"Good night, Boss." McGee swung his backpack onto his shoulder as he finished shutting down his computer, the rest of the team just moments behind him.

Gibbs looked up and nodded. "Good night, McGee. You moonlighting tonight?"

"No, not tonight, I think they're still doing paperwork. Scott said something about going before the Grand Jury in the morning. Don't worry, Boss, I'll tell you first from now on. See you in the morning, Tony, Ziva."

DiNozzo was still trying to figure out what they meant when the elevator door closed behind McGee. "Moonlighting, Boss?"

"He's been working with the narcotics unit in Silver Spring, helped them take down some pretty big dealers." Hoping to make it to his favorite woodworking store before they closed, Gibbs finished shutting down his own computer.

"The Director ask him to do that?"

"Nope."

"Then why? With our hours, you'd think he'd have enough work for one day." Tony looked over at Ziva who shrugged. She, too, enjoyed the limited down time they had.

Gibbs knew he could tell them that it was his neighborhood, that he was close to the dog handler who'd been severely injured in the accident that killed his dog, that Jethro enjoyed using his skills even if the canine were officially retired. Instead, he told them the one thing that had struck him the most. "It's his one chance to be treated as an equal."

"What?" Tony sat straight up, staring at Gibbs.

"He's the least experienced agent on our team, and no matter how hard he works or how much he learns, he'll always be the least experienced member of the team. Look at it from that end, Tony."

It was Ziva that verbalized it first. "It would be very frustrating to never have one's new skills and abilities utilized or even acknowledged."

"Are we going to lose him, Boss?"

"Nope." Gibbs smiled to himself as he could see Tony relax slightly. "But it would be nice if he felt that way around here one in a while." Letting them think about it, Gibbs left for the evening. Ziva was packed and on the next elevator, while DiNozzo stayed, thinking about the day, before he started pulling files.

-NCIS-

"Starting a new boat, Gibbs?" Portly, with a weathered complexion, Harry Meyers had been selling hardwood and exotic lumber for over thirty years.

"Nope, show me what you've got in picture frame moulding." An hour later, Gibbs was standing at the cash register with eight feet of a wide profile oak moulding, a much better quality miter box and a heavy duty point driver.

Harry shook his head as he rang up the sale. "Much as I appreciate the business, a ready made frame would have been a whole lot cheaper. I hope you're going to be eventually making more than one frame, Gibbs."

"Planning on it, Harry."

-NCIS-

It was Tony's morning to pick up breakfast, so McGee wasn't surprised that only Ziva was in the squad room. A coat draped over his chair and an empty coffee cup in the trash showed that Gibbs was someplace in the building "Good morning, Ziva."

"Good morning, McGee." She watched as he settled in at his workstation. "Is that a new backpack? I do not believe I have ever seen it before."

The question surprised him. "Yeah, since..." His phone interrupted their conversation. "McGee... hey, Tony, what's up?"

~Probie, do you want a breakfast burrito or a smoothie?~

The question threw him for a minute, not because it was a difficult decision, but because Tony had bought the same sausage and egg burrito for him every Friday for the last five years. "You know, actually a smoothie does sound kinda good this morning, but not mango."

-NCIS-

Tony was in the food court, between the smoothie shop and the Mexican restaurant that was their usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning haunt, grinning at the surprise he heard in McGee's voice. "All right, no mango so you don't have to fight off the ninja. Today's special is strawberry peach."

~Oh, that sounds good. Thanks, Tony.~

As he listened, Ziva passed on her breakfast request, also opting for the new smoothie flavor. There was a pause as apparently Gibbs arrived and the question was repeated. Tony started chuckling. "Let me guess, you're getting the death glare. Okay, one breakfast burrito for Gibbs."

It wasn't until DiNozzo was back and they were almost done eating that Ziva remembered the backpack. "McGee, you were telling me why you changed to a different backpack."

