TAP 16 - Thank you to all of you. You have all been so patient, kind and understanding during this difficult time. An extra-special thanks to all of your kind and caring condolences, well wishes and DM's. I look forward to getting back to my regular writing and posting schedule soon.
Tobias was relieved; it had been a week and a half since Tim had gone into surgery, and he was finally returning to work this morning. He had received clearance from the FBI staff doctor on Friday, and Tobias had agreed, knowing that Tim would be relaxing at home alone over the weekend. Pete had been called in shortly after Tim returned home, on his first day back after the injury. Pete had only contacted Tim once, to inform his boyfriend that he had been called in for an assignment and would get in touch again, when he could. Tim understood that, knowing it was the nature of his boyfriend's job. Just like he might have to go undercover at a moment's notice as well.
When Tobias had met with Gibbs for his weekly dinner with the former ex husband, of his ex wife, Jethro Gibbs finally had a lot of questions for Tobias. Clearly, his friendship with Tim, had been on the MCRT Team Lead's mind. Tobias took a seat in the usual seat of Jethro Gibbs's usual booth at his usual diner. Tobias was early and Elaine greeted him, happy and smiling as always. He couldn't believe that it had been two weeks since that fateful night that Tim had been attacked and beaten by his father.
"You better order some coffee, Tobias." Gibbs warned as he took his seat opposite him. "I have some questions and it's going to be a long night."
Tobias had been expecting this inquisition for a long time. In fact, he had thought Gibbs would have demanded answers sooner. He was almost disappointed that Gibbs hadn't asked sooner. "When did you and McGee first strike up a friendship?" Gibbs asked, as soon as they had ordered their dinner and a mug of hot coffee for himself, Tobias opting to take a pot of herbal tea. He couldn't drink coffee after 1600 hours; otherwise, he found that the caffeine kept him wide awake at night.
"Remember that old, beat-up, white Honda that Tim used to drive when you first met him?" Tobias asked, and Gibbs gave him a blank stare. Tobias' anger rose slightly at the thought of how easily Gibbs overlooked Tim on that particular night. If he had done the same thing, Tim might have frozen to death sleeping in that rust bucket he called a car. "The first case I worked with Tim. I had been held back in MTAC on a conference call with my director and yours. You had turned me down for a late dinner and I found Tim tinkering on that hunk of junk, in the freezing cold. After a couple of minutes trying to help him, I offered to drive him home. Didn't know he was living in Norfolk with no lodging allowance, while attached to the Navy Yard. Driving back and forth every night. Offered him my spare room for the night. Now to that he would take it, I practically forced him. The next day, we tried again to get it going and it wouldn't start. Talked him into calling a tow truck."
"Wait? Why didn't Tim have a lodging allowance?" Gibbs asked, surprised. "I signed the paperwork, myself. I just thought that he chose not to use it. He was probably staying with Abby, at her apartment. They were a hot and heavy item, back then. I signed the paperwork ... and then, I handed it to Tony to file with payroll. Crap, really? Tony was messing with him all the way back then? At least he had Abby to fall back on."
"Wrong, Gibbs." Tobias snapped. "After their first ever date, Abby told him she couldn't offer anything but casual, so Tim showed her the door. He was doing six hour round trips, daily. The next time I bumped into him, was at the dentist's office and that was when I found out that he took my advice about it being too dangerous to keep driving back and forth. Poor kid didn't even know he was entitled to lodging allowance. From that point on, he would stay with his family in the area."
"Why didn't either of you just tell me that you became friends?" Gibbs sighed out loud. He had been thinking a lot about everything that had happened since he met Timothy McGee. A lot of things about the younger man didn't make sense. "It's not like I would have begrudged either of you a chance to be friends. You're not all bad, Tobias."
"Gee, thanks Gibbs. But I choose to respect my friend's privacy. Tim keeps a line between his work life and his private life," Tobias reminded him. "Something I both respect and admire about the man. Not to mention dealing with all the crap I've seen flung at him over the years."
