elaine a run for her money.
Over breakfast, Tim finally managed to coax the story out of Ellie and Kelly about how they ended up with matching head wounds. He laughed so hard that his ribs had hurt when he learnt that the two of them were at opposite ends of the hallway, alone in their rooms. Both hearing a noise, got up to investigate and bumped into one another in the darkness of that hallway at Jackson's house. Jack had heard the bump and thud, flying up the stairs as fast as his aged body would take him. As he had hit the switch, he hadn't been able to resist laughing at the girls. Both on the floor, holding their head in their hands, on their assets laughing. When he had discovered that they were both bleeding, he had patched them up and given them matching Band-Aids, to match their wounds.
Ellie switched her cell phone back on after breakfast, while her and Kelly were rinsing the dishes and loading the dishwasher. "Seventeen missed calls." She murmured to Kelly and Kelly gave her a small hug. "I'm not ready to talk to him."
"Well don't." Kelly advised her friend. "Not until you're ready and on your terms. What are you doing today?"
"I have to go into the office for a half day. Legal needs some outstanding paperwork for a case and I want to change all of my emergency contact information, too." Ellie explained, as Tim handed her, her sig and creds, as he holstered his own. "Then Tim's going to run me over to the airport at lunch. Flying out to Oklahoma today. Dad's going to meet me at the airport. Going to go home and do some thinking."
"Good." Kelly nodded, hugging her friend again. She could understand that, when Ethan had done the same thing, she had gone home to her dad's house too. "Enjoy your time, back home. Remember to call if you need us. We're all here for you." She reminded Ellie, as Ellie wheeled her suitcase out of the spare room and Kelly and Tim kissed one another goodbye for the day, not before they made plans for dinner.
Ellie grinned at the sight of the lovers, before her heart felt a pang. In all the years her and Jake had been together. He had never kissed her like that, just to say goodbye.
After lunch, Ellie hugged Gibbs and Ducky goodbye, both reassuring her that they were here for her if she needed them and reminding her; that they were only a phone call away. Tim dropped her off in the drop off zone, but not before hugging her tightly and reiterating what everyone else had told her this morning. "We'll miss you." Tim whispered to her, as he kissed her cheek and waved her off, watching her walk into the airport to check her bag. "Take care of yourself, look after your heart and don't let those brothers of yours, give you any shit about Jake. If they're going to kill him... -"
"Let you, Dorney, Tony and Gibbs help them, got it." she grinned, kissing Tim's cheek. "I'll be OK. I appreciate you all so much, especially you. Thanks for everything." she hugged him again and waved him off, as she entered the terminal.
Back at the office, Gibbs gave him a questioning look as soon as he entered the bullpen and tossed him a salad wrap from Elaine's for lunch. He gave Gibbs a nod in reply, both as a thanks and an answer to his unasked question. Did Ellie get off ok?
It was late in the afternoon when the elevator dinged and Jake stepped off it. Tim looked up first and saw him pensively make his way towards their bullpen. He sent a small nudge Dorney's way, as he and Dorney met him at the entry way to their bullpen. "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here." Tim warned Jake, taking a menacing step towards him, feeling Dorney back his play. Even though Ellie was safely in the air, on her way home to her parents in Oklahoma, there was no way that Tim was going to let Jake push his way into their bullpen. Dorney wasn't aware of the particulars, but he had picked up enough of the pieces and put the pieces together. Jake had done something unforgivable to Ellie, and that was unforgiveable to their team. He was prepared to back Tim and Gibbs, all the way against Ellie's husband.
"I've got to talk to Ellie. Do you know where she is?" Jake asked. He was concise and straight to the point with Tim. He barely acknowledged Dorney's presence. Jake begged Tim with a look. Tim didn't think he looked too affected at all by Ellie's leaving, though. Despite Jake's best efforts to appear pathetic and disheartened by Ellie's behaviour. Tim wasn't buying Jake's act. "She's not answering my calls, or my texts."
