MTF5

New Years Eve was low key and the lovers had opted to celebrate at home, hosting a small gathering of the same party as Christmas Day with the addition of Leon, Kayla and Jared. The kids entertained each other and included Tali at every turn, watching movies, eating popcorn and drinking soda in the media room. A project that he and Kelly had just completed, temporarily switching out one of the guest rooms for in anticipation of the celebration. Whilst the adults, sat, drank and mingled. Leon let out a huge whistle, when he caught a glimpse of the gold, ruby and and diamond ring that Tim had gifted Kelly for Christmas.

With the celebratory evening coming to a close. The last drop of food had been eaten and last glass of champagne had been drunk, their guests began to file out just after 2am. Finally alone, Tim and Kelly opted to clean the mess so that they could spend the morning in bed together. The apartment wasn't as messy as they were expecting and it only took forty-five minutes to clean up.

Showering and climbing in to bed together, both slightly drunk and too exhausted to make love, they fell asleep pretty much as soon as their head hit the pillow. They woke around six am briefly, both of them and made love. Knowing that come midday, the MCRT team went back into rotation and were on call.

Spent from a round of vigorous and energetic love making, Tim pulled himself out of Kelly's body and rolled off her, pulling her close. Neither of them bothering to clean up before they fell asleep again. When they awoke again at 1300 hours, they made love again, cleaned up and started their day.

Tony had dropped the news that he and Tali would be departing back for France on the second and Tim and Tony had made tentative plans to get in a workout together, while Kelly all but demanded some girl time with their new niece. Tony's arrival was filled with frustration when Tony recalled how his morning had gone. he and the goth girl had made plans to meet up, so she could meet his daughter. The two of them having played phone tag until the afternoon before last, only for Abby to stand them up. That Tony had finally gotten Abby on the phone, only to have her say that she was too tired from partying the night before and could they catch up next week. When Tony informed her that he and Tali were returning to Paris to live, she blew him off saying that she would meet them at the same time next week, completely ignoring Tony's announcement that they wouldn't be in the country.

"I can see why you've fully cut her out of your life." Tony said, as and Tim headed down the elevator to the building gym. "She is so frustrating."

"Well yeah." Tim grinned at him, as he explained to Tony that Abby had the gall to tell him that she was surprised he was with Kelly still. Before spewing a verbal spray of hatred towards him, as they began their workout.

The two men shortly abandoned their workout in favour of a game of one on one. When the scores were level, Tony asked Tim something he had been dying to know. "Do you think that Ziva is redeemable? I mean, do you think she's capable of making amends?"

"No Tony, I don't." Tim sighed, as he stopped bouncing the basketball and took his shot. "She may have helped me escape, but I never would have been kidnapped if it wasn't for her. She targeted me and she took too much pleasure in torturing me, for her own gains."

"But everyone deserves a second chance, right?" he asked, as he passed the ball back to Tim, so he could make his second shot.

"Ziva's had more than a few." Tim sighed out loud, getting frustrated at Tony. "I don't want to be that friend who says if you forgive her, we can't be friends. But I'm not ready to forgive her. I might not ever be ready. I understand that you have a child with her and you're in love with her, but I can't have you in my life, if you take her side, Tony. Think of everything that Ziva has put us through. A lot of it, unnecessary."

"You're right, Tim. But I love her." Tony said as Tim sighed. He knew it was coming. He never thought that he could win with Tony, against Ziva.

"I wish you nothing but happiness." Tim said stoically, as he snatched the ball up and headed for the elevators. He had expected Tony to choose Ziva over him, but he hadn't expected it to hurt as much as it did.

"Tim, don't be like that!" Tony chastised him, as he raced to follow behind him. "Let me prove to you that Ziva's innocent." he begged and Tim didn't want to hear it.

"Be like what? Prove to me what? That in your eyes I am not worth anything, especially compared to the woman who tortured me." Tim argued, as they came through the front door of his apartment.

"Tali, come say goodbye to Uncle Tim and Aunty Kelly, we're leaving." Tony announced, seeing that his friend couldn't be reasoned with. Kelly could feel the tension rolling off Tim in waves and there was definitely an awkwardness between Tony and Tim that hadn't been there before.

Tali came over and hugged Tim, kissing his cheek. Tim said goodbye, his heart aching. He had fallen in love with his little niece so quickly, now it hurt saying goodbye to her. As he released her, Kelly said her goodbyes too, sensing the awkwardness between the men, she made Tali laugh with a stray tickle to ease the tension. As she too hugged and kissed her new niece goodbye.

