NEW - THE SCANDAL
Sorry about the delay and lack of other updates. I have been stressed and when I am stressed, I tend to do a lot of free writing, as my brain is unable to focus on much else.
I am currently stressed (with life) and anxious for the much-anticipated release of the film adaptation of the book by the same title; Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I read the book then saw the trailer, then reread the book (over and over again) and have become anxious with anticipation to see if the movie does the story justice. Prime is not helping my anxiety by drip feeding snippets of the movie at 0200 hours AEST daily, in the lead up to the release due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. As they (Actor's, writers etc) cannot promote this movie due to said strike.
This idea for this story came from my free writing, when I was well past drunk (Something, I will admit, wasn't my finest hour) and when I woke up in the morning, I realised that it has some LGBTIQA themes, as well as mental health themes that I could twist into a story. I feel like I have been inspired by Casey's story and I hope I can do it some justice. If you have read any press about it, you will know that Vanity fair called it "the Most Expensive Bit of Fan Fiction Ever." Which is a direct snippet of the quote from Matthew Lopez, the director of the film adaptation "You could argue that I'm such a rabid, passionate fan that I made the most expensive bit of fan fiction ever. I hope the fans take solace from the fact that one of them has made this movie."
I have not abandoned any of my other work, but I am willing to admit that until it premieres on Prime, on August 11, I am going to be utterly useless. Except for maybe, with this story. I was hoping to have it finished before I posted it and I am a third way through it now, with an aim on 30k words total. 10k words, already written, if not posted.
I have been anxious and excited to share this with you and as BeBoy and Momcat can attest, I have little to no self-control. I am always anxious to hear your feedback. Good or bad. I will not post the rest of this story, though until it is complete, but I will continue to work on it in my abundance of spare time.
Let me know your thoughts. Have you read the book? Are you looking forward to the movie? Or do you have no idea what I am talking about?
Here Tim was, sixteen hours into a seventy-two-hour hiatus from work. One in which, he had told his boss, he would be going completely radio silent. Obliterating rule three. Never be unreachable. He had to, if he didn't, he might possibly murder his colleagues. He hadn't felt so cooped up and caged in, since he was twelve, and Sarah was three, and they had hidden and waited out the Hurricane at their family's beach house in Norfolk, Virginia.
Tony had gotten on his last nerve, somewhere around day two of the six days that they had been forced into close quarters all together. He had done nothing but teased, hazed, belittled, ridiculed and berated him since the four of them had holed themselves up in that one-bedroom apartment to surveil their latest suspect.
Fortunately, he could usually rely on Ziva for some support, to be his ally against Tony. But she had her own axe to grind, and she too, had been tense, snappish and downright mean to everyone. Tony had been the only one that had dared to mention out loud, that it must be her time of the month. Which had set her off, in a fierce tirade of anger at the other three men for Tony's running mouth. She had been unnecessarily harsh with everyone, and no one had been immune, not even Gibbs.
Gibbs had been his usual, quiet, stoic self. Sure, he had berated Tony and read Ziva the riot act. But it was one of those times when only distance apart, had been the solution to what ailed his team. Sure, Tim had been no angel either, fighting back with Tony and getting annoyed at Ziva. Getting frustrated at Gibbs for not doing more to control both of them. Gibbs had even pulled Tim line, too. Everyone had been pushing everyone else's buttons and it was clear, they all needed space from one another by the end of the case.
Vance had been afraid it would lead to physical bloodshed in the bullpen and had banished them from their workstations and the Navy Yard for the following seventy-two hours, in order to restore some peace and a semblance of harmony to the MCRT team.
Gibbs was enjoying his rare time off. A day off. Their first one in a while. Even he had to admit, it was what they needed after the clusterfuck of the case they had just solved. His newspaper was spread across the kitchen table, as he read one section at a time, at a leisurely pace. He enjoyed the fact that he had the luxury of time on his side, today. His cell phone had been ringing intermittently for the last two hours and he was blatantly ignoring it. Like McGee, he too needed to be off-grid and had told his whole team, as well as the Director, as much. Not to say he was neglecting his position, because he was screening his calls, by looking at the caller ID. Deeming the Director's call not important, as the man was not leaving voicemails to state his business, he let his phone call out.
A knock at the door startled him out of his reverie. He was certain the reason why McGee had gone off grid, besides to regroup, was to spend some time alone with his powerful mystery man. A man that only he, had known that Tim has been seeing, and for years now.
Seven years ago, late one night, Gibbs had been on his way back from a late-night coffee break, when he saw them. They were on the footbridge just outside of the Navy yard, overlooking the Potomac River. At first, he thought that his tired eyes were deceiving him, but morbid curiosity made him move closer.
There had been a man standing beside Tim, dark hair, three or four inches taller than his youngest agent. They weren't touching, as they both leant over the railing to look out at the water. They were standing in a way that he could tell they were having a low, private conversation, but he couldn't see their faces to read their lips. However, their body language spoke of intimacy and closeness. Not the closeness of two friends, but the intimacy of two men, who knew one another inside and out.
