Tim watched as Kort fell to the ground seconds after trying to take a shot at him. He hadn't even gotten a shot off. Callen, Sam, Kensi, and Ziva had all fired as soon as he raised the gun, and being the sharp marksmen they were, they all met their target. Kort was on the ground with four bullet holes in his body.

Sam went over and bent down to check his pulse. "He's dead."

Tim went over and took his weapons off Kort's body. "This isn't exactly how I wanted it to end." He'd wanted Kort to live. He'd wanted him to suffer for what he did. But at least it was over.

"We need to leave. Iranian authorities will not take well to American Feds killing on their territory, even if it is not one of theirs that is dead," Ziva said.

"We just leave him here?" Kensi asked.

"Works for me," Sam said. He was just fine with leaving Kort's body to rot. The man had been a traitor. He didn't deserve the honor of being brought back with them.

"I'm sure the CIA can go through the proper channels to ship him back," Callen said.

"If they even want him back," Tim added.

"Hmmm. Let's get out of here before anyone finds us," Callen said before leading the way towards the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The team plus Ziva made it back to LA early the next morning. Ziva had joined them in LA because after phoning Hetty, they'd been told that Vance was already there and wanted a debriefing from all of them.

When Tim walked into the squad room, He was surprised to see that Gibbs was there with the director and the rest of the team. "What are you doing here?"

"He insisted on coming and I didn't feel like arguing," Vance said.

"You alright?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank for your help," Tim said. No matter what else, he appreciated Gibbs' help.

Nate approached Tim. "I could slap you, you know?"

Tim chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I had to do it this way, Nate. I knew that if you knew I was headed for Iran, you would try to stop me."

"With good reason. It's not a safe place to be even when you don't have terrorists on your tail," Nate said.

"Well, it all worked out. Kort's dead and he confessed to being the traitor," Tim said.

"By the way, you've been cleared of all charges, McGee. Eric sent the feed to the CIA as soon as Kort made the confession," Vance said.

Tim turned to Eric. "Thanks, man, I owe you. I owe all of you."

"It's what we do. Besides, you're the own who put his own ass on the line to save G," Sam said.

Just then Hetty came out of her office and approached them. "Glad to see everyone's in one piece. Now if you would all follow me, we can start the debriefing. By the way, Mr. McGee, you're never going on vacation again," she said before circling back towards her office.

Tim laughed at Hetty's last words to him. "She's kidding, right?"

"I wouldn't bet on it," Nate said.

Tim immediately made a beeline for Hetty's office. "Hetty? Hetty, come on, let's talk about this."

The others laughed at their colleagues expense before following him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

About an hour later, Tim found himself sitting on the small couch in the squad room. He was watching as Ziva and Gibbs spoke by his and Sam's work space.

"You gonna talk to him?"

Tim turned to see Nate by his side. "Who?"

"You know who," Nate said.

Tim turned back to Gibbs and Ziva. "Other than to thank him again and tell him I hope to never have to see him again, no, I wasn't planning to.

Nate sat down next to Tim. "Can I give you some advice?"

"Do I really have a choice?" Tim asked. He knew Nate well. He would give his unsolicited advice whether it was wanted or not.

"Let it go. Let the bitterness go," Nate said.

"Nate…"

"No, just listen to me for a minute, okay? I'm not saying this for him. Lord knows he doesn't deserve it. I'm saying it for you. This bitterness could end up destroying you if you let. And as much as I'm sure you want to deny it, you are bitter," Nate said.

Tim sighed and looked at his friend. "Maybe I am, but don't you think I have a reason to be?"

"Yes, I do. Gibbs is a bastard. He treated you like crap and he deserves your hatred. But you don't deserve to carry it around. I'm not telling you to forgive him. I'm saying find a way to move on," Nate said before getting up

Tim turned back to where Gibbs and Ziva were standing. Callen and Vance had showed up as well. It looked as though Vance was gearing up for them to go.

In a split second decision, Tim stood up and made his way over to them.

"Well, I think it's time for us to go," Vance was saying.

"Not yet," Tim said before looking at Gibbs. "I need to talk to you."

Gibbs nodded.

