TAP2 - Thank you for all of the support this new story has been receiving. Just want to remind you that this isn't a slash story, or a love story. Sure, either theme may or may not be mentioned, this story focuses on the brewing friendship between the FBI and NCIS Agents.


Friday was slow and after work, Tobias invited Tim over for dinner. A do over, of sorts. A dinner where Tobias grilled salmon and Emily was dropped off by Diane, Tim made a salad and some vegetables to go with the salmon. Tim had been relieved to be able to leave the yard at a reasonable hour. He went home relaxed, before getting ready to start the weekend off with a dinner with Emily and Tobias. Dinner had been an exciting time for Emily. At all of ten years old, she had been excited to see her dad's friend Tim. He was a great storyteller and she always loved getting a bedtime story from him. Tobias would always watch, as Emily would climb up on Tim's lap as Tim would recite a story, quite often from scratch, just for her.

He had always been in awe of how his young friend's mind worked. How fast it processed thoughts and how creative and imaginative his friend was. It reminded him of the first time the two of them met.

It was three weeks after he'd seen Tim trying to start his car in the Navy Yard and Tobias had taken the young man into his home for the night. Tobias was taking Emily to a dentist appointment at their preferred dental clinic in Forest Glen when Tim walked into the waiting room. "Tim?" Tobias asked, surprised. The last place he expected to see the young agent was at the dentists.

"Oh hey, Tobias." Tim said, smiling at him and the little strawberry blonde-haired girl tucked into his side.

"You're a long way from Norfolk." Tobias teased the junior agent.

"But Doctor Nawal is the best." Tim grinned at the FBI agent. "I've been seeing him since I was young. Younger than this little one. Besides I am staying at Penny's, my Grandmother's, in Reston this week. I took your advice about not driving back and forth."

"That's good Tim, I was worried." Tobias smiled as he introduced Tim to his daughter. "Em honey, this is Tim. He's an agent like Daddy and Gibbs. In fact, he works with Uncle Gibbs at NCIS, except he works in Norfolk, not the Navy Yard. But he knows Uncle Gibbs. Tim, this is Emily, my daughter."

Tim waved at her and smiled, as he offered his hand. The shy five-year-old little girl gave him a toothy grin and a wide small. She shyly waved at him. "Timothy McGee?" the dental nurse, Priyanka, called out.

He stood up and grinned at the father and daughter duo. "That's me, have fun."

Emily had had a fuss-free appointment and he specifically remembered it, for that very reason. When they came out of her appointment, Tim was at the counter, paying his bill. "Dinner?" Tobias asked the younger man, I foolishly promised Emily if she had a good appointment and they didn't find any cavities, we could go to the Pachi's Trattoria. Her second favourite Italian place."

"You mean eat good Italian food and not have to listen to DiNozzo prattle on and on. That sounds wonderful." Tim eagerly agreed. He enjoyed Italian food, but the only time he ever had a chance to enjoy it lately, was with DiNozzo and his constant criticism left a bad taste in his mouth. "Meet you there?"

"Absolutely." Tobias told Tim in a friendly tone. "It's over on Capitol View Road."

"Is that opposite the mechanics?" At Tobias' nod, Tim reassured his friend he would see him there.

Throughout dinner, Emily had been delightful, regaling Tim with the story about an upcoming science fair and how this would be the first time they were allowed to enter because, as kindergarteners, last year they weren't allowed to enter, just look at the displays. Tim had asked her what she was making and Emily had excitedly replied she was making a volcano because "Mommy put Daddy in charge of the science experiment and Daddy said that's all he knows how to make."

"Luckily for Daddy, he has a friend who went to Johns Hopkins, MIT and Georgetown University." Tim crowed, telling the little girl, but looking at her father. "A friend who would be happy to help you get an A."

"Are they fancy univer...univers...-?" She tried hard to say the word, universities and Tim thought it was adorable.

"Universities." Tobias supplied for his daughter. "They are very fancy and very expensive. Honey, Johns Hopkins teaches a lot of doctors and scientists. So does MIT, they also teach a lot of engineers. Wait, you went to three schools?"

"Post graduate degree in Science, with a minor in Biology and Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. Post graduate degree in Computer science and a Master's degree in Computer Forensics from MIT. A PhD in Justice and Criminology from Georgetown University." Tim explained to his friend.

"Wow." Both the father and daughter exclaimed together. "Are you a scientist, Tim?" Emily asked, her little voice incredulous and full of wonder.

