Scandal 22 - EPILOGUE pt2

While Tim and Nate were gone, everyone was talking amongst themselves. Tony pulled Vance into a conversation about basketball and how the Wizards game had gone last night. Both men avid basketball fans. Sarah and Ziva were discussing a mutual friend of theirs from the Israeli embassy and Ziva was recalling a story about their friend. Andrew and Gibbs sitting in silence.

When Gibbs got up to refresh his coffee, Andrew followed him over to the credenza and held out his mug for a refill. "It really is an honor to meet you, Gibbs." Andrew told him sincerely. "Your reputation proceeds you."

"You, too." Gibbs gave him a small grin. Gibbs wasn't very political. he didn't belong to a political party, and they were his second least favourite type of people - lawyers being his least favourite.

"This is wild, right?" Andrew asked him in a mutter, after a moment of silence. It was muttered in a way that made Gibbs think that the question had escaped the President's lips before he could think about it. "It's not just me, right? I had no idea at all, and Nate hid it from me, from all of us."

"I didn't know about them, either. Per se." Gibbs mused out loud. Taking a look at Andrew and his concern for his son. It was written plain and clear. "I knew Tim was seeing someone. But I didn't know who. I knew they were important, and I was almost certain it was a man. That is all I knew. Don't feel bad, I am trained to look for the smallest clue."

"They love each other, Gibbs." Andrew stated. It wasn't a question, but a statement and Gibbs didn't respond. he did nod his head at the leader of the free world. "Gibbs, I want you to know that even though John McGee and I go back to our childhood days; he and I do not share the same views. Especially on LGBT issues. Tim is safe with us. He is accepted and I am in sure, that in time he will be a loved member of our family."

"I-" Andrew interrupted him.

"I can see how worried you are. Anyone who has a team like yours would be concerned about the wellbeing of the agents under his command." Andrew smiled at him. "Nate might have casually mentioned how you were protective of Tim and the antics of Tim's teammates when he came to pick up Tim last night."

"They are good together." Gibbs told him. The feeling of the conversation had somewhat shifted, and Gibbs was beginning to feel like the conversation was a father to father one. "I got a small insight into the two of them when I was on the protection detail for Tim."

"Nate's Secret service agents said they have a place together." Andrew said conspiratorially at Gibbs. "I honestly can't see my son being all domestic with yard work and the like."

He hadn't wanted to intrude; after all, it was his subordinate's private home. Deciding to venture out, he could smell the coffee wafting down the stairs, as he made his way up. He stopped in the doorway and couldn't help but smile at the sight he was greeted with. Tim was perched on the countertop, legs spread wide open, cradling Nate's body between them, as they shared steaming hot cup of coffee between them. "Mornin', Gibbs," Tim greeted him, without looking toward the doorway. Gibbs grinned at the couple in reply, as Nate pulled back from Tim slightly. Both men were dressed in soft, jersey cotton pyjama bottoms and plain coloured tees. Tim in a heather grey and Nate in a black tee. Tim pointed to the cupboard where they kept their clean coffee mugs wordlessly, and the two men continued sharing the mug of coffee between them but keeping a much more respectable distance between them. When Gibbs had finished pouring his coffee, he turned to look at the couple, scrutinizing them carefully. The shared moment between the lovers seemed intimate and Gibbs was determined to give them some privacy.

"Don't let me intrude." He said to them softly, smiling as he took his mug and headed into the living room to pick up a copy of the emails and his reading glasses. He had left them there last night and he had intended to return to the Comms room.

Gibbs could imagine it though. The image of Tim and Nate, all cozy in domestic in the kitchen of their beach house.

Last night, he had heard the car pull up in the drive and no one had opened a door. Looking out the window, he confirmed it was Nathan dropping Tim back by the federal plates on the car. Heading out to the car, he was met by one of the secret service agents who followed Nathan everywhere. Knocking on the back window from the outside of the car, he startled them inside. He assumed he had at least, he heard the movement of bodies and assumed one of them were moving back onto the other side of the car. Their chests were heaving, their breaths panting hard. Both men wiping their mouths with the back of their hands.

In an amused voice Gibbs had let out in the night air. "Down the hall and first room on the right. There's a bed in there you two could be doing that in." He wasn't expecting a reply and was set to leave when the window rolled down.

