Washington DC•NCIS
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo stared at the empty desk beside his. He was trying so hard not to go over there and look through it. It was almost guaranteed that if he did, his boss, Special Agent Gibbs, would catch him.
“What do you think, Ziva?” he asked the probationary agent across the bullpen.
“I think you should mind your own business, Tony,” she warned.
“Cover me. I’m going in,” he said, ignoring her. With that, he went over to Agent McGee’s desk and started opening drawers.
“Computer stuff… More computer stuff… Aha! What do we have here?” Ziva looked up, interested. He had stumbled across a locked drawer. “Ziva, toss me a paperclip!”
“Gladly,” she said slyly.
A look of alarm spread over his face. “On second thought, I’ll get it myself.” She had once told him that she could kill him 18 different ways with a paperclip. With her training at Mossad, he didn’t doubt it.
Ziva laughed and gently tossed him the paperclip. He then twisted and bent it into the shape he needed, and then picked the lock. Inside he found something that, while he wasn’t expecting it, didn’t surprise him. It was a framed picture of McGee with Abby, the forensics specialist, confirming some suspicions he and Ziva had had about the two of them breaking Gibbs’ rule number 12: Never date a co-worker.
Holding up the picture, he said, “Hey, Ziva, look at this!”
Just then, McGee stepped out of the elevator. He saw Tony at his desk, and ran over to the bullpen.
“Tony! What are you doing? That drawer was locked for a reason!”
“Good morning, McTardy. To answer your question, I was using my superior investigative skills to try to figure out where you were. How could I have known there wouldn’t be any evidence leading to your location in there? We were worried about you, McGoo!”
McGee rolled his eyes and strode angrily to his desk, but Tony wasn’t finished yet. In the back of the drawer, he found a crumpled photograph. It was of a young man with blond hair and glasses, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and flip-flops, sitting at a computer.
“Wait a second. I’ve seen this picture before. Doesn’t Abby have one in her lab? Who is this guy, Probie?”
“Drop it, Tony. Leave me alone.”
“It’s early. Do you think Gibbs has gotten to Abby with a Caff-Pow yet?” he asked Ziva, completely ignoring McGee.
“Even if he has, she will not decline another,” noted Ziva.
“Very true. If Gibbs needs me, I’m in the lab.” McGee glared at him as he walked away.
Washington DC•NCIS Lab
“Good morning, Abs,” Tony said, holding out the Caff-Pow.
“Aww, thanks, Tony! What can I do for you?” she asked.
He was already looking around the lab. Finally, he found the picture. “Abby, who is this guy?”
“Oh, that’s Eric Beal from LA. He’s pretty cool. He took me to this awesome club I’d always wanted to go to, and he helped save me from the Phantom killer.”
“Would McGee have met him when he and Gibbs went out there last year?”
“I think so, but why are you-?”
“Come on, Abby. Just one more question. Please?”
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Do you think they became buddies?”
Now Abby looked extremely confused. “No, I don’t think so. At least, Eric’s not a big fan of Tim. When I was out there, I mentioned how much Tim liked their giant touch-screen thing, and Eric • well, the only way I could describe it would be to say that he scowled. But every other time I saw him, he was smiling!”
“Thanks, Abs,” Tony said, turning to leave. “You’ve been a great help.”
Los Angeles, CA•Office of Special Projects
Eric Beal of the Undercover Operations Unit of NCIS was reading his e-mail.
“Good morning, Eric. Sorry I haven’t emailed you in a while. How’s your team? Mine won’t let me out of their sight, after what happened out there. Every time I turn around in my lab, someone’s standing there with a Caff-Pow. Not that I am complaining about that part… I have to go. Tony’s here. See what I mean? Say hi to the team for me! Abby.”
Eric grinned, remembering how strong her caffeine addiction was. He typed a quick reply, and then clicked send, still smiling at the computer screen.
“You e-mailing your girlfriend at work again, Eric?” G Callen joked.
“Not quite,” Eric sighed, looking at the picture of Abby he kept on his desk.
“Not quite? Or not yet?” Sam Hanna teased. He had seen where Eric was looking.
“Oh, have you two started e-mailing again?” Callen asked. He wasn’t oblivious either.
“Yeah, she e-mailed me this morning.”
“How’s she doing?” Callen asked.
“She’s fine.” Eric grinned. “She says Agent Gibbs and his team won’t leave her alone.”
Callen laughed. “That sounds like Gibbs.”
Sam grinned. “Is there anything about your friend Tim in that one?”
Eric glared at them both as they laughed. It was common knowledge that he didn’t like McGee, and that Abby always had something to say about him in her e-mails.
“Speaking of which…” Callen started. He and Sam exchanged a grin. “When you read Deep Six, did you notice anything interesting?” Eric shook his head, confused. “We did. The names sounded familiar to us. LJ Tibbs kind of sounds like Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Tommy sort of sounds like Tony, and Lisa almost sounds like Ziva.” Eric’s face fell. Now that he thought about it, he had noticed something vaguely familiar, but he hadn’t been able to figure it out. Callen continued, “Sam and I took a closer look, and we realized that the name Tom E. Gemcity could be an anagram for Timothy McGee.”
Eric whipped around in his chair to check for himself. They were right.
Washington DC
“Where ya been, DiNozzo?” Gibbs demanded as Tony walked into the bullpen.
“I was downstairs with Abby, Boss.”
“Did you find out anything interesting while you were down there?”
Tony glanced at McGee. “No, Boss. I was just delivering a Caff-Pow, and making sure there hadn’t been any attempts on her life recently,” he joked.
“That’s not funny, DiNozzo.”
