Hello

This was an idea I had mulling around my head for awhile and had typed out before. It usually helps to have a couple projects to keep the creative juices flowing and avoid burnout so I decided to work on this one too.

This one is another story where Kelly and Shannon live so of course this is AU with more changes to be revealed.

As always, I don't own anything except any original characters and I do this purely for fun.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Command, we are in position. Awaiting final confirmation."

Kelly Gibbs quickly pulled up the typed out orders and displayed it on MTACs main screen for Director Leon Vance to read. Vance adjusted his headset and stepped closer to the screen.

"Alpha-1" Vance announced, "Objective One is priority. Objective Two Hassan is to be brought in alive unless it interferes with Objective One. Everyone else is at your discretion."

"Copy that."

Kelly waited with bated breath as she always did when Alpha Team breached a building. This time there was no video feed so all she could do was listen and assume what was happening. She listened as they broke into a mansion followed by lots of running and occasional call outs. She was always able to keep her composure and stay professional. Even though Kelly knew he was very capable and had seen him go through these operations countless times with at most minor cuts and bruises, she couldn't help but worry about Alpha Team's leader every time.

Gunshots suddenly rang out through the comms, causing her to jump but no one else in MTAC seemed to notice.

"CONTACT!"

Kelly turned up the sound of the compound's radio feed that she hacked into earlier and listened to the rapid Spanish being spoken by the guards on site.

"Alpha team, they are aware of your presence but not your exact location yet," she said aloud into her headset.

"Copy that Charlie."

Kelly was already in a relationship with Alpha-1 for eight months before the team was created. As an Intel analyst for NCIS, she was brought on by Director Vance when the team was formed almost impromptu. Their relationship was a secret though, to both NCIS and her parents, so she isn't sure how it would have affected their recruitment if it was known. Although she suspects Vance would have just questioned if they can remain professional and not let it interfere with operations, to which she likes to think they both proved it at this point.

"Command, we have secured O-B-J two and possibly one. Prepared to transfer the data to Charlie now to confirm."

In the background they could just make out a masculine voice pleading and orders being given by the other teammates.

"Go ahead Alpha-1," Kelly replied.

"Sending now."

Kelly watched as a progress bar appeared on her monitor and waited for the data to download.

More gunshots rang out as another battle took place.

"One more minute," Kelly announced.

The minute ticked by very slowly as even more gunshots popped in periodically. Finally the download was complete and Kelly quickly scanned through the information, doing her best not to rush herself too much and risk missing anything important.

"Confirmed," she said aloud when she was done. "This is the information we wanted."

"Alpha Team, head to extraction," Vance ordered, "try to keep Objective two alive."

"Copy that."

"Valkyrie," Kelly called out in a separate channel, "Alpha Team is heading to the extraction point."

"Copy," replied a feminine voice, "I'll be there in a couple minutes."

A few more keystrokes and Kelly brought up the delayed drone satellite feed to the main screen. The enemy radio then caught her attention again.

"Alpha Team, be advised, back up has arrived at the compound," Kelly told them.

"Copy, we just got to the back border of the compounds. We'll be reaching the extraction point soon."

On the satellite feed, several trucks and cars arrived at the entrance of the compound and were quickly led inside where they made a beeline to the main mansion. On the opposite end, the UV image of Alpha Team could be made out reaching the edge of the compound where they made their entrance.

The next several minutes were filled with a tense silence, with an occasional brief gun fire.

Kelly could see trucks and people scattering about the compound but it did not seem they realized that Alpha Team was no longer there. Kelly did a quick silent prayer that it stayed that way and they weren't followed.

"Command, we are in Guardian, extracting now."

Kelly let out the breath she was holding and went to work to organize her station.

"Good work," Vance told them, "head to the base and you'll be debriefed there by General Stanton."

"Copy. Alpha Team out."

Vance took off his headset and turned to Kelly.

"Miss Gibbs," he addressed her, "send me the information of the laptop to my email then you are dismissed for the day."

"Yes director," Kelly replied.

"The rest of you are dismissed," Vance said addressing the other three technical supports in the room.

