Both Leon Vance and Jethro Gibbs could not believe their eyes. Timothy McGee had been unconscious and wheeled past them on a gurney trolley and back into their victim's room. He had what looked like a rather nasty head injury, based on the heavy dressings and the bandages that adorned his head. Vance had already verbalised the question on Gibbs' lips and he had repeated it, more menacingly, demanding answers. However his demand had been short lived when a tired, harried looking woman in a white lab coat had requested to speak to Ducky and Tobias in private.
"Don't know about you Jethro, but I am going in to see McGee." Vance told his subordinate. Vance didn't want to wait. He wanted a chance to assess the younger man's injuries for himself. It was clear that the perpetrator had done a number on their former agent.
Jethro followed Director Vance behind him. He had been hoping that Ducky and or Tobias would return and fill them in on exactly what was going on with Tim McGee. Clearly it wasn't nothing, something had happened to their former agent. "Oh Tim." Gibbs sighed in a whisper, daring to reach out and touch his hand in the barest of touches.
Tim was trying to sleep, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep. He looked like he was in pain still. Which he was. It made the men's blood boil, to see the pain etched on his face. Surely, they'd have given him some kind of pain relief by now.
"What the? What happened?!" Leon's voice demanded in a hiss of a whisper. Unlike Gibbs, Leon was privy to a few finer details. Like where was Tim's boyfriend? Was this a case of domestic violence? A gay bashing? Was Pete staying away from the hospital because they were there? Leon Vance didn't want to think the worst, but he could not help it. It was an occupational hazard as a former agent, turned Director of a federal agency.
"Good news, gentlemen." Ducky announced from the doorway. "The inter-cranial pressure has eased enough that Tim has avoided surgical intervention. A nurse will be in, momentarily to increase his pain medication and let him get some more comfortable rest."
"What happened, Duck?" Gibbs growled at his long time friend. Gibbs would get into it later with Ducky, about why the good doctor didn't call him immediately.
"That's what the four of us are going to discuss." Tobias answered from the door jamb, interrupting the NCIS personnel's conversation.
Standing beside him was Agent Tom Stewart. Stewart and the NCIS folk had crossed paths a couple of times before, when he worked for Tobias and most recently, when Tim'd had his car vandalized in a parking lot, on a high security naval base. Before anything further could be said, Ducky escorted them all from the room, assuring them that all that he would stay with their young patient, while the FBI agents bought NCIS up to speed on the case.
In a small meeting room one floor below, Tobias mentally braved himself for the onslaught of questions. But right now, Tom was in the hot seat as he explained their theory of how the crime went down based on the CCTV footage, the nature of the injuries and where Tobias had found Tim when Pete had raised the alarm.
Tom Stewart had continued on to the evidence next, explaining that even though they had DNA of the attacker running through the lab, they were fairly certain, based on the CCTV footage, they were looking for someone in the Navy.
They let that sink in for Gibbs and Leon, before Tobias questioned Leon Vance directly. "You called Tim and he missed your call. You didn't leave a message to tell him why you called. Why was that?"
"I was calling to give him a heads up, his father was in town." Vance answered and the whole room saw the way Gibbs' posture stiffened. "I was calling to give him a heads up." That answered one thing for Tobias, the Admiral was in town. Piecing together what he knew about the man and the few things that Tim had said about the man over the years, no wonder Leon had thought it was pertinent to give the young man a heads up.
When the interview was over, Leon urged Gibbs to go ahead and sit with their former agent, while Vance asked a few questions of his own to Tobias. "Was his boyfriend with him? Is he ok? Does he know what's happened to Tim?"
Tobias could see the concern etched the Director's eyes and on the ebony skin of his face. "Pete raised the alarm when Tim didn't show up at the allotted time and place they were due to meet and his calls went unanswered. He is ok, sent him home to get some sleep, about thirty minutes before you two arrived. Pete didn't want to out Tim to Jethro. Tim had already been uneasy that you were in the know and Ducky had found out this evening, due to Tim's injury. He wanted Tim to have some control over the situation."
"Rightfully so." Leon murmured, he made sure to keep his voice low enough so that Gibbs couldn't here them from where he was seated beside Tim's bed. "Tell me quickly, the boyfriend? You checked him out, right? Last thing Tim needs is another assassin trying to get information out if him that he never even had."
