TAP3


"Agent Fornell and his team will be assisting us on this case." Director Morrow had told the MCRT and the FBI team, gathered in the conference room. "I expect you all to work co-operatively and cohesively with the FBI. Gibbs, you take Sacks, check out the warehouse in Armadale Heights, before you interview every crew member on the USS Kittyhawk. I want all crew interviewed including the DoD contractors and civilians. Todd, you and O'Brien work up the forensic profiles, liaise with Gibbs and Sacks on possible suspects. DiNozzo, you and O'Halloran follow the money, hit the streets and follow up with the original investigators. Fornell, you take...?"

"McGee." Gibbs supplied the TAD agent's name with a smirk. He had been requesting the green agent out of Norfolk, to be their TAD; on and off for a while now. Gibbs was currently contemplating adding him to his team. True, he was green as they came, but Gibbs had been able to see the potential, that young, impressionable agent had. Plus he was a magician with a computer, an area which Gibbs had to admit his whole team was lacking in. He knew that if McGee came through for him again, he would go battle with Morrow to get the green, young agent transferred to the Navy Yard, onto his team.

"Fornell, you take McGee. You two set yourselves up in that vacant apartment, for rent across the street. I want to know if anyone so much as sneezes in the direction of that storage locker; where we found the weapons and cash. You two do not move!" Morrow had all but ordered. Both men had seemed to be indifferent, with being partnered together. But both of them knew they had a good camaraderie with one another. In fact it was just last night the two men had gone to the Outback Steak House on Lexington Ave, to have a steak dinner to celebrate Emily's win at the science fair. First place in the science fair at school, to be exact.

"Let's go get our weapon smugglers, team." The Director of the FBI announced, dismissing their newly formed task-force. He and Director Tom Morrow watched as each team individually briefed one another, before pairing off with their respective partner's from the other agency. Director Thomasson, the Director of the FBI and Director Morrow, had been surprised. Sure, both Director's knew to keep DiNozzo and Sacks separated. But as the teams broke off, they hadn't been able to stifle their amusement when the bumbling, shy, green TAD agent held out his hands for the keys, with a wordless grin to the FBI team leader. Tobias had patted the young man's back and happily handed the keys over to him. Before they headed off.

"Thanks Tobias." Tim grinned at him, snatching the keys to the sedan.

"You're welcome. Let's go, hotshot. We don't have all day." Tobias returned the grin with one of his own, as he pat the younger man on the back. The two men made their way out of the building, stopping via Tim's temporary desk for a box surveillance equipment and his laptop. Tim drove the sedan, as Tobias reread the file, out loud, containing their latest intel on the weapons smuggler. Tobias had to admit, he was glad not to be partnered with Gibbs. He was still in a good mood and didn't want that grumpy agent to spoil his good mood. "How often is Gibbs going to TAD you before he brings you over permanently?"

"Who knows?" Tim half griped, half replied in a nonchalant manner. "All I know is I'm grateful Penny is teaching at NYU for this semester. I couldn't imagine being back under her roof, living by her rules again."

"You've lived with your Penny before and it wasn't an issue." Tobias commented. He had already heard Penny mentioned numerous times before and knew the story about why the McGee matriarch used her maiden name and refused to use a grandparent moniker, opting to be called by her first name. Tim had already casually mentioned, in the past that Penny had done the bulk of the raising of him and his kid sister, Sarah. Tobias had picked up what the young man hadn't admitted, that his father was always at sea, or too busy with the Navy to raise his children. "What's different now?"

"Yeah, but she's starting to put the word on me settling down and looking for a partner." Tim explained, as they pulled up and parked their agency sedan in the back lane. As they gathered their gear, and locked up the sedan, Tim continued. "Sure, I want to get married, someday. But I am not going to hang out in bars and pick up a bunch of random women, in the hope that I might meet the one. That's not me."

"How old were you when your mom passed, Tim?" Tobias asked again. He knew the green agent was young. But he couldn't remember the exact age, he had said. He always assumed that Penny had taught him about respecting women. He had seen Tim attract a woman too. Tim was a good looking kind of man, he had seen the dental nurse at the clinic all but swoon when she had called Tim's name, the week before.

"I was six." Tim reminded him. "Penny always taught me how to treat a lady, but my father, he instilled an extremely strict set of manners in me. Unfortunately, that gave me an inability to stand up to my elders."

"And your inability to not respect anyone." Tobias finished. He would never bring it up with the young man he was developing a friendship with, but he suspected that his father may have been emotionally distant with him, possibly abusive. He saw Gibbs go to head slap the green agent once and even though he had seen it coming, the younger man had flinched. It had stopped Gibbs cold in his track and the two older agents had exchanged glances. "If you like, I can try to help you become more assertive. Teach you to find your backbone. I know it's taking you out of your comfort zone, but if you're going to succeed as an agent, you're going to need to know how to assert yourself."

