Tuesday before Christmas – December 19th
Daylight was boring a hole through his eyelids and burning his eyeballs where they rested. His head had leased a serious amount of space to Woody Woodpecker and his whole damn family, but that only meant one thing; he was awake. He was awake and in hell. Tim took a moment to try to think through the pain that had taken up residence behind his eyes and the upset stomach trying to stage a revolt, and worked on figuring out where he was since everything felt unfamiliar to him; even the glare of the sun on his face before he'd even opened his eyes. His stomach churned even more, but somehow, Tim managed to force the nausea back enough that he didn't lose that battle.
The cushions under his body felt too firm and unyielding, not like his own bed or couch at all and the blanket that covered him wasn't his. He could tell that by the texture of it, not to mention it smelled like sawdust. Sawdust! Oh, crap! Gibbs!
Groaning, he turned his head toward the back of the couch and brought the blanket further up over his head to hide from the light. Damn it, the boss had ordered them not to get drunk last night, and what did Tim do; get plastered! Why the hell did he listen to DiNozzo, any way? "C'mon, McDrag, live a little; have a beer!" A beer! Yeah, right! Last time he'd ever go out with Tony, that's for sure!
As the pain in his head intensified with the guilt and worry that was steadily building in his mind about what Gibbs was gonna do or say about this; Tim couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips. Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder and a calm, quiet voice close by.
"C'mon, McGee. Let's get you up and movin'; only way to deal with the hangover."
Tim's eyes popped open in shock. Gibbs? What; no anger, no censure? What the heck was going on? Not wanting to spoil a good thing while he had it, he sat up as quickly as his protesting body allowed; which, truth be told, wasn't very fast at all. But, with extra hands supporting him in the shoulders, he was able to sit up, even if it was just to flop back sideways against the back of the couch like a dead fish, his stomach, once again pushing to win the war on the revolt it so desperately wanted.
"Hey, c'mon, swing your legs over here and keep moving." The boss requested firmly but still quietly.
"Okay." Tim answered back, feeling the need to show some gratitude and respect. "Sorry, Boss."
"Can you stand?" Gibbs pushed past Tim's apology, not wanting to focus on it and not wanting Tim to either.
"Not sure." Tim admitted meekly.
"Stay there for a minute." The boss told him as he left the room. When he came back a minute later, it was, surprisingly enough, with Tony on his heels. "All right, McGee, let Tony help you get in the shower."
"Okay, Boss." Tim answered back with a wave of humiliation.
"Hey, Probie. How's the head and the gut?" Tony asked with genuine concern.
"Tony, don't ever let me go out drinking with you again." Tim moaned.
"Yeah, About that, McGoo. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have let you drink so much. Here we go, one step at a time, that's it. All right. C'mon, bathroom's down the hall. Don't even think of getting sick til we get there!" Tony encouraged him to keep going toward the stairs in the hallway with seriousness and concern mixed in with the warning.
"Who are you and what have you done with Tony?" Tim croaked out skeptically even as Tony held him while they walked.
"Ha! Funny, McCranky. C'mon! Let's go. The shower's calling your name. Let's get you there." Tony gave back without any bite.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah." Tim muttered as they started up the stairs.
Gibbs had to work hard to smother his laughter. Making sure to stay in the living room, he took a minute to regain his straight face. Looking at the pile of blanket on his couch, he grinned; oh yeah, making this point with Tony should prove interesting. His Senior Field Agent was gonna have a busy day, that was for sure.
Heading into the kitchen, he dished up three plates of scrambled eggs and sausage, put them in the oven to keep warm, and sat down with his cup of coffee to catch a minute of peace. He was still disappointed in his Senior Field Agent; but he had more important things to worry about at the moment.
He'd given Ducky the flash drive last night that Tim had said he wanted the M.,E. to see. They'd watched it at Ducky's since Gibbs had decided that he was going to be there to be a shoulder or an ear that Ducky might need once he'd seen what was on there.
Sure enough, the older man had been very upset, although whether he was more upset that he'd allowed himself to not override Tim's insistence that he could make that drive; talk to that man and drive himself back without problem or incident. Or at what Tim had gone through in talking with that man who was supposedly the young man's father; Gibbs didn't know. What he did know, was Ducky would be watching Tim a lot more closely now; they both would.
It wasn't long before both boys trudged back into the kitchen, ready for whatever hell the boss was gonna throw at them. Looking at Tim, Gibbs offered a small smile to calm the kid's nerves. It was a wonder he'd made it to the bathroom without getting sick to his stomach, as drunk as he'd appeared to be last night. "Sit." The boss quietly instructed his younger agent. "Tony, bring the plates out of the oven, will ya? And get McGee something to drink."