"Do you blame her?" Tim snapped in reply. He was angry at Jake, but he was controlling it. He knew the bullpen was not the appropriate place for a showdown. "It's not smart coming here, I think you should leave."
"Look, I get you're upset, but she is my wife." Jake argued, as a sound of desperation began to linger in their bullpen. But Tim still wasn't buying it. It was just another line of a lawyer's B.S.
"Then treat her like it!" Gibbs seethed from behind him. Gibbs had been in the Director's office and had arrived downstairs just in time to witness Jake's arrival and Tim confront him. He was proud of the boys for standing up for their teammate and made a mental note to tell them. Gibbs harshly glared at Jake. He didn't want Jake to know anything about Ellie, and he knew the boys would back him, just as he was backing them up now. That's what teammates did for one another. "You heard Tim, you should leave. I'll walk you out."
Jake looked up at Tim and Dorney, hoping for a salvation or Hail Mary, but he was disappointed when all he received, was matching harsh glares from the men. Stalking off to the elevator, Gibbs followed closely behind, ensuring that Jake left the building and didn't attempt an end-run around him. "Think Gibbs will punch him out?" Dorney asked Tim in a low voice. Gibbs had truly looked ropeable.
"Love to see it." Tim quipped, but he didn't grin. The situation was far from ideal. Personally, Tim hated violence, but Jake showing up in their bullpen after being unfaithful to Ellie like that, took some big brass balls, in his opinion. Jake was lucky that Tony was still away, that lothario, jock turned agent would have knocked Jake's teeth out. Tony may be a womaniser, but he doesn't handle it very well when married and committed people have an affair outside the marriage.
Gibbs pushed the down button of the elevator, violently. As they waited, Jake begged Gibbs. "Come on Gibbs, you know me. What you need to understand is -"
"Understand what?" Gibbs asked harshly, rudely interrupting the lawyer. There was nothing to understand, no excuse for being unfaithful. "You cheating on Bishop?" He couldn't fathom how a man like Jake, who had an adoring and beautiful wife like his agent, would cheat on her. Especially when they both seemed so happy together.
"I never wanted this to happen." Jake told Gibbs as the elevator doors opened and he stepped into it. He was desperately looking to escape. He had always felt so welcomed by them. But today, he couldn't believe the contempt in their eyes as they blocked his efforts to get to his wife.
"Get your head out of your ass, Jake." Gibbs told him, keeping his tone terse and cross. He continued to glare at Jake, as the elevator doors closed, taking Jake down to the entrance. Gibbs came back into the bullpen and patted both boys on back. "Good job, boys!" He praised them and poor Dorney looked deeply conflicted, hearing the praise from the team leader.
With Dorney back down in cyber-crimes, helping them out on a hot active case and Ellie in Oklahoma, it just left Gibbs and Tim working cases by themselves. Cold cases. But that was OK by them, Tim was still on desk duty and Gibbs felt like he needed some downtime. Keeping regular office hours of 9 to 5 was a novelty for the two men, but after three days the novelty wore off and they were desperate for the norm to return. Vance refused to budge, even with Gibbs' warning that they were becoming stir-crazy.
The week moved exceptionally fast. Tim had three sessions with Dr Cranston, took Kelly out for dinner on a date, and went to the gun range with Gibbs. Gibbs had dinner with ex-wife number two, Rebecca, who called him out of the blue, wanting to talk. Kelly landed and signed a big, very well known, out of contract author from Random House. Sarah called Tim and invited the couple to come to Tobias' house for dinner on Friday night, that Megan and Emily would be there, too. That it would be their first official family dinner. Oh, and Tim was told to bring Kelly.
Friday morning rolled around; Tim strolled into the bullpen a little after 0800. There had been no use going home after his appointment, just to turn around and head into the office. Gibbs was already there too, so it made sense. The two men exchanged greetings. "This is for you." Tim declared, brandishing a FFDE (Fitness for Duty Evaluation), filled out and signed by Rachel.
