JF25
Gibbs had been sitting at the counter having breakfast and thinking. When he had walked in, he had spied the boys sitting in the far booth. Both of them were involved in an intense conversation and he definitely didn't have the energy to intervene. He was curious though, as to why they were meeting secretly before work. When he asked Elaine if she knew what they were talking about she explained to her long-time friend and favourite customer that the boys stopped talking every time she approached the table. But she had been serving someone else nearby and heard Tony ask Tim about an office and the Christmas party in 1990. That had confused Gibbs even more. What was strange about it though was, how the hell did Tony know what had happened back then? They didn't meet Timothy McGee until '02.
Seeing the boys leave by the main entrance, their coffee cups in hand and two extra's he assumed were for Ellie and himself, he tossed his money on the counter and thanked Elaine for breakfast, before following the boys back to base in his truck. He hung back at the navy yard, giving the boys time to get to their desks, before he came strolling in to the bullpen, like he usually did. Strolling in and tossing his bag down as he locked his weapon away, he was surprised to see Tim, Tony and Ellie all with their heads down and each focused on the files in front of them.
"Morning." Leon greeted the team leader as he too looked stunned at what he was seeing. He motioned for Gibbs to follow him up to his office. Once safely settled behind his closed office door, Leon asked the question that had been plaguing him. "What did you do, Gibbs? Read them the riot act or something."
"I have no idea. We are supposed to be on the late start and I came a bite earlier than I usually would, to do some paperwork for the last case, to see all three of them already here, working hard like that." Gibbs told their Director. "This morning, the boys were eating breakfast together at the diner, the conversation looked somewhat intense and Elaine wasn't sure what they were talking about."
That peaked Leon's curiosity and a quick call to the base entrance commander told them that the boys were here even earlier; which was even more surprising. A call to Gus, the employee gym manager from Gibbs gave them another clue, "The boys did a big workout, apparently." he told Leon. "Both of them are under a bit of stress, at the moment. It's not surprising." he reminded the Director.
"That doesn't explain the twilight zone down there." Leon quipped. "But right now, we need to discuss Tim."
As soon as Gibbs and Vance disappeared upstairs, Ellie let out a deep breath that she had been holding in. "Alright, let it out you two. What the heck is going on?" she asked. She was fed up, sure the boys had surprised her with a coffee and they'd never done that before. But Gibbs had arrived later than usual today and he's never been late before. The worst part was that Tony and Tim were being one hundred and ten percent professional. Not one jibe or off-coloured comment about what Tony had gotten up to on the weekend. Not one joke or prank, not one snap or snipe, nothing.
"Stay out of it, Bishop." Tony warned her with a small smile, so she would know he wasn't angry with her. "It's safer that way."
Ellie's face began to take on a perturbed quality that didn't sit well with Tim. He tried to diffuse the situation. "Ellie look, when Tony told you to stay out of it, he meant it in the nicest way. We're trying to protect you and your career, here. Trust us, tomorrow will be a better day."
She smiled at Tim. "OK, I trust your judgement, Tim." Ellie said softly, shuffling some of her paperwork around. "If tomorrow isn't better, then I expect some answers."
The shrill ring of Tim's desk line had the rest of the MCRT jumpy. Tim barely said two words before standing and locking his workstation. At Tony's questioning gaze, Tim pointed that he was headed upstairs. Climbing the stairs to the mezzanine level above, Tim had to admit he was curious as to why Gibbs had summoned him to Vance's office. "Go right on in, Agent McGee. They're expecting you." Pam had told him as soon as he had reached the Director's outer office.
"You wanted to see me?" Tim asked as he let himself in. His stomach was a ball of nervous energy. What didn't sit well with him was that the two bosses were sitting at the conference table and not on the sofa or at the desk.
"Take a seat, Tim." Leon told him. That put Tim on edge more. The Director used his surname in all professional circumstances and his first name when it was of a personal nature. "We want to talk to you about two things. Let's get the personal thing out of the way, first."
"Before we start, I just want to say that we're both proud and happy with the way you've handled everything you have been dealt with lately. Can't have been easy." Gibbs chimed in, as he patted Tim on the back in support of the young man's troubles. "Especially feeling betrayed by Penny on the whole parental issue. You have our support every step of the way, Tim."
"Thank you." Tim said softly. "I guess it explains why the Admiral never liked me much and why Lori didn't step in to help me when she married my Dad. She must have already known, too."
