#mcgee reader insert

Anastasia had been hovering around your desk since you had arrived in the bullpen. You hadn’t paid her much mind as you start opening your countless new emails from the day before, but when she starts to pull on the sleeve of your blue button-up, you turn a bit in your chair and give her your attention, making sure she could read your lips as you speak. 

“Anastasia, I know it’s not the most fun here, but it will only be for a few hours.” You say half-heartedly, too tired from the lack of a good night’s rest, combined with the exhaustion you were experiencing from working three back-to-back cases. You were, admittedly, still trying to scan your emails as you spoke to her.

She nudges you again, this time causing you to turn to her fully. “What Anastasia?” Your tone was sharper than before, and although Anastasia wouldn’t be able to pick up on it, your tone did cause Tim to lift his head and look at you, sending a worried stare your way. You shake your head at him pointedly. 

Anastasia starts rapidly signing, something she did when she either didn’t feel comfortable talking or if she wanted to ‘speak’ quickly. ‘Papa is late. He should be here by now mom. Where is he? Where is he?’ It takes you a second to connect the dots, but you realize your daughter is right, Gibbs was late. You make sure to face her as you stand. “I don’t know angel.” You catch Tim’s attention with a stern clearing of your throat and give a quick, questioning nod towards Gibbs’ desk. Tim’s brow furrows and he immediately picks up his desk phone and punches in a number, one you know is Gibbs’. He apparently gets no answer as he slams his phone back down in his haste to get on his computer.

Your attention shifts from Anastasia to Tim as you see a frustrated look overtake his face. You swiftly walk to his desk, leaning towards him. Tim grips one of your hands with his, his eyes searching yours.  You ask quietly under your breath, mostly to prevent Tony from looking over at the two of you, “Where is he?”

You should have known that would never happen. That man had the hearing of a dog when he wanted to. “What’s up Mr. and Mrs. McGee?” Tony asks, standing from his desk and walking over to you both. “What are you two whispering about?” 

Tim starts to fill in Tony as you look around the bullpen for Anastasia. She had been rather quiet after grabbing your attention and you were starting to worry about where she had wandered off to. You scan the bullpen, once, twice, three times before scurrying back to check underneath your desk, just in case. 

“Y/N/N, what are you doing?” Tim asks, standing up as well upon seeing your distress.

The adrenaline pumping through your veins and the racing of your thoughts have you answering in a smattering of incomplete thoughts. “I-I can’t find her Tim. I don’t...where did she...I can’t find our daughter.” At this point you were hysterically searching in the cubicles around the bullpen, earning startled glances and disapproving looks from those in their cubicles. All the worst-case scenarios were swirling around in your head as you look among the desks on the floor. You even stick your head in both bathrooms, in case she was in one of them.

When you came back into the bullpen you notice that Tony was gone and it was just Tim. He places a firm set of hands on your shoulders, holding you in place and effectively grounding you. “Y/F/N, take a breath. Tony went down to see if Abby would go over the security footage for the floor. He will be back in a minute.” Tim’s voice was soothing as he pulled you into his embrace. You took a deep breath in, inhaling his scent. “She couldn’t have gone far.” You appreciate Tim’s collected cool at the moment, as you were barely keeping it together.

After only a few minutes, Tony returns with Abby and Ducky trailing behind him. Abby immediately pulls you into a hug, whispering a soft “It will be fine” in your ear. As you step back from the embrace, you hear Tony telling Tim that Anastasia had left the bullpen via the elevator after she had stopped and looked at something on Gibbs’ desk. You spin around, turning to look at the mess that had taken claim over Gibbs’ desk.

“What? What did she see?” You frantically ask Tony as you start rummaging through the papers, files, and scraps of paper.

“Hey, Y/F/N.” Tim soothes as he places a hand on your arm. “Just stop for a second and let’s look at this differently. What if Anastasia was looking for something that might tell her where Gibbs is? You know how connected the two of them are.” Tim’s words make you remember what the original issue had been, Gibbs’ extreme tardiness, something that was uncharacteristic for him.

You step away from the desk, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. What would I be looking for if I was Anastasia? You let the thought sink in before opening your eyes and looking at the desk in a new light. After a minute of sifting through the papers on top of the desk, you find a scrap of paper with an address written on it. It wasn’t an address you remembered from any previous case or the current case for that matter.

“Tim, I’m going to look up this address. Can you and Tony gather footage from traffic cameras in the area to see if you can find any indication of where Anastasia or Gibbs went?” Tim voices his agreement and you move from Gibbs’ desk to your own to get to work.

