Chapter Text
Chapter One
London:
Tim walked away from the customs officer, through the building to the throng of people waiting for his fellow passengers off the flight from DC. He'd never flown into Heathrow before and was amused at the excitement and awe he felt looking at the crowds of people and knowing he was in the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England! Almost the first thing he could see clearly was a sign with his name on it. Looking from the sign up into the face of the man holding it, he nodded to him. The young man was a couple of inches taller than his own 6' 1", his lanky frame and curly hair reminding him of his baby brother Rob.
"I'm Timothy McGee."
"Oh, good, that was quick. You must have sailed through Customs."
Tim just smiled, "Everything is in order, wasn't difficult."
"Good, oh, sorry, I'm James Powell, we'll be working together."
"Ok, but we need to show each other our credentials or I could be Joe Schmoe deciding to pose as Timothy McGee and catch a free ride into town."
"Oh, of course." The other man put the sign under his arm while he dug out his NCIS id. Tim watched him carefully and then did the same. Having established each was who he said he was, Tim relaxed his shoulders.
"So you drew the short straw to meet me today? Sorry you had to give up your free time."
"Oh no, I volunteered when I figured out who was joining us." Tim was nonplussed by that but decided to ignore it in favor of following Powell through the rest of the vast customs area.
Powell stopped, "We're going to take the train into London, easier that way."
Tim nodded. He liked trains a lot more than he liked planes, although the flight had been fairly smooth. He was looking forward to his first glimpses of the English countryside or whatever the views would be on the way into the city. Hopefully he could see something even at this late hour.
"Were you told where you were going to be staying?"
Tim nodded, "Yes, I have the name and address of the hotel I'm booked into."
"It's up to you, but I have a guest room at my flat. I'm new to London myself, I thought it might be fun if you stayed with me, we'll have the same work schedule and then we can see the sights during our off hours."
Tim, having been forewarned by Vance's assistant of a proposal to share quarters, had had time to think about it and now grinned at his new co-worker. "That does sound like more fun than a hotel, James, especially since I'm only going to be here for a few weeks."
James grinned, "Great!"
By now the two men had reached the waiting train and swung Tim's luggage up the steps, scrambling up after them. Before they pulled away from the airport, Tim called the hotel and cancelled his booking. He followed that with an e-mail to Ms. Cooke, letting her know the revised plan.
The train ride was just long enough to whet Tim's appetite to learn more about England and in particular London. From the station in London, the two men quickly made their way to James' flat. Tim took some time to unpack and hang up his clothes, took a quick shower and then the two men headed out to a nearby pub for a bite to eat. As they walked, Tim found he was in danger of spraining his neck as he tried to take everything in and then realized to his chagrin that he was acting like a typical tourist. After all, he was here to work, not play tourist. James nudged him with his elbow, "Isn't it great? I've lived in a small village- Castleton- all my life and now I'm here where there's everything!"
Tim smiled, "There's a lot to take in, that's for sure." He paused, "How long have you been here, James?"
"Two weeks tomorrow."
"Ah, so we're both brand new. And you're new to NCIS?" James nodded. After they'd eaten and watched a couple of games of darts, the two decided to walk around the neighborhood. Tim had more than a passing interest in architecture and was entranced with the Georgian style buildings, with the wide white steps and columns. It was one thing to read about the style, even to view photos online, and another to see it in real life. Tim enjoyed the walk but within a few minutes found he was tired enough to drop in his tracks. He realized this is what Vance had warned him about, jet lag. He said something to James and the other man grimaced, having forgotten about Tim's long flight. He quickly steered them back to the flat and Tim stumbled into his room, kicked his shoes off and face planted onto his new bed.
He slept a solid ten hours and woke with a start, not sure where he was. He spotted one of his suitcases and remembered he was in London. He followed his nose to the kitchen, finding a coffeemaker brewing coffee. James was nowhere in sight so Tim rummaged through the nearly bare cupboards until he found coffee mugs. Opening the small refrigerator, he spotted a small container of cream and poured a bit into his mug, then scooped in some sugar from the small bowl on the table. Now he was ready for his coffee, all he needed was a spoon. He opened the first drawer he saw, spotted silverware and grabbed a spoon. Pouring his coffee, he stirred it and took his first sip, sighing happily, it was just right. He drank it down and then poked around the kitchen. Going back to the tiny refrigerator, the size of the one in his sister's college dorm room, he found bacon, eggs, bread and butter. He'd spotted a small skillet and plates during his search for a coffee mug, now he pulled them out, lit a burner on the stove and soon had several slices of bacon cooking. When that was close to done, he added the eggs and scrambled them.
While breakfast was cooking, he pulled the toaster from the corner of the counter and popped in two slices of bread. Just as everything was ready, the toast popped up and James wandered into the kitchen and smiled when he realized his temporary flatmate had cooked enough breakfast for both of them. He put butter and marmalade on the table, made some tea and then sat across from Tim.
When they'd finished eating and were enjoying their coffee and tea, James asked, "What do you want to see today, Tim? I figure we can probably go for four or five hours before your jet lag kicks in again. After a rest, we could go back out for dinner, I heard there's a great Chinese restaurant over in Covent Garden and maybe we can score some tickets to one of the plays."
