A/N: Special Thanks goes out to Chelsea1234 and Shelbylou for their invaluable help.
I thank every one of my readers and reviwers. You are each appreciated.

Tim agreed with Abby that they needed Gibbs to weigh in on how to handle the possible problem of Tony. He waited until the decent hour of 10:00 Saturday morning before he called Gibbs. It was bad enough he needed to intrude on the man's weekekend as it was.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss, do you maybe have some free time today? I really need to talk to you about something." Tim wasted no time beating around the bush this time.

"Not busy right now, McGee. What's on your mind?" Gibbs asked with a touch of concern. He could count on just one hand, the number of times Tim McGee had called just to talk in the last 6 years and he just hoped there wasn't anything seriously wrong.

"Can we get some brunch or something? Please, I'd really rather talk about this in person, that is if you don't mind, Boss." Tim pushed even as his tone rung clear with quiet politeness; the combination which usually got Gibbs' gut churning with unease. It was yet another rare occurrence from his junior agent, consequently Gibbs found himself agreeing without a fight. Now, he was really beginning to worry and found himself hurrying out the door to meet his agent

Thirty minutes later found them meeting at Gibbs' favorite coffee shop. Gibbs was waiting patiently with an extramug of hot Java in his hand for Tim. He noticed Tim's arrival and took the time to look his agent over. He seemed fine, which was a relief and maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too serious after all. Still, the fact that this was a first for the young man kept Gibbs' gut less than settled.

"Thanks for meeting with me, Boss." Tim said as he joined him in the booth Gibbs had already gotten for them.

"Just tell me this isn't to tell me someone's sick, dead or dying, McGee." Gibbs ordered right off the bat, unable to wait another second to be given the chance to stop worrying.

"What, oh...I'm sorry. No, no one is sick or dying. I didn't mean to leave you wondering 'bout that, Boss. I'm sorry." Tim profously apologies, feeling bad that he hadn't realized what he'd done before now.

"What's this about, then?" Gibbs asked more brusquely. "You and Abby have a fight already?"

That unexpected question stung but Tim deliberately forced himself not to react. It did take the wind out of his sails though and left him feeling less than confident once again, it was too late to change his mind though. He knew that there was no other option but to talk to Gibbs about what he was worried about. They were here, in the middle of a free weekend and the man had given up some of his free time to come hear him out. He owed him the truth, no matter how uncomfortable Tim was gonna be explaining it to him.

"I need to ask you how I should deal with Tony? I know you don't want Abby and I dating to become an issue at work, so I thought we should keep it to ourselves, but then I remembered how I felt when Tony kept his undercover op from everyone and I don't want that to become an issue between Tony and I or Tony and Abby. Boss, the last thing I want is for Tony to feel lied to or betrayed because we didn't tell him." Tim explained quietly

Tim felt a pang of guilt wash through him at the brashness he was extending over this and he decided he didn't want to see the anger in Gibbs' face. Convienently, all of a sudden that little spot on the table seemed incredibly interesting and Tim miraculously glued his eyes on to it.

Gibbs choked on his coffee. It was the middle of a free weekend and Tim was worried about how Tony was gonna react Tim and Abby having Gibbs' permission to break Rule 12? Damn, would this kid ever stop surprising him? He hadn't missed the look that filtered through McGee's eyes at his less than tactful question a minute ago and he supposed he could understand why his agent would have taken it badly. It had come across as absolute doubt in Tim, even to his own ears.

Which is why Tim's topic of concern; one he'd given up part of his weekend with Abby, no doubt, to come sort it out with his boss, raised Tim up in Gibbs' esteem. Would this kid ever cut himself some slack? But the bigger question of the hour was, as Tim had said, how to let Tony in on it, without breaking Tony's fragile ability to trust? First, Gibbs needed to be sure that there were no more issues that needed to be dealt with.

"Anything else?" the boss asked carefully.

"I would really appreciate it if we could ask him to consider this topic off limits to his harassment and put-downs. Please?" Tim asked quietly. One rarely even considered treading here with Gibbs.

"Understandable." the boss surmised. "Okay. I'll talk to him." Gibbs rewarded him unexpectedly.

"Soon?" Tim pushed. "I don't mean to push, Boss, but if we run into him over the weekend and he figures it out before..."

"Yeah. Got it, McGee. I'll take care of it." Gibbs gave in with uncharacteristic understanding and patience.