Kelly went to work as the others shut their stations and shuffled out of the room. Anticipating Vance's orders, she had already compiled everything in a secure email and was now double checking that everything was complete and ready. When she was satisfied, she sent the email, shut down her station and stood up to leave. As she used the retinal scanner to open the door, she could hear Vance behind start talking on his phone to who she assumed was SECNAV.

Once stepping out of MTAC, she could see from the windows that evening had fallen. She went down the steps and into the MCRT bullpen hoping to find her father but finding it empty. She was about to just leave and call her father later when a voice nearby interrupted her thoughts.

"Miss Gibbs, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Tony," she said, turning to the senior agent as he walked to his desk, "I was about to head home but I wanted to ask him about plans this weekend. Have you seen him?"

"Last I heard, he was with Ducky in autopsy."

"Okay. I'll just give him a call later then."

"Speaking of plans, they just reopened that seafood restaurant at the pier for the season. How would you like to go check it out with me tonight?"

"Sorry but I already have plans tonight," she told him, trying her best to not sound annoyed, "but I'm sure Ziva would love to go with you instead."

"Where would I love to go?" asked another voice nearby.

Kelly turned around to see Ziva entering the bullpen and heading towards her desk.

"To a seafood restaurant, with Tony," Kelly told her.

"Ah, no," Ziva said bluntly, "besides I already have my own plans tonight. That is if we do leave in time."

"Busy day?"

"Yes, but fortunately we were able to close the case."

"No help from McAbsent though," Tony chimed in, "If he wasn't sent on that assignment, we'd already be done by now. Couldn't McGeek just tell the director he was busy with an important case?"

Kelly couldn't stop the brief look of annoyance flashed across her face but neither of the two agents seemed to have noticed.

"If it came from the director then it must be very important, Tony, whatever it is," Ziva replied, a look of annoyance flashing across her face as well, although this one was caught by Kelly.

"Well, hopefully he's done being his tech support soon," Tony said, "him being gone means double the work for us."

Both women gave him a look but Tony was oblivious as he instead focused on his computer monitor.

"Oh hey, I finally tried your salad recipe Ziva," Kelly said after a moment, "it was so good but not as good as when you make it."

"I appreciate that," Ziva replied with a smile, "the dressing just takes practice, but I am sure that yours tasted just as good."

"I doubt it. You are an amazing cook, Ziva."

"You flatter me. I just do my best."

The two women shared a friendly smile for a moment before Kelly moved again.

"Well I hope you two have a good night," she told the two agents, "I am eager to get home and start my weekend."

"Have a wonderful night Kelly," Ziva replied.

"Yeah, have a good one," Tony replied.

With that, Kelly left for the evening except instead of heading to her apartment, she went to Tim McGee's, where she usually went when he was gone during big missions. Though she would admit, at this point, she was usually at his place more than she was at hers.

Dating for over a year now, the two met at work and hit it off right away and became fast friends. She was transferred to the DC office a year after Tim joined Gibbs' team though the two weren't aware of their connection until a week later when Kelly was searching for her father at the end of the night.

It wasn't until a couple months later did either explore the idea of dating, when they ran into each other at the same bar and rescued each other from their respective bad dates. Tim's date seemed uninterested and like she didn't want to be there. Tim remembered it felt like pulling teeth to keep a conversation with her.

Kelly's date on the other hand was very interested in her, or rather getting her out of her dress. When they talked, if he wasn't talking about himself and his accomplishments, he was talking about Kelly's looks and outfit, seemingly uninterested in anything else about her. Kelly could swear he was not only undressing her with his eyes, but he expected her to start undressing at any moment.

Upon literally bumping into each other, when the initial surprise wore off, Kelly desperately mouthed "save me." Thinking quickly, Tim said the first things that popped into his head.

"Kelly, you were right," he had said, "I messed up and I'm sorry. Please give me another chance."

"Oh, Tim," she said, doing her best to sound convincing, "I want to but how can I be sure you changed."

Her date tried to interject, saying she was there with him but he was ignored.

"Let me prove it to you," Tim said, trying to sound desperate, "just one more chance."

Kelly pretended to think about it for a moment before answering.

