A/N : Please forgive the delay in an update.
On behalf of my wonderful Co-Writer -Let's all hold Shelbylou in our prayers as her family searches for her missing niece.
This chapter is dedicated to Shelbylou- for all her hardwork and brilliance - even when going through a very difficult time.
Tim was sitting behind Pam, one step up at the Washington Monument. He had both of his arms draped over her shoulders and his chin was resting on the top of her head. To the other visitors, they looked like a couple deeply in love and to be honest, they weren't wrong. Tim tightened the hug and kissed the top of her head as he quietly spoke. "It's getting late and we can't leave Ducky waiting."
"I know. It's just so pretty." Pam glanced at her watch and sighed. "We should be going. It's coming up to five." She felt Tim chuckle above her and laid her hand over his. With an accidental symbolism, she realized that she had grabbed the hand that Tim held over her heart.
"Come on then. Can we stop off and grab a bottle of wine on the way?"
"Good idea." She stood up and offered Tim her hand which made him laugh even harder. With a twinkle in her eye, she responded cheerily. "What? It's an equal op's relationship, right?"
Tim didn't know whether it was the twinkle in her eye or the playful grin that lit up her face, but he had the sudden overwhelming urge to lean down and kiss her; well, why ignore it? He leaned down and kissed her sensually before pulling back and groaning when his cell phone rang. "Someone has got really bad timing." He complained as he unclipped it from the holder on his belt and frowned when he saw who was phoning.
"What? Tim, honey, who is it."
Tim diverted the call and smiled at her as he answered her. "No one important, baby. Come on." He laced his fingers through Pam's and guided her towards the car. "So, any preference on wine?"
Ducky pulled the lamb out of the oven and inhaled the delicious aroma. It was one of his favorite meals and he smiled happily when he put it down, he saw that the potatoes had roasted to perfection.
"Ah, Mother. I will admit, you taught me well."
He chuckled to himself and grabbed the prongs to lift the joint of mean out of the pan to move it onto a cooling rack. The meal was very nearly ready and all that was left to do was prepare the gravy and put the steamed vegetables into a serving bowl. He had no idea why, but he wanted this to be perfect for his young guests and had even pulled out his best china for the occasion. He had just started to put the potatoes into the serving dish when his front door bell chimed.
"Coming." He rushed to the front door and opened it with a grin when he saw Tim and Pam standing there with matching smiles. Tim had his arm draped casually over Pam's shoulder and Ducky felt his heart melt when he saw the way she leaned into him. "Timothy, Pamela, please do come in."
Tim moved his arm down and gently guided Pam in with a touch to her back.
"Dr. Mallard. Thank you so much for inviting us to Dinner. It was a lovely surprise." She reached out and handed him a bag with three bottles of wine in it. "We weren't sure what you were cooking so we bought a bottle of red, white and rose."
"Thank you, my dear." Ducky moved closer so he could loudly whisper; the action amused Tim no end seeing as Ducky looked as though he was going to reveal some huge secret "And you can call me Ducky."
"Ducky it is then." Pam giggled and accepted the kiss on the cheek from the M.E.
"Do you need any help?" Tim already knew the answer but felt guilty or making Ducky do all the hard work.
"No, no, Timothy. Everything is quiet under control but thank you. Tell you what, why don't you break open the red wine and let it breathe. I believe the white would make a perfect appetizer before we eat."
Tim and Pamela followed Ducky into the kitchen to open the wine and Pam's eyes widened at the delicious smell that met her when she entered.
"Oh that smells heavenly."
Ducky stilled at her comment and frowned. There was one thing he had forgotten to ask the oriental woman and he was kicking himself for it. He forgot to ask her whether or not she had any religious restrictions on her diet.
"Oh no. My dear, I must apologize because I forgot to ask about whether or not you follow a special diet." The hangdog look on Ducky's face made her frown slightly.