A final goodbye was waved and Tony and Tali boarded the elevator headed for their apartment. Tomorrow, they return to Paris, France with the rest of Tony's belongings in tow.

"Remind me again why Tim and Kelly aren't here, saying goodbye, too?" Gibbs asked Tony, as he helped Tony unload their bags out of the backseat and out of the trunk of his yellow muscle car.

"I told you." Tony huffed, frustrated while Ducky occupied Tali. "Tim wouldn't forgive Ziva."

"Do you blame him?" Gibbs retorted. "She tortured him for hours and hours, her mission was to assist Delilah in getting close to him. She got close to him to gain Intel. She lied to him, she hurt him, she used him as a pawn in a sick and twisted game. Of course he isn't going to forgive her."

"But she's Tali's mom." Tony tried reasoning with Gibbs. "She's the mother of my child and I thought Probie and I were friends."

"She's also the woman who plagues his nightmares and if you were his friend, you'd respect his decision. Look, we all get that you're in love with Ziva. But you're either going to be with Ziva or be friends with Tim. You can't have your cake and eat it too." Gibbs was trying to be succinct as possible, but he was struggling to get through to the new father. He didn't seem to be able to see past the end of his nose and when he did, it was with rose-coloured glasses. "I know it's hard for you, to treat Tim the same as you treat everyone else. But you need to and you need to respect his feelings. You didn't see him when Elaine found him."

Everyone said a tense, final goodbye to one another, with promises to keep in touch. Gibbs watched as Tony and Tali disappeared in to the terminal and checked their bags, before making their way through security.

By the fifth of the new year, the MCRT had been chasing their tails, trying to get hard evidence on their murder suspects. A married couple living in base housing at Quantico had been murdering high ranking officials in random attacks. The victims had no commonalities, just their rank. The M.O was never the same. They received a tip that it was a disgruntled Marine couple whom both had been denied promotion at one time or another, but no names had flagged. That was until Gibbs and Dorney went to suss out the latest victim's house. They'd had a brief two minute conversation with their potential suspects and both men had pretended to buy their shock and horror of what had happened to last Captain that had lived across the street from them. But neither man believed it. Now they knew that Gibbs and Dorney were NCIS that meant that Tim and Ellie would have to go undercover, as a married couple. Gibbs groaned out loud as he wondered what his daughter would think of Ellie playing Tim's wife.

"You know what this means, right?" Dorney asked, as soon as he had finished giving Tim and Ellie an update on what he and Gibbs had learnt on their excursion into base housing. "You two will have to go undercover."

"Uh-uh, no way." Ellie refused, vocally. Her reaction was immediate and Tim would have been offended, if not for the fact that he knew that Ellie was objecting on principle. He was madly and passionately in love with her best friend. "No way, N-O!"

"It's got to be you two, the Roberts know that Dorney and I are NCIS." Gibbs said, as he came in handing each of them a folder. In the folder was the dossiers for their undercover aliases. "Tim, you've been awfully quiet. Everything ok?" Gibbs asked, as he scrutinised his senior field agent.

"It's all part of the job, right Gibbs?" Tim asked, hoping that he was displaying more bravado than he actually felt. Because he felt terrified. Not of the op, it was standard. He was too well known as John McGee's, NCIS agent son, to be seen floating around base, pretending to be an officer. Quantico was a joint base with equal amount of Navy and Marine personnel, so it would make sense if they made Ellie the officer and he the stay at home husband.

"Read up, you two." Gibbs said, tapping the respective folders in their hands. "Any questions? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Real cute, Gibbs." Tim smirked at their boss. Ellie and Dorney looked on, wondering what would happen to Tim for sass-mouthing the boss. But Gibbs just threw Tim back a smirk of his own. The Gibbs that Ellie had first met would have head slapped Tony for a comment like that and Ellie couldn't decide if Gibbs had changed, Tim had changed or they had changed each other. "Come on, Mrs. Let's leave these NCIS agents to do some real work while you and I get to know one another."

That comment had done what he had intended it to, it made Ellie laugh. He knew he had been channeling Tony, but he needed to relax his partner or this would never work. Tim and Ellie both took their dossiers and their laptops and headed off find a free conference room. Worst case scenario, they couldn't find one they'd use the back drafty stairwell that no one used.

While searching for a place to go over their covers, Gibbs called Tim and told them that Ducky had offered the use of his office. That he and Palmer were doing inventory and the only guests they had done there were their current victims, but they had already completed their work on them. That they were safely stowed away.

