Mtf2 - Thanks for all your wonderful reviews and amazing support. For all your follows and faves. It was amazing to see that so many lovers of Just Friends had come over to check out the sequel. Remember be sure to leave a review...
When Tim woke the following morning, he felt like he had been on, one hell of a bender the night before. He felt truly pickled and definitely under the weather. His head hurt and his stomach churned. He didn't even touch a drop of alcohol at the wake, so couldn't blame it on that. A quick dash to the head had the room spinning at Tim hunched over in the bathroom. The sounds of heaving roused Kelly from her sleep, as she rolled over and felt for Tim's side of the bed. Finding it cold, she mused that he had to have been in there for more than a few minutes by now. Throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed, Kelly knocked gently on the door, asking if she could come in. Her question was met with the sound of fresh heaves and some dry retching. "Babe? Are you ok?" She tried again through the door. Not receiving an answer, Kelly tried the handle and it opened. She let herself in, seeing Tim crouched over the toilet, his face red and flushed, his face sweaty too, he was shaking. "Oh Tim." She took a clean washcloth from the drawer on the vanity and washed his face down.
"Don't feel so good." Tim confessed and now that she had Tim's face cleaned, she could feel he was clammy and felt like he had a fever.
"Come on Tim, I think you're done here." Kelly encouraged him to stand up, wash his hands. Getting him changed into some fresh shorts that weren't soaked in sweat was a challenge, but she succeeded. "Into bed, I think work is out of the question today. I'll call in for you."
"No, let me. Gibbs isn't going to be happy, let me wear the anger." Tim argued, taking his cell from her hand. "I have never asked for special treatment, I am not about to start by having my girlfriend call in for me."
"Ok." Kelly conceded. She had learnt in the past how stubborn that Tim could be and had found out, it was easier to pick some battles. Battles like who would do the dishes or who would cook dinner or call in sick. She listened in as Tim called her father, whom had seemed indifferent, even when Tim lost his battle half way through the call and abandoned his phone for the bathroom. "Hey Dad, Tim's really sick." Kelly had said, picking up the phone.
"Ok, I'll put him on leave. See ya." Gibbs had said, down the phone line and promptly hung up. Which was really out of character for her father. Normally, he'd be at least a little concerned or possibly even miffed. He would have definitely asked her how she was doing, or chitchatted with her a few moments. But nothing.
'That was weird.' She thought to herself, as Tim slowly made his way back to bed, again. "I'll go make you some tea." Kelly said fussing over him. She had handed his cell phone back to him and sneakily snatched up her own. She wanted to call Ducky to the apartment to check Tim over. She was sure it was just a stomach flu, but wanted to double check. As an added bonus, Ducky could tell her father that Tim had legitimately been unwell.
Phoning Ducky, Kelly was relieved when he said, he would stop by on his way into the office. Kelly got herself in the shower and dressed for work, before deciding to work from home for the day, firing an email off to her PA, notifying her. Kelly didn't feel right about leaving Tim home alone, especially since he was still hurting over Sarah and as much as he denied it, he was grieving John still.
Ducky's arrival was swift and the Scottish ME was amused, seeing Kelly dressed in a blouse and blazer, with pyjama bottoms on. "Laugh all you like. I'm working from home today." Kelly explained, enjoying the fact that Ducky found it amusing. "I have a Skype meeting with an author, the rest of the day is just reading manuscripts. I'm going to be comfortable, doing that."
"I am sorry, my dear." Ducky apologised profusely, but he couldn't help but laugh at both the ridiculousness, yet practicality of the young woman's outfit. "Now, where's our patient?"
"He's in the bedroom." Kelly said as she led him down the hall and into the bedroom.
Tim was sleeping, his face covered in a low sheen of perspiration, an arm flung over his face, shielding his eyes and his hair sticking up in all directions, but the way he usually styled it. Tim was moaning lightly and beginning to thrash about lightly, before screaming out. Calling out for Kelly. "Kell! Kel!" he shouted.
Kelly immediately rushed to the bed, reaching for Tim and murmuring low. Her voice was too low for Ducky to hear what she was saying, but he saw his young friend instantly calm. As soon as Kelly touched him, he calmed and he pulled her close to him, not opening his eyes as he embraced her.