Gibbs murmured and Tobias felt his blood pressure increase. He was ready to let Gibbs have it. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that it's traits that I admire about him. But what a private life, he has. I had suspected a curiosity maybe, but a boyfriend? I'll admit, that threw me a little. They both seem so happy and settled together. The relationship seems to be moving fast."
"I won't discuss what I know about the Commander and Tim with you. Not without their permission. That is off-limits." Tobias told his friend sternly. "Tim and I are close, Jethro. Not like you and I share an ex-wife, close. Although, Diane does love Tim and is so nice to him. It's kind of weird, like a legitimate nice, not that faux nice, that she plays at. She will do anything he asks. But Tim and I, we are close. He helps me out and I help him out. We can share our confidences."
"Pete is a Commander?" Gibbs asked letting out a small whistle, clearly he was impressed. "What department is he in?" At Tobias' questioning gaze, Gibbs continued. "I'm not going to speak to him, approach him or even speak to his superiors. I was just curious."
"It's classified." Tobias replied. "I don't even think that Tim knows. But I will say that Pete is like Tim, crazy smart. Genius level smart. I don't know which one is smarter, actually. But my money is on Tim. They have such intellectually stimulating conversations that I can barely follow and they both use those five dollar words you and I can barely pronounce."
Gibbs muttered, "Promise me, you'll make sure he does right by Tim. That he treats Tim well. The man deserves to be cared for."
Tobias grinned, remembering how Pete had treated Tim well when he was injured in the hospital. He recalled to himself privately what he had witnessed, the night Tobias had stayed at Tim's last week and Pete had come back from his shift. The way he kissed Tim and helped his sleepy friend up off the sofa, ushered him down the hallway and into bed. Right before Tobias headed out and Pete's cell rang and he had to go back in. "He does and Tim treats him well too." Tobias added, hoping that Jethro's questioning would soon be over. Tobias felt like he was in an interrogation room with Gibbs, only he was on the other side. The suspect.
The two men had long finished their food and their hot drinks. Gibbs had taken his usual order of beer and Tobias had switched to a bottle of water. "How did you find out about Tim? That he likes men?"
"Nope, not sharing that. That's between Tim and I, Jethro. I told you I would not betray his trust." Tobias said adamantly, standing up for the young man. "Tim trusts me. I am not going to betray his confidence, even to you."
Gibbs murmured, "Fair point," and couldn't help but feel remorseful. Perhaps if he had helped him out with the car, maybe Tim would have trusted him instead. "Wait, the night you were in that car accident, leaving the Hoover Building? That night, Tim received a call and rushed out from the squad room. He took a day of leave the next day, too."
"The hospital found his number in my cell phone and called him." Tobias supplied, watching Jethro carefully. He saw those infamous blue eyes flash green with envy. "They let me go home, on the proviso that Tim stay with me. I stayed at his apartment that night and then he stayed at mine the following night."
"The job at the FBI?" Gibbs growled, telling Tobias everything that he needed to. Gibbs was still bitter about Tim coming to him and Tobias helping Tim. "You took him, right out from under us. Lured him away, didn't you?"
"As I have already told you, Tim came to me," Tobias snapped in reply, standing up. "I'm done with this game of yours, Jethro. See you next week." He threw enough money on the counter to cover his meal and a generous tip for Elaine. It wasn't her fault that Gibbs was such an ass.
"Today's the day?" Emily asked excitedly, as she settled in to eat some breakfast. Emily had been with him since Thursday, last week. Diane had been called out of town on business and there was no way he was leaving his daughter alone with Victor. He didn't trust the man. "Uncle Tim's back at work?"
Tobias grinned at his daughter as he plated up some bacon and banana pancakes with blueberries. "He'll have already hit the gym by the time I reach my desk," he said.