Tim and Ellie spent the bulk of the day going over their dossier and rehearsing. Ellie wasn't sure she could pull it off. Gibbs had come down to check on their progress and had suggested that Tim and Ellie go to dinner and play the night as if they were their undercover personas. That he and Leon would observe and report back how she could improve. She had never been undercover before and had only ever covered the bear minimum at FLETC.

Tim made a quick call to Kelly, before he called a random Italian restaurant out of the yellow pages, that none of them had ever been to and booked two tables for two. Telling Kelly knew that he had been undercover before and he had been fine. He had been undercover before, but not while they were officially a couple and she knew she couldn't call him. She had been left behind when her dad had gone under plenty of times, she knew the rules. She felt a little unsettled and even though she was reluctant to admit, she felt a little jealous at the thought of her best friend being with him. What if Tim cheated on her? She trusted Tim. Trusted that Tim wouldn't do anything like that, but she knew it was a possibility.

Kelly remembered a story that her father's former partner Jen had told her, where Jen had had to pretend that Gibbs was her married lover. That Gibbs had been forced to actually kiss her. She was sure that both her dad, and Jen, weren't giving her the full story. But she was only fifteen at the time, she didn't expect the full story. Would Ellie and Tim be truthful to her about what went on between them? Did she even want to know.

"I need to run home and change." Tim commented to Ellie in a low voice, just above a whisper. "I need to see if Kell's ok. She didn't sound like she was one hundred percent onboard. I won't be longer than an hour, cover for me?"

"Course." Ellie smiled as him, as he kissed her cheek and headed to the elevator with his gun on his hip, creds in his pocket and his car keys in his hand.

"Tim's gone home to check on his girlfriend, I take it?" Gibbs asked, as he came around the corner. he had witnessed the conversation between the two agents and knew undoubtedly, where his senior agent was headed.

"No comment." Ellie grinned at their boss. It was well known within the office that Gibbs had supersonic hearing and Ellie had no doubt that Gibbs heard the entire exchange. "I'll be sure to tell him that you covered for him. Go get ready for dinner, Bishop."

Tim arrived back at their apartment, seven minutes after leaving the Navy Yard, calling out to Kelly as he entered the apartment. She was in the bedroom, with Sharni on the bed. It looked like his girlfriend was upset, but her eyes weren't red and her face showed no signs that she had been crying. But he could tell she was upset. He climbed onto the bed and kissed her hello, conveying all of his love into his kiss. "well hello to you, too." She grinned at him. "What are you doing home? I thought you were going undercover."

"I am and it starts tonight, but I have to shower and change." Tim grinned at her, as he locked his gun away and began stripping off. "Plus, I wanted to see if you were ok."

"I am fine." Kelly grinned at him, but he could see the uncertainty that still lie in her eyes. "Can I join you?"

"Always." He grinned at her, as he lead her into their bathroom, stripping her clothes off her as they went. "No hanky-panky, Miss Gibbs. My boss is super strict and will be really pissed off, if I'm not back at the yard in an hour."

"I can work within an hour." She grinned at him, as she started the water for the shower and stripped off the remaining articles of her clothing.

As soon as the water was the desired temperature, Tim ushered Kelly in before following her into the shower stall. Kelly wasted no time, kissing her boyfriend, hitting all of his erogenous zones. Soon enough Tim couldn't hold her advances off any longer and gave in to her wants. He slipped a finger inside her and found that she was more than ready. He knew that she was incredibly turned on and quickly took a minute to get her over the edge, before he hoisted her up and slid his member inside her. He thrusted himself into her; over and over again and before they both knew it, they were crying out their pleasure for one another. Hastily, Tim pulled out of her and finished washing up, as Kelly did the same.

Kelly dried off and slipped into her robe, as Tim dried off and slipped into a finely cut light grey suit, with a white shirt and a black tie. "You look so handsome, baby." Kelly cooed from where she sat at her vanity. She had been brushing and untangling the mess of hair that had become knotted from getting wet.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I will see you when I get home tonight." he grinned at her, kissing her again. Using his kiss as a reminder of his feeling for her, before telling her that he loved her, very much.

"I love you, too." She called out, behind him as she heard the door for their apartment close and get locked behind him.

Tim made it back into the squad room with six minutes to spare and he grinned to himself at that, as he got off the elevator. As he reached the entrance to their bullpen by Ellie's desk, Ellie was coming back in dressed for their spurious date, dressed in a burgundy mid dress with peep holes across the shoulders and ruffled sides. Low black heels, her hair all swept up and a heavier layer of make-up than what she usually wore. She grinned at him and chuckled. "Man, I miss DiNozzo right now. He could say what we we're all thinking and take the head slap for the team." She said, wistfully. "The moment I verbalise it, Gibbs will appear out of nowhere and clobber me."

