Jf33 - Thanks for all your reviews and DM's they mean a lot to me. I want to reassure you all, that I am doing ok. I mean, it is tough, but I have faith it'll turn out for the best. For the record, I didn't see it coming. At all.

Gibbs was sitting on his front porch, coffee mug in hand when Tim pulled into the driveway. Gibbs took one look at his agent, the one that his daughter loved so much and gave him a small sad smile, before he hugged the man and patted the porch beside him, handing Tim the mug and coffee carafe. It was like Gibbs was waiting for Tim to arrive. "Was it bad?" He asked Tim, after the young man had taken a decent sip if the hot caffeinated liquid.

"Gut-wrenching." Tim answered him, honestly. "I... She's... What..."

"I know, Tim." Gibbs sighed, sadly. "She was becoming more and more reckless right before Eli died. Why couldn't she leave well enough alone? We all saw it, she refused all of our help. That's why she stayed in Israel, after she took his body back there for burial."

"Sometimes I think that it's so ingrained in her that she can't help herself. Mossad is like a cult; they have her conditioned. Brainwashed." Tim replied, letting his frustration shine through. "You know what I mean. It's all consuming to her, like no matter how hard she tries to tug away from it, she can't. She was away from it all and doing really well. Then Eli shows up and he's killed. All of sudden she's back in it, neck deep."

"She is grieving still, Tim. She lost her father. People do crazy things in throes of grief." Gibbs reminded his young friend. "But she loves Tony, probably always has. Hell; you and I have had a front row seat to their love for years."

"She does, but still...to put him and Tali in danger, like this." Tim reminded Gibbs. "Have you got an escape route if you end up trapped in your basement?"

"It's set, Tim. Did you get Tony to activate your plan?" he asked and Tim looked at him incredulously.

"How did you know about it?" he asked his boss. "We were operating on rule four."

"I know you both, too well. I'm glad you two had something set up, I have something set up too." Gibbs told him. "I even have a just in case plan for Abby, Ducky and Jimmy. Leon's safe because he is the Director, it'd be political suicide to target him and he has a security detail nearly everywhere he goes. Ellie never met Ziva, so her and Jake are safe. My original plan had included Kelly, but I need you to take her with you, now. They'd target me, before they targeted you, Tim, purely because I am the team leader. I need you to make sure my daughter is safe. I trust you and she loves you, I am trusting you to do this for me."

"Kelly won't want to leave you, Gibbs." Tim reiterated. He knew that Gibbs already knew Kelly wouldn't leave her father. Kelly was stubborn as a mule, just like her father. But so was Tim, the question remained. Who was the most stubborn and who would win?

"You make her, Tim. You take her and you set your plan in motion, you protect her, Tim. Promise me?" Gibbs begged and Tim nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Tim left quickly after, that he wanted to make sure that he had a backup plan. Just in case he couldn't get to Kelly in time. Tim needed somewhere safe in the apartment, that he Kelly could hide until he could get to them somewhere else. Somewhere she couldn't be found by anyone, but him. He needed something almost like a panic room, but he couldn't think where to have it. Even a crawl space would be substantially better than nothing at all. It would need to be big enough to stow Kelly and Sharni because he would never forgive himself if something happened to Sharni, Kelly loves that dog. As did he.

He returned to his apartment and he was in a sad mood. He missed Tony and Tali, already. He felt hurt and betrayed by Ziva. He was angry at her. Angry for putting them in this position, for putting Tony in that position and for poor Tali. It had only taken him a second to fall in love with Tali. He felt angry for Tony, because she never told Tony that he was a father.

He was furious, especially the lengths that Tim, Tony and Gibbs had gone to, in Somalia to save her. They never believed she was dead, even when Eli David had tried to convince the Director. It had taken time to persuade Leon, but by the time they did, the trio had already formed a rescue plan, ready to put into motion. In Somalia, Tony had smacked around and was drugged with sodium thiopental, the truth serum of choice by Saleem. Tim had been repeatedly kicked in the ribs and in the back. He had multiple cuts and contusions, along with six broken ribs. As soon as they were in the air again, heading back to the US military base in Germany, a small jolt of turbulence in the C130 they were travelling in, sent one of his broken ribs, into his right lung and punctured it. They had to make an emergency landing and Tim was rushed into emergency surgery in Athens, Greece. Sure, Ziva had been tortured, and much like Tony had been, she had been drugged too. But they were all grateful when they learnt that Saleem and his men hadn't raped Ziva, purely because she was Jewish. But it was no excuse for her to put them all in danger like that. Afterwards they learnt that she chose to take that mission, it had been her plan, her parameters ... and her revenge on Saleem. For something that happened years before Tony and Tim ever became agents.

