Honestly, I am completely blown away by the love for this story. THANK YOU . I understand the concern that I've started another story when I have so many unfinished. Sometimes when I hit a blockage, I'll work on something new and the inspiration will come flowing back for an old story and that's when I finish them. Patience is a virtue. :)
November 2002 - Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia
With the case slowly progressing, the evidence was collected and shipped back with the body, to NCIS HQ for Abby to test. Ducky would be conducting the autopsy upon his return, not much more could be done tonight. Gibbs called a halt to the evening and booked the two rooms for them at the Guest lodge. He told DiNozzo, he was taking the sedan, indicating he was meeting a friend for dinner and he'd probably crash at her place. Reminding Tony, that he may come back at any time and that he would be sharing a room with him if he did.
He'd seen Tony tell Tim to maintain the scene all night because Gibbs wanted NCIS to retain control of the scene. Tim had complied and sent his father in law a wicked grin. Gibbs knew Tim was now playing into DiNozzo's antics and wondered if his senior field agent had caught on yet. Before leaving, Gibbs reminded Kate not to kill Tony, that murder was a crime and he'd be reachable on his cell.
Revving the sedan and turning left out of the guest lodge parking lot, he made his way across the base to the far side of the base towards base housing. Taking Loop st, he pulled up in the driveway of number 22 and parked. Making sure he had his go bag, he exited his sedan and let himself into the house with his key.
"Dad!" Kelly's sweet, melodic voice called out from the kitchen. He found her, still in her work scrubs prepping dinner for the three of them. "Tim called, he's still at the office. He should be home soon, he said thirty minutes a while back."
Gibbs mentally soaked up his daughter's presence, he hadn't seen her face to face in about a month now. "Hey baby!" He greeted her, kissing her cheek as he made his way to the coffee pot, helping himself. He took in her appearance, her five foot five frame was slender and her unruly golden auburn hair was almost strawberry blonde under the artificial kitchen lights. She had tamed it into a messy bun to keep it off her face. She looked tired, but happy. Nothing out of the ordinary as a registrar doctor at the local surgery off base. If she was happy, then he was too.
"Did Tim say why he went back to his office?" Gibbs asked his daughter as he joined her at the bench, taking his knife out of his sock and washing it before slicing up the bell peppers for the pasta sauce Kelly was making.
"Nope!" Kell answered him. "Probably to tidy up. His boss moved his office to the pokey, teeny tiny filing room when Tim asked him for a new monitor cable. His current one keeps shorting out and every time it does, he had to fill out an after action report because it keeps tripping the electrical power in the office. Now they use his desk as a dumping ground for all the paperwork and files they don't want to file themselves."
Gibbs was internally growling. He knew Tim's boss. He hated Tim's boss. Tim's boss was an arrogant, self entitled bastard who was reckless with people under his command. But he said nothing. It was the deal the two of them made when Tim decided to follow in his father in law's footsteps and become an NCIS agent.
"Sweetheart?" Tim called out from the doorway. Tim's arms were full with two grocery bags. Groceries that Kelly had ordered that morning. Tim had offered to collect on his way home. "I'm home."
Hearing Tim's voice, Gibbs stopped what he was doing and went to greet his son in law properly. "Hey Timmo!" He said, taking the bags from him and ushering him into the kitchen and onto the bar stool to sit. As soon as Gibbs had put the bags down by on the island bench, he turned to Tim. "I'll take that hug now."
Tim stepped up to his father in law and hugged the man tightly, in a manly hug. "Hey Dad. You look great. You staying out of trouble?" He asked as he moved from his father in law's embrace and greeted his wife with a passionate kiss and a smile. Both of them were still madly in love with each other.
"As much as I can with DiNozzo on my six." Gibbs jested and Tim rolled his eyes. He'd been hearing about DiNozzo's antics for a while now and he'd gotten to see the hazing he dished up first hand. "You look good, son. So do you, Kell! I almost hugged you today as soon as I saw you. I had to physically restrain myself."