"That would be good." Tim happily agreed. He knew it was an area he wanted to improve himself. He had tried to teach himself, but found that he always felt too remorseful afterwards. "I might be book-smart, but I have a lifetime of ingrained politeness to contend with. The Admiral...Things were tough with him, very militant."

Oh, Tobias hadn't forgotten. Tim telling him about how he had to care for his infant sister, by the time he was seven and how his stepmother had practically ignored him once their child had been born. How when his stepmother had his kid sister, the household responsibilities had been thrust upon him. "It's OK, Tim." Tobias told him, with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We can take it slow."


It was a beautiful and sunny Saturday morning, Tim was running through the park when he literally bumped into a young woman running in the opposite direction. Tim offered to help her up, profusely apologising and was surprised to see her bat her eyelids at him and smile widely in return.

Tim was no fool, he knew he attracted women, and the occasional man, but that was another story, for another time. He knew women loved him. Some loved his manners, other's loved the way he treated them. Some loved his physical appearance and some wanted to the challenge to try to turn him into a bad boy. Women had been chasing him since he could walk, but he didn't notice them, until he was 12 and Misty Hogan kissed him at the school dance.

Once Misty Hogan kissed him, Simone Callahan cornered him in the library and kissed him, slipping him the tongue, not wanting to be outdone by her best friend Misty. A month after that, at Simone's fourteenth birthday party, he found himself in the closet with Sam Beckworth, playing seven minutes in heaven and Sam Beckworth had kissed him and forced his hand onto her boob.

By the time he was fifteen, Sandy Farnsworth, was touching him inappropriately, through his jeans, behind the stage at the end of year school dance. Tim had never been more relieved to leave that school and not look back. Starting college at sixteen, at JH, it was the perfect excuse to become a social recluse.

But at MIT, by the time he was eighteen, women had begun noticing him again and that was when he had met his first girlfriend, Kelsey Giddings. They shared a lot of firsts together, including their virginity's. It had been awkward, but they had laughed a lot and genuinely had feelings for one another. Ultimately though, it didn't last too long and Tim was the one left heartbroken.

At Georgetown U, Tim met Sarah, an anthropologist student, but he couldn't let himself get too involved with her because she had the same name as his sister.

At FLETC, there was a strict no fraternisation rule, but that didn't stop Rachel Winters from seducing Tim into bed after graduation. But she was only after one thing and broke up with him, as soon as she got what she wanted. She told him that he was too nice.

There were a couple more women he could barely remember the name of. Women who didn't make it passed a second date. Or women who told him that he was too nice.

He had all their numbers, in a little black book, but he'd never be one to delve back into that book, looking for a one night stand. That was not who he was. Then of course, Tim had been with a couple of guys over his time, too. It wasn't that they were a secret or anything, he just never advertised his male relationships, or any for that matter. But he did make sure his father never found out.

Owen Wilson, the captain of the football team. Tim had been assigned to tutor him and Owen had a soft spot for younger men. But when Tim passed him in height, he broke it off with him. Owen had a quirk, he had to be the dominant, the boss, the alpha and that included the physical attributes too.

Nick Shaffer, he claimed he liked pretty boys, but he played around on anyone he was with and Tim was grateful that he had only ever kissed Nick. He found out very quickly that Nick was a compulsive liar. He had three men on the side and dated women as window dressings to detract from the men he was seeing. He was ashamed of his sexuality and played into his persona too much. All of that was just too much maintenance for Tim to bother with.

When he was at MIT, he met Andy McLean. He liked to get drunk and start fights. He was always picking a fight with Tim. Their relationship was hot and volatile. They were on and of constantly, until Tim had finished MIT. One night, he started a fight with Tim. But Tim had finished it, managing to get him down to the ground and into a choke hold. Before threatening him, that if he came back, he better sleep with one eye open.

After that, Tim swore off men. Men were vindictive and abusive, women were remissive and he was always too nice, it was hard either way and he felt like he couldn't win.


That was how Tim met Chloe Burton. Before he could stop himself, his mouth was asking her to dinner. By the time his brain caught up with him, she had accepted and was giving her his personal, burner cell, as she handed her business card to him. He never gave women, or anyone really his work cell phone number, just as he never told them what he did for a living. Simply telling them, he worked for the government, usually they never had a follow up question for him.

When the day of the agreed date arrived, something felt off to Tim and he had run through everything that was happening in his life right now, to see if something flagged. The only thing that flagged was meeting this Chloe woman. He had just met her for dinner at the Riviera Hotel, the night before and it seemed to go well, a little too well. It was unnerving. It wasn't somewhere he usually took a woman on a first date, or a date in general but for some inexplicable reason, he found himself asking her to suggest a place. That was very unlike him. He liked to be in control there, have them meet him on his terms, especially in the beginning. But there was just something about this woman he couldn't put his finger on.

