Gibbs sat in the kitchen nursing his first mug of coffee of the day. He was exhausted and between looking after Tim and not being able to sleep from being on edge, he was more than a little bit pissed off at the whole situation. He wasn't angry at Tim, how could he be, his agent was the victim in all this, he was angry at the fact that things had finally been going well for the kid and yet again, something came along and knocks him on his ass. He remembered the events of last night, the very events that led to him keeping Tim close so he could protect him; seemingly from himself as well as from the psycho currently gunning for him.

Gibbs walked out of Tony's apartment block with Tim's arm slung over his shoulder and his arm firmly around that now trim waist. The kid was trying to help, but the fact remained, Tim was no use to anyone in his current state and was being more of a hindrance than a help. Ducky moved forward to open the door to Gibbs' sedan.

"Thanks Duck. Tim. C'mon, one foot in front of the other, that's it. MCGEE! Would ya give me a break already?" Gibbs' harsh tone had little effect which wasn't surprising given the amount of alcohol that trudged through his agents system at the moment.

"Jethro, don't be harsh on the boy. It's been a stressful time and Anthony did get him to talk a little bit."

Gibbs huffed out a sarcastic laugh. "Shame he couldn't get him to walk too, Duck."

He hoisted Tim into the passenger seat and buckled the seatbelt firmly around Tim's waist. "McGee, you throw up in here and you're on clean up duty in the morning. Hangover or not!"

Ducky chuckled and pulled out the bottle that Anthony had left on the coffee table for Timothy. He handed it over once Gibbs had finished buckling his inebriated agent into the car and smiled ruefully when his friend took it with a scowl.

"What's this?"

"Ah, well I believe it's the 'DiNozzo defibrillator'. Young Anthony swears by it after a hard night out on the tiles."

"Yeah. I've seen him knock a few back and will admit it does seem to make 'em feel a bit better. I'll try to get Tim to drink some in the mornin' because he's never been good with alcohol." Gibbs was looking through the window of the car to his sleeping agent and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "Wonder how much he'll remember. Maybe I should pull a DiNozzo and take his photo to show Abby."

"Don't you dare, Jethro! He won't be in any fit state tomorrow as it is and the last thing you should be doing is taking pictures to embarrass him with! I'm going to stop off at home to pick up a vitamin B injection and will be over soon to administer it. It won't make him feel better, but will replenish some of the vitamins he's lost on this binge."

"And DiNozzo?"

"Anthony's a little bit more....shall we say seasoned in this kind of thing. He'll be fine but if it makes you feel better I'll tend to him once I've finished with Timothy."

"Thanks, Duck."

Gibbs stepped into the car and started the ignition; he gave Tim one more glance and pulled away carefully so as not to jostle his passed out young agent.

The drive home was uneventful with nothing so much as a snort interrupting Tim's sleep. Gibbs had to admit to being mildly amused at their antics, he just wished Tim didn't have a target attached to him right now because the chances of either or his agents defending themselves in their current states were slim to none. One thing was for sure, he'd be reaming Tony a new on in the morning. He pulled up outside his house and got out to move round to Tim. Crouching down at the open car door, he reached in and unbuckled the young man before tapping his face cautiously.

"McGee, c'mon rise and shine."

Tim stirred but didn't wake up eliciting a groan of frustration from Gibbs. What could he say, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"MCGEE, GEAR UP WE'VE GOT A CASE!" His barked command did the trick and he watched with amusement as Tim sat bolt upright with bleary eyes and swayed dangerously in his seat.

"Yeah, Bosshh!"

"C'mon, McGee, let's get you inside. You're gonna have to help me out here." His tone was gentle as if he was talking to a child which made Tim frown.

"Gib...Boss. Where exactl..exa.." Gibbs chuckled slightly and held out his hand for Tim so he could offer him support and keep him from falling headlong onto the ground.

"My house, McGee, ya think I'm lettin' you go home when you're on protection detail? Especially not in this state." Tim's phone started to ring so Gibbs reached into the pocket, easily avoiding Tim's uncoordinated hands as they tried to brush him away.

