Tim had worked on the Firefly webpage that weekend, wanting to get it up and running as soon as possible. While he did have knowledge of the inner workings of websites, he wasn't nearly as experienced as he had insinuated. There had been a lot of trial and error work, checking links, searching for the perfect colors, and so on. He hadn't realized how tedious it could be to have to type in a code, check it, and then to go back and change the code by even one character. By the time he walked into work on Monday, he thought he'd put together a good, albeit simple, start.
"Kate!" he called when the agent entered. "Want to see the beginnings of the webpage?"
"Sure," she said as she rounded his desk. She had tried to pretend like she wasn't all that interested in the page for their webcomic, but Kate was actually feeling a bit of giddiness at the thought of her work having its own private webpage.
"Now it's not finished," he warned her, "but this is just a basic start."
The page had a burgundy and black color scheme—it was a bit too Hot Topic for his tastes, but Peaches had wanted something a bit dark—with the links to different areas running along the top. There was a page for past installments, organized by month and year, a section that chronicled the history and development of Firefly, a page which would have the bios for both Peaches and Kate, and a section for impending Firefly merchandise.
"I thought I'd put a picture of Firefly on the home page along with the header you give me. The links can go below the header, but I might be able to figure out a way to insert them into the Firefly picture so that when a reader runs the cursor over the picture, the links names will pop up on different areas of the picture. Oh, and I was going to ask Peaches if maybe she wanted a page with games. I know it sounds kind of silly, but games are usually a big hit. Or maybe you could have a tutorial page on how to draw Firefly."
Tim's comments and suggestions reached Kate's ears, but she wasn't completely paying attention. She was slightly in awe at how much progress Tim had already made. It wasn't the most glamorous website she'd ever seen, but she was impressed nonetheless. She knew she could never have put even this much together without a "How To For Dummies" manual sitting open beside her. "This looks great, McGee," she told him sincerely. "I know I've seemed disinterested in the webpage, but I really appreciate this as much as my cousin does."
He blushed at her expression of gratitude. "Do you think Peaches will like it?"
"She'll love it," Kate affirmed. "It's very her. And once you get the Firefly installments posted and people start visiting, she'll be absolutely ecstatic."
"She's really nice. Different, though."
Kate smiled. "Yeah, but we're more alike than it seems. I mean, we both set out to rebel against our parents, we just did it in slightly different ways."
"I can see how she rebelled, but how did you?"
"By not going to law school. My parents had very high hopes for my career in law, thinking I might one day even become involved in politics. What they didn't think about was the fact that I hate politics," she said with a look of disdain. "I dropped out soon after and chose a different form of law enforcement. This one lets me carry a gun."
It took Tim a moment to realize that Kate was leaning over him, her arms on either side of his body as they looked at the fledgling webpage. It made him feel nervous, but strangely satisfied.
When Tony entered the squad room, he stopped short when he saw Kate leaning over Tim, almost cheek to cheek, as they talked about something. Both were smiling in a way that made him believe they weren't discussing a case or any of the generic topics which usually made up their conversations with each other. "Well, aren't you two comfy," he commented in a strained tone.
Kate shot up at the sound of his voice and nonchalantly leaned against the side of Tim's desk. Tim immediately closed the webpage. He was under the impression that Kate didn't want Tony to know about it, lest he should pick up where he'd left off in the childish teasing.
"Wow, DiNozzo! You're actually here on time."
"You sound disappointed, Kate. Were you and McRomeo there hoping for a little alone time?"
"I was just hoping that I could get a couple cups of coffee in me before having to deal with you, and I'm sure McGee feels similarly."
"Ouch, Kate!" Tony groaned sarcastically. "I think you just use snark to hide the fact that you so desperately want to sleep with me."
"Dream on, DiNozzo! I require boyfriends with an intelligence level above that of a Neanderthal and a maturity level above that of a ten-year-old."
Tony gave Tim—who had been sitting with a quiet smile throughout the entire back-and-forth session—a suspicious look. He could tell that Tim and Kate had suddenly grown closer in the past week, but Tony couldn't figure out what had pushed them closer. He couldn't imagine that Kate was actually interested in Tim that way, but now he was beginning to doubt that.
"So what were you and our little Probie talking about when I came in?" he asked, hoping to wiggle out of the mini-spat and get back to the issue at hand.
Kate, though, was happy to continue teasing. "Oh, Timothy! I think Tony is jealous!"
"It does sound that way, doesn't it?" a smug Tim agreed.
"Don't make me laugh!" Tony sneered. "I was just wondering what level of geekdom he'd slipped to this time. Careful, Kate. I think he's pulling you down a bottomless pit of dorkiness. I mean, we already know you draw comics. Next thing you know, you'll be wearing a cape and running through the forest pretending like you've got magical powers."
The war of words had been harmless, much like a fight between young siblings. All involved knew the insults weren't meant to actually hurt anyone. Kate had heard far worse from Tony; in fact, she had dished worse insults to Tony. But much like she had the previous week, Kate felt an anger bubble inside of her for reasons even she didn't understand.
"Tony, I get that you're so insecure with yourself that you have to make everyone around you feel like crap, but this is just beyond pathetic! You're so jealous of McGee because he is young, intelligent, and attractive, and all the little jailbait girls you hit on are more likely to go home with him at night, so you have to constantly harp on everything he does, tearing down his self-esteem so he won't pose a threat to you when it comes to picking up women. I don't know if I should be annoyed by you or feel sorry for you."
Even Tim was left speechless by Kate's tirade this time. It was true that Tony's teasing sometimes bordered on outright bullying, but Tim had known the older agent long enough to understand that most of it stemmed from Tony's sense of sibling rivalry on the team. He suspected there might be a bit of insecurity in Tony's barbs, but he would never throw that in Tony's face, even if he did sometimes deserve it. Tony was only human and he was there when his teammates really needed him.
"Kate," Tim said softly, gently grabbing the steaming woman's shoulder. "That…I mean that was a bit much, don't you think?"
Tony was hurt—both Tim and Kate could tell that much—but being the stoic, manly man he was, Tony wasn't about to verbally admit that. "I'm sorry, Kate," he said sarcastically after he managed to compose himself. "I didn't realize I was such a horrible person. I guess since I'm such a nuisance, maybe I should just leave NCIS and let you guys do the work you do so very well without me."
He grabbed his stuff, tossing his bag over his shoulder. "I think I'll go talk to Abby right now. Hopefully she hasn't had a daily dose of PMS today."
"Tony…" Kate began as she came off her anger high. She wasn't even sure where to start.
It didn't matter, though, because Tony left without another word.
Kate fell back against Tim's desk, arms crossed. She wished she could take back what had been said, but she knew that wasn't possible. She would have to wait for Tony to calm down and then try to apologize.
"Where did that come from?" Tim asked. "I mean, I'm grateful for you sticking up for me, but that…I just haven't heard you say anything like that before, even when Tony was at his most annoying."
"I screwed up," she admitted. "I just can't help but think about Peaches when I hear Tony go on like that. She was truly tormented in high school and I hated it. I hated that I couldn't help her."
"You know he didn't mean it. Well, he wasn't trying to be malicious, at least."
She nodded. "I know. Now he hates me."
"I don't think he hates you."
"He hates me."
When Gibbs entered, Tim told him that Tony had gone down to Abby's lab. No questions were asked and the three of them worked in silence as a thick tension loomed above them.