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Small Variations

Chapter 2

"He could be a spy, with one of those super-real masks like the ones in Mission:Impossible. And at some point, he's gonna peel off his mask, just like in that scene where Phelps reveals that he really is-"

"-he was not wearing a mask," cut Ziva. "Gibbs would have known."

"Well then, I only see one explanation: he's an android."

Ziva rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to McGee, who was sitting in the interrogation room, looking extremely nervous. "How much longer until Gibbs comes back with the corpse?" she asked.

Tony checked his watch. "A little less than two hours now. You think Probie here will survive the wait?"

Ziva tilted her head slightly. "I do not know. It is a pretty bad day for him: first he finds out that you tried hacking into his computer files, then he is taken into custody... Wait till he finds out he was found dead 1500 miles away. It will be the icing on the skate."

"Icing on the cake, Ziva. It doesn't have anything to do with ice skating at all. But yeah, you know, if I was the kind of guy who enjoys seeing Probie being pissed off -which I'm not- I'd definitely be having fun here. I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong and he ends up locked up in Gibbs' very special little chatroom, while he wait for the guy to come back from Colorado. How lucky is that?"

"Well, I, for one, do perfectly understand why Gibbs ordered us to detain him. Until we have analysed his DNA and the corpse's, we cannot be sure it is the real McGee, after all."

At this precise moment, McGee rose from his chair and approached the window. "Come on, Tony, Ziva, I know you're here," he said in a pleading tone. "At least bring me some files so I can work on them, please? I swear, I'm getting bored out of my mind in here."

Tony grinned at Ziva. "Oh it's him, alright. It's impossible to sound that much like McGeek without being him."

But Ziva remained unconvinced. "In Mossad, we had training for undercover missions that taught us to be able to mimic someone's expressions and personality down to the-"

"-come on, Ziva. You can imitate the looks and the expressions, but you can't copy the brains. He knew I had been hacking into his computer before even I tried to -"

"-could have been another agent who-"

"-Ziva, Ziva, Ziva. This is McGee, ok? I just know it," Tony said seriously.

"Oh yes? Then, how do you explain the fact that Gibbs was so sure that his McGee was the real McGee? I thought that Gibbs was never wrong."

Tony held up his finger. "Except about weddings," he specified.

"Except about weddings. So?"

"Well, there is one explanation." Tony frowned, as if he was in deep thought.

Ziva nodded encouragingly. "Yes?"

"Clones."

Ziva sighed exasperatedly and hit Tony on the back of his head, Gibbs-style. "Idiot."

Another idiotic grin. "What?"

"For a moment, foolishly, I thought that you were serious," said Ziva.

Tony shrugged. "Well, at least I have a theory there. Because, you know what? Gibbs will kill us both if when he arrives we still don't have any clue about what the hell is going on."

Ziva chuckled. "Oh, really, and you think you're going to impress him with a weird science-fiction based explanation? I don't think that Gibbs is into Star Wars, Tony."

Tony considered this for a moment. "You're right. We'd probably better get back to work right now."

And with a quick nod, Ziva followed him back to the squad room, leaving poor McGee to slam his head against the table.

When Gibbs arrived in NCIS, approximately two hours afterwards, he found Ziva and Tony still hard at work. So hard, in fact, that they didn't even notice that he had arrived.

He smirked. Walking behind Tony, he bent and whispered in Tony's ear. "Find anything, Dinozzo?"

The latter nearly jumped from his chair. "B-BOSS!" he exclaimed.

Ziva started slightly, but regained her composure much more rapidly.

"Yes, Dinozzo, it's me. Where is McGee?"

"Interrogation room, boss, as you ordered. Did you bring the corpse?"

Gibbs nodded. "Ducky is working on it as we talk. What do you have for me?"

"Tests on McGee's parents came back positive; they are his biological parents," started Ziva.

"It's also very unlikely that he had a twin. No record at the maternity hospital mentioning a multiple pregnancy... we even got the photos of the ultrasound scan," continued Tony, pointing the ultrasound picture displayed on the screen. "He was definitely the only baby in that womb." he squinted at the picture. "You know, with a head as big as his, I really doubt that two McGees could ever have fitted anyway. You can definitely see that he was predestined to be an MIT-man, can't y- OUCH!"

