Chapter 2

One month later...

Thomas sat at the bar, chatting idly with one of the regulars. It was early yet in the day; only a few people were hanging around. It was easier to have a real conversation. Someone came up behind him. He was careful turn the non-earwigged ear toward her. He felt her breath as she whispered to him.

"Hey, Mac, where you been the last few days?"

Thomas smiled and turned around slowly, easing an arm around Julia's waist. "Out and about. I have business."

"Ah, yes, the elusive, oft-mentioned, never-defined 'business'."

Thomas raised his eyebrows suggestively. "You miss me, then, Julia?"

"You're different from the other guys who hang out here. Different is good. For now."

"Casting me off already?"

"I don't stick with anyone for long. You amuse me, Mac. Particularly since you haven't laid an ungentlemanly finger on me yet." She pressed herself close and whispered, "When are you going to get naughty? Or do your deep thoughts not allow for that?"

"I can get naughty. Here I was thinking I was courting a lady." He tightened his grip and leered. "If you wanted to be treated like a filthy strumpet, I could have obliged a long time ago."

Julia laughed. "Filthy strumpet? I think I like that. Yes, kind sir, treat me like a filthy strumpet tonight."

"Anytime, anyplace, Jewel."

"You coming back here tonight?"

"If you're going to be here."

"I know a place in the back. We'll be...undisturbed."

"Sounds good to me. I'd better get my...business taken care of quickly." He released her and stood up.

"In a hurry?"

"I get the best because I plan ahead. If I do what I need to do now, then we'll have all the more time to be...undisturbed." He smiled and trailed a finger across her bare shoulders. Julia shivered and then leaned forward and breathed gently in his ear.

"I'll be waiting."

"I'll be anticipating."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim managed to avoid showing any of his self-revulsion until he got back to his apartment...but it was a near thing.

"Well done, McGee. You've got a live one. She's taking you into the back. That's what we've been wanting. It's impossible to get back there without permission."

Tim didn't say anything he, pulled off his shirt and walked into the bathroom.

"Probie?"

No answer. Tim couldn't explain, couldn't say what was wrong. He didn't want to say what was wrong. He couldn't admit that he hated what he was doing, that he wanted to quit, that he wished he had never agreed to do this.

"Hey, McGee, what's up?"

"I'm going to have to...tonight...Tony."

"I heard her. A very willing participant."

Tim moaned softly.

"Oh, don't worry about that, McGee. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? Are you crazy? I...I watch what's happening between them and I think it's...awful. Thomas is using her. I'm using her. She doesn't care. She knows she's being used by Thomas. She's using him, too. She...doesn't know who it really is and..." He leaned over the sink, turned on the water and began splashing it on his face.

"Can you do this, McGee? Can you handle it? If you can't, then you're only going to ruin your chances by trying."

Tim shook his head, knowing they couldn't see him in here. Not being able to do it wasn't the problem. It was just the opposite. Thomas would do it. That's the kind of person he was. He would do it and enjoy it. It was Tim who had the problem, and he wouldn't be there...but at the same time, Tim knew, it was still Timothy McGee doing it. Just because he personally chose to compartmentalize himself like this didn't mean that there was any difference between what Thomas did out there and what Tim did in here. He hated himself as much as he hated Thomas. ...and yet, Tony seemed impressed, even enjoyed what was going on when Tim played the part. That was possibly the worst part: this amoral person Tim hated so much was admired by his coworker.

"McGee. McGee!"

"I can handle it, Tony."

"Are you sure?"

Thomas nodded. "It's a cinch. It won't be a problem."

"Hey, McGee."

Tim breathed in and out heavily. "I can do it, Tony." He forced a laugh even as he felt a little nauseous. "She won't know what hit her."

"That's the spirit, McGee. Just get yourself ready for tonight. Rock her world."

Tim closed his eyes tight and waited until he felt calm again.

"I guess I'd better get my rest then."

Tim looked at himself in the mirror.

Thomas smiled.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim slept for a few hours and then got up and opened his closet, revealing Thomas' clothes. He stared at them wishing he didn't have to put any of them on. To be honest, they weren't extremely different from his own. Slightly more svelte than he himself wore, a little more expensive...but not overly different. ...but they belonged to Thomas, a personality Tim hated the more he allowed him to evolve into a fully-developed entity.

"Tony?"

"About time you got up, McGee. It's nearly ten. Julia is going to get impatient."

Tim winced.

"I think I'm going to need to dump the earwig tonight."

"Don't want us to hear your moves, Probie?"

"Tony...please. Be serious. She's likely to see it...given...what she's done so far." He took a quick breath.

"McGee, you sure about that?"

Tim straightened a little at the voice. "Yeah, Boss. It will be too much of a risk...if I'm..."

"Oh, say the word, Probie. You're going to sex up the hot chick."

Tim looked at the camera and glared.

"You know, Tony, not everyone in the world is as...boorish as you."

"You're certainly doing a great job of it."

"Can it, DiNozzo. McGee, if you're going without the earwig, then someone is going to be there, too."

"That's fine. I don't care," Thomas said. "I won't see them. I'll be...busy."

"McGee, you all right?"

"Fine. I'm fine. I'd better get going. Who's going to be there?"

"Probably DiNozzo. I don't think I could keep him away."

Tim smiled weakly.

"Have a nice time, Tony."

"Oh, I will. You, too. Enjoy the schmoozing."

Tim walked to the door, pulled out the earwig and set it on the table. Then, he stepped out into the hallway.

Thomas smiled. "Oh, I will."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Without the occasional wisecracks from Tony, there was no difficulty maintaining Thomas as the dominant persona. He was passed into the club fairly quickly. Julia had dyed her hair. There was almost no blonde visible now. The red was still there, but she had died her blonde locks silver with blue tips. She grinned when she saw him. Abandoning the man she'd been chatting up, she wove through the crowd to him.

