Tony and Ziva arrived at the table Abby had already gotten for them and greeted their friend in almost perfect synchronicity.

"Hey, Abbs."
"Hello, Abby."

"Hi, guys. Boy, you guys look really tired. It really has been a rough week for you, huh?" the Goth said sympathetically.

"We are used to it. How are you?" Ziva tried to turn the conversation back to where she and Tony both wanted it to go.

"I'm feelin' pretty crappy, actually." Abby admitted with an air of sadness to her tone. She hated feeling so vulnerable, but if the truth be told, she really did need to get it off her chest. Abby was seriously hoping her two friends were willing to listen like she thought they would be.

"You are sick?" Ziva asked with concern.

"No! No, I'm not sick. I've just been doing a lot of thinking since I called you guys and Ducky, earlier today."

"And?" Tony gently pushed. This was his friend, Abby, needing to spill her guts and he darn sure wasn't gonna stop her; or even let her stop herself. It had taken her too long to get to this point and it needed to be dealt with. Sooner was certainly better than later, especially if the team was gonna find a way to mend this cavernous breach.

"And I know I said I didn't wanna talk about what happened. But, the fact is, I really need to talk about it…with you guys."

"Would you like us to take this somewhere less public?" Ziva wondered.

"Yeah, Abbs, that might be a good idea. We can get our dinner to go." Tony seconded the idea wholeheartedly.

"Where?" Abby looked and sounded worried and uncertain at their suggestion.

"My place." Tony said quickly. "It's closest and has more room than Abby's." His grin belied the fact that his mind had immediately thought of Abby's prized coffin that she often bragged about keeping in her apartment.

Abby couldn't help but offer a small grin of appreciation for his humor.

Thirty minutes later found Abby, Tony and Ziva all settled into Tony's living room basking in the quite before the storm. It was only for a moment though and Tony was tired of being on edge about the situation and wanted it all out in the open as soon as possible, especially since that possibility had been dangled in front of him like a carrot on a stick. He gave her all of two minutes to stew in her thoughts before pushing her to talk to them.

"Okay, Abby. We're listening. Talk to us."

"Did you know." Abby paused. "That he hasn't called me all week." Her voice spoke volumes of how upset she was about this.

"You did tell us that none of us have called you this week, Abby." Ziva reminded her gently.

"But, I've never not heard from him for that long before!"

"Just to be clear here, Abby. Who is the 'him' you're talking about; McGee or Gibbs?"

"What? Oh, you're right. Either of them! Wait! How'd you know?" Abby hadn't really thought about it, but now Tony had thrown the question out there, she felt the stab of rejection even more.

"This is you we're talking about here Abby. You only obsess about those two and only about McGee when things aren't right between you." Tony reminded her with a smirk.

"Obsess?"

"You think on that for a minute while I run back down to my car and get a movie I wanted to watch tonight." Tony advised as he made his escape.

For some reason, the feeling that he had to make a phone call just wouldn't leave him alone. Something told him he needed to talk to someone about what Tim had told him during their talk and soon, before it was too late. They'd skipped over it then, but it was laying unsettled in Tony's gut now.

Tim and Pam went out to dinner at their usual haunt. They had found it early on in their relationship and loved the fact that it was in a place so far out of the way, that they didn't have to worry about being recognized by co-workers. Tim told Pam most of what had taken place that day and relaxed at the expression on her face. It was obvious that she was extremely happy about the fact that he was no longer keeping it locked up inside and could talk freely to her. They even talked about everything he'd felt and tried to hide away; even from her and as he talked, she just knew that it was all for the sake of him not wanting to appear weak. She couldn't help but feel hurt at the thought of what keeping all that inside must have been doing to him but she was disappointed in him and the fact that he hadn't trusted her to help him through it.

"Pam, it wasn't that I didn't trust you. I just needed to deal with the team issues before I could even begin to address the rest of it, even with myself, you know? If I had even said anything about the rest of it, then I would have lost the fight to get the team stuff straightened out. It would have become all about the other things."

