Title: Adaptation, a Torchwood/NCIS Crossover (11/?)

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: I'm sorry it's taken so long. I was having a bit of a philosophical difference with my characters. I wanted a science fiction NCIS episode, they wanted a love story. We have successfully compromised. They won.

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; Part Eight is here; Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here

When I returned to my desk I'd found a message from GeeGee letting me know that Mrs. Wolf had not showed up at her part-time job that morning. She had not been at home, either, but her next-door neighbor, Mrs. Andersen, had told them she had overhead Mrs. Wolf on her cell phone, screaming at her husband at the top of her voice, that she was moving in with her parents until the divorce was settled, and not to try anything funny with the house. Without much prompting, Mrs. Andersen supplied the information that Mrs. Wolf's parent lived outside of Alexandria. They had decided to follow Mrs.Wolf. People were sometimes much more honest when they felt safe.

I looked in the computer lab and found Abby and Quint deep in consultation with a beautiful Asian woman whose animated features were familiar from my Summer relatives' frequent messages. Toshiko, Summer's Consort, who had stood with a katana over the body of the Winter King to protect him from tywyl. The mother of the eldest daughter of the Winter King as well as the son and heir of the Summer King. The woman whose machines guarded Earth from the things that walked the Road. She was well on her way to becoming a legend in her own right.

I bowed to her and she waved at me and smiled. “You must be Tim. Jack and Ianto have spoken of you. I hope you take the job offer under consideration. I could use the help.”

“Tim you will not believe this but they have a sentient computer, well, a biocybernetic one with sentience potential and we fed it my data and it is extrapolating all kinds of possibilities and…”

“You’ll have to tell me tonight during our debriefing, Abby. I need to find Jack.”

“He went back to Gibbs’s office. He said he was going to clear the air.”

I made a fast exit and ran up the stairs to the Director’s office, skidding to a stop in front of Lily’s desk.

“It was touch and go for a while,” she whispered, “but it’s settled down. You can go in.”

I found Jack and Ianto attempting to explain some of the intricacies of Tylwyth Teg life to Gibbs, who looked as lost as the proverbial babe in the woods. I wondered in passing if they had yet told him about Jack’s own peculiarities. I told them what I had heard from GeeGee.

“I had planned to take him with me to pick up Roberta Lehman, but he won’t be back for a while, so I was wondering…”

Gibbs stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

“No! I mean, you have meetings and things.”

“Nothing Lily can’t postpone.” He grabbed his jacket. “Come on, McGee.”

“Boss… if this Silurian has a hypnotic third eye, she could influence you.” I looked at Jack and Ianto, who ignored the foot in my mouth completely. “It could get…”

“Difficult? Dangerous? Yes, McGee?”

The even tone was a definite warning, and I decided to take it. I would just have to be extra careful. I followed Gibbs down to the garage and grabbed the SUV keys as he tossed them at me. As I turned into the madhouse that was D.C. traffic, Gibbs spoke up.

“Jack says Ianto could order you back.”

“He could.”

“You’re an American citizen, damn it! Royalty or not, he can’t order you around like that.”

“Ah… no I’m not.”

“What do you mean no you’re not?”

“I’m not an American citizen. Technically, that is. I arrived here where there wasn’t.”

“Wasn’t what?”

“A United States of America.”

He swiveled around to stare at me. “Are you telling me you’re older than the country?”

I was getting more and more nervous about the turn the conversation was taking, but there was no way to avoid it. “By about three hundred years, more or less.”

“They were telling me the truth, then. The Tylw… your people are very long lived.”

“By human standards, yes.”

He turned away, fixing his eyes on the road ahead. “How can you love a human, then? We die on you before you can even blink!”

“You can cram a lot of living into a few decades.”

He shook his head. “It’s a very facile explanation, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, Jethro,” I snarled. “I won’t try to show you how stupid your little rationalizations and excuses really are. You’ll have my letter of resignation tomorrow, effective the day we get Tony and Ziva back. I’m sure your unnatural infatuation will end once you don’t have to look at me every day.”

The rest of the trip was made in silence. Gibbs had that pinched look that meant he was trying to hold on to his temper. Well, I wasn't much better. I was angry at Gibbs for not accepting himself as he was, not as he thought he should be, and I was angry at myself for not accepting him as he saw himself. I had duties and responsibilities, and in a few hundred years Gibbs would be a bittersweet memory. We Tylwyth had learned to live with the ephemeral nature of our human loves, learned to hold them lightly and let them go without regret. Perhaps it was time to let go of Gibbs.