"Public search online, spoke to people from his home town." Tobias kept his chuckle light at the former Director's concern. "I've spent time with the man, he's legit. He and Tim ... Tim lights up around him and he around Tim. I always thought Tim was one of the most content people I know, but you should see him and Pete together."
"Glad to see that Tim has your support." Vance began, as he and Tobias began walking towards the younger man's hospital bed. "The Admiral is creepy and seems like he wouldn't think twice about making his son's life miserable."
"The Admiral is a son of a bitch!" Tobias seethed. Tobias was much more privy to any details than the Director would ever know. But it wasn't his place to say anything. "Tim is better off without him. By the way, Stewart has forwarded the footage of the suspect to your temp in the lab, to see if they can ID the bastard."
As they quietly entered the room, Tobias was relieved to see Ducky and Gibbs whispering to one another in the corner and Tim sleeping peacefully and restfully. "He was awake, momentarily." Gibbs said with a small grin for Ducky. "His grandmother is in town. Has she been notified?"
"No, the few conscious moments that Tim has had. He has been adamant that he doesn't want anyone to be notified." Tobias explained, as he took up the seat on the opposite side of Tim's bed, the one his boyfriend had vacated just before the NCIS personnel's arrival. "Everyone who needs to know about Tim being injured, already knows."
That was more than OK by Gibbs. He really didn't feel like dealing with the McGee family matriarch. Especially if they didn't have the ID of the perpetrator yet.
It took a while, but Tobias was relieved to finally find himself alone with his friend. He was glad that Ducky, Vance and Gibbs had been supportive of Tim and had showed him their concern, but Tobias was more relieved when they left. Tobias was happy to share his friend with Pete, they both loved the young man in very different ways.
Tobias felt that quite often, he and the younger man shared a familial relationship, as well as the friendship that they shared, but they were friends, first and foremost. On occasion, he could even remember Tim pointing out to him, that he was closer to Emily in age than he was to Tobias. But that was ok, Tobias had always wanted a son and he had long given up the hope that he would ever have one. The Admiral had wanted a son, but only on the proviso that he be a carbon copy of his father and grandfather, never being allowed to make a decision for himself and that hadn't been anyway for the younger man to live. Tobias would and had happily provided the younger man any support that he could, just as Tim backed him and supported him.
Whereas, his friend's relationship with Pete was very different. Even though the basis of a good relationship was friendship and the two men shared that in spades. Tobias knew that Tim and Pete had shared kisses together and he wasn't sure what else. He had made a point to tell the younger men that hadn't ever wanted to hear the intimate details of their relationship and both Tim and Pete had respected that. He had no idea how intimate they were and he really didn't care. But he knew that both of the men had been seriously emotionally wounded before, by other men and they both claimed that they were taking their relationship slow.
Tonight, well last night, Tobias had been watching Pete with his friend, in a new light. Pete was like Tim, a very emotionally reserved man. He was very closed off, but the FBI agent had learnt something new about his best friend's boyfriend. Pete was more like Tim than he had ever given him credit for, before. When he was upset or angry, he wore his heart on his sleeve, just like Tim did.
Tobias wondered if Pete knew that the love he had for Tim had been shining through for everyone to see, in every gesture that he had made to the younger man. Every touch of his hand, every tangle of his thicker fingers' in Tim's longer and more slender fingers. Every time he carded Tim's hair off his face, pressed his lips to Tim's forehead, hand or lips. Pete Kennedy was in love with Tobias Fornell's best friend, Timothy McGee.
"I can hear the gears turning in your head, Tobias." A soft and sleepy voice from the bed spoke, shattering the FBI Team Leader's train of thought. "What's got those gears going?"
"Hey, you're awake." Tobias grinned and saw Tim's green eyes beneath the flutter of his gritty eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Head hurts." Tim said softly, as he managed to use to bed controls to sit himself up on a bit more of an angle than what he'd been sleeping on. "But it's a lot better than it was."
Tobias watched for a moment, waiting to see if his friend would feel nauseated. "You're already looking a lot better than what you were. Do you want me to call Pete?"
"Let him rest." Tim urged his friend. Pete had been away on an assignment and had been working full tilt, then had spent the whole night in the emergency room and up on the ward with him. Tim wanted his boyfriend to get some more rest. He was worried about Pete, while he lay in a hospital bed recovering from a brain injury. "When can I go home?" Tim asked and Tobias bit back a grin.
"You've got a severe concussion and an open head wound, Tim." Tobias informed him, factually. "It's going to be at least another day or two yet. What's the rush?"
