Monday, June 28, 2010
Sarah McGee can't believe her luck. Of all the grandmothers in the world, she's lucked out and has the one with enough stones to actually ground her grown granddaughter from bothering her brother for the next month! As she texts Tim to let him know she and Penny are enjoying themselves already in their temporary new digs, she can't help but remember back to Friday night when she'd actually been worried about what Penny was going to do to her.
**Flashback***
Laughing now, at Abby's probable fate here on in, Sarah drives away. Probably no more to worry about with her after tonight! Now, she just has to face the music in her own life. Penny!
Oh, God! Penny! Tim's right! Disobeying Penny is nearly as dangerous as crossing Gibbs. Oh, hell, the last hour may have proved to be SO worth the gamble, but the next 30 minutes are gonna be tough to get through! Then again, Penny will be over the moon ecstatic that what Tim has here is genuine and that Gibbs obviously and genuinely loves Tim and Sarah was just taking the time to see that for herself. Maybe, just maybe – her grandmother will cut her some slack this time. She sure hopes so!
***End flashback***
It doesn't really matter that she believes she saw evidence in Penny's expression that she was right about how happy the woman would be at the news that there was irrefutable proof that Tim is very much loved and in love with his much older former boss of six plus years. Well, maybe the fact that her worldly wise grandmother already seemed convinced of that, had dimmed Sarah's joy at being able to share that information. The bottom line is no matter how happy the woman happened to be for her brother, she had been very quick to lay into Sarah about her snooping and to issue said punishment along with the threat of dire consequences Sarah even thought of doing it again. The fact that said punishment doesn't even start until she and Penny get back from their trip, just sucks!
*******NCIS********
Heading into work Monday morning, Tim's steps are light and his head is almost in the clouds after the weekend he and Leroy have just spent together leisurely basking in each other's company both in and out of bed, the shower, the basement, etc. etc. He can't stop smiling as the memories cascade though his mind on vivid replay. Even the recollection of that particular serious discussion they had inadvertently gotten around to last night over dinner that had brought them both back down to earth just enough to keep them grounded, can't erase the smile because it wasn't like that had stopped them from making the most of what was left of the evening before making sure to get a good night's rest. It had, after all been an exhausting weekend!
His first stop is Autopsy. Walking in through the automatic doors, he lets the familiar 'whoosh' of the door mechanisms soothe his unsettled nerves. He's had this 'gut feeling' for days now that he needs to do this and very, very soon. What better time than the present, right?
"Timothy!" Ducky greets him jovially. "What brings you to my humble abode? I didn't think I'd be seeing you any time soon since you have moved up in the Agency."
"Hey. I'll always consider you part of my family, Ducky."
"Likewise, my boy. Now, what can I do for you?"
I need to ask you something….important."
"Certainly, young man! Let's take this to my office, shall we?" Ducky invites as he steps inside the room himself and closes the door behind Tim when he follows him inside. "Tell me, lad, what seems to be the trouble?"
"I want to make Gibbs my joint Medical Proxy – along with you. But, the paperwork involved is a nightmare and I'm not sure how to cut through the red tape to get it done faster. I don't want another day to go by without having him on there. Would you be willing….?"
"Relax, Timothy." Ducky is quick to interrupt. "Of course, I will help. I will deal with the paperwork so that it will be official as quickly as possible. You will simply need to come back to sign the completed forms later today"
"Thank you!"
"Have you discussed this with Jethro?" Ducky asks with genuine concern.
"We talked about it last night over dinner. He's supposed to be adding me to his, too."
"Good. Very good."
Tim turns to go. "Thank you, Ducky. This means a lot to me."
"Understandable, young man. I am most happy to assist you with this." Ducky ushers him back out and pats him on the arm just before Tim leaves out through the doors he'd entered through, disappearing from view when he hits the stairs.
