Tim tossed another empty pen in the trash and stopped to rub the cramp out of his hand. For running a unit devoted to computer based crimes, he was spending an amazing amount of his time writing. As he sat he looked out and watched his temporary team in action. Alice apparently had a breakthrough of some sorts because she stood with a whoop, dropping her purple pen. Instead of teasing her or stealing it, Norm picked it up before it could roll under anything and quietly returned it with a smile. He'd watched them leave for lunch at the same time for the last several weeks, but he wasn't imposing rule #12 down here.
Next week he would have to give Director Vance a decision about his future. Jerry had opted for early retirement, and cybercrimes was his if he wanted it. On the other hand, Gibbs had made sure he'd known his place on the MCRT was secure. If he'd had a third hand it would hold the option Vance had tossed his way last night. The Pentagon team was being enlarged and he'd been offered that opening as well.
Laughing to himself, Tim gathered the files he'd completed that morning and moved around the corner to the wall of filing cabinets. For someone who usually struggled to fit in somewhere, he had more options than he knew what to do with. Cybercrimes was certainly a step up, career-wise, but he missed the challenges and variety of the field already. The Pentagon office focused more on terrorism than crimes. He would still spend about eighty percent of his time at the computer, but at least he'd be above ground and would occasionally be out in the field.
Sliding the last file into the appropriate drawer, Tim returned to his desk to find his afternoon coffee waiting for him. In three months he'd never caught the man as he'd made his delivery. Tim sat down and openly laughed as he picked up the fresh cup. The hot liquid inside the paper cup warmed more than his hands as he cradled it, lost in thought.
---NCIS---
From cybercrimes, Gibbs went next to the lab. McGee would be ready to start asking questions soon; it was time to make sure Abby was ready to give answers.
Abby took the offered Caf-Pow, realizing that they were preparing for a serious conversation as Gibbs ushered her into her office. Sipping on the straw gave her something to do while she waited for Gibbs to start.
For his part, Gibbs took a good look around the lab. The maturing of Abby's style seemed to have spread to the warren of rooms that made up the forensic lab. The music was still playing, but it was at a volume that allowed speaking and not shouting. Her lab assistant was obviously finishing something as she was hanging up her lab coat. She knocked on the frame of the open office door and looked apologetic for interrupting. Abby gave the woman a warm smile. "Hey, Emily."
"All the babies are full of evidence. While they're working, I thought I'd go pick up our lunches before they think we've forgotten about our order."
Abby glanced down at the clock on the corner of her monitor and groaned. "Wow, yeah, I didn't realize it was that late. Thanks." Emily smiled and closed the glass door behind her, leaving Abby and Gibbs to talk.
"You two seem to be getting along pretty well."
"Yeah, well, Vance gave me a list to choose from, instead of just assigning someone to the lab. It helped to have some say in who I had to work with. She lets the little things roll off her back, but she stands up to me when I go too far." Abby shrugged as she continued. "Her areas of expertise are in my weaker fields. We're a good match in the lab."
One phrase caught his attention. "You're admitting to having weaker areas?"
She picked up her drink, giving herself a minute before she had to answer. Some of the realizations she had made with her therapist were still difficult to admit, even after practicing. "Nobody can do everything. I can be appreciated for my strengths without feeling bad for what I don't do as easily." A second shrug and she sounded a little more like herself. "I'm ready to be a team, even in the lab, if it helps all of us to be a family again."
"I'm glad to hear that, Abby. How are your sessions going?"
"It's hard, Gibbs. I mean, when I look at some of the stuff I've done, it's kind of embarrassing, and the older I've gotten, the worse I've gotten about it."
"Nothing wrong with getting older, Abs. It happens to the best of us." Gibbs sat on the edge of her desk and watched as she struggled for the right words.
"Getting old scares me, Gibbs, but at the same time it shows me what I'm missing." She reached up and tapped the side of her head. "In here I know they're not mutually exclusive, but the rest of me hasn't caught up. Part of me wants one man to settle down with and have a couple of kids."
"And the rest of you?"
"Is scared to death that I'll lose my identity as an individual." She wiped her eyes. "That sounds really pathetic, doesn't it?"
Gibbs shook his head. "No, just sad." He studied her as he thought about what she had said. "McGee's the one man that's made you think about settling down, and so he's gotten the brunt of it."
"Yeah." Abby leaned forward to rest her crossed arms on her desk. "It's like a pendulum and I just keep swinging back and forth every time there's a trigger."
"Like Roger?"
"Like Roger. I should have known, Gibbs. He showed up after ten years and wouldn't talk about what he'd been doing all that time and he had all these amateur tattoos."
"Prison tattoos."
"I didn't want to see it. I just wanted to see my old friend, the way he used to be. I know what it sounds like, but when I went back to my high school reunion, well, most of my old friends from school are married, have families. It was like Roger and I were the only ones left and Timmy was dating that blonde accountant and she seemed so perfect for him and all I could see was my last chance slipping away and then Roger said he wanted me to find him the perfect woman."