Without thinking about how he looked, Tim pressed the button to roll down the window. "What exactly is it you think we're doing in here?" The thing was, Tim asked Gibbs with an innocuous look. However, Gibbs had managed to refrain on commenting, swallowing down his sarcastic wit. Tim looked thoroughly debauched. Plush pink lips, bitten and swollen. His previously perfect hair all disheveled and messed up. Nathan wasn't much better; his curls were a riot. His neck red and abrased. His lips also plump and he found himself not quite being able to meet Gibbs' eyeline.

"Not a damn thing, McGee." Gibbs tried as hard as he could not to tease Tim. "Just makin' an observation. You two comin' into the house anytime soon? There's a bed there and it's warmer than the car."

"Gibbs?" Andrew prompted him again. "What is it?"

"Tim. Once he gets comfortable around you all, when you really get to know him. You're going to love him." Gibbs admitted softly. For the first time since the very first time, he had ever felt a paternal feeling for Timothy McGee, Gibbs wondered what his role in Tim's future would look like.

"He's like a son to you, isn't he?" Andrew guessed. There was a look on fondness on the aging agent's face. Andrew recognised it as a look he had seen on his own face over time. It was the look of wondering where one fitted into their child's future. He had had it when Jess had graduated. When Nathan had graduated. When Jess brought home her first love and last night when Nate brought Tim home. Gibbs didn't answer, but nonetheless Andrew gave him a nod and a certain look. Andrew knew. "Right, professionalism. Can I give you some advice, Gibbs? Tell them more often. Tell them when they are good as well as when they mess up. Kids need praise and need to feel a sense of belonging, just as much as they need rules and discipline when they screw up."

The reappearance of Nathan and Tim into the meeting room effectively ended the conversation between Gibbs and the President. Gibbs refilled his mug once more, before returning to his seat.

As soon as Tony saw Nate and Tim reappear, he excused himself from the Director, SECNAV and Ziva and snagged Tim away from Nate. The Tim that had come in didn't look like the same Tim that he had seen before his date last night. "You good?" He asked his JFA. "Fornell's not here, yet."

"Yeah Tony, it's only Fornell. You?" Tim asked. That was so much like the Tim he had known for all of these years. The Tim that always cared more about everyone around him than himself.

"Always." Tony retorted in jest and Tim and Tony took their seats back at the conference room table. This time Tony moved into the seat on the other side of Tim. "Oh, and you know Fornell has your back too."

FBI agent Tobias Fornell finally arrived and entered the room. Sarah Porter quickly introduced Tobias to the President and the Senator. He greeted everyone, accordingly, shaking the hands of Andrew, Nathan, Leon and Gibbs. He nodded to Ziva and Tony, giving Tim a small pat on the shoulder in support as he passed him to find his seat. "As a gesture of good faith to our counterparts at the FBI, we brought in Agent Fornell to oversee both investigations. The investigation into the leak of the emails, as well as the investigation into who shot up Gibbs' house." Leon Vance began, as he stood before those assembled in the conference room. "Tobias?"

"Thank you, Director." Tobias said, taking Leon's spot at the front of the room. He surveyed the room with his eyes, as he introduced himself. Mostly for the benefit of the President, Senator and to SECNAV, somewhat. He tried not to let his eyes linger on Agent McGee and the Senator. As part of his role as the team leader of the investigation, he had read the emails too. Despite the email leak, Tobias didn't hold it against Tim. "Let's start with the shooting up of the front of Agent Gibbs' home. Alongside Agent Balboa and his team, we were able to determine that the shots came from an Armalite AR-15 rifle, made exclusively for the United States military. Given the people in the house at the time, we divided it into three possibilities. Agent Gibbs, Agent McGee and Agent Mark Roberts. We eliminated the Secret Service agent quickly. We looked into Gibbs and McGee and all credible threats against them. Our cyber team, alongside the NCIS cyber team combed through threats but one in particular stood out.

The person who made the threat was called in for questioning and upon a positive GSR test, was charged with multiple charges including attempted murder. Madam Secretary, I believe he has since been stripped of his rank and title. Is that correct? I am sorry to inform you, Tim, that person was Admiral John McGee."

No one said anything. The room was silent. Tim could feel everyone's eyes on Tim. Nate's tangled his fingers with Tim's tighter and gave three short squeezes. Their code for I love you when words cannot be spoken. Tony squeezed Tim's shoulder. Tim felt like Tony had been stepping up in his determination to be more of a brother of late and he was grateful for the effort.