Gibbs knew the man had looked familiar to him, but he hadn't been able to place him for the life of him. He had watched from his vantage point, as the dark-haired man had tenderly touched his agent's wrist. The inside of the wrist, as they leaned side by side on the railing. It was a small gesture and had spoken more words to Gibbs, than if he had of witnessed them in a passionate embrace. He had watched as his youngest agent closely, as he had reciprocated the gesture, with one of his own.
Seeing the two men look at one another and the heated look they had shared, it spoke volumes. As a former Marine Sniper, he gave in to his natural instinct to survey his surroundings. That was when he spotted the unmistakable signs. This man had a security detail, and they were highly trained and blended in well enough to miss them to the untrained eye. He was important enough to have his own detail. He couldn't make out whom the agency that was providing the detail was in the dark, but he filed that particular piece of the puzzle away for future reference.
Every now and again, since that fateful night, Gibbs had seen evidence of a lover on or near Tim. His changing clothing style, his diet that he grumbled about - but always stuck to. His confidence and self-esteem building upwards, just to name a few. There was one time, Tim had forgotten to sign an importance piece of paperwork, in his fatigue and Gibbs had phoned to ask if he could stop by. Gibbs hadn't said anything when he had arrived to see two wine glasses with wine in them on the counter and two plates of food, half eaten, two cell phones on the island bench and no guest. Or when Tim came into to a crime scene at three in the morning, smelling of an aftershave that Gibbs knew didn't belong to Tim.
Getting up to answer the persistent knocking, Gibbs sighed as he opened the door to reveal the Director of NCIS and the Secretary of the Navy on his doorstep. "Gibbs." Leon greeted him, intently as he and Secretary Porter forcibly edged their way into the MCRT team leader's home. The conversation they were about to share was not the kind of thing that should be discussed where they could be overheard. Especially on the front porch of a home in the middle of suburbia.
Gibbs closed the door behind the pair and sighed. He dreaded to think what could bring that particular combination of people to his door at that late hour of the afternoon, on a random Sunday. It was just gone 1600, and he and his team had been banished from the Navy Yard at midnight, the night before. "Please tell me that you have a way to contact Agent McGee!" Leon begged, looking stressed and desperate. The closer Gibbs looked at him, the closer he could see that the man was exhausted already. "He has not been taking our calls nor is he answering the door, at his apartment."
"I get that this last case had your team at loggerheads, Gibbs." Secretary Porter added, she too wore a look of exhaustion and briefly Gibbs pondered what was so urgent that they would show up at his home, uninvited, after banishing him and his team from the yard, the night before. "I appreciate the fact you want them to recover and unwind. However, it is imperative that the three of us speak with him, as soon as possible."
Gibbs sensed the importance, but wished someone would just tell him what was so important that they needed to disturb his solitude and McGee's. What was so important to disrupt his solitude when they had been banned from work and the yard? "He insisted that he needed downtime and would be going off grid. I approved his choices. Yes, I know where he is and no, I will not tell you. What the hell is going on, Leon?"
"We're on a time crunch here, Gibbs." Sarah Porter sighed and began pacing, wringing her hands, like she did when she was stressed. She was worried for the MCRT tech genius. The moment the two of them met, she took a shine to the young, shy genius. He had somehow managed to break through her tough exterior.
"Gibbs, a news story is going to break on ZNN at 2300 hours tonight and we need to get ahead of it. It is crucial that we speak with Agent McGee." Leon pleaded with him. Leon was frustrated, he could see that Gibbs was trying to let Tim enjoy his peace and solitude. His downtime away from work and Gibbs knew just how much Tim needed that downtime.
When he had taken up the Directorship on a temporary basis, the year before Jenny Shepard's death, he had been briefed at length, on all of the confidentialities of the agency. He had known of McGee by reputation only, at that point, for some years beforehand. But he had never expected that McGee would have been one of those confidentialities. Normally a person's private relationships were their business, but when it affected the running of the agency, it became the Director's business too. Moreover, he never thought in his wildest dreams, that he would learn about Timothy McGee, as what he had learnt about him on that fateful day. To say that Leon was shocked to his core, had been an understatement.
Since learning what he had learnt, he had only one opportunity to witness the two of them in public together. They were good, he had to admit, not a hint or trace of impropriety between them. Timothy McGee had been invited to the black-tie event as a guest of his father's. He would be accepting an award on the Admiral's behalf and Senator Nathan Taylor had been presenting the award, on behalf of his own father, the president of the United States. The two men, up on stage, on display to over three hundred of Washington's most powerful people, including the Director of NCIS and no one was aware of their true relationship. Leon swore to himself, if he hadn't of already known, he would have been none the wiser, too.
