Camping with Gibbs 6/?
"Good morning."
Tony had been sleeping extremely well so Tim snuck out of the tent to let him sleep a while longer only to find Gibbs getting the fire and the coffee started.
"Morning, Tim." Gibbs appreciated the younger man's quiet approach to life, but he was a little worried. Tony had easily and joyfully started calling him Dad for the op, maintaining their cover, but Tim had not. He hadn't slipped up and called the older man Boss or Gibbs, but the idea of calling him Dad seemed to bother his youngest. First off, Gibbs tilted his head toward the camp they were watching. "He up yet?"
"Nope." Tim showed the screen of his phone. "Still buried in his blankets. If there's a change in his body temperature or any movement, one of the cameras will pick up on it and my phone will vibrate."
Gibbs knew about the cameras, but he didn't know McGee had set up motion detector and heat sensitive ones. "Not usually one to focus on the tech stuff, but I want you to know, you're doing a great job with it." He waved a hand around. "With all of this."
"Thanks." Tim beamed at the praise, but Gibbs was still noting the lack of words, even if he wasn't sure why it was bothering him.
"You go camping with the Admiral much as a kid? In fact, what did you call him before he made Admiral?"
Tim gave him a confused look. "He was a Vice Admiral."
Gibbs shook his head. "When did you start calling him by his rank?"
"I was four when he made full Lieutenant." Thinking about, Tim gave a slight shrug. "It was... expected."
"His rank was important to him?"
"He was the first of his graduating class at Annapolis to make Lieutenant, so, yeah. Probably the most important thing. Certainly more important than taking me camping or fishing. There were Scoutmasters for that chore."
Rank had never been important to Gibbs, not like his family or the chance to do his job, to take care of his men. More than that, spending time with Kelly had never been a chore. He'd met men like John McGee, always chasing the next promotion, but he'd never understood them. "He had more important things in his life and if he didn't understand that, then he was a fool, still is if he hasn't figured it out yet."
"I guess."
Another shrug and Gibbs saw remnants of the timid and shy young man that had joined his team years ago. Rather than call him on it, he instead decided to show him how a father should treat his son. He'd been doing it for years with Tony, who had finally learned to stand up and be his own man and now it was Tim's turn. "So, what's on the menu for today?"
Happy to have that particular discussion over, Tim opened one of the coolers and pulled out four potatoes that he'd baked extra the night before. Gibbs had wondered what he'd been up to with the extra potatoes and grilled steaks he'd tucked away before feeding the group. The potatoes were mostly cooked, but still firm and Tim cut the top off and scooped out most of the potato, leaving the skin and a thin layer of the potato. Pre-cooked bacon and shredded cheese went into the hollow before a raw egg was dropped in and the filled potatoes were set on the bottom grill.
"Nice."
--NCIS--
Tony woke slowly, enjoying his warm sleeping bag as the third day of the assignment started. It hadn't been quite cold enough that night for McGee to use the heater, but it was cold enough that Tony was glad he'd spent the extra ten dollars on the cold weather bag. He was just about ready to venture out of his warm nest when he heard Gibbs and Tim talking about the Admiral. Most of what Tim was telling him Tony already knew, but he was glad to hear Gibbs asking and Tim opening up to the older man. Not wanting to interrupt, Tony stayed in his bed until the conversation turned to safer topics.
Just as he heard Gibbs asking about the potatoes, he decided it was safe to venture out. He swapped his sweats for heavy clothes and sat down to put on his boots. When the rain started yesterday, Tim had set one of the lids from the plastic bins upside down just inside the door of the tent. As he explained to Tony, it was to set their boots in, the raised edge keeping mud and water from spreading inside the tent. The younger man obviously knew what he was doing as they'd come through the rains without any mud or water getting into the tent. Even the power cord was secured enough that no water had wicked in that way.
"Mmm, do I smell coffee?"
Tim laughed as his partner homed in on the pot and tossed him a few of the hazelnut creamers. "Here you go."
Gibbs took the first cup and headed back to his own tent enjoying the way the hot strong brew burned on the way down. Behind him he heard the boys talking and laughed.
Tim grinned as Tony poured three of the little packets into his cup and reached for the pot. "I'll warn you, I'm not the one that made the coffee this morning."
Tony immediately grabbed another handful of the creamers. "Thanks for the warning, that could have been bad."
