Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to NCIS. The characters and everyone belong to the awesome NCIS show on CBS!

Author's note: hello everyone! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated any sooner, but last week was total chaos. We had some unexpected company arrive at our house without warning for four days. Really nice people, but free time was scarce. Anyways, thanks for the reviews. if you have time I would LOVE it if you left a review, and I hope that you enjoy Chapter 7!

Chapter 7

Palmer's Opinion and McGee's friendships

By the time that Jimmy Palmer had arrived near McGee and Ducky's location in the forest, Palmer could hear McGee's voice rising in volume talking about his thoughts and concerns about his day so far. Palmer knew that he could continue walking towards the two and interrupt them while they were in the midst of talking with each other, but he figured that that would have been a very rude and impolite thing of him to do, just barging in on them when they were in the middle of a private conversation. He also figured that McGee needed someone to talk to who would listen to him without interrupting and someone who he could trust. And Palmer realized that just like he would have done, McGee trusted Ducky and confided his most personal conversations with him.

So Palmer decided not to interrupt the two of them while they were both still talking and instead decided that he would listen in on their conversation. He wasn't trying to eavesdrop; he was just trying to listen to how badly McGee's day had been so far, and think of some ways that he could relieve McGee from some of his stress. He knew that Ducky would be thinking of doing the same thing while he listened to McGee- they were both trying to find ways to make McGee's day better than it already was. They were trying to find a way to make up for the bad parts of McGee's day so far.

"Leave it to Ducky to be a good listener," thought Palmer. Palmer had a very special relationship with the elderly medical examiner on Gibbs' team. Dr. Mallard, or "Ducky" as he was known to everyone else on the team, was someone much more than just Palmer's supervisor. To Palmer, Ducky was his teacher, his mentor, his closest colleague, one of his role models and a dear, dear friend. Palmer had often wondered how lonely and terrible his life would be like without Ducky there to guide and teach him and comfort and listen to him when he needed it.

While listening to McGee and Ducky talk to each other, Palmer stood against a tree and thought about McGee's relationships with everyone on the team.

Palmer figured that McGee felt the same way with Ducky that he did. Although he had a different relationship with Ducky than McGee did, the bonds between the three of them- Ducky and Palmer, Ducky and McGee, and finally Palmer and McGee- remained the same. Palmer liked to think of McGee as more of a friend rather than a colleague. Palmer knew that McGee thought the same way of him- Palmer was a more of a friend rather than just a colleague. But then again, with the exception of Gibbs and the insufferable DiNozzo, McGee considered everyone on the team one of his friends. And what amazed Palmer the most was that McGee had a different special relationship with each of his friends.

For Ziva, McGee had built a relationship that had been based on trust; one that had grown stronger ever since he had traveled around the world with Tony and Gibbs to avenge her supposed death. It wasn't a romantic relationship like it had been with Abby at one point; instead, it was something more of a close friendship he shared with her. The bonds that he had with her now had remained the same as they had been before she left but had tripled when she returned from her imprisonment overseas and came back to work at NCIS as an American Citizen. No longer was she "on loan from Mossad". Now, she was an American citizen who worked as a full-time field agent for NCIS on Team Gibbs with her friends, including McGee. Palmer noticed that McGee truly cared for Ziva as a close friend and he cared for her like he cared for his sister, which was saying a lot.

Tony was a different matter. McGee wasn't really friends with Tony DiNozzo, but he wasn't an enemy with him either. McGee and Tony were frenemies- not the best of friends, yet at the same time they weren't complete hate-each-other's-guts enemies. Palmer noticed that the relationship that McGee had with DiNozzo was a mild love/hate relationship. Tony would give McGee the hardest of times at work with his constant teasing and continuous pranks, but McGee never became mad or let his temper explode and instead let the names and pranks slide away from his frustration. Although he wasn't perfect at it, for most of the times Tony knew when to back off from his fun and give his "Probie" a break. Occasionally, though, Tony would go too far with his names and constant badgering of McGee like he had done this morning. McGee didn't consider Tony to be his best friend, but he respected Tony as his partner and thought of him as his teacher. Although Tony's constant nicknames like "McGoo" and "Probie" and "McFlubber" would drive him nuts some days, McGee had to think that Tony was the best partner he could ever work with or be paired with. McGee was willing to risk his life for Tony if need be. To Palmer, it seemed like McGee looked up to Tony as an older brother as well.

