Scandal 6
"Leave us, Bob." Andrew instructed, as Bob wordlessly nodded and immediately followed the edict of the president. As soon as the door was closed, Andrew closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his eyes. "I don't care that you are gay. I am disappointed that you didn't tell me sooner, like some time in the last ten years, Nate. What the hell? I thought you knew that you could always come to your mother and I about anything."
"Not about this." Nathan whispered, looking his father in his eyes. "The man I am with ... He isn't out. In fact, he is further in the closet than me. He fears his father, for so many reasons. Most of all, ... and don't repeat this to anyone, ... his father is a dangerous man at the best of times. Especially dangerous to him if this gets out."
"CRAP!" His father exploded, before instantly regretting his outburst. He had been taken back, when he saw his son flinch at his outburst, making truly regret his action. "Sorry. That wasn't meant for you, Nate. It was not meant for your ... err ... partner? Boyfriend? It was meant for his father, not the two of you. I am sorry, I wish I could say that the world is always supportive of LGBTIQA people, but we both know that to be a lie. Has his father ... What I mean is ... Does his father ...?"
"Boyfriend is the word you're looking for, Dad." Nathan smiled reassuringly at his dad. He knew his parents would be ok with it, but he had kept it a secret to protect Tim. "I don't know much about his father, other than that. I left Mark guarding the house where he is with people he can trust, and I trust Mark." Nathan thought of the protective way that Gibbs had been trying to stick by Tim. The way he offered physical support with comforting touches. The way his support was unspoken, as if his words didn't hold enough weight, that actions spoke louder than words. "He... He might lose his job over this scandal. Over choosing to be with me."
"What the hell kind of job can fire someone for being in a committed, same sex relationship?" The president snapped. Andrew had been truly thinking that the world had gone bonkers.
"The kind who is a federal agent, Dad." Nathan retorted with a dry chuckle. "He is a federal agent." Nathan smiled, this time it was his genuine happy smile, not his political smile. "He wasn't always. He... Dad, you know him."
Andrew frantically racked his brain, mentally cataloguing all of his son's friends. He couldn't pick one. He'd had no idea his son was gay, how the hell was he supposed to work out which one of his friends, was his boyfriend. "Wait...? Federal agent? He isn't Secret Service?" Andrew asked in a panic, thinking that one of the men that had sworn to protect his son, had taken advantage of his son.
"Not Secret Service. Think Navy royalty." Nate hinted. He knew they didn't have time to keep guessing. Plus, secretly, he was enjoying the knowledge that his father wouldn't have thought that Tim was gay, either. That is, if his father remembered Tim, in the first place.
"The only Navy royalty, that we know is the McGee's. Not that John McGee is as friendly, as his father was. Admiral Nelson McGee, now there was a great man. Didn't you room with Nelson's grandson at MIT?" Andrew asked, recalling the shy, young man that his son had roomed with at MIT.
"I should thank you and Phil for screening and choosing Tim as my roommate, back then." Nate grinned at his father and winked. He was sure that his father would pick up the hint that he was laying down.
"McGee! Timothy McGee?" His father asked his son. "Fuck!" He swore, again. Andrew had first-hand experience in what John's true thoughts and feelings were towards the LGBTIQA community. The boys had gone to school together themselves and had socialised together as well. But the more John let his prejudices show, the easier it was for Andrew to cut him out of his friendship circle. Andrew had political ambitions and he was not about to let John's prejudices, get in the way of his political ambitions.
Although Andrew had held a great respect for John's father, Nelson, he and John were chalk and cheese when it came down to everything else. From the moment they met, they had been friends, but had held a fierce rivalry too. Always going after the same thing: Captain of the football team, basketball, debate club, mock government, the same girls, the same friends. The difference was, after high school, Andrew studied hard, took school seriously, married his wife. Whereas John had enlisted, had a girl in every port, before he knocked up Tim's mom. He married her too, eventually, but the marriage didn't last and when they finally divorced, she was killed in a hit and run.