"If you want to run your DNA, I'll need you to sign some forms. I can get Pam to get them organised while we talk about another issue. We can get Miss Scuito to run your DNA through the database." Leon offered to him and he saw Tim grimace that Abby would be the one doing the test. Abby would tell everyone the results before he even got a call. "We could always ask the FBI to do it, instead."
Tim was weighing up his options when Gibbs interjected. "We could ask Mrs Carlson, over in Building B. Balboa trusts her with his forensics. Especially when Abs is swamped with our cases. I have used her in the past, on occasion. Don't tell Abby."
"I'll add it to the list." Tim muttered with a sly grin for his team leader. That list of secrets he was keeping for Gibbs was growing by the day now.
"What does that mean, Tim?" Gibbs asked with a grin of his own. "Are you saying I am only human? That I slip up from time to time? That I have flaws?"
"It means that Agent McGee has a memory bank of Gibbs' secrets." Vance supplied, throwing his two cents worth in. "That if he gets too many they might start to overflow and certain people might not like to hear the truth."
"That sounds suspiciously like blackmail there, Leon." Gibbs jested at his friend.
"I can't blackmail you if I am not privy to the details, Gibbs." Leon retorted at his friend's jibe. "Back to the test...?"
"Mrs Carlson can run it, I trust her not to blab the results to anyone." Tim finally conceded in a small voice. He was deeply worried that it would feed the gossip fodder before he had a chance to find out the results himself. "It'll eat away at me, not knowing. Unfortunately, as much as Penny said she suspected, I don't think she knows the details. If she knew the details, she would have told me. I think that the Admiral knows more than he is telling and as long as he knows, he has something over me and can continue to feel superior to me in every way."
"Just to be sure, Tim. I'll have her sign a Non Disclosure Agreement." Leon added, before quickly buzzing Pam and telling her to get the relevant paperwork ready for Tim to sign before he left the office.
"Next up, we need to discuss your future at NCIS." Gibbs said gently. He was trying to tread lightly, he didn't want Tim getting the wrong idea. "Before you ask, you're not getting a pink slip. I meant that you have outgrown your role as a JFA."
Tim let out a chuckle and at the questioning looks from both Gibbs and the Director, Tim explained. "Tony used those exact words this morning, over breakfast."
"Sidebar? What was so important you and DiNozzo had to clock in at 0430?" Gibbs asked, curious.
"Both of us weren't sleeping, after a few exchanged messages we decided to get in a workout." Tim told them. "You'll be happy to hear that Kate's fluorescent scarf is still at the three mile mark and I beat my PB."
"Tim, I was at the diner this morning. The two of you were having an intense conversation." Gibbs reminded him. He wasn't sure if the boys had seen him or not. "It didn't look like a casual catch up of old friends. It looked tense. What's going on?"
"Well you should have joined us, then you wouldn't have to wait until 1600 hours when Tony has made the appointment with the Director and yourself to discuss it." Tim replied, something about Gibbs tone, set off his internal alarms. "it's not my place to say. I will just say that my friend needed a sounding board and I listened to him."
"Gibbs?" Leon asked, trying to get the older man back on task.
"Can't I have a clue?" Gibbs asked Tim, softly.
"He'll catch you before he sees the Director and you'll be in there with him."
"Or hell no!" Leon Vance exclaimed suddenly. "Kayla's coming home from school with a couple of girlfriend's for a study date and I am supposed to be manning the grill for burgers. As soon as we finish with Agent McGee, call DiNozzo up. With the way he talks, I could be here all night. One way or another Gibbs, we close out all this business, today!"
Leon Vance and Jethro Gibbs explained that they wanted Tim to undertake a couple of special projects around the yard, starting with writing a computer program to compare records and pick out matches or anomalies, based on the user input. The projects were to be a part time basis and the other part time he was to be attached to the MCRT still. The equivalent amount of time these projects would take to complete, would count towards his time already served as agent afloat. Tim nodded, eager to get started. He got what Gibbs and the Director were saying, he even got what they weren't saying.
Kelly made it to her desk with twenty minutes to spare this morning, which wasn't bad since everything that had happened since finding herself alone in Tim's bed had upset her routine. She knew that she should at least send Tim a message and give him a heads up that Penny and Sarah had come to the apartment looking for him. After all, the women would find him on the navy yard. She had told them that Tim had to meet Tony before heading into work. But there was no time. It took half an hour to do her pre-meeting checklist and she was already running behind.