"Yeah, well calling me Michael Jackson was uncalled for." Tim teased him. "Just because you don't always follow SOP's. I really didn't fancy having SecNav ream me out today. He was touring on the next dock over."
"Gotta keep them on their toes." Gibbs reminded him. "Beer?"
At Tim's affirmative nod, Gibbs retrieved three beers and Tim picked up slicing and dicing the vegetables for the pasta sauce from where Gibbs had left off. Gibbs busied himself with the boiling water for the spaghetti noodles, while Kelly prepared the meat, with the spices they always added to Shannon's bolognaise pasta recipe.
Dinner was a lively affair as the three of them caught up with one another and everything that had been happening. Well, almost everything that was happening. Gibbs and Tim drank their beer's and Gibbs didn't comment when he saw Tim tip Kelly's untouched beer down the sink after dinner when they were cleaning up.
Tim reminded his father in law that he was welcome to spend the night in their guest room, that way he could have a restful and peaceful night and enjoy his DiNozzo free night.
By 0500, Gibbs was awake and starting coffee in the kitchen, before his shower. Tim came in from their back deck and into the kitchen. "Morning, how'd you sleep?" He asked, as he downed a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Like a baby, as always." Gibbs jibed in return, it was a familiar routine no matter who's home they were in. Gibbs noticed Tim had been running, that he was determined to drop the weight that the medication from his severe bout with pneumonia from January had caused him to gain.
It had been a great ski trip, Kelly and Tim had loved it almost every minute of it and had even made plans to buy their own piece of winter wilderness in the rugged wilderness of Colorado. Just as soon as they could afford it. Gibbs knew that Tim had been working in his spare time on his doctorate. He'd never known anyone as studious as Tim. Even Kelly and her intelligence and smarts outranked most people for her age. Tim was smarter than her again, he was literally a genius. Lieutenant Colonel William Ryan always told him that there was a fine line between genius and insanity and that both his daughter and his son in law straddled that line most days. That's why he fought to protect them so much.
Gibbs was proud of Tim for the effort he was putting in. He'd never been more worried about him than he had when Tim had to be intubated on a vent when he was sick with pneumonia. Scratch that; one other time he'd been more worried.
June 1994 Camp Pendleton, Oceanside California
The Gibbs family was stationed on the Marine base at Oceanside now and it had only been three painful years since they'd lost Shannon in a tragic accident. Except Gibbs wasn't an active Marine, he was retired now. Now he was a NIS agent and worked for Agent Mike Franks out of the Oceanside NIS office at Camp Pendleton.
The McGee family was now based at the San Diego Naval base and at least twice a week, Kelly and Tim still met up and hung out. Based only an hour away from one another. When they weren't hanging out, they were writing letters to one another. His father was always away at sea and at sixteen he was quite often left alone to fend for himself while his grandmother flung in and out between various colleges and lectures.
Tim had skipped two grades and had just graduated high school. Kelly had skipped one grade and was one year shy of finishing school. Tim was sixteen years and would go to John's Hopkins in the fall. He was going to study Biology and Biomedical Engineering.
Gibbs was proud of Tim, he'd come a long way since he'd met the shy and timid boy ten years ago. He liked to think he had something to do with it. After all; when Tim needed advice, he went to Gibbs. When Tim needed to vent, he went to Kelly, unless it was about girls; then he went to Gibbs. Gibbs had taught him the art of working with his hands to relax his mind and Tim found it settled his anxieties and allowed him to unwind. He taught Tim how to work on cars and engines, he taught Tim how to work with wood, he taught Tim to throw a football, a baseball and how to defend himself. He taught Tim most of his USMC combat moves. He even taught Tim to drive.
But one faithful June day was burned into his brain for all the wrong reasons. He was hard at work at his desk, he and his team had just closed a high profile case of a serial burglar who'd been targeting houses on the edge of the USMC base when a call came in about a car crash involving a navy dependent.
