Driving home, Gibbs couldn't help but think back to the meeting he'd just had with the Director, a little over an hour ago. The man had helped him solve a problem without even realizing it. With a huff of laughter, Gibbs let it replay over in his mind as he drove the way home almost on autopilot.

***Flashback***

Staring at his boss, his trademark unreadable expression in place, Gibbs could barely keep the grin off his face. He knew that Vance would not even come close to realizing why he was pleased about this new order he'd just been handed – heck the Director would probably think Gibbs was laughing at him – as if to say the man had to be kidding if he expected the Team Leader's cooperation! A three day work conference? Gibbs? On what planet?

"I'm serious, Gibbs." Vance reiterated. "This Electronic Staff Management Conference will give you some clues as to what it is your computer literate staff is actually doing and how to more adequately performance-evaluate your electronic wizards! "

Gibbs remained silent; though his eyebrows did march up to his hairline as he processed this new order he had been given. He hated this kind of stuff and everyone knew it. However, having to go with his youngest agent – since the other conference, on Computer Forensics, happened to be going on in the same neighborhood and in pretty much the same time frame – and was not something he had any reason to complain about.

"Want you there to oversee your agent's participation on the panel at the CF Conference, Gibbs. First time this Agency's being represented like this and I want everything kept in order."

"Suddenly you don't trust McGee, Leon?" Gibbs asked with a touch of irritation.

"This isn't about trust, Gibbs. It's about protocol and standards being reset – by whatever bar – Agent McGee will set while he's there."

"He doesn't need a babysitter." Gibbs objected in annoyance.

"No. He doesn't. But he does need sound, trustworthy backing and you have your own workshop to attend – and that's not optional."

Gibbs huffed out a breath; while secretly proud and pleased for Tim, this really did not sound like it was going to be any fun – although, the young man would invariably find some silver lining in it and manage to pull something positive from the experience.

"Money's tight and we can only cover one hotel room for the week. Hope you can handle sharing a double room with your agent, Gibbs. Heard plenty of stories about your intolerance for these kinds of accommodations – but there's not a lot I can do about it this time."

"Anything else, Leon?" Gibbs asked in an almost bored tone. The last thing he wanted to discuss with his boss was sleeping arrangements. He and Tim would handle it. That was the last thing they'd be worried about.

"As a matter of fact, there is, Gibbs. Your conference only runs Tuesday through Thursday. Agent McGee's, on the other hand, runs the entire week, starting Monday morning – 10:00 AM. That gives you two days to keep an eye on him. More when yours ends a good hour and a half before his lets out every day."

"So, I'm policing my completely capable agent."

"Don't get cute, Gibbs. Orders came from SecNav. Wants to make sure these kinds of things aren't a complete waste of agency funds, time or manpower." Director Vance groused.

"Ah, I see." The Team Leader remarked almost off-handedly, still mentally feeling very proud of his youngest agent, invited to be a panel participant at the conference, though the invitation had been channeled through the Agency Director rather than directly to Tim himself.

"Take a Fleet Vehicle. NCIS will foot the bill for the gas."

"You want us to drive – to Atlanta?" Gibbs argued.

"You suddenly don't like driving?" Vance asked dryly.

"Not what I said, Leon. We'll take our own car."

"If that's the way you'd prefer, by all means drive your own car. Just don't expect the Agency to pay the tab if it gets stolen down there or you get in an accident before you get back here. Plan to leave sometime Sunday afternoon. I suggest using Saturday to study up, both of you. Your information is all right here." The Director told him as he handed him two file folders.

"Why?" The Team Leader asked even as he accepted the folders and now stood holding them down at his side.

"Agency's paid for the room from Sunday night to Friday night. There a problem?"

Gibbs opened his mouth to automatically argue, changed his mind and shut it quickly, and could barely hide his smirk when Vance nearly grinned – obviously believing he'd finally won one!