For Abby… well, although his early romantic relationship he had years ago might not have gone as well as he first hoped that it would, McGee still loved Abby deeply. McGee loved Abby as a friend and like a younger sister as well. That was all there was to it. McGee had a special connection with Abby, and he loved to visit her in the lab and spend time working with her any time he could. Abby was probably McGee's closest friend, despite all of the differences in both of their lives. Abby meant so much more to McGee than she already knew that she did.

When it came to Ducky, Palmer already knew what kind of a relationship McGee had with Ducky. Palmer shared almost the same relationship with Ducky that McGee had with Ducky. It was hard not to be friends with the lively enthusiastic elder Medical Examiner, and it would have been next to impossible not to look at the man and then smile. Ducky was a wonderful, extraordinary person who truly cared about each and every one of the members on the team and was the only person who addressed everyone by their first name. Ducky was a mentor and a teacher to McGee. He was so full of wisdom that Palmer doubted that anyone would be able to listen to all of it in a year, or ten years for that matter. Ducky was also a very kind, caring, compassionate person just like McGee was. They were both super smart, but Ducky specialized in a different field of knowledge than McGee did.

Ducky was the one person that McGee felt he could trust with any of his secrets, including the way he felt about himself and the members on the team and his work and his life at home. Ducky was a good listener. He would listen to anyone for any amount of time and then he would always have something thoughtful to say at the end of their speech. He was always encouraging, he was very smart, and somewhat lively, and above all, Ducky was a phenomenal story-teller. Ducky could make anyone smile by telling them one of his stories. It was just his personality that made McGee smile. McGee loved Ducky as much as he loved typing on his old-fashioned typewriter at home; he loved Ducky for who he was. McGee had a special relationship with Ducky, and that relationship was a leather-bound friendship. Ducky was a close, close friend of McGee's, and he always would be.

Palmer didn't know what kind of a relationship McGee had with Gibbs. He knew that McGee acknowledged Gibbs as his superior, or his boss, but other than that he didn't know anything. Palmer could only assume that McGee looked up to Gibbs even though Gibbs sometimes gave him a hard time. McGee seemed to admire Gibbs as a man with a strong will, a strong sense of determination, and as someone who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Aside from being his boss, Palmer had no clue how McGee felt about Gibbs. Palmer decided that he would just have to wait and see.

And finally, Palmer considered what kind of a relationship McGee had with himself (Palmer). Palmer could relate to McGee- they were both science nerds and geeks. Palmer's specialty was in medical science-he was brilliant when it came to diagnosing possible causes of death or injury, but he was also somewhat skilled when it came to computers and other technology and sciences in general. McGee's specialty was in cybercrimes and computer forensics. Although he wasn't as smart as McGee was in the fields of computer forensics or cybercrimes, Palmer was still pretty smart, and he knew that McGee knew that as well. Palmer looked up to McGee as a role model in a way- McGee was super smart, he was caring and compassionate, most of the times he was kind of timid, he was gentle, he was determined and he was an amazing computer know-it-all whiz. McGee was also a geek. McGee wasn't Ducky, but he still taught Palmer something new every time he saw him.

Palmer realized that he and McGee both shared some of the same interests and they both had several traits in common. They both loved science, they were both nerds and geeks (well, McGee was more of a geek than Palmer was), and both of them were above and beyond their years' worth of knowledge when it came down to science and forensics. Whenever they had a chance, they would both participate in lengthy discussions about one type of science or technology or other topic that they found to be interesting. Whenever Palmer made a simple mistake, McGee would encourage him later that it was nothing to be ashamed of, and that accidents happened. Palmer tried to do the same for McGee whenever something that he was supposed to be working on went wrong.

Looking back on previous thoughts and memories, Palmer came to the conclusion that McGee's relationship with him was more of an underdog friendship. Although they were both smart, both McGee and Palmer seemed to be the underdogs on the team. Palmer sometimes worried about this but McGee and Ducky especially helped him feel better about that. Whatever kind of a friendship McGee had with him, Palmer was thankful for it.

As he finished contemplating those last thoughts, Palmer heard McGee finish express his concerns to Ducky whispering the last sentence. "Poor McGee," thought Palmer. Palmer knew that McGee had had a really bad beginning when he arrived at work, because he could hear Gibbs yell at him. Palmer knew that Gibbs' lecture had hurt McGee, but he didn't know that it was that bad, enough to make McGee worry about his job. That's when he decided to make his presence known as if he was just returning from the NCIS van.