The day after they had dropped the lasagna off for Tim, Tobias had spent the afternoon with him. Since he had been discharged on the condition that he not be left alone yet, Pete had barely returned from his top-secret work at the Pentagon when the phone had rung and he had been called away again. Tobias had just gotten home when Pete called him asking if he could drop Tim off. Tim ended up staying with Tobias for two nights. Only after Ducky had finagled an examination out of the new FBI agent and declared that he was well enough to be left alone. Which was good for the young man, Tim liked his independence and was eager to get back to it.
Emily reminded her father, "So, don't forget Mom's not back yet and I have to be picked up after the science meet. No later than 4 pm, Dad." She knew that her father wasn't listening to her. He was focused on reading about some exposé that had been written by some journalist. The journalist had claimed that he had managed to successfully infiltrate the cartel that was responsible for running drugs up and down the East Coast. "Dad? What did I say?"
"Collect you after your science meet, no later than 4pm." Tobias answered in a monosyllabic tone, not looking up from the newspaper article that he was engrossed in. "Have you finished your English assignment, yet?"
"Ah Dad, it's not due until Friday. We have time." Emily reminded her dad, as she finished up her plate of food. "Dad! We are going to be late."
Glancing at his watch, Tobias urged Emily to hurry out the door. He instructed her to leave the dishes, assuring her that he would take care of them later. He had become absorbed in the newspaper article he had just read, stuffing it into his briefcase. Hopefully, he could catch up with Tim sometime during the day to find out if he had also read the article.
In the office, he arrived to find Tim already at his desk, hard at work. It seemed that Tim had already actioned his reports and signed off on his overdue paperwork from while he had been away Tim had also sent Tobias an internal email, thanking him for his help. Tobias also found he had an email from Agent Tom Stewart about his Porsche, informing him that the FBI were finally finished with it and had released it to his brother's panel repair shop. He specialised in panels and body work of luxury European cars. That NCIS had agreed to pay the bill. Hitting forward on the email, he quickly typed Tim's name in and hit send.
Tossing today's newspaper onto the desk in front of Tim, Tobias waited for him to read the article before asking his question. "That sounds like he's referring to the Reynosa Cartel, right? Aren't they ... ?" Tobias whispered, glancing around the room to ensure no one was paying them any attention.
Tim replied in a whisper, "I know that Paloma Reynosa is dead and Alejandro is in a federal penitentiary for his involvement in the cartel and corruption through his ties to the Mexican government."
"I remember, Gibbs told me." Tobias said, indicating that Tim should follow him into his office, with his finer. Tim obediently followed him, closing the door behind him. "The beef goes back to the further, I think. Gibbs has always been kind of vague about why they're out to get him."
"Hey, I worked the case and I was never told." Tim defended himself. "He probably told Ziva and Tony, but he didn't tell me. Probably didn't trust me. I was just the Probie."
"We have been trying to pin a bunch of hits on the Reynosa cartel for years, in a joint operation with the DEA. They want them for drug smuggling and drug running. They've been rampant, up and down the east coast for years, now." Tobias whispered to Tim. "With your inside knowledge of the original NCIS op, the DEA wants and what the FBI knows, do you think it would enough to get their number two? Maria Fuentes? She is married to Olaf Kristokoff, the Russian mobster. He is the FBI's ultimate target."
"I learnt the hard way through my own interactions that getting involved with the Reynosa cartel is dangerous, Tobias." Tim warned his friend, earnestly. "We should tread lightly. Take it upstairs to Thomasson, see what he has to say."
"We need to do some recon, let's talk to this reporter, first," Tobias decided, making a decision. "We need to know everything he knows. He successfully infiltrated their cartel. Do you think he'll co-operate?"
Tim grinned at his friend. "The Reynosa cartel can be very persuasive. Maybe sound Gibbs out on what their beef is with him?"
"Deal!" Tobias agreed and the two men shook hands on it. "Double or nothing that Thomasson will want in?" Tobias was sure that was a bet he would win. He had been working under Thomasson for the last fifteen years. He knew how Thomasson thought. He was sure that his friend would be forking out for two six packs, really soon. Tim didn't know, it was almost a sucker bet. That's why he would invite Pete and Tobias over and they could help him drink them.