Tim smiled, "That sounds like fun. How about the British Museum now? I'd love to visit that!"
James nodded, "I've never been there either, sounds good!"
The Brit grabbed his already tattered map of the Underground and the two men headed for the closest station. Figuring out the stops was easy and in less than an hour, they were at the famous museum, queued up to purchase tickets. Both men thoroughly enjoyed what they were able to see in the museum during the 5 hours Tim lasted. James spotted the fatigue when it settled on his flatmate once again - the lagging steps, the swallowed yawns. He turned and led the way to the exit, Tim following and not really noticing until they were outside. Back at the flat, he slept hard for a few hours and then woke up, ready to go again. It was evening by that time so they followed the plan they'd discussed that morning and headed to Covent Garden for dinner and possibly a show. They got as far as Oxford Street and walked down it to Piccadilly Circus, then cut across to Leicester Square and there was Covent Garden in front of them. Once they got there, they started looking at restaurants. Tim looked up information on his new phone and they decided to try Kopapa, touted as serving fusion meals and as a popular and eclectic place. Making their reservation online was easy and they had only a few minutes before they would be seated. They had already taken a look at what shows were available and had decided to try for tickets to "A Woman in Black", which sounded like fun. It was at the Fortune Theater and after they secured the tickets online, they mapped out their route from the restaurant to the theater. By the time they had all that settled it was time to enter the restaurant. The two men enjoyed the variety of small dishes they ordered and shared, both having decided to experiment with the menu. They relaxed as they ate, with plenty of time before they had to be at the theater.
Tim enjoyed the play, which kicked off with a funeral, setting the tone for the rest of the story. It was very subtly done and he found that as a writer, he was fascinated with the nuances of the play. The time flew by and he was still wide awake and fully engaged as the play drew to a close. Since he was still wide awake, they stopped in at a famous pub, The Harp, for a drink before returning to the flat. Determined to capture as much of his first days of his new life as possible, Tim took out his journal and noted his arrival and the events of the last two days. Tomorrow they had plans for a full day, no naps. They'd head to Buckingham Palace for a nearly mandatory viewing of the Changing of the Guard. While Tim was looking forward to it, he was nowhere near as excited as James which made sense; after all James was an Englishman, seeing many of his own country's treasures for the first time. Tim wanted to visit Westminster Abbey, to see the tombs of the poets and writers interred there, but the Abbey was open for worship only on Sundays. He made a note to find time on some other day. That freed up time to take in Big Ben, Hyde Park, the London Eye, the Tower of London, the Millennium Bridge, the new Globe Theater, and whatever else they could cram in. Sherlock Holmes' address at 221b Baker St. was on Tim's list and James admitted he had promised his father he'd take a photo there. They had decided to keep a running list on Tim's phone, that way, he could share it with James if the project was finished and he left for Greece before everything had been seen. He'd love to take a trip up to Scotland and visit Ducky's hometown but that took more time than he had available and he knew the project would have top priority. Once again he reminded himself he was in London to work, not to play.
The two men finally decided to take a bus tour of the sites and that at least gave them a peek at everything. The bus was a double decker and both men appreciated being in the fresh air, although the climb up and down the narrow spiral staircase was a bit tricky with their heights. They were surprised to find that the Buckingham Palace stop was actually behind the Palace. The tour guide explained that the relief troop would emerge from a guard house just a block away and would march right past them, turning a sharp right into the street in front of them. Even Tim, not usually one for a whole lot of fuss and ceremony, had to admit to a certain thrill as the guard marched precisely past them. Back on the bus, they had top deck views of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and other famous buildings. One of Tim's favorite stops was the London Eye and they left the tour to ride the Eye. Tim had been a bit nervous about the height but he was busy looking out over the City of London and barely noticed how high in the sky they were. He purposely did not look down at the Thames or the railroad bridge or other bridges until he knew the ride was drawing to a close. They walked back across the Thames on one of the bridges they'd seen from above and hopped on the next tour bus to complete their tour. Tim had to admit he was surprised to find himself briefly wishing he could tell his former co-workers about his adventure. For better or worse he had worked with them for several years, although he had rarely shared any of his personal life with them. Not voluntarily anyway. He found it a touch ironic that this was one day he would have gladly shared, even if it meant DiNozzo belittling him even more than usual. Ah well, that was something he didn't even have to think about anymore.
It had been a very busy day and by early evening, Tim was admittedly flagging. They stopped in at the local pub for dinner before heading back to the flat. Tim had just enough energy to get up the stairs and take a quick shower before falling into bed. He sure hoped this was the last of the jet lag as it was only 8 PM!
Monday morning rolled around and Tim woke before the alarm, refreshed and excited to start work on the project. James made them a quick breakfast and they hopped on the Tube for a quick ride into the NCIS office. He was introduced to the SAIC and team and was given a thorough briefing on the work that had already been done on the project and what still needed to be done. Later he realized that Vance had told him what his position would be on the project team but with everything else said that day, he hadn't really taken it in. He was in fact the project manager. The SAIC had been handling it during the planning and early development stages but he was ecstatic to have Tim take it from his busy hands. By mid-afternoon, Tim was up to speed, had had quick meetings with his staff and let them all get to work. He himself was hands-on, trying to keep a grin off his face.