To Ducky, he had concerns. Tim had just been declared fit for duty. He wasn't aware Tim still had nightmares. He didn't know how Tim had dealt with the trauma of his friend's beating while holding him hostage. He had no idea how his friend was coping. This time Tim had cut him out. He only opened up to Kelly and his therapist, Dr Cranston. But he did know something. Seeing Tim instantly calmed in the deep throes of a nightmare, being calmed by an instant touch. That was like Kelly was a balm for Tim's battered soul.
"Let me look him over." Ducky asked Kelly, as he helped the young woman leave the embrace her lover currently held her in. "Tim, Kelly's safe with me. You're sick, let me look you over."
Tim seemed to come to, a little more and realised that he was safe. Kelly was safe. They were at their apartment and Ducky was going to take care of him. "No, kill me now." Tim groaned, as his stomach churned again. "Stomach flu?" he asked, cracking an eye open at Ducky.
"It appears so." Ducky murmured with a rue grin. "Most likely, one of yesterday's mourners recently had it and shook your hand, not having washed their own hand. Combined with grief and exhaustion. You'll be OK in a couple of days, a week at most."
"Thanks Duck." Tim told his friend and colleague.
"Get some rest and drink plenty of fluids, Timothy." Ducky instructed him, looking at Kelly. Making sure that she understood his instructions, too. "I'll come by tomorrow to check on you. Keep an eye on that fever, too. Call me if you're unsure about anything. I'll brief Gibbs and Vance."
Tim slept in large chunks for the next forty-eight hours, as his body fought off the stomach flu. Only really waking to eat, drink, vomit and repeat. Gibbs had come by to lecture Tim about not giving him enough notice for calling in sick, only to see Tim, still feverish and sick. Before apologising again for his indifference to an unconscious Tim.
Kelly had moved, temporarily into the spare room. She had a huge presentation at work next Friday and she couldn't afford to get sick.
Vance had come by, for moral support for the young couple and to check up on his friend. He was concerned when their ME had mentioned that Tim had had a nightmare in his presence. But was surprised to see that Kelly had everything under control and Tim was peacefully sleeping.
Sarah Porter had called their apartment and mentioned meeting them for dinner, to Kelly. Kelly had told her that Tim had the stomach flu, and she had stopped by on her way home from work, passing Gibbs in the foyer, as checked in on her son. She had managed to catch him awake.
"Hey there, how are you feeling?" she asked him, fluffing about with his blankets and toying with his pillow. "Anything that I can do to help?" she asked. She realised that she had the same helpless feeling that she felt when Megan was sick. Before she briefly wondered if all parents felt like this. Even when their kids were grown and unwell? Or was it because her and atom had just discovered their familial link?
"I'm not so good, Mom." Tim told her in reply, lethargic. But it still made her heart happy to hear her son call her mom.
"I can see that, darling." Sarah replied softly, carding his hair off his face in a motherly fashion. "Oh, my baby boy. I wish I could snap my fingers and you feel better."
"Mom?" Tim asked, breaking a small silence that developed between the two of them. "Just wondering if I had of burnt a hole in the kitchen, what would you have done?" Tim hadn't opened his eyes and she was pretty sure he was dreaming. "Mom?"
A second prompt and now she knew he was serious. "Oh, I would have been pretty angry. Maybe send you to bed without dinner." Sarah smiled at the wide, stupid grin that broke out on his face. Really, she couldn't imagine any parent being happy in that predicament, but clearly her boy wouldn't have set out to do it deliberately. "Your father might have been harsher with you. I know when Emily's rocket hit the tree and exploded, when she was twelve, she was grounded for a year, but he relented after three weeks."
"That's why you're Mom. Dads are so mean." Tim whispered, and Sarah thought he might be delirious from the fever. She put her cool hand to his forehead and felt it. He felt normal, but he was clammy and sweaty. So, it was still possible. "The Admiral..."
Sarah really wanted to know what the Admiral had done to her son. She knew he was remissive, emotionally distant and mentally abused Tim. But if he was physically abusive, then she thought she just might be sick, too. "The Admiral...?"
"Hey smacked me. Like Gibbs. Across the back of the head." Tim finished when she prompted him. Sarah didn't think she could get too angry because Gibbs too, slapped Tim across the back of the head. But she did wonder if Gibbs' head slaps triggered flashbacks for her son. "It was hard and it hurt. Usually when he did it, I'd hit the wall or the floor. That hurt more than the head slaps." Gibbs would be getting a stern talking to, did he know? "Gibbs used to think I flinched because I was scared of him. It wasn't that. I was scared of hitting the floor or wall."
