Palimpsest

“You did what?” Tony yelled at McGee, fingering the palimpsest he’d found of McGee’s latest book.

“I’m really sorry, Tony.” McGee cringed. He hadn’t wanted Tony to find out about this ever, but especially not this way.

Tony was honestly surprised that McGee had anything handwritten. He’d thought he was all about the computer or if he was feeling old school the typewriter, but here was a rough draft that had incompletely erased versions of the rough draft. Of course, it wasn’t how McGee had written that bothered Tony. It was what he’d written.

He had never been overly fond of McGee’s books, but he’d crossed the line this time. “It wasn’t bad enough that you and Ziva couldn’t even back me up on an easy assignment, but now you had to make me the laughing stock of the entire nation if not the entire world.”

“It’s not that bad, Tony.” McGee tried to calm him down.

“Not that bad? Have you seen the news, McGee. It’s all over it. I’m a laughingstock.” Tony snarled.

“I’ve already taken it off the internet.” McGee protested.

“Too little, too late. McGee.” Tony turned and stormed out.

McGee sighed. Tony had just called him by name. He was really in trouble.

“You know you really should have thought this through better?” Abby remarked.

“What do you mean?” McGee questioned.

“Tony may play the jokester, but there’s a lot more to him than that. Which you should know after the number of times he’s helped you, Timmy.” Abby reprimanded. “I can’t believe you made him out to be so useless that he must be riding on someone’s coat tails because so much gets past him. I’m disappointed in you, Timmy.” Abby left to follow after Tony and try to cheer him up, by reminding him that not everyone saw him the way Tim had portrayed him in his book.

Tim didn’t know what to think. He’d managed to hurt Tony and disappoint Abby, his best friend and girlfriend respectively. That certainly wasn’t what he’d intended when he’d written the book. Nor had he realized it would become so popular that the character he’d loosely based off of Tony would become the laughingstock on news stations overnight.

He resolved to talk to Tony tomorrow and make it up to him. He knew Abby wouldn’t be able to hold a grudge for long. They were dating after all.

When he arrived at NCIS tomorrow, Tony was already hard at work. He walked up to Tony and tried to say something, but Tony ignored him and continued working. When he pressed it, Tony calmly stated. “There’s cold case files on your desk, McGee.”

Tony was worse than when Brenda had died, which is to say he was solving cold cases and active cases faster than ever before. There was no sign of the normal tension breakers that Tony used to toss about when the bullpen got too tense. Now, he was all serious all the time.

McGee still tried to get back in favor by bringing Tony lunch, hot chocolate, and anything else he thought Tony might like, but to no avail. Tony continued to shut him out and maintain his completely serious demeanor.

McGee couldn’t handle it after a while and would retreat down to Abby’s lab when it got to be too much. The reception wasn’t much better there, but at least Abby would talk to him beyond barking orders. She mostly demanded that he fix this mess with Tony, however.

He didn’t know how to make it up to Tony, however. The book had already been printed and it wasn’t like he could stop it now. When he confessed that to Abby she called him an idiot and told him not to make it out to be more than it was. “Tony would respond to a sincere apology.” She explained.

McGee decided that perhaps this would be better resolved outside of work hours, so he picked up Tony’s favorite pizza and a couple bottles of his favorite wine and headed over to Tony’s after work. McGee knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered.

Tony sighed when he saw McGee at his door. “What do you want?” Tony really wasn’t up to this. He needed a break from it all and to be able to relax.

“I brought your favorite pizza and wine.” McGee offered holding out the pizza box and wine bottles as proof.

“Fine. Come in.” Tony muttered standing back from the door enough to let McGee in before closing it behind McGee. “This better be good.”

“Oh. It is.” McGee offered a tight smile. “You better turn on the news. You won’t want to miss this.”

“I’m really not in the mood, McGee.” Tony stated.

“Trust me, you’ll want to see this.” McGee offered solemnly.

Tony gave in. He wasn’t up to fighting right now and flipped on the news. He was surprised to see McGee on the TV making a formal retraction regarding his new book.

On TV, McGee went on to explain how the character was based off his best friend who was much more than he appeared and that the book had not gone into his deeper levels like it should. He’d also offered a formal apology to his friend for not doing justice to him and for hurting him.

In person, McGee quietly stated. “I’m really sorry, Tony. Forgive me?” He thrust the pizza box at Tony in apology.

Tony looked between the screen and his friend who’d brought his favorite pizza and wine and made an embarrassingly formal apology on TV.

“Well we can’t let this pizza go to waste.” He murmured grabbing a piece and starting to eat it. He switched the TV to a movie for them to watch once McGee’s interview finished.

Tony relaxed into his couch and put his feet up on the coffee table as he let the movie watch over him. It was the first time since his character became a news sensation that he was able to really relax. McGee was still slightly tense, but he slowly relaxed as he watched Tony’s good humor slowly return. He knew then that things would eventually be fine between them again.

McGee couldn’t wait for things to go back to normal. He’d really missed his best friend even though he’d still technically been around. He even hoped Tony would go back to pranking him soon. He missed seeing Tony’s smile most of all.