Catalyst 12/?
Feb. 23rd, 2013 08:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emerald_green37
The Young's were brokenhearted and followed behind as their oldest daughter was taken to the psychiatric hospital in New Castle for an evaluation while the team collected evidence at the old house.
Finally at 21.00 Gibbs called it good as he turned back to McGee. "You able to put up with us for one more night? Now that we know what happened, I'd like to check the area where the car was found again in the morning."
"Sure, Boss, I think we can manage one more night." This time Ziva rode with him while Tony rode with Gibbs in the MCRT truck.
About half way back to the house, McGee pulled out his phone and dialed a number by memory before ordering pizza. He called the clerk by name and made his usual order before adding more to feed the rest of the team and telling them how quickly he'd be home.
"You get delivery way out here? You live in the middle of nowhere, McGee."
"It's not the end of the world, but I can see it from here." When he joke fell flat, McGee tried a different approach. "Everybody's pretty spread out around here, Ziva. It's no big deal."
They traveled a few more miles before the question she'd been dying to ask finally bubbled out. "Why are you here, McGee? There is no television, no computer in your house. If you wanted to, with one flick of a switch you could totally cut yourself off from the outside world. This is not like you. You go home at night and kill monsters and gremlins on your computer."
"I could cut myself off, but I have my cell phone and I bring my laptop with me, even when we're not on call." Tim shrugged, realizing that she was very serious. "Sure, some nights I go home and play computer games to unwind, but sometimes I need more. I need this."
"It is as if you hide yourself away from us. Are we part of what you need to get away from?"
"Sometimes, yes." This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but Tim realized it was unavoidable now that they question had been raised. "Look, you guys are like family to me, but sometimes it all gets to be too much. It's nothing personal, Ziva."
"Not to me, but perhaps Tony is more of the cause? He is worried that he has caused you injury somehow, perhaps when he had the plague?"
Tim didn't run off the road, but it was a near thing. "How did he figure that out?"
"I knew you were hospitalized." As soon as the words were out, Ziva knew it had been the wrong thing to say.
"It's called a private life for a reason, Ziva."
"McGee, I..."
"Private, Ziva. That means you don't discuss it with anyone and how did you find out about that anyways? And when?"
Ziva ducked her head. "When I profiled the team for Ari, but that was all I was able to find – that you were in a private hospital and that Director Morrow handled everything personally."
"And you told Tony about that?"
"He was worried that he had caused your harm."
"Now he knows I was in the hospital."
"I am sorry."
---NCIS---
Several car lengths behind the sedan, Gibbs and Tony watched as the car suddenly swerved, then straightened. Tony glanced at the shoulder as they passed the same area. "Must have been one of Norman's cousins, but I don't see anything."
Gibbs gave a grunt, but the headlights from a passing car showed the silhouettes of McGee and Ziva and it appeared they were arguing. He considered questioning Tony but they were coming up to the turn-off and he needed to watch the road so he settled for one question. "You and Ziva haven't been bugging McGee about anything, have you?
Tony froze, then answered slowly. "Not really, Boss."
"Damn it, DiNozzo. What did I tell you?"
"Boss, no." Tony shook his head vehemently. "All I ever did was tell him that I was sorry if anything I did ever hurt him and to remind him that he had the right to kick my ass if I cross the line."
"And Ziva?"
"I'm not sure. I yelled at her about being up in McGee's bedroom. I guess she thought I was kinda a hypocrite about it."
"Ya think, DiNozzo?" There wasn't much more he could say without revealing secrets, so Gibbs settled for a glare.
---NCIS---
Arriving back at the house, Gibbs managed to pull Tim off to the side. "You okay? They causing problems?"
"It's fine. The quicker it's dropped, the quicker they'll leave it alone." The unspoken order to Gibbs to stay out of it kept him silent on the subject, but Gibbs was still annoyed when the pizza delivery arrived.
"Mr. Tim, I heard you were in town." The kid driving the delivery truck was part way out before the engine was even shut off. McGee grinned then gave a grunt as he found himself on the receiving end of a tackle hug that would put Abby to shame, before finding himself lifted off the ground.
"Hey, Eric, does this mean your SAT scores came in?"
"Sure did. Coach and my mom both think you're brilliant." With his arm around McGee's shoulder, Eric turned to the rest of the group, grinning. "With this guy's help, I got my scores high enough that not only did I get in, but I just got offered an academic scholarship on top of my football scholarship."
"That's great, man." Understanding the pressure athletes are under, Tony was the first to react. "So, Mr. Tim helped you a lot?"
"Oh, man, my first score was so bad, I didn't even qualify for admission. I just didn't get math, you know? He made it make sense for the first time ever." Remembering something, Eric ran back to his car. Along with the pizzas, he pulled out a partially thawed home made pie, ready to go into the oven. "Here, my mom sent this for you."
Tim thanked him and insisted on paying for the pizza, no matter what Eric's father had told him, before handing the food over to Ziva and walking back to the delivery truck with the young man, listening intently to the details of his scholarship wins and future plans.
There was no mistaking the proud look on McGee's face as he heard about the scores and what it meant to the young man, and Gibbs saw a glimpse of what kind of father he would have made. Once again he was furious at DiNozzo and walked away to calm down.
Tony saw the angry look and debated for a moment before following.