"Technically no, I am an agent. But you are right. They are all science degrees and I do know a lot about science." Tim told her the truth.

"Em honey, Tim has a PhD too. That's like being a doctor of science." Tobias explained to his daughter as they bought out the young girl's dessert and her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Maybe we should ask Tim for help, he knows a lot more about science than me. What do you think?"

"Tim, can you help me, please?" Emily asked, in her sweetest five-year-old voice. Before dropping it into a stage whisper. "Dad's not very smart, he doesn't know about science."

Tim tried not to laugh out loud, but failed miserably seeing Emily laugh and Tobias trying not to laugh. "Sure, I can help you." Tim agreed. Tobias had already helped him out, helping out on a school science fair was the least he could do.

"This little one has to get home and get ready for bed." Tobias told him, hiking his thumb to little strawberry blonde-haired girl between them at the table. "How about Sunday morning?"

"As long as I'm on the road by three and I'm back in Norfolk by six." Tim agreed and Tobias hastily nodded.

"I'm not delaying you by asking for Sunday?" he asked, worried that he was keeping Tim from going home. The young man spent far too much time on the motorway between DC and Norfolk, in his personal opinion. "We can do Saturday, if that's better."

"Nah, Sunday is fine. I'm staying in town for a party tomorrow night." Tim replied with a wide smile. "A couple of buddies from JH are in town. We're celebrating Luke's bachelor party."

"So, we should have you over late Sunday afternoon?" Tobias quipped, implying what he dares not say with Emily present.

"Nah, I'm not a huge drinker, or even a big drinker. More like a one or two and I'm done, drinker. I'll be ready for bed by midnight." Tim said truthfully and it was in that moment that Tobias realised that Tim wasn't lying. "Besides we're all geeks, not party animals."

"Well, we'll see you on Sunday." Tim said, as he handed over his credit to pay the bill, ignoring the heated glare Tobias was sending him.


When Tim arrived home, he noticed that the lock to his apartment had been picked. Someone had been in his apartment. He unholstered his weapon and cleared the apartment. Nothing of value was missing. His unopened cereal box was opened some cereal crumbs were on the floor in the kitchen, an empty beer bottle in the sink and there was a movie in the DVD player. "Damn it, DiNozzo!" Tim cursed, as he booted up his personal laptop to check the footage from his motion activated spy camera.

He had installed a few of motion activated spy cameras around his apartment, after the very first time that Kate and Tony had broken in. Every time since then, DiNozzo had always gone straight for the cereal box when he broke in. Sure enough, when the laptop was up and running and the program was loaded. Tim cued the program up to the timestamp of when he and Tobias left his apartment, late Thursday morning.

He watched as at 1950, Tony used his lock picks and entered his apartment. He watched on the first camera, in his study as Tony rifled through his papers and mocked him, sitting at his desk, pretending he was Tim by huffing on his inspirational pipe and playing his beloved and priceless jazz records. The next camera to pick him up was the one that was in his closet, as he saw Tony go through his closet, opening up his drawers and looking through the boxes on the top shelf of his closet. The living room camera showed him browsing through Tim's DVD collection making random comments. The cameras don't record voices, but he knew how to lip read and now knew that Tony hadn't been able to resist commenting on his collection, before selecting Footloose to watch. His kitchen camera showed Tony stealing his food, eating his leftover take-out and cereal, before helping himself to a beer from the small stash he kept in the fridge.

Tim made light work of saving each video clip, individually before saving them into one file and making sure they were dated and timestamped. He made a backup copy and saved it onto his external server too.

Tim had been compiling evidence against Tony for a while now. At first, it was frustrating, but he only ever did it when he was home, but lately, the last four times now, he had broken in when Tim wasn't home. That wasn't on.


Monday morning, the bull pen was quiet when Gibbs arrived. It was a little disturbing to the older man that Tim was already there, working away on cold cases. Tim had always been early into the office, but for the last three years, Tim had been coming in extra early, at least an hour before their starting time. "Is everything OK, McGee?" he asked, coming over to see what the younger man was working on. It was a cold case from before Gibbs' time as an agent. It was a bank heist from Quantico, in 1989.

Tim was doing what he did best, use his computer to narrow down the persons of interest that NIS had suspected were involved back then. "It's nothing." Tim sighed, returning to the open case file in front of him.

