It's Happening: NCIS

Chapter 12

Tim's POV:

I sent Melissa a text asking if she was okay after Tony and Ziva told me what happened or didn't happen. They said she speeded past them without leaving any information on why she was leaving.

She responded with telling me she took a cab and she would tell me when I get home. Something serious must have happened for her to leave work like they said she did. Especially, because she felt like she had to take a cab. I wish I would have left my keys on my desk so she wouldn't have had to ride with a stranger, but how was I supposed to know something was going to happen?

Knowing that she was at home waiting for me made the day feel longer.

I'm pleased when I get to our street and see her jeep in front of the apartment. I won't lie, I get nervous that she'll run off. She has a track record of doing that, but then I forget she did take a cab. I walk in and see her at the kitchen table where a case of beer. I couldn't be happier to see her here, but what cabbie made a pit stop for beer? I've never heard of that before.

When I get to her and see a smile grow on her face just by seeing me, I relax a little bit and give her a kiss. I sit down next to her and she hands me a beer. It's not my favorite thing but I have a feeling this is all we have for alcohol in this place.

"What happened?" It has to be something with Gibbs or Abby because she would not walk out of work the way she did if it wasn't.

She shakes her head. "No, you're going to need to take a few sips of that before I begin."

I do as she says, and I don't think there was any way this beer could have prepared me for the story she tells me.

I don't take sips but I chug it so half the can is gone.

I look at her eyes and can see she's really feeling the amount she's already drank.

She caught me up on the night that Gibbs and James told her that she was adopted. She told me how Gibbs and James knew each other for 30 years and Melissa didn't know a thing. I remember Melissa saying something about how she never remembered what her dad did after being in the Marines. She was too young to ask or remember and then he went through his alcoholism. She told me how she put it together and that's why Gibbs and James got along so well in the beginning. Then, she went to tell me that her mom, that adopted her, couldn't get pregnant and they were struggling for a very long time. Then, she told me that Gibbs and her biological mother had her and it wasn't planned.

I'm speechless.

Her life was never simple by any means. But it was easier for her to walk through before knowing any of this.

She slowly lifts the can back to my lips. "You're going to need the rest of this for me to tell you what I just found out today." She looks over at the three cans she already went through. "I know I did."

I sigh and chug the rest of the can. I add it to her pile, then open another one. My girl isn't going to be drunk by herself.

I think about how Gibbs was one of those people that had a baby by accident. I don't know why but when I look at him, I never would have guessed he would do anything remotely like that. When I think about it, it helps the beer go down faster.

She sits there for a second to figure out a way to tell me what she has to. I think I can see her get tears in her eyes, but she makes them go away.

She finds the words. "Right after you left my office, Gibbs and Fornell came to visit me."

I take sips from my new can. "Fornell?"

She shakes her head. "Yes. I didn't even want to talk to Gibbs let alone Fornell. I wanted to get out of there, but I couldn't. I just wanted everything to be over with and it keeps getting worse."

She gets a smile on her face, but I know it isn't from happiness.

"Do you remember when I told you Fornell was giving me these random flashbacks from my childhood?"

I shake my head. "Of course." I listen to everything she says.

"Well, I found out through psychoanalyzing myself while this was all happening that I was suppressing the good memories I had and only focusing on the bad ones. That's when Gibbs told me that the only way James was allowed to adopt me was if Fornell was my godfather."

"Holy shit." Falls out of my mouth. It's the only thing I can think of to say. When he said he had more to tell her, he wasn't kidding.

"He was ordered by Gibbs to visit me on birthdays and some holidays. That's why every time I saw him a memory of a present would pop into my mind."

She sits still for a second trying to smile and fight the tears. She can't stop them this time.

"Baby." I get up to wrap my arms around her. She's still trying to stop the tears, but she doesn't have to do that with me.

"I'm sorry. It's just how many people are in my life that know things about me, and I don't even know who they are." She confesses.

I make her look at me so I can wipe the tears from her face. She smiles for a second and I think it's genuine.

"How many corners am I going to turn and meet someone that I already know?"

"I don't know baby." I tell her honestly. Every time she blinks there's another thing that changes her life. Her childhood as she thought she knew it is changing and she can't stop it. She wants to know everything and wishes not to deal with the consequences moving forward.

I sit back down when it feels like she put herself back together.

I think about what she said and come up with a question. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you talked to James?"

She sighs and her shoulders fall yet again. "No."

I take her hand. "Baby, I know he hid this from you, but have you looked at it from his point of view?"

"Yes, I did, and you want to know what I saw? I still saw all the horrible things he put me through as if I asked for it. As if I wanted them to fail having a child. Like I wanted my mother to cheat on him."

She's rambling. I can tell she's not breathing. "Melissa."

"It's like he thinks I gave him his first drop of alcohol and made him this way."

"Melissa." I get up to put my hands on her shoulders. I hate when she gets like this and I'm the one who provoked it.

"I didn't make him stop going to work. I couldn't even get myself to school!"

I bring her into me, and she cries. I can feel her breathing and this is what I wanted to hear from her.

She groans and pushes herself away from me.

"What is it?" I nervously ask her.

"I'm done crying. I've had enough of this. When I'm ready or the next time I see Gibbs, I'm telling him that he either tells me everything right then and there or he might as well keep his mouth shut because I am done doing this."

She looks at me with her wide eyes and takes my face. I'm still on the floor on her level as she sits in the chair.

"This is our time. We're engaged. We're getting ready to plan a wedding. This is the only thing I want to focus on. Us. I just want us to be happy. I'm done being sad."

She says as she still has tears on her face. I don't address them.

"I want that too." It's all I've wanted this entire time. With her saying this, I realize that this isn't up to me. It isn't in my power for her to move on from this. It's all in her hands what she wants to do. All I have to do is love her and support her which is all I've done.

It's only now that I realize it's what she needs.

"You're still with me?"

"Always."