"Homophobic bastard." Andrew seethed. It was low enough that Tim could hear it. It deflected some of the room's attention away from Tim onto him. "I'm not sorry, I said it, but I am sorry Tim. I've known Admiral McGee since we were kids, and I am afraid to say there is very little about the man I agree with."

Gibbs and Leon sent Andrew a thankful look. They too thought very little of Tim's father. Especially after his show of bravado he put on at the Navy Yard. But now it all made sense, why he had come to the Navy Yard in the first place. He and his sniveling adjutant had come in a two-fold hope of snooping around to see what progress they were making on the case. John McGee had not been afraid to throw his rank around that day, either.

"Onto the hacking," Tobias sighed. He and Agent Balboa had been the ones to sit there and read through the entire email bundle of what had been leaked. They had hated every minute of deep diving into the most intimate and personal emails of a colleague. Someone who could be a friend. Someone who they both had immense respect for. "Both NCIS and FBI Cyber teams, with the cooperation of both of your offices and the Secret service, we managed to back trace the original source of the leak. Agent McGee could probably explain exactly how they did it a hell of a lot better than me. But the fact of the matter is, we backtraced it to the civilian desk over at the DOD in the Cryptology department. When we spoke with who was logged in at the desk when the emails were leaked and they confessed that they leaked the emails. That was Sam Ericson.

Running his phones, banking and socials led us to Kyle Rigby. Unfortunately, Mr Rigby has been less than cooperative with us. Repeatedly trying to use the excuse of 'national security' with us. It wasn't easy to get a judge to sign the warrant for it. But we struck paydirt when we managed to get a warrant from a low level federal judge Jake Ristevski, for everything pertaining to Rigby. We found a backlog of email correspondence between Gawn and Rigby, planning the leak. We even found a trail of emails between Gawn and Wyatt. He found out what gawn and Rigby were up to and he wanted a piece of the pie. Only Gawn was getting cold feet and having second thoughts, so he went to Rigby and offered him a deal. Wyatt undercut Gawn and went to air prematurely."

"And Bob O'Hara? How is he connected?" Andrew asked. He really could scarcely believe these men, men he and his son had trusted, had behaved in such a cold way.

"O'Hara was the money man, he was looking for retribution." Fornell admitted to Andrew. "It had nothing to do with you, or with Senator Taylor. It had to do with a grudge between the former Admiral Nelson McGee and Bob's father. Something that went back more than twenty years before Senator Taylor and Agent McGee were born. He said he saw McGee at the drug store by his home in Silver Spring, one afternoon, approximately six years ago and he purchased some items that caught his eye. When the purchase was complete, he watched McGee stow them in his bag and head out to his car. That was when he admitted that he followed McGee back to his apartment and saw him go upstairs. Said he saw a man leave just before dawn the following day, but didn't get a look at him. He couldn't identify him. Just that it was definitely male. Bob O'Hara claimed he had no idea that it was Senator Taylor was McGee's boyfriend, until four months ago when he was digging into property records in the Sandy Point National Park area. Said that was where he hit the motherload. Whatever that's supposed to mean."

"It means that whatever he found when he was looking into in the Sandy Point National Park area made him decide that paying people to leak emails and out not one, but two men was a great use of his time and money." Tony told Tobias, factually and laced with sarcasm. "Is that where your little love shack is?"

"Agent DiNozzo." Nathan used in his best Congress voice. "Whatever Bob found in the Sandy Point National Park area is Bob's business."

"Can we get back to the part where O'Hara paid Rigby and Ericson to get their hands on their emails?" Gibbs asked in a huff. "Because, I recall that those two had known about your relationship from almost the very beginning. Why did they decide to out their friends?"

"I asked them that, in interrogation." Tobias recalled, looking at McGee and the Senator closely. "Ericson's motive was jealousy. he wanted McGee and McGee had rebuffed him. Told him he wasn't interested in men. Only to come out as Taylor's boyfriend a year later. Rigby's motives we believe was money. He was planning to blackmail Taylor at first, until he discovered that the Taylor family fortune is tied up in trusts and cannot be touched while Andrew Taylor is president."

"Money, the root of all fucking evil." Tony muttered to Tim. It was loud enough that Gibbs smirked from his own seat across from Tim and Ziva snickered from the seat next to him. Nate nodded, acknowledging he had heard the Italian lothario agent, as well.

"Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position. - Christopher Marlow." Nathan muttered to Tim and the two men had a small chuckle. At the enquiring looks, Nathan composed himself. "I apologise, inside joke between the two of us. Go on."

"Hey, Tobias." Gibbs interjected. He had been remunerating on what name Tobias had said. "What was the name of that judge again?"

"Ristevski." Tobias replied with a confused look on his face.

"Damn, McGee." Gibbs smirked.

"Well, I guess we're even now, Gibbs." Tim smirked at his boss. Tony and Ziva were confused, as well as Vance.

"Are you going to share with the rest of the class there, McGoo." Tony jested, reverting back to one of his silly nicknames for Tim. But unlike previously when it would come off as a mocking tone, this time it was said with warmth and affection. Just a tad of brotherly charm, as well."

"In McGee's fourth or fifth time he was TAD to our team, before I had all but begged Jarvis to assign him to me, McGee and I were at JAG for a meeting." Gibbs explained. "When Mac come in complaining about the technophobe lawyer, she was working with who had managed to delete all of our depositions that we had spent the two previous days giving them. In comes McGee and his computer skills. He managed to save the day and retrieve the lost files."

"The technophobe lawyer in question was Lieutenant Jake Ristevski, JAG prosecutor." Tim smiled.

Back down in the squad room, Tony, Tim and Ziva were at their desks. It had been a long day, and it was only Monday. While Tony and Ziva were gearing up to go home, Tim was at his desk. He wanted to catch Nate, when he came out of a second meeting with his father, Gibbs, Fornell, Vance and SecNav.

"Long day." Ziva said coming over and perching herself atop Tim's desk in the sisterly way that she always had. Seeing her do it, always made Tim smile and melancholic. Kate used to do the same thing, when they were working alone in the bullpen, late at night. "Are you ok, McGee?"

"Fine, Zee." He smiled at her. She knew he was most likely not fine, but now was not the time to call him out on it. "Go on, I'll see you tomorrow."

"We'll be at the bar, Tim." Tony told him, coming over to invite Tim to join them. "If you want to join us. Maybe celebrate or commiserate. We're grabbing dinner there too. You and Nate should join us."

Tim shook his head and told them to go on without them.

"I think I want to come out, Nate." Tim told Nate, in the elevator when Nate told Tim about his crazy idea of giving up their place in Silver Spring and his 'for show' apartment in Dupont Circle and getting a place together. "Maybe not a huge press to do, like you do. But maybe not hide it. I want you to meet Penny, and maybe even Sarah, if she wants to speak to me. Maybe even be seen in public together. If people work out, I am your mystery boyfriend from the emails, then they do. I am not ashamed of us. I never have been. Just scared as hell. But you know something I never realised before; I am not alone. I have Gibbs, and Tony, and Ziva. Ducky, Jimmy and Abby. They're all in my corner. Even if Sarah and Penny end up hating me, I will be ok because I have my NCIS family. And most of all, I have you."

"Tim, you can't say that to me." Nate sighed, frustrated. "You can't just say things like that. Things that want to make me kiss that saucy grin off your face in a government building, you minx."

"What do you think?" Tim grinned harder at him.

"What do I think?" He repeated Tim with pure happiness written on his face and in his voice. "One thing's for sure, life's not going to be dull. Do you really want to start coming out? I don't want you to feel pressured."

"I really do. I am done hiding who I am." Nate hauled Tim up and kissed him, leaning him against the railing on the steel walls of the elevator. "I love you." Tim moaned into Nate's mouth and Nate nipped at that bottom lip of his that drove him crazy.

"I love you too. Maybe we can re-discuss my other suggestion." Nathan Taylor grinned, pulling himself off Tim's lips. Reluctant. Very reluctantly.

"We'll see."

"Ah, Timothy." Ducky crooned, as he reached their bullpen, startling Tim out of his reverie. "I am glad I managed to catch you. I saw Ziva and Tony leaving via the loading dock on my way up to see you and I feared I had missed you once again. I just wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing, my lad? Last time we spoke, things weren't that crash hot."

"I am ok, I think, Duck." Tim smiled at the elderly, Scottish ME. "There's a sort of closure feeling around it all. The players are all caught and will have their day in court, and I still have Nate."