"It's something, come on." Gibbs urged him to talk. He and McGee had never really had the kind of relationship where either of them opened up to one another, but Gibbs could see clearly that something was bothering him. He had to admit to himself, he hadn't made as much effort with McGee, as he could have. But they had so little in common, it was hard for Gibbs to find a common ground with the tech and gadget loving agent.

"Leave it alone, Gibbs." Tim reiterated, firmly. He knew he couldn't go to Gibbs, not yet. He knew if it came down to a choice between him and Tony, Gibbs would always choose Tony. He just had to bide his time a little more, make sure his evidence was solid.

Although, Tony was tight with Director Shepherd and Tim knew she didn't care much for him. Especially after the fiascos with shooting that cop, Benedict and the mess with his sister. Both times, she had never supported him. Sure, he and Vance had gotten off to a rocky start too. But Vance hadn't tried to fire him or want him arrested by Metro. He hoped, at least, that Vance would take a hard line against DiNozzo and Gibbs, when the time came. Vance had trusted him with a top level, top secret, classified work, decrypting a laptop. Work that had been vital to the national security of the country. "OK, but come to me before it escalates into something more." Gibbs warned him and Tim looked up to meet his eye. "Remember, my door's always open, McGee."

Gibbs knew that McGee was keeping something from him. He knew that McGee was scared that whatever it was, would impact his job. He even knew that McGee thought he'd be fired, if it came out. By late Wednesday afternoon, Gibbs had called an early dismissal. McGee had been quiet and almost reclusive. He had been distancing himself from the team. When Gibbs called an early end to their day, he realised that Tim had barely said two words all week and before Tony could suggest a movie and pizza night, Tim was gone. Bags packed, weapon holstered and a small wave, as he hit the back staircase.

Gibbs made an impulsive decision. Now, he needed to know just who his junior agent had been meeting every Wednesday night. As soon as McGee was clear of their floor, having opted for the stairs, Gibbs was grabbing his gear too. Tony sat stunned that as soon as Tim had his gear and left, so did Gibbs. His smutty, perverted mind thought they might be hooking up, despite the fact that neither man had shown Tony they were homosexual. Tony's perverted mind went there, anyways. When he looked up from his thoughts, he was surprised to see that he was the only one left in the bullpen, that while he had been pondering, Ziva had snuck out the door too.

Gibbs kept a respectable distance between him and Tim, as he followed the man's car onto the motorway, as he headed towards Silver Spring. When he pulled up out the front of his apartment building, Gibbs decided to wait the younger man out. He knew Tim had a standing dinner every Wednesday. He was surprised to see a freshly showered and shaved Tim leave his apartment, laptop bag slung over his shoulder and gun back on his hip. He drove back onto the motorway, heading back into the city. It wasn't until Gibbs' cell phone rang, just as they crossed into Virginia, that the older man became concerned. "Yeah, Gibbs." He snapped into his cell, not checking the caller ID, as he followed Tim over the border into Virginia, from DC.

"If you hadn't of been so impatient and decided to follow me, you would already know where I was going." Tim said and Gibbs realised that Tim had known that Gibbs was following him the whole time. "I know you hate slow drivers who obey the road rules, like me, so let me make this really easy. I'll be at your house in fifteen minutes, put the coffee on. It's time for me to tell you what's been bothering me." Tim didn't give Gibbs a chance to answer. He promptly hung up on the man.

Tim had been furious, when he noticed that Gibbs was following him. He chuckled when a moment later, his phone notified him that he was being tracked, too. He hadn't been planning to approach Gibbs until Friday night, after he had thought about it some more. But when Tobias had asked to reschedule dinner to Friday, because he was working late and Emily had been asking for Uncle Tim's help on her science fair experiment, which had become an annual tradition. It had turned out perfect.


"Thanks for coming." Tobias said warmly, as he ushered the younger man inside. Tobias scrutinised the young man closely and was surprised to see that true to his word, he wasn't hungover or too tired. In fact, he looked well rested, for having been to a party the night before. "Coffee's through here and Emily is just getting her things."

"Thanks." Tim said, as Tobias handing him a coffee mug, already filled to the brim with black, hot coffee. The young girl bounced into the room, with her science book, her notebook and her pen. Handing over the requirements and parameters that the teacher had set out, Tim quickly scanned them. "What would you like to do? What part of science? Remember, I can suggest something, but you're the one who had to explain it all."

"Chemistry." Emily said eagerly and Tobias rolled his eyes. He was afraid she would say that. "Nearly everyone in class is making a volcano and we've been studying chemistry in class."