Still chuckling as he stepped inside his tent, Gibbs sat down on his sleeping bag and set the cup next to him before pulling his phone out. He'd have to put it on the car charger for a while today, but he wanted to check in with Vance first to see what he'd found. Fornell was still a lump buried in his sleeping bag, but as Gibbs opened his phone a hand crept out and headed for the coffee cup.
"Only if you want to lose that hand, Tobias."
The hand was snatched back and tugged the sleeping bag down before Fornell gave him a bleary-eyed look. "You could have brought me back a cup, you know."
"Ah, you need to get up and start moving around, you lazy bum."
"That's easy for you to say." It took a good twenty minutes for Fornell to get upright and dressed. Gibbs watched, shaking his head, and reported Vance's findings once Fornell had finished.
"The missing brother is actually the suspect. Your boss has his suspicions about who tipped him off and they've got an investigation started. You're to call in at noon for an update. Hopefully by then they'll have some solid evidence."
Fornell nodded, the news wasn't that surprising after what they'd already learned. "What do they want us to do in the meantime?"
"Stay here, watch Kyle. If nothing else, we don't want to tip our hand about knowing about the switch. The brother might still show up if he's got a meet set."
Wait and see, the classic answer. Lately it seemed that Fornell's job consisted of ninety percent sitting around and ten percent in a panicked fight for survival. "Great. Any movement over there yet?"
"Not yet. Tim's got both motion and heat sensitive cameras trained on the camp. Kyle doesn't turn over in his bed without him knowing about it." Gibbs gracefully rose to his feet, enjoying the glare he got from Fornell. "Come on, he's got breakfast started, too."
Fornell picked up his toiletry bag, planning a detour to the camp restroom before breakfast. "I'm half tempted to poach him away from you when we get back."
"Nope, you can't have him, but we might let you come camping with us this spring."
"Do I get to have a real bed next time?" He got the look from Gibbs. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
--NCIS--
When Fornell returned, feeling slightly more human, the other three were just finishing their food. Tim pointed to one potato sitting on the high grill, staying warm. "I saved you one."
Tony and Gibbs were both scraping the last of the food off their plates and gave him identical non-apologetic grins. Fornell just shook his head as he took the plate Tim offered. "Yep, you're still my favorite nephew, kid."
An assortment of condiments and toppings were available and Fornell piled his potato high before he finally got his morning cup of coffee. "Who made the coffee?" Tony and Tim both pointed at Gibbs so Fornell gave his coffee a healthy shot of creamer before taking a sip.
The morning broke crisp and clear, so after breakfast they spent a few hours checking the camping supplies for water damage as everything dried out. Tim looked across to Gibbs' camp to see the older man checking his tent. "I've got seam sealer if you need any."
Gibbs dug in his pocket before holding up his own tube in answer.
At noon the sandwich makings made another appearance, but Fornell was poking around the camp kitchen, checking out was Tim was already starting. He went for casual and failed miserably. "So, what ya' working on?"
Picking up on both Gibbs' and Tony's enjoyment of needling the other man, Tim dragged it out. "Dinner."
"I figured that part out myself." He reached out to snag a piece of green pepper.
"You do realize that I have a knife in my hand."
Fornell reacted without thinking. "Yeah, but you're not Ziva so I think I'm safe." Realizing what he'd said, Fornell looked up. "Crap, sorry."
Tim shrugged, but there was a stiffness to his movements that wasn't there before. "Not your fault. It was her choice and her choice alone. But, unless you want to make a personal contribution to the protein in our dinner, I'd suggest you keep your hands out of the way while I'm chopping onions. I may not be able to throw a knife like she could, but I'm only two inches away from the chopping block. Even I can't miss it at that distance."
Not really knowing what to say, Fornell opted to not say anything but refilled Tim's coffee as his own version of an apology before retreating to call the office. Tony was nearby and as the unofficial sous-chef of the kitchen, Tim put him to work.
"Tony, you want to grab me the cumin and the smoked paprika?"
"Sure thing." Tony walked over and quickly found the requested spices - quickly enough that Gibbs got curious and joined him.
"They're alphabetized? We're out here for a week and you've got your spices alphabetized."
Tony had done his teasing earlier when they'd set up camp to begin with. "Well, you know, Dad, our little Timmy is a little OCD.
"I'm not OCD, it's CDO. Thank you very much."
Tony was grinning as if it were an old joke between them so the returning Fornell leaned closer to Gibbs. "CDO?"
It had taken a few seconds, but Gibbs had figured it out. "OCD, alphabetized."
"Yep."
