emerald_green37 | Catalyst 6/?

Two weeks of cold cases and daily sessions at 'Gibbs' Gym' had the three of them praying for a new case, so they anxiously waited while Gibbs was called upstairs.

"Grab your toothbrushes, we're hitting the road." Gibbs came down and went to his desk. "McGee, it's a little town called Milford, Delaware. Figure out how in the heck we get there."

"I already know how to get there, Boss." He laughed and shook his head as he looked over at Tony.

Tony was baffled for a moment, then remembered a conversation over beer and pizza one night. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Told you it was going to happen someday. Guess someday is today."

Gibbs was glaring at the two of them. "Would you like to share with the rest of the class?"

"I, umm, I own a place right outside of Milford."

The eyebrow went up, but Gibbs seemed to take it in stride. "Good, we don't need a motel, then."

"Boss..."

McGee shook his head, a resigned look on his face. "It's okay, Tony."

The four of them scattered, preparing to leave, and Gibbs cornered his senior agent. "Is there a problem, DiNozzo?"

Two weeks ago, Tony realized that something he'd done had caused much more damage that he ever dreamed possible to his friend and he'd made a personal vow to watch out for the younger man better. "Gibbs, think about it. McGee bought a vacation house and kept it a secret from all of us for years. It's his place to escape all the crap that comes with the job. Maybe he should have had the right to invite us to stay there, or even – I don't know – keep his private place private?"

With Tony's admonishment still ringing in his ears, Gibbs next sought out McGee, biting back the urge to touch the other man's face and pull him close. Instead, Gibbs stood in front of him, blocking his path. "If you don't want us underfoot, just say so. There's got to be a motel around there someplace."

"There's a couple of motels, but this week an antique festival is going on so I know they're all booked." He shrugged and gave a half grin. "Just don't let Ziva start rearranging my stuff and we'll manage."

"Fair enough." Gibbs watched McGee walk away, noticing the sway of his ass and his long limbs.

---NCIS---

McGee was behind the wheel of the sedan, since he knew the way, and Gibbs followed behind with the van. They made good time, arriving mid-afternoon. There had been no further leads about the missing lieutenant whose car had been found abandoned in the woods the day before. After spending several hours going over the car, Gibbs checked in with the local sheriff then McGee drove them to his secret home.

Tony and now Gibbs knew how important this was as they looked around. Traffic was almost non-existent this far outside of town and it was easy to follow the sedan. McGee turned onto an unmarked road several miles past the last major intersection. They passed several small homes before the road turned into a narrow dirt lane. Past the view of any of the other houses they came to a small bungalow, similar to what was built in the lowlands of the deep South. Small, only one and a half stories, with a covered porch across the entire front, the quaint place was a surprise to McGee's teammates. The sedan was parked in the carport and Gibbs pulled the MCRT van up next to it.

Tim led them up onto the porch and unlocked the door. Gibbs looked around, approving of the secure deadbolts and window locks that kept the house secure when Tim was back in DC. Once inside, McGee gave them the tour. The front door opened to a living and dining room that spanned the full front of the house with a wood stove tucked in the corner. The kitchen was small but the appliances were full sized, even the dishwasher. As they walked towards the back of the house, past the stairs, Tim pointed out the laundry facilities to the right of the hall and the compact bathroom to the left.

"There's two bedrooms down here. I turned one into a study but there's a futon somebody can sleep on."

They all peeked in, seeing the futon just past a familiar writing desk and typewriter. Next they followed McGee into the other bedroom. It was slightly larger with its own bathroom. Plain pine furniture filled the room, a blue and white quilt on the full sized bed. "This used to be the master bedroom."

"Used to be?"

Tim had to smile at Tony's attempt to tone down his curiosity. "The previous owners had the upstairs as a bunk room for all of their grandkids. Once all the bunk beds were gone, it was pretty big so I made it into my bedroom." He didn't offer to show it to them as they returned to the living room and McGee started loading the wood stove with kindling. "The sofa makes out into a bed and there's extra bedding in the closet. I'll let you guys fight out who gets which bed down here."

Kindling ablaze, McGee went out the kitchen door to bring in more wood. Gibbs tossed his bag on the sofa, claiming it for himself. "Shortest one here gets the futon, Ziva."