"Hey, Mac," she said. "I was wondering if you weren't going to show."

"With the promise of time with you? Never."

"Good. Let's go." She was probably six inches shorter than he was and had to go on tiptoe to reach his lips. Instead, she kissed his neck and then laughed and pulled away, forcing Thomas to follow her. He brushed past someone who looked familiar, but all his attention was on Julia; so he ignored the thought.

At the door to the exclusive rear of the club, Julia paused, waiting for him to catch up. Then, she knocked. The door opened and admitted her. She nodded at a shadowed alcove beyond the door and pulled Thomas with her.

"Come on, Mac."

"What's all this?" he asked, not looking around much, but filing away the details nonetheless.

"Special backroom business."

Thomas inhaled deeply and caught a smell.

"Interesting business," he commented, emphasizing the word slightly.

Julia stopped short and stared at him.

"Come on, Jewel. You can't leave me hanging."

Her eyes scanned him from head to toe. "I wouldn't do that. Let's go."

She pulled him into a room. There was wild music playing and she whirled into the rhythm. The beat dragged Thomas along as she pressed a pill into his hand. He looked at it.

Tim recognized the pill for what it was. They'd seen a lot of these from the base at Norfolk, from the Marine base near NCIS, even from Quantico.

"Come on, Mac. Don't disappoint me now." Julia popped it into her mouth and her eyes dared him.

Tim didn't know what to do...but Thomas did. Smiling, he followed Julia's lead.

"I don't normally indulge like this, Jewel. You'd better be worth it."

"Oh, I am...even without it. With it...you'll never be satisfied by anyone else."

She pulled him back into the dance, gyrating with all the other couples in the room...until she pointed to one of the padded seats...beds off to the side. Thomas pulled her close.

"Been waiting all night, Jewel. I won't wait anymore."

"You don't have to." She laughed wildly. "Treat me like a filthy strumpet."

He threw her down onto the bed. "Your wish is my command."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony had a convincing expression on his face, but he couldn't help feeling worried. Tim had been in that room for hours. Gibbs was outside and Ziva was elsewhere inside, but Tim was totally out of contact with them.

He didn't see very many of the regulars Tim had reported on and covertly taken photos of over the past few weeks.

"McGee is coming out, Tony. He does not appear injured...merely... tussled," Ziva's voice reported in his ear, sounding amused.

Tony looked over and sure enough. Tim came out, arm in arm with Julia...disheveled.

"Way to go, Probie," he whispered. "Knew you had it in you."

He watched as Julia leaned up to whisper in his ear and Tim laughed and then swatted her on the behind. It looked as though he had managed to get over his worry.

"It looks as though he is leaving, Gibbs."

"Good. Pull out, back to base. We'll get his report when he reaches his apartment."

Tony stood and strolled out. No worries, no stresses, just a guy ready to go home. He let Tim get ahead of him and watched as he got into his car and drove away. He hadn't even made eye contact. Not once.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim closed the door and made a beeline for the bathroom. Once inside, he turned on the water full blast and promptly threw up in toilet. He knew he'd have to report soon, that they would be expecting him, that they'd even go so far as to call him if he didn't reconnect soon, but he felt literally sick and full of self-loathing at the things Thomas...at the things he had done. Julia had seemed to enjoy it, but he couldn't believe he had...and a part of him had enjoyed every moment. He'd never had ecstasy before. He'd never experienced that intense sensory enhancement.

He began to cry, sitting on the floor of the bathroom. After a few minutes, he reached out and flushed the toilet.

What am I going to tell them? I took ecstasy. I...what I did...to Julia. How much do they need to know?

The part of him that approved of Thomas interjected, Why tell them any of that at all? They didn't care that you were worried. Don't you be worried either. It's all about need to know, isn't it? They don't need to know about...any of that. All they care about is what goes on in the back. You can tell them something, even if it's not everything.

Part of Tim wanted to confess it all, wanted to pull out, wanted to give up on all of it. Part of him knew he couldn't pull out, not after all the work that had gone into this so far: surveillance on the club, the late-night attempts to tap into their servers, the money that had been devoted to breaking this drug ring completely. ...and a part of him wanted it to continue. That was the worst part.

Two against one. Majority rules.

His phone rang.

Another deep breath and Tim got up.

"McGee, what's up?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been in the bathroom for a long time, Probie."

"There weren't any bathrooms in the back," Tim said and laughed coarsely.

"What's going on back there?" Gibbs asked.

"What we thought. I smelled it. There's drug processing going on in the back, but...this can't be their main spot for manufacturing it. Not enough room."

"What else is going on back there, then?"

"Raves...for special clients. Julia is one of them. A lot of the regulars. You don't get in if you're not invited." He kept his voice flat, unemotional.

"Have you seen any of the ones holding the purse strings?"

"Not yet. I get the feeling that Julia knows them, though. I think I might get introduced to them soon."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she caught a hint I dropped."

"So...McGee," Tony began, his voice suggestive. "...how did it...go?"

Tim forced himself to roll his eyes rather than reveal his own horror. He was therefore able to smile when he heard the telltale thwack!

"You seem out of sorts, McGee," Ziva said. "Are you all right?"

"Probie just lost his virginity, Ziva. Don't..."

Thwack!

"Thanks, Boss."

"I'm fine, just tired is all. I'm going to...get some sleep. Anything else you need, Boss?"

"Not for now. Keep us updated. We'll work out a time for a full report and meeting on the weekend."

"Yes, Boss."

Tim hung up the phone in relief...and headed back to the bathroom. He took a long, hot shower and tried not to remember what had happened, what he had done. Then, he went back out to the bedroom, lay down.

...and stared at the ceiling...

...for hours.