Tim immediately led his former boss down the hall to the supply closet. Once they were both inside Tim closed the door.

"What's up?" Gibbs asked as though he didn't know. He knew exactly what McGee wanted. He wanted to talk about the past. To lash out at him again. And Gibbs would let him. He owed the man that much

"First I want to tell you that I really do appreciate all you've done. You played a big part in helping me bring Kort down. Thank you," Tim said genuinely.

Gibbs nodded. "But that's not why you wanted to talk to me."

"No, it's not. I really had no intention of talking to you at all, but a friend of mine just pointed out that I need to move on and I can't do that without talking to you first. Sometimes I really hate you," Tim said.

"You have a right to," Gibbs said.

"Gee, thanks," Tim said bitterly before he could stop himself.

"I'm sorry. I know it's too little, too late, but it's the truth. I'm sorry for the way that I treated you," Gibbs said.

"Why did you hire me? I really wanna know. You obviously didn't think I was agent material, so why?" Tim asked curiously.

"I did think you were agent material. Don't think I didn't. I saw potential when I looked at you. That's why I hired you. It's just that I got caught up in day to day issues. When we went into the field and I left you behind, I would tell myself that next time I would give you the experience you needed. After a while, I stopped even telling myself that and told myself that you were better where you were," Gibbs said.

"And of course you had Tony beside who constantly belittled me and what I did and acted like I couldn't be a good agent. And you started to believe it too," Tim said.

"Yeah," Gibbs admitted. He wouldn't deny it. He owed Tim the truth. He owed him a lot, but he at least owed him that.

"You know what I thought when I met you? I thought 'this guy can teach me. He can show me what it means to be a good agent'. That's what I wanted. I didn't just want to be a field agent or work on a MCRT. I wanted to learn from you. But you wouldn't teach me. Like you, I told myself 'next time'. But next time never came. And the fact that it didn't was even worse than the abuse you let the others inflict upon me. I could've lived with all that if I'd just gotten one inkling that you thought I was worth a damn," Tim said. He felt like a little kid talking like this, but once he started, he just couldn't stop.

"You're worth more than a damn, McGee. You're one of the best agents I've ever known. Not many could've pulled off a high stakes game of cat and mouse with Trent Kort in win. You're an exemplary agent. And while I regret the way I treated you, I can't help but feel that some good came out of it. You wouldn't be the agent you are today if things hadn't happened exactly the way they did. You weren't meant to learn from me, McGee. You weren't meant for an MCRT. This is where you were meant to be," Gibbs said.

"Well, I can't argue with that. I can't forgive you right now," Tim said.

"I understand," Gibbs said. He didn't expect forgiveness. He didn't deserve it.

"But maybe it's not as impossible as I once thought. If I do though, it's because I don't want to live with this anger anymore. It's not for you," Tim said. He would try to forgive and he would definitely work hard to get rid of the bitterness like Nate said, but he would never forget."

"Well, that's more than I could ever expect. No matter what else, I want you to know that I hope your life is good from here on out," Gibbs said.

"It's already good," Tim said.

Gibbs nodded and headed for the door.

Tim followed him back out to the squad room. His team, minus Eric, Nell, and Nate who weren't there, was looking at him as if to ask if everything was alright. "Everything's fine guys."

"We ready to go?" Ziva asked.

"Yes. Agent McGee, Agent Callen, try to avoid getting framed for a while," Vance said.

"We'll do our best," Callen said with a smile.

Vance snorted and led Gibbs and Ziva towards the exit.

The LA team took their desks. Callen sighed. "Finally back to normal. You know I like the action and all, but after these last few weeks, I could use some peace and quiet.

No sooner than the words left Callen's lips did they all hear a whisper from up above.

The four agents started complaining all at once.

"Oh, come on!" Sam exclaimed.

"Really, Eric?" Kensi asked.

"Were your ears burning or something?" Callen.

"Haven't we had enough for one week?" Tim asked.

"Alright, enough. The Operations Center, all of you," Hetty ordered you.

THE END

Tim smiled at Callen as they climbed the stairs to the Ops. Center. "Well, you were right about one thing, Callen. Things really are back to normal."