Tim blinked wearily and smothered another yawn. He had discovered a distinct disadvantage to being linked to a nocturnal creature. Just as his body wound down for the day and started to feel tired, Dante woke up and was feeling his most energetic. Consequently even when he was asleep his dreams were active and full of flying and soaring and beautiful visions of forbidden places.

Just last night Dante had decided to take a walk through the Museum, allowing Tim access into areas he had hadn't even realized existed. Boundless wonders and beauty as Dante told him the stories that belonged to each item. A jeweled charm here or a glittering blade there. A simple clay urn sketched with images of the sun, a cloak made for an emperor by a slave.

Tim hadn't wanted it to end and yet at the same time he was exhausted as he 'woke' supposedly from a solid eight hours sleep.

Dante had assured him that with practice he would be able to close his mind to Dante's enquiries and allow himself some much needed sleep. But for now it was like he was suffering permanent jet lag as he would fall sleep easier during the day as his mind was quiet but his body insisted on sleep at night.

Night would come with its creeping velvet softness and Dante would take Tim for long walks and ask him questions about the new world around him. His appetite for information was voracious and Tim found himself discussing Newtonian physics one moment and explaining breakfast burritos the next. It was exhilarating to be able to discuss a topic such as genetically modified foods with a creature who had walked through the mighty grain fields of Egypt and who had seen humans make the first steps to selecting their strains of crops in order to prevent attacks of mould and disease.

Tim smiled as he remembered falling asleep on top of the large marble crypt that had become their meeting place. It had been after one of their many walks and Dante had watched Timothy slowly succumb to his exhaustion and Tim woke hours later to find himself wrapped carefully in Dante's warm velvet clock and his head tenderly pillowed in his lap.

Tim found himself longing for the day to be over so he could go and crawl into bed and sleep. If he was fast enough he could get a few hours before Dante truly woke for the evening. He smiled as he remembered Dante's latest gift to him.

A bed.

It wasn't just any bed. It was an ancient massive carved timber four poster bed that now resided in the same room as Dante's coffin. It had sheets of purest silk and the thick warm comforter was blood red satin. It was piled high with embroidered pillows and cushions of every shape and size. It was higher than he was used to, somehow regal and when he lay back into it and relaxed it felt perfect, as if it had been made for him.

When Tim had laughingly told Dante that, he had been corrected and told that the bed had been originally been made for Henry the Fifth but had been rarely used since he spent most nights either with one of his wives or one of his many mistresses. Tim had thrown a pillow at Dante for teasing him which Dante caught without even looking. Turning with a quirk of his arching eyebrow and the first twitch of humor across his cool lips Tim had realized that Dante hadn't actually been joking.

It meant that Tim now had a place of his own where he could sleep when he visited other than Dante's coffin, although Tim's fear of that had abated once he had been able to examine it with his logical mind. It was far larger than a standard coffin and even Tim had to admit it was beautiful. He wished briefly that he could show it to Abby.

It was to this lovely new bed that Tim wished to crawl rather then the cold modern one that his tiny lonely apartment held. He wished to snuggle in, draw the thick velvet curtains around the bed to create an intimate new world and fall asleep free of digital alarm clocks, phone chargers and automatic software upgrades.

Tim closed his eyes with a sigh and imagined the slide of the silk sheets beneath his fingers. Not long now.

Gibbs watched McGee as his eyes drooped again as he sagged at his desk, his eyes blood shot and weary. Was it the attack Bradford made a fortnight ago on him? Was it still giving him restless sleep? The shrink they were all obliged to see after any attack or significant incident had cleared McGee to go back into the field. Although he had said that there appeared to be something else that McGee was keeping to himself, it appeared to be of more a personal nature and he didn't think it should affect his performance.

McGee had insisted to Gibbs that he was all right and Gibbs had believed him. He had of course been determined to keep a closer eye on McGee in the preceding weeks.

Gibbs watched as a gentle soft smile played across McGee's face and suddenly a new thought popped into Gibbs head and surprised him.

Was McGee seeing someone? Was the tiredness a result not of nightmares and private fears but because of a stomach filled with butterflies of anticipation? Or even of nights filled with physical passion from a new relationship?

Gibbs blinked and smiled to himself. He certainly hoped that was the explanation. McGee was a very private person and unlike DiNozzo didn't announce his relationships to the world.

Humm. Gibbs found himself smirking and positively cheerful at the thought that his young team member might have found someone who complimented both his gentle nature and his inquisitive mind. He might just need to make some discrete enquiries.

(

(ok just filling in some of the spaces in this universe and an interesting chapter to come. Precious)