Tim finished off his report and sent it to the printer, trying not to think about what was going to happen to him. He'd seen Gibbs stepping into the elevator a couple of minutes ago. By now, he must know what had happened at the crime scene. That Tony had been injured. And that he was responsible.
He grabbed the small sheaf of papers out of the machine as soon as it finished whirling and banged them on the edge of his desk to align the pages. Reaching for a pen, he realised that his hand was trembling slightly. He closed his eyes and forced himself to take a few deep breaths, hoping to calm down enough to sign the paperwork before Gibbs arrived.
The last time he'd gotten into a fight with Tony, Gibbs had introduced him to the heavy leather strap that he kept in his desk, making him drop his pants and stay in position without the help of a restraining hand on his back. Just the memory of the appalling pain of the whipping, and the dark red marks that had lingered for days on his ass and thighs, was enough to make his breath catch in his throat. The thought of having to repeat the experience was simply terrifying.
He hoped that that was all that Gibbs was planning to do to him.
As scared as he was of the whipping, he really didn't want to be transferred to a different team, like Gibbs had told him would happen if he ever struck his partner again.
But, even though putting Tony on the ground, and spraining his wrist in the process, was much worse than the pushing and shoving that had resulted in his first taste of the strap, maybe, just maybe, the circumstances would be enough to let him keep his job. He knew that Gibbs would chew him out for not using his head, for not remembering that they'd already cleared the scene, for not realising that it was just Tony acting like Tony. But hopefully the fact that he hadn't been thinking, that he didn't intentionally attack his partner, would keep him on the team.
He scrawled his name on the report and dropped it on Gibbs's desk, wondering what was taking so long. Even allowing for Ducky's usual long-windedness, he was surprised that Gibbs was still down in Autopsy. Keeping his eyes fixed nervously on the elevator doors, he sat down to wait.