Ducky shakes his head, a soft smile on his face. It's so obvious that young man is in love. Quickly, he returns to the papers and gets busy reading Tim's request. With the dangers of the job – even though the young man's taken a new role – carry with it, the need to deal with things on an immediate timetable. Ducky hopes Gibbs will remember to do the same thing for Timothy.
No sooner does he finish the thought than his ears are treated to the sound of the arrival of the elevator on his floor again. Turning to greet the next person coming through his doors, he's happy but not surprised that it is in fact, Jethro. "Good morning, Jethro."
"Mornin', Duck."
"The answer to your question, my friend, is 'most certainly, I will address the matter post haste and call you when you need to sign the finished documents so they may be officially filed."
Gibbs grins. "Tim's been down here already."
"Oh, yes. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so happy or sure of himself as he is now. You've certainly changed that young man's life, Jethro."
"He's changed mine even more." Gibbs admits quietly, not willing to pat himself on the back for Tim's new outlook on life, at least, without giving Tim much more credit..
"Indeed he has!" Ducky celebrate.
Looking quizzically at his friend, Gibbs receives a chuckle in return. "Honestly, young man, did you truly believe your new outlook on life wasn't noticeable to those around you?"
"Hadn't really thought about it, Duck."
"Well, while we are on the subject of what you've thought about lately, dear friend, I do believe it wise that I warn you that Abigail has terminated her own employment here and is currently beginning her employment elsewhere. Somewhere away from the yard. She has promised not to come back to visit for a year."
Gibbs lowers his head to his chest, hating like hell to have lost her and her skills from the agency. It's a hard blow, a tough one to get past and he worries how Tim will take it. Speaking of Tim – Abby's choice to do what she did to him earned her the necessity to make these changes and Gibbs knows that.
Straightening back up, he sighs deeply. The only thing to do now is move on. He hopes the new lab tech will be able to work well with his team. Speaking of team, it's time to hightail back up to the squad room and see how his current team is coming with combing through the files for the person to sit at Tim's desk. Handing the papers he needs to Ducky to work on for him, he surmises what's on his mind. "Guess it's time to move on."
"That it is, my friend. That it is." Ducky replies as he accepts the papers and watches his friend head out without speaking again. As the doors close behind Gibbs, the older man wonders aloud. "Can this team keep absorbing all this moving on with such drastic changes, I wonder. Well, at least Timothy and Jethro are genuinely happy together."
Without another spoken thought or wasted moment, the M.E. turns his full attention to the papers in his hands, grateful that Jimmy is in school this morning and that it's so far, a very quiet morning indeed. If he has anything to say about it, both young men will be able to sign the papers by lunch time and by the end of the day, all will be as they wish with their medical proxies.
********NCIS**********
Tony and Ziva both arrive around their usual time, in their usual bantering moods with each other as they ride up in the elevator together, until that is, they arrive on their floor and are reminded of the task that awaits them when they see the files that have been set in their chairs for them to go through. The sticky note on the top of Tony's stack that says ' deadline 1600 today' doesn't improve their moods much either.
Even as they settle in behind their desks and immediately set about logging into their work stations and picking up the first file in their stacks, they're sighing with resignation and frowning at the idea. Seeing the boss come back to his desk with a far less than happy expression on his face, does little to make them feel better.
"Gibbs?" Ziva is quick to check on him. She knows she doesn't have to say anything else to let him know she's concerned about him.
"When you're done with that. Go introduce yourselves to the new team of Lab Technicians." The only answer he provides as he sits down behind his desk, but respectfully glances at each of them for a brief moment, is the other shoe dropping on them. "They're permanent." He knows that will tell them all they need to know. Change is literally all around them here at work and it won't be easy or anything close to comfortable.
Tony sighs. He still reads the boss pretty well and right now it looks as if the man's feeling guilty for the fact that the whole rug's been shook out from under them on the job. He's not happy to be replacing Tim. He's not happy that Abby's obviously not here either. Wait, did he just say permanent? Come to think of it, it shouldn't really be a surprise that Vance isn't letting her come back.
