The Countdown for ghosts_writer

[sexycazzy.livejournal.com]

Title:  The Countdown
Author: sexycazzy 
Written for: ghosts_writer 
Prompt: Tony/Tim, Gibbs is out of town for whatever reason and McGee's having trouble submitting to Tony. Tony finds out it's because
McGee's attracted/in love with him.
Archive: I will do this myself, thank you. -smile-
Genre: slash
Pairings: Tony/Tim
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they belong to NCIS and its creators.
Word Count: 3551
Summary: When Tony is put in charge, while Gibbs is away, Tim counts the days down till Gibbs gets back.
Writer's Notes: A huge thank you to murgy31 & djmicheals  for their wonderful and fast beta-ing! (hugs) to both of you!

_______

The Countdown

Day 10

Tony is at Gibbs's desk, resting his chin on the top of the desk, lining his things up, when Tim and Ziva enter the bullpen. As Tim makes his way over to his desk, he stares at Tony, puzzled, wondering why Tony is sitting at Gibbs's desk. He gives a chuckle; Gibbs will be furious at him. He drops his stuff and walks over to Gibbs's desk as Ziva makes her way over to Tony.

"What are you doing at Gibbs's desk?" Ziva looks on with an amused curiosity. "He will be not happy to see you sitting at his desk."

Tony looks up and winks at her as he sits back and puts his hands behind his head. "I'm getting ready."

Ziva and Tim exchanges a puzzled look and stares at Tony, waiting for him to elaborate on that. When Tony doesn't say anything, just staring at them and grinning mischievously, Ziva slaps her hands on the desk and stare back at Tony.

"You better say something or I...I..." Ziva is wound up with exasperation. Tim looks on; smiling and quietly amused at the exchange between Tony and Ziva.

"Shush...let me get into my mental space," Tony says. Suddenly, Tony stands up, making both Ziva and Tim jumps, startled. He rubs hands together and walks in front of the desk.

"Gibbs is away to some kind of seminar," Tony explains and he hears Ziva groan. "McGeek, Ninja, he put me in charge!"

Ziva put her hands up in the air as if to say 'oh, no' and walks over to her desk, while Tim goes to his desk and sits down. He bangs his head against the desk and groans.

"Probie, guess what?" Tony sits on the edge of Tim's desk. Tim looks up. "What?"

"You're going to be my second-in-command while Gibbs's away," Tony says, excited. "Isn't that great?"

Tim just looks up at him, blankly. He is not so looking forward to Tony being in charge. He drops his head on the desk, again. He knows that Tony is going be worse this week, and will tease and heckle him even more than usual.

Day 9

Tim drops his backpack and switches his computer on. He looks over to Gibbs's - no - Tony's desk and sighs heavily. He was struggling to follow Tony's orders yesterday. He had to admit that Tony wasn't too bad yesterday but he had a bad feeling about today.

"No coffee, McSecond?" Tony suddenly appears in front of Tim. Tim stares at Tony, annoyed.

"Why should I get you one?"

"Because you are my second-in-command!" Tony exclaims. "Go, go get my coffee." Tony gestures with his hands to Tim and Tim groans as he gets up to get coffee.

Tony is at his desk, when Tim comes back 3 Starbucks cups and places one on Tony's desk, without saying anything and turns to Ziva just as she comes in. "Here's yours," Tim smiles at Ziva as she takes the coffee from him.

"You're late, Ninja," Tony says, without looking up.

"And?" Ziva says, sarcastically.

Tony finally looks up and raises an eyebrow, as if he was waiting for Ziva to say something else than that.

"Sorry, ‘boss’," Ziva rolls her eyes at Tim as she puts an emphasis on the word, boss. "Won't happen again."

Tim chuckles quietly.

"It better not,” is the reply from Tony.

Tim shakes his head and goes over to his desk. How is he going to get through the day? He vows to himself that he isn't going to call Tony boss. He doesn't want to think Tony as his boss...he can't.

He sighs heavily as he turns to his computer, to try to get Tony out of his mind, but of course, Tony won't let him as he speaks up.

"Come on, McSenior, Ziva, let's go," Tony says as he puts his gun in his hostler and grabs his gear. "Dead Marine."

He claps hands together. "Chop, chop."

Tim growls quietly as he grabs his gear and follows Ziva and Tony out to the elevator.

Day 8

Tim, Tony and Ziva have just come back from chasing a suspect.

"Ziva, I want you to do the interview," Tony says.

Ziva nods and makes her way over to the interrogation room.