"Knock it off will ya? Yeah Gibbs." He answered the phone and cringed when he heard Abby's voice trilling on the other end. By the sound of the music that was playing in the background, the girls were relaxing well enough; though he knew Ziva would be the one person he could rely on to be vigilant, there's something he never thought he would say, hell he thought he could trust all his agents to be vigilant, but Tim and Tony had proven him wrong in the biggest way.

"Gibbs? Why are you answering Timmy's phone?"

"He's indisposed at the moment, Abbs."

"S'that Abbbyyy?. Gimmmee, Bosh." Abby heard Tim's slurred statement and Gibbs had to pull the phone the phone away from his ear at Abby's shriek.

"TIMMY! GIBBS, IS HE OK?"

"Abby, calm down would'ya. He's fine, DiNozzo thought a beer or two would relax him and he's had a few too many. I'm gonna put him to bed and let him sleep it off."

"Where?" Abby's voice took in a twang of panic at the thought of Tim being left in Tony's hands.

"My place. DiNozzo's in no fit state for protection detail right now."

"Lemme talk to him, Gibbs!"

"I don't think that's a good id..."

"Put. Him. On. The phone. NOW!" Abby was pissed, she'd originally rang up to say goodnight to Tim and thank him for the amazingly thoughtful weekend, despite it going to crap. Now she was just annoyed at the stupidity of him getting drunk. Gibbs passed the phone to his heavily swaying agent and pushed him back against the car for support.

"Abbbbyyy. Hi bab..."

"Don't you' Hi Bab'y me, Timothy McGee! What were you thinking? You can't protect yourself in this state!"

"Absh. Not my fault. T'was only s'posed to be one but..."

"But nothing! You better be good for the boss man! Put him back on!" Abby's tone was angry, but it was a mask and she found the fact that Tim was atrociously drunk pretty funny. As soon as Gibbs had control of the phone, she burst into laughter.

"Abby?"

"Ah come on, Gibbs, he's completely buzzed. It's the first time I've ever heard him like that."

"Crap, Abby you cannot be serious! It's not funny from where I'm standing." Gibbs was starting to feel frustrated

"Shh Gibbs, I want him to think I'm pissed at him." Gibbs was confused, he had no idea why Abby would want that but he played along anyway.

"Why, he's not gonna remember it in the morning."

"Because it's so much fun when he's like this and don't worry, Timmy'll remember. G'night Gibbs, have fun, oh and keep him safe for me won't you?" With that she hung up the phone leaving Gibbs standing there with Tim, who was currently sliding down the car. He rushed over and grabbed Tim roughly under the arms to haul him into a standing position.

"No you don't. C'mon on let's get you to bed."

Tim woke up feeling as though every of moisture had been sucked right out of his mouth, he could still taste the beer and the bile from the endless throwing up what little he had in his stomach until he was dry heaving. He remembered someone being there, supporting him through it but his mind was hazy, he just couldn't quite remember......Aw crap, it was the boss! He sat bolt upright on the couch and winced as the late afternoon sun seared into his retina's.

"Mornin' sunshine. How's the head?" Gibbs was anything but quiet making the jackhammer in Tim's brain even louder and even more painful. He groaned and sank back against the pillows with his arm draped over his eyes.

"Yeah, thought you might feel like that. Here."

Tim sat up and accepted the two drinks that Gibbs held out, one was a large bottle of water and the other...

"Urghh, what is that?" Tim had taken a long hard swig of the cold drink in the glass.

"DiNozzo's personal hangover cure. He prepped some for ya last night. You wanna tell me what the hell you were thinking?"

Tim cringed as he knocked back the rest of the defibrillator and set the glass on the nightstand.

"Where am I?" Tim didn't recognise the room having dumped his stuff at Tony's ready for the night and was surprised to find himself waking up on a surprisingly comfortable couch.

"My place. You think I was gonna leave you and DiNozzo alone in the state the two of you were in? You haven't answered my question." Gibbs watched as Tim painfully scanned the room and could almost pinpoint the exact point in time when the young man recognised the familiar, bland room.

Tim's shook his head but thought better of it as the pain increased tenfold. Gibbs reached out and handed Tim a small bottle of Tylenol.

"Thanks. It wasn't supposed to get that bad, we had pizza and a beer and then we watched a movie. Guess we had a few more beers than we thought." He ran his hand through his hair and cringed at how grungy it felt.

