Chapter 5

Tony was sitting at his desk reading through the reports on the Allen case. They had to send this stuff over to the FBI and he was not going to give Sacks any excuse to razz him about his work. Tim was a little late, but that happened quite frequently on Thursdays and Tony tried not to think about why that was. Plus, Tim always made up for the missed time. Lara had taken Muna down to the lab to help Abby with her last parts of the case... and to get Muna away from Tony while he was reading the reports. Muna really wanted to know if Tony was going to make any corrections and when she had submitted her first report, she'd stood there, staring at Tony, just waiting, as if this was an essay assignment in college.

The elevator dinged and Tim got off.

"Hey, Tony. Got a minute?" Tim asked.

"Sure," Tony said, putting the report aside. As Tim dropped his bag at his desk, Tony took a moment to analyze how Tim was. He was a little on edge, but that was, unfortunately, far too normal. He tried to hide it, but he just didn't have the same... attitude. He wasn't really happy very often, and that was sad.

Tim turned around. "Salma's kindergarten class is having a Daddy day tomorrow and she begged me to come. So if you don't mind, I'll be about an hour late."

"You don't seem too excited about this. You want an excuse not to go? I could say I need you on time."

Tim smiled and shook his head. "No... well, yes, but no. Salma is so excited about this. I don't particularly want to go and talk to a bunch of five-year-olds about my job, but she's excited about having me at school with her, even if it's just for a little while. If it was just doing something with my daughter, that would be great... but not at school."

Tony laughed. "You're such a nerd, Tim, that I'd think you relish the chance to go back to school."

"Not kindergarten. I'd go back to college, but not elementary or high school. Will it be okay?"

"Yeah. We're finished with the Allen case. The FBI is taking over the rest of it. If they need some last-minute info about the ransomware, Abby can answer their questions as well as you can."

"Okay. I guess that's good," Tim said with a smile and sat down at his desk.

Ziva walked over.

"Tim, did Tony ask you?"

Tim looked up and his brow furrowed.

"Ask me what?"

Ziva looked at Tony and he raised his hands.

"Hey, he just got here and we're doing our jobs right now."

She shook her head.

"Tim, Tony was supposed to invite you and Zahara over for dinner this weekend."

"Oh..." Tim paused.

"Well, that wasn't as enthusiastic as I would have hoped," Tony said. "I promise that we won't make kissy faces at each other during dinner."

Tim smiled, but it didn't last.

"No. It's not that. It's... I have a lot going on this weekend and I'm not sure I'm up to a social event... even just with you guys. Can I take a rain check? Maybe next weekend instead?"

"Are you sure that's not just an excuse?" Ziva asked.

Tim shook his head. "It's not an excuse. Honestly, I just have to deal with some other things. I have therapy tomorrow evening and that's never easy. Just let me have a week, okay? Zahara will want to have dinner with you. She even said that she wanted to have Italian."

Tony laughed even though he could see that there was something else going on.

"Okay, okay. But next week, all right?"

Tim nodded. "Next week. I'll tell Zahara and she'll make sure it happens."

Then, he turned his attention to his computer and Ziva gave Tony a significant look. He looked at his reports and then nodded. He got up from his computer and followed Ziva to a relatively private space.

"I don't know," he said as soon as they were alone. "I really don't. He's on edge but I don't know why. Maybe it is just all this stuff that he says he has to do."

"What stuff, though?"

"More of looking online and seeing if anyone is talking about him in the wrong way?" Tony suggested. "He gets obsessed with that sometimes. But he does have therapy tomorrow. He gets off early for it and Dr. Hicks pushes sometimes."

"Yes." Ziva sighed. "I hate to see him like this. What will it take?"

"I don't know. I wish I did."

"I know." Ziva rubbed at her wrists for a moment and then she smiled. "I should get to work and let you read your reports."

"And I'll keep my eye on him. I promise."

"I know you will." She kissed him on the cheek and then walked back to her side of the bullpen.