A slap on his head put an end to Tony's observations. "Anything else?" asked Gibbs. "Anything useful?"

Ziva and Tony averted their eyes. "Uhm... nothing, no," admitted Ziva.

"Not yet, boss," clarified Tony. "But of course, we're still searching, and we'll contin-"

But Gibbs was already on his way to interrogation.

Tony shook his head. "I tell you, Ziva, the guy is not human. No human can travel all the way to Colorado and back in a single day and not look the slightest bit tired. McGee may not be an android, but I'm ready to bet that Gibbs is one."

"Or," mused Ziva, "it is just the caffeine."

The door to the interrogation room was slammed shut, which had the desired effect: Tim woke up with a start. "Boss!" he said, his face a mix of surprise, fear and relief.

Gibbs looked at him intently. With these two piercing blue eyes fixed on him, Tim felt like his boss was trying to see through him. He waited for the questions to come, but they did not; so, after a while, Tim cleared his throat and ventured to ask a question. "Am… am I ever going to get some explanations of why I just spent my entire Sunday in custody?"

Gibbs sat opposite him and rested his hands on the table. "Depends, McGee. Are you going to give me some explanations on why I just spent my entire Sunday travelling to Colorado to ID your dead body?"

Tim raised his eyebrows, startled. "What?"

Gibbs sighed. "I guess Tony and Ziva haven't told you anything then."

"Well, no, they haven't, boss," confirmed Tim. "I just came here this morning after I got an alert that someone from here was trying to enter my personal files-"

Gibbs gave him a strange look, so he quickly added : "I-I placed a tracking program there, just in case…"

Gibbs smiled briefly and gestured him to continue. "And then, just when I found out that it was Tony who had done this, he called you, and before I knew it, I was detained right here..." Tim briefly looked at his watch. "That was over nine hours ago, boss."

Gibbs seemed neither surprised nor sorry. "You have a brother, McGee?"

Once again, Tim did not seem to understand. "Huh... n-no, boss, I only have a sister..." Gibbs eyed him expectantly, and Tim felt complied to be more specific. "Sarah. You met her…"

"Okay, then it means that there is some kind of explanation," said Gibbs. He reached into his pocket and took out the five photographs. He placed the first one on the table and showed it to Tim. "Do you know this woman, McGee?"

Tim took the photo and frowned. It showed a young blonde woman in a cheerleader uniform. "Well, err, yes, I do, but I-"

"-and you two are pretty close, aren't you?" continued Gibbs. He was watching Tim's face closely.

"What? No, no, I- I mean, I did intend to date her at some point, but we never even started - I mean, we were supposed to go together to a Halloween party two years ago, but I had to work on a case and she was furious but... I'm not sure how this is relevant to anything at all, boss... Did- did something bad happen to her? "

"Well, I don't know, McGee. Does marriage count as something bad?" replied Gibbs, showing Tim the second photo.

Tim's eyes widened. The photo showed the woman and him in wedding clothes, kissing. "Whoa, what's - where did you get that, boss?"

"What, you didn't want us to find out that you were married?"

Tim looked even more confused. "This-this isn't me, I swear, boss. I mean, I would remember if I had married someone, wouldn't I?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, and placed the third photo in front of McGee. "And I suppose you don't remember ever having a daughter, either?"

Tim shook his head in disbelief. "Look, boss, I have no idea what this means, but I swear I've never been married in my life, not to mention have a kid! God, I can't even remember the name of that cheerleader!" He did remember her online username though, and he considered mentioning it to Gibbs, but thought better of it. Instead, he buried his head in his hands, and heaved a deep sigh. "I don't know what else to say, boss. I wish you could believe me..."

To his surprise, Tim felt a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you, Tim", Gibbs whispered softly in his ear.

Tim turned his head towards him, his eyebrows raised. "Y-you do?"

Gibbs smiled. "Yeah, I do. Because," he placed the last two photos on the table, "I would certainly remember it if I had been at your wedding with Tony as your best man, and even more if I was the godfather to your daughter."

Tim frowned. "Then, boss, what is this all about?"

"I have no idea, McGee. But we're going to find out," replied Gibbs as he walked to the door.

"What are you waiting for, McGee?" he asked when Tim didn't move from his chair. "Come on, let's see if Ducky has something to say about that corpse."