***End Flashback***

Shaking his head as his mind returned to the here and now, Gibbs couldn't help but smile. He couldn't have asked for a better turn of events to help him sort through things both for himself and with the young man he needed to talk to– and continue to get to know.

Directing Tim to come to his house had been a spur of the moment decision but one he was happy he'd made. Speaking of which, he needed to stop and get them some actual dinner if he expected tonight to go well. Tim couldn't very well be expected to think straight without dinner after the long hard day they'd all had. Pulling into the little take-out place, he went in to get dinner, whistling a cheerful tune as he went.

****NCIS****

"My house, thirty minutes."

Though he'd been completely surprised by the instructions coming quietly from his boss at the end of the day, Tim found himself more concerned about whatever it was that had put the man in a bad mood just a little while before that.

Sitting in the man's driveway now, he stopped to think about it. Gibbs had gone up to the director's office in a calm, good mood since they had closed the case and it hadn't involved an innocent person losing their life. Yet, in less than fifteen minutes, he would come back down with that trademark inscrutable look on his face that nearly always heralded the onset of a very bad mood.

Now here Tim was, stepping inside the man's house within the thirty minutes he'd been given to show up, his worry still in place. Once inside the door, the pleasant aroma of food awakened his senses and he couldn't help but sniff the air appreciatively. With his mouth watering, his mind shouted Dinner! Smiling, Tim let his heart rejoice. He'd come to really enjoy times like this in the man's company and these dinners – with the man whose ability to say more with few words in their quiet conversations over the past few months while they worked together on one project after another – had come to mean a lot to Tim. In fact, Tim was secretly trying to learn how to think more and speak less, himself. He appreciated this in Gibbs so much more now than he ever had before.

But what was this one about? They weren't working on anything together anymore. They'd finished the mantle Gibbs had wanted renovated just last weekend. With a small shake of his head, Tim refocused his thoughts. Wanting the older man to realize he'd arrived – while smirking at himself for even doubting that he didn't already know – he called out. "Boss?"

"Kitchen!" Came the man's clear answer from the room beyond Tim's view.

As Tim appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, Gibbs spoke to him again. "C'mon, let's eat!"

"Smells great, Boss." Tim beamed as he plunked himself down in the chair the older man pointed to. "You cook this?"

"Take-out."

"Thank you for inviting me."

Gibbs' silence spoke of a hidden reason for the invitation, but Tim was willing to wait for the explanation he knew would be forthcoming.

***NCIS***

A quiet dinner, a quick cleanup and soon enough it was time to talk about the reason for Tim's dinner invitation. Unlike the countless times he'd been here over the past few months doing the very same thing as tonight, this time Tim found he could not relax. The worry had stuck with him and he really wanted answers; needed them.

Settling down on opposite ends of the couch from each other, Tim spoke first. "Boss? Did I do something? Is that what I'm doing here?"

Gibbs hid behind his coffee mug, hiding his smirk. He couldn't help it. The young man's innocent question had so many hidden answers it would probably blow his mind. To know that yes, he had done something; he'd awoken this older man's heart and mind to the considerations of what was important in life and what changes in himself he was willing to make – to chase what few dreams he had left – even if it meant brand new ones – or some not traveled in a very long time.

Not to mention, he wasn't sure Tim saw things between them in the same vein, although he strongly believed that the young man was himself changing and becoming more comfortable with the idea – despite having not swung that way before. He didn't want to freak Tim out or chase him off by asking him outright.

The changes had been small and gradual, but with his eagle eyes and all the time he'd spent with the young man in the last two plus months, Gibbs hadn't missed them; the times they'd brushed up against each other while working on their wood projects in the basement – when Tim never even flinched or moved away and the way his pants had begun to sport a bulge almost every time they sat close to each other through dinner or an after dinner coffee.