At lunch, he took himself off for a wander around Andrew's park, trying to put his finger on it. It was still driving him insane. He needed a fresh set of eyes and DiNozzo definitely wasn't the answer. He wouldn't open himself up to Tony's ridicule and belittlement, he refused to. Tim pulled out his cell phone and sent his buddy Tobias a text message asking if he was on lunch, too. He was surprised to look up and see Tobias strolling towards him. "Hey." Tobias greeted the man. He thought that Tim looked a little more stressed than usual and wondered what would have his friend so unhinged. "What's going on? You look all stressed out?"

Tim smiled warmly at Tobias. He had only messaged the man, intending to ask if he had a moment free at some point today, that Tim could call his friend and have a brief chat. He needed a sounding board. "I met a woman, Chloe." Tim said in a frustrated sigh, but smiling. "There is something about her I can't quite put my finger on."

"Start from the beginning and go through it step by step." Tobias said, as they walked by the far side of the park, away from any prying ears. Tim began explaining all about how he had met this beautiful woman in the park, literally running into her. How he helped her up and apologised to her, making sure that she was OK. But all she did was bat her eyelids in return. That before he knew it, he had asked her out and they were exchanging numbers. "Do you think maybe you like her?"

"It's not that. I know this sounds weird, but its like when Gibbs claims his gut is telling him something." Tim said in a sigh. He had never had a strong gut before. Mostly he had intuition and a strong sense of dread, combined with sheer, dumb, luck.

"I've seen women swoon and throw themselves at you, my friend." Tobias chuckled at him. Just last month when he had been in the car accident the leggy red headed doctor had been swooning and fawning all over his friend, like an octopus in heat. "You barely pay attention to them most of the time. You're really talented at playing oblivious to them. What was it about this one woman that piqued your interest?"

"How many women have you seen me with, Tobias? Since we've been friends." Tim asked, segueing into what appeared to be a new topic. "What? Three or four?"

"About that." Tobias admitted and had to admit that his friend usually attracted all different kinds of women. But he had only ever seen him with a certain kind of woman. A fiery one. Three out of the four of the women he had been lucky enough to be introduced to, or see Tim with, had been red heads and one was a feisty blonde with fighting spirit. "You have a type. You like strong, fiery, feisty women. Someone who can match your intellect and you usually get to know the women you date, before you ask them out."

Both, Tobias and Tim remembered the Catherine incident. Way too well.


Catherine Myers, she was an actress and that should have been their first clue that in addition to being fiery and feisty, she was insane. Tim and her had been together for four months and they were intimate. Tim loved her and had introduced her to Tobias, as he had been beginning to think that she might have been the one.

As soon as she was alone with Tobias, she had her tongue down his throat. Tobias had quickly put a stop to that and had told Tim immediately. But when Tim had confronted her with it, she had tried to make it seem like Tobias made the whole incident up.

By the end of the evening, Tim had broken up with her and when he had returned home from work the following night, she had broken into Tim's apartment and had changed the locks, so Tim couldn't get in.

Tim had called Tobias, unfortunately it had been a Tuesday night and he had been having dinner with Gibbs, when Tim had called for help and interrupted. But Tobias Fornell hadn't hesitated, he'd simply excused himself and told Gibbs that something had come up, before he left to help Tim.

Tobias and Tim had tried to break into the apartment, to no avail. That wench had called the police on them, claiming that it was her apartment. But Tobias had had a stroke of genius. Emily was on school camp and Diane was home. Victor was away for work.

A quick call to Diane and the red haired menace came barrelling up into the apartment building. Smiling at Tim and kissing Tobias' cheek. Before either man could explain what was happening, Diane was headed up the four flights of stairs to Tim's apartment. Twenty minutes later, she was coming back down the stairs, escorting Catherine out of the apartment, with her two duffle bags, full of her of belongings and the new keys in her hand. Catherine was muttering and profusely apologising for her behaviour, before handing over the two keys and taking off in her car.

Diane just smiled at the two men and told Tim how wonderful it was to see him again, before driving off herself. Still to this day, neither Tim or Tobias know what Diane did or said to make the crazy woman leave.

Two years later, Catherine became a huge TV star and three months after her newest TV show aired, she took her own life.


Tim still wasn't sure what to do about this new woman he'd taken on a date the night before. Tobias had shared his theory with him, already. He thought that maybe this Chloe women stirred something in his young friend and that was why Tim felt something was off. That perhaps he was so intrigued and mystified by her because it had been a long time since he had felt that way about someone.

Tim decided to test the waters, he invited her for a coffee and a walk in the park date. He called her up, but the morning of the date, she cancelled and Tim called Tobias to see if he was interested in going for a hike in Rock Creek Park.