Tony was surprised that Gibbs didn't automatically take the bedroom, but glad to not be fighting the ninja for a bed and grinned. "Guess that leaves me the real bedroom." He passed Tim in the hall as the other man brought in an armload of chopped wood. Tim dumped the wood in the box next to the wood stove and retreated to the office, gathering some papers and checking the locks on the desk drawers.

Ziva didn't notice as she checked out the supplies in the kitchen. "McGee, the food in the refrigerator is fresh."

"Yeah, Ziva, I'm out here every time we have a day off." Tim opened the door under the U-shaped stairs, revealing a pantry. "I keep it pretty well stocked. Most weeks I just have to pick up milk."

Gibbs watched Ziva's eyes light up. "Keep track of everything you use, Ziva, so the Agency can reimburse McGee."

"Of course, Gibbs." Ziva was already pulling out dry pasta and the makings for sauce.

Tim reached over her and unlocked a metal box mounted high on the wall of the pantry. Once it was open, he flipped several switches. He turned to see three curious faces staring at him. "No TV, but I do have satellite for internet and to boost our cell signal. I'll have us linked in with MTAC in a few minutes."

Gibbs checked his phone, watching as the weak signal gained strength, before patting Tim's back. "You're a handy man to have around, McGee."

After the fire was going strong in the wood stove and the link to MTAC established, Gibbs went into town to meet with the search parties that were reporting in. A laptop had been recovered from the car, but the computer was damaged so McGee went with him for parts.

While they were gone, Tony had been tasked with setting up the porch furniture that was stored in the shed. When he came back in the house, Ziva was nowhere to be seen. Assuming she was in the bathroom, he went into the kitchen to peek at what she was cooking when he heard a creak over his head. He crept up the stairs to find her snooping around the large bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped, but covered it by spinning around. "Admit it, you are curious, too."

"Not enough to betray his confidence." Even as he spoke, Tony took a quick glance around, taking in the large, king sized bed tucked under the left side dormer, the window seat in the front dormer, the seating area and the French doors that opened out to a small balcony on the right hand side. Several doors were at the other end of the room which he assumed led to a bathroom and storage. Taking Ziva's arm he marched her downstairs.

"Tony, what is your problem? I was not hurting anything by looking."

"McGee has this retreat to get away from all the crap we deal with on the job, Ziva. Just by being here, we're violating the sanctity of the place."

Ziva crossed her arms as she stared at him. "Violating? That is rather melodramatic, Tony. Especially coming from you."

"Yeah, I know I have a history of being a little nosy sometimes." He ignored her snort. "Look, I think I did something to kinda hurt him a while ago and I'm trying to pay more attention to what's really important to him, okay?"

Realizing that she was talking to the rarely seen serious DiNozzo, Ziva laid her hand on his arm. "Tony, what did you do?"

"I don't know." Pulling away, he started to pace, raking his fingers through his hair. "That first year especially, I pulled a lot of stunts on him, you know, razzing the new guy. I mean, he was so smart and could do stuff with a computer that even Abby couldn't do. Gibbs was so impressed with the guy and..."

"You felt threatened."

"Yeah, wait – how did you know that?"

Now it was Ziva's turn to look uncomfortable. "It was my job to profile the team for Ari. "I... I recognized the weakness, one that could be exploited, but Ari had other ideas."

Tony studied her as she stared at his shoulder. "There's something about him that you know, isn't there?"

"Were you not just scolding me regarding McGee's rights to privacy?" She finally looked him in the eye.

"This is different, Ziva. If I don't know what I did that hurt him before, I might screw it up again."

Ziva hesitated. In truth what she knew would only create more questions, not give him any answers. "The few facts I know will not help you."

"Ziva, please."

She closed her eyes for a moment. "All I know is that when you were in the hospital recovering from the plague, he was also hospitalized for several days, but in a private hospital. Director Morrow handled everything personally and there are no official records."

"Because of me? Ziva, what the hell did I do?"

"I do not know, Tony. As I said, what I knew would not help you." She squeezed his hand and returned to the kitchen.

She was right, what she'd been able to tell him didn't give him any new insight into the problem and had, in fact, made it worse. He'd been under the assumption that he'd pushed too hard emotionally, hit a nerve of some sorts that had caused his friend undue anguish. He'd never even considered the possibility that he had caused actual harm to his teammate. Now he didn't know what to do. Asking Gibbs would prove that he hadn't followed Gibbs' orders to leave the subject alone and asking McGee would cause even more problems. He was still trying to sort it out when Gibbs and McGee arrived back at the house.