Looking up, she saw that they were no longer alone. Seeing Gibbs irked her, she didn't know that he had hung around. But it seemed he had. The look in his face said otherwise. Gibbs had heard it all.
Looking back down at her son, she could hear his soft huffs of sleep. A sound that uniquely belonged to Tim. She carded the hair off his face and kissed his forehead. "Get some rest, my gorgeous boy. You're safe here with Kelly. If you need me, ask Kelly to call me. I love you, my gorgeous boy."
As she closed the door over, she scrutinised Jethro Gibbs closely. "I didn't know and the first time I saw him flinch. I stopped, immediately. The only other two times I ever did it, it was a small tap to the head and it wasn't hard, just firm enough to be a wake-up call." Gibbs swore to Sarah. "I didn't want to be the one cause more trauma. It was obvious, especially in the beginning when if he was yelled at, he would flinch and stutter. I tried to help him grow."
"You did help him grow, Jethro. It just took you a long time to realise that he needed help. That he didn't flinch for something to do, that there was a reason for that." Sarah told him. Jethro looked as distraught as she felt inside. "Once you realised that, you claimed him as one of your own. You let him in and in turn, he let you in. You began shaping and moulding him into the man he is, today."
"The man my Kell ended up falling in love with." Jethro finished for her with a silly grin. The one that graced his face when he thought of the two of them together. "You and Tobias are good with him. Have been good for him. Tim is beginning to open up and let you in. Letting people in, it's hard for him. But once you break through the tough exterior, you'll see the real man. He had to grow up awfully fast. Penny would try to let him be a kid, but the weight of responsibility that John heaped on his shoulders, weighed him down."
"One day, Tim might decide he wants to make Kelly a permanent part of the family and then he'll be yours again, Jethro." Sarah said, conspiratorially. "One day, soon. Very soon."
"Has he said something?" he asked, in hope.
"No." Sarah sighed. "But Tim keeps a lot to himself. Everything all bottled up."
"Yes, he does." Gibbs agreed and that was something that Gibbs respected about the young man.
It was another couple of days before Tim was back to his usual self. He was sitting at his desk; Gibbs had dismissed the team for the evening at a decent hour. Kelly was out, doing her Christmas shopping. Tim had done all of his, he'd bought something for everyone. Everyone except Kelly. He was stuck on Kelly.
He had a chuckle at that thought and looked up to see Gibbs grin at him, too. "Care to share what's so funny?"
"Christmas shopping." Tim said and Gibbs gave him a quizzical look. "I've bought and wrapped all my gifts for everyone. Everyone except Kelly. I'm stuck on Kelly."
Gibbs laughed at the double meaning and wordplay, but more importantly at the truth of both statements. "Ain't that the truth?" Gibbs quipped with a chuckle of his own, as both men resumed working on the case file, they were trying to get some more work done on. Gibbs and Tim were working closely with the Director on a top-secret operation. So top secret and confidential that the rest of the team weren't read into it, yet. "What do you think about bringing Quinn in from FLETC? Kind of an extra, experienced set of hands for the team while our attention is split between this op and regular cases. Dorney is still green, Ellie's getting better, but she's still got a bit to go."
"Quinn? I don't know her as agent, but she's good at what she teaches. Good and knowledgeable." Tim admitted to his boss. "We'd need another warm body. Someone who is skilled between Quinn and Dorney. Someone who can take point with Ellie and continue the training that Tony and I began with her. Possibly a street-savvy agent."
"That's a good idea, Tim. But who?" he asked, as he pulled his seat over to Tim's desk. "Rodriguez? Carson? "
"Rodriguez loves the analytical side of things too much. Between the Ellie and Rodriguez, we wouldn't ever get anything done." Tim chuckled, knowing Ellie was an over thinker. "Carson, maybe. Personally, I think he likes his liquor a little too much. What about Sanchez?"
"Sanchez is a linguistic major. Not a lot of field experience. How about Noble?" Gibbs counter-offered, not know if Tim and Noble ever sorted their differences out.
"Absolutely not." Tim groaned out loud, adamantly. "Noble is a bully, particularly to the greener agents."