A phone call from Leon Vance had him asking Tim if he could stop by again and Kelly had taken the call. She had told the Director of NCIS that Tim had been preoccupied with something and he hadn't let her in, so it was probably work related. Vance just told her he would be by soon and to not order anything out. Not to answer the door to anyone except him or her the father, before asking if Tim was home. She revealed that Tim had left the apartment for an hour, but he had returned. As soon as Tim had come in, he had kissed Kelly and immediately locked himself inside his office.

Leon told his security detail they needed to go back to McGee's apartment building, which they did. Kelly was sitting in the living room, with a book open on her lap, not reading it. She had been anxiously waiting for Leon's arrival. She had called her father and when he had reiterated the same thing that Leon had, her worry factor increased. She had tried to call Tony, but his cell phone was switched off and then she remembered that he was on suspension and visiting his father in New York for a while. That he would be unreachable.

"Kelly, it's Leon." He called through the elevator door and she opened up the door from inside the apartment. Leon rushed into the room. Agents Benson and Carter followed, but waited at the foyer of the apartment. "Are you ok?" He asked her. "No one tried to."

"No one." Kelly asked confused and was wondering what the hell was going on. "What's going on?"

"Nothing that concerns you, Kell!" Her father said, coming in behind the agents who were standing on guard. "Is he in his office?"

"He's right here." Tim said, coming out into the hallway to see what the heck all the commotion was about. "Besides Kelly, what are you all doing here?"

"We should talk in your office, Tim." Leon said and he saw Tim go on edge. "Benson, Carter. Miss Gibbs is your responsibility. They're not expecting anyone or anything. No one comes through those doors, got it?" Both nodded their acceptance of their orders. Carter and Benson had been on Vance's security detail for a long time, since he was Deputy Director in San Diego. They knew to follow all orders to a tee and not question them. Both men were loyal and have proved themselves time and time again to Leon Vance. Gibbs knew both men and Tim knew Agent Carter very well. So, both Gibbs and Tim, trusted them with Kelly.

Tim wordlessly held out his hand to escort his two bosses into his office. As soon as the office door was securely locked, Tim looked to Gibbs, who was looking at Vance and Tim moved his gaze over to the Director too. "Someone going to start or are we going to glare at one another?" Tim asked.

"Agent DiNozzo is gone, he took his daughter he fathered with Ziva David and left. I don't know Gibbs, so don't ask me." Vance told them. Gibbs and Tim remained quiet, neither one of them mentioning they had spoken with Tony or seen him. "Mossad is being very tight lipped, but I have confirmed that Ziva David is indeed back on their payroll. Whatever Ziva has gotten entangled with, it could be a danger to us. She's already sent Tony and Tali to hide. My personal worry is that we could be next. I've sent my mom, Kayla and Jared back to my mom's house. Organised for Jared and Kayla to continue their schooling through remote classes. Have you two got plans?"

"I do." Gibbs replied in a whisper. "Tim and Tony feared something like this might happen years ago, after Somalia. The two of them made plans back then."

"We did." Tim confirmed, seeing the Director arch his eyebrows in surprise. "We were hoping that we were being paranoid and we'd never have to implement it. Gibbs wants Kelly to come with me."

"Dr Mallard, Mr Palmer and Miss Sciuto don't have plans, nor does Agent Bishop? Who's got them?" Leon asked, hating that it had come to this, that the MCRT may need to run, for protection from whatever Ziva has stepped into that could potentially be bringing trouble here for them.

"Abs, Ducky and Jimmy probably wouldn't be targeted. They know nothing, but the three of them with a round the clock protection detail should suffice." Gibbs said, letting Tim and Vance in. "They would be ok, have Jimmy and Breena and Abby stay with Ducky, to make it easier. Bishop is new, her and Jake don't know Ziva, pretty sure they aren't in danger. Tim knows his plan and he had promised me that he has Kelly. Besides, my gut tells me they'll come for me first. I am the team leader."

"You have a plan?" He asked Gibbs and Gibbs gave him his own arched eyebrow in reply. "Of course, you do."

"Ok, but right now, we aren't in danger. But don't let your guard slip." Leon reminded them.