Rushing through her checklist, she had three minutes to spare and did something she truly hated doing, something she swore she would never do when she had an intern of her own. She asked her PA to send their intern out to get her a cup of coffee from their break room. Kelly could already feel a headache forming in her temples and she could just tell it was going to be one of those days. With three minutes to go, she rummaged around in her desk drawer for some Tylenol and was cursing herself that she had run out.
With one minute to spare, her PA entered and silently handed her a steaming hot coffee, a bottle of water and some Tylenol. The PA rushed back to her desk, to ensure she was there to greet the potential client. Kelly swiftly took the pain relief and chugged half the water before downing half of the hot coffee too. It wasn't the best, but she would never send anyone to get her coffee. She always went herself. She had spent her entire internship getting coffee and it had done nothing to prepare her so the real world of publishing.
Opening the folder of the prospective client coming in, she internally groaned. Sarah McGee. She didn't know if she had the strength to deal with Tim's sister twice in the matter of two hours, especially if she was still carrying her holier than thou attitude she had been wearing back at Tim's this morning. Quickly, Kelly began scanning the file, reacquainting herself with the book that Sarah had submitted. Kelly had enjoyed it enough, but not in a way that Gemcity jumped off the pages and into her imagination.
Frowning, she looked at the clock and saw that Sarah was twenty minutes late already. To say she was concerned was an understatement, although she knew that Tim had said she could be bratty and she didn't know if that extended itself to tardiness. Tim had said that being early was a family trait, that it was better to be twenty minutes early than two minutes late, that his whole family was like that. Getting more concerned, she fired off a quick text message to Tim to ask if she should be concerned. She anxiously waited for Tim's reply. Getting fed up with waiting any further, she called Tim's desk line. Only for it to go to voicemail. She called Tim's cell and that went to voicemail too.
She was starting to get concerned about Tim also. She called Tony's desk line and he picked up on the very first ring "This is very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." He said in that jovial, playboy tone he used too often into the phone line.
"It's Kelly, is Tim with you?" She asked in a panicky tone. "I can't get hold of him and it's urgent."
"What's the matter?" Tony instantly asked, sobering up his tone. "Tim's in a meeting with the Director and Gibbs. A private meeting, not sure what its about."
"I think Sarah is missing. I saw her at his apartment today at 0730 and she didn't show for her 0900 appointment with me." Kelly's worried tone came through. "Her cell is going to voicemail and I don't want to worry Penny yet, but …"
"You're worried. I am too." Tony admitted. "Sarah may be bratty and brash, but she is always punctual. I swear that family are incapable of being late and when they are, it never ends well. Last time Probie was late for work, an assassin had tried to kill him, the time before that; someone set Sarah up for murder. Hang on, I'll see if Ellie can do some of Tim's voodoo on her computer and find her."
A paper ball was sent flying in Ellie's direction from Tony and soon Ellie had her laptop and her chair and was trying to ping Sarah's phone to no avail. "Tony?" Kelly prompted, feeling anxious now.
"Time to interrupt the Director, Kelly." Tony said solemnly. "If I get fired, can I come work for you?"
"Don't be such a drama queen." Kelly chastised him. "Call me back."
"Oh, lover boy will be the one calling you back. He is going to want the details as to why McSis was at his place with you." Tony teased her and when she didn't laugh, his gut sank.
Tony barged past Pam and into the Director's office. Tim was sitting behind the desk and Gibbs and Leon were sitting opposite the Director's desk, looking at the plasma. Tony had to look twice to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. That Tim really was behind the Director's desk. "DiNozzo!" Gibbs growled at the intrusion.
"Right." Tony said, head slapping himself to rejig his mind. "Sarah is missing, Tim. She was at your apartment with Kelly at 0730 and she didn't show up at Kelly's work at 0900, as scheduled. Ellie double checked everything. She hasn't touched her credit cards since day before yesterday and she hasn't touched her savings. Her cell phone is switched off and Ellie can't seem to turn it back on to ping it's location. Kelly's really worried."
"Sarah would never miss a meeting with an editor. Why she was meeting Kelly baffles me, but since that whole accused of murder fiasco, she's always early. For everything! Something isn't right, boss."
