Tim alighted on a ledge overlooking the courtyard, assuming that no one would be there so late at night. The skittish priest lived in a little parsonage down the street. (Years before, he lived in a small back room of the cathedral itself, but it had been converted to use for storage, and he was forced to move out.)
McGee gently touched down, careful not to disturb anything. Well, he didn't burst into flames. Victoria was wrong about that, at least. Though he wasn't actually inside the church. Maybe that made a difference...
Relaxing, he put his full weight on the ledge and admired the prayer garden below him. Victoria would love it. He would have to take her there sometime-
With a horrid groan, the wood beneath his feet collapsed, unused to any sort of weight being placed on it. Tim didn't have time to angle his wings so that he might glide gently down or fly away. No, instead he fell ten feet, landing amongst the splintered wood with a crash. At least with his strength he was unhurt, though his pride was bruised quite a bit.
...
Tony's head snapped up, and he stood from his spot in the back pew. He had heard the sound of something breaking and hitting the floor. A male voice groaned quietly.
DiNozzo stood and rushed to the side door to help whoever had groaned.
Tim heard someone coming, and quickly righted himself, scaling the nearest column and leaping into the rafters. The courtyard was connected to a sort of hallway, though each side of the hall was lined with open arches, and not solid stone. Cross-beam rafters overlooked the courtyard and the promenade, and this is where McGee hid in the darkness, wings drooped just out of sight above whoever would enter.
DiNozzo pushed open the heavy door to the walkway with his good arm, and stuck his head into the open space. He didn't see anything, and at first Tim couldn't see Tony either. But once the agent's face turned into the moonlight, Tim sucked in a breath. His wings twitched involuntarily, and the larger feathers brushed against the rafters, making a scratching sound.
Tony looked up just in time to see a shadow shoot from his end of the hall to the far end, towards the courtyard. Though he could not see the figure, he knew it was a flightling. His hand twitched to his gun and his knees bent ever so slightly. He was in the perfect defensive stance, considering his arm was in a sling.
He had only meant to protect himself, but whoever was up in the rafters didn't like the reflex, and hissed. It wasn't at all a reptilian sound, in fact it was nothing DiNozzo had ever heard. That wasn't true- he'd heard it in his flightling hunts.
He took a risk in doing this- with all of the flightlings that had attended the party that night, this could be anyone. But Tony dropped his hands to his side and straightened. His heart pounding, he called out into the darkness. "Tim?"
McGee really wasn't in the mood to talk to DiNozzo. But when Tony called his name, his shoulders drooped. He didn't say anything, hoping the NCIS agent would go away. He didn't.
"I know you're here, McGee," Tony called, mostly to fill the silence. It was unnerving.
A flutter of wings and suddenly McGee was on the beam in front of him. Tim had become so agile he could balance in a crouch on the rafter. He stared down at Tony, who stared right back, captivated by his former coworker's eyes. The wings were perked up, in the shadows out of sight. In fact, most of Tim was hidden in shadow.
"Hey Tim," DiNozzo said quietly, not breaking his gaze.
"Tony," Tim nodded. He certainly was different- he held himself with a much more regal air. He fit in with the ancient architecture of the church quite well.
"You look..."
"Like a freak?" Tim was gone again, high up where he couldn't be seen. His voice rang farther away, and Tony had to walk down the hall to make sure he didn't lose the flightling.
"No. I was going to say you look different."
A small exasperated sigh escaped the young man; it was the same kind of sigh he used to emit when DiNozzo decided to bother him at the office.
"I'm sorry I called you a monster," he said, following the rustling of wings as Tim moved even further into the depths of the cathedral.
"Well, you weren't completely off. I think you used the word dangerous...?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry-"
"No, you were right about that. I am dangerous," he said casually.
"Tim, you don't have to-"
"Oh I'm not offended," McGee said matter-of-factly. "I'm dangerous. Plain and simple."
An ear-splitting screech was heard, one that made Tony's head hurt down to the teeth. A large piece of rock hit the floor a few feet in front of Tony. McGee had torn it from the wall and dropped it, to show his old friend the reality of the situation.
Tony pinched his lips together warily. McGee was clearly in a bad mood.
"So, what? Are you saying I should be afraid of you? Why should I, besides the fact that you're strong?"
The door slammed shut behind him, and he realized that Tim had run into the main area of the chapel. He quickly made his way to the door and yanked it open. The muggy outside air hit the cool inside air, creating a breeze.
Candles and modern lamps cast their light everywhere, though much of the cathedral was still swallowed in the dim.
DiNozzo ran down the middle aisle; his shoes hitting the floor made the only sound in the building. He stopped in the middle of the church, the hair standing on the back of his neck. Once again, the moonlight crisscrossed over the pews, leaving a frightening pattern on the marble floor.
Cocking his head to the side, DiNozzo listened intently for any sign of McGee.
He was met with silence.
The hair on the back of his neck pricked up, and he knew he was being watched.
A bang echoed through the hall, and Tony jumped, jostling his arm. He could barely feel it, however, as he was too busy worrying about the figure several feet above him.
