Friday – December 15th

Morning found Tim feeling much more rested and on top of his game. After a peaceful breakfast with Ducky and quiet conversation about small inconsequential things like the weather and their cars; as well as a quick shower, and a change into a spare set of clothes he kept in his car, he was ready to face the day. Since both of them enjoyed the peace and quiet of arriving at work earlier than the others; they soon found themselves sitting in Ducky's office quietly enjoying a cup of tea and conversation that didn't involve work.

Ducky gently prodded Tim for whatever else might be bothering him and was able to get him to admit his sense of abandonment with both his sister and mother moving to the west coast. Before he left to go up to his desk, Tim promised the M.E. that he would either continue talking to Ducky about what he was going through or at least consider seeing a psychologist. Anxious to get busy, Tim headed up to his desk after only a few minutes.

Up in the squad room, Tim got down to work, booting up his computer and looking over the first case on top of the cold case stack. Sadly, enough it was a murder case and one that pre-dated his time on the team. Tim hated unsolved murder cases as it always left him with the feeling that the victims had been let down and disrespected when their killers weren't brought to justice for the life they had taken. After the astounding revelations he'd just had thrown at him, Tim had even less tolerance for them now.

As most murder cases went, this one was bound to keep him busy, chasing down leads, even formally dead ones. He'd been pouring over the case for over an hour before he even realized it was almost 7 am and the others were coming in. Gibbs came in from the back elevator, which meant he'd started his day by talking to Ducky about something.

Tony and Ziva arrived, took in the fact that Tim was already obviously knee-deep in searches for the case on his desk, and for once left him alone after greeting him and powering up their own work stations. Both of them grabbed a case of the cold case stack and got busy going through what they had to work with. Once again, the time flew, albeit with quite a bit more of the normal sniping and joking even with Tim joining in occasionally, than there had been yesterday.

Lunchtime came and went and from the middle of nowhere, an expected pizza delivery was made and as Tim cheerfully but silently paid up, Tony, Ziva and even Gibbs relaxed, thanked him, and went back to working even as they ate. The afternoon also flew by and before they knew it, six o'clock had arrived and Gibbs gave them the okay to call it a night. With places to go and people to see, Tim was soon gone from the squad room, even quicker than the others and Gibbs was left wondering what the hell had lit the fire under his agent's feet.

Almost as soon as Tony and Ziva had vacated the squad room for the elevator, Ducky seemed to appear out of thin air. Obviously, the M.E. had something on his mind.

"Duck? Something wrong?"

"Not at the moment, Jethro. Although, I must say, I certainly hope that it stays that way." The M.E. answered more cryptically than the younger man was used to hearing from him.

"Spit it out, Duck. What's going on?" Gibbs demanded impatiently.

"I simply wanted to ask that you remain on guard this weekend, Jethro."

"Something going on I should know about?" the Team Leader asked with a touch of alarm.

"Yes. Unfortunately, what that something is, I am not at liberty to say." His friend answered sadly.

"You know I hate it when you do this, right? Okay. Just tell me who this is about." Gibbs tried to meet Ducky half way on the confidential issue while still gaining the information he was after.

Ducky remained silent although he pointedly looked at Tim's desk for a long troubled minute. Looking back at Gibbs, he patted him on the arm and wished him a good night before heading out.

Gibbs was left with the beginning of a worrying knot twisting in his gut.

Tony and Ziva in mutual agreement, spurred on by shared concern for their obviously troubled teammate, headed over to Tim's apartment to talk to him and see what was going on with him. Sure, he'd seemed okay today; barely, but there was definitely something going on with him, and no one had bothered to even ask him in quite a while. That was something they needed and wanted to amend. As they pulled into Tim's apartment complex, Tim's car was remarkably not there. Tony looked over at Ziva as he turned his car off. "Something's off here."

"I agree." She answered as she got out of the car and met him on his side of the car.
Taking a minute to peruse the area, they were satisfied that nothing was blatantly wrong and headed up to Tim's apartment. When they reached his door, they were surprised to find it open and the sounds of people from within. Knocking on the door, they waited for someone to let them in even though the open door didn't require it.

When a man, who was obviously a maintenance man for the apartment, if his uniform shirt was anything to go by, answered the door, Tony and Ziva exchanged worried glances.

"Hey. Sorry, the apartment won't be ready for renting for at least two more days." The man stated calmly.

"Excuse me? Ready for renting?" Ziva asked in shock.