Tony slaps a hand on Tim’s back and smile broadly at him. "McLeader, let's see your pictures, put them up on the plasma."

Tim stares angrily at Tony. "Don't call me that!"

Tony manages to look innocent as he says, "What, McSecond?"

"That!" Tim spits it out. Tony just smirks and squeezes his shoulder and points to the plasma. Tim pulls away from Tony and walks over to his desk. Tony is starting to piss him off. He’s been touching him all day; on the back, on the shoulder, or on the arm. He wonders why Tony thought that now he was in temporarily charge of the team that he was allowed to touch him like that. He can't handle all the touching. It makes him want to slam Tony against the wall and kiss him.

Shaking his head, Tim knows that he needs to get these kind of thoughts out of his head. Tony is straight! He would not want him, that's for sure.

"McDreamy, stop daydreaming and get these photos up," Tony cuts through Tim's thoughts and he goes red in the neck as he fumbles with his memory card to try to put it in the slot to the computer.

How is Tim going to get through the rest of the week?

Day 7

It's the weekend and Tim is thankful that the team got the weekend off. It means that he doesn't have to face Tony all weekend. It means that he doesn't have to think about him, in a sexual way. He can focus better, without Tony's presence.

He is playing a war game on his computer, giving commands through his headset, to his teammates, when there is a knock on the door. 

Tim frowns and wonders who this could be, and is about to get up to see who it is, when he hears a voice bellowing out to him.

"Open the door, McGeek."

Tim freezes, astounded to hear Tony at the door. Can't be...why is he here? Suddenly, he groans and hopes that Tony came to get him for work. Can't I get a break...even if it was just for once?

There is banging on the door again.

"Let me in," Tony shouts through the letterbox. "I can see you, open this door"

Tim sighs heavily and walks over to the door and opens it. "What are you doing here?" Tim asks, annoyed.

"Taking you out," Tony beams at Tim.

Tim stares at him, apprehensively.” Why?"

"Because you're my second-in-command!" Tony is amused and looks at him with a face that says that Tim should’ve known that.

"But...but...Gibbs doesn't do that with you!" Tim protests.

"You don't know things about me," Tony says, mysteriously and winks at him. He snaps fingers in front of Tim's face and tells him to get dressed.

Tim is in a daze and goes to get ready. When he is in his bedroom, he could hear Tony stumbling through his stuff and he rests his against the wall.

I'm going out with Tony? Why? I can't! What will I say to him? Words flowing through Tim's mind as he closes his eyes.

"I'm waiting!" Tony calls out to him. Tim opens his eyes and takes a deep breath.

I can do this. I will be fine.

Day 5

It's Monday and Tony sits back and smiles as he thinks of the weekend. He has enjoyed the weekend with Tim. There's something bothering him, although.

Tim seemed to be uncomfortable around him, ever since he was put in charge. He doesn't understand it. But still, he had fun with Tim and has learnt a lot of things about him that he never knew.

Like that Tim enjoyed going out to the cinema. That shocked him. He didn't know that. If he knew, he would have asked Tim out to cinema ages ago. Tim explained that he didn't go to the cinema for the movies; he liked to sit in the dark and watch a film on the big screen, to escape into the big screen. It didn't matter what movie it was. There were times when they had fun, but then there were other times, when Tim looked away from him and he seemed to be into his own world. He was worried about Tim and hoped that he haven't done anything to offend him.

Sighing heavily, Tony gets up from his desk and goes down to Abby's labs to talk to her about some tests.

When he gets out of the elevator, Tony hears Tim and Abby talking and is about to go in when suddenly he hears Tim.

"Why does he do this to me?"

"You know what he's like," Abby seems to try to comfort him.

Tony frowns and steps back, hidden from their sight. Has someone hurt Tim? His chest tightens at the thought of that.

"I can't do this! He keeps touching me and keeps calling me stupid names. He seems to think that because he is the boss, he deserves to get me to do stupid jobs, like getting coffee, taking photos, crawling through the mud!" Tim shouts at Abby, who is rather taken aback.

"You know he only does this to wind you up?" Abby asks.

"Really? It doesn't feel like that," Tim replies, sarcastically. "For the last two years, Tony treated me like I was a part of the team. He stopped calling me names...well...less than usual. He made me feel that I was a proper agent and that I deserved to be out in the field. He respected me and was always asking me what I thought of this or that."

A choke is creeping up in his throat and Tony winces. He didn't realize that Tim felt like that.

"But then, this week, he changed! He's not the man I fell in love with!"