"Yeah, Tim. I think I understand. But, there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"Yeah." Tim breathed out on a sigh of resignation and hung his head slightly."I was scared."

"Of what I would think?" Pam asked with a hurt voice.

"Of losing you if you saw how weak I really am. I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be with me anymore." Tim admitted from the depths of his soul.

"Oh, Honey! C'mere!" Pam cried softly as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "Sweetheart, just because we're affected by the crap life throws at us does not make us weak, especially you! You're one of the strongest people I know! But, I want you to promise me that you won't ever shut me out again. Especially when it's something that's bothering you like this. Never again, okay?"

Tim took her hand, looked her in the eye, and promised. "I swear, I will never shut you out again. That doesn't mean it'll be easy for me talk about it, but I'll try." He warned softly.

"I know. It's not something you're used to. It's a big thing having someone who wants in all the time. But, I'm not going to change so you'd better get used to it! I want all of you, understand?"

"I can sure work at it." He said with a smile that spoke volumes of his appreciation and love. "C'mon, we need to get to Ducky's."

"Tell me again, why we're going over there after dinner? Isn't it a little late to be bothering him?"

"He's expecting us and no, it's not late. You know, I'd never do that to him." Tim reminded her gently.

"Oh, right. Sorry." The grin on her face lit up the room; or at least in Tim's eyes anyway.

"Brat." He grinned back as he leaned down to kiss her gently.

Releasing his hand, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in snuggly to deepen the kiss and was well rewarded for her efforts. When they finally broke apart so that they could breathe, they stood in silence drinking in the love that shone in each other's eyes. It was a beautiful moment and neither of them wanted to break the spell, so they didn't speak and stood in there in comfortable silence. Tim ran his hand gently down her arm and laced his fingers through hers before guiding her to start walking.

As they turned to head back to his car, Tim pulled Pam snug up against him and relished the moment and the joy that coursed through him at this moment; one he'd never thought he'd ever experience.

He worried that the conversation that was planned for their get together with Ducky would ruin this and it was something that he desperately wanted at least a chance of getting more of; and so, he silently prayed that he wouldn't regret what he was about to do. Still it was something that needed to be opened up for discussion and resolution. Tim could only hope and pray that Ducky would be able to help him in getting Pam see the logic and reason that was going to be presented to her and not just the fear and worry that would come automatically.

Once settled in at Ducky's, Tim took a deep steadying breath. While he'd asked Ducky if they could get together and talk, he hadn't told him why beforehand. Looking at Ducky for a brief minute and then at his wonderful girlfriend whom he loved so very much, he opened his mouth and told them what he needed them to hear.

"Gibbs knows."

The instant flash of worry that filtered through Pam's eyes left him feeling like he'd just slapped her. He felt bad for putting her through this emotional build up when he already had a plan to solve the problem to begin with, but he knew he needed to hand this to her in pieces that she could swallow; not cram it all down her throat at once. As Pam thought about it for a minute, she was able to calm down and look back at Tim with something resembling normal and ask her question.

"What did he say?"

"He said we should stop trying to hide it and thinks we're worrying too much about Vance."

"That's easy for him to say." Pam answered quickly but remarkably gently, given the topic of conversation. "It's not his job that's in jeopardy if the boss decides he's unhappy about the idea."

Tim took her hand as he settled more comfortably next to her on the love seat. "Honey, he promised he'd do what he can to help if Vance does give us… you, a hard time about it."

"Why would he do that?" Pam's confusion was apparent and Tim found himself hating the fact that he had put that little furrow in her brow.

It was at this point that Tim looked to Ducky for some help. No one knew Gibbs like Ducky. The M.E. smiled with understanding and rose from his seat. Tim stood up so Ducky could sit next to Pam and better calm her fears. Relegated to witness, the younger man quickly sat where he could still reach out and touch Pam whilst giving Ducky room to do what he had to.