"Yeah. We've run into some problems with the electrical system. The last tenant mentioned the problem when he was moving out."

"The last tenant. Do you mean Timothy McGee?" Ziva asked.

"I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask the apartment complex manager. Check the office. He might still be around."

"Thank you." Tony answered for them and headed back down the stairs with Ziva in his wake.

"Tony? Would McGee move and not tell us?" her partner asked her in surprise.

"I dunno, Ziva. I don't like it, though. It proves one thing, for sure." The Senior Field Agent answered in full Agent mode mixed with a huge dose of worried big brother.

"And what does it prove?"

"That there is definitely something going on with him. I wonder if Gibbs or Abby knows Probie moved?"

"If they do not, would it be wise to worry them, especially Abby while she is on vacation?" Ziva reasoned out.

"No. Of course, we're not gonna bother Abby on her vacation, but, Gibbs needs to know, regardless. 'Never be unreachable'" Tony reminded her.

"Tony, if McGee has not stopped answering his phone, is he not still 'reachable'?"

"Not the same thing, Ziva." Tony answered as they reached the apartment complex office and found that the manager was still there. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief on that stroke of good luck,

After a brief conversation with the man, it was confirmed that Tim McGee had moved out two weekends ago. The manager even went so far as to remark that the move had been extremely fast, as Mr. McGee had hired several teams of people and several trucks to get it done in one day. Apparently, Mr. McGee had been in one hell of a serious hurry to move out, even going so far as to put a stop on all his mail, rather than leave a forwarding address.

Tony and Ziva were now both equally worried. Without so much as a single word spoken, Tony peeled out and hurled them towards the one person who could possibly shed some light on this and help them figure out what to do next. When they reached their destination, it was to find Gibbs just pulling in, himself.

At the screeching tires and squealed brakes, the boss turned to see who was in such an all-fire hurry to get to his house. At the disturbed looks on his agents' faces as they both practically jumped out of Tony's car, his gut twisted even more.

"What's wrong?" he asked them without wasting any time.

"We just found out that Probie moved out of his apartment two weeks ago. Left no forwarding address and hired enough –non profession people to get the move done in 1 day." Tony answered worriedly. "Apartment Complex Manager says no big-name moving company was seen helping get the job done."

Shock hit Gibbs like a tidal wave. He'd not heard anything about this. Pulling out his cell phone, he called his older friend to see what he knew of this. Maybe they could figure things out without pushing McGee to let them in where he obviously didn't want anyone in.

"Hey, Duck, when you talked to McGee last night, did he mention that he moved two weeks ago and left no forwarding address?"

"What? No, Jethro, he did not. Oh, dear! This is more serious than I thought." The M.E. declared in almost palpable distress.

"Ducky, I think it's time you tell me what it is you know." Gibbs strongly requested as he deliberately kept his tone concerned, both for his agent and his older friend.

"Jethro, I can't do that. Good grief, call the poor boy and talk to him!" Ducky said as he abruptly ended the call.

Gibbs was left staring at his phone in shock. He couldn't remember a time when Ducky had ever hung up on him like that. Obviously, the M.E. was upset about this on a deeper level than Gibbs had realized. Looking at his agents as they were all still standing in his driveway, he ushered them into his house and issued a request in Ziva's direction. "Call him. Put it on speaker."

As they waited for Tim to pick up his phone, Gibbs opened his fridge and took out 2 bottles of beer for his guests and handed them to them before turning to his coffee pot for a fresh refill.

"Tim McGee." Came the soft answer to the ringing phone on its' third ring.

"McGee. We came by to see you and were told that you have moved." Ziva offered as Tony remained silent and still visibly upset that this had happened under his nose and he hadn't been paying attention.

A deep sigh was heard on Tim's end.

"McGee?" Ziva pushed.

"Ziva, did you need something? Is that why you were stopping by? And what do you mean, we?"

Tim's unusual sidestepping of Ziva's question and his resigned tone had Gibbs and Tony exchanging worried looks. This was not a normal McGee response. As Tony opened his mouth to join in the conversation, Gibbs shook his head at him. They wanted McGee to open up, not clam up because he felt ganged up on.

"Tony and I were concerned about you. You have been acting as though something is seriously wrong for the last two weeks and even for weeks before that. We wanted to let you know we are here to listen if you need to talk."

