Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. If I did I would probably be much happier. And I wouldn't be swimming in student debt.

A/N: Oh, wow. I didn't think I was ever going to get around to posting this. And to be quite honest, I have a whole host of awesome excuses that I doubt you care about. I'm not sure if I captured what I did in that first chapter, but I gave it a decent shot. Sorry it took me so long, but I hope it's worth it.

This is for PJ. My first reviewer ever.

Important note for the timeline: As this is AU, I've decided to make a change to the timeline. Obviously, I threw out Jeanne and that mess, but there is a conversation Tony and Abby have in the episode after the one that inspired this fic. (S4E12: Suspicion). The MOAS conversation. Hence the chapter title. Basically, I am moving that episode back behind S4E11: Driven. Right. Okay. Here we go!

Wait, one more thing, promise. I apologize. The MOAS conversation is almost word for word from the episode. I hated to do it because I loathe when I read things like that, but I think it was necessary. It serves as a refresher and it was basically my prime inspiration for this chapter. Action!

Tim stepped out of the elevator and turned back in time to watch the doors close on Tony's grin.

'Dads,' Tim thought as he resumed his seat at the cold metal table. 'Fathers. Tony and I are having a…baby?'

He was having a hard time making sense of it. The thought was so… abstract.

That wasn't to say that Tim had never thought about kids. He loved kids, with their worldly, hopeful innocence and their happy smiles. And kids appreciated computer games. He had always wanted them and getting together with Tony hadn't changed that. He had just stopped picturing a pregnant wife and replaced her with adoption agencies and surrogate mothers.

Tim loved Tony and they'd finally gotten to the point where they actually agreed they were serious and admitted they wanted to be in this for keeps. But the whole 'happy family' fantasy Tim sometimes allowed himself was far down the road in his head. But Tony was pregnant. So it wasn't really far down the road at all.

Tony was pregnant. They were having a baby. A medical miracle by all accounts, but they hadn't even told anyone about them being them yet. And-

Tim's rambling thoughts were shaken to a stop by an irate forensic scientist. She had apparently been calling his name for some time and when that had failed to yield results she had resorted to grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

"I'm sorry, Abby. Did you say something?"

"McGee! I've been saying McGee! And you've been ignoring me," Abby pouted.

McGee gave himself a little mental shake.

"I'm sorry, Abs. I guess I didn't hear you."

Abby looked at him closely, "Jeez, McGee. What is with you? What did Tony say? Was he being all DiNozzo-y? Was it about the case?"

"Uh, no," Tim answered. "No. It was a, uh, a personal thing." He felt his face heating up and turned back to his laptop to hide it. "So, did you test-"

"Nuh-uh," Abby went around to the front of the table but Tim didn't look up from his computer. "DiNozzo looked rattled and now so do you." At the word 'rattled' McGee's head shot straight up.

'Oh, God,' he thought. 'A baby. No. No rattle and no baby thoughts. Work now! Baby later! Well… only nine months later. NO! Work!' He gave himself yet another mental shake only to realize, too late, that Abby was trying to get his attention again.

"What?"

"Tim!" What is up with you? Jeez. Did Tony traumatize you or something? Ooh! Was he giving you the dirty details of his MOAS?"

That threw McGee off.

"MOAS?"

"Yeah," Abby nodded excitedly. "You know, his Mother-Of-All-Secrets …"

FLASHBACK (Two Weeks Ago)

Tim knew how Tony felt about keeping them a secret. While he wasn't keen on explaining their feelings for each other, they were breaking a Gibbs rule right under his nose, every single day. Rule 12: Never date a coworker. Tim knew there was nothing Tony hated more than lying to the Boss. Tony saw Gibbs as a father and, Tim knew that despite some outwards appearances, Gibbs saw Tony as a son. The team was a family. They were hiding and lying to their family. However, Tim was scared and Tony could understand that. He was scared too, not that he'd admit it. But what they were doing was risky. Two male Navy cops on the same team dating? As if that wasn't bad enough, they were doing it under the nose of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And now things were becoming serious.

Tony was never one to keep secrets and the more that formed between him and Tim the more it was killing him not to say anything. Which is why, as he was helping Abby go through evidence in her lab one day he blurted out, "What's your biggest secret? Shock me."

Abby didn't hesitate. "When I was eleven years old, I had a paper route. And I got sick of it. So I hid all the papers, and then I only delivered wet ones to people that complained."