Gibbs remembered what she had said earlier. "That's when you decided that the four of you double dating was a way to get back together with McGee?"
"Yes, it was stupid, but I wanted him back and then I started feeling trapped because I didn't want to have to change who I am."
It always took a lot of effort to keep up with Abby, but even Gibbs was having trouble this time. "Why would you have to change? He fell in love with you the way you are."
"He was ashamed to take me to meet his parents. That's why I broke it off. He wanted to know where our relationship was going, but he wouldn't take me with him when his parents were in town."
"Did you ask him?"
"He didn't know that I knew they were here."
"Crap." Gibbs let his head drop until his chin was resting on his chest. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations had shattered his team, but this was the worst of all, the one pivotal moment that sent them all down this path. "Abby, you need to do something."
A quick phone call brought Vance's assistant down with a copy of the footage captured outside Sarah's hospital room. Once they were alone again, he handed the disc to Abby. "There's no audio, you'll need to use all your lipreading skills to put together a transcript of what was said."
"Umm, okay." Abby didn't look too convinced as she took the copy.
"It's not only for a possible case, it's something you need to see and understand before any of us can move past what has happened." He almost hated to do it, but he could only imagine what Phillip McGee's reaction would have been if Tim had introduced Abby as his girlfriend. Abby needed to see and understand for herself. "I need it done by the end of tomorrow, Abs."
---NCIS---
The delivered coffee was savored as Tim half-heartedly skimmed the next stack of files on his desk, his mind still on his upcoming choice. If he were honest with himself, he wanted back on Gibbs' team. The older man had become a rock for him and for Sarah over these last few months, while Tony and Ziva had each stepped up with their support and friendship. The wild card was Abby. Jeffries and Thompson had cleared her of any wrongdoing, the most she was guilty of was ignorance and a lack of judgment. Legal responsibility aside, her misjudgments had hurt his sister in a way he didn't know if he could forgive. Could he learn to trust her again, could he even work with her again? So many questions and he had no idea how to answer any of them. In the meantime, he had paperwork to finish and a cup of coffee to enjoy, so he set aside the questions for another day.
---NCIS---
"Boss, glad you're back. You need to see this." Without any other preamble, DiNozzo shoved a bulging file at Gibbs and waited while he flipped through the pages, some familiar, some new.
"Has Vance seen this?" Gibbs didn't wait for an answer before heading up the stairs, Tony and Ziva scrambling to catch up with him.
They were already in the Director's outer office by the time DiNozzo was able to answer Gibbs. "No, Boss, I haven't shown it to the Director yet."
The man in question looked up at the voices he heard through the open office door. "Shown me what, DiNozzo?"
"This." Gibbs walked through the door into the private office and handed Vance the file. "It's the current location of Rebecca McGee Harper."
"You found her? She's alive?" Vance was skimming through the papers and came to a stop at the most recent addition to the file. "My God, you're sure about this?"
"Yes, Sir." Ziva glanced over at Tony and Gibbs, but her part of the search was what had caught Vance's attention. "I spent most of the day on the phone with the authorities in Illinois. They are faxing the unaltered documents before the end of the day."
"Have you spoken to Rebecca?"
"No, Sir." This time it was Tony filling in the gaps. "Doctors Without Borders has confirmed that she is with their team in Haiti, but communications are pretty hit and miss down there right now. The best they can do is to try and get a message through to her."
"Let me see if I can do better than a message. We tell McGee and Sarah in the morning, not before. I want those documents in our possession and verified first." Vance was already going through his contacts list, looking for someone he could contact directly in the earthquake ravaged country.
Tony wasn't happy with the delay. "Why are we waiting?"
"We have no idea what she was told back then or what she knows now. The last thing Tim and Sarah need right now is to find out where Rebecca is, only to discover that she doesn't want anything to do with them." By the stunned expressions, Vance knew that they had never considered the possibility that Tim's older sister might not want to be found, might not want her baby brother back in her life. "I'll pull some strings with my contacts in the area. Let me talk to her first. McGee's waited over twenty years, one more night won't be so bad."
Gibbs had contacts of his own. "One more night, Leon. There's a supply plane leaving Norfolk for Haiti at 0500. If you haven't talked to her by then, I'm gonna be on it."
It took almost all of Vance's self-control to not roll his eyes. "Fine, if I haven't talked to her by then, I'll drive you to Norfolk myself. Satisfied?" He'd long since given up on intimidating Gibbs, but he managed to back DiNozzo and David a few steps with his glare. "Now get out of here and let me work."
It was 2330 before Vance left that night. He came down the stairs into the squad room rather than take the elevator directly to the ground level. As he suspected, Gibbs was at his desk, a rucksack at his feet. It was only a slight surprise to see DiNozzo and David each at their desks, equally packed and ready to go.
"All right, listen up you three. Nobody is flying south in the morning, and this is how it's going to play out..."