Another example of how these changes have come about through personal choices that Gibbs isn't responsible for. Well, in so much as he could have refrained from getting in a relationship with Tim, he is. But, that's neither here nor there if having done so has made the man anywhere as happy as he appears to be outside of work.
In the short time those two have been together, the boss has literally dialed back on his grumpiness and his short-tempered expectations that used to reside in the outer limits of logic. In short, being with Tim has mellowed him and made him more content with himself. So, there's no way in hell that Tony's going to let the man wallow in any self-doubt, blame or recriminations for the changes they're having to deal with now.
Rather than draw attention to the Team Leader about this, Tony writes down what he want the boss to see, balls the paper up and tosses it across the squad room, straight at the man, knowing it will land on the desk at his hands, currently holding up a file as he reads through it.
Seeing something fly across their work space towards Gibbs, Ziva's head snaps up and her eyes immediately travel over to the boss. Watching the man set the file down, glare across the room at Tony and finally pick up the ball of paper and unroll it, she smirks. Seeing him react to what's on the paper wipes the smirk off as she realizes it's something serious and too personal for a public discussion. She moves her attention back to her perusal of the files. They don't need a spectator for this.
Not your fault, Boss. Tim's either!
Though as completely unexpected as the ball of paper flying at him from out of nowhere had been, the words that jump out at from the paper his Senior Agent's just directed at him, touch him, actually lifting him from the guilt he had been falling into. How Tony had picked up on that, he's not sure; but he is grateful. With a small smile he hopes shows that gratitude, he nods at him and returns his focus to the file in front of him.
Satisfied that he's done what he can to keep the boss from thinking too hard on the changes, Tony gets back to work. With the boss' emotions so close to the surface on this, a rare occasion in itself, the Senior Field Agent keeps his clowning and joking locked away, making for a serious and silent replacement hunt. The morning seems to drag by and it's barely 0900 when the silence gets broken by movement, rather than a voice.
No! He's not replaceable! Tossing the file down, Tony gets to his feet.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks with a touch of worry.
"I think we're lookin' at this all wrong. "
"How, Tony?" Ziva sets the file down that she's been looking through.
"We've been trying to find someone to replace Probie."
"That is what we need, yes?"
"No!"
"Tony, You are not making sense."
"He's not replacable." Gibbs quietly chimes in, his tone completely serious.
"Exactly!" Tony exclaims.
"Meaning what, Tony?" Ziva is still confused.
"Meaning, we should be looking at who will be the best fit for what we need – not who can come closest to being as good at what he was able to do for this team."
"Is there a difference?"
"Maybe not a lot. I'll admit,, but enough" Tony replies as he exchanges a meaningful glance with Gibbs before forcing himself to sit back down and get back at the search.
********NCIS**********
A busy morning has led to little time to make the rest of the changes to his personal accounts and such affairs. But lunchtime is a solid hour Tim puts to use adding Leroy to his life insurance policies and his Retirement Fund as beneficiary as well as his bank accounts and even his book sales account and most especially his will. That's not to say, he's excluding Sarah or Penny, because he's not leaving them out, merely spreading everything out among them and the select few people that are like family to him.
But he feels remarkably more comfortable with things on that end of his life by the time he's done with little time to spare at the end of the hour. Returning to work, he sends off a quick text message and stows his secret phone away, more than ready to work through the afternoon. Knowing that he can be home to fix dinner and make every night special for Leroy is an added bonus that puts happiness in his heart every time he thinks about it.
********NCIS**********
Lunch hour for the MCRT and Gibbs has ordered pizza in so they can keep perusing the personnel files. They've chosen a few first round possible candidates and it's beginning to look like Gibbs will be holding some interview tomorrow. When the Team Leader stops to realize they've had the day without any interruptions from the higher ups, he smiles. It's not very often that Leon stays out of big decisions like this. Hmmm. Maybe he'd better check on that.
Getting up, Gibbs heads up the stairs. Behind him, Tony tosses the file he's currently holding, back down onto his desk in complete frustration. "I say we just bring Dornie back – let him get his feet wet in the field while knocking it out of the park electronically. The kid was good and smart."