Mike and his team geared up, including Gibbs. They had raced to the scene approximately twenty minutes later to find a yellow Camaro had collided with a truck of the San Diego Freeway and there was a male licensed teen was trapped inside, fighting for his life. Gibbs recognised the car as the one Tim had scrimped and saved to buy, the same one that spent two years in his garage as he and Tim worked and worked on fixing it up. "Tim!" He called out as he ran on scene, ignoring Mike's protests.
"Tim!" He called out again, as he approached the mangled wreck. Trying to rein in his emotions, he closed his eyes for a split second. When he opened them he barely recognised Tim, his face was covered in blood. He was pinned between the seat and the steering wheel. His leg at an odd angle and his collarbone was protruding out of his shoulder socket. "Oh Tim!" He cried, he could feel wet tears falling down his face.
"Is this your son?" The paramedic asked him as the rescue firefighter's tried to move him back.
"No." He sobbed, he knew Tim was on the freeway because he was on his way to see Kelly and have dinner with him and Kell. "He's my family though!" Gibbs managed to get out. "How is he?"
"He is alive, that's all we know so far." The paramedic delicately told him. He tried to take deep calming breaths, but he found it hurt to breath in. He felt like he was having an out of body experience, himself. Like he had been in the wreck with Tim. "He doesn't look to be in a good way, Sir."
"Relax Gibbs, Timmo will be ok." Franks told him, joining him in wait trying to comfort Gibbs. Mike knew Frank was fond of the boy and in the almost three years he had known Gibbs, he'd heard as much about the young man as he'd heard about Gibbs' daughter. The team couldn't investigate until Tim had been removed from the wreckage.
"We need you to notify the boys next of kin." The local LEO told Franks. "The paramedic doesn't think he's going to make it." Right at that moment, Franks could have pummelled that cop. His agent was barely holding himself together.
"Tim!" Gibbs started screaming again and began fighting his way back to the wreckage to be by Tim's side. Shrugging off the cop who tried to physically restrain him, he flung open the passenger door and climbed in the wreckage beside Tim.
"You fight Tim? You hear me! Fight Son, fight! Don't give up!" He begged, as he held the hand of Tim's non-injured arm. He tried to coax Tim to consciousness, but he knew it was a long shot.
"Tim ... it's Gibbs, stay with me. Listen to my voice, that's it son, stay with me." He begged again, he could feel his tears freely flowing now and somewhere in the background he could hear Franks arguing with the local LEO that Gibbs was actually helping the boy, to leave him alone. "Don't leave us, not now. Hang on."
"Just hang on!" He pleaded, harder. "A little longer Tim. You're doing great!"
The firefighters and paramedics managed to free Tim from the wreckage, he was pale and bloodied. His pulse was low, as was his pressure. "Let me go with him." He begged the paramedics. "His biological family are away, my family is all he has."
"You stay out of our way while we work and pray like hell he's going to make it." The paramedic conceded.
Gibbs caught Mike's eye, wordlessly telling him he was going to the hospital.
At the hospital, he was separated from Tim while they assessed him. He made sure Tim knew Gibbs was still with him, ordering to continue fighting. He took a seat on the hard plastic chair, trying to find the courage to phone the office to get an update and to get Mike Franks to make the call to Penny who was in Ohio to give her the news.
The now Navy Captain John McGee, Tim's father had shipped out last week on his tour of duty, was somewhere in the Mediterranean by now. He knew Mike could get word to him aboard ship and trusted that when he spoke with Mike yet, he had it covered.
Finally calling Mike, Mike answered his desk phone on the fourth ring. "Franks!" His gruff greeting came over the line.
"It's Gibbs." He identified himself. "What do we know?"
"Drunk driver swerved to avoid hitting a bus full of kids and took out your boy's car. We've got the driver in custody." Mike answered him, immediately. "How is he?"
"No word yet, told him to keep fighting!" Gibbs snapped.
"How much fight does he have left in him? Really? He didn't look good." Mike said softly, trying to prepare his friend for the possibility the boy might not survive.
"Can you get Kell and bring her down for me?" He asked his friend, his mentor. "Tim needs me here. She's not going to be in the right frame of mind to drive her herself. She and he ... tell her to grab Penny's contact number for me off the fridge door."