Abby gasps; and Tony fights to keep his own gasp back. He creeps back to the elevator. As the doors closes, Tony is dazed by Tim’s revelations.

Tim’s in love with him?

Groaning, Tony shakes his head. He didn't realize that he has been awful to Tim; it's true what Abby said. He was just winding Tim up but didn't realize that his behavior has been making Tim lose confidence in himself. He didn't mean for it to happen. He always thought that Tim was capable of being a good agent. He groans and headslaps himself. Gibbs will be furious with him...suddenly a thought creeps in his mind...unless he could change things around.

Day 4

Ziva arrives before Tim and walks to her desk, not noticing Tony at first. It's only when she sits down, that she finally sees him. It takes a minute to realize that Tony was at his own desk, slumped over the desk and not at Gibbs's. She frowns, puzzled.

Ziva walks over to Tony and taps on the top of Tony's head and he looks up, rubbing his eyes, slowly waking up.

"Working late?" Ziva asks, smug. "And why are you not at your desk?"

Tony chuckles. "I'm at my desk, where I should be." Ziva looks at him, a confused look cross her face. "But...I thought..."

Tony interrupts her and surprises her. "I never should have moved to Gibbs's desk."

"Why?" Ziva looks at Tony, in disbelief.

If Tony was going to say something serious, he didn't say it. Instead he says, "Oh, Gibbs will be angry if he knew that I was sitting at his desk." Tony grins.

Ziva just looks at Tony as if he was crazy and makes a shrug as she makes her way back to her desk.

Just then Tim comes in, and then stops suddenly as he gawks at Tony, a look of surprise on his face. "What are you doing?"

Tony feels butterflies in his stomach as he looks at Tim and flashes him the DiNozzo smile. "I'm at my desk, where I should be. What do you think I'm doing?"

Tim nods as if he understands but he really doesn’t and walks over to his desk.

"Right, we got a case," Tony announces to his agents. He takes a deep breath and turns to Tim. "You're taking the lead on this one."

Tim is startled and looks at Tony. "Wh...what?" He splutters.

"The Director wants a report from me so I can't be out in the field with you two," Tony explains and then he turns to Ziva who looks unhappy at the prospect. "You are to listen to Tim, he is the senior agent out there. I expect you to follow his orders like you would follow Gibbs’s."

Ziva begins to protest but Tony throws her a look that says 'don't' and Ziva stops.

"But...but..." Tim is protesting. "I don't know what to do."

"I trust you," Tony smiles. "You are my second-in-command this week so you deserve to have a lead on a case, at least once."

Tim swallows hard and nods. He grabs his backpack and looks at Ziva, furiously and she hurries to follow him out of the bullpen.

Tony lets out a breath as soon as they are out of sight. He hopes that his plan is working. He wants Tim to believe in himself, that he can be a senior field agent in the future. He wants to give Tim this oppurnity. Actually, Tony should've given him a chance at the beginning of the week. Instead he decided to wind Tim up and gave him all the small jobs he should've given to Ziva. He shakes his head and makes his way up to the Director's office.

Day 3

Tony is proud of Tim. He grins as he thought of yesterday. Tim has done a good job as a leader on the case. When he and Ziva got back, Tim was expecting to hand the case over to Tony but Tony told him that he would let him to keep a lead on the case.

There were some stumbles along the way, of course, when Ziva refused to do what Tim wanted her to do. Tony thought he had to step in but Tim surprised him by telling Ziva that if she didn't want to do it, then she can step back and he would manage it with Tony and Abby helping him. Ziva grumbled and agreed.

Tony had to laugh at Ziva's shocked look. He knew that Tim was capable of telling Ziva off, he just didn't think that he would hear it.

But there was something else. When he saw Tim at his best, hacking into databases or showing them pictures or video and telling them what he thought or shared his hunches with them, Tony began to realize why he was teasing him, why he treated him like a little brother. He was denying his feelings for Tim. He was in love with him, too. Tony didn't want to think of Tim like that so he surpassed his feelings and ignored them, thinking that Tim would not return his feelings.

But after hearing Tim with Abby, the feelings started to come back and Tony began to look at Tim in a new light. He groans and he can't wait for Gibbs to get back so that he can act on his feelings. He doesn't want to do it while he was in charge. It won't be fair to Tim.

Day 2

Tim is at his apartment, thinking about the last couple of days. Tony was strange. At the beginning of the week, Tony treated him like a probie, a newbie, giving him small jobs and teased him with the stupid names. Then in the last couple of days, Tony turned around on him and began to treat him like a proper senior field agent and sent him out to interview suspects or to allow him to take a lead on some cases. Tony listened to him when he shared his thoughts.