Then there were the times the young man would get a softened look in his eye as he looked over at Gibbs, even from across the room. And then of course,there was that smile; that thousand-watt smile had slowly but surely become brighter and been often directed at the older man while they worked here. Gibbs was sure the young man truly now had a million watt smile – and it was with a small smile of his own that he realized he was the only one to whom that smile was given.

Still, everything needed to be handled with kid gloves, not because the young man couldn't handle the weight but because it wouldn't be fair to dump it all on him at once from out of the blue.

"Boss?" Tim asked worriedly when the lengthy silence seemed to last forever.

Hearing the hint of panic in Tim's tone had Gibbs realizing he'd been silent on the subject for too long. With a small shake of his head, the Team Leader looked his agent straight on and denied that anything had been done wrong. "Road Trip."

"For work?"

"SecNav's Orders."

"For me?"

"Us." The boss corrected quietly.

Tim's eyes grew wide and his heart nearly stuttered to a standstill as he managed a somewhat reasonable response. "Oh."

Gibbs smirked as he brought his coffee mug up to his face again. Setting the cup down after he drank his fill, he turned to his agent, the smirk still lurking around his mouth. "Think you can handle that?"

Swallowing hard around the lump in his throat at the thought of being able to spend more time with the older man away from work, Tim forced himself to nod and answer the question. "Sure, Boss. No problem. We've gone on them together before."

Gibbs didn't miss the roughened tone in that answer – nor did he miss the quickened breathing and tightening of the young man's trousers when he shared the next piece of news – the most worrisome part of the assignment. "One room. Think you can handle sharing a room with me, Tim?"

Tim looked across the room for a minute as he tried to put his emotions and transparency away. Looking back at the older man, he had to frown. "I always thought you hated having to share a room on away trips; with anyone."

"We'll manage." Gibbs promised without a single trace of disappointment or anger in his tone. "And Tim?"

"Boss?"

"People do change. Nuthin' wrong with that."

***NCIS***

Packing his away bag for the week ahead, Tim was still struggling to process everything that was going on around him. His life was shifting a little more every day. Some days it was as if the tectonic plates under his feet, holding his life in place, were not only shifting, but moving so much that crevices were opening up just large enough to him to fall into as he tried to take the changes in stride and adjust his life around them.

"People do change. Nuthin' wrong with that."

The boss's words came back to him now, as did the memory, not only of his own body's instant knee-jerk reaction to the news that they'd be sharing a hotel room, but also of the moment he'd seen the boss notice that reaction. Oh, God! No! Tim had been so caught up in the conversation he'd been having with the man; that he'd barely registered that moment then. But now? CRAP!

Dropping down to sit on the bed, he let his mind react for a minute – as his brain almost instantly argued with the memory of what Gibbs had said.

"People do change. Nuthin' wrong with that."

A man? Was Gibbs really talking about that kind of change?

"People do change."

His body's reactions couldn't be argued with, but seriously? When the hell had that happened?

"Nuthin' wrong with that."

Never been a homophobe. Wow, it actually does sound okay!

Tim nodded silently to himself as he processed the fact that this had been creeping up on him for a while, but had only clearly seen for himself well,…now!

Now that he had stopped to think about it. All this time spent with the older man, the deeper feelings for him coming up that he hadn't even realized until now? CRAP!

"Nuthin' wrong with that."

Why couldn't he get those words out of his head? Why was he still able to keep these thoughts and the realization that he'd been changing like this – in perspective without it blowing his mind? Was it really a new direction he'd willingly travel? A man! Gibbs!

A soft 'woof' brought Tim's attention back to the here and now and Tim sighed deeply. He had a dog that needed his attention and this wasn't something that needed to be dealt with immediately. However, he'd definitely have to tread carefully around the boss – at least on this trip - until he could sort this out for himself.

Picking up his duffle bag and his suits, encased in their own soft bag, Tim headed out of the bedroom to the living room and set them down next to his shaving kit. Turning to his dog, he crouched down to the German shepherd's eye level and scratched him behind the ears as he spoke to him.