"Well, we could do a volcano too." Tim suggested, but he already knew the answer. She wanted to be different. She wanted to stand out. "Depending on how much time we have; we could see if we could dissolve an eggshell, or a cooking experiment. Or we could do fireworks in a jar."

"Fireworks in a jar?" Emily repeated and giggled, thinking of the massive sparklers she and her dad had let off, the last fourth of July. "You can't do fireworks in a jar."

"Sure, you can." Tim encouraged her, "Not the fire kind, but the kind in water. Best of all, we probably don't even need to go shopping. I bet your dad has everything we need already."

Tobias looked worried. Fireworks in a jar sounded dangerous and sounded like he might possibly need a new floor when all this was over. "What do we need?" He asked, sounding just as worried as he felt. He remembered Tim telling them the story at dinner, of when he did a science experiment in base housing as a kid, and his volcano erupted prematurely. Tim had mixed Tabasco sauce with baking soda and vinegar as lava and his lava had eaten through the linoleum floor in their kitchen.

"We need four empty jars with lids. Some water, oil, a fork and food colouring." Tim told him with a reassuring smile. "Relax Tobias. Nothing's is going to explode, blow up or eat the floor, if we fail. Worst case scenario, we spill the oil, water or food colouring or the glass breaks."

"That part can be done outside." Tobias declared and together, the three of them headed out in to the yard, Emily with her notebook in hand. "Jars are in the shed."

He came over to the outdoor dining table, where Tim and Emily had set everything else up, with the jars in hand. He watched carefully as Tim explained how they were going to do the experiment and what chemical reactions they were hoping to see.

"First we label each jar, so we can compare them." Tim said with a smile, as Tim had Emily write on the painter's tape, he stuck on each jar. 'All water', 'all oil', 'too fast' and 'steady'. "Next we fill the first two jars up, with all water inn one and all oil in the other. Then we fill the other jars almost full of warm water, leaving two inches at the top."

Tobias helped Emily fill the jars with water, except the oil jar and fill the four lids with three lids with oil, as Tim explained why the oil sat at the top of the jar and the water at the bottom. Emily chimed in, telling the men about how water molecules like other water molecules, how water was heavier than oil and that was why the water and oil didn't mix. Tim reminded her to write that down, she needed to have that in her project. "Do we add the colouring, next?" Emily asked eagerly to see what happened next.

"Ok, pick two colours. We need two colours per jar." Tim said and Emily grabbed the yellow and red first. "We start by adding two drops of each colour into each lid and gently mix with the fork. Quickly jot down what happens."

Emily had a table chart made with the jars down one side and across the top she had three columns. 'Adding the colour, pouring into liquid and reaction.' Emily noted down each reaction as it occurred. Both Tobias and Emily watched in amazement as the food colouring separated in the oil and when gently and slowly added into the water made a fireworks effect in the water.

"That's really cool, Tim." Tobias said, as his daughter continued to watch the food colouring slowly seep into the water and create a firework like pattern in the water. "Why does it do that?"

"Ahh, Emily needs to tell us that." Tim said with a wink, as Emily, who was half listening to the adults, perked her ears up at her name. "That's the next part, she has to conclude why the three ingredients react to one another the way they do."

"Is it because the food colouring has water in it?" Emily asked, thinking back to what she already knew about water.

"Spot on, Em." Tim praised her. " The experiment is about density. Density is how much something weighs and how much space it takes up. The oil and water don't mix because the water molecules are more attracted to each other than the oil. Oil is also less dense than water, which causes the oil to float on top of the water, creating two distinct layers. The food colouring is water-based, which is why it doesn't mix with the oil even when you stir it. Instead, the food colouring breaks up into small droplets which float within the oil. Those droplets are denser than the oil because of how much water is in the food colouring. So, as they gradually fall though the oil and enter the water. Some small bits of oil remain on the food colouring droplets as they enter the water, which slows the absorption of the colour, creating long trails that resemble the fireworks."

"That is awesome!" Emily declared, excitedly, before she hugged Tim enthusiastically. "How cool is that, Dad? My teacher is going to be amazed by this."

"My ex-wife is going to think I am a genius. Thanks Tim." Tobias murmured as the two men chuckled. "Em honey, be sure to thank Tim for his help."

"Thanks Tim, you're the best." She declared again, hugging him again.

"If she wins first place, a steak dinner is on me." Tobias promised the younger man.


