Gibbs sat at his desk, staring at another desk, this one empty. When his view was blocked, he didn't have to look up to know who it was. "Back to work, Tony."

"Doing what, Boss?" Tony waved his arms around as he talked. "Ziva and I are all caught up on paperwork, remember? We had to get it done to go to Chicago with you and McGee." When Gibbs stiffened at the sound of Tim's name, Tony leaned forward, resting his hands on Gibbs' desk. "You know, McGee, the man you fell in love with."

"Tony, don't." Gibbs still wouldn't look at him. "Just... just leave it alone."

"Leave it alone? You want me to just leave it alone?" Tony slammed his hands down on the desk surface before straightening up. "I don't think so. Tell me, what it really an op?"

"Yes, it was an op."

"When did you stop pretending?"

Gibbs shook his head, closer to tears than Tony had ever seen him, his voice breaking. "It doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't."

"Leave it alone."

When Gibbs suddenly stood, Tony followed him into the men's room, chasing the other occupants out. "Do you think you're the only person to ever fall in love undercover?"

"Tony..."

"Because if there's one thing I understand, it's falling in love while you're living a lie. When you hit that moment where you realize that the life you're living undercover is a whole lot more real than the empty life you left behind. The difference," Tony stared up at the ceiling for a moment as he struggled to stay in control. He took a deep breath and started again, deliberately keeping his voice low. "The difference is that you weren't lying to the person you fell in love with. You get a chance to have it all, Gibbs."

"Tony..."

DiNozzo was not going to back down. "When?"

"What?"

"When did you finally look at him and think to yourself 'I love him'?"

Gibbs was leaning against the sink and laughed as he shook his head. "When Sarah was a suspect and he stood up to me."

The confession stopped Tony cold. "Wow, really? That was, like, years ago. All this time and you never told him?"

"Couldn't."

"Rule 12, which, by the way, doesn't count in this case because the two of you never actually dated."

Gibbs started pacing again. "It wasn't real."

"Bull." Tony stepped into his path, forcing Gibbs to stop again. "Chicago was real. Don't insult Tim by saying otherwise."

"He deserves better."

Tony had to agree, up to a point, and poked Gibbs' chest to emphasize his words. "He deserves the world, but what he wants - is you. You, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, warts and all."

Diane's words were still running through his head. "I'll screw it up. I always screw it up."

"And he'll forgive you, but maybe, just maybe, this time you won't screw it up because this time you're not trying to replace Shannon."

Suddenly unable to breathe, Gibbs staggered back to hit the wall, sliding down to land on his butt on the tile floor. "You don't understand."

Tony dropped to his knees in front of him. "That she was the love of your life? That the stream of red-heads never lasted because they were all poor substitutes? No secret there, Boss, we've all known that. Probably for as long as we've known about Shannon and Kelly." He studied the older man's face. "You weren't trying to replace them when you fell in love with Tim, and that makes it as real as it gets."

Finally, Gibbs was listening, so Tony started rambling, hoping to get through to him and keep their family together.

-NCIS-

Ziva followed McGee as he tried to slip away, Abby right on her heels. They caught up with him in the garage. "McGee, are you all right?"

"I don't think so, Ziva." Tim leaned against one of the agency sedans, keys tightly grasped in his hand. "I'm not sure I ever will be."

"Was the Director telling the truth?" Abby twisted her pigtails as she chewed on her lip. "Was it all really just an assignment?"

When Tim dropped his head down onto the roof of the car, Ziva had her answer. "It might have started that way, but it became much more than that, am I right? You are truly in love with Gibbs."

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"Of course it matters. If you guys really love each other, who cares how it started. If anything, it makes me feel even better about it."

"What?" Tim twisted his neck to watch Abby as she picked up steam.

"Yeah, because that means that I didn't miss it since you guys didn't even know how you felt yet and you weren't hiding it from us."

Ziva was having trouble keeping up with Abby's logic. "Whatever is going on, you need to talk it out with Gibbs. Come, let us go back upstairs."

"No, I need to think, Ziva, and I can't do that here. I need some space." He climbed into the car and started it up without rolling down the window. Ziva tried to stop him, but Abby grabbed her arm.

"Let him go, Ziva."

"Abby!" Frustrated, Ziva watched him pull away.

"If we corner him, he'll just dig his heels in." Abby turned her towards the elevator. "Trust me, he'll drive around in circles before he ends up someplace he feels safe. Then we send Gibbs to him."

"But, how will we know?" Ziva broke off when she saw the look on Abby's face. "You're going to track his cell phone? What if he turns it off?"

"He won't, he's too conscientious to do that, and while we're at it, let's see if we can figure out what else happened this morning."

-NCIS-

"Was that really necessary, Director Vance?" With a rare show of anger, Ducky stormed into Vance's office and slammed the door behind him.

"In my opinion, it was. I believe I am repeating myself when I say that I promised to protect McGee when this was over."

"From Jethro?"

"I didn't see him jumping up to argue with me."

"After you blindsided them like that? Very well, Director, you continue to protect McGee from the man that loves him if that's what you think is best. I just have one question for you."

"What's that?"

"Who is going to protect Timothy from you?" After another hard look, Ducky turned and left, heading for the bullpen.

-NCIS-

Double checking, Abby refreshed the screen before she said anything. "He's going back to his old apartment."

"Are you sure?"

"He's not there yet, but he's going in that direction. We'll wait until he stops before we send Gibbs." When there was no answer, Abby looked up at Ziva who was staring at another computer monitor. "Ziva?"

When she finally looked up, the other woman appeared even more worried. "I believe I have found this morning's trouble. McGee received a telephone call from his father at 0620 this morning." She continued to track Daniel McGee's outgoing calls.

"Is that bad?"

"That is very bad."

Abby automatically started tracking down the location of the phone owned by Daniel McGee. She didn't understand the latest problem, but Ziva's reaction was proof enough for her.

-NCIS-

Tony was good at talking, but he knew he was going to run out of words soon. Nevertheless, Gibbs was smiling softly as he listened to Tony's retelling of the potluck and impromptu neighborhood football game. "It was a special day, Boss, for everybody."

"Yeah."

Now that Gibbs seemed a little more receptive, Tony decided to take a chance. "So, what went wrong this morning, before Abby came back?"

Gibbs gave a pained laugh as he closed his eyes, still sitting on the bathroom floor. "Diane showed up, reminded me what a screw-up I am in the relationship department."

"Oh, come on, Boss, you didn't actually listen to what she had to say."

"I didn't want Tim to hear her, but when I saw the look on his face..."

"That was not what upset him, Gibbs." Ziva's arrival startled them both.

"What? Then why..."

"He received a phone call this morning from his father."

"Crap."

Ziva knelt down next to Tony, in front of Gibbs. "I spoke to Sarah. He tried to bully her into giving him McGee's cell phone number while we were in Chicago. She refused."

"But he found it anyway." His gut was telling him that Tim's conversation with his father was probably even worse than the one he'd had with Diane.

She hated to tell him the rest. "Abby and I checked, over the weekend he made thirty-seven calls to McGee's apartment landline and his work number."

Gibbs was already climbing to his feet. "I have to find Tim."

"Abby traced his cell, he's going back to his apartment."

Tony beat him to the door. "We're going with you."

Once the door was open, they could hear the heavy clumping of platform boots running as she passed Ducky. "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, I tracked Tim's father. His cell phone is already at Tim's apartment. He's waiting for him."

Gibbs ran to his desk for his weapon, as did the others. "Call him, Abs, warn him."

She was almost in tears. "I tried, he's not answering."