"Really?" Gibbs asked, surprised. He wasn't expecting this form for another week. "Is everything ok?"
"Coffee?" Tim offered, both as a change of topic and a segue into what he really wanted to discuss with Gibbs.
Gibbs nodded and the two men set out, strolling out of the building and down the main path towards the coffee cart on base they sometimes frequented, when they didn't have time to make a run to Elaine's. As soon as both men had their steaming hot coffee from Alfred, they headed to their favourite, out of the way spot in the corner of the park.
"What's going on, Tim?" Gibbs asked, he had recognised that Tim had wanted to talk, and away from the bullpen. He didn't want or need to be overheard.
"I have the fit for duty eval form, signed and completed." Tim declared, with a huff. But he knew he wasn't fooling Gibbs. "But I am going to continue seeing her, as a private patient. Something that Kelly and I discussed. To help me work through and navigate the mess between Tobias and Sarah and the McGee's, as well as process the trauma of what that nurse did to everyone. I don't want what happened to affect me and I'm going to do everything possible, not to let it. Rachel said I am actually doing particularly well, considering all of that on top of the physical trauma."
"Of course, you are. You're always an over-achiever." Gibbs quipped, grinning at the young man. "Has Sarah and Tobias thought about introducing you to the rest of the family, yet?"
"As a matter of fact, Kelly and I are having dinner with them, Megan and Emily tonight. If we don't catch a case, which is highly unlikely, sine we're on cold cases. I'm hoping that Dr Hamilton and Ducky will clear me on Monday. I have an appointment with both of them."
"Don't rush it." Gibbs advised Tim. He looked around at where they were, scrutinising the area closely. There was no one within one hundred yards of them, so Gibbs figured it was safe to ask, provided they kept their voices low. "How's Tony doing? Have you heard anything?"
"They stayed in hiding until I was discharged from the hospital. Just to be sure." Tim answered, lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "Still haven't told him that I was injured, or what Jake did to Bishop. But he said that they were coping ok. He is loving being a dad to Tali. They travelled to Israel, met up with Adam. He confirmed Ziva's story, she was under orders from Eli. But the Mossad review board couldn't find any evidence to substantiate her claim. With that, she has been arrested her for treason and she is facing a trial. Tony has taken an apartment in Paris, by the Siene. He has begun home-schooling Tali and Senior is returning to DC briefly to tend to some INS matters, before returning to Paris. Tony said that, Ziva doesn't want to see Tali, she doesn't want Tali to know what she has become. Ziva is allowed one letter per week and one visitor per month. Tony leaves Tali with senior and makes the trip to Tel Aviv."
"If he knew what Ziva did to you..." Gibbs began but trailed off. He changed his mind, the boys may be friends now, but if it came down to a choice between Ziva and Tim. He didn't think that Tony would pick Tim. He loved Ziva, she was the mother of his child and every man knows that the woman you love outranks your best bud.
"All the more reason not to tell him. He loves Ziva." Tim finished for Gibbs, helping the older man save face. Tim wasn't the naive little probie he once was. He knew if he made Tony choose between Ziva and himself, Tony would choose Ziva. "I think that Tony needs to admit how much he is still in love with her."
"Have you made peace with what Delilah did to you?" Gibbs asked Tim, as they made their way back to the NCIS building, on the navy base by mutual, unspoken agreement.
"Gibbs, I am going to tell you something. A secret of sorts. I have only ever told one other person this before. Before I do though, I need you to pretend for a moment that you're not Kelly's dad, just my friend." Tim stopped walking and looked at his boss, carefully. He actually wasn't sure how Gibbs was going to take this. Rachel had been surprised and had responded positively. But she had been asking in reference to Kelly and his feelings, not the way that Gibbs posed the question to him. Asking about Delilah. But Gibbs had nodded in agreement. He would pretend for the next few minutes that he was only Tim's friend, not Kelly's dad too. "Remember the day you introduced me to Kelly, the day before the gala? You implied that I didn't need your permission to ask Kelly out on a date."