"Sure, Boss." Tony replied with surprise. Gibbs didn't seem too ticked off this morning. The fact that the two of them had been up for two hours before McGee woke up and had not spoken to each other in that time; did little to sway Tony's fear that something big was gonna fall on his head for last night. Obviously, whatever it was; wasn't gonna be before breakfast. That thought only served to further unnerve Tony. Spending two hours staring out at the backyard while the boss must have read every word of his newspaper, had been bad enough of a start to the morning. This uncertainty wasn't helping.
While Tim attempted to eat and the other two enjoyed their breakfast, peace and quiet returned to their midst. After they'd finished eating, Tim took himself to the sink and started washing dishes, for lack of anything else to do with himself and the need to be doing something besides thinking. Thankfully, the pain in his head had eased off enough, as had his stomach, that he was almost feeling normal again. Gibbs smirked at the look of astonishment that was now sitting on Tony's face as he observed Tim washing the dishes.
"DiNozzo, with me." Gibbs ordered in the tone that no one argued with. As he led the way to the living room, he could almost feel the worry dripping off his agent. "Relax, Tony. I'm not gonna bite. I'm not even gonna growl."
"Yeah?" Tony double checked.
"Yeah. I'm just gonna keep you so busy today, you're not gonna have time to even think about going out after work tonight. "Starting now; clean it up." Gibbs told him as he pointed to the mess from having Tim sleep on the couch, before grinning at him and leaving him to go refill his coffee.
When the boss got back to the kitchen, he found Tim sitting at the table nursing a glass of ice water, his expression lost and worried.
"Hey. Talk to me. What's going through that head of yours?" Gibbs asked him as he stepped over to the coffee pot and refilled his mug. Silence met his question and it wasn't until he turned and took a seat at the table and looked the young man square on; that he realized why. Tim was no longer staring into space, but rather, down at his water, his hands wrapped around the glass so tight, it looked to be in danger of shattering.
"McGee." Gibbs tried again to get Tim's attention to focus on the question.
"Boss, I'm sorry. I never should have had that much to drink." Tim offered with much more remorse than was necessary.
"McGee. It's done. It's over. Let it go."
"But, Tony…"
"Needs a little reminder of what it means to be the one trusted to look out for his teammates."
"Boss, I…"
"McGee, I wanna know how you're doin'. In here." Gibbs pointed to Tim's head
"Okay. I guess. Haven't really had a chance to think about much this morning."
"Yeah? Okay, you ready to head in?"
"Yeah. What about Tony?"
"Oh, don't worry about DiNozzo. He's comin' too. DiNozzo! Get a move on! We're leavin'!"
"Comin', Boss." Tony said loudly so his voice would reach Gibbs before he did, even as he headed back toward the kitchen. Being told to clean the living room up wasn't as bad as he'd expected it to be. Thank God, Probie hadn't gotten sick while he was drunk! He'd dodged a bullet on that one!
Once at work, things settled down to normal with any further disturbance. The one big difference was that anytime there was any running to do; be it out for coffee or down to Ducky for a report or to the lab for an update on evidence for any of the cold cases they were still ploughing through; Tony had to make the trip. While Gibbs fought hard to hide his grin behind his coffee cup a time or two, Ziva didn't even try to hide hers. When Tony returned from the fourth such errand, she had to ask.
"Tony? Just what did you do that landed you in the dog house with Gibbs?"
Gibbs' eyes snapped up and he looked at Tony with amusement as he waited to hear his Senior Field Agent's answer. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to shrink a little more into himself, as if shouldering even more guilt for Tony's plight than what he'd tried to own up to at breakfast. The boss noticed his youngest agent's demeanor and made a mental note to do something about it before too much longer.
"Nuthin' I'm gonna tell you about, Ziva." Tony whined as he plopped back down in his seat and got back to work.
Gibbs shook his head in a silent moment of mirth and got back into his own work. He'd let Tony have that one. If the guy didn't want to tell Ziva, he didn't have to. Ziva was smart enough to figure it out for herself anyway. It was going to be interesting to see what she'd do once she did find out about it.
By the time lunchtime had rolled around, the Senior Field Agent felt so bedraggled, he doubted he'd be going out after work for the next week! Message received; don't get Probie drunk after the boss tells you not to!
"Tony! Let me buy you lunch." Ziva offered with a genuine smile.
Oh, I am so dead. Tony thought as he followed her out, knowing at this point, to argue with her or turn her down would only fuel her fire worse.