"I take it that you know that McGee is not alone in his off-grid endeavor." Leon smirked at Gibbs. Gibbs had been fiercely protective of his agent's whereabouts and that had led the agency director to put two and two together. Gibbs knew. He didn't know how or why, but Gibbs already knew.
"So, you do know, then?" Sarah Porter had asked, in a knowing tone of voice. She had not known of the personal relationship between the men, until she had received the anonymous email about it this afternoon and had gone to Leon, as the man in question's supervisor, with it. She was worried for the young man as a person, and the young man's reputation. Something like this could destroy anyone's reputation in DC.
"Not the person's identity, Leon." Gibbs grinned warmly at her. He was careful with his words, not to confirm if it was a male or female too. He did not want to be responsible for outing his agent, if Leon and Sarah had incorrect information about Tim's mysterious partner. He had always appreciated how SecNav had taken a special interest in his team and how she and Timothy McGee had first bonded over their mutual love for Boston, with both of them having gone to school there. A generation apart, McGee at MIT and Porter at Harvard. "It is not my business whom my individual agents get involved with, Director. I am not their father. I am their boss. What they do in their own time, is their business."
"Agreed. It is not anyone else's business, either." Sarah Porter huffed out in anger and frustration, at the situation. Both men had agreed with her. "However, ZNN have come across some damning evidence from the dirty tactics of a certain political party on the electoral campaign, that is going to have a devastating impact. We need to do something to get ahead of this story, Gibbs."
"Gibbs, for the sake of protecting McGee, I am going to read you in on some top-secret information." Leon sighed out loud. He had felt low for betraying one of his agents in this manner and outing him, but he had felt it was the only way he could get Gibbs to comply with his edict. He also knew he could trust Gibbs not to share this information with anyone. "For the last ten years, Agent McGee and Senator Nathan Taylor, yes that Nathan Taylor, have been in a secret relationship. The press has somehow, gotten hold of copies of explicit emails that have been exchanged between the two men."
"Nathan Taylor?!" Gibbs exclaimed in surprise. He had known the man that his agent was seeing was an important man, by the detail he had seen hovering nearby that night. But he had never dreamed that it would be someone as important as the president's son. A freaking Senator, no less! "Nathan Taylor as in the Senator Nathan Taylor, that is the first-born son of the President of the USA? That Nathan Taylor? Holy shit, McGee!"
"Ethan Gawn from ZNN, is planning to break the story on the 2300-hour news cast, unless we can get ahead of the story first. He has been sitting on the story as a personal favour to me, but he can't sit on the story forever. If he doesn't break it, someone else will. We need to move now." Leon added, stressing the importance of getting to McGee and seeing how he wanted to handle it.
"Neither of them are out, so to speak." Sarah added, making her point that Ethan Gawn was not only going to break the news story, but he was going to out both men, live on national television. "For obvious reasons. I mean a Senator and a federal agent. I was not even aware of their relationship. I didn't even know the two men knew one another. Thankfully that Senator Taylor has never voted on anything for the Navy or the US Marine Corp including any funding for NCIS or JAG. I have discreetly had my advisor's meticulously combing our records to double check. It looks like McGee is clean, as is Taylor, in that regard."
The shrill ringing of a cell phone interrupted them, and they all looked at one another. Gibbs held his cell phone up to the NCIS Director and the Secretary of the Navy, to show them the caller ID. He wasted no time in flipping open the ancient cell phone, not bothering with greeting the caller. "Please tell me you know and you're on your way here."
"I am five from yours, Gibbs." Tim sighed into the phone line. Gibbs thought that Tim sounded like he was stressed out and scared, and he couldn't fault the young man for having those feelings, either. "A man named Kyle Rigby will be meeting us at your house. He is his aide and right-hand man. Can I assume that the Director and SecNav know, if you know as well?"
"They are here." Gibbs confirmed to his agent, and he heard Tim sigh, painfully. He could feel the agony his youngest agent was in, coming through the phone line. He just wanted to give Tim some sort of comfort, but he wasn't sure he had the words just yet. He just hoped that McGee knew he could count on Gibbs for support.
"I do not know if the tap is on my phone or his, so I won't say anything else." Tim stated, factually. His voice was cold and indifferent now and Gibbs had to admit he was proud of the way Tim was conducting himself. "This was simply a courtesy call, to let you know that we are inbound."
The call was disconnected, and Gibbs scrubbed his hand over his face, as he closed his phone. The sound of a mustang in his driveway pinged his ears and the three of them looked up to see that a man had climbed out of a red mustang. He was dressed casually in jeans and UCLA tee. Leon Vance and Sarah Porter recognised the man as the Senator's aide. Clearly, he had been caught off guard by this too, given his casual clothes.
"My name is Rigby, Kyle Rigby." The man offered his hand as he climbed the four steps to the porch. Kyle recognised Sarah Porter. Everyone on Capitol Hill knew who Sarah Porter was. The first female Secretary of the Navy, in US history. "Shall we take this inside?"