Author's Note: This in an NFA White Elephant Exchange (WEE) story written for FallenAngel218.

Title: Fences
Summary: As he struggles with a worsening anxiety disorder, McGee stubbornly clings to his job - all while trying to keep a certain DiNozzo at bay.
Genre: Drama
Rating: FR13 / T - Some swearing, allusions to violence

WEE Prompt: "Someone has been prying into things that should remain locked up. Who is doing the prying, and who is hiding the deep, dark secret?"

Fences

"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." – Robert Frost.

Prologue.
"Third and River"

Tim McGee parked at a meter on Third and River, letting the car idle as he watched the steady raindrops get swept away by quick passes of the windshield wipers. Both hands still on the wheel, he gnawed on his lip.

The lights in the intersection turned from green to yellow to red, before cycling through the colors again. The traffic obeyed. Vehicles slogged through pothole puddles as they turned on River or stopped at the white line or continued on Third. The neighborhood was worn and wet. Concrete bound trees, chain link fences around empty lots, bars on windows. Two smiling girls, huddled under a single umbrella, waited for a bus in the chilly, early fall rain.

Tim wasn't sure if he should stay, or if he should go. His gut had tied itself into several double knots.

He'd woken up hours ago from what hadn't really been sleep. More like six hours of tangling himself in the sheets, waiting for his cell phone alarm to go off. And then, after waking, there wasn't much else to do but watch the clock. Track the seconds as they came and went. He google mapped the address. Planned his route. Diligently avoided any and all toll roads.

And then he had actually gotten in his car and drove…

Until he ended up here, at this parking meter on Third and River. Across the street from Khalid's Groceries and Things - and above it, a plan-approved mental health center.

Finally, Tim reached for some spare coins to feed the meter.

He'd keep his appointment. After all, he always was a man of his word.