-- GIBBS --

Gibbs hadn’t been late to work that morning. In fact, he had arrived earlier than he usually did, intent on hunting down a lead on their current case that had been bugging him all night long. A nagging feeling of doubt had followed him around after he and Tony had interviewed the only witness to the murder of CPO (Chief Petty Officer) Johnson. Staff Sergeant Bennett’s, the witness and a good friend of the victim, story had been too perfect in Gibbs’ opinion. He conveniently hadn’t seen the killer’s face, yet knew the exact weapon that had been used. He hadn’t been able to accurately describe the killer’s physique, yet he had many a speculation as to why this suspect had attacked CPO Johnson. Upon arriving at his desk, Gibbs booted up his computer and quickly searched up Bennett’s address.

His hasty departure from the building led to him forgetting the slip he wrote the address on, on top of his desk. Lucky enough, he knew where Bennett’s apartment building was, and it wasn’t far. He made the short five minute drive in four and was on the second floor, knocking on Bennett’s heavy metal apartment door less than two minutes after that. After waiting a few moments, Gibbs’ hand reaches for the door handle, in hopes of the door being unlocked when suddenly it swings open to reveal Staff Sergeant Bennett.

“Ah, Agent Gibbs. What brings you here this early in the morning?” His voice is polite and a fake smile is plastered to his face.

“I thought I would come and go over a few details of your testimony.” He answers stiffly, not fully trusting the man in front of him.

“Why don’t you come in then Agent? We can discuss whatever you want.” Bennett said, stepping aside to allow space for him to get into the apartment. That was the last coherent thought that he had before a sharp, heavy weight hit him in the back of the head.

An incessant knocking on the door of the apartment, along with a deep, throbbing pain, pulls him from the fog clouding his mind. He felt where the gun had connected with his head and where Bennett had kicked him multiple times in the back and ribs. His face and head were throbbing from the multiple hits Bennett had given him. He was in such intense pain that he couldn’t even bring himself to move.

He stayed still for a moment, looking around to see if Bennett was still in the apartment. Bennett was nowhere to be found. A knocking on the door broke him from his thoughts. He tried to sit up, but the rush of pain made him gasp and slowly fade back into darkness.

--YOU--

The hours tick by slowly as you keep coming up with nothing. The address belonged to a Staff Sergeant Bennett, who Tony and Gibbs had interviewed the day before. Tony had gone to check out the address and the door had, conveniently, been unlocked. Tony didn’t find anything out of place in the room and had returned shortly later. 

All the other leads the three of you had pursued since then had led to nothing and each dead end had left you more and more frustrated and upset. You had just about given in to the emotions that were fighting for control when Tim’s desk phone rang. 

You turn your attention to Tim and listen in on his side of the conversation, hoping that it was a break in the case.

“Hello,...yes, this is he...just now?...are you sure?...okay, we’ll be there right away.” He hung up and caught your eye immediately. 

“That was the hospital not too far from here. Gibbs arrived in an ambulance with a little girl just over an hour ago. He is fine, just banged up. Anastasia was the one to give the nurse my name and number to contact me.” He says as he stood, grabs his jacket and with you trailing closely behind him, quickly makes his way for the elevator. The two of you are in your car less than five minutes later, heading for the hospital at record speed. 

The car is barely stopped before you are out of the passenger seat and running for the emergency entrance. You frantically demand Gibbs’ room number from a nurse and are running off in the direction of the room before she even has a chance to ask if you are family. You reach the room only a short minute later and are flying into the room without stopping to knock.

“Anastasia.” You call, catching Gibbs’ attention in the bed, and as a response, Anastasia’s too. You scoop the girl up in your arms and squeeze her tight, tears of relief falling down your cheeks. Tim has arrived in the room and pulls you both into his embrace. He presses a kiss to Anastasia’s head and then to yours, whispering, “It’s alright now. We are all together.”

You pull back from the embrace and look Anastasia in the eyes. “Don’t you ever do that again. You scared me so badly Anastasia. It was so dangerous. You could have gotten hurt, or worse, taken.” You say it slowly, taking your hands away from her so you could sign it as well, wanting to make sure she understood you. Tim nods and adds, “We are here to help. We don’t ever want you to do something like that alone, again.”