"You're gonna be good for Abby while she takes care of you for me this week, right? She'll be staying here with you at night – so you'd better take good care of her and of this apartment."

**Woof**

Tim smiled at the erratic tail wagging that accompanied the communication from his canine. "I know. I won't forget to come home. You just remember, your adoption to Kimberly isn't final yet. You still have to behave while you're here if you want to be allowed to go move in with her. Behaving is important."

*Woof. Woof*

"Abby will be here in a little while. Go take a nap until then, since I've already taken you out and let you run. You should be more than ready for a long nap, crazy dog." Tim mock admonished with laughter as the dog did just that, trotting off to his comfy doggie bed, turning circles until he was satisfied and flopping down with a deflated sigh, before he closed his eyes and tuned Tim out.

The chirping of his cell phone reminded Tim of the time and he was quick to pick up his travel bags and head out the door. He had thirty minutes to get to Gibbs' house and he didn't want to be late. The last thing he wanted to do was start this trip off on the wrong foot with the man.

***NCIS***

Settled comfortably behind the wheel of his second-hand Black 2011 Lincoln MKZ AWD as he drove them away from Washington D.C., Tim still found himself slightly on edge and he knew it had nothing to do with his driving the boss long distance when it was just the two of them and everything to do with his own behavior last night – his over-reaction - and what the boss was probably thinking about it. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat for the umpteenth time since they'd hit the interstate over an hour ago, he winced at the image he was probably presenting.

Gibbs couldn't help but smirk, even with his eyes closed and his head resting on the back of the seat. He refused to let the young man suffer about it any longer – but he darn sure wasn't discussing it yet either. "Relax, Tim. We'll talk about it when you're ready."

Swallowing hard around the sudden lump in his throat, all Tim could do was nod in acceptance of the order he'd just been given and deliberately NOT think about what it was Gibbs had just admitted to knowing about his junior agent! Grasping at something, anything to talk about, Tim quickly threw out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Boss, did that brochure say anything specific about what you'd be able to do by the end of the week, that you can't already do?"

"Nope." The older man replied without hesitation. Picking up the conversational ball, since the door of communication had been left open, he asked what was on his mind, now that he'd had time to slow down and think about it for a bit. " You sell the Porsche, Tim? Haven't seen you driving it in a while."

Tim frowned. He hadn't wanted this topic to come up for fear it would ruin the surprise or rather the lot of them. Sure, he'd sold his prized car – but he wasn't sorry he'd done it. He was maturing and times were changing. He was ready for a more mature way of driving that took more things like gas consumption and practicality into consideration. Not to mention insurance rates. In addition to those good reasons for changing his vehicle of choice, there was also the money he'd saved in the trade-in. Money he'd put to good use – which would come to fruition when the time was ripe, right around Christmas.

"Hey! McGee!" The boss' insistent voice broke through his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. Yes, I sold the Porsche. "Tim answered quietly as he deliberately kept his eyes and attention on the road.

"Why?"

The boss' tone held no disappointment or anger; only genuine curiosity and maybe a touch of concern, which almost threw Tim for a loop; until the young man recalled that the boss had been changing lately; slowly but surely. Without even thinking about it, Tim answered with complete honesty.

"Wanted something more economical. Roomier for...for family."

"More to it than that."

Tim shook his head slightly as he tried to get the older man to drop the subject. "Nothing to worry about, Boss. This is a hybrid. And it has a lot more leg room. It has roomier passenger seats and more trunk space in this than the Porsche. And it's easier on insurance rates and still looks pretty cool, don't you think?"

Gibbs smirked as he once again went silent, this time letting the peace and quiet between them settle in and become comfortable. He found himself wondering why he hadn't bothered to ask the young man about the car months ago. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the Porsche since sometime in May. Realizing Tim had some reason for not wanting to talk about it, the Team Leader sat back and closed his eyes, determined to enjoy the ride in this really nice car. Tim was right, it was a cool car.