Ducky was in the middle of telling McGee about the time when he helped a young woman in her thirties take her dog to the vet after it had caught a rare form of fever when Palmer arrived. Ducky paused for a moment and looked up at him and then said,

"Ah, Jimmy, so I see that you've finally returned. What took you so long?" he asked.

Palmer was curious and wanted to ask why Ducky thought that he had been gone for a long time when he decided against asking and replied instead,

"I accidently tripped on my way to the van and then it took me forever to find your bag," he lied. "I noticed something interesting that I wanted to talk to you about in private later on, perhaps I can do that on the drive back to NCIS Headquarters in our van?" Palmer hoped that Ducky would understand the hidden message in what he was asking, hoping that Ducky would catch on so that he could talk about McGee in private.

"Oh, I see," Ducky answered Palmer's awkward question after a moment's hesitation. He had a feeling that Jimmy had been in the background listening to McGee's conversation about his stress at work and his concerns for the rest of the team and for his job.

"We'll talk about whatever it is that you wanted to talk about later, Jimmy. I hope that you understand. But right now, I've got to take care of Timothy here," Ducky told Palmer, acknowledging that he understood.

"It's okay, Ducky," McGee chimed in. "It's not like I'm dying over here or anything," he half-heartedly joked.

"Yes, but still, we should probably double check your condition just in case," Palmer told McGee.

Palmer was slightly worried for McGee- he had dark circles underneath his eyes, and he also had quite a few small scrapes and bruises on his arms and torso. At least none of it was life-threatening. Still, some of those bruises were going to be sore the following morning.

"Jimmy's right, Timothy," Ducky supported Palmer. "I think that it would be a good idea if you at least allowed me to double check some of your bones for any breaks or fractures."

"Alright, I guess that's fine with me," McGee told Ducky. "And thank you, both of you for your concern for me," McGee told Ducky and Palmer with sincerity in his voice. "Gibbs didn't seem too concerned."

"What?" Palmer gasped, faking shock and confusion. He already knew that Gibbs had been somewhat concerned for McGee's well-being, but he hadn't been nearly as worried for McGee as Ducky and Ziva and he had been.

"That's alright though, Timothy, because I know that you've already forgiven Jethro for his lack of concern now, haven't you?" Ducky asked McGee.

It was more of a statement rather than a question, but Ducky said it aloud because he knew that McGee had willingly forgiven Gibbs a while back. Ducky thought that McGee was giving Jethro too much of a break today- first for not yelling back after Gibbs' raging lecture, and now forgiving him for his lack of concern for his well-being. Ducky marveled at Timothy who was willing to do anything to please Jethro.

McGee looked at the side of his hands sheepishly and replied, "Yes."

"That's what I thought," muttered Ducky.

"Look out, Tony, Gibbs, and Ziva are coming back," Palmer warned Ducky and McGee.

"Anything?" McGee asked Gibbs, hoping that they had possibly found a lead by following the trail of blood to the source of where it originated from.

"No, not a single darned clue," Gibbs responded impatiently with an edge of irritation in his voice. "Not a single darn clue."

"Well, what did you find then, Jethro?" Ducky asked Gibbs, hoping to ease the tension in the air.

"Nothing!" Gibbs roared out loud, startling McGee and causing Palmer to flinch involuntarily.

Ziva stared at Gibbs with a confuzzled expression and then stared directly at McGee, saying "What Gibbs said is not true. We did find a lead, I believe," she said, emphasizing the "did" part of her sentence while staring at Gibbs with a cold glare. Gibbs paid it no heed.

"What did you find?" McGee asked in a calm voice, trying to hide his irritation at Gibbs.

"We found some tire tracks at the bottom of the trail, and a dried up pool of blood, but that was pretty much it," Tony butted into the conversation before Ziva even had a chance to elaborate on her idea of a lead.

"Well, that's good to know then," Ducky addressed the rest of the group, trying to find something to be optimistic about.

"Did any of you guys take photos of the tire tracks?" McGee asked, a spark of hope in his voice.