"Kelly's lease to her apartment is almost up." Tim told the two men. "She was going to renew for another year. What if I have her move in here? She's be safer here than in her building."

"Tim?" Gibbs began softly. "Don't rush things on the account that something may or may not happen."

"I was actually thinking of asking her to move in with me, in a little while anyway." Tim admitted to his boss and Kelly's dad. "When she told me about the lease being up for renewal, I suggested that she do a month to month, instead of a year contract, so there would be no fees when I was sure I was ready."

"If you're not ready, Tim ..." Leon asked. "Gibbs is right, don't do anything on this action."

"Actually, I was going to ask her at dinner tonight." Tim admitted shyly. "I was worried it might seem like it was too soon, to some people. Kelly tells me all the time how safe she feels here and I know she has had trouble with feeling safe in her apartment since Ethan and Sherry broke in. She needs to feel safe in her home, Gibbs."

"You're right, Tim." Gibbs said, looking at Tim in the eye. "She does need to feel safe in her own home."

"Stay for dinner, it's nothing fancy, just a pasta bake and I'll make a salad." Tim offered. "If she doesn't move in with me, then we get here to move back in with you, Gibbs."

"Ok, I'll send Carter and Benson home for the evening. They won't like it, but it's not like anyone is at home waiting for me." Vance said. He had to agree that Tim had made some good points about Kelly's safety. Gibbs' reaction to the news that Tim had been thinking of asking Kelly to move in had barely registered a surprise with Gibbs, so maybe there'd be no coercion required.

"You can use the guest room, Director." Tim offered him, genuinely. "That way Carter and Benson can rest easily, that you're safe. They can meet you here in the AM. I'm sure you have a go bag already packed."

"Thank you." Leon said, relieved. There was another topic that he wanted to discuss with Gibbs and Tim, but Kelly could be present for that. The topic of Senior Field Agent. "We need to discuss the position of the MCRT Senior Field Agent, as well."

"What's there to discuss?" Gibbs asked, rhetorically. "The job is McGee's."

"Stewart's counting on McGee taking the spot on his team." Leon replied.

"Umm... I was being fired from the MCRT? Tony leaving saved my job?" Tim asked, surprised. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong.

"Not fired Tim, promoted." Gibbs told him, softly, looking at him in the eye. "You were being promoted. We were going to tell you tomorrow. I'd prefer you having my back over anyone else. Tony wasn't ready for a team leader position, but you were more than ready to step up."

"What?!" Tim was floored, he was genuinely surprised. Gibbs had never given him any indication that he thought Tim was ready to become a senior agent, permanently.

"Leon, Tony is not here. I'm not giving you both of them. Tony's gone. Tim stays. He's my senior agent." Gibbs told the director in no uncertain terms. "I need to be able to trust the people I work with. I trust Tim, perhaps more than I've ever trusted anyone else before. I trust him with my life, with my daughter. Tim's more than proven himself that he's capable of being my right hand."

"I'll sort something else out for Stewart's team." Leon muttered and almost chuckled out loud as he saw the relief leave Gibbs' body.

"How are you feeling, Kell?" Gibbs asked his daughter as she washed the lettuce leaves to make a salad to accompany the pasta bake that Tim had prepped that morning and had just been slipped into the oven to start baking.

"Mostly, ok." Kelly smiled at him as Gibbs took the knife from the knife block and board that Tim kept on the bench behind it. "Still hurts trying to reach up or bend over."

Kelly looked pensive and Gibbs' gut became concerned. It wasn't pinging with impending doom, or danger. It wasn't warning him, it just was a concerned vibe it was giving him and he decided to test the waters. He knew if he overstepped the mark, that Kelly, and surprisingly Tim would tell him to back off. Both had in the past, so he felt safe in assuming that they would again. "Everything ok with you and Tim?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" She asked, putting on a brave face for her dad. He gave her an unbelieving look and she knew that look. It meant that he couldn't believe that she had played it like that. "We're fine. It's just ... it's silly, Dad. Don't worry about it."

"There is nothing silly in any relationship, Kelly." He told his daughter, gently. "If it is bothering you, we can talk about it. Just because you have Tim, now, doesn't mean I'm not available to talk to."

"Are you sure you want to know?" She asked him and Gibbs enthusiastically nodded his head. "It's embarrassing, but I still need help in the shower. He won't get naked with me to help. He wears his boxers in the shower with me. We've been naked together before. Why all of a sudden is he being modest? Doesn't he want me, anymore?"