Surprised to find three expectant faces waiting for an answer, Tim choked out his response as he tried to swallow. "After yesterday, I decided to carry a full sized sketchbook but it wouldn't fit in my work backpack."

"So you had to buy another one? It does not look new, McGee."

"It's not new, Ziva." He wasn't quite sure why they were even discussing it. "I bought it years ago for my drawing supplies. It was easier to adapt it to what I needed for work than to try to make my work backpack fit my sketchbook and pencil case."

"Makes sense, Probie." Tony climbed to his feet, tossing his wrapper in the trash before grabbing some files off of his desk. "Since we're reviewing cold cases today, I had an idea. Some of these computer generated images just don't look right."

McGee automatically took the offered files and started flipping through them. "Sometimes the layers don't line up just right."

"Exactly, the program is good at the individual pieces, but the final version is just kinda creepy."

From his desk, Gibbs had been listening intently. "Where are you going with this, DiNozzo?"

"We haven't gotten anywhere with some of these cases and maybe part of the problem is that we're trying to jog people's memories with pictures that just don't quite look human." Tony took one of the pictures out of the top file in McGee's hand and held it up for Gibbs and Ziva to see. "How can we ask a civilian to remember someone they saw ten years ago when all we have to show them is this?"

His senior agent had a point, Gibbs had to admit. The newer digitally created images were better, but the older ones were choppy and had a blank look about the eyes. "So, what do you suggest?"

"What if we were able to show them a more human drawing?" Tony glanced over at McGee before continuing. "Yesterday we saw how quickly people respond to a real drawing. I'm not sure a computer generated image of Martinez would have the same results. How about if McGee draws a few of these before we hit the sidewalk again?"

"That's some good thinking, DiNozzo. What about it, McGee, can you give it a try?"

"Sure." Tim was already pulling out his supplies. "Just remember, we don't know how the courts will take an identification made from a sketch of a sketch. If we ID somebody, we'll need some solid evidence to back it up."

"Fair enough." Gibbs turned back to Tony. "Narrow that stack down to two or three for McGee to focus on."

The praise and the vote of confidence had Tony buzzing and he quickly laid out the three files he'd chosen last night for McGee to start on.

After a quick glance through all three files, McGee started with the suspect in a fifteen year old murder. Just days before he was scheduled to ship out to basic training, Seaman Recruit George Kuhn had been gunned down in the alley behind his mother's home. With no witness besides his ill mother and no recovered slug or murder weapon, it quickly became a cold case. Ruby Kuhn had succumbed to cancer just a few months after the death of her only child, leaving them with nothing but a rough image the original agent had pulled together the morning after the murder.

With a plan to clean up the original image and to also create one showing their suspect as he could look today, McGee got busy. It was after his third trip to the scanner that Tony got curious.

"Why do you keep scanning your drawing?" While the others listened, Tony sat on the edge of McGee's desk to watch more closely, so Tim spread out the different versions he was working on.

"Basic features don't change too much, but it has been fifteen years, so our forty year old suspect is now fifty-five."

"You're doing an older version?" Tony picked up one of the drawings to take a closer look. The dark eyes of the suspect were now half hidden by heavy wrinkles and drooping eyelids while a receding hairline showed more of the forehead. "After all this time, that's probably a good idea. So, you drew out the features that don't change and then worked on copies instead of redrawing it every time. Pretty smart."

McGee blushed slightly and ducked his head. "Bone structure doesn't really change, so there was no point in taking the time to draw it over and over again."

"Okay, but what's the thing with the teeth?" One of the sketches still on the desk showed their suspect with the beginnings of better teeth than in the original.

"There's a note in the file." McGee sorted through the pages, finding the one he was looking for before handing it to Tony. "Special Agent Mike Franks commented that the teeth better be right, because that's the first thing people noticed about the picture."

Hearing his old mentor's name stopped Gibbs cold. "You're working on one of Mike's old cases?"

Picking that file had been easy for him, and he was sure it was the same for DiNozzo, so Tim gave his friend a quick smile before he explained. "We figured that he and Seaman Apprentice Kuhn both deserved a second chance at closure."

