AN: Think of this chapter as the calm before the storm...

Chapter 6

That night, Tim was reading in bed when Tony finished his workout and headed for the shower. He'd taken advantage of the lingering improvements in his breathing from two weeks in warm weather to get a full five miles on the treadmill at a good clip. Within a week or two, breathing cold air would drag him back to the three to four miles he'd learned to live with, but he felt like he'd accomplished something to finish the longer distance without wheezing, even if it was on a treadmill.

The bedroom felt cold in contrast to the steamy bathroom, so Tony dove under the covers and pulled them up to his chin, snuggling up to Tim. His partner just chuckled and put his book on the nightstand, sliding down to join Tony.

"You wouldn't be nearly as cold if you wore sweats to bed," Tim said as Tony pulled him close.

"And what would be the point of that, McSexy?" Tony said, sliding his hands under Tim's T-shirt. "They're just going to come off at some point."

Tim smiled. "True." He rolled them over so Tony was draped across him. "So what was the deal with the sailor who served with my dad?"

Tony dropped his head into Tim's neck.

"Tony."

It wasn't the Gibbs stare, but Tony knew he was just as helpless to resist when Tim got that expectant tone in his voice. "His appointment with Brad is after mine sometimes, so we've gotten to know each other. I stand out, since I'm pretty much the only one of Brad's regulars who's younger then your dad. I'd mentioned to Steve a few times that my father-in-law was a sailor at the Academy who was seeing Brad, but I'd never mentioned his name — until tonight. He served with your dad on the Enterprise around the time Sarah was born, so he leaped to the logical conclusion." He buried his head into Tim's neck. "I should have just let him keep thinking that. Considering his reaction today, he'd probably rather see me as a cradle-robber than a-"

"Don't say it," Tim said, putting a hand over his mouth. "Not everybody's going to be OK with our relationship. That's nothing new. If they were, we might have figured out we were interested in each other long before last summer. Remember when Vance's last secretary didn't acknowledge we were there and refused to announce we were when he called us in for a sitrep? He stormed out ready to stab us with his toothpick for being late."

"Yeah, and I'm glad she's gone," Tony said. "I wish Cynthia had stayed on, but I understand why she didn't. But Vance kept Rosemarie around way too long. Considering she disliked Ziva for being Israeli, Abby for being goth, and us for being, well, us, I'm surprised she was willing to work for Vance."

"I'm surprised Vance picked her," Tim said. "And she wasn't half as bad as Zambisi in Legal. He won't even get in the elevator if I'm in there."

Tony rolled his eyes. "No big loss there — the man has the worst bad breath I've ever had the misfortune to smell. Ziva said it was even more potent than Stewart's, that ME we thought framed me."

"True." Tim ran his hands along Tony's sides, his partner's touch relaxing and soothing him.

Tony knew he'd planned to wait until they were through this, until Sean was better, but Tim's touch had relaxed him enough that his internal censor had already drifted off. "What did you mean about your dad earlier?"

Tim sighed. "How did I know you'd pick up on that?"

"Trained federal investigator."

"Well, yeah, there's that." He sighed again, the movement causing Tony to sink a bit, since he was draped over Tim's chest. "What have I told you?"

"Only that your parents knew you liked guys but hadn't met any of your boyfriends. You said they never even met Abby until after you two stopped seeing each other." Tony shifted his weight off of Tim and rolled the younger man on his side so they faced each other. "You never said anything to indicate they weren't OK with it, and I've never seen anything that makes me think that."

At Tim's third sigh, Tony frowned. "We don't have to talk about it."

Tim shook his head. "No, it's OK. It's not anything traumatic. You've told me much worse about your family."

"It's not a contest, Tim," Tony said. "My family's directly responsible for me being pretty screwed up, and that did affect you. Whatever happened between you and your dad doesn't seem to have any long-term effects on you, and by extension, us." He shrugged. "Come on, this is me we're talking about. Forcing soul-baring confessions isn't exactly my style."

"True." Tim smiled. "I don't mean to be all drama queen about this."

"No, that's my department," Tony said.

"I didn't realize I was bi until I was off at college. When you start college at 16, it kind of messes with your self-awareness. I was younger than my classmates by enough that it made a pretty big difference developmentally. I mean, I wasn't even legally an adult until I was a junior, and that was before they had all those Romeo and Juliet clauses in the law that made it OK to have sex if you were just a couple years apart, even if one person was underage. It was hard enough to make friends, much less to ask a girl out on a date, and I didn't want to get anybody in trouble, so I wasn't dating. Then I started to realize I was interested in some of the guys in my dorm." He rolled over on his back. "The next time I went to have dinner with my uncles a couple weeks later, I pulled Uncle Jim aside while Uncle Aiden was putting the kids to bed."

"Aiden is your mom's brother, right?"

Tim nodded. "Somehow it seemed easier to ask Uncle Jim, maybe because I knew he wouldn't say anything to my mom. Uncle Aiden wouldn't have either, I don't think, but I didn't want to ask him that."

"So what did he say?"

