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Title: Taking the First Steps
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Jimmy Palmer/Tim McGee
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1drabble
Prompt: 22, Recovery
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Jimmy Palmer or Tim McGee, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.***
Maybe his recovery would come more quickly now.
Jimmy sighed softly as he left his therapist's office, feeling more optimistic than he had for a while. Everything in his life seemed to be looking up.
Now that he and Tim had talked, and he'd been able to articulate his fears to his boyfriend, he felt much better about their future. But he still had worries.
He knew that Tim wouldn't leave him because of what had been done to him. Really, he had known that all along; he'd just let his mind build up his worries until they loomed so large that he couldn't get rid of them. That had been a stupid thing to do, and it wouldn't happen again.
But he still couldn't help worrying that his recovery was going to be long and slow, and that his relationship with Tim might be irrevocably changed.
That was one thing he didn't want to happen.
He loved what he and Tim shared, and he didn't want that easy, loving camaraderie to change. Tim already treated him as though he was made of glass, and Jimmy didn't want that attitude to stick. He wasn't fragile; he didn't need to be treated with kid gloves and handled carefully.
He knew that Tim only did so because he worried, and because Tim loved him. And he loved his boyfriend for feeling that way. But at the same time, it was a bit annoying.
He didn't want to feel as though he had to move through life carefully, always checking out everything before he leaped into it head first. He'd never been like that before.
If he was going to make a full recovery and put the past behind him, Tim would have to stop treating him as though he might break. He would have to tell his boyfriend that he didn't need to be so careful about everything he did and said, and that might hurt Tim's feelings.
He didn't want to make his lover feel guilty.
Jimmy sighed again as he got into his car, wondering how he was going to bring this up with Tim. He'd talk to him over dinner tonight, and hope that he managed to say the right words.
He would be able to say the right words, and Tim would understand, Jimmy told himself firmly. There was nothing he couldn't talk to his boyfriend about; Tim wasn't going to take anything he said the wrong way. He didn't have to worry that there would suddenly be a breakdown in communication between them.
He was already recovering from what had happened, and that recovery would continue, with Tim by his side. He'd already taken the first steps.
The next steps would be easier, and things would keep getting better.
He was already counting the minutes until he would get home and they could talk. Jimmy smiled as he pressed the gas pedal, feeling lighthearted for the first time in ages.***