"I got her Gibbs, you just focus on the boy." Mike instructed him. "We'll see you in about an hour."
Tim and Kelly had been 'seeing one another' for two and a half years by then.
September 1991- Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California
It was a Friday afternoon and Tim knew Kelly was with the debate team still. Penny had dropped Tim off at Oceanside, to the Gibbs family home while she attended a faculty meeting at Brandham University. Tim let himself into the Gibbs family home. He knew Gibbs would already be home and tonight, a twelve year old, almost thirteen year old Tim was counting on it.
He heard noise coming from the basement and just knew that's where his best friend's Dad would be, busy working away. It was about this time of year, every year he started his Christmas toys for the kids in hospital. "Gibbs, are you home?" Tim called out, not wanting to disturb the agent. "It's Tim."
"Come on in, Tim." Gibbs replied, looking up at him with a smile. "Kelly's still at debate."
"I know, I had Penny drop me off early." Tim admitted. That caught Gibbs attention and he noticed that the boy who he had painstakingly coaxed out of his shell over the years had now retreated back inside it. "Can we talk?" He asked in a small voice.
"Sure Tim." Gibbs said , putting down the sander. "What's going on?"
"I meant a man to man talk." Tim blushed and Gibbs hid his smile in his coffee mug at Tim's shyness. "I've got some problems." He said dejectedly as he took the offered sandpaper. Gibbs always told him sanding helps focus your mind and ease your troubles.
"Course, I'm always here for you. What's going on?" Gibbs asked and watched patiently. He watched Tim struggle to rein in his thoughts and sort out his feelings. Gibbs had a feeling he knew what the 'problem' was.
"Ivegotacrushonagirl." He rushed out, breathing a sigh of relief because he'd got it out without stammering. He didn't look up, afraid he would be in trouble with Gibbs.
"Tim? What did you say? I missed that." Gibbs replied in a humorous tone, but he didn't. He wanted Tim to repeat himself. And slower. He wanted Tim to feel a cathartic release at admitting it out loud.
"I like a girl." Tim shyly admitted. Tim suddenly found the floor really interesting and Gibbs hid his smirk. "I've got a crush on a girl."
"So? What's the problem? That's great news, Timmo." Gibbs told him, patting him on the back. "What's she like?"
"She's smart and real cute." Tim confessed, shyly with a blush dusting his cheeks. "Prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life."
"What's the problem then?" Gibbs asked, he had a gut feeling the boy was ill-equipped and unprepared for puberty and the changes his body would start going through soon, if not already. His gut told him, his father had little, if no time at all for him. That Tim was an inconvenience to him.
"ItsKelly!" He rushed out again. Gibbs wasn't actually surprised, he'd suspected that Tim had been harbouring a crush on his daughter for several months now. He noticed it back in March before they lost Shannon in April. Shannon had claimed that she noticed it back in December last year. She probably did too, Gibbs never questioned that. After Tim lost his mum, he opened up to Shannon more and more, he slowly began letting Gibbs in too.
One night, Gibbs had been picking Kelly up from the McGee home and Tim had walked her to the door and he looked up and saw them stare at each other awkwardly, Tim had smiled wider at her and blushed before Kelly hugged him and ran to the car. On the other hand, he knew his daughter liked Tim. She'd been infatuated with him since they were ten. He'd even seen a doodle of a love heart and their initials in it on the outside of her diary.
"I know." Gibbs admitted to him. "It's ok. At your age it's perfectly natural for you to start noticing girls."
"But she's my best friend, isn't it like weird?" Tim asked. He had been confused for a long time and had been working on gathering his courage to seek Gibbs out for his help.
"Tim? Has your Dad talked to you about the changes your body's going to go through? About noticing girls and all that stuff too?" Tim shook his head no and Gibbs harnessed his internal anger at John McGee's remissive behaviour towards his son, again. "What about Penny? Has she talked to you about it?"
"No, we learnt a bit in health class. But Mr Melati told us to go home and ask our Dad's. My Dad's never home. I read a book in the library, but it didn't have much in it beyond the clinical information."