--NCIS---
They might have claimed it was the stalled case or the changing weather but the truth of the matter was that it was the smell of the homemade chili bubbling away in the Dutch oven that kept them close to camp. Tim had planned it with both ground beef and ground pork but the addition of the left over steak really put it over the top.
Every time Tim shifted, the other three leaned close, hoping he'd open the lid and they'd get a whiff of what was inside. Eventually, Tim laughed and reminded them of one simple fact. "Guys, the less I open it, the better it cooks." They settled back a bit after than, but Gibbs watched carefully as Tony deliberately put some of the spices back in the wrong spot. Tim just rolled his eyes and headslapped his 'brother' before rescuing the oregano from beside the basil and the chili powder from the bottom row and putting them back in the right spot.
"Everything in the right place now?"
One container was sticking out just a fraction of an inch and Tim couldn't help but nudge it back. "Now it is." Satisfied, Tim sat down and took out a container of Tic Tacs to pop one in his mouth and Gibbs realized where the spice containers had come from.
"Apparently you save the container?"
"Yep. Had all my scouts saving theirs, too, last year."
"Clever."
"The more of them I have, the more creative I get with cooking. You want a mint?" Tim held out the container and Gibbs took three of the bright green candies.
Still on his mission to get McGee to open up to Gibbs more, Tony plopped down next to Fornell and handed him one of the fake beers before Fornell could interrupt them. "So, you ever take Emily camping?"
"No."
"Why not? Just because she's a girl?"
"Well, no, of course not." Flustered, Fornell struggled to explain. "Camping is not really something I..."
"Cause, you know, those are some of the best memories a kid can have."
Fornell wasn't quite sure how to react to this introspective version of DiNozzo. "You and Senior spend a lot of time camping?"
Tony turned to actually look at him. "Just one vacation and we were renting a cabin instead of being out in a tent, but yeah - that one week, it meant everything." He shrugged and climbed to his feet. "I'm going to bring over some more firewood. Looks like Tim's getting ready to cook something else."
Sure enough, McGee had a cast iron skillet over the fire even thought to Fornell's untrained eye, there was more than enough wood within reach for three more days of cooking. Realizing the gift he'd been given, Fornell remembered the days when he made it a point to do something special with his daughter and wondered why he'd let that time slip away.
Tony had been sleeping extremely well so Tim snuck out of the tent to let him sleep a while longer only to find Gibbs getting the fire and the coffee started.
"Morning, Tim." Gibbs appreciated the younger man's quiet approach to life, but he was a little worried. Tony had easily and joyfully started calling him Dad for the op, maintaining their cover, but Tim had not. He hadn't slipped up and called the older man Boss or Gibbs, but the idea of calling him Dad seemed to bother his youngest. First off, Gibbs tilted his head toward the camp they were watching. "He up yet?"
"Nope." Tim showed the screen of his phone. "Still buried in his blankets. If there's a change in his body temperature or any movement, one of the cameras will pick up on it and my phone will vibrate."
Gibbs knew about the cameras, but he didn't know McGee had set up motion detector and heat sensitive ones. "Not usually one to focus on the tech stuff, but I want you to know, you're doing a great job with it." He waved a hand around. "With all of this."
"Thanks." Tim beamed at the praise, but Gibbs was still noting the lack of words, even if he wasn't sure why it was bothering him.
"You go camping with the Admiral much as a kid? In fact, what did you call him before he made Admiral?"
Tim gave him a confused look. "He was a Vice Admiral."
Gibbs shook his head. "When did you start calling him by his rank?"
"I was four when he made full Lieutenant." Thinking about, Tim gave a slight shrug. "It was... expected."
"His rank was important to him?"
"He was the first of his graduating class at Annapolis to make Lieutenant, so, yeah. Probably the most important thing. Certainly more important than taking me camping or fishing. There were Scoutmasters for that chore."
Rank had never been important to Gibbs, not like his family or the chance to do his job, to take care of his men. More than that, spending time with Kelly had never been a chore. He'd met men like John McGee, always chasing the next promotion, but he'd never understood them. "He had more important things in his life and if he didn't understand that, then he was a fool, still is if he hasn't figured it out yet."
"I guess."
Another shrug and Gibbs saw remnants of the timid and shy young man that had joined his team years ago. Rather than call him on it, he instead decided to show him how a father should treat his son. He'd been doing it for years with Tony, who had finally learned to stand up and be his own man and now it was Tim's turn. "So, what's on the menu for today?"