"Let's go." Gibbs ordered and Tim immediately locked the workstation and plasma to prevent Tony from asking too many questions. He had been giving Gibbs and Vance a quick run down to how his GPS override system works for the Navy vessels.
On the way downstairs, Tim made an emergency call to Penny who said she hadn't seen Sarah since she had chastised her about the attitude she had given Kelly this morning. That Sarah had been fired from her previous publisher and had editor meetings set up for the whole day.
Reaching his workstation, he unlocked it and cleared his screen, before bringing up the tracing app he had created. It was designed to work in conjunction with the program they used regularly, the government approved app. As Tim applied his app as an overlay, he logged into the family trust website and found the serial number of Sarah's phone. Entering the serial number of Sarah's phone along side Sarah's cell and the sim card's user name, Tim managed to switch the phone on and hold the power, while Ellis used the government app to trace Sarah's phone.
It pinged at the Waverley University office, which surprised Tim because Sarah was taking a sabbatical from teaching to get her first novel completed. She hadn't set foot in Waverley's campus in many years, since she graduated, really. Once they had a steady stream of a signal, he transferred the program to the MCRT tablet and Gibbs ordered DiNozzo and Ellie to go and get Sarah and the phone.
"Your sister is a real piece of work." Ellie casually commented to Tim, as she returned from the conference room. "She's a firecracker."
"Unfortunately." Tim murmured to himself, more than answering her. "Do I want to know where she was or what was she doing?"
"More like who. Sorry Probie, We found her in the English department with a Professor and they weren't discussing her novel." Tony told Tim, wagging his eyebrows to ensure Tim got the message. "Good news is, Gibbs wants you in the Conference room to talk to her, with him present."
Tim made the long walk down the hallway to where the conference rooms where he paced briefly, before stealing himself up and walking in there tall. "Sarah." Tim greeted her coolly, keeping his voice low. A calm and collected tone. After all, he couldn't go in there half-cocked, the expression 'let hotter heads prevail' may as well have been written with Sarah in mind.
"Tim, if it isn't my traitor of a brother." Sarah snipped at him. "The man who had to show off to his friends and let his father pay the price."
"The Admiral made his own bed, let him lie in it. He broke the law, not me. Get pissed at him, he kidnapped and seduced a minor. That's kidnapping and statutory rape. They're serious crimes." Tim explained to his sister. "Now I was told you were looking for me, what did you want?"
"The apartment. If you don't give me the apartment, I'll tell the whole family, you're not really a McGee." Sarah threatened him. Although to Tim, it wasn't really threatening. It sounded more like blackmail. Something he would never comply with. "Penny told me, everything. You're not a real McGee, you shouldn't be allowed to use the McGee family trust properties."
"If you think I'm going to give in to you and your blackmail, think again." Tim told her in a low voice. "I know you were a teenager back then, but search your memory bank little sister, Grandpa Nelson left that apartment to me in his will. If Penny knew, or at least suspected, then grandpa would have too and he still left it to me. Back off Sarah! You've always wanted what you can't have. How's your married boyfriend going?"
"Go screw yourself." Sarah seethed at him. "You're not my brother!"
"No tests have been done, Sarah. It's just suspicion." Tim reminded her softly. "As for whether or not I'm your brother, we'll just have to wait and see. What the hell is your problem? This attitude is not you." Sarah stared at him, mentally imploring him. "I'm not a mind reader Sari, what's going on? This isn't you."
"Dad's going to die, Tim. Don't you get it?" she asked, bursting into tears. Tim knew better and exchanged a look with Gibbs. Tim knew they were crocodile tears, just as well as Gibbs did. Sarah had pulled this stunt with Gibbs before.
"I'm not buying it, Sari." Tim told her flatly. "You are a good person deep down, but when you know you're caught you become a master at emotional manipulation. I'm not going to ask you again, what's going on?"
"I got fired OK." Sarah sobbed, the tears becoming genuine. "Matt left me, my editor fired me. I kept missing my deadlines because I was trying to fix my relationship with Matt. Cooper was sweet, he was there for me. Helping me try to get Matt back."
"Cooper Beckworth? Your old English Lit professor? That Cooper?" Tim asked. He had always been suspicious of Cooper, he used to flirt with Sarah when she was his student. Sarah had a schoolgirl crush on him and Cooper knew that. Tim had already warned him to back off and Cooper had told Tim he wasn't interested, that he was married.