Ducky often reminded him of his grandfather Nelson McGee. His grandfather was kind and caring, he too had a slight Celtic lilt in his voice. Ducky spoke fluent Gaelic, there were some phrases he would speak that Tim could translate. 'Mo ghille ghràdhach' was a common phrase he would use when addressing him. It was something that Nelson used to call him, when he was younger. Ducky had taken to calling Tim that when he was upset. My dear boy.

"I am yet to meet the man." Ducky smiled at Tim. He and Ducky had always shared a softer friendship than what Ducky had shared with Tony, Ziva and even Kate. It was familial. Much like the relationship he shared with his ME assistant Jimmy. "But if he is worthy of your love, then he must be truly wonderful."

"He is, Ducky." Tim returned Ducky's grin. "Nathan is amazing. He is a wonderful man, and I am very lucky to have him in my life."

"I hope you're talking about me." The man of the moment said, coming from the back staircase, just as Ducky had. Seeing Ducky up close, Nathan instantly knew who the man was. Tim had described their wonderful doctor as a man with a heart of gold and kind eyes. Those kind eyes were reflected back at him right now. "Forgive the intrusion, Doctor Mallard. I am Nathan Taylor, I've heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you."

Nathan outstretched his hand to Ducky. "The pleasure is all mine, truly. Please call me, Ducky." Ducky said enthusiastically, shaking the offered hand. "It is wonderful to finally meet you. Please allow me to pass on my condolences, to both of you on the loss of your privacy at the hands of the media. It is disrespectful behaviour and something truly hurtful, I imagine. I want you both to know, I have not read your emails. I do not wish to read them, and I would refuse any offer to read them. I know some people had to read them for the investigation and really didn't want to, but please be assured those genuine people have your backs. They will not discuss what they read."

"Thank you, Ducky." Nathan said, genuinely. "No matter how much we try, we cannot one hundred percent purge them from the internet. They're always going to be out there. We may have lost our words, but we still have each other."

Nathan reached out and offered Tim his hand. Tim had never taken his hand in public before. Tim did it without thinking and sent Nate a coy smile. He had promised Nate he was going to stop hiding and this was the first step in making good of his words. "I would be truly delighted if the two of you would join me for dinner. Is tomorrow night, ok?"

"Tomorrow night's fine, Ducky." Nathan replied, checking in with Tim non-verbally first. "But for now, Tim and I have plans."

"We do?" Tim asked, surprised. He couldn't recall Nathan mentioning any plans and he knew he hadn't made any of his own.

"We do," Nathan whispered. "There is a bottle of chianti waiting for us at my place and an order of your favourite Italian food to go with it. Come on, Darling."

Tim blushed; he couldn't help it. Nate usually only called him baby, and that was either in his emails or in the privacy of the bedroom. The few rare times he had called Tim, Darling; it had always made him blush. He had never used a pet name in public before. "What are you two still doing here?" Gibbs asked, rounding the corner and interrupting. "Get out of here."

Quick murmurs of good night wishes were shared before Tim and Nathan departed the bullpen, animatedly chatting. "They really are a sweet couple, aren't they?" Ducky asked his friend.

"Nathan's a good man and I think once this blows over, they're going to be very happy together."

THREE MONTHS LATER

"Did you get the strangest text from McGee?" Leon asked Gibbs, hovering over his desk late on a Friday afternoon. Tim had been out all week. On vacation days, while he and Nate had moved into their new home. Gibbs had gone with them, as a third set of eyes when they had been on the house hunt for a new place. "Dinner invite with a dress code.

The press had managed to work out who Tim was, based on Nathan and Tim being seen out and about together at dinner. On dates, bar nights with the team and at political events for Nathan. Photos of the two of them would randomly pop up from time to time in the society pages, but the attention quickly died off when a Senator for Iowa was caught in a police raid of a brothel. He had been naked, with two prostitutes and three lines of cocaine. It had blown up on an enormous scale, unlike anything. Even Nathan and Tim's emails being leaked.

"I did." Gibbs confirmed, looking up at Leon. "I'll be there." Various choruses of 'me too' could be heard from Ziva and Tony too. "Duck said he and Jimmy got the text too, Fornell too. I guess we will all find out tonight."

Later that evening, found them all on the leafy street of Washington DC. They could see that there was Secret Service posted by the door. Mark and Phil recognised the NCIS team and waved them onto the property, as black town car pulled up and three very recognisable people joined them all. "Any idea why we're here?" Andrew asked Gibbs, as he sidled up beside him.

