Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters.
A/N: Sorry not getting as much time to write as I would like, hope you enjoy this new chapter
Chapter 18
"Tim lives here?" Jackson questioned, as he got out of the car, even with what Tony had told them, seeing the place even from the outside was still a surprise.
Ducky shut the driver's door of his beloved Morgan as he wondered whether Jethro's reaction had been the same as his fathers. On leaving the hospital Tobias had taken his leave to go back to NCIS whilst the rest had split into two groups, Tony and Gibbs had gone in one car, whilst Ducky and Jackson had followed at a more sedate pace behind.
It had meant the Ducky was able to make a stop a to pick up some items he knew they were going to need, after having received a call from Vance, which had informed him that his suspicions from his little excursion the previous evening had been correct, which sadden him a great deal.
"Not for much longer, I afraid." Ducky replied, as he collected some items from the back seat. "We had best get in there."
"What do you mean not for much longer" Jackson demanded in the surprise as he rushed to follow Ducky as he walked into the building.
"I'll explain once we are inside." Ducky called over his shoulder.
NCIS
Having looked around the small studio apartment, Gibbs stood at the window watching as Ducky's Morgan pulled into the last available parking space and was no longer surprised by Tobias's reaction from the previous evening in fact he thought it had been milder than how he would have reacted if the shoe was on the other foot. The old adage of 'seeing is believing' came back to him as he took everything in and he didn't like what he saw.
"Tony." He called across the room to DiNozzo who was poking around in the kitchenette area.
"Yeah boss?"
"Tim have a suitcase?"
"Err yeah, bottom of the wardrobe, why?"
"Wardrobe?" Gibbs questioned, ignoring Tony's own question, looking around he hadn't seen any wardrobe.
"Behind the front door." Tony enlightened.
Gibbs acknowledged with a nod, now enlightened as to why he hadn't seen the piece of furniture, moving back to the front door and pushing too, but not closing it entirely, relieving a built in single door storage cupboard.
"This is his wardrobe." Gibbs stated in disbelief, staring at the handful of suits and shirts hanging in the space.
"Well yeah" came the sarcastic reply from his senior agent. "He told you he gets his suits from charity shops, what he didn't tell you was that's also where he buys the rest of his cloths, only when he has some spare money though."
"Jethro." Ducky's voice called out from the other side of the door, moving aside Gibbs closed the storage cupboard door whilst simultaneously re-opening the front door, surprised to see the boxes and packing material that medical examiner was carrying. "What you got there Duck?"
"Boxes for packing Jethro." Ducky replied coolly as he and Jackson walked in.
Tony's head popped up from behind the small breakfast bar, where he had been looking inside the cupboard to find Tim's coffee "Boxes?"
Ducky sighed. "Yes Antony, boxes."
"Just going to pack his clothes Duck, we can deal with the rest at a later date." Gibbs stated.
Realising the need to explain Ducky took a moment to enlighten them of what he had down the previous evening. "Actually Jethro we can't. Last night after I dropped Abigail at her apartment I took a little drive and came out here to see the area for myself."
"So?"
"So this morning after I established what I suspected, from Antony's description of exactly where young Timothy has been living, I had a talk with Leon and he confirmed what I had recalled from a recent article I had read."
"And?"
"This building along with the rest in the block are due to be demolished next month, making way for new prime real-estate. The residents were given notice at the beginning of this week I believe."
"What, wait that means…" Tony stopped speechless.
"Yes Tony, young Timothy's about to become homeless" Ducky replied
"Over my dead body" Jackson growled from behind Ducky, he had taken the opportunity to sit down on the ottoman in the window in order to regain his breath as he took in the room. "Where's the kids bed anyway?"
"You're sitting on it" Tony educated, the older man.
