Life Line: An NCIS Fanfiction [Book One]

Chapter 5 - Plan

By eight o'clock, Carter was home and in bed. Flipping through the channels on her television, she was again interrupted by the sound of knocking on her door. She sighed and pushed her blankets to the side of the bed. Looking through the peep hole, she could see Tim standing outside the door. "Yes, Tim?"

"I'm sorry, Carter, but you left this in my car." Tim looked down at a camouflage pen in his hands.

"You could have kept it." Carter laughed.

"But it's yours. I don't want it in my car."

"What did you expect, an exploding pen?" Carter smirked. Tim looked completely confused.

"What...?" Tim asked, intently thinking about what she could have meant.

"Skyfall...? Come on, Tim! You've never seen Skyfall?" He shook his head no. As much as she wanted to keep to herself, she wanted to give Tim a taste of her favorite thing. Movies. "Wanna stay over and watch it?"

"Sure!... I mean... I guess. Yeah that would be cool." Tim said excitedly. He ran back to his apartment to grab a case of beer and some chips. When he returned Carter led Tim to her bedroom and plopped down onto the bed. Tim awkwardly stood at the door until Carter patted her hand on the bed right next to her. He laughed and sat down on the bed next to her. Carter took the remote and scrolled through Netflix until she reached what she was looking for, and pressed play.

Buzz! Buzz!

Carter rubbed her eyes and grabbed her phone off of the bedside table. It had Gibbs' name displayed on the top. "Shit." Fumbling around with her phone she answered it, "Hello?... I'm late? What time is it?... Ten?!... McGee isn't there either?" Slowly Carter turned around to see Tim fast asleep in her bed, surrounded with empty beer cans. "No I don't know where he is. I'll figure it out for you though... Be there soon... Tim! Get up now!"

"Wha... What?... Oh my god. Why am I still here?! Did I stay the night?!" Tim asked, frantically getting up.

"Yes! We both must have fallen asleep during the movie! We are late for work!"

"And we are together... They are going to think something happened between us when we show up to work together!" Tim put his hands on top of his head while pacing Carter's room. Carter was rummaging through her closet trying to find something to wear.

"Go home! Get ready to go!" Carter shouted at Tim. He ran out the door and slammed it shut. Quickly Carter pulled on her clothes and brushed her hair, just in time for Tim to run back in the door to grab his phone. "Ready?" Carter huffed.

"Ready. Let's go!" Tim said running out to his car. Carter followed after locking her apartment door. The ride to the office was awkwardly silent.

"Listen, Tim... We didn't..."

"No!" Tim interrupted her.

"Good." Carter sighed in relief. Pulling in to a parking spot, they jumped out of the car. "Nothing happened last night, got it? You stayed in your apartment and I stayed in mine. That's it. We both just overslept."

"Sounds like a plan." Tim said as the elevator doors slid open.