Tony watched her go. Sometimes, he missed being on the same team with Ziva, but he had to admit that it was for the best to have them working on different teams. They both had too strong a personality to be able to deal with the superior-subordinate relationship. And it meant that she was still in the same place for work and he didn't have to boss her around. Tony smiled to himself and then walked back to his desk. Tim glanced at him once but then he was back to his computer. Tony sat down and got back to his reports. They were far from the best part of his day, but they were necessary.

At least, he had no surprises with them.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs got out of his car and walked to a door he'd never planned on approaching again. He hadn't in the last two years. He noticed a car in the driveway with New York plates. They had a visitor. He probably should have called first, but he hadn't kept the phone number and he wasn't about to ask Tim what it was. If they were busy, he could come back later.

He hesitated for a moment and then knocked and waited.

After a moment, the door opened.

"Hello, ma'am."

Tamara Carew looked surprised to see him.

"Agent Gibbs," she said and then looked back over her shoulder for a moment. "I'm assuming that you need to speak to Levi?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "I would have called first, but I don't have your number."

Tamara smiled a little and stepped back.

"Please, come in. I'll get Levi."

Gibbs could see that she didn't really want to have him there. Whoever was visiting must be someone she didn't want to interrupt.

"Thank you."

Gibbs stood quietly by the front door as Tamara walked into another room. In a few seconds, Levi Carew himself was walking to the door. Gibbs tried to discern how his health was, but it was hard to tell. Levi wasn't walking quickly and when he worked within his limits, he seemed normal... if you didn't know what he had been like before.

"Agent Gibbs, what can I do for you?"

"I have some questions, but I can wait if you have visitors."

Levi raised an eyebrow in surprise. That kind of concession must seem strange coming from someone at NCIS. Levi knew how they felt about him there, and even if Gibbs wasn't as bad as others, he tended toward impatient demands in the best of circumstances.

"Is it not serious?" he asked. "I'm skeptical that you'd come here just to chat."

"It is serious, but it's not time sensitive, so far as I know."

"About Tim, I take it?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, if it's not time sensitive, could you come back another time?" Levi hesitated. "My daughter is here, introducing us to her fiancé and I need to give her my time unless this is urgent."

That one sentence contained two shocks. One, that Brianna could have mellowed enough to be getting married. Two, that Levi was admitting that his daughter needed his time.

"It's not urgent. Not yet."

"I see. I'm surprised you just stopped by. I know this isn't on your way to... anywhere," Levi said, bluntly.

"I don't know your number. Otherwise, I would have called first."

"Don knows my number, but I still know yours," Levi said. "I'll call you when I have time."

"Thank you," Gibbs said. He turned to leave but then turned back and asked a question that he would never have imagined he would ask, at least not and care about the answer. "How long do you have?"

Levi's eyebrow went up and for a moment, he looked like his old self, but then, he sighed... and he didn't pretend not to understand what Gibbs meant.

"Too long and not long enough," he said.

Gibbs nodded and walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. As he got into his car, he thought about Levi's answer. He paused and looked at the house before starting back home. It made perfect sense, really. For someone as strong as Levi apparently had been for most of his life, to be held back by his physical body was probably frustrating at the least and to an extent death might seem to be a release from what might be almost a prison. However, while Gibbs still automatically rejected ascribing anything good to Levi, when he was honest, he had to admit that it was clear, too, that Levi was trying to fix his family and make himself a better person. There probably just didn't seem to be enough time left to do everything he needed to do.

Gibbs didn't know the life expectancy for a person with heart failure, but he would guess that Levi's life had been severely shortened by his time being tortured.

And he was surprised to feel a stab of sympathy. He knew that Levi's physical ability was hampered and that he had a lot of things he could no longer do. And he felt sorry for what Levi was facing.

It might have taken about ten years longer than it had for Tim, but it seemed that even Gibbs could soften toward the former CIA director. Would Tony ever get to that point? Maybe not, but as Tim had said before, Levi didn't care and since Tony had got his life in hand, it didn't really matter.

Well, now, all he had to do was wait.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Levi walked back to the living room and sat down beside Tamara. She looked at him questioningly but he just smiled and then returned his focus to Brianna and Dave.

"I'm sorry for the interruption," he said.

"If it's important, Dad..." Bri said.