"Then this is a lesson in biting your tongue." Tim grinned at her, just as Gibbs appeared.

"You two ready?" He asked. Tim looked a lot more calm, as did Ellie. But Ellie still looked nervous and unsure, but she wasn't shaking with fear now. He let a small smile grace his face, as he saw that Tim was freshly showered and shaved. That was so Tim.

They booked two cars out of the NCIS motor pool. Vance hadn't wanted to risk anyone using their own cars. As they pulled up at the restaurant, the watched as Tim held the door open for Ellie and helped her out of the car. "Ever the romantic there." Leon quipped to Gibbs who chuckled.

"Well yeah, that's McGee for ya." Gibbs replied. He had never had the pleasure to watch McGee first hand when he had been undercover in the past, as Tony had always been the one who had required the most amount of supervision. If tonight was anything to go by and this was the way he treated Kelly, he was happy for his daughter. Tim still couldn't help himself, he was the perfect gentleman.

As soon as the couple in question were seated and Gibbs and Leon were also seated, not too far away from them, so they could see and hear what was going on, they relaxed. By the end of the evening, it was obvious that Ellie was a quick study and had followed the cues that Tim had laid out for her at every turn. They were ready to go under.

The following morning arrived and Ellie and Tim met the rental truck that was full of the display home furniture that they had procured to set their home with. Balboa and Carson were posing as the movers, as they set up the house, right across the street from their suspected killers. Tim made a show, seeing the neighbours were washing the red corvette outside their house. He scooped Ellie up and twirled her around. "Welcome to our new home, baby." He said softly, as he kissed her chastely.

When he put her down, Ellie steadied herself. She couldn't believe Tim hadn't hesitated, he'd just scooped her up and ran with it. She hadn't been expecting it and it certainly wasn't planned. Her reaction of a small squeal had been genuine and before she knew it, Tim had lead her into the house and away from the neighbours eyes.

Together, they made quick work of setting up the surveillance equipment, scouting the best location for it and deciding that the master bedroom was the best spot for it. They discreetly informed their 'movers' and began to unpack. The boxes were planned to be collected by Dorney, dressed as the garbage man and would be coming at 0600 the following morning.

A whole day of surveillance and Tim knew that they needed to take the bull by the horns or they could be here for weeks. Last night had been uncomfortable. He and Ellie had traded off between surveillance and sleeping, but he let her get more sleep because she was the one that had to report for duty the following morning. Leon and Gibbs had organised for Ellie to work in the same office as their suspect.

"Morning lovebirds, rise and shine." Gibbs smirked into the comms from his vantage point in the bullpen. The surveillance camera transmitted the images straight to the plasma in their bullpen. "How did the Mr and Mrs sleep?"

"He drools." Ellie quipped, tossing the pillow that Tim had rested his head against overnight, while he sat in the chair by the window, back onto the bed.

"She snores." Tim retorted and Gibbs bit back a grin. It sounded like him and all of his ex-wives in the beginning of his failed marriages.

"Keep going like that and the two of you will end up in divorce court." Gibbs chuckled. "Remember, you're supposed to be a loved up married couple."

"I want a divorce." Ellie groaned out loud. "You don't have to kiss Tim, Gibbs."

Gibbs had to stifle a chuckle at Bishop's complaining. The surveillance hadn't been set up, but Balboa and Carson had been delighted to inform Gibbs that their first public display of affection had gone ahead, without a hitch. "Oh of that, I am thankful for that."

"Remember when Tony tongued the guy?" Tim laughed out loud, before sobering up. God, he missed Pacci. Wonder what he'd make of everything that had happened since he passed.

Gibbs couldn't help it, he laughed really loud. It was a full-bellied laugh and said "Yep." Before telling Bishop to have a good day at the office and reminding Tim he could take ninety minutes of rack time, that he had control of their surveillance.

Tim was thankful to Gibbs for that. He had wondered if Jake had of had a problem with Ellie's snoring too, or if it was something new since their separation. He wouldn't admit to anyone, but he was exhausted and when it had been his brief turn to sleep, he hadn't been able to sleep without Kelly by his side.

He didn't like the way they left things. They'd have a quickie in the shower while Tim had gotten ready for the practice dinner with Ellie. When he came home, she was asleep on the sofa, laptop open. He carried her to bed and she barely stirred. He woke early, but she'd already left, as she had a meeting in Baltimore to land another big name author.

Ninety minutes was up too briefly. Gibbs reported that the husband had left for work and the wife was doing some gardening. Neither Gibbs and Tim mentioned the irony that the wife was a red head and exactly the fiery kind of woman Tim would be attracted to, if he wasn't crazy about Kelly.