Andrew had always felt a perverted sense of justice that he was now the bigoted John McGee's Commander in Chief. But he had never abused his position or his power towards his once friend turned rival. But if that man hurt or hurts his son, Andrew would have to say something, in the least.
"Give me your phone." Andrew suddenly demanded, holding out his hand for it. As soon as he realised that his son would not have been so stupid, as to come out that way, to the media, especially if he had been struggling to find the words with his own father. He'd bet dollars to donuts, his son hadn't even told his mom, yet. "You didn't come out; you were just outed. Live on national television, no less. That reporter said he had evidence."
"Emails, lifted from our private server. Private emails between Tim and me. The kind that was only meant for one another." Nate panted out. He could feel his anxiety creeping up on him. Usually when it did, he would reach out and write to Tim. An email, a text, a funny meme, anything really. As long as his brain knew he was contacting Tim, it would settle his mind. That meant the world to him. "I need my phone." He panted out more harshly than before. "I need to talk to Tim."
"No, not until we get a handle on where the leak originated from. You're on a communications lockdown." His father told him sternly. "You will stay in the residence with your mother and I, until further notice, as well. I am sorry Nate, that's the way it has to be."
"Dad, I promised." Nate argued. "I left Mark with him; I need to get back to him." No one but Tim and his details knew about his anxiety and how bad it could really get. More than once, either Mark or Phil had called Tim on his behalf, to have Tim help him through whatever was triggering it. Or had Tim reach out when he was sure that he could handle it, but it was snowing him under. He had never told his parents about his anxiety. Or about the time Tim had walked in on him having full panic attack in their second year at MIT. About how his panic attack triggered Tim and the two of them had gotten drunk and made a pact to both seek help for their mental health.
Soon, he was being ushered out of the oval office, flanked by Phil, and one of his father's agents, through the long maze of the corridors and into the residence. As expected, it was empty. His mother always running from one charity event or appearance to the next. Especially now that her days weren't filled caring for him or his younger sister, Jess.
He took a seat down on his favourite armchair in the sunroom and sighed out loud, frustrated and angry at the situation. The place, he had always felt, was truly a zen place within the clinical walls of the residence. Looking up, he could feel that there were eyes upon him. "What is it, Phil?" Nathan asked, looking over at him, grateful that his father's agent had returned to his regular station.
Phil looked tense. He really didn't want to relay the message to Nathan, that he had just received. He had been with Nathan a long time and although he kept his emotional distance, professionally. He had helped the man before him grow and change from the teen he had first met, to the kind, honest, hard-working senator, dutiful son and committed boyfriend of Tim. "Mark just reported in, there have been shots fired at Agent Gibbs' home. I am sorry, Nathan."
"Everyone ok?" Gibbs called out. Sarah Porter had been in the kitchen, with Ducky, making Tim some tea. Leon and Gibbs had been flanking Tim, either side of him, sitting on Gibbs' L shaped sofa. At the sound of bullets spraying the front of his house, the sound of the glass shattering, they had all hit the floor, on reflex. The Secret Service agent that Nathan had left with Tim had hit the floor first and commando crawled his way over to Tim. But Gibbs had beaten him to it, shielding Tim with his own body. His orders had been to protect Tim, but they hadn't anticipated that Gibbs' house would be riddled with bullets less than an hour after Nathan and Kyle had left for the White House.
"All clear." Leon called out, as soon as the barrage of bullets had ceased, Leon and Mark, the Secret Service agent had made their way over to the front door, keeping low. They had made their way to a safe vantage place, trying to get a make, a model or a license plate of the car. But had been unsuccessful. The car had sped off.
"I need to call this in." Mark said, as they all slowly returned to their feet. "The Senator is going to kill me for letting this happen." Mark Roberts muttered, and Tim gave him a stern look.
"No, he won't." Tim reiterated to Roberts. "This is my fault; this has everything to do with me and nothing to do with you or Nathan."
"I disagree, McGee." Roberts argued, whipping his cell out to call into his partner. "I was tasked to watch over you by the Senator. You are my responsibility."