"It can wait," Levi said. "Now, you're divorced, Dave?"

Tamara put her had on his arm, but Levi just smiled and kept his focus on his daughter's fiancé.

"Yes, I am."

"Do you have children?"

"Yes, three daughters."

"Do you keep in contact with them?"

"Dad!"

"It's okay, Bri. I understand," Dave said. "Yes, I do. When we decided to get divorced, we knew it would be hard on our kids and we tried to keep them as the focus of what we did. When they were younger, they stayed with their mother through the school year and with me during the summer. Now, my youngest is finishing high school and with them all in college, it's up to them about who they visit and when."

"My daughter is going to hate this question, and I'll admit that it's a little personal, but..."

"Dad, please," Bri said.

Levi ignored her.

"Was the divorce because of you or because of your ex-wife?"

He could see that Dave was definitely surprised by the question and that he didn't really want to share that much information, but Bri must have warned him what her father was like... and who he had been in the past.

"Well, I instigated the divorce, I admit, but my ex-wife was having an affair and she said she had no interest in giving it up."

"Ah."

"And my daughters probably know about that now, but I never told them at the time. My ex-wife is married."

"I see. Well, Brianna, I have no objection. So far."

Bri rolled her eyes, but Dave smiled and seemed to relax a little bit. Tamara leaned forward, trying to lighten up the conversation.

"Do you have pictures of your daughters?" she asked.

"Of course," Dave said. He pulled out his phone and they spent the next little while talking about Dave's children.

Levi didn't contribute much to the conversation, but he was there, observing. He watched how Dave spoke, how he acted, how Bri responded to him. If this was who his daughter was going to marry, he'd better pass muster. And so far, it seemed as though he did. Without thorough vetting, he couldn't be completely sure, but Levi acknowledged that few fathers would even think about the idea of having their prospective sons-in-law vetted by the CIA. While it was tempting, he wasn't going to ask Roy to do it for him. Tamara would kill him if he did. The thought made him smile.

And the fact that Bri had allowed herself to fall in love made him keep smiling. He knew that she had never really dated before because she had no desire to open herself up to a relationship. He was glad that Bri had healed enough for that. The one thing she hadn't done was admit that some of her actions in the CIA were wrong. Levi hadn't pushed her on it and he wouldn't. That kind of thing couldn't be done under duress and Bri was far too stubborn to be forced into it. She knew how he felt about it and that was enough.

After a successful first meeting, Bri and Dave excused themselves. They had chosen to stay in a hotel rather than here and they were going to have dinner together tomorrow.

Once they were gone, Levi prepared for Tamara to lecture him.

"Levi," she began.

"They're important questions to ask, and I did it because that's what's expected of the father of the bride," Levi said. "Even if Brianna is easily old enough to think of these things herself and she's still well enough trained that she could take him out if necessary, it's my job to ask the annoying personal questions."

Tamara shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile at his answer.

"You are impossible, Levi Carew."

"I'm easy."

"No. Easy is never a word that anyone would apply to you," she said. Then, she got serious. "What did Agent Gibbs want?"

"He had some questions, he said, but they weren't time sensitive. So I asked him to wait until our visit was done. Bri needed me to be here with her, to be focused on her and nowhere else."

Tamara hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for doing that," she said softly, "and before you say it, I know it wasn't for me. I'm still grateful. And so is Bri, even if she doesn't know it."

"However much time I have left, it belongs to my family," he said.

"And Tim McGee."

"Yes, to an extent, to him as well." Levi looked at Tamara. "But you and Brianna matter to me, and I spent too many years not showing it."

"I know." Tamara kissed him. "Now, go and call Agent Gibbs and find out what it is he wants. I'm sure it's about Tim."

"I'm sure it is, too. I can't think of any other reason he'd be coming here."

"Then, find out and don't stay up too late."

"I almost always go to bed before you do," Levi said, smiling.

"That's because my too late isn't the same as your too late."

"Very funny. Well, I'll get this done."

"Okay."

Levi walked into the study and pulled out his phone.

"Agent Gibbs, if you'd like to come by, I can talk to you."