"Because, my dear." Ducky said as he sat in the vacated seat and gently took Pam's hand in his for support, "Agent Gibbs is a man who takes care of his own. Something that you are now by extension. Young Timothy here, is someone by whom Jethro not only sees as one of his own, but thinks of as one of his 'boys'; his son, so to speak. Your relationship with Timothy, automatically puts you in the category of being 'one of his' and means Gibbs will not allow anything bad to happen to you if he can prevent it." Ducky promised her.

"Wow. I mean, it's no secret that he takes care of his team, but look at how different things were between Gibbs and Tim just four days ago." Pam marveled with a touch of worry mixed in. "Do you really think things have turned around that quickly?"

"I know they have." Tim answered her with confidence. "It's gonna take time and the difference this will make will come slowly, but the new direction is there and so is the open communication that was never there before. Gibbs realizes now, that he really does need to listen when his team is trying to tell him something, including me. He gets it now. And I really believe that this is his way of saying that he wants us to be happy together and keeping secrets of this magnitude from your boss won't lend itself to happiness."

"And you must understand, even though things were less than they should have been between Agent Gibbs and Timothy, does not mean that Jethro would have ever allowed anything to happen to Timothy or that he was any less willing to protect him and look out for him if he knew he was in trouble." Ducky reasoned.

"Well…" Pam thought out loud for a second, but stopped as she worked on processing the possibilities.

"Look, Honey," Tim said as he took her other hand and gazed into her eyes, steadying her nerves as he spoke. "I know he's your boss, but you have to remember, he's ours too, just as much as he is yours. Now, I'm gonna go get a drink. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine." Pam answered and Tim frowned slightly at her distracted tone.

"Ducky?"

"No thank you, Timothy. " Ducky answered and cocked his head slightly at Tim's silent plea for help.

The M.E. was already on board with this full disclosure and could offer Pam an objective view point as well as moral support. He knew that Tim was counting on Pam giving in to this and that he wanted her to give in because she wanted to and not until then.

"He's right, my dear." Ducky told her as soon as Tim had stepped out.

"Ducky, Tim's been through so much in his life and since he's been on the team. There have been so many new challenges for him to face, on top of that. The last thing I want to do is make this harder on him but I don't want to lose my job."

Before anything else could be said, Ducky's cell phone rang intrusively.

"Doctor Mallard speaking." The M.E. answered his phone using his business manner.

"Ducky."

"Anthony? Is something the matter? I thought you were having dinner with Ziva and Abigail?"

"I am. We are. We've actually brought dinner back to my place so we could talk."

"Anthony, I warned you not to push Abigail to talk." Ducky gently admonished the agent on the other end of the line.

"Her idea, Ducky." Tony defended himself.

"Oh. Well that's wonderful."

"That's not why I called. I need your help with something that I don't think should wait too long."

"Does this concern your dinner guests?"

"No, actually, it doesn't. I'm out at my car; played it off that I needed to get something out of the trunk. No, this concerns your guests. McGee told me he was planning on taking Pam over to see you tonight. He wouldn't tell me why, just that he needed to talk to the both of you."

"Is this something serious?"

"Well, yeah, Ducky, it is or I wouldn't have disturbed you right now. I would have waited until tomorrow to talk to you about it."

"What seems to be the problem?"

"McGee told me he'll quit his job before he lets Vance fire Pam over their relationship. I need you to talk him out of it before he does something stupid like actually following through on that. He listens to you a lot more than he does me; although we have been talking on better terms lately. I get the sense that McGoo is tired of keeping their relationship a secret and wants it out in the open. I just don't wanna see him sacrifice his career for real this time."

"Anthony, have you spoken to Jethro about this?"

"No. I'm guessing I should have?"

"No need, I will take care of that. Rest assured, young man, we will make sure that this does not come to that."