"Yeah?" Gibbs was grinning, that was the day when he had first seen the spark between the two of them. He had always thought, deep down if the two of them ever met, that they would make a lovely couple. That's why he had resisted introducing the two of them. Kelly wouldn't have been interested in Tim out of spite. But if they met by chance, like they did ...
Seeing them met for that first time, on the threshold to his home, he had seen a glimpse into what life would be like if Tim and Kelly ever ended up getting together. He had dreamed of a future between them. Then Tim dropped the bomb on him, metaphorically. He was seeing someone ... someone else. A DoD analyst. The woman had sounded like the perfect woman for Tim. "What about it?"
"I had a physical reaction to meeting Kelly." Tim smiled at him. "My heart was beating fast; my palms were sweaty. I thought she was beautiful and when she shook my hand, I physically felt the chemistry between us. No one had ever made me feel like that before. No one has made me feel like that since either, in case you're wondering. The whole time we were just friends, I think I was falling in love with her. If Delilah had of survived the drone attack, I don't think the relationship we had, would have survived. It's a horrible thing to say, but the following afternoon, when Delilah came to my apartment and we had sex, I wasn't thinking about her. I was thinking about Kelly."
Gibbs grinned at him, he had raised his hand to slap Tim's head, before remembering the promise that he had made to the younger man. "When I am back to being Kelly's dad, I am going to pretend I didn't hear that." He quipped, before he turned serious and stopped grinning. "But as your friend, I am going to say this; I think the two of you perfect for one another. I think you needed your just friends time to get to know afternoon another. Just promise me that you didn't sleep together until after you were a couple."
"We never shared anything less than a kiss, before we began dating." Tim reassured her father. He noticed that Gibbs had slipped back into the father of the girlfriend role.
The day was slow and tedious, but that was most likely because Tim was anxious for the dinner at Tobias' house and not because they were stuck in cold cases all day. Kelly met him at home at 1800 hours, carrying a bouquet of mixed posies. At Tim's enquiring look, she explained that they were for him to give to his mother. That she had been wonderful, full of love and support for him lately and that she had spent a lot of extra time with him, these past weeks.
Together, they quickly changed their clothes, Kelly dressing into her favourite jeans, keeping her boots, blouse and blazer and freshening up her light make-up. While Tim changed his shirt and freshened up. Kelly could tell that her lover was nervous and she had him drive them over there, so that he didn't focus on his nerves. When they arrived, Kelly gripped his hand in hers, for physical support. He kissed her chastely on the lips and they climbed out of the car.
Knocking on the door, Tim felt the nerves settle in the pit of his stomach. "Hey." Tobias greeted them warmly, hugging both of them and kissing Kelly's cheek. "They're here." He called out and Emily came into the room.
More greetings and pleasantries were exchanged, as the fourteen-year-old Emily hugged Kelly and said a warm hello to her Uncle Gibbs' tech-savvy agent. Megan and Sarah came in from the kitchen too, Sarah hugged and kissed Tim's cheek, and Tim handed the bouquet of posies. "Thank-you." Sarah said, surprised. "Megan, do you remember Agent Tim McGee?" She asked. "Tim, this is Megan."
Megan Porter sized Tim up. She thought that he had light hair like her grandfather and was tall. He seemed nice and he smiled politely at her. She briefly remembered meeting him when she was rescued, after being kidnapped. "Nice to meet you, officially. Everything from that time is fuzzy, but I vaguely remember seeing you." She told him and Tim remembered he had seen Megan after she had been kidnapped, but they hadn't actually spoke. "Of course, Mom sings your praises. When Dad started his last round of crap, she said you saved her."
Tim smiled at her. "I was just doing my job." he reminded her. He had never been able to take praise very well, probably from the life of being raised by a man like John McGee. "This is my girlfriend, Kelly." Tim introduced her.