Happy to have that particular discussion over, Tim opened one of the coolers and pulled out four potatoes that he'd baked extra the night before. Gibbs had wondered what he'd been up to with the extra potatoes and grilled steaks he'd tucked away before feeding the group. The potatoes were mostly cooked, but still firm and Tim cut the top off and scooped out most of the potato, leaving the skin and a thin layer of the potato. Pre-cooked bacon and shredded cheese went into the hollow before a raw egg was dropped in and the filled potatoes were set on the bottom grill.
"Nice."
--NCIS--
Tony woke slowly, enjoying his warm sleeping bag as the third day of the assignment started. It hadn't been quite cold enough that night for McGee to use the heater, but it was cold enough that Tony was glad he'd spent the extra ten dollars on the cold weather bag. He was just about ready to venture out of his warm nest when he heard Gibbs and Tim talking about the Admiral. Most of what Tim was telling him Tony already knew, but he was glad to hear Gibbs asking and Tim opening up to the older man. Not wanting to interrupt, Tony stayed in his bed until the conversation turned to safer topics.
Just as he heard Gibbs asking about the potatoes, he decided it was safe to venture out. He swapped his sweats for heavy clothes and sat down to put on his boots. When the rain started yesterday, Tim had set one of the lids from the plastic bins upside down just inside the door of the tent. As he explained to Tony, it was to set their boots in, the raised edge keeping mud and water from spreading inside the tent. The younger man obviously knew what he was doing as they'd come through the rains without any mud or water getting into the tent. Even the power cord was secured enough that no water had wicked in that way.
"Mmm, do I smell coffee?"
Tim laughed as his partner homed in on the pot and tossed him a few of the hazelnut creamers. "Here you go."
Gibbs took the first cup and headed back to his own tent enjoying the way the hot strong brew burned on the way down. Behind him he heard the boys talking and laughed.
Tim grinned as Tony poured three of the little packets into his cup and reached for the pot. "I'll warn you, I'm not the one that made the coffee this morning."
Tony immediately grabbed another handful of the creamers. "Thanks for the warning, that could have been bad."
Still chuckling as he stepped inside his tent, Gibbs sat down on his sleeping bag and set the cup next to him before pulling his phone out. He'd have to put it on the car charger for a while today, but he wanted to check in with Vance first to see what he'd found. Fornell was still a lump buried in his sleeping bag, but as Gibbs opened his phone a hand crept out and headed for the coffee cup.
"Only if you want to lose that hand, Tobias."
The hand was snatched back and tugged the sleeping bag down before Fornell gave him a bleary-eyed look. "You could have brought me back a cup, you know."
"Ah, you need to get up and start moving around, you lazy bum."
"That's easy for you to say." It took a good twenty minutes for Fornell to get upright and dressed. Gibbs watched, shaking his head, and reported Vance's findings once Fornell had finished.
"The missing brother is actually the suspect. Your boss has his suspicions about who tipped him off and they've got an investigation started. You're to call in at noon for an update. Hopefully by then they'll have some solid evidence."
Fornell nodded, the news wasn't that surprising after what they'd already learned. "What do they want us to do in the meantime?"
"Stay here, watch Kyle. If nothing else, we don't want to tip our hand about knowing about the switch. The brother might still show up if he's got a meet set."
Wait and see, the classic answer. Lately it seemed that Fornell's job consisted of ninety percent sitting around and ten percent in a panicked fight for survival. "Great. Any movement over there yet?"
"Not yet. Tim's got both motion and heat sensitive cameras trained on the camp. Kyle doesn't turn over in his bed without him knowing about it." Gibbs gracefully rose to his feet, enjoying the glare he got from Fornell. "Come on, he's got breakfast started, too."
Fornell picked up his toiletry bag, planning a detour to the camp restroom before breakfast. "I'm half tempted to poach him away from you when we get back."
"Nope, you can't have him, but we might let you come camping with us this spring."
"Do I get to have a real bed next time?" He got the look from Gibbs. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
--NCIS--
When Fornell returned, feeling slightly more human, the other three were just finishing their food. Tim pointed to one potato sitting on the high grill, staying warm. "I saved you one."
Tony and Gibbs were both scraping the last of the food off their plates and gave him identical non-apologetic grins. Fornell just shook his head as he took the plate Tim offered. "Yep, you're still my favorite nephew, kid."
