MTF9
Kelly and Tim made it to the diner, only three minutes late. Which was an impressive feat, considering they knew they didn't have time to make love that morning, but they did anyway. Kelly grinned at him, as they entered, she had warned him they were going to be late. It had been enjoyable reason to be three minute late though, when she remembered what they had done together in the shower. "We were beginning to think you two weren't coming?" Leon quipped playfully at them and Gibbs practically choked on his coffee. Seeing Gibbs choke had been comical and Leon had struggled to keep a straight face.
Tim looked at his watch and frown. "We're three minutes late, not three hours." Shrugging his shoulders at Kelly. Even as much as he hated to be late. It was three lousy minutes.
"That was aimed at me, not you." Gibbs commented, kissing his daughter's cheek and nodding his greeting at Tim. "Leon still thinks that yesterday at the apartment was amusing."
"Ooh, what happened yesterday Tim?" His mother asked him, eager to hear why her friend Leon would be giving Gibbs a hard time about something that Tim did. "Tell your mom."
"No one needs to know about that, Dad." Kelly added. She tucked herself up underneath Tim's arm, cuddling into his side. Kelly had been mortified that her father had walked in on them in, like that. In Gibbs' defence, he never expected them to be in the kitchen, making out, or what had appeared to be; and they hadn't just been making out, either. She had forgotten that her father was only a few minutes away, following her. She had all of her energy and focused on Tim and nothing or no one else mattered in that moment.
"Oh I don't know about that, young lady." Gibbs teased his daughter, mercifully. "As Tim's parents, Tobias and Sarah deserve to know what I saw." Gibbs would never tell anyone exactly what he had seen. He couldn't believe what he had seen himself. He had always thought that Tim was such a gentleman. He never thought about Tim being like every other man, when it came to sex.
"Dad, Sarah helped me hide a hickey on my neck. I'm sure she knows that her son and I are intimate. We live together." Kelly said, tersely. Facts matter and she knew that her father respected facts.
"Jethro, just drop it." Sarah said softly, before looking to her son's girlfriend. "Kell, don't worry, I've got your back." Sarah had been playing, she hadn't seriously wanted to know what had gone on between her son and his girlfriend. As a young woman, Sarah knew what it was like to have a father who didn't respect privacy and had boundary issues. Her father would just barge in to their bedroom and shove his nose into her relationship, even when they were married and lived under his roof.
"If we are all done discussing my child's sex life, I'd like to order." Tobias snapped, trying to end that part of the conversation. He was all for a bit of fun, but this was borderline harassment. He wasn't one hundred percent sure that Kelly and Tim had genuinely put their argument to rest. Or if it was a façade for everyone else. His son still wore his hurt like a badge. He had seen it before and he recognised it once more. He was surprised that for as much as Gibbs claimed to be close to Tim, the MCRT team leader couldn't see Tim's hurt.
As their food came out, the conversation settled on various topics that didn't include anyone's sex life or surprisingly, sports. Tobias had remained quiet all through breakfast, as had Tim. The two men weren't brooding. Just both thinking deeply, about everything that had happened. Clearly Tim's deep thinking ability was a trait that he had inherited from his father, Tobias. But in that moment, at the diner, he could read his son's mind crystal clear, as if he'd been doing it for his son's whole life.
As everyone else made a move to pay for their meals and depart the diner, Tim and his father remained seated at the table. "That doesn't look good." Leon murmured, only low enough for Gibbs to hear him.
"Where's Tim?" Kelly asked, having paid for their meals, looking around. Seeing the father and son, looking like they were in the middle of an intense conversation screamed to her that something was wrong with her boyfriend.
"Leave them be, Kell." Gibbs warned his daughter. "Something is going on between them. Let them sort it out themselves."
"Talk to me, Tim." His father begged him. He'd held son back, from leaving, in hope that his son could and would open up to him. He was able to see just how much hurt he was carrying around still. No one else seemed to notice or care, as long as Kelly was OK. Yet his son, was hurt a hell of a lot more than anything else Abby had ever done to him. He was hurt by Abby's actions and he was hurt by the woman he loved, too. By her words and her running away. "You're still hurting."
"I am." he admitted to his father. There was no sense beating around the bush. His father could see it and it would insult both of their intelligence to deny it. Tim and his father had never just sat and talked one on one like this. The only time that Tobias had been that raw and honest with his son before was when his son was unconscious.
