As McGee stood facing Abby in her lab, he began explain everything. How guilty he felt over digging into the DiNozzo family background. Discovering that file and what was in it; then Ziva finding out. As he started to tell her about what had happened with Tony in the elevator, it slowly dawned on him that her expression had barely changed, just softened a bit. That’s when it hit him.
“You already knew, didn’t you.” He said.
“Knew what?”
“About that report from Tony’s nanny. That’s why you’re not surprised by what I told you.”
Abby just sighed as she sat down at her desk. “I didn’t know about the report specifically but I kind of already knew about what was in it.”
McGee looked confused “How?”
“Because Tony told me.” She looked at him as if that should have been obvious.
McGee sat down next to her “He just came out and told you?”
“Well, no. I sort of had to drag it out of him. But McGee that was a long time ago, it doesn’t really matter does it?”
He shook his head “no” as he digested this new information. He knew that Abby and Tony were good friends but he hadn’t realized how close they really were. McGee squashed the twinge of jealousy he felt at that thought, he knew that he had no reason to feel that way, when he realized that that Abby was speaking to him.
“Listen McGee, you have to talk to Tony. Make sure that he knows that you don’t feel any different about him, now that you know about his childhood.”
“You’re right” McGee sighed
“Of course I am” she grinned
McGee got up from his chair “I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning.”
“No!” Abby exclaimed as she jumped up and grabbed his arm.
“You have to talk to him right away.” She said lowering her voice.
“Now?” he questioned.
“Yes, now” Abby insisted. “You need to clear this up, the sooner the better.”
“Fine” McGee sighed, “I’ll try to find Tony but I don’t know how much luck I’m going to have, this is a pretty big building.”
“Not a problem” she said as she turned to her computer and started typing away.
As she brought up footage from the security cameras and scanned through it, McGee looked over her shoulder. She suddenly pointed at the screen.
“There he is! Down in the gym.” As she looked up at him with a grin “See how easy that was?”
As he watched Tony working out with a punching bag the first thing he noticed was just how hard he was hitting the bag. Even though he knew that was kind of the point, it still made him a little nervous.
“Maybe I should wait until he’s done.” He wondered out loud.
“No McGee, go now.” Abby said as she pushed him towards the door. “C’mon Tim, it’s only Tony.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of” McGee thought as he headed for the elevator, then concentrated on what he was going to say to him.
Meanwhile, Gibbs had arrived back in the bullpen. Seeing that Ziva was the only one there, he stopped at her desk.
“Where is everyone?” he asked.
Ziva looked up “McGee is with Tony.”
“They left?” his eyes narrowed.
“I believe that they are still in the building as their coats are still here.” Wanting to keep Gibbs from getting upset, she offered, “Maybe they are just taking a break?”
Not saying anything, Gibbs went to his desk and sat down. Picking up his phone he called down to Abby’s lab.
“Speak to me” Abby answered with her music in the background.
“Abby” Gibbs said loudly.
“Oh hey Boss,” she said as she turned off her music “What can I do for you?”
“Are DiNozzo and McGee down there?”
“McGee just left, he should be with Tony now.” Abby replied.
“Where are they?” he asked.
Abby almost pleaded, “Gibbs, can’t you just give them a few minutes? I think they need a little alone time.”
“Abby, what happened?” Although he had lowered his voice, Gibbs still managed to convey a commanding tone that she knew not to ignore.
She took a deep breath before she began “Well, you see, Tony found out that McGee found out about well…you know…some of what happened when Tony was a kid and now he’s pissed so McGee went to talk to him. Oh yea and Ziva knows too” she finished quietly.
Gibbs had been rubbing his free hand across his forehead in a weary gesture then glanced over at Ziva. He knew from experience that Ziva could keep a secret and that she wouldn’t say anything unless Tony brought the subject up.
“I’ll give them 30 minutes until I go looking for them.” He said before cutting off the phone connection in his usual manner.
As Abby put the phone down all she could think about was that McGee better come through, for both of their sakes.
McGee had paused at the gym door to gather his thoughts and yes, he thought to himself, his courage too. Taking a couple of deep breaths first, he then entered the gym and slowly walked towards Tony. He just stood there for a few minutes and watched as Tony continued to hit the bag until he suddenly stopped and turned to face McGee.
“Did you need something Probie?” Tony asked abruptly.
Not wanting to be swayed from his mission he pulled himself up to his full height and looked Tony straight in the eye.
“I wanted to talk to you” he paused “about what happened in the elevator.”
Tony just stared at him for a minute before turning back towards the bag.
“There’s nothing to talk about” he said quietly.
“I think there is” McGee answered back quickly.
Tony paused, not moving for a minute. He then bowed his head, dropped his arms to his sides and sighed loudly “Fine”
As he walked over to the bench he took his gloves off, grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his face. McGee followed and sat down, as soon as Tony sat next to him he began.
“I just thought that I should clear a few things up. Let you know how I felt about, you know, what I found out.”
Tony cut him off. “You don’t have to go on McGee, I can guess what you think about me now.” His voice lowered “Probably the same thing I think about myself.”
“What would that be?” he asked, now curious.
Tony refused to look up, concentrating instead on the gloves he had pulled off and was now turning around and around in his hands.
“That I should have done something, said something to stop what happened.” Tony’s shoulders slumped a little “That I’m weak to have let it go on.”
“Oh God Tony, it’s the exact opposite.” McGee said causing Tony to go still.
“First of all you were only a kid, there was only so much you could do. And secondly,” he took a breath and continued “To have gone what you went through, or at least what little I know about what you went through, and to have turned out to be the type of person you are? I think that makes you one of the strongest people I know.”
Tony’s head snapped up at that last bit, and as he stared at McGee he could read the sincerity in his face. After a moment Tony looked back at his hands “Thanks Tim” he whispered.
They both just sat there silently for a few minutes until McGee finally spoke up.
“So, are we good?”
“Yea McGee, we’re good.” Tony then looked at him and said with a slight smile, “You don’t want to hug, do you?”
“Ah no, that’s ok.” He responded with a smile of his own, glad to see that a little of the old Tony was back.
They both got up from the bench and as Tony headed for the locker room he threw over his shoulder. “I’m going to change, see you upstairs in 10 minutes.”
As McGee headed for the elevators, he called Abby on his cell phone to let her know how things had went. He knew if he stopped by the lab it would take him forever to get back to work. Realizing how long they had been gone, he didn’t want to keep Gibbs waiting.
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