A/N: Another day, another chapter! I am on a roll!
Review Replies:
Akinom.83: Thank you! And I'm glad you enjoyed the snippets. :)
Momcat: Thank you, too! :) My husband and I moved in together before we even got engaged, so we have an early test on how well we'll live together. So far, so good. As for comments on the story, yes. There's romance in Tim's future, but it's not going to be obvious who he's going to end up with any time in the next few chapters. Just one of many details I haven't done any foreshadowing on.
Crawcolady: Glad to provide! I already have an idea of how to get Tim back to DC, and it's probably going to be an "Of course!" situation once you read it. But that's not for at least a handful more chapters and a major time jump in the plot. Until then, enjoy!
Now, onward!
Event Eleven
Tim snorted in amusement as he heard Jade screech at Edmund in the other room. There was something about Edmund dumping a mess of wires all over the floor, but Tim didn't listen too closely. He wasn't about to bring Jade's wrath down on himself because he decided to stick his nose where it didn't belong.
"Are you sure you wanna work here?" Portia asked with a smile, looking up from her computer.
"Seems fitting enough. Jade reminds me of someone I used to work with," Tim replied, barely pausing his own work. He had a refurbished computer in pieces in front of him and was currently trying to determine if it was worth keeping the whole thing or if it should be salvaged for parts. He could already tell that the RAM was useless for salvage.
"Run while you still can. Once you're here for a week, you're here for life," Clark cracked from his own work spot.
"You say that like I'll need to hand my soul over to Jade just to get my paycheck," Tim laughed.
"You say that like I'm joking," Clark shot back.
"Both of you stop scaring him," Regan scolded as she entered the room. Tim jumped up to help her carry the boxes of computer parts that were blocking her line of sight. Regan gave him a smile in thanks before throwing Portia and Clark a scowl. "Jade's been needing someone to man the ship while we're gone. We need to keep Tom, not send him running for the hills."
"Clearly Edmund's been failing to do his job," Portia muttered, earning a darker scowl from Regan. Tim had to force himself not to laugh out loud, lest he get his own dirty look, and retreated back to his work table in the hopes that distance would make it easier to hold the laughter in. He had to say, everyone became a lot more interesting without Alice around to hold them back.
"Remind me again why I don't kill him," Jade hissed in irritation upon entering the room.
"You love me!" Edmund yelled at her back from where he was. Jade threw a glare over her shoulder, but she didn't bother with responding.
"How's it looking, Tom?" Jade asked, focusing her attention on what she asked Tim to do. Tim felt like a deer stuck in headlights for a few moments, not having expected to get Jade's attention any time soon, however he quickly got over it.
"Unless we're keeping the whole computer, the RAM is useless. The motherboard is in good condition, so it can be kept in storage in case we want to build a new computer any time soon. And I do mean soon. Bin the motherboard if there's a chance it'll be collecting dust while in storage. The hard drive, though, is a tiny 250 gigabytes. I wouldn't use it for anything related to the show. It'll fill up quickly. However, it may be useful for storing patient files if you want to use it for your practice," Tim reported.
"Very well. Take it apart for the parts and scatter them to wherever you think they fit best," Jade told him.
"We're being worked like beasts of burden here, Jade. When's lunch?" Clark asked.
"I cannot help it that the network wants to get all this research done in such a short amount of time," Jade said. She sighed and checked her wrist watch. "We could probably break for lunch right now. If I get a call for an update, I'll make an excuse."
"Thank god!" Portia shot up from her seat and collected her things before anyone could stop her. Clark followed her out at a more sedate pace, giving the others a look of amusement as he headed out the door.
"Eddie, lunch!" Regan yelled to the other room, making sure to put the boxes she was carrying in specific spots before grabbing her purse.
"Fine," Edmund replied, his voice muffled by whatever he was working on.
"Are you heading out, too?" Jade asked Tim when she noticed he hadn't moved from his table.
"It's actually early for lunch for me," Tim answered, checking his own watch. He couldn't remember the last time he had lunch at 11am.
"It's not so much lunch as it is a break away from work. The others are going to be eating while working two hours from now. I can guarantee it," Jade said.
Tim glanced over at Regan and Edmund as they, too, left the office and returned Regan's farewell wave right before the door closed.
"Sure. I don't see why not," Tim said. He put away the mini screwdriver he was using before standing up. "I should probably start getting used to navigating around Milwaukee, anyway."
"It's easy once you know the main streets. Trust me, Tim, you'll learn Milwaukee in no time at all," Jade said, switching to Tim's real name now that the two of them were alone.
"Let's hope so. I don't think Alice would let me live it down if I got lost somewhere and had to call her for help," Tim cracked.
"That's why you call me first," Jade said. "I'm nicer."
Tim gave Jade a deadpan expression. They both knew he heard her yelling at Edmund.
"What?! Compared to Alice, I'm nicer," Jade insisted with a laugh.
"Sure," Tim said, placating her. He turned away to grab his wallet from his desk drawer.