He sauntered across the street, intending to introduce himself. The goal of their op was to get close to the couple in question.

Kelly found herself back in DC by six and bored out of her mind. She knew her dad was busy at work and she was tired from driving all day. She randomly decided to get takeout, something she only allowed herself to have sporadically. She decided she needed to see a friendly face and made a beeline for Elaine's diner. Taking a seat in her dad's favourite booth, she sighed deeply, as Elaine came over to greet her. "Hey darlin', no Tim tonight?" she asked, surprised to see her favourite customer's daughter without her boyfriend. Over the years Elaine had watched Kelly grow from a young eight year old, to a gangly, awkward teen to the beautiful young woman before her. Elaine had been overjoyed when she had learnt that Kelly and Tim, Gibbs' youngest agent had gotten together.

"Nah, he's working." she replied, before giving her order over. She sighed and checked her phone in hope that her boyfriend had of had five spare minutes to check in, but sadly remembered that they were undercover and Tim didn't have his phone on him. She bought Kelly a wine over too, sensing the young woman needed one. She looked like she had lost her best friend.

"Oh hey, Kelly. Mind if I sit down?" Abby asked, taking seat before she could answer the lab Goth, being startled by Abby's arrival. Abby made small talk and did the bulk of the talking. Kelly barely getting a word in, edgewise. "I've got to get these dinners back to the yard. Can I swing by the apartment in an hour or so? I have something I think you need to see."

"Ah sure, I guess." Kelly replied, slightly suspicious of her motives. But she did know one thing. If Abby said it was important, it was important.

True to the lab tech's word, Abby was ringing the doorbell to their apartment an hour later. "Come in." Kelly said, offering her a drink. Abby declined, but suggested that Kelly might want to refill her wine glass, seeing it was almost empty. With that task done, Kelly took a seat beside Abby on the sofa, seeing she had her laptop open. "What was it you wanted to show me?"

"I don't want to cause any trouble." Abby said, in her most serious tone. "What Tim and Ellie are doing undercover is vital to the case. But I'm worried. I did the work up of their ID's and they seem to be deviating from script. I can't say too much, security clearance, you know? But a picture is worth a thousand words."

Abby taped the space bar on the laptop and it came to life. The first was a doctored photo of Ellie and Tim dressed to the nines in what appeared to be a wedding photo. Next was some photos of them, in various poses. Tim's arms around Ellie or Ellie's arms around Tim.

Kelly knew they did these shots to cover their bases and wasn't too worried. "Aren't they just the basic work up of their ID's?" Kelly asked, surprising the Goth a little.

Abby hadn't been expecting Kelly to be so suspicious of the photos. Time for the big guns. "These aren't my handiwork." Abby said softly, clicking the next button in the slideshow of photos. "They had these done by a neighbour. He's a boudoir photographer. The picture depicted Tim naked hovering over the top of an equally naked Ellie, a look of determination on his face, his arms under her knees hiking them up. Just like he did to her when they made love.

Without warning, Abby clicked the next button. That photo was more detailed than the photo before. Tim was hard. Ellie was on top of him, riding him like a cowgirl. Both naked as the day they were born.

Next was clicked again and this time Ellie was leaning against the wall naked, and Tim was going down on her, the look of ecstasy on her face. "That's enough." Kelly sobbed softly. Her eyes were clouded with tears.

"I am sorry Kelly." Abby said, hugging her and comforting her. "You're my friend and we go back a long time. I couldn't, in good conscious not tell you."

Abby handed her a tissue, as Kelly blew her nose and wiped her eyes. "Does ... does my dad know? About the pictures?" Kelly stammered, she was struggling to comprehend how Tim could do this to her. And with Ellie, her best friend.

"He does." Abby confirmed and watched the young woman squirm at her confirmation. Abby sat by Kelly's side, rubbing her back in circles, comforting her as a fresh round of tears fell.

"I think I would like to be alone, now." Kelly whispered, as more tears fell.

"Call me if you need anything." Abby offered, as she gathered her laptop and bag, making her way to the door. "Oh Kelly, everything will be ok."

As Kelly closed and locked the door behind her, she kept her façade in place in the elevator. Knowing that Tim had the know how to hack the security feed and access the footage. Abby made sure to school her features. But when she got to the lobby, she could no longer hold it in and she grinned wide and with glee. Part one of her plan was coming together. All it had taken was a late night, stills from the security feed at NCIS, a random porn site, a good eye for detail and photoshop.

Now all she had to do was wait!