"Thanks, Ducky. Every day from here on, there's a chance Vance'll find out and…"

"Quite right. Now that you have told me, you can relax on the matter and return to your dinner guests. Tread carefully there, by the way."

"I will, Ducky, thanks again." Tony offered as he ended the call.

"Doctor Mallard?" Pam inquired with worry over what part of the conversation she'd heard.

Ducky smiled reassuringly at her and did what he could to keep her from worrying. The dear girl would only become very upset at the idea of Timothy quitting his job for her. No, he would take care of this without it becoming an issue between the two love-birds. After all, Timothy at least deserved some problem-free areas of his life.

"Ducky, please, remember that, my dear?"

"Ducky. Is everything all right?"

"Everything will be just fine, dear. Now, where were we?"

"I was saying that I don't want to lose my job but I don't want to force Tim to keep our relationship a secret any more, either. It's obvious he's uncomfortable about it."

"Which is why you must decide whether or not you trust Timothy's judgment. He trusts Jethro, sorry Agent Gibbs, to help the both of you with this. You, can trust Agent Gibbs to help smooth out whatever feathers become ruffled as a result of your relationship with Timothy, being made known to the Director." Ducky advised her.

"I'm afraid I have to admit I don't understand where this is headed."

"Pamela, Timothy has apparently reached the point in his life where he is comfortable placing the woman he loves before himself. You must not misunderstand what I am saying. You and I both know that this is very much a staple of his character to begin with. However, in your situation, it goes much deeper for him. I'm sure you are aware of the extremely painful road he has traveled in his personal relationships?"

Pam nodded and the pain Tim had revealed to her showed in her eyes.

"Ah. Yes. Well, then as you can see, it is very important that you…"

"Not rush this issue of full disclosure, with the risk of us losing our jobs being so high." Pam offered. "I won't let him…"

"Decide his own fate? My dear, it seems that Timothy has not had any such say in his own fate too much recently; at least none that he believed in. I do not believe that you wish to be one of those people who take that away from him now so soon after he's gotten it back?"

"No, of course, I don't. But, how do we go about handling this so no one ends up being a casualty in all of this?"

"Relax, my dear. This is, after all, Friday night and you and Timothy should be spending it together having fun. Go on, take him away from this and do not think on it any longer. Do come back for lunch on Sunday, though. I shall expect you both here at 1 PM." Ducky said and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek before walking with her back down the hall.

Tim was heading back to the living room and bumped into Ducky and Pam as they headed in his direction. He felt bad for being gone from their talk for so long, but he hadn't been able to prevent the phone call from work where his old temporary unit had called him for help.

"I'm sorry. The guys in Cyber-Crimes called me. They needed my help with something. I didn't mean to be gone so long."

"That's quite all right, Timothy. The evening is still young. Please, take Pamela and enjoy the rest of the evening together. Do not worry about this a minute longer, that is an order straight from your physician, young man! I will see you both back here for lunch on Sunday and shall expect you at 1, as I have already told this young lady." Ducky said with a smile as he walked with them to the front door.

"Um, okay, Ducky. Thanks." Tim said in surprise but knew that Ducky wouldn't take no for an answer. Truth be told, he actually looked forward to it.

When Tony returned from supposedly getting something out of his car, Ziva noticed that his hands were empty. What was going on? She wondered silently but In the interest of keeping Abby on track, she said nothing. While Tony had been gone, the two women had been silent, each lost in their own thoughts and both afraid to say something that would send this entire evening in the wrong direction.

Now that Tony was back, it was as if the stale air in the room revitalized with his arrival and they could all breathe easier again. Sensing things were precariously close to going South, Tony did what he could to salvage the situation before it was beyond repair.

"So, Abbs. Tell us."

"About what, Tony?"

"Abbs, c'mon, let's get back to why you feel crappy." Ziva frowned at Tony's comment but stayed silent knowing that he hadn't meant it the way it had sounded.

