The rest of the week went by in a blur of working an active case that Vance had dumped in Gibbs' lap. In a way, it was a relief to have the chance to work with Abby without the time on either of their parts to wander into personal discussion of what had happened between them. Everything was back to business as usual and it took the uncomfortable place they'd left things and smoothed it out for both of them. After the case had been solved and Tim had been given an idea of the seemingly improved Abby, he took his mind back to the subject of whether or not he could date her again.
So far, there had been no cause for any new concern. Something in Tim's gut was still churning at the idea of them dating, though. He wouldn't be able to even consider it until he could figure out a way to deal with Gibbs' favoritism towards Abby. As much as Tim felt tempted to give Abby another chance, he would never waste his time or risk his work relationship with Gibbs by having to cross swords with him over Abby. No, that was the deal breaker.
He felt torn about whether or not he could be patient and wait for the appropriate moment to bring up the subject. Part of him was happy to wait it out; after all, it gave him more time to think and regroup, to watch and see, to gage and figure out. Surprisingly enough, he was finding more and more of himself wanting to say yes to the whole concept every day. Still, he had to stay tough, stay true to himself. No amount of wishing or rushing would make going through any of the pain again worth it.
Heading into the weekend, Tim sought Ducky out to thank him for talking to Gibbs on his behalf. It had made a monumental difference and Tim needed to let the M.E. know how much his help was appreciated. Tim was relieved to find him. Still at work and even better; not in the middle of an autopsy.
"Timothy! I haven't seen very much of you lately since we had lunch. How is everything?"
"Okay, Ducky. Actually, that's why I came down here, to thank you. You went to bat for me with Gibbs and whatever you told him, really helped, a lot. I just wanted to say thank you." Tim offered.
"You're quite welcome, young man. I must say, much of it was long overdue. Are you still troubled by any of what we discussed?" the M.E. asked.
"Little bit, but not worried enough about it to lose sleep over it. I'm sure it'll work itself out."
"Am I to take it that you've made your decision, then?" Ducky asked.
"Actually, Ducky, I haven't. I can't yet."
"You can't make a decision?" the M.E. asked in confusion.
"Right. Gotta wait for more stuff to work itself out." Tim admitted.
"Timothy, you do realize that nothing will work itself out without some sort of help?"
"You've already helped. I'm just waiting for the end results. It may take a while, but I don't have a choice if I want to take the chance." Tim replied.
"Meaning you do wish to date Abigail again but something's still stopping you." Ducky surmised.
"Right." Tim admitted. "I would like to try again."
"What seems to be the trouble?" the older man inquired.
"She's still Gibbs' favorite, Ducky." Tim reminded him.
"Hasn't Jethro talked with you about this?" Ducky asked in surprise.
"We've had a rough week with the case. There hasn't been time to do anything else. I just need to be patient." the younger man reasoned.
"Ah, I see. You certainly are a patient young man. Well, Timothy, you be sure and come see me if there's anything you need to talk to me about." Ducky requested.
"I will, Ducky. Thank you. Have a good weekend" Tim replied before he turned and left Autopsy.
Reaching his desk, Tim found Gibbs watching for him.
"Why are you still here?" he asked the young man.
"Had to talk to Ducky for a minute. I'm going now. 'Nite, Boss. Have a good weekend." Tim answered as he grabbed his bag and headed to the elevator.
"McGee, wait." Gibbs said.
As Tim halted in his trek toward home, Gibbs walked up to him. "You got plans for dinner?" the boss asked.
"Um, no, actually. I was just gonna go home and crash." Tim answered.
"Gotta eat, McGee. And we need to talk. So, let's do both. My treat." Gibbs requested.
"Ok, sure." Tim's surprise was obvious and it brought a grin to Gibbs' face.
"You drive." the boss' directive brought a smile to Tim's face that hadn't been seen there in a very long time. Gibbs was hard pressed not to laugh.
As Tim parked his car at the restaurant, Gibbs silently climbed out wondering why Tony was always ragging this kid about his driving. That was something else he could switch up on the team. Shake things up just a bit. Raise some eyebrows. It'd be kinda fun to watch Tim's confidence grow while Tony's world shook just a hair.
After they'd ordered and were waiting for their food, Gibbs opened the conversational floor. "Things seem to be okay between you and Abby. Have you two started dating yet?"
"No. I would have said something to you first, Boss." Tim answered nervously.
"Relax, McGee. I would be happy for both of you. Have you decided not to?" the boss was curious.
"Not exactly." Tim skirted the complete answer.
"What seems to be the problem?" Gibbs asked.
Tim looked at Gibbs for a silent minute and looked down at his water glass. Taking a deep breath, he let it out and went for it.
"I want to. Date her, I mean. But, I can't."
"Why not? What's stopping you?"
"Not what; who." Tim answered cryptically.
"Okay, who's stopping you?" the older man asked.
Tim looked Gibbs square on and answered him truthfully. "You are, Boss."
After a silent uncomfortable minute, Tim excused himself to the head and Gibbs pulled out his phone.
"Ducky." Gibbs was surprised to hear his voice come out strained.
"Jethro, is something the matter?" the M.E. asked in concern.