"Pete and I made plans, he heads back out on assignment on Friday." Tim's frank and honest admission enlightened Tobias to something that had only just occurred to him. Timothy McGee loves Pete Kennedy, just as much. "We haven't seen each other in a week."
"You and Pete are fine, Tim. I wouldn't worry about your relationship." He reiterated to his friend. Tobias didn't know the particulars of exactly when the two men had fallen in love and he didn't care when it was. He was just happy that they had. Tobias realised something else, they hadn't told one another about their feelings. They hadn't said the words. "I am sure that Pete understands."
Knowing what he knew about Tim, that meant the two men hadn't been to bed together. Even though, he did know that Pete had spent at least one night on Tim's sofa. Tim had made a point to tell Tobias that it hadn't been like that.
The sound of Fornell's cell phone had interrupted the silence they had been sharing, each man lost in their own thoughts. He had excused himself and answered it, stepping out of Tim's room and seeing that it was the Director of NCIS, Leon Vance.
Coming back in two minutes later, the look on Tobias' face told Tim that something had happened. "The NCIS temp lab tech, she identified the man who put you in here. The man who did this to you, Tim." Tobias couldn't bring himself to tell that man that lay back in the bed, propped up by the pillows with a gash and a golf ball on his head, with separated ribs that the man whom had attacked him was his own father. "I have to go into NCIS, JAG have all our warrants and we're ready to roll. I've called Pete and he is on his way in to sit with you. The two of you should talk."
Tobias hated to leave the hospital and leave Tim all alone, but he knew he had to go and that Pete would happily come back into the hospital and keep Tim company. Leon Vance was right about one thing on the phone a moment ago, whether Tim liked it or not, Gibbs was about to find out Tim's secret.
Checking in on base, as well as at the security desk in the foyer of the NCIS building, Tobias mentally braced himself. He really didn't want to be the one to tell Gibbs about Tim's sexuality. Tobias had a gut feeling that his young friend's sexuality had been the catalyst for his father attacking him. That they would be charging Admiral John McGee with a hate crime. An attack against his son on the perceived sexual orientation of his son. It was going to be a mess.
Jethro Gibbs was in the Director's office when he arrived up there. The three men keen to discuss how the take down of Admiral McGee was going to play out. Gibbs had tasked Ziva to shadow the man, so that the Admiral didn't get wind of his upcoming arrest and decide to skip town. More than once, Tim made mention of his father having friends in high places. So, Tobias wouldn't put it past him to be a slippery serpent.
Ziva had not even questioned her assignment when she had been informed of the identity of her mark. She just sent a small prayer up to the heaven's above that her friend was ok. She reported in to Gibbs that her mark and his mother had just left in a taxi, with her bags, that she had managed to get close enough to hear that his mother had been heading back to New York, that she had only made a flying visit home for less than twenty-four hours, only needing to collect some reading material for her next teaching assignment at NYU. She had promised her son that she would visit with her grandchildren at the end of the semester when she returned home.
It was decided that they would execute the warrants after his mother left, but before he was expected back at the pentagon. Notifying SecNav and getting his co-operation went a long way in helping and the three men, along with Ziva had no trouble at all arresting and getting the Admiral into the interrogation room at NCIS.
Jethro Gibbs had to excuse himself, or he may have just decided to snap the Admiral's neck with his bare hands. That would have been justified, too. He had been spewing vile filth at each of them, before demanding that he be released, immediately. Gibbs had thought that his friend Tobias was going to backhand the man, when he started berating and name calling his own son, but he didn't. Leon and Tobias had taken charge of the interrogation and the investigation. Gibbs stood in the observation room and watched as Admiral John McGee told them that he had been in town, three months ago, on an assignment when he had seen Tim and Tobias having coffee in the park. Tobias had indicated to continue and that he had followed them back to their cars, where the men had parted with a hug. He assumed that the two of them were in a relationship. So he had decided to wait for his son at his apartment and confront him about it. That it wasn't how two men were supposed to behave in public. That his son was not allowed to be gay.
That he had then proceeded to followed his son to a club, but seeing the kind of club it was, wouldn't lower himself to enter the establishment. He had breathed a sigh of relief when his son had left the club alone, several hours later, but had been concerned when he had climbed into the back of a non-descript black van. He had even informed them that he had thought he had recognised his son's 'friend' Andy enter the establishment, shortly before his son left.