Tony looked up, surprised. He had been expecting that response. The “’Course not, Boss” had already been forming on his lips. But Gibbs hadn’t yelled it; McGee had almost whispered it.
Ziva and Tony were still staring at him when Gibbs’ phone rang. “Yeah, Gibbs. Sure, Leon, I’ll be right up.” Then, addressing the team: “Vance wants me in MTAC.” Then, passing Tony, he reached across the desk, smacked his head, and said gruffly, “He’s right, Tony, it’s not funny.”
“’Course not, Boss,” Tony said, aloud now, though still stunned. Then he remembered what he had found out in the lab.
As they watched the door to MTAC closed behind Gibbs, Tony turned on McGee.
“So, what’s wrong with that Eric guy? The way Abby tells it, he’s pretty cool. He even helped to save her life. Sounds to me like you owe him one.”
“Ah, Tony, but what if he had several reasons for saving her?” Ziva suggested.
Tony understood exactly what she was thinking. “Is that true, McJealous?”
“Judging by the look on his face, Tony, I would say we have hit the nail on the head.”
Tony gave an overly exasperated sigh. “It’s nail on the • Wait a second. You got one right! McGee, did you hear that?”
“Yes, Tony, I heard it. Congratulations, Ziva,” he said dryly.
“McGee, stop pretending you’re mad at us. We’re friends; you like us. That’s why you put us in your book. Hang on. I just thought of something. Is that why you and Abby have been hanging out so much lately? I didn’t think it was just what Gibbs had said about making sure she was all right!”
It was true. Every day that McGee wasn’t in the field, he and Abby went out to lunch together. All of his free time was spent in the lab, for the same reason Tony had joked about. He was worried about her. This time was the last straw. Her assistant attacking her, her ex stalking her, and her almost being killed by an insane fan of Deep Six had been bad enough, but he couldn’t stand the thought of her ever needing help and he wouldn’t be there for her. When he’d heard she was kidnapped in Los Angeles, he was the first one packed and ready to go, and the second (after Gibbs, of course) to hug her when she got back. Tony was right•he did owe Eric, and he was jealous.
But he refused to let Tony know. Instead, he ignored the question and got back to work. Gibbs would be expecting something when he got back.
Los Angeles, CA
Eric was still staring, disbelieving, at McGee’s picture in the back of Deep Six when the Operations Manager, Hetty, walked in.
“Ah, I see Eric has found out Mr. Gemcity’s true identity,” she remarked.
“You knew, Hetty?” Eric knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was nonetheless.
“Of course I knew. I’ve watched that book change hands in this office many times, and I thought I should get to know it better. It was quite an interesting read.”
Sam and Callen grinned, but Eric couldn’t quite manage it. An unsettling idea had just come to him. “If he wrote the book, then it would make sense that his character would be McGregor, right? And Abby would be Amy…”
He became more upset as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. In the book, Amy had been McGregor’s romantic interest. He didn’t even want to think any farther than that. Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, he didn’t have to. They looked at him sympathetically, and Hetty said, “Oh, Eric. I’m so sorry.” He just nodded, withdrawn.
“Now, I am sorry if I seem insensitive, but Director Vance should be calling any minute, and we need to appear focused,” Hetty said as Kensi Blye and Dominic Vaile walked in.
“Why would she seem insensitive?” Kensi asked Callen quietly.
“Eric just found out that McGee wrote Deep Six,” he murmured back.
“Ouch,” Dom whispered, tactless as always.
Then Director Vance appeared on the screen. “It seems that there has been an escalation in navy murders out there. There were six last week, and another two yesterday, all with the same MO. I’m sending my best team from Washington out there, including our medical examiner Dr. Mallard, and Abby Sciuto.”
“Whose team would that be, Director?” Callen asked. He had a feeling he already knew the answer, but he hoped, for Eric’s sake, that he was wrong.
“Special Agent Gibbs’.”
Washington DC
“We’re all going to LA, Boss?” Tony asked, both confused and surprised.
“Yes, Tony. The four of us, Ducky, and Abby. They need as much help as they can get. There’ve been eight deaths in the past seven days, and he’s escalating. Get packed. The plane leaves at 5:30 tomorrow morning.”
The flight was a long one, but it wasn’t as bad as some had been in the past. Tony distinctly remembered the one coming home from Israel last year. It was in a cramped navy plane with no bathrooms, and Ziva had stayed behind. He squeezed his eyes shut to try to rid the memory from his head. On this flight, however, because there were so many people, they were flying commercial. Ducky and Gibbs sat together between Tony and Ziva, and Abby and Tim.
Tony and Ziva were discussing predictions for McGee’s behavior when they arrived. Ziva thought he would remain professional, on the outside. She also thought that the two of them, looking for reactions, would spot them easily. Tony, always the dramatic, thought that McGee would punch Eric in the face if he did anything to even slightly get on his nerves.
“Tony, this is McGee we are talking about. I do not believe that he would hurt a flea.”
Tony groaned. “It’s fly, Ziva! He wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“So you agree with me, then,” she said deviously.
“No way. That Eric guy is gonna get it from McGee out there; I guarantee it.”
Meanwhile, Abby was telling McGee about the new headquarters.
“It’s so cool, Tim! You totally can’t tell that it’s an NCIS building from the outside, but their technology is awesome!”
McGee nodded, not really caring about what the building looked like, inside or out (although, he knew from experience that the giant touch screen was cool). He just enjoyed listening to Abby talk. He knew that once they got to LA, they wouldn’t get much time to themselves. He hoped they would wrap this case up quickly.
Author's Chapter Notes:
this chapter is basically just an intro to the characters and what's going on. nothing important, mainly banter like in the shows.