"You're dating him?" Emily asked, incredulously. "Whatever happened to that Ethan guy?" She had met Ethan twice and both times, she hadn't liked him very much. She had overheard her father and Uncle Gibbs talking about Ethan and how they had thought that he was no good for her. Her father had even gone as far as to offer her Uncle Gibbs to break them off. She had been shocked to hear her uncle decline her dad's offer. He had said that he wanted to let the relationship fail by itself.
Kelly told Emily, noting that Megan was listening to that Ethan had cheated on her and that she left him so quick, he didn't know which way was up. That she wasn't going to tolerate being cheated on. That it took her a long time to heal from being cheated on and then she met Tim. She told the girls that her and Tim met at an awful time in Tim's life, that they became friends first, which had slowly turned into more.
Sarah called them all into the dining room, to sit down to eat. It was obvious to Tim and Kelly that the fourteen- and seventeen-year-old girls knew that their parents were dating. After a delicious but simple dinner of a beef pot roast and a mess of vegetables, the young girls were asked to clear the table by Tobias. Tim and Kelly had immediately pitched in and helped. When dessert was served, the conversation turned to the girls telling Tim and Kelly how their parents used to be married before they divorced and eventually remarried.
"There is something else, we want to tell you two." Tobias began and the look Emily through him was bewildered. After all, this was how he had dropped the bomb of him having been married to someone before her mom. That he was also now seeing that woman. She had been worried, but as soon as she met Sarah, she had relaxed. She was nothing like the wicked stepmother, that all the books depicted. Sarah had been warm, loving, caring and nurturing to Emily. Megan and Emily had hit it off right away, Emily having always wanted a big sister.
"Megan, honey. Do you remember the story about Tim?" Tim felt Kelly's hand slip inside his under the table. "How I had a baby before you were born."
"My big brother, yeah." Megan answered. She wondered where her mother was going with this. Emily and Megan had worked out that it had been their parent's child and that Tim had been Emily's big brother too.
"You mean the big brother; my dad hasn't told me about yet?" Emily added, shooting a look at her father. Seeing the shocked look on her father's face, she let him sweat it out for a moment, before consoling him. "Relax Dad, Megan and I figured it out, as soon as we learnt that you and Sarah used to be married."
"Well ..." Sarah continued, after sharing a look with her former husband. "Remember we told you that he died?" She asked. She had seen Kelly hold Tim's hand under the table and comfort him. She felt like she was a bundle of nerves herself, she couldn't even begin to imagine how their son would be feeling.
Tobias went on to explain that through a series of unfortunate events, they learnt that their son didn't die. That he had been kidnapped by a nurse and given to another family, to be adopted. That the young man had learnt that he was adopted and had had his DNA run and that it had matched the two of them.
"Oh my god!" Emily exclaimed first, before Megan caught on too. "Tim's our brother!" she declared.
"That's right honey." Sarah said gently to the younger girl. "Tim is our son, the one we were told was dead." Sarah had tears in her eyes. She was honestly glad that Emily was so astute and had worked it out before she had to tell them. "What do you think, honey?" Sarah asked, turning to Megan.
"You're my brother?" She asked, looking at Tim. He was emotional, but he refused to give into what he was feeling. "You're an NCIS agent and you're my brother?" She asked again. "You helped rescue me?"
"Sweetheart." Tobias began gently, looking at Megan. "Tim's the one who found you. He did some of his fancy computer stuff and found your location."
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity at the table and Tim found himself being squished, sandwiched between the two teenaged girls. Poor Kelly had been all but bowled over in their wake. The antics of the young woman made Kelly smile, but she caught the pained look on Tim's face and realised too late what was happening. "Girls." Kelly said in her best baby-sitting voice. It was a voice she hadn't had to use since the last time she had babysat a rambunctious eleven-year-old Emily Fornell. "Tim's got broken ribs still, please be gentle."
Both girls pulled back and looked at their new found brother, apologetically. Both sheepishly telling Tim that they were sorry. But to be fair, they didn't know and Tim told them it was ok, because they didn't know. "But now you do, I'll take a gentler version of that hug." Tim told them and held out his arms. This time, his arms weren't trapped and he held both girls. he kissed both girls on the top of their heads, before they shrugged off him.