"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about too?" Tim nodded yes shyly and got embarrassed at needing Gibbs. He made an abortive gesture with the sandpaper and stood up to leave. After all when he'd asked his Dad, John had told him he was too busy and to go to the library and look it up. "How about we go upstairs, make some hot chocolate and you tell me what you know? Then I can try to answer any questions you might have."
Gibbs hoped he wasn't crossing the line here, but Tim was lost mentally, trying to navigate the new world he was finding himself in. His body was changing, he was experiencing new thoughts and feelings he hadn't felt before and he was confused about them. He needed help, needed guidance from someone he trusted and Gibbs was happy he could be there for the young man.
He knew that talking with Tim would be a lot easier than the talk he had been putting off giving Kelly. That was the one he was dreading.
November 2002 - Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia
Gibbs had followed Tim towards the office, but veered off into the guest lodge parking to find Tony and Kate arguing with each other over something. He really hadn't wanted to know what and didn't really care too much. He'd had a wonderful evening and was in a good mood, he didn't want them ruining his mood. Upon seeing him pull up, they dutifully climbed into the MCRT truck and followed him over to the NCIS Norfolk Satellite Office on the base.
By the time that the trio had arrived, Tim had the video link set up to allow them to communicate with Ducky and Abby back in DC. "I need the duty logs and ships roster." Gibbs told Tim as soon as he entered the pokey hole office. Kelly hadn't been joking, the office was the size of a closet.
"I'm copied in on that." Tim replied and Gibbs had been suitably impressed when in amongst a large stack of files he pulled out the correct files on the first try.
"Interesting filing system you have there, McGee." Tony taunted him. Tim bit back a growl at his ever-growing frustration towards the lazy workers who didn't file their own paperwork in his office.
"Look, they dump their files on my desk because this is actually the file room." Tim explained and Gibbs harnessed his internal anger at Tim's boss. But Gibbs had promised him, multiple times that he would stay out of it.
"McGee, we've lost the connection." Gibbs vented, staring at the dead screen again.
"It's that damn wire again." Tim muttered. Gently moving the wires, a loud zap was heard and Tim was forcefully jumped back by the shock he received. "Damn it!" He cursed, grabbing his right hand.
Gibbs had never known Tim to curse like that, ever. "Don't ya just love the smell of burning flesh in the morning?" Tony quipped, causing Kate to feel queasy in her stomach.
"DiNozzo, take McGee to the infirmary for that burn. It stinks." Gibbs instructed his senior agent.
"Just wait!" Tim begged, before getting the link up again and working. They quickly combed through the roster logs and narrowed down a list of viable suspects.
Back out on the dock, after working out that the body in barrel was a Petty Officer who was accounted for. That there was an imposter on a sub.
Gibbs wanted to find the Captain who was in charge of the subs. "You'll want to avoid Captain Vietch!" Tim warned his father in law.
"Why's that?" Gibbs asked, stalking back to Tim. He was wanting to see if Tim would back down to him in a professional capacity. He was testing him.
"He can be ... difficult." Tim explained, looking Gibbs right in the eye, not backing down one iota.
"And you don't think, that I can difficult?" Gibbs asked, swallowing the smirk he wanted to give his son in law. Of all the people in the world, Tim knew just how difficult Gibbs could really be.
"I'm sure you can." Tim said seriously and they both knew exactly which memory popped into the forefront of their minds.
December 24th 1996 - Stillwater, Pennsylvania.
"What did you say to me?" Gibbs seethed at Tim. "Did you just ask me what I thought you did?"
"Yes Sir. I asked you if I could have your blessings to propose to Kelly." Tim reiterated. Tim was standing his ground. Gibbs was in disbelief. He couldn't believe the firmness and the tone that Tim had just used with him.
"You have my answer, as much as I like you Tim. No is my answer." Gibbs replied, harshly. He meant every word he said too. He liked the boy, but he wanted Kelly to grow up some more and see the world. He didn't want Kelly to marry too young and regret her choices.