An assortment of condiments and toppings were available and Fornell piled his potato high before he finally got his morning cup of coffee. "Who made the coffee?" Tony and Tim both pointed at Gibbs so Fornell gave his coffee a healthy shot of creamer before taking a sip.
The morning broke crisp and clear, so after breakfast they spent a few hours checking the camping supplies for water damage as everything dried out. Tim looked across to Gibbs' camp to see the older man checking his tent. "I've got seam sealer if you need any."
Gibbs dug in his pocket before holding up his own tube in answer.
At noon the sandwich makings made another appearance, but Fornell was poking around the camp kitchen, checking out was Tim was already starting. He went for casual and failed miserably. "So, what ya' working on?"
Picking up on both Gibbs' and Tony's enjoyment of needling the other man, Tim dragged it out. "Dinner."
"I figured that part out myself." He reached out to snag a piece of green pepper.
"You do realize that I have a knife in my hand."
Fornell reacted without thinking. "Yeah, but you're not Ziva so I think I'm safe." Realizing what he'd said, Fornell looked up. "Crap, sorry."
Tim shrugged, but there was a stiffness to his movements that wasn't there before. "Not your fault. It was her choice and her choice alone. But, unless you want to make a personal contribution to the protein in our dinner, I'd suggest you keep your hands out of the way while I'm chopping onions. I may not be able to throw a knife like she could, but I'm only two inches away from the chopping block. Even I can't miss it at that distance."
Not really knowing what to say, Fornell opted to not say anything but refilled Tim's coffee as his own version of an apology before retreating to call the office. Tony was nearby and as the unofficial sous-chef of the kitchen, Tim put him to work.
"Tony, you want to grab me the cumin and the smoked paprika?"
"Sure thing." Tony walked over and quickly found the requested spices - quickly enough that Gibbs got curious and joined him.
"They're alphabetized? We're out here for a week and you've got your spices alphabetized."
Tony had done his teasing earlier when they'd set up camp to begin with. "Well, you know, Dad, our little Timmy is a little OCD.
"I'm not OCD, it's CDO. Thank you very much."
Tony was grinning as if it were an old joke between them so the returning Fornell leaned closer to Gibbs. "CDO?"
It had taken a few seconds, but Gibbs had figured it out. "OCD, alphabetized."
"Yep."
--NCIS---
They might have claimed it was the stalled case or the changing weather but the truth of the matter was that it was the smell of the homemade chili bubbling away in the Dutch oven that kept them close to camp. Tim had planned it with both ground beef and ground pork but the addition of the left over steak really put it over the top.
Every time Tim shifted, the other three leaned close, hoping he'd open the lid and they'd get a whiff of what was inside. Eventually, Tim laughed and reminded them of one simple fact. "Guys, the less I open it, the better it cooks." They settled back a bit after than, but Gibbs watched carefully as Tony deliberately put some of the spices back in the wrong spot. Tim just rolled his eyes and headslapped his 'brother' before rescuing the oregano from beside the basil and the chili powder from the bottom row and putting them back in the right spot.
"Everything in the right place now?"
One container was sticking out just a fraction of an inch and Tim couldn't help but nudge it back. "Now it is." Satisfied, Tim sat down and took out a container of Tic Tacs to pop one in his mouth and Gibbs realized where the spice containers had come from.
"Apparently you save the container?"
"Yep. Had all my scouts saving theirs, too, last year."
"Clever."
"The more of them I have, the more creative I get with cooking. You want a mint?" Tim held out the container and Gibbs took three of the bright green candies.
Still on his mission to get McGee to open up to Gibbs more, Tony plopped down next to Fornell and handed him one of the fake beers before Fornell could interrupt them. "So, you ever take Emily camping?"
"No."
"Why not? Just because she's a girl?"
"Well, no, of course not." Flustered, Fornell struggled to explain. "Camping is not really something I..."
"Cause, you know, those are some of the best memories a kid can have."
Fornell wasn't quite sure how to react to this introspective version of DiNozzo. "You and Senior spend a lot of time camping?"
Tony turned to actually look at him. "Just one vacation and we were renting a cabin instead of being out in a tent, but yeah - that one week, it meant everything." He shrugged and climbed to his feet. "I'm going to bring over some more firewood. Looks like Tim's getting ready to cook something else."
Sure enough, McGee had a cast iron skillet over the fire even thought to Fornell's untrained eye, there was more than enough wood within reach for three more days of cooking. Realizing the gift he'd been given, Fornell remembered the days when he made it a point to do something special with his daughter and wondered why he'd let that time slip away.