"None at all. My family is originally from China but its split with their religions. Half of my family is Buddhist and the other half are Christian. I'm from the latter set so I have no restrictions on what I eat at all; I have to admit, Lamb is my favorite." She grinned as Ducky's face visibly relaxed and started to laugh."Thank you, though. I appreciate the thought."
"Ah, yes. Well it was a wee bit late but, all is well. Thank you, Timothy." He accepted the cool glass of wine that Tim passed over and drank in the aroma before taking a sip. "Hmm. That is good wine, Timothy. Which one is it?"
Tim looked at the bottle and read the label. "It's the Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay. Pam said it was a nice wine so we bought it."
"That's an expensive wine, Timothy. You shouldn't have paid that much for …."
"It's my fault, Ducky. I was going to buy it but Tim being the perfect gentlemen he is, stopped me…..again!" Pam put on a faux affronted look and pouted slightly.
"I….We….." Tim started to stutter slightly and narrowed his eyes playfully when Pam poked her tongue out at him. "Hey." He walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder.
"What? I can have a little fun." She accepted the proffered glass of wine and grinned up at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, you can."
Ducky noticed how Tim was practically beaming with happiness when he was with her and felt his heart warm at the sight. It was about time this young man had some degree of happiness in his life despite the trials he was suffering at work at the moment. He let the relaxed, contented look on Tim's face wash over him and thanked which ever deity his friends prayed to for their happiness.
"Why don't you two go and make yourselves comfortable in the living room and I'll let you know when the food's ready."
"You sure, Ducky? I don't mind helping." Tim was sincere in his offer and the M.E. beamed at the politeness of his young friend; it truly was a rarity these days.
"I know you don't, Timothy, but tonight you are my guests and there really isn't much to do."
Tim and Pam thanked Ducky and walked into the living room hand in hand.
Maybe things will be alright for Timothy after all….
Gibbs sat at his desk going over the reports that Tim and Abby had filed; they hadn't suddenly changed and they didn't suddenly fill the gaps that needed to be filled. No, in fact, with every sweep he found himself getting angrier. He threw down the file with frustration and huffed out a sigh before sitting back in his chair to look at his two remaining agents. It had been a long day; too damn long and the fact that they'd be dealing with a TAD in the forensic lab weighed down on him heavily. "Da'vid, DiNozzo. Go home! There's nothing else we can do tonight." He glanced at his watch and noticed that it had turned seven. "Go grab something to eat and get some rest because my gut's telling me it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."
"Boss?"
"I don't know, DiNozzo. If I did I'd tell ya. It's just a gut feeling."
"Aww come on, Boss. It won't be that bad. Positive thinking." Tony tried to sound upbeat but it feel on deaf ears where Gibbs was concerned.
"Damn it. We've got a dead marine and a load of evidence that is gonna be processed by someone unfamiliar with the lab. Vance is apparently without a P.A. for a couple of days which means he's gonna be like a bear with a sore head AND WE'RE A MAN DOWN!" He didn't mean to take his frustration out on his team, but tiredness and the stress of the day had finally caught up with him. "Just…Just go home."
"On it, Boss." Tony reached down and grabbed his backpack from where it sat on the floor.
"Gibbs. Is everything alright?"
"Fine, Ziva. I'll see you tomorrow; bright and early."
Tony and Ziva left leaving a trail of 'G'night boss' and 'Lilah Tov' from Ziva; a greeting they had long started to recognize as goodnight in her native tongue. Gibbs watched them as they disappeared into the elevator and shook his head. What the hell is going on with Abby and McGee and why is Tim hell bent on sabotaging his career?
The answer eluded him and so he sat there for another hour contemplating his next step; one that had to be considered carefully if he wanted to find out where exactly the problem lay.
"You still here, Gibbs?" Vance's calm, controlled voice travelled down from the balcony above the squad room.
"Nope."
"Yeah, I can see that." The Director started to move down the stairs.
"Why ask then?" The question was more rhetoric and made Vance smile slightly.
"I like to state the obvious. Gibbs, Abby's temporary replacement will be here in the morning. I now you have a case at the moment, but I'd like to give them time to adjust to their environment."