"That was a long time ago, Tim." Gibbs reminded him.
"I was thinking of Ellie and Dorney, actually." Tim corrected Gibbs gently. "What about Torres?"
"Torres?" Gibbs repeated. "Never heard of him."
"He's been an undercover agent for the last eight years, but he has requested a stateside post to help care for his sister and niece after a car accident killed his brother-in-law." Tim recited. "I briefly met him years ago, but he seemed solid."
"I'll run it by Vance and get his 201 file." Gibbs agreed, the older team leader knew undercover agents were generally street-savvy and with Tony gone, it was a void of the team. Tim had done undercover work before, but not deep cover like Tony. Actually, Torres' undercover work was deeper than Tony's. "We can take a look, together."
"So, this is what the two of you get up to when you claim to be working late." Kelly jested, having snuck up to the bull pen with Keith, via the stairs. Tim and Gibbs clambered to pack up their files and hide what they were working on. Both men were leaning back in their respective chairs untouched files scattered all over the desk.
"Hello, darling. " Gibbs greeted his daughter with a kiss on the cheek, seeing Tim needed to lock the top-secret file away still. He hugged her close and she seemed surprised by the gesture.
"Hey, hey old man, hands off." Tim mockingly admonished Gibbs. Seeing the playful glare on Gibbs face made him smile. "Hey baby." Tim kissed Kell gently as he said hello.
"Dinner." She quipped in explanation at both of them, retrieving the bag of food and coffees Keith had helped her carry up to them.
Seeing Keith at the elevator, both men nodded their thanks to their favourite security guard, as the three of them settled down to dinner.
Mundane conversation about Christmas shopping, Christmas stockings and decorations was at the forefront of the dinner conversation with Kelly bragging that she only had to wrap her presents now, that she was finally finished her shopping.
"A trip to the liquor store and I'm done." Gibbs crowed loudly and he nudged Tim with his foot. But that was typical Gibbs, every year he bought everyone on the team a bottle of either scotch or bourbon. Gift given.
"Alright you two, I get the hint. I'll get it finished on lunch, tomorrow." Tim said softly to them both.
Tim actually had a fleeting idea of what to buy for his beautiful girl, but he didn't have the slightest clue where to start looking for it. More importantly, he'd left it too late to purchase it online.
"OK you two, I'll get out of your hair." Kelly said as she gathered the empty Chinese containers. "What time do you think you'll be home?"
"Another hour, Kell." Gibbs answered for him. "Take my truck instead of a cab. The snow is really coming down out there, now. I'll catch a ride with Tim in that new car of his."
"You just like the heated leather seats." Tim told him, as Kelly kissed Tim goodnight and took her father's keys and headed for the stairs.
Gibbs and Tim worked for another forty minutes before Gibbs called an end to their brainstorming session. "It's getting worse. If we don't make a move soon, I'm not going to be able to make it home." Gibbs grumbled, as he and Tim backed their respective gear.
"Grab your sea bag and stay at ours. We're only minutes away from the yard, especially in the snow. Plus, we're on-call." Tim offered. He knew Kelly wouldn't want Gibbs driving back to Alexandria in the snow any more than he did. "The snow's supposed to ease off tomorrow."
As the two men headed down for the car, to the parking lot, Tim noticed that Gibbs didn't answer him, but he did grab his SAR bag.
Gibbs loved Tim's new SUV. All he had to do was turn the driving mode knob to SNOW and drive. No need for chains or fiddling with the transmission, provided that the snow tires were already on the SUV, which they were.
Within seven minutes, they were pulling up in the underground car park and Gibbs noted that his truck was parked beside Kelly's Ford, and Ellie's truck was where Tim normally parked. Tim pulled in, next to his truck and he raised his eyebrows at the younger man.
"Oh, Mrs Anderson doesn't drive, any more. She's the other tenant on our floor. Kelly and I are leasing her car parks for the season, from her." Tim replied as he locked his black SUV with the fob as they made their way to the elevator. "Didn't want to leave Ellie's truck on the street where Jake could see it and we wanted our visitors to be able to park in the underground park. Helps supplement her pension and helps us store our cars."
"That's smart." Gibbs said. Originally, he'd been hesitant to spend the night because he didn't want to leave his truck on the street. But this was good. This was better. Hank, their maintenance man.