"Dad? Sarah?" Emily asked, as they were all in the kitchen now, pitching in with the dished. "Is it weird? Tim's our brother, but Kelly and Tim are dating, right? Kelly is kind of like my step sister, since mom was married to Uncle Gibbs?"
Tobias laughed out loud at his daughter's question. "Oh honey, it's no weirder than calling your mom's first husband, Uncle. I guess we're a really close family."
"Isn't it a bit like ... wrong, though?" Emily asked, she was confused and rightly so. It was confusing to all of them and the looks shared between the parents had them too thinking about it. But Tim and Kelly knew better.
"Not really, Em." Kelly smiled at the young woman. They had actually had this thought and her and Tim had discussed this topic between the two of them, before. "Our, you and me, our parents, they were married before you were born. I am not related to your mom, by blood and not by any other way. Any other kind of relationship ended when my dad divorced your mom. Tim was already your dad's son, but they all thought he was dead and I have no familial relationship to your dad, at all. Sure, we're close. Like you and my dad are. But you're not actually related to my dad by blood, either. Understand so far?"
Emily nodded, understanding it a bit better, the way Kelly had described it to her. "It's just like, I have an adopted grandmother named Penny, she's, my grandmother." Tim added softly, before briefly explaining why they don't call her grandma. "Kelly has her grandpa, Jack and you two have your own grandparents. Emily, you and I share grandparents in Pina and George Senior. Just like Megan and I share grandparents in Nathan and Sarah's mom."
"Linda." Sarah supplied for Tim. "My mom's name was Linda. Your grandmother's name was Linda." Tim shot a thankful look Sarah's way, grateful to learn his paternal grandmother's name.
"Em, Kelly and I don't have any blood relatives, or relatives by marriage in common. Sure, she is close with Dad, but that's because her dad and our dad are best buddy's not because of family. Is that better?"
"Glad you two could explain it, I was trying in my head and Emily was getting me confused." Tobias grinned at his son. He knew his son was smart, but wow. He had no idea of his son's mental capacity for sorting through the complicated in a non-professional capacity, until just now.
"Bachelor's degree in Biology here." Tim reminded them. "We did the whole spiel at JH, full, halves, step, actual, biological versus chosen families. All the different types of families. Just need to remember, that in the end we are all one big family."
"Which we hope will get bigger." Sarah added, looking at her former husband turned current lover. "We are going to invite Tim's adoptive family to meet everyone and welcome them into our family too?"
"Isn't that a lot of people?" Megan asked her mom, worried. She was fine with meeting Tim and Kelly, but a whole heap more strangers worried her. "I mean there's more parents, siblings, grandparents, possibly weird uncles and aunts... that's a lot of people."
"Megan, I only have my Penny and an adopted sister, Sarah. That's it." Tim told them and shot his parents a look. "My adopted mom died when I was a boy and my adoptive father and I don't speak to each other. Sarah and I were raised by Penny."
"Ok." Megan agreed, after hearing that it was just the two extra women. "But we should meet Kelly's dad too."
"That's Agent Gibbs honey." Sarah told her daughter. "You've met him a couple of times, now. He's the older man on the team of agents, I work with."
"The one with those blue eyes?" She asked, looking at Kelly. "You have your dad's eyes."
Now that all of those issues had been laid to rest, Kelly suggest she take a photo of the new family. Tobias had Sarah, Tim and the girls sit together on the sofa and Kelly snapped some photos of them off Tim's cell phone. When she was done, she quickly forwarded them to Sarah and Tobias. Megan and Emily both exchanged numbers with Tim and plans had been made to get everyone together soon.
The four of them walked Kelly and Tim out to their car. To Sarah and Tobias, it felt strange to see Tim leave, but tonight had felt perfect. For the first time in their lives', they felt like their family was perfect.