Pulling up out the front of Gibbs' house. Tim wasn't surprised to see that Gibbs' blue truck was now in the driveway and the front door had been left wide open. Tim took a deep breath and steeled himself, mentally and physically, before grabbing his laptop bag and locking his car up. "Gibbs." He called out, when he entered Gibbs' home.

He had only been here once before. He had barely had time to look around that time, before he had been ushered into the basement. This time, he looked around the home. It was homely, with some mismatched furniture and it seemed to scream Gibbs. Simple and functional. "McGee." Gibbs greeted him in the living room, handing him a mug of coffee. "Look, about earlier..."

"Forget it." Tim dismissed him, not allowing the man to apologise and break one of his cardinal rules. "You asked what was bothering me on Monday. I wasn't ready to talk about it then, I'm not really now. But I know it needs to be discussed too, I have to be ready now. So, here we are."

"What is it, Tim?" Gibbs asked. He had been really surprised by how much the man had grown since he first met him in the last three or four years, he had kept noticing the changes in him. At first, they were small, inconsequential changes, but recently, they've become bigger and more prominent. Like Tim having the uncanny ability to know when he was being followed. He had overheard Ziva and Tony discuss it in the bullpen two weeks ago when Tony had confessed, he was curious about who their probie met every Wednesday for dinner and had tried to follow him, only to have Tim give him the slip. He knew that Ziva had attempted to track him, only to come up empty handed, also. Which surprised the team leader because she was like a bloodhound when she was on someone's tail. Gibbs had chuckled to himself at that, but wasn't chuckling when Tim had called him out on it, too.

"First, I want you to see this." Tim cued up his laptop and showed Gibbs the video of Tony snooping around his apartment, helping himself to his cereal and nosing through his belongings. "I want you to rein Tony in or I will be forced to take this to Vance and possibly follow up with legal actions."

Tim was angry and justifiably so, Gibbs was also livid. "When was this taken?" Gibbs demanded; his voice angry. Tim flinched internally, hoping that anger wouldn't be directed at him.

"Last Friday night, after I had been away from work on Thursday." Tim snapped. "There are eleven other instances where he has broken into my home. I shouldn't have to install cameras in my own apartment to catch my co-worker breaking in."

"How many times do you think he has broken in?" Gibbs asked Tim and Tim felt like he was being blamed for the illegal actions of DiNozzo.

"I know of at least two more times, that I don't have footage of." Tim admitted. "Once, the first time with Kate and I was home at the time. Another time, with Ziva, I was not home on that occasion, but Ziva had at least looked like she knew it was wrong. For a minute, before joining DiNozzo on his scavenger hunt through my belongings. It was after that first attempt with Kate that I installed the cameras in my apartment."

"I see." Gibbs said, emotionless. "McGee, did you know it's against the law to have cameras in your home like that? It's an invasion of your guest's privacy."

"One, which is more illegal? My cameras or Tony breaking into my house? Invading my privacy!" Tim asked, beginning to rant. "Two, the cameras are motion activated and I always tell my guests in advance. They are only turned on when I am sleeping alone in my apartment, or if I am leaving. Three, what makes DiNozzo think that he is above the law? Four, what makes you think that this behaviour is ok? Five, how would you feel if it was your things he was trifling through?! What am I saying? He wouldn't dare go through your things. He actually respects you."

"What would you like me to do with this?!" Gibbs asked, he had been surprised by what he saw. Surprised Tim had cameras on the inside of his apartment, but he wasn't surprised by what Tony had done. DiNozzo seemed to know way too much about their youngest agent.

"Rein him in, or I will be going to Vance and the police." Tim snapped, harshly snatching his laptop off the table and stowing it in his bag, not bothering to shut it down. "If he breaks in one more time, I will have no other choice, Gibbs. I will go to the police and Vance. I won't care what Tony has to lose, either. Or if you fire me. I am done being kind and trampled all over. I deserve to be respected by my colleagues."

"McGee?" Gibbs tried to plead. Yes, Tim had a right to be angry, but after all this time, he should know what Tony was really like. He didn't even know that McGee was capable of exerting a back bone like this. Tim had ignored Gibbs, as he called out to him, as he stormed out of Gibbs' house, tearing out of the team leader's driveway and down his street. Gibbs had followed him, but it had been no use. McGee had left. When Gibbs returned inside, he saw that McGee hadn't touched the coffee he had made for the young man. Too angry to drink it.