a/n - Thanks for all the wonderful comments. Couple of things I want to mention. Unless it's listed as part of a series, all of my stories are completely separate, including whatever family background I give Tim. I'm enjoying working through my different theories about his parents. I didn't put in the confrontation between Tim and his father because it didn't fit the flow of the story, but mainly I want the shock the team is experiencing about the McGee family to also be felt by the readers. All these years, and they never dreamed the truths about McGee's insecurities. Innocence has been shattered all the way around, as you will see in the next few chapters.
Tim finished taping a box of books shut and tossed the empty tape dispenser into the garbage. He couldn't quite believe how many books he'd accumulated since he'd moved to DC. Tired and sore, he stretched his neck as he took a break, sitting on the floor. Sarah came in, settling next to him. "I'm sorry, Tim."
He looked at her in surprise. "For what? You have nothing to be sorry about, Sarah." She waved her arms around at the stacks of boxes he'd been packing up all week.
"Look at this, you have to move because I'm too scared to be back at the dorms. It's because of me that Mom and Dad disowned you, and..."
"No, now wait a minute. None of this is your fault, Sarah. You were the one that was hurt." Tim shifted to sit cross legged on the floor, facing her. "I should have moved years ago. We both know I've outgrown this tiny apartment, I just..."
"Don't like change." Sarah's laugh was watery, and Tim's wasn't much better when he joined in a few seconds later.
"Yeah, I don't like change, and Mom and Dad, I think that was inevitable. Their expectations and beliefs, nobody could live up to those standards forever."
"And now you've lost your team and Abby..."
That was something he wasn't ready to discuss. "Abby made her own decisions."
Sarah reached out and squeezed Tim's hand like he used to do for her when she was a child. "It hurt you."
Tim returned the squeeze. "Yeah, but it hurt you worse." Sarah seemed unsettled by the changes and what she perceived as sacrifices, so he tried to encourage her. "Hey, we've got each other, we're going to be okay."
"I wonder where she is right now."
He didn't have to ask who she was talking about. It may have been forbidden to mention Becky's name in the McGee house, but that hadn't stopped Tim from making sure his baby sister knew all about their older sister. He'd made a game out of it when she was little, telling Sarah about the strange and exotic places Becky might be living in.
"I bet she's in Morocco, having high tea with the King." It made her giggle, as he knew it would.
---NCIS---
It was after midnight when Gibbs left MTAC and found DiNozzo still at his desk. Gibbs circled around to catch the other man unaware, squinting at the computer screen as he came closer. "Working pretty late, DiNozzo."
Tony jumped before turning around with a plastered on grin. "Hey, Boss, didn't hear you. Yeah, just..." Whatever he was about to tell Gibbs was interrupted when his computer chirped. Both men looked at it to see the results of an unsuccessful search through DMV records for a Rebecca McGee.
"She could have married, changed her name." This time both DiNozzo and Gibbs were startled by the voice that came up behind them. Leon Vance was standing there, pulling his coat on. "You might have better luck trying to trace her Social Security number."
"Sir?" DiNozzo was expecting a reaming for using agency resources.
"I'd rather you tracked down his missing sister than go have a smackdown with his father." Vance gave a pointed look to Gibbs. "I have no problem with this as long as it doesn't interfere with your caseload."
Tony nodded vigorously and Vance's voice softened. "Finding McGee's missing sister will probably go a long ways towards fixing things before I have to deal with a permanent assignment for him. Keep me posted."
---NCIS---
Having checked and determined that the movers were arriving at McGee's at 0800, Ziva arrived at Tony's at 0700, waking him up. She smirked and teased him until he was dressed and down in her car, which was filled with cleaning supplies. "We're going to McGee's to help him."
Tony reached over and took the key out of the ignition. "He doesn't want our help, and I, for one, am trying to learn to listen to him, Ziva."
The Israeli woman had thought it through. "He is not ready to have us at his new place, but we can clean his old apartment for him so he does not have to come back and do that. We can offer, we keep offering, we keep letting him know that we care until he is ready to let us back in. Are you with me?"
He mulled it over before handing the key ring back. "Yeah, I'm with you."
A familiar yellow Charger pulled in behind Ziva's car when they arrived at McGee's apartment complex. Tony watched in the rear view mirror as the driver climbed out and grabbed a tool box from the trunk. Ziva shook her head before Tony could ask anything. "I did not talk to Gibbs about this."
"And people wonder why we've never given the Boss a surprise party."