"That's OK, Tim. They both hurt you, you're allowed to be hurt." Tobias soothed his son, as he got out of the booth and moved around to sit beside his son. "I suspect that you hurt more than you let on. Kelly words cut you to the quick."
"How'd you know?" Tim asked, surprised that his father had understood what he was feeling and why. He barely understood it himself and he hadn't exactly been in a hurry to start another fight with Kelly. "Don't get me wrong, I love her, I am crazy about her, but ... "
"The Gibbses are heartless people, sometimes Tim. They don't do it intentionally, but they can be ruthless." Tobias told him. "Do you know how many times that Diane cried over something infuriating that Gibbs did to her while we were married? How I would always get the blame for his shitty actions?"
"That sounds like Diane." Tim told him firmly, sending him a wink. Tim had learned over the years, when he had crossed paths with his father's ex wife, to take her with a grain of salt. "Sounds like Gibbs, too."
"Part of loving someone is loving who they are, acknowledging their faults and communicating with them." Tobias advised his son, gently. "Opening up the lines of communications between you and your partner, it builds on the trust you already share. Not communicating, hiding your emotions, it breeds resentment and will kill your relationship, Tim. Your mother taught me that."
"I was always under the impression you sucked at relationships as much as Gibbs." he chuckled. Tim had been thinking of the volatile relationship his father shared with his ex-wife.
"Don't get me wrong, I love Emily and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world." Tobias began, noticing that everyone had now moved out of the diner and were congregating with to go coffees on the benches outside the diner. "I should have never married Diane, not when she was still so hung up on Gibbs as what she was. Dating Diane and being married to her, I forgot everything I had learnt being with your mom. I wanted to forget. I was heartbroken, I missed her and I was grieving you. We both made mistakes. I don't want to see you make the same mistakes I made, by holding onto the hurt and not communicating your pain to your partner. Know your own self worth, Tim."
Tim put his head in his hands and scrubbed at his face, in defeat. He knew it in his bones, his father was right. He needed to do better and that was on him. He wasn't protecting Kelly by holding his emotions in check. "You're right, Dad." Tim sighed.
Tobias thought that his heart would just burst with pride. He had never heard his son actually call him dad before, least to his face as a conscious effort. Sure, Tim had said it when he was out of it on meds in hospital, and he'd said it in autopsy when he had been severely injured. But he had never said it before, in everyday conversation like that before. He called Sarah, mom, a lot more often and it had been a slightly sore point with the FBI Agent. "C'mere." Tobias said, as he pulled his son into his embrace. "Talk to her, tell her how you feel. I promise you, you two are strong; you'll work through it. If you don't; then she's not the girl for you."
"Everything OK?" Sarah asked, as her son and her ex-husband turned lover joined them outside. "You and your dad seemed to be having a deep and meaningful conversation. Is everything OK?"
"Just peachy, Mom." Tim grinned at his mom, kissing her cheek, as he took Kelly's hand in his and bid everyone else a farewell with a wave.
"Miss Sciuto, you have the option to have a legal representative from your union present to represent you at this meeting. Would you like to engage their services?" Leon asked. They were in the conference room. This was a formal meeting. "I have asked Doctor Mallard to join us as an informal witness. Do you object?"
This meeting was one meeting that Leon Vance was holding by the book, one hundred percent. They all, individually and collectively had too much riding on this not to be held by the strictest protocol. Sarah Porter being the SecNav and Tim's mom, Leon being both Director and friends with Gibbs and Tim. Ducky having equal affection for Timothy, as he had for Abigail made him the best choice as an informal witness to the meeting. Gibbs was steering clear of this meeting and with good reason. he was far from impartial. It was he and his daughter, whom had suffered at the hands of Miss Sciuto. Not to mention that Gibbs feels like Timothy is a son to him. "No"
So to bear witness to this formal meeting between himself and Miss Sciuto, was Sharon Beals a representative of the NCIS Legal team, Lindsay Newfane from Human resources and Doctor Donald Mallard. Doctor Mallard would also be offering his professional opinion from his point of view after the meeting. "I need a verbal answer from you, Miss Sciuto. You have the option to have a legal representative from your union present to represent you at this meeting. Would you like to engage their services?"
"I didn't do anything that didn't need to be done. So no!" Abby declared with arrogance and vehemence. She was sure that she had not broken any laws and she couldn't be held accountable for her actions. It was her word against Kelly's and she was a trusted and well respected forensic scientist.