Tim opened his mouth to joke about offering to buy her a whip to keep them all in shape as he turned back to Jade, but he shut it when he noticed that Jade had suddenly frozen in place and her eyes had glazed over.
"Jade," Tim said, reaching out to touch her arm. Alice had warned him about this when they spoke about the incident in Southridge Mall, when Alice introduced Tim to everyone. Someone wanted to speak with Jade or Tim, and they weren't patient enough to do it when Jade said they could.
When Jade didn't move or speak for another minute, Tim considered calling one of the others back. Alice said the 'messages' were usually quick, and this one wasn't happening quickly. Tim had his phone out and in his hand, about to dial Portia's cell number, when Jade's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Tim gave her a mildly horrified look, not knowing how to handle the situation. Jade's eyes came back into focus and she moved her head to focus on Tim.
"Don't call. Jade's fine," someone who was definitely not Jade said. Tim ripped his wrist out of Jade's hand and took a step back. He might have been converted into being a believer, but he didn't expect to be alone the first time someone used Jade to speak with him. Alice assured him it wouldn't happen when he was alone with Jade because Jade wouldn't have allowed it. Some assurance that was, at the moment.
"Jade's not available to help you at the moment. May I take a message?" Tim asked.
"Don't be silly. It doesn't work that way," not Jade said. "Jade is busy arguing with a spirit at the moment, so I stepped up to prevent them from possessing her body while she argues with them. Some spirits can be so pushy."
It wasn't Kate. Tim could tell that much. Kate would have gone straight to proving who she was by telling him details only Kate knew. But this person, whoever they were, claimed to be doing the same job Kate does by protecting Jade.
"And how do I know you're telling the truth?" Tim asked before he could stop himself. Not Jade let out a laugh, giving him a look of amusement.
"I have to hand it to him. He did a great job of training you to be skeptical."
"Who?" Tim took another step back without thinking.
"Jethro," Not Jade said, causing Tim to pause mid-step. There was only one man named Jethro in his life, and Tim didn't realize that any of Jade's spirit guardians, other than Kate, knew who he was.
"How do you know that name?"
"Because everyone needs a code they can live by."
Tim's brain immediately brought up the memory of a discussion he had with Gibbs a long time ago. Tim had mentioned having to explain the logic behind some of the Rules to an FBI agent who was visiting the Navy Yard in the middle of a case, and Gibbs had made an off-hand comment about how the rules don't always apply to everyone because the person who taught Gibbs the rules had a rule about not dating lumberjacks. When Tim asked who that was, all Gibbs had said was 'My first wife.' Who Tim knew for a fact wasn't Diane Sterling.
"Shannon," Tim gasped. Jade had told him that one of her guardians was named Shannon, but he hadn't made the connection before now. He had no reason to. But two of Jade's guardians were connected to Tim in some way? What the hell was going on?
"I know. Hardly someone you ever expected to speak with," Shannon said. She walked over to Jade's work desk and sat down, motioning for Tim to do the same with a nearby chair. "I'm not about to leave the building with Jade's body, so we're stuck here until her argument is done. Do sit down, please. I'd love to get to know you better. Kate speaks about you and the team frequently."
"Does Jade know who you are? I mean, fully?" Tim asked. He slowly approached the chair Shannon motioned towards before sitting.
"I've told her nothing about Jethro or Kelly. Nor does she know about how Kate and I know people in common from when we were alive," Shannon answered. She gave Tim a placating smile. "Kate and I came to our postmortem careers for significantly different reasons, Tim. Telling Jade so many details about my history wasn't relevant. For Kate, it was."
"What's the difference? If I had dead people stepping up to protect me, I'd kinda want to know who they were," Tim said. His question earned him another placating smile.
"Kate choose to help Jade because of you. With whatever is going to happen in your future, Kate was determined to help. I choose to help Jade because of Jade. The incident with Jade's great-grandfather, when she was eleven, happened only a few weeks after I died, Tim. I was still a mother who needed a daughter to protect, but my Kelly moved on instead of remaining behind like I did."
Tim thought over everything Shannon just said. It seemed surreal. But it made sense. One of the first things Jade told him was how time flowed differently for the dead. How that affected each individual spirit would lead to vastly different motivations.
"So, what do you want to know?" Tim asked. He was satisfied with Shannon's answers. For now. He didn't doubt he'd have more by the time they spoke again.
"You sure you're ready to be interrogated by the original Mrs. Gibbs? I did teach Jethro a trick or two," Shannon said, a mischievous smile growing.
"Which he passed on to me, apparently, so bring it," Tim shot back.
Tim pinched his arm through his long-sleeve shirt as Shannon thought over where she wanted to start. He was awake. He was really here, having a talk with a woman who'd been dead for over a decade. The timing of the spirit who interrupted Jade could have been far better, but Tim figured going with the flow was best at the moment. He had no idea how long it was going to take Jade to finish arguing with whoever grabbed her attention, so Tim's only option at the moment was to entertain Shannon's curiosity. As his first time talking with the dead, it could be worse.