"Be that as it may, Kelly is over 18 and can answer for herself. She doesn't need your permission. But maybe she might want your blessing, I know I did. However foolish that turned out to be." Tim snapped off in frustration at Gibbs. "I have been a loyal and dutiful boyfriend to Kelly for six years now. I have been faithful and I have loved her unconditionally. I have decided I am going to ask her to marry me and let the chips fall where they may."
"What about the future?" Gibbs asked him. "Where do you see yourself? Kelly's just started her third year of med school."
"The future is ours; it's what Kell and I always dreamed of. Kell's a doctor, I'm doing something after MIT. We're saving money and planning to travel. Sure, kids are in our future somewhere; but not immediately so. But we're going to be married." Tim explained to his girlfriend's dad. Kelly and Jackson were working in the store and Tim and Gibbs were angry at each other.
"What about ...?" Gibbs began, but Tim cut him off.
"Technically, we're already engaged. All I want to do is give her my ring." Tim began. "When we were nine, she proposed to me on the beach at Alameda and a verbal contract is legally binding in the state of California."
"Give her your damn ring, then. Just don't want to see either of you hurt or make a mistake." Gibbs conceded his point, he knew he was fighting a losing battle with himself and with Tim. Hell, if Shannon was alive today, she'd be head slapping him into next year already.
It was never about Tim not being good enough to marry her, or if Tim loved her enough. Or if Tim fought hard enough for her. Or if he was ready, or she for that matter. Gibbs wanted to know that them both to be sure, that they were making the best decision for them respectively as individuals.
But Gibbs knew, despite all their first's and only's together; they were each other's first and lasts too.
November 2002 - Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia.
In the sedan, while Kate and Gibbs were on their way back from their rendezvous with the USS Philadelphia, Tony finally found time to take Tim to the infirmary. "Just take me to the clinic outside the base gate." Tim begged. "There's a doc there that I trust implicitly."
"We have Ducky for that." Tony commented, as he pulled up out the front of the clinic. He shut off the engine and followed Tim inside the clinic. Tim registered with the receptionist and DiNozzo dutifully took a seat beside in him in the waiting room. It was only several minutes before the receptionist told him that the doc would see him now. DiNozzo, being the curious type followed him dutifully, knowing if his boss asked him to get the green rookie medical attention, he'd have to include it in his AAR. The After-Action Report.
"Agent McGee, as always. What can we do for you today?" Kelly cooed to her husband as he entered the examination room. She noticed that he was accompanied by Tony and grinned wickedly to herself.
"Why hello there," Tony replied in his best faux sweet, flirtatious voice. "I'm very special agent Anthony DiNozzo. And you must be?" He asked.
"You can just call me Doc." Kelly replied, she knew both her husband and her father didn't want their connection to one another known. No one hadn't told her she couldn't have some fun with the jokester at his expense. "I believe I asked my patient a question though." She replied, taking Tim's uninjured hand in hers, stroking it sensuously.
"Well my injured friend needs a Band-Aid for his boo-boo." Tony replied sweetly, trying his best to flirt with the woman who was giving him little to no attention at all, which was baffling him.
"Let me have a look at it." Kelly replied, examining the small burn mark on his hand. "That's going to be ok, Agent McGee. Let me get a few supplies and take care of that for you."
As Kelly worked, she occasionally brushed against Tim provocatively, making the moves appear accidental. She saw out of the corner of her eye how Tony reacted and he was surprised that Tim could attract a lady like her. "How's it look, Doc?" Tim asked, giving her a small shy smile. To Tony it was a shy smile, but to Tim, it was the smile that made his wife go weak at the knees.
"Looks good, keep it dry and if you have any drama's. Please phone me for an appointment." Stepping right up into her husband's personal space and stopping a breath before his lips. "Oh and I make house calls, Agent McGee."
"Well I'll be sure to call you." Tim quipped and saw Tony's eyes bug out of their eye sockets.
"May I ask you a question, Doc?" Tony began, reminding the two of them he was witnessing this little tête-à-tête. "Would you be interested in dinner some time? After all, I'm not your patient." Tony grinned at McGee, just like he did earlier today at the deployment office when he was questioning the Lieutenant.
