Not beta'd; disclaimer applies

Rule 12 Guidelines

"Rule 12, McGee."

"Yeah, well," McGee stammered, "I've always thought of that one as more of a guideline than a rule."

A raised eyebrow was the only response he got.

"I mean, it's great advice; makes a lot of sense normally,"

"But you consider yourself special?"

"Yes…I mean no…I mean, yes there's a but," Tim struggled to explain. "Not that I consider myself special."

"Guideline," Gibbs stated, getting the conversation back on track.

"Well, as I said, great advice, not to date a coworker. Things could get messy if it didn't work out."

"That's why it's a rule."

"But if things did work out…" Tim's voice trailed off and he gave a small shrug.

"Still waiting to hear about this guideline vs. rule."

Tim took a deep breath, "Well, they're really not rules, are they? We don't learn about them until a situation where they might apply comes up. By definition a rule is part of an explicit or understood regulation or principle within a particular activity or sphere; a prescribed guide for conduct or action. Your rules are neither explicit or prescribed," Tim stated, "Therefore, they are more like suggestions, advice, or guidelines that should or could be followed.

"Uh-huh, that it?"

"Um," Tim hesitated, looking at his girlfriend. "A rule is also an accepted procedure, custom, or habit."

"So?"

Tim shrugged, "Looking around NCIS, it is obvious that not dating a coworker isn't accepted. In fact, I would say that more people in this building had dated someone than those that hadn't; and in fact, everyone on our team has done so as well ," he continued, meeting his supervisor's piercing gaze.

"Which is how the rule came into play," Gibbs admitted.

Tim shook his head, "Just because you think we should not do something, does not make it a rule," Tim replied. "As I said, it is good advice. If you were going to break rule 12, then you needed to be serious about it, er, the rule and the relationship," Tim said, with a furtive glance at his girlfriend, "You needed to be in it for the long haul.

"Neither one of us saw this as a casual thing. We talked about rule 12…a lot," Tim explained. "We admitted we were in this together. We wanted this…us, to work and, if it didn't we agreed that we would do our best to have it not effect the team or our jobs. But that it was a risk we were willing to take.

"The way I see it, the rule existed not to keep you from dating a coworker, but to judge if the risk was worth the reward."

"And it is," The two coworkers announced together, staring into each other's eyes. "It so is."

10-15-18