"Very well, please be aware that based on the answers you give you may be charged with a number of offences including the following falsifying evidence against our agents for your own personal gain, sharing classified information and multiple breeches of the Forensic Scientists of America code of ethics." Leon poke clearly and concisely. "Do you have anything to say in your defence about these charges before we begin?"
"Yes, I have decided I want a representative Abby grinned a look of Leon, one that gave him a slight chill. The last time a woman gave him a look like that she ended up murdering her entire family because, in her words, if she couldn't have them, then no one could. "I want Gibbs. If I don't get Gibbs. I will not co-operate and you can kiss your case goodbye."
"One, you're not entitled to have Agent Gibbs be present while you're interrogated, Miss Scuito." Sharon told her, succinctly. "Two; Agent Gibbs has washed his hands of you. Do you honestly think that he is going to choose you over his own flesh and blood?"
"Yes, the world would be such a better place if Kelly Gibbs never existed." She crowed. Ducky and Leon exchanged looks. Leon knew that look, Abigail Scuito was fast approaching needing a level of psychological care that could not be provided by simple counselling. "I'd still have my best friend. I'd still have Gibbs and maybe he would still care about me."
"You do realise that you're speaking about Jethro's child?" Ducky asked her. He was hoping to highlight the point of Jethro's trauma from losing his wife. Something that she had empathised with in the past. "She is his last remaining link to Shannon. To his beloved first wife."
"If she had of died with Shannon, when she was supposed to. Then he would be in here with me and not letting you all treat me like a common prisoner." Abby snapped and Ducky could scarcely believe his ears.
"Leon. It is my professional opinion that Abigail needs more help than we can provide her, here." Ducky stated, in his best medical opinion.
"Miss Beals, what are our legal options?" Vance asked, he too was beginning to worry for her mental state.
"We can apply for a section thirty-two with the courts. But that takes time. If we arrested her for the alleged crimes and she is found not guilty, there goes our bargaining tool. I think our best bet, is to arrest her and take her for a psychological evaluation and in the mean time I will get working on a section thirty-two. I have a friend in county court, I will see if he will put a rush on it."
"What is a section thirty-two?" Lindsay from HR asked. "I need to make sure that this doesn't violate her employment contract."
"A section thirty-two is gives the courts power to force the defendant from the criminal justice system into the mental health reform." Doctor Mallard spoke up. "It can only be granted by the courts if it is believed that the defendant was suffering from a mental health condition at the time of the offences being committed."
"May I recommend that we also moved for a section fourteen amendment on that whether or not our defendant is found guilty, the courts will order them to complete a treatment program." Sharon Beals suggested. "She is one of our own, and we do take care of our own. Whether it is in-house therapy, outpatient counselling, a rehabilitation therapy group therapy. It is clear that Miss Sciuto needs our help."
"I concur, Ms. Beals." Ducky grinned at part of being impartial, he couldn't recommend either course of actions, but he was relieved that Ms. Beals had the foresight to do so.
"Doctor Mallard, would you please make the arrangements?" Leon asked, seeing everyone nod in agreement.
"Are you going to tell me what you and my son discussed at the diner? When the two of you were sitting alone?" Sarah asked, as she sidled up next to Tobias and placed her arms around his neck and began placing kisses on his head and face.
"He is my son too, you know?" Tobias reminded his former wife turned current girlfriend. "So, I think not. But I will tell you this. He and Kelly don't have things as sorted out as her and Gibbs believe that they do. He's still smarting from her act of betrayal."
"Our poor boy." Sarah said, kissing Tobias' lips. Tobias kissed her back, passionately.
Breaking the kiss, he grinned at her with glee. "So, now he's our boy?" He jested at Sarah, playfully. "We have beautiful daughters and a handsome son. Want to try to even the team? Tim and I are outnumbered.
"I think that ship has already set sail, Toby. A long, long time ago." Sarah chuckled at him. "Ever heard of menopause?"
"We could practice." Tobias suggested, wagging his eyebrows at her. "Ever hear that practice makes perfect?"
"Who says romance is dead?!" She deadpanned, as Tobias scooped her up over his shoulder in a fireman carry and hurried down the hall, taking advantage of both girls being with their other parent.
"Everything OK, baby?" Kelly asked, as Tim unlocked the door to their apartment. Tim had been really quiet on their way back to their home, from the diner and truthfully, a quiet Tim worried her on occasion. And a quiet Tim, was what was worrying her today.