"You're on." Tim grinned at his friend. They could see that slowly the rest of their team was trickling in and getting ready to start their day.
A round of welcome backs were shared with Tim and the rest of the team were polite enough to see the injury and the visible stitches in the wound, yet not comment. Exactly like the responsible and respectful adults that they were. Sure, his new work colleagues knew that he had been injured. They knew that he had been attacked by a family member. Sure, they had questions. But no one dared verbalise their questions and those that did were dressed down by Tobias for disrespecting and invading a colleagues right to privacy.
It wasn't until Tobias called a halt to lunch on their latest active case that he looked up from his desk and realised that their bullpen had emptied out. Everyone had left for lunch, with the exception of Tim. Tim was still hard away, working on the latest case that the team had caught on Friday afternoon. Tobias knew that it was one of those cases that made it practically impossible to catch up on and he was proud to see Tim trying so hard. He had no doubt that, at the end of the day, Tim would be fully caught up and ready to hit the ground running on Tuesday.
"Tim?" Tobias asked softly, sitting on the edge of the younger man's desk. "You having lunch today? I am headed out to the deli, want me to grab you something to eat and a fresh coffee? It isn't like NCIS here and I am not like Gibbs. I don't expect miraculous answers in impossible time frames and I don't expect you to work yourself to the bone. You need to eat and hydrate, maybe even get some fresh air."
"I have my lunch with me, today. I'll get it in a minute." Tim muttered, not looking up from his desk. A crinkle on his forehead appeared and he looked worried slightly. Tobias had seen that look on Tim before and it always meant bad news. It always meant that he had uncovered something on the case that had been missed and was about to make the case extremely complicated.
"Tim? What did you find out?" Tobias asked, watching his friends worry increase. There was a slight agitation and a small fidget that he had never noticed his friend doing before.
"Oh, this isn't about the case. This is about our discussion this morning." Tim answered absentmindedly. He looked up at Tobias, who had moved to lean over his shoulder, much like Gibbs would do on occasion, when he wanted to have a low conversation he didn't want anyone else to hear. "We should go get coffee."
"Now?" Tobias asked, surprised by the change in the subject. Surprised by the fact that Tim hadn't directed him into his office, but rather a confidential conversation, offsite. "Am I bringing Gibbs in on this?"
"Not yet, but what I found changes everything."
Gibbs was having a frustratingly slow day. He had already locked horns with the HR manager twice that morning. The two agents that he had been sent, he had tried to train, but they weren't working out. He had just requested one new agent and the other one, he was willing to try harder with. The agent he was willing to try and work with had some technological skills, but was very green in the field. Much more green than his former tech agent.
Ziva had been out of sorts since Tony and Abby had been arrested and Tim had left the agency. Gibbs never realised just how much he relied on Tim and Tony to get Ziva to talk, until it was just him and Ziva. Making a decision, he clicked his fingers at Ziva and indicated that she should follow him. Ziva locked her workstation and dutifully followed him into the elevator, out into the foyer, through security and outside into the fresh, warm breeze. she followed him down to the bench, overlooking the water.
"I ... I want to thank you, Ziva." Gibbs began, seeing her curious and confused look. He had never thanked her for doing her job before. But she was friends with Tim and had questions. "You did good with your last op; shadowing the Admiral like that. What I tell you can not go any further than the two of us. Is that understood?"
"Of course, Gibbs." Ziva said earnestly. She was hoping that Gibbs was going to let her in on why he had her shadowing her friend Tim's father. Why he was arrested? Why she was forbidden from watching the closed interrogation.
"First, I want to stress to you that Tim is OK. He is already back at work." Gibbs placed his hand on Ziva's forearm to steady her. He couldn't let anyone see her getting upset at what he was telling her. "The reason we had you shadow Admiral McGee and pick him up was ... that bastard hurt Tim."
"I'll kill him!" Ziva seethed out loud in the barest of a hiss. "Kill him with my bare hands."