Anastasia nods her head before she starts to rapidly sign back to you and Tim. ‘I was worried about Papa. He was supposed to be at work but he wasn’t. I found the address and used the GPS on my phone to find it. No one was there when I knocked so I opened the door. And then I saw Papa lying on the ground, hurt. I called 911 using that app that Daddy put on my phone and waited with him for the ambulance to arrive.’ She paused, wiping away a tear that had fallen. ‘And when we got here, I couldn’t leave him. He stayed with me and I had to stay with him.’

You let out a groan of frustration as you look at the stack of paperwork you still had yet to finish on your desk. It seemed that you never made a dent in the stack, rather, after each case, it looked to only double in size. 

Tim had long since gone home for the night and you hadn’t the faintest idea where Gibbs was. That meant it was just you and Tony in the half-lit, deserted bullpen. You bite back another groan as you set your pen down, your eyes automatically finding Tim’s empty desk. 

As you stare at his vacant chair, you can’t help but wish that he was actually there. He was your best friend, partner, and love of your life and always made things, work-related or not, better simply by being there. Of course, you had never admitted to him that he was anything more than a partner and friend, despite how painfully obvious it was to everyone but him. Even Gibbs knew.

“Ah, would you just tell him already doll?” Tony’s voice snaps you from your reverie. You turn to him, feigning confusion as you say, “I am unsure of what you mean Tony.”

Tony lets out a bark of a laugh. “Sure doll. The only one who doesn’t know is McOblivious. Heck, I’m sure Ducky even knows by now.” You let out a sigh, knowing you couldn’t fake your way out of this conversation. You turn your attention back to the pen in your hand, fiddling with it as you ask, “What am I supposed to do Tony? I have given him so many hints and he still hasn’t gotten it.” It was quiet for a few minutes after that. 

Then you hear Tony stand up from his desk, his heavy footsteps making their way to your desk, causing you to lift your head to look at him. He grabs your jacket from where it was strewn across the small chair behind your desk. 

“Y/N, you’ve got to tell him. Stop giving him hints, he’ll never figure it out.” Tony says as he holds your jacket up. You quirk an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he was doing. 

“Now. You’ve got to go tell him now.” He adds. You slowly stand up, letting Tony help you with your jacket. You had always wanted to tell him, but could never work up the courage, thus the countless hints you had thrown at him. Now that you knew you would be telling him, a heavy cloud of hesitation and doubt settled over you.

“But, what if he doesn’t feel the same way? What am I going to do then Tony?” You ask quietly as you gather the rest of your things into your bag. 

Tony places a soft hand on your arm. In a moment of complete seriousness, he answers. “Then he is a bigger idiot than I thought.” His words make you turn to look at him. He has a far off look in his eyes as he adds, “Whatever happens, you’ll know it wasn’t because you didn’t put yourself out there. And if he is an idiot, then I’ll be right here for you okay?”

You nod and sling your bag over your shoulder. “Now go and find McNerd.” He says, the familiar glint of humor back in his eyes. 

The drive to Tim’s apartment is short, much shorter than you would have liked, considering the task at hand. You take a minute to compose yourself before you exit the car. 

You reach to grab the door handle of the building when it flies open, catching you off guard and causing you to stumble back. A hand snakes out, stopping you from falling backward. You steady yourself against a strong chest before looking up. Words of gratitude are perched on your lips when you realize that the person still holding you close is Tim. 

“Tim.” You whisper, the words you had been ready, or at least as ready as you’d ever be, to tell him moments earlier, flying out of your head. 

“Oh, Y/N. What are you doing here?” His voice sends pleasant shivers down your spine. 

You step back, in hopes of clearing your head. “I..uh...actually came to see you. I want to tell you something.” You unconsciously pull your jacket around you tighter, in hopes of fighting off the cold December air. 

Tim notices the small act and he pulls you closer, wrapping a strong arm around your shoulders. “Why don’t we step inside?” He suggests. 

You shake your head and step back from him, your body craving his warmth almost immediately. “I’ve got to say this before I lose my nerve.” You take a fortifying breath before you continue. “I love you, Tim. I have for a long time now. And even if you don’t feel the same way, I needed to tell you.” You whisper. 

Fat flakes of falling snow create an eerily quiet, yet tenderly soft, atmosphere as you wait for Tim to say something. He stares at you a long moment before a wide smile breaks out on his face. 

Instead of saying anything, he pulls you into his arms, his lips meeting yours in a deeply passionate kiss. You feel a hand cupping your cheek and another on the low of your back. You kiss him until you have to pull back for a desperate breath. He rests his forehead against yours, his hot breath fanning across your face and causing the few flakes of snow resting in your eyelashes to melt.