Gibbs knew that Tim and Nathan had purchased the house. Gibbs had even been inside; but he had been sworn to secrecy. The house was a rare bay-front brownstone facade, grey rendering on the facade and four full stories tall. Ringing the doorbell, Nathan answered the door, dressed casually in tailored black dress pants, a white tee that was practically skintight and a black blazer. "Come in" Nate greeted them all warmly. The door to the townhouse was oak and wide, to offset the grey rendering and strangely; it worked. They all stepped inside and immediately Tony let out a low whistle. he knew his condo was nice, but this was next level again. "Tim's just finishing up something important, he won't be long. But welcome to our new home."

Enthusiastic congratulations were shared from all of the congregated. Just as Tim came into the room with Penny in tow. Ducky and Penny exchanged a kiss on the cheek and low greetings, before she warmly greeted Gibbs, Tony and Ziva as well. She was just as warm and loving as they all remembered. She soon recognised Nathan's sister, Jess and the two women shared a hug and mumblings of how excited they were that the boys are together.

Nate and Tim offered everyone a tour, and everyone graciously accepted. It was a beautiful home spread out over three large levels. It had four bedrooms, four and a half baths, and three separate living and lounge zones. Plus, a bonus lower level with two separate entrances. "This is the bonus level. We are currently using it for the secret service." Nathan told them, as they ventured down the main staircase and into the finished area. It had a living area and kitchenette with a full bath and two bedrooms down the hallway. By the lower entrance to the home was a small security hub, including a screen with the CCTV of the outside perimeter of their home.

Back upstairs on the main floor, Tim led them into the kitchen living and dining area. "Ooh," Ziva and May equally cooed, seeing the kitchen and that luxurious 900mm oven. Nate took the rest of them upstairs, while Tim stayed downstairs and checked on the food. Upstairs on the second level, Nate showed them their guest room was and pointed down the hallway. "That's our room, and no Tony, you cannot look in there." Nathan grinned cheekily. He and Tony had gotten to know one another fairly well and Nathan had quickly learnt that Tony DiNozzo was nosey and a cheeky monkey.

Up on the third level, it opened up to a cozy sitting room and indicated that the room to the left was Tim's office and the room to the right was Nate's office. Continuing up the stairs there was a lux window that opened up to allow rooftop access to a deck. Nate and Tim had fitted their deck with a louvre roof system that automatically opens and closes based on the weather. As well strands of festival lights, some potted plants and a small grill, outdoor living area and a wet bar with a view of the 360-degree view of the city skyline. "This is a beautiful home, Nate." His sister told him, as they made their way back downstairs.

In the living room on the main level, there were large bifold doors that opened up onto a small covered rear porch and out into a smallish, lower stone patio courtyard. At the end of the courtyard, was a separate detached double car garage and a sublevel workshop and storage. Looking up, you can see that the master bedroom has a small, covered balcony, much the patio that led them down to the courtyard.

Everyone appropriately cooed over the house. Ducky, Fornell and Andrew exchanged looks, concerned that perhaps the men had overstretched their budget. Gibbs caught the concerned looks and chuckled lightly. "Surprisingly, Tim is a good negotiator."

"Tim could negotiate the pants off a nun." Nate laughed, joining in the conversation. They were all headed back into the main living room. As he came in and closed the door, he went and joined Tim in the business side of the kitchen.

"Before we eat, we have a little announcement to make." Tim said, as he and Nate were offering up drinks to everyone. Once everyone had a drink, Tim slipped his free hand in Nathan's and grinned at his boyfriend. "While you're all here for dinner and dinner is ready, we're keeping it ready because with you all here ..."

"We're going to get married." Nathan finished for him. "Right now. Ducky?"

"Let's go into the living room and get this show on the road." Ducky beamed at everyone. He had known about it for over a week and had been sworn to secrecy. Tim knew Ducky had been ordained when he was the officiant of Nina from HR and Michael from the Eastern European desk. Tim had been one of the only people from the agency invited to the wedding last spring, where Ducky had been the officiant.

"Dad?" Nathan asked, tossing Andrew the ring box.

Tim repeated the question and motion to Gibbs as they all headed into the living room. Tim and Nate had chosen to say their vows by the bayfront window. Furniture had been moved against the walls and folding chairs had been set up by Tim and one of the Secret Service agents while Nathan had been showing them around outside.

"Dearly beloved," Ducky began as Tim and Nate locked eyes as they declared their love for one another.

THE END