"No, you won't." Gibbs reiterated, seeing the seriousness in his eyes. "It's being dealt with. What you can do is, you can not tell him you know, but you can remind him he still has friends at this agency. Friends that support him, even though they don't know what's going on."
"I can do that." Ziva admitted in a small voice. "I should have stood up for him more, against Tony and Abby. Maybe Tim wouldn't have felt the need to leave. I guess I just worry about him, over there."
"Tim's doing good work over at the FBI, Ziva." Gibbs reminded her. "I get regular updates from Tobias and I know that Ducky and Leon keep in touch with Tim. I am sure someone would tell us if he wasn't OK."
"I just have a lot of regrets when it comes to McGee." Ziva confided to Gibbs.
"We both do, Zee." he replied, using the nickname that Tim gave her.
Tim was surprised to see that Tobias spent most of the afternoon in the office, upstairs with the Director. So when they caught the double homicide, Tobias ordered Tim to take the lead. When they got back from the scene, Tobias was already gone for the evening. Tim told the team to write up their scene prelim reports and then head out, that they'd pick it up in the morning.
With the last report in his inbox and when the last of his team had left for the night, Tim headed home, soon as he cleared the FBI parking lot, Tim was on the phone to Tobias. "Hey Tim, hope you are hungry." Tobias answered the phone, his voice seemed over-exuberant. "I have a surprise for you, too. So, how are far away are you?"
"Tobias?" Tim asked, shocked. He was surprised. Tobias never answered his phone in anything but a professional manner. He was rarely so casual on the phone, especially when Tim was still on the clock and could have been calling for professional reasons. "Everything OK?"
"It will be when you get here, I'm at your house." Tobias announced and Tim felt tempted to call for back up. "Hurry up."
"Do you need me to pick something up?" he asked his friend, confused by what the hell was going on. Why was Tobias acting so weird? Maybe Tim had forgotten a birthday? No it wasn't any of their birthdays. He knew them without thinking, it was obviously something big.
"No!" Tobias exclaimed, the worry about Tim stopping on the top of his tongue. Last time his friend stopped on the way home, he was brutally attacked. "Just come straight home, it will all make sense."
"Sure." Tim muttered, disconnecting the call.
Pulling up in his driveway, nothing looked out of the ordinary, except maybe that Tobias' truck was there and he usually parked on the street if he beat Tim to to his house. Tobias was generally considerate like that. He hummed to himself, as he switched off his black Camaro, the rental he was using and gathered his things to head inside. As soon as he was free of his car, Emily was running out of the house to see him. "Uncle Tim, I am so glad you're home." She muttered into his chest, as she hugged him tight. "Heads up, Dad's in a really weird mood."
"Weird, how, honey?" Tim asked, pulling back and keeping Emily tucked up under his arm. "Weird like the time he ate the dessert in the middle of the night and thought going to a water park the following day was a good idea? Or weird like ... when he thought he needed to try and make your Nonna's sauce from scratch in the middle of the night? You had to call me to take him to urgent care because he burnt his hand, really bad."
"Oh, this is the strangest one yet." Emily grinned at him, as the entered the front door of his home together. As soon as Tim was through the door, Emily announced Tim's arrival. "Look who's home."
"Hey." Pete appeared at the doorway and Tim thought he looked delicious. Tim was surprised, he was sure that Pete had said that he would be gone for two weeks. It had only been ten days. "Emily, Tobias was looking for you in the kitchen."
Watching the young teen scamper off to find her father, Pete and Tim looked each other over with their bedroom eyes. "I want to kiss you." Tim whispered as Pete pulled him in for a hug. "But Em?"
"Will know tonight." Pete finished for him. "Confession time, Tim. I told my sister about us, today. She was happy for me. She actually cried. My tough as nails stewardess of a sister, cried. She can't wait to meet you."
"Just how long have you been back?" Tim smirked at his boyfriend, as Pete chastely kissed Tim's lips in a whisper of a kiss.