"Huh?" Tim asked, hearing Kelly speak but the words not registering in his head. He was still focusing on what his father had told him. "Sorry Kell, my mind was elsewhere.
"I asked if you were OK." Kelly repeated herself, just a little more terse than usual. It was unlike Tim not to listen to her or to get lost in his own little world, especially if he isn't preoccupied with work.
"We need to talk." Tim said, with a sigh. "I love you and I want to work this out with you."
"What is it, Tim?" Kelly asked, she could feel nervous energy burning in the pit of her stomach as it curled up into a ball and rolled around in there. She didn't like Tim's tone of voice, it sent alarm bells ringing in her head. "You're scaring me."
"We talked about how the fake photos and Abby's lies hurt you." Tim began, as he urged her to sit on the sofa and talk to him. "We spoke about how seeing the photos that Abby fabricated brought up bad memories for you, from your relationship with Ethan. I forgave you for running, but I was hurt by it. I still am, actually. You just jumped to the conclusion that I was automatically guilty. Like I could just do something like that."
"I thought those photos were real." Kelly confessed, trying hard not to get mad at Tim. She thought that this issue had been put to rest and now she learned that he's been hanging onto his anger. Right after he told her to let go of her own anger. "It's pretty hypocritical of you to still be angry at me, when you lectured me about letting go of my own anger."
"You're right, but you know what, you didn't have faith in me. You didn't trust me or give me a chance to defend myself." Tim growled at her, he could feel his own anger rising from within. "You just cut and ran and that was worse. To add insult to injury, you didn't just run, you didn't leave word of where you were heading, you just took off. Even if you didn't want to tell me, you should have told your dad. You didn't even believe in him, either. That hurt him and it hurt me, too."
"I couldn't face you." Kelly cried, tears beginning to fall down her face. "Don't you get it? I love you, I love you like I have never loved anyone else in the world. I was scared. Scared that what I saw might be true. Scared that my fear of being cheated on again was coming to fruition. I didn't want to believe that you were the kind of guy to cheat on me, but I saw the pictures. They didn't look fake."
"Abby's a world class forensic scientist, of course they didn't look fake." Tim argued, loudly. All he kept hearing was excuses. He was still waiting for an admission and an apology. "Why? What would make you think that I would do those things to another woman? That I would do them with Ellie. She is my teammate and your best friend. Hell, Kell, she's like a god-damn sister to me!"
"She's in your world, Tim. More than I ever will be." Kelly sobbed. "She's an agent and she knows and sees a part of you, that I will never get to. The agent persona. I am not apart of that and sometimes, I feel left out."
"Yes, you're not apart of that, but that is what I love about you." Tim smiled at her. "That's one of your best qualities. You look at the world and you think you can make it better. You don't see the horrors I see and you don't have the demons that I have lurking in my head from being an agent. Your goodness is the best part of you, Kell."
"I am sorry, Tim." Kelly cried softly. Throughout the argument, it had been a surreal feeling for Kelly, to see that Tim made no effort to touch her in any way, just as she had made no effort to comfort him. It was as if Tim had thrown a shield around his heart again. "I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to explain. I am sorry for believing Abby. I am sorry that I ran. But I did nothing wrong. I am not sorry I got scared. Fear is a part of what motivates us, it makes us human, having feelings. I won't apologise for having feelings."
"Neither will I and I need you to acknowledge that you handled it wrong." Tim said firmly, he was standing on his own two feet now and pacing. Kelly was crying and it was taking everything that Tim had in him, not to take her in his arms and soothe her tears. But he was still hurt.
"I reacted. Is there some kind of text book that tells you how you're supposed to react?" Kelly argued. She had stood up too, in an effort to go toe to toe with Tim.
"I need some space." Tim answered, letting out a harsh breath. "I'm going out. Think long and hard about how this all played out and why you think I feel hurt still."
Tim snatched up his wallet and keys. He still had the cell in his pocket from the trip home from the diner. Letting the door slam behind him, Kelly jumped at the reverberation sound that echoed through the apartment. Kelly sank to the floor and cried her heart out. Her and Tim had never had a fight like this before. An honest and raw fight. Even when they'd fought or had disagreements, Tim had always pulled his punches. But not this time, he hadn't held back and he'd let loose on her.