"How much do you guys know about what happened down in Mexico?" Abby asked worriedly.

"We've been…" Tony started.

"Waiting for you to tell us what you want us to hear." Ziva finished as she forcefully interrupted Tony. If Abby knew that Tim had opened up to them, it would seriously hamper the Goth's willingness to do the same.

Abby looked at both of them for a long contemplative minute before she nodded and opened her mouth and told her story. While her audience was less than happy with what she'd said and done to their teammate and friend once again, hearing the details from her perspective helped a little. Regardless, they knew she needed to talk so they respectfully remained silent and let her get it out.

Gibbs sanded the block of wood and pictured the finished product in his mind, even if another part of his mind was busy with thoughts of his team. He'd been impressed with Tony's bull-dog mentality in terms of looking out for McGee through this whole Mexico fallout ordeal and Ziva's quiet but determined support of both her teammates hadn't gone unnoticed and he felt proud of both of them. He felt even more proud because they'd both eventually included Abby in their focus, something that he had to admit, was no easy feat. Hell, he wasn't even ready for that yet.

Each of his 'surrogate kids' always did seem to look out for the others, for the most part anyway. As Team Leader, he should have, at the very least, done the same, in equal allotments and he realized that now. He'd screwed up where one of his people were concerned; It was a bitter pill to swallow, but not nearly as bitter as the story of what his negligence had eventually done to his agent.

And then there was Abby. He still needed to have a heart to heart with her. Gibbs was holding onto the hope that Tony and Ziva having dinner with her tonight, would break down that door and leave plenty of room for open minded and serious discussion between himself and his Forensic Scientist because he needed to know what happened so they could find what needed to be changed and/or fixed.

Soft steps overhead pulled Gibbs from his thoughts and he listened for tell-tale signs of who it was that needed to talk to him on a Friday night, especially with a free weekend looming ahead. With only a few more steps taken, it was clear in his mind that for some reason the M.E. had come calling.

"Duck? Everything okay?"

"Good evening, Jethro. With me, everything is fine. However, it has been brought to my attention that everything is not fine with our young Timothy."

"What's going on?"

"Anthony telephoned me earlier."

"What does that have to do with McGee? Tony was having dinner with Ziva and Abby."

"Precisely. Apparently, Abigail expressed the wish to talk with both of them so they moved dinner to Anthony's apartment in order to talk. He made up an excuse to go out to his car, at which point he called me to share his concern regarding Timothy. .

"Obviously he's got you worried about it, too or you wouldn't be here, Duck."

"Quite right, Jethro. It seems that During the course of their conversation yesterday, Timothy made it known to Anthony that he is more than willing to sacrifice his job if Vance were to demand such a sacrifice, if it means being able to hold to his relationship with Pamela."

"I've already talked to him about it, Ducky. Told him I'd help him with that. Also told him the two of them are too worried about something that isn't even gonna happen."

"Yes, I'm aware that you've already discussed their relationship with him. I was unaware you already knew of his intentions to sacrifice himself for her right to keep her job as well as her relationship with him."

"I wasn't. Doesn't surprise me., though."

"I shudder to think what will happen if the two of them happen to run into Vance this weekend, while they are out trying to enjoy themselves. Not having this brought into the open just yet, will most likely make for a less than enjoyable weekend for the pair. For their sakes, I do wish they would just let the man know and be done with it."

Gibbs nodded in agreement and dug out his phone.

"No, Jethro. Let them be. Let them enjoy the weekend together."

"You don't expect me to do nothing or you wouldn't be here." Gibbs reasoned as he put his phone away.

"I'd like your help with something that I believe will solve the problem and quite possibly put everyone back at ease around each other, so that this whole dreadful mess can be put behind us." Ducky admitted. "Need I remind you of what you asked of me not too long ago?

"You'll let me know if McGee needs anything, Ducky?"

"And you know what it is he needs?

"Yes, Jethro, I believe that I do

"I'm listening…"