"I'm sorry, Tim. I know, I screwed up, he's married." Sarah sobbed harder. "Penny got me an appointment with the Chief editor at your publishing house. I didn't know it was Kelly. I was so embarrassed by my behaviour, I couldn't face her. I shouldn't have treated her the way I did. I'm sorry, Tim."
"I don't know what you said, Kelly never told me. But I know you, your tongue is acidic and I know what your capable of." Tim reminded his kid sister. With more than nine years between them and Sarah being Lori's child, not Nikki's, Tim was used to being told he wasn't her brother by Sarah, it was her favourite insult. "It's not me you owe the apology to, it's Kelly." Tim leaned in close to Sarah, getting up in her face. "I have just started seeing Kelly, but I care about her, deeply. Don't run her off because you feel threatened by her. You are my sister, she is my girlfriend. You make an effort to get to know her and you will, she is the sweetest woman I have ever met. You cross her, and I swear the time I convinced you that worms were good for you and force-fed them to you, will be your favourite memory of me. If you can't apologise to her, or you can't be nice, stay out of my life until you can." Tim had had enough of everything, he didn't say goodbye to his sister, he just got up and left the room, slamming the door closed behind him, making Sarah jump.
"I'll apologise to her, I promise." Sarah swore, she looked up at where Tim had been, then across the table towards Gibbs. "Agent Gibbs, take care of Tim. My dad doesn't like Tim that much, but he loves me, a lot. I need him, he doesn't have much time left. He Tim's the reason why my dad is going to die in prison, instead of being surrounded by his family."
"Miss McGee, as your brother explained to you. Your father's action are why he is being charged. He has confessed." Gibbs reminded her, his eyes a steely blue and directed on her eyes, unnerving her. "You should think twice about berating Tim, until you've walked a mile in his shoes, you couldn't possibly understand. I suggest that you think long and hard about your actions and attitude towards Tim. One thing I know about your brother is that he is a man of his word. He always follows through." Gibbs stood up, walking over to the door. "I trust I won't need to lecture you a third time about your treatment of Tim."
Gibbs nodded to Rodriguez to escort Sarah out of the building. Sarah McGee was a piece of work, that should have been Gibbs' first clue. He is nothing like the McGee family.
Tim and Kelly were both grateful to be home early, particularly on this Monday evening. Gibbs had called Kelly as soon as Tim had left the Navy Yard and told her to order in and asked her to ensure that Tim got to sleep early. Kelly did one better and picked up some take out and headed home. She had had a bad day too, so it surprised her to see Tim cooking a simple pasta dish. He was still in his work clothes, but he had lost his shoes and his blazer. His hair getting a bit longer than she had ever seen it before slicked back, the odd strand falling over the away onto the right side of his face. "Hey Sweetheart." He whispered softly as Kelly came in. He saw the bag of take-out and turned the pan off, moving it off the heat and went to greet her properly.
Taking the bag from her, he kissed her hello, pouring all of his feelings into the kiss. He had been struggling with his feelings a little, lately. He had never felt this way about a woman before. Sure, he had been attracted to a few women over his time, dated a few too. A few even slipped into his orbit and had stayed, but no one had ever made him feel they way he felt, when he was with Kelly. A look could turn his insides to molten lava, a touch could turn his legs to jelly. He hadn't told anyone since Delilah that he loved them and when he had told Delilah that, she had replied "Oh Tim." Every single time. Everyday, it had become harder and harder not to declare to Kelly that he loved her. But he did it, he didn't want to ruin what they had.
"Hey Baby" She replied, "Dinner smells good, I should have told you I was picking up dinner."
"Not to worry we can eat it tomorrow night." Tim reassured her, as he plated up their simple pasta dish he had been making and Kelly grabbed the forks and drinks.
The tired couple decided to eat on the sofa and the two of them discussed the mundane parts of their day, both blaming that as the reason they were so tired. Kelly sent Tim to shower and rinsed up the dishes and loaded them in the dishwasher, starting it as she locked up the apartment. Seeing Tim come out of the shower, Kelly past him, kissing his lips lightly as she headed to the shower herself.
Coming out, she joined Tim in his bed, snuggled under his arm, inside his embrace and Tim kissed her and turned out the light. Both were asleep, almost instantly.