Kelly had been able to see the hurt and upset in his eyes, hear it in his voice and see it in his countenance. Last night, he had been the one, reassuring her that it would all be OK and that they needed to let go of their anger. Today, his anger had been palpable. Obviously, Tim had been letting it brew inside of him.
Making a decision, she grabbed Sharni and her handbag and headed for her car. This time she wasn't running, she was regrouping. She needed to get her head on straight and the only way to do that was to go and bear her soul, to her dad and get some fatherly advice. She wasn't sure where, but somewhere, she had screwed up.
The twenty minute trip to Alexandria felt like forever and Kelly couldn't believe how relieved she was to be at her father's house. Jethro looked up from his spot on the sofa, when he heard and saw his daughter enter his home. "Kell?" he asked, concerned. He had seen the unshed tears in her lie in her eyes. "What's the matter?" Gibbs pat the sofa beside him, urging her to come and sit.
"Oh Dad, we had a huge fight over this mess with Abby and the fake photos." Kelly sobbed, before telling him the whole story including how Tim was and how he felt that Kelly hadn't believed in them or in him.
"Well, yeah darling, Tim was a mess." Gibbs chuckled at her. "That man loves you so much, you're all he thinks about. You know in that undercover op, I'd watch him. He didn't really rest, sure he closed his eyes and he did sleep, sometimes. But he never slept soundly. Always reaching out for you, or mumbling your name. When he came home and saw that you were gone. He was hurt and upset. When he read that letter, those hurtful things you said, that broke him."
"But he said, everything was going to be OK." She argued through his tears. "That we were OK." She hiccupped.
"You will be OK." Gibbs reiterated. "But an apology goes a long way for a broken heart, Kell. You broke his heart. Why don't you go home and tell how sorry you are."
"He's not there. He said that he needed some space." Kelly cried harder and her dad pulled her closer to him.
"So, you came here." Gibbs surmised. "I hope you're not still running. You know, I think you ran because you were scared. Not about the photos, about what they contained. You were scared that Tim has the power to destroy you. Even when you were with Ethan, you always held a little bit of yourself back. But with Tim, you've been so open and trusting. Tim's opened your eyes and your heart up, wider than its ever been opened before. He loves you so wholly and so fiercely. Just as you love him, maybe more than you've loved another human being before. Even me and your mom, and that's OK. You both have great power, to hurt one another. You need the learn to trust one another not hurt each other."
"Tim still trusts me. He made that clear, I think." Kelly hastily wiped furiously at her eyes. "You're right though, I got scared. Scared that Tim was really was unfaithful to me. Scared of going through that pain again. I barely survived the first time."
"Tim's not Ethan. Remember when you swore off men?" Gibbs asked his daughter, kissing her hairline.
"You told me that my next love story was probably going to be the best love story of my life." Kelly recollected. "Did you know that I was going to meet Tim? That I was going to immediately feel something for him. That instant attraction and connection."
"No, I think it was... Something else, that day." Gibbs smiled at her. "You're an amazing woman, Kell. I knew that one day, some poor guy would look at you and see his whole world brighten up. I never imagined that it would be Tim... OK, I I always thought that Tim would potentially be a good match for you, but I didn't want to introduce you two, for that reason. But right over there, where the two of you first met. When you two shook hands, I saw that spark and not every love story gets a spark. So go get him back, Kell."
"I don't even know where he went." She cried harder and Gibbs wiped those tears away. Gibbs knew where he went when he needed to think. But he didn't want to break Tim's confidence and tell her. She'd go romping in there, guns ablaze and it would cause more problems between the young lovers and between Tim and himself.
"I do." he grinned at her. "Why don't you go on home and I'll see if he's OK. I'll send him on home to you, Kell." Kelly called her dog and gathered her dropped bags off the living room floor. A sock-clad Jethro Gibbs was holding her close to her side and comforting his daughter. "Everything is going to be OK."
Gibbs opened the door and Tim was waiting on the front swing for her. "Kell?" he asked, surprised to see her leaving so soon. He had been planning on coming to Gibbs and he saw her pull into the drive. So he parked in Mrs. Hill 's driveway and walked over to wait for her. He didn't want to intrude on her and her father.
"Tim?" she asked, surprised to see him on the front swing. She wordlessly joined him and Gibbs threw them both a grin, knowing that they'd be OK. He gave them a wave and closed the door behind them, leaving the lovers on his front porch to sort out their feelings.