Tim sighs heavily. He was falling in love with Tony all over again. He doesn't understand Tony sometimes and shakes his head as he heads for the kitchen to make something to eat when he hears a knock on the door.

As the door opens, Tim gasps as he sees Tony standing there with pizza boxes and a pack of beer.

"Hey," Tony says. "I thought you might want something to eat?"

"I-I was about to make dinner," Tim stammers.

Tony grins, massively. "Then it's a good job that I'm here."

"Yes.." Tim is a little confused to why Tony is here but he lets Tony in, nevertheless.

They eat their pizzas, making small conversation and talking about when Gibbs gets back.

When Tony eats his last piece, he looks at Tim, and smiling.

Tim is uncomfortable with the staring and wonders what Tony's up to.

"I know about your feelings," Tony says, quietly. Tim's eyes goes wide and he gasps. "What?"

"I heard you and Abby the other day," Tony starts to explain when Tim explodes.

"This is why you're here, is it?" Tim says, angrily. "To tease and wind me some more?"

Tony groans, this was not what he was expecting. He put his hands up to try to calm Tim down.

"Listen to me, Tim," Tony says but Tim doesn't seem to hear him. He continues to shout at him.

"Tim...Tim...TIM!" Tony yells at Tim. Suddenly Tim stops and stares at Tony shocked.

"You...you called me Tim!'

Tony shifts uncomfortable, flushed with red cheeks. "Sit down, Tim. I need to tell you something."

Tim nods and sits down, waiting for the rejection and is floored when Tony confesses to him that he feels the same.

"Wh...what?"

"Yeah," Tony smiles, affectionaly. "I started to realize the last of couple days. It was like all the pieces came together. I teased you and gave you silly names because they were of affection, not because you annoyed me." Tony pauses and looks at Tim who is unusually quiet. "...well, sometimes you do annoy me!"

"But...you..." Tim struggles to take it all in.

"I understand that you need to think about this, and that you may need some time..." Tony tells Tim. "And we can't do anything tonight, anyway because I'm still in charge and I don't want this to start while I was your boss...that's it if you want this too."

Tim just nods in agreement.

Tony gets up slowly and goes to the door. As he leaves, he looks over his shoulder. "I hope you decide that you want the same thing."

Then Tony leaves, leaving Tim sitting there in shock and in a daze.

Day 1

Gibbs is at his desk, typing something on his computer, when Tony comes in. He gives a happy sigh.

"Good to see you back, boss," Tony says as he sits down at his desk.

Gibbs stops typing and looks at him, strangely. "I was only away for a week."

Tony shrugs. "What can I say? I missed you?"

Gibbs grunts and returns to his computer.

Tim walks in and sees Gibbs first and smiles as he then looks at Tony, who looks back with an awkward smile. Tim chuckles quietly and goes to sit at his desk.

"Glad to see you back, boss."

Gibbs stops what he is doing and looks at Tim with a strange look then he gives a grunt and returns to whatever he was doing a moment before. Just then Ziva comes and goes to her desk, without a word to Gibbs. She begins to work.

Tim and Tony exchange a look.

Later that night, Tim arrives at Tony's apartment, nervously. He knocks on the door and Tony opens it wide then pulls Tim in and closes it behind him. He slams Tim against the door and kisses him furiously. After they kiss some more, Tony lets go and stares at Tim.

"Finally."

Tim grins. "And what if I was here to tell you that I didn't want to do this with you?" Tim asks, raising an eyebrow.

Tony narrows his eyes and stares at Tim. "You would've stopped me."

Tim laughs and Tony pulls him into the bedroom.

Later, much later, that night

Tony looks up at the ceiling, contently. Tim’s is resting his head on Tony's chest.

"I'm glad Gibbs is back," Tony says. Then he looks down at his new lover. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you, treated you like crap."

Tim shakes his head. "I understand now why."

Tony smiles. "The next time I'm the boss, I promise to not make you feel like that again."

Tim grins and looks up to Tony. "I know."

Tony frowns, puzzled. "You might be the boss out there, but I know the truth."

"What do you mean?" Tony asks, afraid of the answer.

"The truth is that I'm the boss in the bedroom."

Tony stares at Tim, surprised. He then flashes a grin at Tim and they burst out laughing.

No, Tony doesn't mind Tim taking the lead in the bedroom.

The End

Comments

[sarkywoman.livejournal.com]

Awww, cute!

[sexycazzy.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! ::))