"You have got to be kidding. It's a lab Leon; what the hell do they want, a grand tour?" The request confused Gibbs and he was left wondering what the director had up his sleeve.
"It's a strange lab and they need to get acclimatized. An hour Gibbs, that's all I ask."
"Fine, but that's all you're gonna get."
"Try not to alienate them please. It's not good for relations." Vance turned and walked away, but called out over his shoulder. "Go home, Gibbs."
Tim carried everyone's glasses out into the kitchen and started to prepare the coffee. They had all had a fantastic relaxed evening full of relaxed conversation and a lot of well needed laughter. He had left Ducky regaling Pam of his college antics and found himself in need of something other than wine to drink.
"It's a good job we dropped the car off at your place." Pam came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Amen to that. It's been nice this evening." Tim paused slightly and chuckled. "And a relief that someone else knows. Why can't we just come out and tell people? I mean, it can't be that bad can it?"
"Two reasons….at least. Honey, my reason is the Director and your reason is rule 12. Come on, not yet alright?" Pam pulled on Tim's arm so that she was facing him. "Soon."
"Promise?"
"Always. Now, Let's have coffee and we'll get a cab back to your place. Hope you don't mind me staying the night."
"Mind? You know you're always welcome, though Jethro is at the kennel and we both know that's who you really come to see." Tim winked at his girlfriend and grinned broadly. They had fallen into a comfortable, non-sexual relationship and Pam had stayed the night on one other occasion; that night, they'd spent the night talking and cuddling before it all got too much and the fell asleep entwined in each other's arms. They had woken up like that and spent a lazy day watching DVD's and enjoying each other company. Hopefully, tonight would be the same because Tim felt nothing but love and respect for the woman that he was fast falling head over heels over.
"Who can resist the puppy dog eyes? When he gives you that look, then you can't help but love him."
"If that's all it took…" Tim shook his head and chuckled before turning back to the coffee. "You want tea or coffee?"
"What kind of tea?"
"I have many types my dear. It depends on my mood. I favor Earl or Lady grey but do have some Assam In there too." Ducky had walked into the kitchen and smile at the two of them.
"Lady grey sounds good. I'll have one of them please Tim." Tim turned to grab the box out of the cupboard but it was on the top shelf and difficult to reach. As he was stretching up, his cell phone chose that exact time to ring.
"Urgh, why is it always at inconvenient times. Can you get that, Babe? Please?"
Pam reached forward and grabbed his phone. She didn't look at the caller ID and simply answered it. "Agent Timothy McGee's phone. How may I be of assistance?"
Tim turned and shook his head at her and noticed the frown. "Who was it?" he asked.
"I don't know, they hung up." She scrolled through the received calls but came up with nothing seeing as the caller withheld their number. "If it's important, they'll ring back."
"Aha, got it. Tim leaned back with the box of tea in his hand. "Yeah, I can't see it being important at this time of night. Probably Tony trying to wheedle information. You want tea, Ducky?"
"Yes please. So, did you drive over, Timothy. I only ask, because you have had too much to drink to get behind the wheel."
"Nah, I dropped the car off at my apartment and we caught a cab. We thought it might be best."
"Quite, Timothy. That was a good idea. Now how about that tea?"
Tony and Ziva had all they could do to drive back to Tony's and crash. Worried about her level of exhaustion, Tony insisted Ziva crash on his couch after she'd refused to take his bed and let him take the couch.
"Goodnight, Ziva." Tony said as he turned on a small nightlight and headed to his room.
"Good night, Tony. Maybe tomorrow we should check on McGee, yes?" Ziva said sleepily as she settled into the couch.
"Yeah, we'll do that." Tony answered guiltily; realizing that she'd just fingered the missing piece from the puzzle of why everything seemed off today. While he'd felt that 'twinge' of it being an off day every time McGee's name came up; and even when Abby's name came up; this simple question from Ziva seemed to finally fill in the definition of 'why' this day had been off balance.