Time To Lead

Summary: Tim is alone in the bullpen with Gibbs and he needs to know something.

Category: General mostly. Not angsty and not dramatic.

Rating: K+

Warnings: Spoilers for season 11 episode 23 "The Admiral's Daughter" which aired on May 6, 2014. and episode 22 "Shooter" which aired on April 30, 2014. And some people think I bashed DiNozzo. I disagree, but if you're concerned then you should probably stop reading now.

Disclaimer: I own nothing NCIS. Just borrowing the characters for a bit.

And finally, all mistakes are mine.

~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Tim McGee sat at his desk, stalling. Tony's plane would land in an hour so he was running out of time. Bishop, Abby and Ducky had left leaving Jimmy around somewhere and Gibbs. Him still being there wasn't unusual at all since 99.9% of the time, Gibbs was the last one out. He was also usually the first one in in the morning.

It had been late in the day when Tim made up his mind to talk to Gibbs and now he was wondering if he should at all. Concentrating on his computer monitor, he brought up his email. Not knowing exactly when Tony would arrive, Tim knew he couldn't stall for too much longer. Suddenly he felt like he was being watched and sure enough, Gibbs was standing right next to his desk. He pretended not to look surprised, but was sure he'd failed.

"Boss?"

"McGee."

Many seconds of silence followed while each man waited for the other.

Finally Gibbs broke the stalemate. "Something on your mind?"

Tim turned his chair a little and looked up, right into Gibbs' face. He should have known he would figure out something was wrong. Why did he keep underestimating the man's abilities? Time to face the music.

He didn't mean to sigh, but he did before saying, "Ye..yeah, boss," and immediately looked down, feeling almost ashamed for needing to address what had happened.

More silence. Why was it so hard? He should have gone home and forgotten all about it.

"You want to know why I sent you into the tank?"

Leave it to Gibbs to jump in with both feet. Tim could do nothing except nod. He still hadn't looked up again, but knew Gibbs might not continue unless he did. Sure enough, the man was looking right at him.

"Bishop needed help."

Too simple an answer. McGee waited. There had to be more to it than that.

Finally. "Two person job, Tim."

"But... why didn't you say that to begin with?"

Gibbs looked away for a moment, first toward the window where it was dark outside and then to DiNozzo's desk. Thankfully he didn't make Tim wait for long.

"I need to know you learned something."

Tim's hands went from his desk to his lap and he leaned forward a bit. What was there to learn? What had he missed? He spent a few seconds trying to replay the day in his head. Gibbs didn't wait.

"When DiNozzo isn't here, you're the senior agent behind me. Bishop is the probie."

Tim's mind was whirling. He still didn't get it. Gibbs laid it out for him.

"You should have never flipped the coin with Bishop. She's the probie and she takes direction from me... from DiNozzo... and from you."

Bishop was greener than he'd been years ago. Greener than Dorneget and even Wilson when he hadn't been to FLETC yet. Tim suddenly understood.

"I should have told her, gently, but firmly, that she was going into the tank."

Gibbs nodded, perching his hip on the corner of the desk. "And?"

He knew the rest of it. The tank was a messy job, but also potentially hazardous.

"I should have realized it was a two man job... two person job... and told you we were both going."

Gibbs' gaze seemed to bore into Tim's brain. There was something else. What was it? Oh no, Gibbs knew about the coin. The man seemed to always know about everything. He'd used that coin several times and wondered if Gibbs knew about them all.

"I didn't need a trick coin at all."

Gibbs waited patiently while Tim reasoned it out and it didn't take him long.

"I should be stepping up as her senior so she'll be more likely to follow my lead."

Not a smile or a smirk, but Gibbs' eyes looked pleased and Tim knew he'd gotten it right. Time to admit the rest.

"At NSA Bishop did everything her way. At NCIS we do everything your way and I..." Tim saw the change in Gibbs' body language. It was almost not there at all, but he knew and quickly corrected what he was saying.

"Here we do things your way... and... Tony and I both need to assert ourselves with Bishop."

Gibbs smiled slightly. "She's a probie, Tim."

Not wanting to rock the boat, but knowing he needed to air some dirty laundry, Tim reminded Gibbs, "Tony has me doing the dirty jobs while he and Bishop go off and talk to witnesses and..." Gibbs cut him off.

"Stand up to DiNozzo, Tim."

The two men looked at each other for a full three count. It didn't take much to know that both were thinking about the cat urine incident. Tony had been heartless then and later in the field and Tim hadn't said much after showering and changing into clean clothes.

"Remind Tony you're not a probie." And then he noticed Gibbs' face soften a bit when he said, "I'll remind him too."

Later, Tim lay in bed thinking about all the times he and sometimes Tony had lugged all the equipment while Bishop got just a camera. He remembered as a probie Tony giving him all the crap jobs, and while he wouldn't do it the same way Tony had because let's face it, Tony had been pretty mean sometimes, Tim was prepared to order Bishop to do the undesirable jobs. And he was going to stand up to Tony. He went to sleep looking forward to the next day because he knew the boss was looking out for him.

The End

Thanks very much for reading.

AMAZING! This has been posted for less than two hours and I already have 13 private messages bashing me for bashing DiNozzo. Okay, have to put a warning in the summary and turned off the PM feature.