By an unspoken agreement, Tony and Gibbs fell back and let Ziva take the lead when they arrived at McGee's apartment. As she explained that they were there to clean his old apartment so he didn't have to, Tim seemed uncertain about accepting their help. Eventually Tony stepped in.
"We understand that you don't trust any of us right now to be around Sarah, we really do, but let us do this for you. Right now you should be with Sarah, getting settled in and unpacked, not worrying about this place." He waited, convinced that if Tim was able to meet them half way on this, then they had a chance to eventually rebuild the team.
Finally Tim gave a slight nod. "Yeah, okay, that would help. Thanks, guys." He took a key off his keychain and handed it to Ziva. "In case you finish while I'm picking Sarah up from her session."
Gibbs and the others stepped out of the way as two of the movers came out of the door with a wooden headboard. He watched as they took it down the stairs, across the parking lot and up two flights of stairs in the building on the other side. "Did you save any money by not using a truck?"
The casual, teasing question seemed to help as McGee gave the first real smile they had seen since the beginning of this nightmare. "Not as much as I had hoped. Besides, their truck is out back. They didn't have any other way of getting the crew here."
---NCIS---
For a bachelor pad, McGee's apartment was surprisingly clean, as Ziva cheerfully mentioned to DiNozzo. Gibbs grinned, but didn't turn away from the wall where he was carefully removing wall anchors and patching the holes they left behind. He remembered a landlord back in his own bachelor days that actually counted the nail and screw holes left in the wall and charged the former tenants for their repair. Between the three of them, they had the apartment finished just as the last box was carted off.
Gibbs dialed his phone as DiNozzo was locking the apartment door. "Hey, we're all done. What apartment are you in? We'll drop the key off before we leave." On the other end of the call there was only a slight hesitation before he was given the new apartment number.
Tim was back on the phone when he opened the door to them, and was obviously not happy with the person on the other end. Tony waited until he was finished. "Problems?"
"I bought some new furniture that's supposed to be delivered this afternoon and they managed to damage the sofa getting it onto the truck."
"What, they don't have another one in stock?"
Tony thought about telling Gibbs that most furniture stores weren't like Sears, where they have a stockpile, but he hadn't had his head slapped all day and he was hoping for a record. Instead, he waited for Tim's answer.
"They have one that's the same style and the same fabric, but it's two feet longer." Tim turned to glare at the blank wall in the partially furnished living room. "Two feet means I've got to move the bookcase."
McGee owned the largest bookcase DiNozzo had ever seen, and someone had been very efficiently replacing all the books, records and treasures it housed. Empty, it would be difficult for one person to move. Partially filled it would be impossible, and removing everything again would be a chore. He knew what his boss was going to say before the man even opened his mouth.
"Two feet, that's all? Tony and I'll give you a hand while we're here."
Sarah took one look at the bookcase and shielded her eyes as she headed into the kitchen. "I am so not watching this." Ziva decided she had the right idea and followed Sarah.
Not watching what was happening in the living room meant they were staring at the boxes that filled the kitchen. The wrist brace limited what Sarah could lift, so Ziva began unpacking the boxes of dishes and placing them in the cupboards as Sarah began with the glasses. While the men were occupied, Ziva took the chance to talk to the young woman, hoping to get her to open up.
"I have always been glad when my bruises fade so I can cover them with make-up when I go out. It makes me feel more in control when I am around people I do not know."
Sarah reached up and touched the green and yellow marks still visible on the side of her face. "My make-up is still at the dorm. I don't want to see my roommate right now, and I don't want to ask Tim to deal with her either."
"She is the one that called your parents?"
"Yeah." Sarah chewed on her lower lip and Ziva waited, realizing that she was working up to something. "Tim never told me details about Somalia, but after, well now I can kind of fill in some of the blanks."
Ziva nodded, allowing Sarah to work through her questions at her own pace.
"How did you do it? I mean, you're strong and confident and not afraid of anything. I used to be that way and I don't have a clue how to get it back."
"I wish I could tell you that it is easy. Time helps, and people you trust and feel safe around. Your brother was a wonderful support for me during my first few months back in America." Ziva glanced up at the three men trying to look busy in the other room, giving them time to talk. "Each of them had their own way, but all of my team helped me. Perhaps the biggest help was finding a therapy group I was comfortable with. Sometimes it is very difficult to talk about such personal things with total strangers, but a friend of mine runs this group and she invited me. If you would like, you can come with me when you are ready, and afterward we can stop by your dorm and pick up some of your things." Ziva's attention returned briefly to McGee's battered face. "I would like very much to speak to your roommate."