"Thanks, guys."

The rare praise was always a thrill for both of them, but Tony was rather intrigued by the deepening red tinge to McGee's ears as he went back to drawing, this time on the sketch that assumed their suspect finally had some overdue dental work.

-NCIS-

When the work day ended, the team was happy to leave, eager to start their weekend. The three younger members of the team were roped into an evening at the bar by Abby, who was feeling neglected. Once they had left, Gibbs hurried home to start on the picture frame.

The drinks had barely been ordered before Abby glared at the rest of them. "I didn't get a single visit today, I hate cold cases."

"Sorry, Abs, we were all busy watching McGee draw." Tony shrugged as he tossed a peanut into his mouth.

She stared at Tony for a minute before turning to Tim. "It's true, you really drew that picture of Martinez yesterday? The likeness was amazing, McGee."

"Only because Tony was able to get those kids to remember a lot of details. Speaking of which, when did you get so good at handling kids, DiNozzo?" Tim was grinning ear to ear as he turned their attention to his friend.

Tony glanced at the two women before turning his attention back to McGee. "Guess learning new skills is a good thing all the way around, for all of us."

"Here, here." Tim tilted his wine glass enough to tap it against Tony's beer bottle. "Now, let's see if we can solve Mike's last case next week."

Ziva remembered the look on Gibbs' face when he realized what they were working on, and held her glass up. "I will drink to that."

-NCIS-

The frame had been built before Gibbs went to bed, allowing the glue to dry overnight, so first thing in the morning, he was back down in the basement, mounting the painting securely in the hand picked oak panels. It was when the painting was hanging on the wall that he realized there was a problem. The phone rang twice before it was answered on the other end.

~Boss?~

"Morning, McGee. I hung your painting and now my walls look dingy."

-NCIS-

Cracking open one eye, McGee fumbled for his phone. When he saw the name on the display, he was sure the team's weekend off had just been canceled. "Boss?"

~Morning, McGee. I hung your painting and now my walls look dingy.~

Tim stared at his phone for a second. "Dingy, Boss?"

~Hasn't been painted since the ex-wife redecorated. Didn't notice it before.~

Swinging his feet off the bed, Tim sat up, glancing at his clock. "Since we're not on call, you want some help painting the walls this weekend?"

~You mind?~

He was already pulling some old clothes out of his dresser. "No problem, we can probably get most of the prep work done before the paint store opens. Do you want me to stop and pick up some donuts?"

~You got any more of that bacon?~

Laughing, Tim detoured through the kitchen. "Sure. Okay, let me take Jethro out and then I'll be over."

~The yard's fenced, so bring him with you.~

-NCIS-

It wasn't until after he'd ended the call that Gibbs realized it was only 0600. Luckily, Tim was more like him and could hit the ground running first thing in the morning, but under the circumstances, Gibbs figured he owed the man a fresh pot of coffee.

True to his word, McGee arrived a short time later, the dog much more interested in the bag he was carrying than the new surroundings. Laughing, Tim set the bacon on the counter before taking Jethro outside.

The two men quickly fell into a comfortable routine, Gibbs mixing up the eggs and dipping the bread, while Tim got the bacon seasoned and into the broiler. The left handed McGee and the right handed Gibbs naturally worked at opposite sides of the stove, easily reaching over and under each other when necessary.

At the table, Gibbs found their watcher amusing, the canine head moving up and down, following his hand as he enjoyed the bacon. Chuckling, Gibbs' hand movements grew more exaggerated and Jethro pranced the full width of the French doors, his nose pressed against the glass. McGee looked over his shoulder to see the dog's antics before shaking his head. "You're probably going to regret doing that, Boss."

Gibbs didn't see the harm until the weak morning light finally broke through the clouds and hit the glass, illuminating the countless doggie nose prints and streaks that now adorned the lower half of the glass doors. "Oh."