"McGee, wake up."

Tim's eyes snapped open, if nothing else but from the shock of the gentle request. The room was almost pitch black but Gibbs made no effort to turn on a light as he leaned close, whispering in Tim's ear.

"They're going to come for us, soon. If you are offered a deal to get out of this, I want you to take it."

"Boss, no." Tim reached up blindly, finding Gibbs' chest and latching onto his t-shirt. "If you're telling me to sacrifice you to save myself..."

Gibbs was so close that his lips were brushing Tim's cheek as he talked. "They've got witnesses to the fact that I was asking questions, but they can't do much to me about that. But if they still suspect that you were in their system, they could hang onto you for a very long time, Tim."

"I don't care." Tim turned towards him enough that now Gibbs could feel Tim's lips. "I'm not walking away from you – ever."

"Damn it." Gibbs grabbed his face, planning on shaking some sense into him, but they ended up forehead to forehead, leaning against each other. "Damn it."

-NCIS-

"Well, Mr. Edwards?"

"We completed the last of the sweep an hour ago, Sir. I can find no evidence that Agent McGee was in our computer at all."

Edwards did not look happy, which surprised the General. "Why is this a problem?"

"Everything is clean of his footprints, General Hammond. Even the non-classified files that he had full access to. Either he sat at his computer for an entire night next to Agent Gibbs and never even ran a search on even the name of the mountain, or he's so good that we can't track him. If that's the case, he's a hundred times better than whoever is trying to get into our files."

General Hammond watched the other man for a moment. "You want us to ask for his help."

"Yes, Sir." Edwards' head bobbed up and down as he prattled on in relief. "The NID has been trying to get their hands on our knowledge of alien technology for months now. We've suspected that they had a mole here in the mountain, but if they've found a way into our computer files, that's even worse. Because of the threat from the NID, we can't ask the Pentagon for assistance because that would actually support the NID's claim that we don't have the resources to handle the security for our mandate without their help."

"And you think Agent McGee can confirm that it's the NID worming into our system?"

"Yes, Sir. Hacking has never been my specialty, but I've done some checking and Agent McGee is well known for both his skills in tracking hackers and being a hacker, himself. Apparently, he's the whitest hat of the white hats."

"Understood, Mr. Edwards. We'll take your recommendation under advisement." After Edwards left, Hammond turned to O'Neill, who'd been sitting quietly off to the side. "I believe this fits with your plan, Colonel."

Jack stood, ready to get started. "Like a glove, General Hammond, like a well designed glove."

-NCIS-

It wasn't a Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform, but Gibbs still found it oddly familiar as he smoothed down the jacket and bloused the pant legs over his boots. McGee followed his lead and finished just as the door opened. Four guards entered while O'Neill stood in the doorway. "Agent McGee, if you will allow our boys to accompany you, we have some more questions."

Gibbs gave him a serious look as the guards herded him out the door before he was locked in again. "Damn it, McGee, save yourself."

-NCIS-

Tim wasn't handcuffed this time either, but he felt much more like a prisoner as he was escorted upstairs and back to the small room he'd spent most of the day before locked in. He sat in his chair from yesterday, while O'Neill spun the other chair around before straddling it. "You got yourself into some hot water here, kid, but I can offer you a way out."

"Yeah? What's that?" Tim glared defiantly at him. "Besides, I haven't even heard exactly what I'm being charged with."

"Why don't we start with treason and go from there, but if you help us, we might just forget the whole thing."

Tim leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "And if I don't?"

Jack gave him a smile. Before they put their entire plan into action, he had to see just what the young man was made of. "Let's just say that you really don't want to see our prison. It'll make Gitmo look like a five star resort."

"And Gibbs?"

"What about him?"

"I'm not helping you unless you guarantee he will be freed and no charges will be filed against him."

"That's more important that saving your own skin?" Jack watched as McGee dug his heels in. "So, what is he to you?"

Tim thought for a moment how to describe his relationship with the older man and smiled. "Everything."

O'Neill leaned back, matching Tim, and smiled.

-NCIS-

Gibbs only had a few minutes alone before another squad of Airmen arrived for him. This time it was Major Carter in charge. She smiled and tilted her head in greeting. "Agent Gibbs, the General would like to see you."

They returned to the elevator and descended even further down into the mountain. Gibbs didn't say anything, but he looked around carefully as he was escorted into the heart of the facility. Finding himself standing in front of General Hammond's desk, he immediately stood at parade rest.

"Agent Gibbs."

"Sir."

"You've cost me a great deal of time and resources, Agent Gibbs, and given us a strange dilemma." Hammond pointed out a chair and Gibbs sat as requested. Ramrod straight, he risked a quick look around. The red phone that was a direct line to the president was a surprise, but Gibbs didn't visually react.

Hammond continued, watching Gibbs' reactions closely. "As I was saying, you and your young man have put us in an interesting predicament."

Gibbs' eyes widened when McGee was added to the equation. "General, Sir, I fully accept responsibility for my actions, but Agent McGee is not part of this. The decision to investigate Airman Dickerson's disappearance was mine and mine alone. I will gladly accept any punishment you see fit, but McGee is not part of this."

"Because he was following your orders?"

"As I said, my responsibility."

Instead of answering, Hammond turned the computer monitor on his desk and replayed the conversation that had occurred earlier in the small interrogation room upstairs. Gibbs cursed under his breath when he heard McGee willingly sacrifice his own shot at freedom for Gibbs, but his answer as to what Gibbs was to him took his breath away.

Gibbs turned his attention back to Hammond to see what he was going to do, but it was apparent that the General was waiting for something. Gibbs got his answer a few minutes later when O'Neill walked in with McGee. "Tim."

His name was not quite a whisper, almost just a breath, but Tim heard it and looked at Gibbs, a soft expression on his face. Somehow, admitting how much Gibbs meant to him had been freeing in ways he couldn't imagine. A chair was brought in and he sat next to Gibbs, managing to scoot it a little closer in the process. Gibbs didn't pull back, resting his hand on Tim's back as they both looked at Hammond while O'Neill perched on the corner of the desk.

Hammond clasped his hands together and leaned forward on his arms, taking them both in. "Despite what is sometimes necessary, I've always believed you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, so I'm going to cut right to the chase. You're good, Agent McGee. One of the best we've ever dealt with when it comes to computers. You got in and our of our network without a trace. However, you need to work on your poker face. We saw the security tapes from your agency. We might not have the evidence, but I can tell the exact moment you discovered you were in over your head."

The two men glanced at each other, neither one had considered that the Air Force would be able to access the security feed from the bullpen that night. Gibbs squeezed the back of Tim's neck. "As you said, there's no evidence."

General Hammond agreed. "No, there's not, but in looking for evidence against Agent McGee, we uncovered a larger problem – one that we'd like his help with in exchange for completely dropping our investigation against the both of you. And if we're lucky, it might help us rescue Airman Dickerson and several others."

Another quick glance, but McGee was already nodding. "How can I help, Sir?"

Jack tugged on a file folder that he was partially sitting on. "First, you need to each sign one of these non-disclosure agreements. You break this agreement and you'll get to see our brig first-hand, and that includes talking about whatever goodies you saw in our computer files."

Biting his lip, Tim nodded again and took the pen O'Neill was holding out for him. As soon as he was finished, Gibbs took the pen from him and signed his own copy of the form. Once they were finished, O'Neill gathered the forms and handed them back to the General, who looked pleased. "All right, gentlemen, welcome to Stargate Command."