Another deep sigh was heard. This time, when Tim spoke, his tone betrayed emotion he hadn't been showing very openly lately. The pain was there, and so was the break in his voice as he answered. "Thanks, Both of you, but I can't talk to you about this. I need to talk to …"

"You need to talk to whom, McGee?" Ziva asked gently.

"Doesn't matter. Not like I'm going to Can't do that to him."

"McGee? I am listening. Talk to me. Who is him? And what can you not do to him?"

"Gibbs. Ziva. I need to talk to Gibbs. But, I can't ask him to do that." The pain and sadness vibrating through the young man's voice broke Gibbs' heart.

"I am confused. If you need to talk to him, why can you not do so?" Ziva gently pushed with her genuine confusion.

"Because, Ziva. I need to talk to him like a…"

"Go on."

"Never mind. It doesn't matter. He's never been interested in talking to me, anyway. I'm not gonna expect that to change, just because I need… never mind. Look, Ziva. I appreciate your concern, but I'll be okay. Really."

"McGee, you have moved with no forwarding address and you are not even attempting to tell us where you have moved to. You speak of needing to talk to Gibbs and refusing to do so at the same time. You have said you will be okay. But you have not said that you are okay, now. Do not make me beg. Talk to me." She pleaded with a touch of firmness.

Tim could be heard taking a deep audible breath and letting it out on a sigh and then trying to clear his throat before he said. "I'll be right back." Before he put the phone down.

In the background, they could hear him sniffling and blowing his nose. The sounds of him getting himself a drink of water from his sink, and even the sounds of him swallowing hard, could all be heard and spoke volumes of the lengths he obviously needed to go to pull himself together. This unforeseen and unexpected concern from his team had obviously thrown him off balance.

Before they could comment on it amongst themselves, their teammate was back on the line. "Look, Ziva. I really appreciate that you're concerned about me. Tony, too. But, I'll be okay." Tim said into the phone. "I have a real early day tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. So, can we talk tomorrow night, maybe?" her friend asked timidly.

Looking at Gibbs for a silent suggestion, she found him to be nodding his head for her to agree to that, and even though she would have done it regardless, she felt better with the realization that she wasn't the only one to be concerned enough to make sure McGee did not feel ganged up on for this call.

"Certainly, McGee. I will call you tomorrow night."

"Actually, Ziva. I don't' know when I'll be getting back. So, can I call you?"

Tim's news that he was actually going somewhere, momentarily threw them all for a loop. Ziva recovered and answered his question. "Certainly. I will speak with you then. McGee, you mention going somewhere, do you need company?"

A long pause on Tim's end of the phone churned their guts and turned the dial up on their joint worry meter but the words he spoke next were obviously intended to chip away at that possible concern. "No, Ziva. Thank you, but I'll be fine. I'll call you tomorrow night, 'bout this time, all right?"

"Certainly, McGee. Then maybe you will allow me to take you to dinner, yes?"

"That would be great, Ziva. Talk to you then. And again, thank you." Tim answered in the same quiet tone he'd started the conversation in as he ended the call.

Gibbs didn't like Tim's tone. His answers were cause for concern by themselves, but his tone; the break in his voice, the emotion he'd allowed out, even if it had been just for a slip of a minute; all spoke volumes more than his words alone had. And what was this about him needing to talk to Gibbs but not willing to put him through the pain? What was up with that? Add in Tim's mini-meltdown two nights ago and his walking for hours last night before finally giving up and calling Ducky to talk; and it all spelled serious pain filled trouble for his youngest agent.

"Boss, I know that look, you think there's something wrong here, too." Tony threw out there.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. But, short of violating his privacy, there's not a hell of a lot we can do about it, except keep in touch with him and keep reminding him, he's not alone, in whatever this is, he's going through, DiNozzo." Gibbs answered in his 'don't argue with me' tone.

"Boss!" Tony objected.

"No, Tony! We're not gonna violate his privacy just so we can get the answers to our questions. It's up to McGee to let us in when we knock. Not gonna go breakin' down his door!"

"And if he is too afraid of causing you pain, to answer your knock?" Ziva asked quietly, reminding them of Tim's words from just a few moments ago.

Gibbs looked at her and silently thought about the point she'd just made. This was, after all, Tim and the young man at the heart of their concern never actively sought out help if he didn't feel he had the right to ask for it. And in this case, he obviously felt he had no such right. It was also obvious, that he needed to talk to Gibbs or he wouldn't have allowed himself to admit as much to Ziva.

"Good thing we know how to pick locks." He answered with a straight face that actually left no doubt that he meant no joke.