"Well, no duh, Probie!" Tony taunted McGee. "That's your job, remember? Oh but wait, I don't think that you can take photos anyways because your camera, the NCIS issued camera, was totaled when you decided to slide down the hill like you were a little kid at recess! So thanks to you, we can't take any photos of the evidence!" Tony replied in a taunting tone of voice.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "He only fell down the hill, Tony or should I say steep ledge, because you accidently pushed him down it!" she snapped. "So technically speaking, it's your fault that McGee fell down in the first place!"

"Alright, alright, Enough!" Gibbs yelled. He was tired of Tony and Ziva's constant bickering, and he just wanted to solve the case. So now he needed to regain control and make sure that everyone was ready to get back to work again.

"Ziva, you go back with to the van and get the spare camera from the back of the trunk. Then I want you to head down with McAccidentProne to the bottom of the blood trail and investigate further. See if you can find anymore clues," Gibbs ordered.

Ziva nodded her head twice, then stole a glance at McGee. He seemed hurt after hearing Gibbs' nicknames for him.

Tony chuckled at the names Gibbs called McGee. Then he snapped out of his laughter when Gibbs spoke to him.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked.

"Yes, boss," Tony replied.

"I want you to recover McGee's camera then bring it up to the van; then meet up with me." Gibbs ordered.

"I'm on it Boss," Tony answered, then headed off.

Gibbs watched as the members of his team went off in their own directions, then sighed.

"You could be a little less harsh on him, you know," Ducky chided Jethro.

"Who? Tony?" Gibbs asked. Ducky responded to Gibbs' answer by lifting up his head and staring, no frowning at Gibbs with a glare.

"You should know who I'm talking about, Jethro," Ducky told Gibbs in a low, slightly irritated voice. "I didn't think that I would have to remind you about this, but McGee's a human being just like you are, you know."

"Thanks, Ducky, but I really don't need to be reminded of this right now. I have a case that needs to be solved that should have been solved by Monday!"

Before Gibbs could continue any further, Ducky stopped what he was doing and then marched up to Gibbs.

"Yes you do need to be reminded of this, Jethro! It's not often that I get mad at anyone, but you are making me mad right now! Can't you see just how hard Timothy McGee has been working for the last 72 hours? Can't you see that he's not purposely trying to cause delays for this case? Timothy is a bright young man, Jethro, and I know that he's been working as hard as he can for you trying to find a lead for you and the rest of the team to follow." Ducky was really upset at this point.

"If you had been paying any attention to him whatsoever this week instead of on the case, then surely by now you would have noticed that McGee is a human being just like you, and just like you, he has made mistakes. And just like you, he is stubborn and won't take no for an answer and just like you, Jethro, he's been trying his hardest all week to find a lead, any lead for the case! But it's not his fault that he hasn't found anything! I know that Timothy has been trying his hardest all week and you should know by now just how smart Timothy truly is! If he hasn't found a lead by now, then it's not his fault."

"If you even cared about your agent, Jethro, then you would notice just how hard he's been trying to please you and just how hard he's been working. I'll bet that you haven't even noticed this yet, but Timothy McGee has worked himself to the point of exhaustion! He's been staying up for hours in the office, staring at his computer screen typing up reports on top of trying to find a lead. And you haven't noticed anything at all! You should be ashamed of yourself for a change, Jethro, because you're focusing on what doesn't matter the most. You should be concerned for McGee! He thinks that he's failed you, and that you're going to fire him on the spot back at Headquarters if he doesn't find a lead! Does that tell you why he hasn't found a lead yet?" Ducky finished in a rage.

Palmer just watched the exchange silently.

Gibbs was shocked. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. First of all, had he really made Ducky get mad? Ducky never got mad at anything, much less anyone. And secondly, had he really been so blind not to notice McGee's condition that he was in right now? Guilt came crashing upon him as he realized what a terrible boss he must have been to McGee all week. He was still shocked when he replied,

"Was I really like that this week, Ducky?"

"Unfortunately, yes you were, Jethro," Ducky answered.

"Oh…" Gibbs trailed off, realizing that he had a lot to make up for to McGee.

"I'm sorry, Ducky," Gibbs apologized, but Ducky waved it off.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to, Jethro, but it's McGee instead. I think that you've really hurt him badly this morning with your words and actions."

"Thanks, Duck," Gibbs muttered half-heartedly. He had an apology to make. If he was lucky, maybe he could catch McGee at the van. Without another word, Gibbs started off to the van, lost in the thoughts of his own mind.

And so we end Chapter 7! Hopefully everything will work out between Gibbs and McGee.