NCIS
Ziva, Jimmy and Delilah had kept up a stream of small chatter that lasted about twenty minutes, informing Tim of the latest gossip from around the navy yard which included Delilah's appointment at the new head of forensics, all in an effort to distract Tim from the fact that Tony was taking Gibbs to see his apartment. When Tim had asked about the case Ziva and Jimmy tactfully changed subjects. Soon an uneasy silence descend upon the group, which was only broken when Tim turned his attention to Delilah for the first real time since the group had entered his room.
"I don't mean appear rude, but why are you here?" Tim asked.
"McGee!" Ziva and Jimmy admonished together, surprised by Tim's unusual brashness
"It's okay, I came because I want to." Delilah
"Why?"
"Because it was me that ran the tests that identified you and Agent Gibbs as brothers"
"So…..You were ordered to, so it's not your fault"
"Still feels like it…..because of what I did you could lose your job"
Tim shrugged "Not your fault, if anything it's mine"
"How?" Delilah asked confused.
"What are you talking about McGee?" Ziva questioned
"Anything good in my life doesn't last long, I got complacent" Tim reasoned
"Tim…" Jimmy started
"No, I should know better, It's not like Gibbs really wants me there anyways" Tim countered.
NCIS
Leon Vance put down the phone's receiver and looked directly at Owen Brad. "Jarvis is not happy, so we need to find a way to make this work this because I am not prepare to loose one of our best agents, is that understood"
"Loud and clear, sir" Owen responded
"Okay tell me what you have"
It took less than ten minutes for Owen to explain what his departments had managed to cobble together in the first couple of hours in the day, before he went on to tell Vance the idea
"Sir its going take a long time for Agent McGee to recover for his injuries" Owen hesitate for a moment
"So?"
Owen bite the verbal bullet, hoping he wasn't about to get his head bitten off "So we have a couple of non-field opening coming up in the next couple of months which Agent McGee can easily fulfil with his experience."
"You're talking about the maternity leave for Maria Clarks and the expected retirement of Charles Mannering"
"Yes Sir"
"Hmmm, yes either one of those would work"
"Or we could do something completely new sir" Owen suggested, only to receive a raised eyebrow "Agent McGee could become a floating agent, helping out as and were needed"
"No I don't like that idea, though it could be adapted, let me give it some thought" Vance stated thoughtfully "What about replacing McGee on the MCRT?"
"Well that's not going to be easy sir."
"Telling me something I don't know" Vance deadpanned, he knew Gibbs wasn't going to be the only one not to like the changes being made, but if it meant keeping McGee at the agency then they'd just have to get over it. Of course it meant that there would need to be some reshuffling of other agency staff to accommodate the necessary change but Vance decided that that could be a good thing, after all it kept the agents fresh and the one thing Leon Vance hated was complacency with his work force.
NCIS
Brad Pitt walked in to Tim's room as the others were walking out of his room and smiled whilst he joked with the younger man "Wow, finally get you alone"
Tim laughed lightly before wincing and pouted "Hey not fair."
"Yeah sorry, but you got to admit it's the first time I got you alone." Brad said as he started making his assessment of his patient. "So how are you feeling?"
"Honestly?" Tim questioned
"As your doctor honesty is preferred" Brad informed
"Tired, confused and like I've run over by a bus."
Brad laughed "Well not quite, but I understand the metaphor"
"So I guess you're going to tell me what I have to look forward to" Tim predicted
"Long term, a full recovery as long as you do as you're told" Brad smiled "However first lots of rest and when you're ready heaps of physical therapy"
"Great"
"Look you've been lucky" Brad tried encouragingly
"Don't feel like it." Tim stated sadly to which Brad tilted his head questioning, whilst taking hold of Tim's wrist checking his pulse "Wanna talk about it?"
"Wouldn't know where to start."
Half an hour later Brad was staring at Tim in disbelief "You're kidding"
"Wish I was."
"So what you going to do about it?" Brad questioned
"What can I do about it, when I leave here I going to be homeless, jobless and in even more debt than before." Replied Tim despondently, as the door to his room opened.
"Think again Tim."