Most large churches have a clerestory, the highest row of windows on the wall. This building's clerestory had a ledge, used when janitors needed to clean or replace the stained glass. Tim was standing on that ledge, looking down on DiNozzo, his wings spread to their full span. Each wing was longer than three windows across, and Tim's arms were slightly apart from his sides, his hands balled into fists.
McGee had started at NCIS with a decent amount of baby-fat, which he lost gradually through the years, leaving behind a wiry figure. From all of his flying, Tim had become more muscular- the muscles were subtle, Tim was still long and thin, after all- but they made a difference.
He had started the night in a full tuxedo, though he had removed his jacket and vest before their fight in the alleyway. His shoes, impractical and heavy in flight, had been removed, leaving just his trousers and shirt (whose sleeves had been rolled up to the elbows). Standing in front of the huge stained glass portrait of Mary and the Angels, which was illuminated by a spotlight, colors shone softly through Tim's wings, which made his emerald green eyes stand out.
In every sense of the word, Tim did look like an angel. He was beautiful, inhuman...and frightening.
DiNozzo's heart rate jump started as he stared at Tim, waiting for an attack, some sort of movement, anything. But McGee just stood there.
It took a couple tries for Tony to find his voice, but he was able to choke out, "Haunting churches now, are we?"
"It seems appropriate."
Tim was gone again, and Tony dove into the cover of the shadows. Though he didn't think McGee would hurt him, he didn't exactly feel safe.
"When did you begin hunting?" Tim asked suddenly.
"Uh...ri...right after you went missing," DiNozzo said.
"Why do you hunt?"
"We don't hunt all of...your kind...just the ones that hunt down humans. We realize that not all of you actually steal souls. What I said before in the alley...that was just a mistake, Tim."
"Why did you come after Apollo and Victoria, then?"
"We thought Apollo had killed you."
"Why?"
"McGee, the last time we saw you, he was standing over you, blood all over you and his hands. Then he made off with you before we could stop him."
"He didn't cause the blood."
"Well I realize that now."
"Tony, I don't really remember too much about that night...what were we doing out in the alley in the first place?"
Tim's voice became earnest, but Tony didn't leave his hiding place against the wall.
"Tracking down whoever murdered our marine...it was a mugging gone wrong, we decided."
Suddenly it clicked into place for Tim, who was perched on another section of the clerestory. "Oh! It all makes sense. When I woke up, Apollo and Victoria told me I had been shot. They patched me up. They thought you or Ziva shot me, you thought Apollo killed me. In realty, some mugger shot me."
The tension left DiNozzo's shoulders. "Wait...so all this...All. Of. This...was a big misunderstanding?"
"It would appear so."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
The quiet darkness was not as frightening, though still tense.
"One question," DiNozzo began. "Why didn't you come back to us, after you had gained your health back?"
"I didn't remember anything but my name," Tim admitted. "I had no way of knowing my past or what kind of life I lived."
"It was a good one," Tony said.
"Was it, though?"
"Yes!" DiNozzo insisted. "You had a job, you had us!"
"I know that. And I'm grateful. But I feel like I belong here."
"You belong with humans, don't you?"
"No," Tim practically growled. "I told you, Tony. I may not be some evil creature that you have to put a stop to, but I like living with flightlings. My life here...I'm so much better off. I've got people who understand me, and I'm so much more...confident. Healthy. Strong. I can feel, sometimes...I...I'm different, Tony. I'm still me, but there's something else I've got to deal with."
The senior agent nodded, though he knew Tim couldn't see him. He could tell that McGee wasn't some killing machine, but he was different in many ways. That was ok, but...
It was clear from his movements, his behavior, what he talked about...Tim was still Tim. But he wasn't a human. He was a volatile flightling with a distrust for himself. He had something within him, clearly some sort of darkness that he had to control. Until then, yes, he was dangerous. Purely good, but with some baggage to work out.
"So where does that leave us? Ziva and Gibbs and me?"
It was silent for a long time, as Tim thought up a decent response. He finally answered with. "I don't know."
It was an ambiguous answer, one that made DiNozzo nervous. Suddenly, he could feel his cell phone buzz in his pocket. "Gibbs is calling. I'm assuming you don't want him to come here looking for me?"
"No, that's probably a bad idea," Tim chuckled in spite of himself. "You should go."
"We'll probably be in town for a week or two," Tony said, hoping McGee would come around before they left.
"As long as you don't murder any innocent flightlings. But by all means, get rid of the bad ones. According to Apollo, they're dangerous to us as well."
"Ok."
It was quiet again, though this time it was more awkward than anything else.
"See ya, Tim."
"Bye, Tony."
DiNozzo left his spot in the shadows and quickly reached the door. Once outside, he hailed a cab to his hotel.
Tim closed his eyes and leaned against the clerestory. The longer he talked to Tiny, the more agitated and angry he felt. For some reason, it subsided as soon as DiNozzo left. He would talk to Apollo about it later.
He realized absently that he had never seen a truly evil flightling- not that he knew of. Never had he seen a flightling with black wings. That would change quite soon.