Tim wanted to disagree, but Gibbs settled Tim. It wasn't worth the argument. Gibbs knew that if the situation had of been reversed, Tim would have felt the same as the Secret Service Agent felt.
Leon and Sarah were huddled in a corner, discussing what their next move should be. While Gibbs sat by Tim, comforting him. Mark tried to convince Phil, that they needed to bring Tim into the Residence, for protection, Phil was hesitating. The media were swarming the white house now. They were hounding the press office for a comment. Phil felt that bringing Tim in, would draw unnecessary attention to him. Nathan wanted to protect Tim as much as possible.
"We need to get you and Gibbs to a safe house." Sarah Porter, announced. "We can't determine if the spray of bullets was for Gibbs, or because whoever did it, was targeting Tim."
"We have nothing spare, at the moment." Leon frustratingly, spat out. "Everything is full."
Tim sighed out loud, he knew somewhere safe. He and Nate had their own private hideaway. He could go there. No one else knew about it, but the two of them and Than's Secret Service duo. The duo, who too, at times, felt like an extension of Nathan. Tim, he didn't want other people intruding on their seclusion, their private hideaway. He knew Gibbs would come, in the least. Gibbs wouldn't ever leave the protection of one of his agents to anyone, let alone to another agency. Hesitantly, Tim also admitted to himself, he knew most of the more intimate details, of the ops that were currently occupying the NCIS safe houses and they were more important than him and Nate and their privacy. Reluctantly, he spoke up. "I know a place."
"Tim, no." Gibbs argued, knowing immediately what Tim was offering up. He was offering up his last vestige of privacy. Gibbs didn't want Tim to lose everything because of those leaked emails. "We can find somewhere else."
"Boss, we both know there's nowhere else." Tim argued. Gibbs sighed; he knew his subordinate was right. "It'll be ok, if it's just those here. But first, should I ... ?"
"No, not yet." Gibbs told Tim, comforting him. "You don't have to come out to them. You don't even have to speak to them about your relationship, that's your business. Sure, you should apologize for whatever you said in the emails about them, but it's not like they were lies or slander. You were stating facts. It was an awful case and more awful conditions. We were all getting on one another's nerves. You come out to people on your own terms, when you're ready."
"We have a plan." Gibbs reluctantly announced to Leon and Sarah. "Tim and Nate have a secluded hideaway. No one but the two of them know where it is."
"Mark and Phil, they know where it is." Tim whispered in a small voice, noticing Mark re-entering the room from the hallway where he had phoned Phil. "Obviously." Tim sat back down in an armchair and nodded to Ducky his thanks, as the elder Scottish man for a cup of tea to relax his mind. Gibbs came to stand by his left shoulder, physically showing his support for Tim to the others in the room.
"Leon, you and I will go with Tim there." Gibbs declared. "The Secret Service should return to their usual duties. We will take over the protection for Tim. Sarah, you will act as our liaison between the Taylor camp and Tim."
"I have an agency to run Gibbs, I can't drop everything to join this detail." Tim didn't feel slighted by Leon's refusal. He too, knew what the Director was getting at. "You and McGee can have your pick of agents."
"No one then." Tim vehemently declared. "I was willing to concede my privacy for you and Gibbs out of respect, but I won't concede it for anyone else. Especially since there is still a chance that IG may decide to open an investigation against me."
"I'm good with it just being me and you, McGee." Gibbs smiled widely. "We can play cards and hang out like we did during that winter storm last year. If you want some space, I am happy to let you have that too. I don't care McGee, as long as you stay safe. But I am staying with you, that is non-negotiable."
"Both of you are to be armed at all times." Leon decided, glaring at Gibbs for being ok with only one agent. "And McGee ... I am sorry that it has come to this."
Sarah sighed audibly, out loud, making sure the whole room could feel her displeasure at this plan. Something wasn't sitting right with her about it. She made a scoffing noise and found that all five men had their eyes squared, firmly on her. "What?" She huffed. "I am not ok with this plan. It's not a vetted safe house. There is only one agent and we're only two pages into those emails."
"Want to know about those emails?" Tim asked, sardonically. "Ask me. I am the author of half of them."