Prologue
Paperwork had to be one of the devil’s punishments for mortals before they even set foot into his domain officially. Agent Timothy McGee didn’t know where he had read this quote but he agreed wholeheartedly. He spellchecked his last paragraph and closed the finalized document afterward with a relieved sigh. At least he had the advantage of being fluent in ten finger typing and required office legalese to deal with the administrative bullshit in triplicate, unlike some of his colleagues.
McGee raised his head and looked over to the desk next to his own. What he saw confirmed something the lack of typing sounds had already told him. One particular colleague who should try to compensate for his inadequacies with elbow grease was instead staring sightlessly straight ahead.
A month ago McGee would have enjoyed this opportunity as a way to get one over Anthony DiNozzo. He would have said something about Tony’s underdeveloped brain needing some downtime to recuperate, like an outdated computer processor overheating. Or that even if he had chosen PhysEd at college, he should have used it for something useful and looked up training methods for his finger muscles if they tired so easily.
And why shouldn’t he? It would be deserved payback: Tony needled McGee constantly with his stupid variations of Tim’s surname and his equally stupid probie comments, the endless unasked for advice and whatever else came to his mind. He hadn’t been a probationary agent for years! Didn’t that mean something? Wasn’t he entitled a little more respect now?
But a few weeks ago Tony had stopped reacting to his jibes. What worried McGee even more was that Tony had stopped making jibes back too. Everyone, even Ziva, was slowly getting nervous and waiting for the other shoe to drop. DiNozzo was still doing his job, and doing it very well, even Tim had to grudgingly acknowledge that, but something essential was missing. No movie references, no flirting! A silent DiNozzo must surely be the sign of the upcoming apocalypse.
Nevertheless, if their gruff Boss came back down from MTAC and found his Senior Agent lost in lala-land there would be hell to pay.
“Eh…Tony?” No reaction. “Tony!”
Finally he got a reaction, but it wasn’t the one he had wanted. DiNozzo moved, but instead of answering, he powered down his computer, searched for his cell phone, and then stood up and strode towards the exit.
“Tell Gibbs my report is in the inbox. I double checked it, it should be all right. Tell him I'm taking some personal time, Vance knows about it, the forms are signed and in the inbox too.” Tony pushed past Ziva who had just gotten off the elevator. “Tell him... hell, I don’t care what you tell him.”
The silver doors closed with a soft click and left one flabbergasted Agent and a clueless Mossad Officer behind.
“I take it Agent Gibbs will not be pleased?”
Tim just looked at her.
.-#-.
10 days later Special Agent DiNozzo was back at work and behaving as if nothing had happened, as if he had just gone home yesterday. He refused to answer questions, not even Gibbs’s pointed stares could make him say anything. Whatever he did during those 10 days, it had at least improved his disposition.
The old Tony was back with a vengeance, poor McGee’s tongue could attest to that and he would never bite into anything Tony volunteered ever again. His prankster colleague had taken offence at an innocent remark about Tony showing loyalty to the navy with the colour of his fancy suit and retaliated by mixing blue non-toxic paint into Tim’s sandwich. To show McGee’s inner sailor he would look ridiculous in uniform, according to a smirking Senior Agent. To think that McGee had ever been worried about the brat…
“Gas the truck McGee, grab your gear, we have a case.” Gibbs strode past his agents, knowing they would jump to follow him. They always did.
Everything was as it should be.
.-#-.
NCIS Agents were hard to surprise. Double crossing, spies, Y-Pestis powder, the daily encounters with various criminals and the sheer stupidity of the human race in general left their mark.
A black man in a taxi driver uniform, leading a young girl into the room didn’t even rate a second look from most of the Agents. Both visitors clearly didn’t belong in the squad room but they also weren’t a danger. The girl was approximately eight year old and could have been called cute with her dark brown untidy pig tails and her grey-blue eyes, but her puffy eyes and scowling mouth dared anyone to call her sweet. Her adult companion tried to take her hand and earned himself a derisive eye-roll for his effort.
It was an old habit, a result of his military training, but Agent Gibbs had positioned his desk with free line of sight to the main elevator and proximity to the stairs to MTAC in mind. Thus he could easily follow the comings and goings in the room. Probably nobody who knew him and his quirks when children were involved was surprised when he stood up and went to greet the visitors. McGee and David leaned over their desks to follow the encounter.
“Afternoon. May I help you?” Gibbs crouched down and smiled at the girl. Normally anyone else, with the possible exception of red haired women and Marines in distress, would have gotten just a terse “What do ya want?” ,if they were lucky.
The girl sized him up, shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and then ignored him in favor of looking around the room, clearly searching for someone. There had to be a first time for everything, normally kids and Gibbs just clicked. Gibbs grinned, amused at this exception to the rule.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“She’s not chatty. Picked her up in front of a school downtown.” The driver made an uncomfortable gesture. “She had the address and money for the cab fare.”
That didn’t sit well with Gibbs. “There was no one with her?”
“Nah, no one, and the doors of the school were closed.” An angry growl from the Agent made him stumble over his words and he hurried to explain further. “Normally I don’t ferry kids without an adult, that’s against regulations, but I couldn’t let her stand there, wouldn’t have been right. Little girl all alone. My brother was in the Navy and he talked about you guys. You’re some kinda cops so I thought, bring her here, you would know what to do with her.”
The kid had her back to the two men conversing, jumped up and down to peek over the room dividers.
“Do you know what she wants with NCIS?”
Before the cabbie could answer he was distracted by a delighted squeal and a little whirlwind blew past him to throw herself against a tall Agent who had just come down the stairs from MTAC carrying some files: files which were hastily put down in favour of catching his miniature assailant.
“Sam! What the hell are you doing here?”
Gibbs raised himself to his full height, his eyes took in the picture of man and girl, the later sobbing into the expensive jacket of his senior agent. “Good question DiNozzo. Care to share some answers?”
End Prologue
Chapters 1-5 are finished, but not beta read.
Story Notes:
Kid!fic. This is a present for Xanthe whose stories made me pick up my own bunnies and try to shape them into something other people would maybe enjoy and for Ria who offered herself as a beta reader and is a very big help indeed. All remaining mistakes are of course my own fault. I am not a native speaker, so be prepared to stumble over some things. The story is mapped out completely and will have approximately 12-15 chapters, each about 3-4 thousand words.
Author's Chapter Notes:
“Do I trust you with the life and wellbeing of my daughter? Yes, of course. Do I trust you with the same for me outside work? No, not at all.”
Chapter End Notes:
Kid!fic. This is a present for Xanthe whose stories made me pick up my own bunnies and try to shape them into something other people would maybe enjoy and for Ria who offered herself as a beta reader and is a very big help indeed. All remaining mistakes are of course my own fault. I am not a native speaker, so be prepared to stumble over some things. The story is mapped out completely and will have approximately 12-15 chapters, each about 3-4 thousand words.