At the top of the stairs, Gibbs smiles as he processes what Tony's just said. It sounds like a good plan. For now, a solid one that he feels comfortable backing. Now, where the hell is Vance?
********NCIS**********
Afternoon break finds Tim back down in Autopsy signing the papers now that Ducky has finished putting them together and getting them all ready for legalizing. A few signatures later and Tim's done. He's anxious to get back to his desk where he's left a few things going that he needs to finish, so he thanks Ducky again before disappearing through the doors and up the stairs once more.
Almost immediately on the heels of Timothy's departure, Ducky is treated once again, to Gibbs' arrival. He's quiet as he slowly goes through signing on lines and d flipping through the pages to find the next signature, until he's done. He hands Tim's packet back to the M.E. who knows it's not a pleasant thing to have to think about and doesn't bother him with small talk.
Ducky hands him his own papers to sign Timothy into place as his medical proxy. "Since you know where to sign now, I'll leave you to finish while I fix my tea. Just place them on the envelope on my desk when you've signed them all, Jethro." The M.E. instructs his friend as he walks into his office
"Thanks , Duck." Gibbs sits to go through his own documents, flipping pages and signing. His cell phone rings and he's quick to look for it in his pocket so he can answer it while he flips the page he was on and keeps going. "Yeah. Gibbs. Got it. Thanks." Closing his phone, he closes up the pack of papers and sticks them on the envelope like the M.E. had asked him to. "Gotta run, Duck!. Thanks again!"
"Your're very welcome, Jethro!" Ducky calls out from inside his office.
Heading out of Autopsy at almost a dead run, Gibbs snaps his phone open again. "Meet me in the truck, Tony. Got a missing Cadet, last seen with his friends in Rock Creek Park." Snapping that phone shut, he drops it into his pocket and digs out his other phone, firing off a quick auto text to Tim, smiling at the memory of Tim showing him how that feature worked on his phone. - Just got a case,
Tim's answer is quick, one of concern mixed with care: and concern and one that he's obviously stored in his phone the same way: Stay safe - I'll keep dinner warm in the oven for you.
With a smile on his face and one to match in match in his heart, Gibbs hurries to meet up with his team.
*****NCIS****
2330 hours and Leroy is finally able to make it home, albeit more on autopilot than not, as exhausted as he is. The case had turned ugly hours ago and now that the guilty so called friends had confessed to setting their 'friend' up to be killed because he had publically shunned them when he'd realized they swung both ways, he can finally walk away. Except he can't. His mind wont let him.
Distracted, he almost doesnt see Tim' handwritten note propped up on the coffee maker.
Leroy:
coffee is set when you're ready to turn it on.
Dinner's warm in the oven.
Please eat.
I'll keep the bed warm for you until you're ready to get some sleep.'
love Tim.
Smiling softly at his lover's thoughtfulness, understanding and the breathing space Tim's given him to decompress in, he does as the note requested and tries to eat. He manages half of the baked chicken with alfreda noodles and even some of the salad he found in the fridge. Setting his dishes down in the sink, he douses them with liquid dish detergent and fills them with hot water to soak. Tiredly, he takes the time to put the food away and turn off the oven before retreating to his basement, a cup of hot coffee in hand.
Since letting Tim into his life, he's not touched the bourbon and hasn't wanted to. Tonight, however, may just be a different story. But for now, he's content with the coffee. Maybe it's the reminder that Tim's looking out for him that keeps him from turning to the booze. It's sure not the damned case, that's for sure.
He hasn't been down here in over two weeks, but he refuses to awaken Tim with what he can't yet shake off from the case. Not only is it way too close to home for them, but its too intense to foster any peace of mind and he wont dump that on Tim if he can help it.