"He didn't really say anything, just listened to me talk. About the only thing he said was, no matter who I was seeing, to be careful, and if I had any questions to feel free to ask him or Uncle Aiden." Tim swallowed. "I found out later that Uncle Aiden had heard us talking and stayed out of the way so I wouldn't feel embarrassed. And when I realized a couple of months later that I wasn't just curious, I really did like guys and I still liked women, he introduced me to a friend of his who is bi so I could ask him some questions that they didn't really have answers to, since they're both gay."

"So how did you tell your parents? And if they're OK with your uncles, what did you mean earlier?" Tony interlaced his fingers with Tim's and squeezed.

"With my math and science background, I think my dad had always hoped I would choose the military," Tim said. "He knew Navy wasn't really an option — tough to be a sailor when you can't handle boats — but he figured Marines or Army would be glad to have me, or even Air Force. I wasn't opposed to any of them. I couldn't apply for ROTC because I was too young, so I didn't have to decide until later. Once I realized that wasn't an option unless I wanted to live with DADT, I knew I needed to tell my dad. NIS had become NCIS by then, gone civilian, so I was starting to think that was what I wanted to do. That's why I switched to computer forensics for my master's degree."

"As interesting as this is..."

"I know, get to the point. The point is, that's how I told my parents. When I was home on spring break my junior year, I waited until the end of the week, then told my dad I wasn't going into the military and why. He didn't really have a bad reaction, but I don't know if you could call it a good reaction either. He just... didn't say much. It wasn't really until after I graduated that he let me know he was completely fine with whoever I chose to date." Tim shrugged. "Like I said, nothing traumatic. He just needed some time to adjust. I think part of it is he's the only boy in his family, and I'm his only son, so he figured the family name would pass on through me. But it's not like he ever approved of the women I dated more than the men."

"That might be because a lot of the women you dated — Abby excluded — were kind of psycho," Tony said.

Tim snorted. "There is that. OK, enough seriousness for tonight. Short version, it doesn't surprise me that older sailors and other military personnel aren't nearly as accepting as my dad. He's got a brother-in-law who's gay, he doesn't believe being gay should disqualify you from military service, he thought that long before I told him I was bi, and even he had to come to terms with my orientation. I was just surprised that you knew Steve and he knew Dad was your father-in-law, but he didn't seem to know about us."

It was Tony's turn to shrug. "He had just found out my father-in-law was the Commander McGee he had served under right before you walked in. I think I've just been so cautious about mentioning the men in my life from so many years in law enforcement — the PDs I worked for weren't nearly as accepting as NCIS — that I can carry on entire conversations without mentioning my partner's a guy and not even realize it. I wasn't even aware I hadn't mentioned you until Steve assumed I was married to Sarah, and then you showed up before I had a chance to figure out what to do."

"Is that why I haven't met any of your frat brothers?" Tim raised an eyebrow.

Tony just shook his head. "No, that's because I hardly ever see my frat brothers these days." He sighed. "I mean, think about it, Tim. I'm past 40. Sure, 6 years ago when you joined the team there were some who were still single, still up for a spring break weekend or a night on the town. But at this point, everybody's married with kids. Since I couldn't tell them about Jeanne, as far as they know, I'm still chasing skirts. I didn't want to lie to them about Jeanne, so I just let myself drift away from them at that point. And now they're all talking about kid stuff and juggling babysitters."

Tim pulled him close until their foreheads touched. "I understand," he said, so quiet Tony could barely hear him.

"You do?" Tony said.

Tim nodded. "You'll notice I'm not still in touch with anybody from before I joined NCIS. It's the same thing, but in reverse. The kids I grew up with were obsessing about dates for the senior prom while I was locked in the science lab working on a research project that would help me get into grad school. In college, I was so much younger than everybody that I knew I wasn't ready for at lot of things, and by the time I was, everybody had a picture of me as a shy kid. When my high school classmates were partying senior year of college because now they could legally drink, I was at FLETC learning how to shoot people and collect evidence. Sure, Facebook has gotten me back in touch with some of them. And I guess you could say I'm back on track with the whole settling down and getting married bit, maybe even a little behind. But they're talking about having kids ... or having more kids. We still haven't figured out how to have a dog without a very patient, very flexible dog-walker."

Tony blinked for a second. "You'd make a great dad," he said. "Are you saying you don't want...?"

"I didn't say that," Tim said. "But how many nights did we sleep at NCIS last year? How often do we come home only long enough to sleep?" He sighed. "We both like what we do, and doing what we do isn't exactly family-friendly. You think I don't notice that Vance is the only one of us who's married with kids? And Jackie doesn't work. My mom didn't work when we were little, and I think it was good for us to have her home. I think having one parent home is a good thing, but I also know if either of us quit NCIS to stay home with kids, we'd go crazy."

"And until your McBrain cracks that puzzle, you're not going to bring up the subject," Tony said, the pieces clicking into place. "Just don't forget that adoption agencies aren't going to be too crazy about an old dad, so we can't wait forever. At the risk of sounding like the woman in this relationship, my biological clock is ticking." After Tim finished laughing, Tony pulled the younger man on top of him. "Come on, enough serious stuff for tonight. Let's just go to sleep. You know that after two weeks with no cases, it's not going to last much longer."

Tim nodded and reached over to turn off the light. They quickly settled into a restful sleep. The next morning they were ready for whatever the day might throw at them, including an all-nighter tracking dirtbags.

And yet, by lunchtime, Tony was starting to think he'd been wrong.