***NCIS****

Some four almost silent hours later, Gibbs' cat nap was disturbed by the car's motion as it came to a stop. Before he could even formulate the question, the answer was being provided for him.

"Gotta hit the head." Tim explained shortly as he quickly disappeared inside the gas station. Knowing it would be a smoother trip if they both took care of this pesky problem in the same stop, Gibbs got out of the car, taking the time to cast a more appreciative eye over the almost brand new vehicle. With a smile that bordered on pride in the young man's ability to do alright for himself, Gibbs headed inside.

Ten short minutes later found them already back out on the highway. Something about Tim doing all the driving bothered the older man and it wasn't long before he spoke of it. "You don't trust me to drive your car, Tim?"

"What? Oh, no, Boss, that's not it, although…"

Gibbs chuckled. "Relax, McGee. I get it. Don't let yourself get tired, through. You hear me?"

"I won't. I'll be fine."

"I know. The older man smirked as he settled back down in his seat, confident in his agent and perfectly happy to rest on the trip.

***NCIS***

It seemed liked hours and hours later when Gibbs opened his eyes, the lack of motion under the car's wheels waking him from his sleep. Looking around, he couldn't help but notice they'd stopped at some place called the Stratford Inn Extended Stay Hotel. Another turn of his head and he noticed the signs for Georgia Tech Conference Center and Hotel with the information that they were less than two miles away.

He smirked at the realization that Vance had to have known he could have booked them in there – but was seriously trying to save the agency money by paying for a room in this hotel instead.

"It could be worse, Boss. Director Vance could have put us up in the cheapest hotel in Atlanta. Lucky for us, he reads the reviews before he decides, or Pam does, anyway." Tim remarked as he watched the older man take in the different hotels all around them. "We're close enough to the Convention Center, we could walk if we wanted. It'll save us money on parking, not to mention the hassle of traffic congestion."

"Sounds good to me." Gibbs smiled briefly. Opening the door, he got out and stretched. "Why didn't you wake me? You've been driving for hours."

"You were asleep. I didn't see any reason to." Tim defended himself.

"Let's go get some dinner." The Team Leader suggested as he headed to the trunk of the car to retrieve his bags. As Tim joined him there to get his own, the older man turned to head into the hotel lobby. "Right after we check in."

Tim kept stride with him and together, they headed inside, quickly making use of a luggage trolley when it was offered to them. Less than fifteen minutes later, they were successfully settling into their room, with Gibbs immediately heading to the shower while Tim took the time to set up his laptop and log in; making quick work of emailing Abby to check on Jethro. Calling her would have meant a long drawn out conversation and he was too tired from doing all that driving for that.

Speaking of tired, Tim felt the comfort of the twin bed closest to him, at the window, calling out to him and he found himself stretching out comfortably before he even realized it. As soon as his head hit the just right semi-firm pillow, he succumbed to the pull of exhaustion he hadn't even realized was already lurking around him, just waiting for this chance to snatch him away.

***NCIS***

Gibbs felt much better after a long hot shower and although he knew he shouldn't have taken such a long one with Tim needing one too, the relaxation of the perfectly tempered water on his aching body and muscles had been hypnotizing and he hadn't been able to pull himself away until the water had turned cold. Returning to the bedroom, his clean trousers already on and one arm already in the sleeve of his shirt, the silver haired man stopped in his tracks at the sight that met his eyes.

With his long buried longings already coming to life once more as they did whenever this young man was around, the sight of Tim peacefully sleeping with his incredibly handsome face nestled just so on the pillow and his long slender fingers laying lax on the bed beside him, pulled at the older man's libido.

Swallowing hard, Gibbs stomped down on his emerging lust and turned away before it was too late. He couldn't do this. Not now, not yet. He could see the young man was still trying to process the idea of such a big change in his own life and until he'd had a chance to figure things out for himself, it wouldn't be fair to Tim.