"Okay, one more chance," she said, "but you better work to prove yourself."

Sharing a big smile, the two clasped hands and after giving her date a quick apology, the two rushed off before he could answer. Tim had them go to his date next where he apologized and broke off their date. She was not happy and gave him the most attention he had from her the whole night to express her displeasure before stomping away angrily, muttering about how he was making a big mistake. The last thing Tim and Kelly saw before leaving the club was Kelly's date sliding up to talk to Tim's date.

The two quickly left the club and walked to a nearby park where they chatted about anything and everything. Neither of them felt the need to let go of the other's hand the whole time. They rode on a horse-drawn carriage, saw a small concert in the park, and ended the night with Gelato. Everything that seemed appropriate for a date but was left unsaid until the end when Kelly proposed that what they had was a date that Tim excitedly accepted.

The rest was history as they said. The two had many more dates after that and days turned into months. Almost right away they agreed to keep their relationship a secret, worried about how her dad would react to his daughter and one of his agents dating. They were very careful not to reveal anything but even both are surprised they got so far with the only person finding out was Kelly's mom.

Shannon came over to Kelly's apartment much earlier than planned and caught both of them having just woken up and in a state of undress. After several minutes of panic, the couple came clean and were able to explain everything. Shannon was not only accepting but very happy for the young couple and understood and agreed to keep their relationship a secret though Shannon felt they should reveal it at some point.

With Shannon as their ally, the two had an easier time hiding it from Jethro. The rest of the team never seemed to have had a clue, though they both returned to Kate's grave together privately after her funeral to tell her.

Abby on occasion would hint about trying to get with Tim again while Tony thought he was single and wrongly assumed he had dates with multiple women that either went badly or ended shortly after. An assumption that was strengthened when Tim and Tony ran into Tim's former date from the club who chastised Tim again before storming off again. Tony was like a kid at Christmas the rest of the day, teasing Tim about it and asking him nonstop questions.

Ducky and Ziva seemed unaware, though Tim and Kelly wouldn't be surprised if either of them did but were not saying anything.

When Director Vance was tasked by SECNAV to recruit for a special operation, he chose both of them at different times, unaware of their relationship status. They debated telling him but ultimately decided to keep it a secret from him too.

Tim figured he was only chosen because he was the only one on the team available at the time; Gibbs and Tony were out of town for a case and Ziva's liaison status at the time would have made it complicated. The idea he was a last resort was made stronger when he was told that not only would he be part of the assault team instead of support, but would be leading it. Nervous at first, he felt a little better when he found out that he was actually Vance's first choice. From then on, his training intensified and he grew comfortable with his position.

Reaching the apartment, Kelly let herself in with her copy of the key Tim gave her. She kicked off her shoes and went to the fridge, dropping her things off onto the counter. She pulled out a box of leftovers and opted to eat the Chinese food cold instead of heating up. Checking her messages and emails on her phone as she ate, she found nothing important and ate her dinner quickly.

After cleaning up, she went to the bedroom and stripped out of her clothes and pulled out one of Tim's old MIT t-shirts from his drawers and slipped it on.

Getting into bed and under the covers, she grabbed Tim's phone off the nightstand and held it without turning it on. Being on a dark op, he couldn't bring any it or anything that could identify him.

She caressed the screen before placing it back on the nightstand and grabbing hers. She opened it up and went to a photo that they took on their first anniversary: A smiling selfie taken at the park they had their first date at. Unable to have it displayed anywhere it could be easily seen in public without risking giving away their secret, this was all she could do to enjoy it.

After any particularly intense operation, she would look at their photos for much, much longer until he was home again.

Feeling her tiredness hit her, she put her phone to charge and laid back down to sleep.

She didn't know how long she was asleep for before someone joining her in bed woke her up. Looking up she saw Tim getting under the covers.

"Hey babe," she sleepily greeted, "home so soon?"

"They were eager to get us out of the country and back into the U.S.," he explained, "I came straight home from the base after we flew in."

The two shared a quick kiss that was then followed by a deep kiss. Kelly snuggled against Tim's chest who held her close and the two quickly fell asleep."