"Got back this morning. My sister was already at my apartment. She had a layover and when she mentioned how dusty the apartment was, the words just came tumbling out of me." Pete grinned at him. "I thought I'd surprise you and cook for you to celebrate. However, I bumped into Tobias and he said you were on a case. But it wasn't high priority, that he felt guilty for having left you in charge without a word today. That he was cooking dinner and that I should come, too. He wanted me to meet Emily."
"He wants more than that, Pete." Tim warned his boyfriend. Tim remembered that last week, he had wanted Tim and Pete to tell Emily the truth. "You do know that he wants us to ... Tell her the truth, right?"
Putting his fingers across his boyfriend's lips to silence him, Pete looked into Tim's eyes. "I know and I am ready, now. Are you ready? Because I know you're protective over Emily and I have heard you on the phone, go toe to toe with her mother. I don't even need to meet the women to know that I am already terrified of her."
"I'm ready." Tim reiterated to his boyfriend. He had wanted Pete to meet Emily when they'd stopped by week before last, when they had dropped off the lasagna.
"Tim, Em said you were home." Tobias said from the doorway. "Em's setting the table, ready to eat? Dinner is on the table and I made your favourite. Pancetta wrapped chicken breasts with three different types of vegetables and some insalata."
"Insalata?" Pete asked, smothering his chuckle at Tobias' clear attempt at a phoney Italian accent. "What the hell is insalata?"
"Salad." Tim grinned at Pete and tapped his chest lovingly as they made their way into the dining room. Dinner was indeed on the table and all of a sudden, Tim found his appetite.
Dinner was a hearty, nutritious meal and lively affair. Tobias watched Tim and Pete talk Emily through a difficult science experiment that she was about to undertake the following day in class and the older man could have sworn that his eyes hurt from confusion and rolling them. With the clean up done; a coffee for Tim, tea for Tobias and hot chocolate for Emily and Pete, the party of four sat around Tim's dining room table. The table cleared and cleaned, the dishwasher loaded and ready to start. Tobias was beginning to look a little worried. "Is this where you guys tell me that Pete is Uncle Tim's boyfriend?" Emily asked, breaking the ice. "Because if he is, I am cool with that. My old soccer coach is gay, so is my piano teacher. It is a pretty accepted lifestyle these days."
"We haven't been together long." Tim admitted to his niece, turning to face her as he spoke. "Most of my family don't like my lifestyle and I have been too scared to tell the rest of them."
"Only my sister knows." Pete added, backing up Tim. "It's just difficult to tell the people you love."
"We ... we all wanted you to know." Tim told her. "Em honey, you know that I love you and we don't keep secrets from each other, do we?"
"Except for your work secrets, which you won't tell me, no." Emily admitted, looking to her dad, who was on the left of her. "I guess we're a party of four instead of a party of three, now. Right Dad?"
"Honey, if you need to talk about it. About how your feeling or what you're thinking, we can talk about it." Tobias reminded his daughter carefully. "Either you and me can talk alone, or the four of us."
"I can go somewhere else if you just want to talk to your Dad and Tim, alone." Pete offered and Emily laughed at him. "I don't want to come between you and Tim or the relationship you two share. I just hope we can get to know each other because I care for him, I plan to be around for a while. Maybe one day we can even be friends."
"It's OK. It's not like you're going to do any stuff in front of me. Maybe a kiss, but that's it." She laughed nervously. Tim and Tobias exchanged a look; maybe Emily wasn't as OK. as she was claiming to be. "But I do have rules for you dating my Uncle. You don't cheat on him, you don't hurt him, you don't hit him. You treat him with respect or you will answer to me. My mother terrifies people, but just so you know, I learnt from her and I have my father's temper. I will be your worst nightmare. Are we clear?"
Tobias and Tim exchanged an amused look and Pete tried not to smile, Emily was adorable. She was just as protective of Tim as what Tim was of her. "We're clear." Pete smiled at her.
"Dessert?" Emily asked, as if she hadn't been threatening anyone, just a minute ago.
