Title: Adaptation, a Torchwood/NCIS Crossover (8/?)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Tim McGee, LJ Gibbs, Ducky Mallard, others

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack and Ianto in it (not to mention Tim & Jethro!)

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: Tim McGee’s worlds collide as Torchwood is drawn into an NCIS case

Author's Note: This is part of an AU where Gwen and Owen were killed by Gray. So if you want to know why Martha is married to Rhys, why Jack and Ianto have a CP, two sons and two adopted daughters, and why Andy and Ianto are Kings of an alien race that settled on Earth millennia ago, you may want to read Evolution and Bred in the Bone first
Author's Note: This is the site of the Winter Court: Tre'r Cairi

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Part Seven is here; Interlude is here

Next morning I walked into the office to find that two of my guys had made it in before I had. One I expected to see. Ellen Robbins usually arrived with the sunrise. She was the ultimate morning person; her cheerfulness drove everyone nuts. On the other hand, seeing Max “Geegee” Vasiliou pounding away industriously at his keyboard was a surprise.

GeeGee was as much a night owl as Ellen was an early bird. His social life was legendary. He reminded me of Tony when I had first met him, but where Tony had been a bit creative with his tales, GeeGee didn't need to exaggerate. The “GeeGee” was actually “G.G.” and it stood for Gorgeous Greek. He allowed the moniker with amusement, perfectly secure in himself and his own abilities.

“Hey, GeeGee, what are you doing here at this hour?”

“I had an idea last night, boss.” The younger agents had picked up on our habit of calling Gibbs “boss” rather than “director” and turned it on us. “I've known a few sailors in my time and a good number of them have a hard time hanging on to a paycheck. If a gang is making a fortune in illegal antiquities, at least some of them are spending it.”

“GeeGee, there are over five thousand sailors and air crew in the Truman.”

He tapped his forehead. “That's where the idea came in, boss. I'm not looking at the sailors. I'm looking at their wives and husbands.”

“How about boyfriends, girlfriends, and SO's, Max?” Ellen piped up without looking away from her terminal. She was the only one who ever called Max by his real name.

“If I don't find something in the first pass, I'll enlarge the radius,” he conceded, “but people trust their legal spouses more. I think we'll get something.”

I left them discussing search parameters and headed upstairs to see Gibbs. He had given me a ride home after dinner, but we hadn't spoken much, keeping what passed for conversation on the case. He had left me at my door, refusing the offer of a beer or coffee. I still had no idea how things stood between us.

The outer office was still empty; Lily didn't get in until nine. I knocked and went in when he answered.

“Morning, boss.”

“Morning, McGee.” He gestured towards the credenza, where a full pot of coffee waited in the Capresso. “I know for sure that Jack and Ianto did not come by this morning, but that was just finishing up when I walked in.”

I poured myself a cup. “Ah... yes, well... there are traces of Small One magic here. They probably have a personal assistant of sorts.”

“Do you?”

I stirred sugar and a little cream into my coffee. “No. That's a prerogative of the Kings. The Small Ones are friends and companions, not servants.”

“Not like house-elves?”

“Bite your tongue!” I laughed. “Do you know how long it took to dissuade the bachgen'in from going after Rowling's head? I heard the Puck was ready to go full Midsummer Night's Dream on her.”

He was staring at me like I'd grown two heads. “Puck? The Puck? Robin Goodfellow?”

Oops. I walked around the desk and sat on one of the chairs facing it. “Ah... yeah. He's the name given by mortals to the Eldest of the Small Ones.”

“And Shakespeare picked it up?”

“Boss...” I took a deep breath. “Not quite. The Puck was wandering through the countryside one summer eve and met up with a young boy. According to the stories the Small Ones tell, the boy had his eyes full of stars and a head full of stories. Puck took him under his wing and taught him, and in exchange, the boy told him his stories. The bachgen'in adored Will.”

“Bach...gen'in?” he asked, stumbling over the pronunciation.

“It means Small Ones in what we call the High Tongue, taffodh y Tylwyth. The Welsh borrowed the root, bach, to mean little.”

He shook his head. “I've fallen head first into a fairy tale.”

“No, that you haven't.” I sipped at my coffee, trying to find the words to explain. “We're refugees, Jethro. We snuck across a border just like any illegal immigrant, except our border was a rift between Universes. And we had to close it behind us to keep the energy of more than a hundred exploding stars from flooding this Universe. This isn't our home, but we don't have any other.”

“But you were born here, weren't you?”

“Yeah. Well, in Wales, in my family's home at Tre'r Ceiri.” I shrugged. “It's hard sometimes, even for those of us born here. We can't walk down the street looking like ourselves. We have to train ourselves not to do things that are as natural to us as breathing. We adapt, but we do not belong, not really.”

He looked as if he wanted to ask more questions, but all of a sudden, I didn't want to answer them. I took my mug into the bathroom and washed it out on the sink. “Thanks for the coffee, boss. I better go back down. Ellen and GeeGee are in the middle of running some searches. I'll call you if anything comes up.”

“All right.”

I made for the door as fast as I could without letting him notice I was basically running away. My hand was on the handle when he spoke.

“If you can't sustain a glamour in bed, how do you manage a sex life?”

I took a deep breath. “Gamers and role players are not easily shocked or surprised, and they are much more willing to accept good costume as an explanation.” I turned back but kept my eyes focused on the wall behind his head. “But mostly it's not a problem. Our sex drive is in some ways much less complicated than a human's. Once Abby and I bonded, my desire focused on her.”

“And now she's the only one you desire?”

There was something in his voice that made me look at him. His face was impassive, but his eyes... “No, she's not.”

He held my eyes a little longer. “And those little tricks the Puck plays on the lovers and on Titania, have you ever used any of them?”

The door handle bent and crumpled under my hand as I fought to keep from killing him. When I was finally able to speak, I was amazed at how even I sounded. “My people would consider it a crime to use love magics on humans. Besides, what would be the point? Love obtained by trickery would taste like dirt on the tongue.” I pulled the door open. “Send for a locksmith. You need to change the locks.”