"That was you?" He said jokingly. "No, I mean like a certain Probie who secretly wrote a not-so-secret bestseller."

Tony knew he was in dangerous territory. He should not be discussing secrets and he should especially not be throwing Tim's name so casually into the already vulnerable conversation.

"Oh," said Abby with sudden understanding. "You mean like a MOAS. Like a Mother-Of-All-Secrets."

"Yeah," said Tony, trying his best to remain cool, as if this conversation wasn't giving him an ulcer.

"Everybody has one. I'm not going to tell you mine. What's yours?"

"Ha, ha," Tony laugh nervously, pretending that he didn't almost spill the beans and now his pulse was racing. "Nice try. I'm sitting on my MOAS."

Abby became distracted by the data she was receiving and their conversation turned back to the case at hand. However, Tony just couldn't let it go.

"How do you live with the Mother-Of-All-Secrets?" he asked aloud while his inner voice berated him. Stop it, man. You seem too interested. You're making your MOAS seem more real and interesting. Play it cool, DiNozzo. Play it cool.

"You don't," Abby replied. "I mean, it consumes you. It eats you like a cancer from the inside. First the guilt. And then there's the excruciating urge to blab your secret, although you know that it's going to spell your doom. Have you gotten to that stage yet?

Tony's stomach dropped further with every word out of Abby's black lips. He was definitely at the blabbing stage. Not that he was going to say that.

He laughed high and unnatural. "No! This is a hypothetical situation we're talking about."

Abby looked at him shrewdly for a moment. "Still in the guilt stage, huh?"

Tony sighed as he at least managed to convince her of that. But she wasn't done yet.

"And then, you know," she was saying. "Eventually you can't take it anymore. It drives you insane. So you blab your secret to your best friend or your mother or your lover… and it sets you free."

Tony looked up, rays of hope shining through, "It does?"

"Yeah, of course, you lose all your friends and your family, maybe even your job, depending on what the secret is, but yeah."

"Great."

END FLASHBACK

Tim stared at Abby as she finished telling him of her and Tony's conversation. He knew Tony hated keeping them a secret, but he had no idea it was killing him. If he was seeking outside advice from Abby on how to deal with keeping a MOAS there was a problem. Things between the two of them were officially serious now, and apparently they were now starting a family, regardless of how earth shattering that revelation was. Tim knew that it was time to come out, to tell their family that they were happy and in love.

But looking into Abby's face as she rambled on about possible MOASes he knew he couldn't do it, not yet. However, he and Tony would be having a talk, not just about the baby, but about this whole MOAS business. If he was honest, he wanted to tell Abby the moment Tony had kissed him over a year ago. She was his best friend, of course he wanted to gush about the sexy special agent he was involved with. But he was scared.

His and Abby's relationship was a confusing one, even to him. He felt such a strong pull to her the moment he met her and it had taken a while for it to finally go away completely. He sometimes worried that Abby expected him to be there for her as a backup plan, if the way she reacted to any of his dates was anything to go by. She was jealous, and Tim wasn't sure that she had a right to be. He couldn't say anything of course as he used to be the same way. And if Abby did see him as a backup, would that mean that she wouldn't be happy for him and Tony?

He had to stop losing track of the situation. Abby look genuinely concerned now.

"Timmy, are you sure nothing's wrong? I've never seen you lose focus so much," she bit her lip. "Should I get Gibbs?"

"Whoa, Abby, no," he reassured her the best he could. "I am fine. I swear. Just trying to figure out this computer."

Abby looked ready to pursue this until he had no where left to hide. He was going to need to give her something.

"Look, Abby, it's not Tony's MOAS, it's just me. I've been feeling a bit off lately as it is. I promise we will talk, but right now we have a case to solve. Do you want Gibbs to find out we ignored our work to talk about our feelings?"

Abby looked as if she might actually drop it.

"Well, of course not, but Gibbs wouldn't yell at me. But yeah, okay. We'll talk, you promise?"

Tim resigned himself to what was sure to be his doom. "Yeah Abby, we'll talk. There are some things I've wanted to talk about anyway. Just, not now."

And with that they turned back to the case.

A/N: And there it is. Chapter two. Don't expect another update too soon. Student teaching is more demanding than I thought it would be. I apologize for any mistakes, I didn't edit it, no one beta read for me. So yeah. I will keep writing on this. I have a timeline and everything. Anyway, let me know what you think. How bad was it? Haha, alright. Thanks for reading it guys ;)

Peace. Out.