Gibbs had to swallow hard. He hadn't expected this to be their problem. Suddenly he let out a chuckle. The thought that Tim was so gentlemanly he wore boxers in the shower. "Tim's a gentleman, sweetheart. Of course, he is going to cover up, when he is helping you in the shower. He doesn't want to do anything, but help. That being said, he is a man, too. When your mom fractured her collarbone. You remember that?" At Kelly's nod, he continued. "I had to help your mom in the shower too. I'd wear my shorts to help her, too. It wasn't about being modest, or ... self-control. It was about controlling the situation. I loved your mother so much and ... As much as you don't want to think about it as our child, we had an active sex life. I'd wear them as a sort of shield. Your mom, as a woman, she was amorous. It set a boundary between us, while she was recovering. It was the same after you were born and the doctor's told her about having to abstain from intercourse for eight weeks. Your doctor has probably told you to refrain for a while, right? While you recover? Tim will not do anything to put you in harm's way, that means he will follow all of the doctor's advice. He loves you, that much."

"Really?" She asked, surprised. Not surprised that Tim loved her, but surprised that her father had understood where she was coming from and understood that it was frustrating her.

"Honey, all you can do is use your words with him." Gibbs advised her seriously, as she handed him the tongs to toss the salad. "Your mom was big on articulating her needs. She taught me that communication is the key to any happy and healthy relationship. Talk to Tim. As much as it pains me to say, if you want him to do something, like be naked with you in the shower, talk to him. Just as if he wants something from you, I'm sure he talks to you. And Kell, there's no crime in a woman admitting to her partner how much she enjoys...things."

She smiled widely at him. "Tim does." An image from last weekend when they were in bed together and Tim told her to climb on top of him, came into her head and she licked her lips at the delicious memory of her and Tim being intimate together. She was regretful that their intimacy had been halted, before it had a chance to begin.

"Before you get lost in whatever you're thinking about; just remember something." Gibbs broke into her thoughts. He could tell that she was thinking something less than wholesome. She had a glazed look in her eyes. He had seen it a few times before on her. He had been responsible for putting that look on other women. "Tim is your boyfriend. He is your partner, but also, Tim isn't like the other men you've dated, not by a long shot."

"Well, ain't that the truth." Kelly declared. "Tim isn't like any other man I have ever met. I have never felt about a man, the way I feel about him. I don't just love him, I have fallen in love with him, too. Probably deeper and more in love with Tim, than I have ever been before in my entire life."

"I know, honey." Kelly looked hard at her father for a moment. "You're wondering why I started calling you, honey when I normally call you Baby?" H asked, reading her mind. "I noticed that although most of the time, Tim calls you sweetheart. Sometimes, I've heard that he calls you baby. I definitely don't want to call you anything that he calls you." Gibbs laughed.

"He does." She laughed out loud and Gibbs wasn't quite sure what was so funny. "I asked Tim, the other night to remind me to talk to you about it. That's one less thing off my mind."

"Does it bother you?" Gibbs asked her, as he wrapped up the now made salad and popped it into the fridge. "Pet names? Some women are bothered by it. It's OK if they bother you. We can both stop."

"When Tim calls me sweetheart or baby, my stomach does these little flip-flops and my heart races." Kelly admitted shyly. A small red blush gracing her face. "It's just when you walk in the room, later on..."

"I'll stick to honey, then." Gibbs grinned at her. She literally had just described the feelings that Shannon used to stir up in him.

"Dad, can you please pull out the pasta bake? Dinner's ready." Kelly asked and he nodded as he went to work and she went to fetch Tim and Leon for dinner.

Dinner was a lively affair, filled with good conversation about the various things that popped into anyone's and everyone's head. "Ooh, a dinner party, Tim?" Kelly asked, turning to her lover. "You said you didn't want to go out. How about we stay in and have a dinner party?" Gibbs and Leon were looking at one another. Neither one of them knew what the heck Kelly was talking about. "Come on Tim, we have to do something for your birthday." Kelly encouraged him.

"It's your birthday, Tim. A dinner party is low key, it's nice. Give us a chance to all be together and relax." Gibbs said, jumping right in. "You could even have it at my house and we make it a pot luck."

"I just don't feel like celebrating this year." Tim told them, as he excused himself from the table. He took his now empty plate into the kitchen with him and rinsed it.