Tobias only had yard work to keep him company and was surprised to hear from Tim. He knew that the younger man had made plans with his new lady friend for a date. "She cancelled?" he asked Tim, as he pulled up in the car parking area, where they agreed to meet.

"Yep." Tim confirmed, as he left his sat phone number written on paper on the dash, visible. Just in case. Some thing he had learnt to do in the scouts. "Not before reminding me that there was a stage show at the Kennedy Centre that she'd love me to take her to see."

Tobias bit his lip, he now knew what was wrong, but it wasn't his place to get involved. He'd been down this path himself before and had barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. But it was something that everyone; men and women had to learn for themselves.

The two men hiked in a relative silence. Admiring the views and appreciating the more physical aspect of the trail. Tim had deliberately chosen a steeper path, which was more strenuous. He needed to clear his mind and if he was exhausted, there was a good chance he'd succeed. "What are you going to do about her?" Tobias broke the silence.

"Don't know." Tim replied, his tone was downtrodden. "Maybe I'll ask her to get a hot dog in the park and if she says no, she's clearly in it for my money." Tobias readjusted his pack on his shoulders and pat the younger man on the back.

"Sounds like a plan, Tim." Tobias murmured as he forged on ahead. He mentally reminded himself to turn Tim down the next time he's all mixed up over a woman and wants to go for a hike.

"How's Emily doing?" Tim asked as he fell in behind Tobias, catching up to the older man. "Tell me everything that your crazy girl has been up to?"

That put a smile on Tobias' face and his smile was contagious. Before Tim could keep the sour look on his face, he too was grinning along with Tobias as he launched into the latest Emily saga, a school dance and a boy named Nathan.


Tim tried to call Chloe when he and Tobias returned to the cars, he caught her at a bad time. He could hear someone in the background, panting and breathing heavily. Tim asked her what was going on and Chloe repeated her story from early, that she was working. He heard a man's voice in the background and she was quick to reassure him, that the voice belonged to her colleague. "I know you're busy at work." Tim said softly, eager to hear her response. "Maybe you can spare ten minutes for hot dog in the park date?"

"Oh, I can't Tim." She sighed, "But if you changed that hot dog to Rossetti's and a bottle of Chianti. I could be tempted." Tim held his thumb down to Tobias, who was giving his friend some privacy and sitting in his car.

"Look Chloe, I don't think that this is going to work out." Tim told her, seriously. "You're only interested in me if I'm spending large amounts of money on dinner or a date."

"But..." Chloe tried to reason with him. "It's not that, it's just that life is nicer when you go fancy places to eat."

"Well not for me." Tim said succinctly. He noticed that Tobias had joined him. "I want to be able to spend time with a woman that will be just as happy to grab a coffee or a hot dog in the park, as what she will be to go out to eat. Whether it be a fancy, five star restaurant, or a simple diner with home cooked meals."

"I can try to change." She argued and she had began sobbing. But Tim wasn't buying it, especially with the heavy breathing and panting, as well as the male's voice in the background. She was simply too high-maintenance. He was done.

"Sorry Chloe, I am done." Tim said, gently, feeling Tobias' eyes on him.

"Well, you just made an enemy for life. You will rue the day that you dared dump me." She threatened him. Not that the threat phased him. He'd been threatened by terrorists, murders and he'd personally been shot at by a terrorist. This woman didn't terrify him.

"Have a nice life, Chloe." Tim said, smiling down the phone line, as he disconnected the call. Tim pocket his cell and looked up at his friend. "Well, that's over." He sighed out loud.

"I know you're not really OK, but are you OK?" Tobias asked, as he put his arm around Tobias in a friendly, comforting manner. His friend Tim, was a great man and he he couldn't understand why women couldn't see that. They were so quick to fawn over his physical attributes, thinking with their ovaries' and uterus', but didn't see the man beneath his looks. "How about we go grab a beer and a meal tonight? Emily is at Diane's and you look like you could use the company."

"Make that take-out and a beer and you've got a deal." Tim said softly to him. Tim wasn't a big drinker and when he did drink, he preferred to do in the safety of his apartment. "I'll get the take out."

"I'll get the beer." Tobias grinned. This was their usual way of doing things. Tim organised food and Tobias got the alcohol. "Meet you at yours at 1900. Want me to grab a movie or do you have one?"

"Pretty sure I can find something to stream." Tim replied. That was his usual answer to Tobias, and they always found something to watch.

"See you at seven." Tobias grinned to his friend, as he waved and drove off.

After an evening of a couple of beers, good take-out food, a movie and good conversation with Tobias. Tim was always as good as new, afterwards. he always managed to bounce back to his usual self. Tobias was always relieved to see it and stuck by his friend.