Gibbs had been angry. Admiral John McGee could have blown their entire operation and it never once crossed the man's mind that his son might have been undercover. Hearing Vance ask the Admiral the question and float the undercover hadn't cooled the Admiral's hostile, homophobic temper. Before he dropped the blunt bomb on the three of them "You do know that my son is a fag, don't you? No one in their right mind would think my son is capable of being anything but a weak fag." He had announced and Gibbs squinted his eyes at the man that Tobias and Leon had been interrogating. Tobias had been ready to pull out his gun and use the Admiral for target practice. How dare Tim's father out him to his former colleagues. What kind of father did that to a son? "He is a disgrace to our family and a disgrace to our way of life. I had to do something and I am glad I did it, I killed him."
"Your son is not dead!" Vance seethed at him. "He is critically injured, but not dead." Leon cuffed him and read him his article thirty one rights, before reiterating them to him. He was thankful that all interrogations at NCIS are recorded for legal reasons.
"Too bad, so sad." The older McGee man said, feigning a carefree persona. "I will not weep at his death. Hopefully some fag takes him out. As far as I am concerned, I don't have a son. Tell the worthless piece of shit to stay the fuck away from my daughter, too. I don't want my beautiful girl tainted by having an association to a faggot like him."
Gibbs had been watching Tobias and Vance carefully. Neither man had reacted to Admiral John McGee's declaration of his son's sexuality, before it hit him. They both already knew. Gibbs wasn't shocked at the announcement, as he had suspected a while ago now. He was shocked that both The Director and Tobias knew already, though.
The day was done and Gibbs had finished his small portion of the paperwork on the case with both Tobias and Vance having a substantially larger portion of paperwork, as they had taken the lead. Ziva was ensuring that the transfer of custody for John McGee was going smoothly and Gibbs had felt strangely out of sorts. He found himself out the front of the entrance of the hospital where Tim was recovering.
Figuring he was here, he should go in and see him. He had apologised to Tim, but he knew he had made a lot of mistakes when it came to Tim. One more mistake would be not let the young man know that no matter what, he still supported him. Jethro Gibbs took himself over to the bank of elevators and up to the fifth floor that housed the Neurology Unit. Visiting hours were in full swing, so it was easy to slip into the ward and not be waylaid by a nurse.
He found room twenty, down the end of the long corridor and he stood for a moment outside Tim's room, as he looked through the window into it. Tim was visiting with someone. He couldn't see who with, but he could see them sitting side by side on the bed. The other man had his arm around Tim's shoulder. Tim had been resting against him, his visitor propped up against the mountain of pillows. He knocked on the door tentatively and two heads looked over at him. "Ah, hi Tim. Mind if I come in?" He asked. Gibbs waited patiently, as Tim gave him a small welcoming smile as he let himself in the room.
Tim's visitor tried to move from his spot, sitting beside Tim on the bed. "It's ok." Tim had whispered to his visitor and Tim smirked at Gibbs.
"How are you feeling?" Gibbs asked, showing Tim that he was concerned for his welfare. "We were really worried about you there for a while."
"I'm going to be ok, Gibbs." Tim told him, earnestly. Tim could easily distinguish the look of worry and concern in his former team leader's eyes. He had seen it before on occasion, but rarely ever directed at him.
Pete took Tim's face in both of his hands and looked into his eyes. "You will be." He reiterated with a smile and a chaste, quick kiss to the forehead.
Gibbs watched as Tim seemed to melt against his visitor with a grin he hadn't ever seen before and he couldn't help but smile on reflex at the sight of the two of them, together. Tim seemed comfortable in his skin and that felt like a soothing balm for the anger that Gibbs was holding onto at the former Admiral. Seeing that Tim hadn't introduced his friend, Gibbs smiled at them. "I'm Gibbs." He introduced himself, offering up a handshake.
"I know who you are." Pete murmured, shaking the offered hand. "We've met before. Twice, actually. Once in '02, a sailor on board the Ulysses, I worked with was misappropriating funds to pay for his secret wife and child, I believe that you and DiNozzo thought I was the guilty party. You two even hauled my ass into interrogation, not once, but twice."
Gibbs remembered the case, he still didn't remember him. It was before they met Tim, they had met Kate, but she wasn't on the team yet. "I remember the case, I still don't remember you." Gibbs said, eyeing the man that had caught his former subordinate's heart.
"Well, I was a scrawny twenty-two year old, slightly more solid with pale skin and no muscle tone." Tim laughed out loud, as did Pete and their laughter was infectious. "Still had this mess of a mop, that passes as hair."