The house was in a clearing, but near the edge of a wooded area and Tony followed behind, not approaching until Gibbs leaned heavily against a fallen tree. "Boss, what did I do? I can't fix it unless I know what I did."
Gibbs wouldn't even turn around to look at him. "You can't fix it. What you did, what you took from him can never be repaired or replaced, Tony."
"But he's forgiven me, right?" Tony watched as Gibbs stared out into space. He really already knew the answer to that question, but there was another, more painful question he had to ask. "Can you?"
It took Gibbs a long time to answer. "I don't know."
"Pizza's getting cold." They both turned to see McGee standing about twenty feet behind them. Knowing he couldn't talk to DiNozzo any further, Gibbs immediately followed McGee. After a moment, Tony sighed, falling behind them.
Ziva had put the pie in the oven already and was setting out plates when they walked in. Tony tried for a bit of normality. "We don't need plates, Ziva, it's just pizza."
Instead of arguing, she just opened the boxes. The only pizza place for many miles had made a fine art out of pizza making, with hand-tossed dough and a wood fired oven. The resulting pizza was thick with toppings and sauce and cut into squares. "Yes, we need plates, Tony."
One small pizza was covered in white sauce with an assortment of roasted vegetables and grilled chicken peeking out from the coating of mozzarella cheese, fresh pesto drizzled over the top. Ziva wasn't strictly kosher, but she appreciated the effort when one of her teammates ordered something without sausage or pepperoni.
McGee set several more beers down on the table before he reached into one of the other boxes. "This one's pretty spicy."
Gibbs eagerly reached into that box while Tony was more hesitant. "How spicy?" He looked closer and there were two kinds of meat mixed in with the caramelized onions and garlic, with red chili flakes scattered on top.
"Andouille and hot Italian sausages."
Not feeling very adventurous, Tony took a piece of the third pizza, piled high with pepperoni, bacon, meatballs, sweet sausage and ham. He moaned as he took a slice. "Man, that's better than any place we've got in DC."
"I know. It's almost worth the trip out here just for the pizza. Have you tasted just the crust?"
Tony hadn't, he'd taken his bite out of the meatiest corner, but he rotated it around enough to take a bite off the outer edge. "Garlic butter?"
"Yep."
Conversation died out as they enjoyed the food, finishing the last pieces just as the oven timer went off.
"So, what kind of pie do we have, Ziva?"
She set it down on a folded towel near Gibbs. "I am not sure, some sort of berry, I believe."
Tim leaned close and sniffed. "Wild blueberry. Eric's mom has won the county fair with it for the last five years." He straightened as he snapped his fingers. "There's ice cream in the freezer."
Gibbs stood and followed McGee into the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee while Tim found the ice cream and gathered up forks and spoons. Unlike Gibbs and DiNozzo in the kitchen earlier, Gibbs and McGee were able to easily move around each other, much to the chagrin of Tony and the amusement of Ziva.
The pie was huge and four hearty servings took up only half of it. Gibbs sliced the pie and McGee scooped the vanilla ice cream onto each slice, the warmth of the pie softening and partially melting the ice cream, allowing it to drip and mix with the berries that spilled out of the side of each slice.
Tony's eyes rolled up at the first bite as he moaned. "McGee, how often do you get one of these?"
"I wouldn't take money for helping Eric get ready for his SAT's, so his mom would feed me."
"This is better than money any day of the week, man." Tony fell silent once again as he ate, catching himself just as he started to lick the plate. He looked up to see the rest of them grinning at him. "What? It's good. I want another piece."
"Nope." Gibbs shook his head as he looked at the second half of the pie. "We're having that for breakfast before we head out."
"Breakfast? Pie for breakfast?" Ziva looked at the three faces and rolled her eyes. "Men."
---NCIS---
Tony and Ziva set up one of the smaller puzzles on the table after dinner while Gibbs and McGee handled the clean-up. Keeping his voice low, Gibbs stepped up behind Tim. "You could adopt, you know."
"I'm a single man that works long, unpredictable hours at a high risk job with no family support system. I tried, they turned me down, flat. Never got past the first interview." Tim let his head drop as he confessed the rest. "Even the big brother program turned me down because of the risks of the job and the hours."
Gibbs reached out and laid a hand on McGee's back. "Oh, Tim."
Tim froze to not lean back into the warmth against his back. "I volunteer at the Boys and Girls club. It's great, and I'm proud of the work I do there, but it's not the same."
Feeling Tim stiffen, Gibbs let his hand drop and returned to cleaning the kitchen. Out at the table, Tony watched the exchange, but couldn't hear any of it. He glanced over at Ziva, who shrugged before returning her attention to the puzzle. Gibbs and McGee joined them a few minutes later and the four of them spent a quiet evening putting together the puzzle and discussing safe topics.
McGee was the first to call it a night. Ziva retreated to her room a few minutes later, leaving Tony with Gibbs. Tony stood and took several steps before stopping, not turning back around as he asked the question that had been haunting him all evening. "I know whatever I did is un-fixable, but would it help him if I asked for a transfer?"
"He went through hell to keep this team together. Don't throw that back in his face,Tony."
There was no answer to that and DiNozzo nodded before he escaped to his bedroom.
Upstairs, Tim found his bed too big and lonely that night and after several hours of tossing and turning, he grabbed his pillow and blanket to make a nest in the window seat. Wedged in tight, he watched the stars before finally drifting off to sleep.
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