Once Tony and Ziva had gone from the squad room, Gibbs stopped working and looked over at Tim. The young man was reading through a file, his expression thoughtful and intense. Not wanting to disturb him while he was actually working and apparently staying pretty damn focused; Gibbs got up and headed to the back stairs. When he reached Autopsy, he watched with a rueful smile at Jimmy's lightening quick disappearing act. They really needed to get that kid to settle down and quit being so scared of him all the time.
"Jethro, what brings you down here? It wouldn't be Anthony's shenanigans from last night would it, by any chance?"
"Ducky, you free for dinner tonight?"
"I can be. What's the occasion?"
"McGee."
"I see. Well, certainly, I shall join you. I would like the chance to see for myself just how that young man is doing."
"Yeah, I figured as much."
"May I ask why you're concerned about him?" Ducky wondered aloud.
"C'mon, Ducky. You know damn well why. There's no way, I'm gonna not check up on him, after the bombshells he's been given lately. Especially with the holidays comin' up."
"Jethro, what is it you really want to check up on with Timothy?"
"He needs to talk to his mother, Duck. He wants to. But, there's something holdin' him back and we need to figure out what it is and help him fix it."
"Jethro, this is certainly not like you at all! Whatever has come over you?"
"Ducky. It's almost Christmas. McGee doesn't deserve to be estranged from his family on Christmas, especially not so soon after losing the man he'd grown up believing was his father all his life. You really think I'm just gonna sit back and watch that happen?"
"Ah, so this year, your focus is on Timothy." Ducky reasoned out with a smile. "You may very well be on to something there, Jethro. Perhaps we should discuss this with him and see just what we can do to help."
"Good. See you at seven, Duck." Gibbs replied as he turned and left Autopsy.
Tim managed to make it through half of the afternoon without even thinking for a minute, about anything other than work, with the exception of the bad day Tony was having on account of Tim's getting drunk last night. He hated that Tony was being punished for what was essentially, Tim's actions. Tim always hated it when the shoe was on the other foot and he paid the price for someone else; and this time was no different. It still felt terrible. He wished Gibbs would just let it go. It didn't feel right that Tim was being let off the hook while Tony was left dangling on it.
Three in the afternoon had come before too long and Gibbs had been watching Tim become increasingly upset as the day went on. Although, it didn't appear that the young man was fighting with himself on any emotional level, but, rather, reacting a little more as the day went on, to the way Gibbs was still having Tony paying the piper. Knowing McGee, the kid was probably thinking he should be the one being run ragged and not Tony. Well, maybe it was time to call it done and move on
"Tony, go take a break. Take McGee with ya."
"Boss?" Tony asked in shock.
"You'd rather stay here and work?" the Team Leader asked dryly.
"Uhm, No, Boss. I'd love to take a break." The younger man answered without further delay.
Tim sent the boss a small smile of thanks, which Gibbs knew was more for letting Tony off the hook than for giving Tim the break; as he got up from his desk and followed Tony to the back elevator.
"Tony, let's go get coffee." Tim suggested. "My treat."
"Yeah? Thanks, Probie." Tony replied with a smile.
"Tony." Tim began as the elevator took them down to the front entrance, "I'm really sorry Gibbs is riding you so hard about last night. I don't know why he's not doing me the same way. I feel really bad about this."
"Hey, McGoo. Don't sweat it, all right? I get it. Gibbs is pissed at me because I didn't keep my word. I broke my promise that neither one of us would get drunk."
"But, I'm the one who got drunk, Tony. Not you. Last time I checked, I'm responsible for what I do, not you."
"McGoo, you know how Gibbs' mind works. I was the ring leader of us going out last night and I made him a promise, as that ring leader and I didn't keep the promise. Simple as that. Stop worryin' about it. I'm cool with it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Now, c'mon, let's talk about Christmas. You got plans?"
"No." Tim clammed up and burrowed deeper into his coat to ward off the freezing temperature. He was definitely unwilling to talk about the fact that he couldn't go home for Christmas and probably wouldn't even be able to wish his mother and sister a Merry Christmas. He damn sure couldn't wish his father one. Oh, God! Dad! No! Stop thinking about it! Don't give into it! Refocus, Now!
"What about you, Tony? What are you doing for Christmas?" Tim asked quietly as he gave the conversation a directional push away from himself.
"Never have any plans for the holidays".Tony quietly reminded him.
"I'm sorry, Tony. You're welcome to ride it out with me, if you want. We could do a movie marathon or something – so long it we don't turn it into a drinking fest, it would be kinda fun." Tim offered with a small smile.
"I'll think about it, Probie. I'm used to flyin' solo for holidays." Tony explained so Tim wouldn't feel like he'd been given the cold shoulder.
"Yeah. Okay. C'mon, let's get that coffee."