"Well, I think you would have been adorable." Tim replied, winking at him. Gibbs could see that they were both enamored with one another.
"Sounds like another young kid I met once. On a dock in Norfolk, one cold November afternoon." Gibbs muttered and this time Pete laughed the most. Pete had heard stories and even seen photos of Tim back then and the two of them had been cut from the same cloth.
"The Michelin man." Tim murmured in a small sigh, but Pete tapped his arm gently and Gibbs gave him a stern look.
"You were recovering from almost dying, McGee. Nothing wrong with that." Gibbs chastised the man in the bed. He had picked up on Tim's subtle reference to his weight back then. "You didn't know that I knew that, did you? Donaldson told me everything, when I kept requesting you as for TAD. The steroids they pumped you full of were strong and the extra weight you gained was a nasty, lingering side effect. Took a little while, but you eventually lost it. I knew you could do it."
"Yeah, I know." Tim sighed in defeat and Gibbs couldn't think of anything he had said that would depress McGee like he was feeling right now.
"We will get you back on track, Tim." Pete said, rubbing both of his arms. "The steroids weren't in such high doses this time and Ducky noted not to use that particular strength, that's why they combined the steroids with the oxygen therapy and the other medicine they gave you. Tobias has the whole list of medications, he's all over it. Don't worry, Tim and this time, I can help you keep the weight off, too. We can work out together, go for runs. Plus you and Tobias have your own regular work out regime."
'We can work out together.' Tim's mind went straight to Pete snuggled up beside him in bed, both naked, on a Sunday morning, after a vigorous morning of love-making. "Sounds good to me." Tim blushed, as Pete felt like he could read exactly where Tim's mind was at. He had to admit to himself, that his mind went there, too. Just another thing they would have to discuss soon.
"Where did you two meet?" Gibbs asked, steering the conversation away from wherever it had been headed. Gibbs wasn't naïve and had caught what the older man was not saying. He had to smother a smirk up at the youngest man's reaction to his boyfriend's helpful suggestions. "Since Tim wasn't on the team back then."
"We first met at the Commander Watkins office." Pete smiled, remembering the time they first met.
A group of Naval cryptologists had a meeting scheduled to meet in Commander Watkins office at 0800 and the group were waiting to be let inside. After repeated knocks, one of the other gentlemen had opened the door and found the Commander dead by gunshot wound to the head. He had taken his own life. Pete hadn't seen anything, not even the Commander's body and after Tim had finished questioning everyone, Gibbs came over and released them all.
Pete's eye hadn't been intentionally wondering, but he had caught sight of a gorgeous man. He had enjoyed the visual delight that was Timothy McGee as he had argued with the jerk that he recognised as Agent DiNozzo of NCIS. A short statured woman, in a green sweater and black pants came up behind them, rolled her eyes at them and snapped at them both harshly, before the two men had grinned at one another.
The man he had watching carefully was helping question them, as soon as he introduced himself, Gibbs came over and interrupted them, sending McGee off to help Kate with bagging and tagging. That had been in early 2003 and Kate had still been a member of the team. Ari hadn't surfaced yet and no one had ever heard of the David family.
"The next time we met was in line at the market, over in Silver Spring." Pete recollected fondly. "We struck up a conversation and the next thing I know, we were grabbing a coffee at the cafe across the street."
Gibbs actually thought that it was a sweet story. He wasn't sure about ever meeting him, he was generally pretty good with names and faces. He would have remembered a man like that, but Pete did explain that he looked slightly different back then. "How long ago was that, now?"
"Almost four months." Tim answered softly, smiling at Pete. Gibbs quickly did the mental calculations, that case in the club, that was roughly four months ago. So the two of them had met just before or just after that assignment. He wondered if it wasn't just after and that McGee's undercover assignment hadn't opened the younger man's eyes to the possibility of a male lover. But he knew better than to ask such a question and expect an honest answer in reply.
"Well, I can see you make one another happy." Gibbs concluded and Tim looked at him strangely. To Tim, this was perhaps the strangest conversation he'd ever had with Gibbs. "I am glad that you're doing ok now, McGee. Just so you know; Tobias and Leon threw the book at your father. He is being held and the JAG prosecutor will ask for remand."
A couple of minutes later and Gibbs cell phone vibrated, taking the call, he nodded his goodbye to the couple on the bed and left.