a/n - enjoy, BTW, I am auctioning off two stories on the writer's forum to raise money for the relief efforts in Haiti, one gen and one slash. PM me if you'd like more details.

It was the panicked breathing that woke Gibbs, even before the sun was up. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on McGee as he strained to see in the semi-dark room. When Tim started to struggle, he released him, only to watch the younger man frantically scoot across the bed until he fell. Tim wasn't aware of his surroundings until he was backed up into the far corner. "Gibbs?"

"Tim? You back with me?" Gibbs knelt in front of him, making sure not to crowd him as he waited for an acknowledgment.

Tim wiped at the tears and sweat on his face. "Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for." Gibbs couldn't quite hide the guilt he was feeling. He'd used the excuse of keeping the ice pack on Tim's black eye to indulge in holding him all night. "I shouldn't have..."

"It wasn't you, Boss." Gibbs winced as the stress drove McGee back to a more impersonal response. "I think it was reading through the file and then what happened last night. I was having a nightmare about being tied down and I panicked. Are you okay, did I hit you?"

"I'm fine." Gibbs carefully reached out with one hand. When Tim didn't pull away, he brushed his fingers down the side of his face. "It's still early, let's get you back to bed." Once he saw a nod, Gibbs lifted him and helped him back to bed.

Gibbs waited until daybreak to call Vance, slipping downstairs so he didn't wake McGee. "We've been outed. DiNozzo snuck in last night." He waited and listened for a moment before ending the call and returning upstairs.

---NCIS---

Ducky followed Vance into the driveway, parking behind the other man's SUV. He wasn't sure what had happened, only that he was needed and to bring his medical bag. He started asking questions as soon as the Director had his door open. "Leon, what on Earth is going on? Was one of them injured?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that there was an incident with DiNozzo last night." Whatever else Vance was going to add stopped when Gibbs opened the front door. He looked tired and haunted, not the playful man that was teasing with McGee the night before.

"I must say, Jethro, I've seen you looking better. Aren't you sleeping?" For a shorter man, Ducky moved remarkably fast and Vance had to rush to keep up with him as he moved into the house. They could hear someone in the kitchen, but a suddenly overprotective furry mass blocked their path.

Vance had to do a double take. The slightly swollen muzzle and one floppy ear did not give a ferocious appearance, but the bared teeth gave a different message. Behind Vance and Ducky, Gibbs shook his head as he gave the command. "Jethro, stand down." Once the order was given and the dog relaxed, his front feet slid out from under him on the polished hardwood floor. He stumbled and then recovered as Ducky gave him a closer look.

"Did Anthony hurt Jethro in some way?"

"Nah, our drug sniffing dog snorted a bumblebee last night. Come on, boy, let's put you back to bed." Gibbs took Jethro's collar and when the dog slipped again on the floor, he picked him up and carried him back to the den. The two visitors smirked at each other and then continued into the kitchen.

McGee had his back to them, bent over the stove when they walked in. Vance peered around him and saw the pan of sweet rolls he was putting in the oven. Deciding that it couldn't have been too bad if he was up baking first thing in the morning, Vance detoured to the kitchen table. He was just starting to sit down when McGee turned around and he got a good look at Tim's face. "DiNozzo beat you?"

"He lost his temper and hit me once. That's not a beating." Limping slightly, McGee came over and sat across from Vance at the table. Ducky immediately began checking him over.

"Hit you once, slammed you face first into a wall and would have hit you again if I hadn't gotten to him first." Gibbs came in and sat in the chair next to Tim, wincing in sympathy as Ducky probed his blackened eye.

Vance automatically looked down at Gibbs hands, looking for the tell-tale bruised knuckles, but they were remarkably unmarred. "Do I need to send Dr. Mallard out for DiNozzo in an official capacity?"

"I didn't kill him, but I won't promise anything if he comes back tonight and tries something." Gibbs shifted his attention from Vance to McGee. "I thought you were going to rest until Ducky gave you the all clear, not come in and fix breakfast for all of us."

McGee would have rolled his eyes if Ducky didn't have his lid pulled back so far. "I did all the work last night. All I had to do today was take it out of the fridge. Even you could have done it."

"So why didn't you ask me?"

"Because you were busy carrying Jethro outside."

"Do I need to check him while I'm here?" Ducky sat in the remaining chair, satisfied that there was no serious or permanent damage to McGee.

Tim started to shake his head and then thought better of it. "No, he's all right. He just hasn't shaken off the Benedryl yet."

Ducky watched the younger man look pointedly at Gibbs while he spoke, and smiled, understanding the problem. "Yes, well, it will take a time for his body to metabolize the medication when he's not moving under his own power."

Gibbs retreated to make coffee while the other three men smirked. Once the coffee was started, Vance turned serious again. "Do you want to press charges or do you want DiNozzo terminated?"

"Neither. We are going to work this through as a team. You wanted an honest reaction from our friends, that's why none of them know what going on. Now, we have to deal with it."

Vance was more than a little surprised with McGee's outburst, and turned to see Gibbs' reaction. "Are you in agreement with this?"

The nod was slow in coming, but Gibbs gave it as he returned to the chair next to McGee. "Trust is... difficult for DiNozzo. I'm not quite ready to forgive him, but Tim is right, he shouldn't have been left out in the cold."

"All right, but he only gets one more chance. He's not getting read into this operation until he's fully accepted your cover as the truth. Agreed?"

The two men looked at each other before turning back to Vance. Gibbs gave the choice to McGee as the victim of DiNozzo's outburst. "Agreed, but that means we don't tell anyone else either. If he feels like he was the last to know, we'll never get past it."