Gibbs showered and changed into his sweats, the apartment lights were muted, or dimmed low. Kelly and Tim were in their bedroom with the door closed and a short rasp of knuckles, startled Gibbs.
Peeping through the peep-hole, he was surprised to see Ellie. "Gibbs?" she sounded surprised and of course she was. Normally he would be at his house
"Hey Bishop, welcome home." he said she hugged him and let him take her bags. "Hope it's OK that I came back here. Tim did tell me to come back here."
"Well, if he told you to come back here, he meant it." Gibbs reiterated as he closed the door behind her. "How are you doing?"
"If I stayed at home one more day, I think I might have killed one of my brothers or my mom. I love them all dearly, but I'm done. There's a reason that I live in DC and they're in Oklahoma. But I'm doing OK. I started thinking about what I want. I did some research and weighed up my options. Called the number of that divorce lawyer you recommended. Jake gets served tomorrow."
"Good on you." Gibbs encouraged, giving her a side hug. "And I'm sorry. It's a hard decision to make. To get divorced."
"I know, I even googled how to stay together after an affair. But it was like you said. The trust was gone and even if we rebuild it, it'll never be the same." Ellie explained and Gibbs was pretty sure nearly every wronged partner had shared that same thought. He knew he had, he knew Tim had and he knew his daughter had.
"Get some rest, Bishop." Gibbs instructed her. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Serving Jake."
Bishop had long headed off to bed and Gibbs had been watching a late-night news program on ZNN, he must have dozed off because he was startled awake to noise coming from Tim's office. At first, he thought that it might have been Ellie wandering around, but he could hear her snores from the other guest room. Getting up to investigate, he was surprised to see that it was Tim in his office. He was surprised because Kelly and Tim had said good night nearly four hours ago. They hadn't even re-emerged when Ellie had arrived. Tim was sitting at his desk, his laptop open. He was wearing sweats and a tee, his hair teased in all different directions. "Everything OK?" Gibbs asked, taking a seat in one of the tub chairs, opposite his desk.
"Oh Gibbs, yeah." Tim answered distractedly. Tim and Kelly had bid Gibbs a good night and had escaped into their bedroom; closing and locking the bedroom door behind them. They had showered and made love together under the stream, moaning their pleasure into each other's mouths, before Tim had Kelly in bed naked and snuggled into her. But Tim's mind had begun to wonder and he found himself unable to switch his mind off.
Leaving his girlfriend, naked in their bed, Tim tossed some sweats on and headed for his study, determined to get some work done. Instead, an ad on his preferred search engine had directed him to a local company's website, here in DC. Just a few streets over from the Navy Yard. Tim noted the address and was browsing the website when Gibbs came in. "Ellie's back." he told Tim in a low voice. "I set her back up in the spare room she was using last time. Hope that was ok."
"Thanks, yeah she messaged me from the airport. I told her to come here." Tim told him, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Ducky is away with Dr Hamilton on a golf trip and you're here. Tony's still away and there's no way she's going back to Jake."
"Amen to that!" Gibbs heartily agreed. "She told me she's serving him with divorce papers."
"I know." Tim said, not looking up at Gibbs. "Ellie kept in contact with Kelly and I, while she was home visiting with the family. Her brothers really are as crazy as she says they are. But she loved seeing them, feeling they had her back too, not just us. Seeing her mom and her dad, especially her dad. She said her mom wanted her to take Jake back."
"It was an option and we tried not to influence her thoughts. It was a decision she had to make herself." Gibbs said softly, in a sigh. He knew that Ellie's mom was fond of Jake. Jake had mentioned once before that he and Ellie's mom had got along well. "Still, Barbra shouldn't have tried to make her mind up for her."
"As much as we wanted to, we didn't." Tim added, still engrossed in his searching the website. A small smile crossed his face and it piqued Gibbs' curiosity. Tim opened the photo in the listing, so Gibbs couldn't see the price and spun the laptop around to show Gibbs. "What do you think? For Kelly, for Christmas."
"It's beautiful, Tim." Gibbs wowed, at the unique piece of jewellery on screen. "Where are you going to get a piece of jewellery like that? A week before Christmas."
"I have my ways." Tim returned his laptop to himself, just in time to see an email pop up in the right-hand corner of his screen. They had one in stock and confirmed his appointment time for tomorrow at noon. Tim grinned at his boss. A Cheshire like grin.