"Thank you!" the young man replied. The relief on his face was palpable and Gibbs felt a wave of respect wash over him for the lengths this guy was willing to go to make sure his teammate's feelings were taken into consideration over something so personal to Tim, even after the countless times Tony had harassed and belittled Tim over the very subject.

"Appreciate you coming to me about it, McGee. Now, go on; go enjoy your weekend with Abby." Gibbs answered with a genuine smile.

"Thanks, Boss." Tim said again as he laid money for the drinks down on the table and left with a mega- watt smile on his face that was the brightest he'd offered up in a very long time.

Smiling himself, Gibbs retrieved his phone from his pocket and called his Senior Field Agent

"Hey, Boss, what's up?" The Senior Agent's voice sounded nervous.

"You busy, Tony?" Gibbs asked casually.

"No, just chillin' with a ballgame on the tube, some pizza and beer. Nothin' that can't wait. We got a case?" Tony asked.

"Nah. I need to talk to ya 'bout something. Since you've been drinkin, I'd better bring it to you, I'll be there in 20." Gibbs advised him.

"No problem, Boss. Door's always open for you." Tony reminded him.

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, Gibbs arrived at Tony's and as Tony let the man in, his nerves began to stretch. Had he done something wrong? Was he in trouble? Racking his brain, he couldn't remember anything he might be in trouble over, recently, anyway.

"Relax, DiNozzo. You're not getting called to the mat." Gibbs told him with a grin.

"Okay, good, cause I gotta tell ya, Boss, You were starting to make me nervous with this. "Need to talk" Tony admitted.

"Yeah, I know, DiNozzo. You can thank McGee and Abby for this little 'chat'" the boss told him with a grin.

"Oh? Why? Wait a minute! Did they rat on me about the …" Tony started to ask.

**Smack**

"Thank you, Boss." Tony offered in his usual tone

"You're welcome. They didn't rat you out about anything, DiNozzo. As a matter of fact they wanted me to let you in on something." Gibbs explained cryptically.

"Oh? Okay, well in that case, I'm all ears. Wait, a minute, why are they asking you? And what on earth would make you agree to it?" Tony asked in shock.

"Because, DiNozzo, I'm the one that told them they could do it. So, they figured you should hear it from me ."

"You told Abby and Probie they could do something? The only thing I can think of that you would even care that they did, enough to worry about, wait a minute! No way! You told them they could date? You're letting them break Rule 12? Boss, what gives?" Tony asked in shock.

"Tim deserves a break on it. And I trust him to keep it out of the office." Gibbs said seriously.

"But, Boss…." Tony tried to reason.

"Tony. before I could consider letting you break Rule 12, too, one of you would have to transfer to a different team. Abby and McGee don't work the field together. It's a completely different situation with them." the boss explained.

"I get it, Boss. I do." Tony admitted seriously.

"Good, I would hate for you to think something stupid, like I'm playing favorites or something." Gibbs challenged.

"No, Boss. I do get it. But, I gotta ask ya, how long have they been dating already?" Tony asked.

'They haven't yet. Probably goin' on their first date tonight, now that they've gotten the knots out of what they were worried about." Gibbs answered.

"I'm not followin' you." Tony admitted.

"It's been a long road for McGee. That reminds me. There's something he asked me to do. This situation; Abby and McGee dating; is NOT open for ridicule, jokes or slander." The boss man instructed.

"Ever?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Ever!" Gibbs agreed.

"But, why?" the younger man was baffled. "I tease them about everything."

"If you have to ask, then you really don't know your teammate as well as you should, DiNozzo. He's been with us for how long now and you don't know what hell he's been through with women?" Gibbs asked dryly. "Most especially, this last one?"

"Yeah. Okay. I get it. But, Boss, I'm just tryin' to toughen him up about it." Tony defended himself.

"Maybe so, Tony, but not this time." The boss instructed.

"Okay." The younger man agreed.

"Yeah?" Gibbs pushed.

"Yeah. I promise." Tony vowed.

"Considering Tim willingly asked me to let you knw about it so you wouldn't feel lied to or kept in the dark, I think it's the least you can do, Tony." Gibbs advised him.

Probie did that?" Tony asked in surprise.

"He did." The boss replied. "He respects your trust a lot. Make sure you return the favor."

"Oh, wow." The younger man reacted. "I will, Boss.

"Now that that's settled, I'll leave you to your ballgame. See you Monday, DiNozzo."

"Yeah. Thanks, Boss. I appreciate you coming here to let me know." Tony offered.

"You're welcome. Enjoy your game."