********NCIS******
0200 finds Tim waking to a cold bed where his love should be soundly sleeping next to him. Padding quietly down to the kitchen, he finds the half empty pot of coffee and puts his hand on it. It's cold to the touch which means its been at least an hour since Leroy's been out of the basement for a break of any kind. Apparently, the older man's mind hasn't been able to just walk away from this one.
Tim understand what it's like because he's been there - where the case became the person they couldnt save and his conscience wouldn't let go of it. He watches from the open doorway to the basement, as the man he loves lets his hands keep his mind working on something. Without disturbing him, the young man retreats to find a piece of paper and a pen. Coming back to the doorway, he sits and silenly writes without looking at the paper, his eyes locked instead, onto his love, watching him work. When Tim is done writing, he stowes the paper and pen away for later and at long last, descends the stairs and approaches his lover, speaking quietly to him so as not to startle him.
"Leroy."
As the older man wearily looks his way, sadness, mixed with exhaustion written all over him, Tim keeps things simple, gently peeling the small chisel from Leroy's hand and setting it down. "C'mon. Let's see if we can't get you some sleep."
Leroy doesn't argue or fight with Tim about it. Tiredly, he allows the young man to help him up both sets of stairs and on into the bedroom. He doesn't even put up a fight when Tim tenderly peels his clothes off of him except his boxers and encourages him to lay down on the bed on his stomach, the way he likes to sleep if Tim's not in bed with him. Bonelesly, he sinks down into the mattress as the younger man retrieves something from the bedside table,straddles Leroy's waist to sit gently across his lower back. The silver-haired tired one doesn't protest or even ask what's going on, his mind already shut down for the night.
Tim coats his hands with the massage oil, warming it before he begins applying it to Leroy's neck in firm, steady movements, over and over until he literally feels the tension ease away. Only then does he apply more oil to his hands and move on down to the man's shoulders, applying the warm massage to the left one first. Working his way over to the right shoulder, he feels Leroy finally relax peacefully into sleep before Tim's done with that one. With a small dose of satisfaction, Tim keeps going, working his way down to his lover's lower back and applying more massage attention to that area. He keeps going working his way down each of Leroy's legs, skirting the butt and going on down to the souls of the man's feet.
Only then, does he stop. Tim eases himself off the bed, silently padding back downstairs to clean up the rest of the dinner dishes, reset the coffee, change Leroy's alarm on his phone and make sure the house is secure for the night. With that done, he goes back upstairs and slips into bed next to his lover, laying up against him but otherwise leaving him alone to rest without disturbing him. It's not long before sleep finds him and carries him off.
*****NCIS******
Groggily waking to his alarm, Gibbs wipes a hand across his face as the otherwise empty bed registers with him. Sitting up, he notices none of his back muscles are aching. He vaguely recalls Tim giving him a massage. Where is Tim? Glancing at the clock, he realizes the younger man's gone to work already. So, why is he just waking up? He picks up his phone and checks the alarm time that was set. Frowning, he hits the shower, marveling at how nice his limbs feel, freed from stress
Showered and dressed a short 15 minutes later, he emerges from the bathroom, the aroma of fresh coffee beginning to reach his nose. He makes a beeline for the coffee, drinking down his entire 1st cup before pouring the second, turning the machine off and turning to head out, he stops short when he sees a note on the kitchen table. Picking up the paper, he smiles softly at the sight of Tim's handwriting there.
Leroy
It's been a long day for you
followed by an even longer night
Your thoughts can't seem to settle down at all
Or give you any peace.
Although you managed to eat a bit
Your stomach is in knots
Your heart hurting for what happened in the case
And only by working your hands to exhaustion
Are you able to see above it at all.
Through it all
My heart cries for you
And I share your pain
When you finally find sleep
As I manage to massage your tension away
Know that truly I wish there was more I could do
And that no matter what
Ill be here for you.
I love you
Tim
Stowing the paper away in his pocket, he pours himself a cup of coffee to go. With a song in his heart , the love of a good man in his soul and the secure knowledge that he is completely loved, Gibbs lets yesterday roll back and focuses on today. And today, is a damned good day!