The three of them exchanged looks with one another. The two men in particular, wondered if it was because of Delilah, that he really hadn't felt like celebrating. Leon and Vance exchanged looks and a silent battle to see who would check on him, had ensured. Gibbs won the eye battle and Gibbs excused himself too.

"Are you alright, Tim?" he asked, as he sat beside Tim at the breakfast bar. "Can't deny that it's been a hell of a year."

"You're right, Gibbs. Not my best one, Kelly aside." Tim agreed with his team leader. It had been a hell of a year. He had started it with Delilah. They had their first date on New Year's Eve and by April, she was gone. It had all gone downhill from there.

"Hey," Gibbs tapped his head lightly to refocus him. "The year isn't over yet. You've got to make it to December 31, before you can write it off."

"I'm not sure how much more I can take, Gibbs." Tim admitted softly. "First, I lost Delilah, I had to physically and emotionally recover from a drone attack. Then Penny came home, then my father dropped the bomb on me, then I found out Fornell and SecNav are my biological parents and now, Tony's left. I am not sure how much more I can take."

"You forgot something..." Gibbs told him with a glare. Gibbs mentioned it to him, he was more than a little pissed about Tim forgetting to mention the good that had happened this year.

"No, I didn't, meeting Kelly was the best day of the year for me. Followed by the worst. She's the one who has been keeping me going all this time." Tim confided in him. "I mean you have all been great, especially you. But it's Kelly who's there when I wake up from nightmares covered in sweat, The one who's there for me in my darkest hours, who reminds me it's ok that I survived and she didn't. Best of all, I have the love of an amazing woman."

"Yeah, you do." He smiled at Tim. Gibbs knew the kind of love Tim was talking about. It was the kind of love that he had had with Shannon. The kind of love that Leon had had with Jackie. A kind of love that very few people experience in a lifetime. "I still have to remind myself that you and Kell, have only been together a couple of months, feels like you've been together a lifetime, already."

"Us too." He returned his boss' grin. "The other day, at the hospital, we were talking randomly about the future and what we want, before we realised, the conversation was the kind you'd have after a year or more together, not a few months."

"I think the mess Tony is in with Ziva, proves that life can be short, especially in our line of work." Gibbs reminded him. "Look at Kate, she was your age when Ari killed her."

"That seems like a No, lifetime ago, boss." Tim murmured, before he turned to his boss, seriously. He crinkled his face and turned studious. Gibbs recognised this look; he had seen it a thousand times. Never outside the bullpen though. "I have to confess something. Ziva and I had been sporadically exchanging emails since she left. I didn't tell anyone because I figured if she wanted to reach out, she would. I just realised though; the emails just suddenly ceased. Not long after the drone attack. Not long after I lost Delilah. I saw them in my inbox last week and I reread a couple, the last couple of emails seem ... mechanical. Like Ziva was when she first arrived here after Kate was killed. Very impersonal, cold, calculating."

"I knew about the emails, Tim." Gibbs admitted to him. "Ziva, when she called me to say goodbye, she told me that there was one thing worse than saying goodbye to me, and that was to you. She asked me if it would be a betrayal to Tony, if the two of you kept in contact. I am the one who told her no, that you were like a kid brother to her."

The two men sat in silence, thinking things through, individually. Both sitting side by side and thinking. "What if...? No, it's ridiculous." Tim cut himself off. "It's treason to think like that."

"Think like what, Tim?" Gibbs asked, softly. He knew that sometimes in order for Tim to articulate his thoughts out loud, he needed to sound them off someone. Quite often, when they were working late at night, he'd find Tim bouncing crazy theories off different things around the office. He has told Gibbs numerous tomes that it helps him weed out the pure imaginative thoughts from the crazy and wild theories.

"We know that Parsa linked onto us, through Delilah networking her laptop into ours, right?" Tim asked and Gibbs had no idea where Tim was going with it. "We never found out how he linked into Delilah's laptop because the DoD confiscated it when she was killed. Now, this is going to sound out there crazy. Did I ever tell you how Delilah and I met?"

"No." Gibbs shook his head. "You mentioned that by the time she had been asked to come in and consult on a case, that the two of you were already dating."

"We met through Ziva. She introduced us, she thought Delilah was my kind of woman." Tim announced. "The story I got at the time was that Ziva and Delilah went to the same gym and became acquaintances. Gibbs, in all the time Delilah and I were together, she never went to the gym, not once and we were together a lot. I mean, Delilah was almost possessive. She always wanted to be together. So how did they really meet?"