"I don't think my husband would like that." Kelly said, straightening up and backing up to give Tim some space.
"I don't think he would either." Tim grinned at Tony. "Thanks Sweetheart, see you tonight!" Tim said, kissing his wife's lips and waving goodbye.
"Darling," Kelly called out, "you forgot your friend." She laughed as Tony was stuck in a trance like state. Tony had never had an experience quite like that before. "Jokes on you, DiNozzo!"
Finally feeling himself again, he laughed and stumbled out an apology for hitting on Tim's wife. "You're married!" He declared, finding it amusing. The kid was barely old enough to drink liquor. "To her? That's your wife?"
Tim was surprised with Tony's reaction and knew he'd hear all about it and possibly more from his father in law. Kelly and Tim had reminded her Dad that they were coming up to Alexandria later tonight and would be staying the weekend with him. As they were meeting friends from MIT for dinner on Friday night.
"She's my wife, been married three years now." Tim told him with a smile, turning the conversation serious between them.
"Wow! How old were you when you got married?" Tony asked, he was in his late twenties and his friends were just starting to settle down now.
"Nineteen when I proposed and twenty when we got married." Tim explained to him. "Her father wasn't happy."
"I can just imagine!" Tony quipped, but then thought better of it. "No, actually I can't. You were barely out of diapers when you got married. You really haven't lived."
"Sure I have, I went to John's Hopkins at 16 - almost 17, finished my BS in Biology and MS in Biomedical Engineering. By 19, I was finished and started at MIT. There I did a BS in Computer Science and MS Computer Forensics. Finished those and went to FLETC." Tim knew he left out the part where we finished at MIT in eighteen months and had started his doctorate in Justice and Criminology at Georgetown U by remote classes.
Tony was accompanied by Tim, to meet Gibbs and Kate upon their return trip to the dock back at Norfolk. Gibbs saw that Tim had his right hand bandaged up now and wondered if Tony had accompanied him to the infirmary or if he'd had his wife take a look at it instead. "Welcome back, boss." Tony grinned at him, handing him a coffee cup. The coffee tasted weak and stale, not like the coffee he usually found on base. "It's probably not good coffee, found it in McGeek's office's break room." Tim flinched at hearing that. Even the most newest staff member knew not to touch the office coffee.
"It'll do." Gibbs said, turning to see Kate and Tony struggle with the gear. He saw Tim pitch in and help, without asking and using both his injured and non-injured hand to help.
"Wonderful to have met you all." Tim said softly as they said goodbye. Gibbs had snuck away, somewhere, he didn't know where. He probably saying goodbye to Kelly, having disappeared in the few moments it took to load all their gear.
"Thanks for your help in the case." Kate told him, with a smile. "We'd have never solved the case without you finding that canister and working out how it was triggered."
"Team effort, right DiNozzo?" Tim replied, knowing that Tony's talented football tactics helped give them the just cause to get inside the house.
"Sure, McGeek." Tony quipped and the MCRT truck started up. "If you see Gibbs, tell him last one to DC buys the beer."
Watching the MCRT truck head off base, Tim turned and headed back into his office. "Nice of you to join me." Gibbs growled, as he intently watched the IT guy replace the old cables on the back of Tim's computer with new cables, ones that don't short out and shock and burn people.
The IT guy scurried out of the office quickly, he had been in a hurry to get away from that particular agent's glare. "Your safety is not an acceptable casualty of our agreement, Tim. I'm not gonna stand by and watch yourself get zapped, for simply trying to do your job, Timmo." Gibbs whispered to his son in law, once he'd closed the office door to allow them their privacy.
"Thanks Dad." Tim said and the two men exchanged a hug. "I'll email you my report on the case."
"Better than that, bring it by the navy yard tonight, when you get into town." Gibbs retorted. "My turn to get one up on DiNozzo."
"Drive safely, Dad." Tim told Gibbs. Before Gibbs left Tim's office and headed back to DC. "See you tonight."