"How is it I'm supposedly stopping McGee from dating Abby? I already told him he could break Rule 12." Gibbs got straight to the point.
"You managed to get him to talk about it? He said he was waiting for the situation to work itself out." Ducky answered.
"Duck!" Gibbs' was impatient.
"Jethro, so long as you treat Abigail as your favored child, that young man will not risk his job or his heart on dating her again. We've already discussed this, you and I. Had you forgotten?" the M.E. asked in frustration.
"It's been a long week, Duck. Appreciate the reminder. I'll take care of it. Thanks, Duck." Gibbs snapped his phone shut and put it away.
Watching Tim return to the table a minute later, he could tell his agent was expecting a head slapping or worse. Would the young man ever stop worrying about that?
"I know what you're worried about. Sure, Ducky had to remind me, but it's not something I hadn't planned on ironing out with you before now, anyway."
"Oh?" Tim asked in surprise.
While their orders were placed in front of them and they dug in to their dinner, conversation lagged. Neither wanted to try to talk and eat too. Once they'd finished eating and were nursing their after dinner coffees, Gibbs jumped back into the conversation they needed to have.
"McGee. Tim. I know I've treated Abby like the favorite child. She's like a daughter to me." Gibbs admitted. "One that I've had since before Tony came onboard."
"I know, Boss. We all realize that." Tim reminded him. "Just like we all know Tony is like a son to you."
"All of you are important to me. You're all like my kids, Tim." Gibbs told him as he looked him straight on.
Tim's doubt flashed in his eyes before he quickly shoved it down beneath the surface. Getting into this would not solve the problem. It was a can of worms best not opened at all, much less so soon after dinner. He closed his eyes for a minute in order to school his thoughts before he spoke again.
Gibbs saw the doubt and understood the reason for it. After recalling the discussion he'd had with Ducky last week, he wasn't surprised to see it, in fact, he was shocked that this was the only response he was getting. He'd expected worse. Not sure if this was a good sign or a bad one, Gibbs filed it away to take up with Ducky later. Right now, he'd focus on wherever Tim took the conversation from here.
"Tim?"
"Boss, I can't rush into this. Even with you understanding that your favoritism toward Abby is a problem, I just can't..." Tim couldn't finish. He hadn't meant to actually say those words, to the boss, of all people. He wasn't Tony. Tony got by with saying what was on his mind, Tim had always gotten caught and head slapped for it so he'd quit doing it and was out of practice at it.
"Look at me." Gibbs request surprised Tim, but he did as the man asked and looked at him.
"Stop being afraid to speak your mind to me." Gibbs quietly advised.
"Kinda hard, Boss." the young man admitted quietly.
"Why is that?" the older man dug.
"Not something I'm used to doing." Tim evaded the dangerous end of the answer.
"There's more, what is it?" Gibbs kept digging. This problem needed to be completely uprooted.
"It's not something you've let me do before." Tim reminded him as he finally found the courage to look the man in the eye with something less than good news.
"Meaning?" the older man relentlessly dug for the bottom line.
"Meaning, whenever I attempted to tell you what's on my mind, I got scowled at, glared at or head slapped. So I stopped." Tim answered in the brutal honesty he'd need to be let out for so long.
"Why do I get the sense there's more to this?" Gibbs pushed, seemingly unfazed by Tim's truth.
"Boss, can we get back to Abby, please?" Tim asked worriedly.
"Not yet. This is part of the bigger picture and I know that you know that. You think you could give me another chance with this speaking your mind? I think it'll make a big difference for you; for us." the older man kept pushing. This was too much an important part of the problem. He didn't want Tim to have to keep going to Ducky to talk things out, He wanted his agent to be able to come to him with whatever it was he'd done.
"Sure, I can try." Tim's skepticism fit him like a glove.
"Good. Appreciate you giving me another chance, Tim. And I realize that I need to treat you all equally. But, Abby's not a trained Field Agent and its second nature to be more protective of her because of that. She doesn't have Ziva's background of being more than capable of taking care of herself in most situations." Gibbs admitted.
'She handled Chip." Tim said with a grin.
"Yeah, she did, didn't she?" Gibbs grinned back.
"It was a close call though. Tim took the grin off his face as he recalled how his heart had stopped when they'd raced to her lab in desperation, hoping against hope that they weren't too late to save her from the maniac that had set Tony up for murder.
"Yeah, it was." Gibbs agreed, likewise removing his own grin.
"If you have any doubt, like you've had before that I'll protect her with my life; tell me and this whole idea will stop right here and now." Tim boldly put out there.
"That what this is about? You're worried that I don't trust you to take care of her?" Gibbs asked in surprise.
"That's part of it. Your favoritism is too." Tim admitted.
"Okay, I can see where you'd think that. Thought we talked about this already."
"You told me I hadn't lost your trust. This is more specific." Tim advised him.
"Do you really think I would have given you the green light to break Rule 12 if I didn't trust you to take care of her and protect her?" Gibbs asked him in surprise.
"Guess I just needed to hear you say it, Boss." Tim admitted.
"Are we good now? Is that everything holding you in limbo over this?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, yeah it is. Thanks, Boss." Tim said with a smile of appreciation.
"Think you're ready to do this?" Gibbs asked compassionately.
"Slowly." Tim admitted.