"Don't lie to me, McGee." The quiet statement shocked him, he hadn't lied to his boss, or at least he hadn't thought he had. He squinted harshly as if trying to recall exactly what had happened last night.

"You didn't eat a damn thing which is why you spent the better part of last night dry heaving. What's goin' on Tim?"

Tim knew he'd been made, but still felt the need to be strong in front of his boss. There was no way he was gonna show any more weakness seeing as the man had trusted him to keep his personal and work life separate.

"Nothing, the pizza had anchovies on it and I don't like 'em. I just didn't eat it because they taint the cheese."

"Huh, that a fact? You know you could have asked DiNozzo for a sandwich. You didn't eat lunch either."

This was not going well, every time he came up with a reason, the boss deflected with something else.

"Didn't want to impose and things were kind of crazy at work, Boss. There's nothing going on, It was all just a mistake and we didn't realise how much we were drinking." He was feeling ill and his head was pounding. The third degree from his boss was doing nothing to settle his nerves about the situation. He winced when he felt a sore spot on his arm.

"Ducky gave you a vit B shot but you started to struggle a bit. You want some breakfast?"

"Not really but I know I should eat something. Can I just have some toast, please?" Tim knew anything more would result in his stomach revolting horribly against him. Just as Gibbs was walking out the room Tim remembered Jethro.

"Er Boss. I need to go pick Jethro up from the Vets today. I'm guessing my cars still at Tony's and I was wondering whether you'd be able to give me a lift?"

"Yeah McGee, that's fine. We need to shoot across to your apartment anyway to get some more of your stuff so we can pick him up on the way back." Gibbs saw Tim's face darken at the mention of his apartment and moved back to the chair in the room.

"McGee, Balboa's team went through it with a fine tooth comb and collected some evidence for Abby to process."

Tim nodded slightly and swallowed hard before asking the question that was on his mind.

"They were at my place, Boss, they knew where I live. Everything that I worked hard for has been smashed up. Why? What's the point of it all?"

"I don't know Tim, but we'll help you clear your apartment once we found whoever is doing this, ok?"

"Yeah, thanks. What did they find Boss?" Tim's curiosity was peaking, he found that the more information he was given, the more he wanted to know.

"Muddy footprints on your rug, fingerprints, the usual." He was being evasive, there wasn't that much evidence but the two big things they did find had been left sitting next to Tim's typewriter.

"What aren't you telling me, Boss?" Tim knew there was something amiss and decided to push the issue.

"There was a bullet sitting next to your typewriter. It was wrapped in a black ribbon."

"And?"

"You know the picture we found at Anacostia?" he waited for Tim to nod. "There was another one, this time of you and Abby walking out of the restaurant. It didn't have anything written on it but it was torn straight down the middle between you and Abbs. They placed a knife on top of it, Tim, with the point directly over your heart."

Tim inhaled sharply at the news and tried his hardest to suppress the feelings of fear and panic that washed over him. Leaning his head back against the back of the couch, Tim closed his eyes and willed his emotions and his knee-jerk response, back to where they came from. He refused to allow himself to show any additional weakness. He'd screwed up enough and Gibbs was already pissed at him. He didn't know how much more of the man's ire he could take.

With a voice that he hoped didn't betray his emotions; he addressed his boss without moving his head or even opening his eyes, feeling too sick, both physically and at heart at what this was doing to both his and Abby's lives, to worry about perfect manners right now.

"So, we're no closer than yesterday."

Gibbs frowned at the exasperated sounding tone that his Agent had adopted. It was uncharacteristic but by his book, totally understandable.

"Hey, look at me." Gibbs waited for Tim to turn his gaze to him. "you ok?"

Tim lifted his head up and looked at his boss, unaware that his emotions resided in his eyes, as usual; he did what he thought was needed; he bluffed his way out of the question.

"I'm ok boss, really. We knew this nut job was after me before this so it doesn't really count."

Gibbs clamped his hand firmly on Tim's shoulder and stood up.

"All right, but if you need to talk you know where I am."

Tim couldn't resist and plastered on his best smile.

"The basement?" That comment earned him a head slap and a grin from his boss.

Oh yeah he thought that's one bullet dodged for now.