Meeting the Team…
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche
"You were trained to catch killers. I was trained to catch monsters." â€" S.A. Joy Buchanan
At the bull pen, Gibbs team was working. Following any lead trying to find out the murderer of Petty Officer Phillips. McGee sent something to the printer and stood up to collect it, so he did not see Gibbs coming down the stairs with the new agent.
"What've you got?"
"Phillips was following his doctor orders to a T. He had his food delivered the first two weeks as he was ordered not to set his foot on the floor." Answers DiNozzo, all the while looking at the woman standing by Gibbs' side.
"Abby hasn't finished yet with the analysis of the residue found on the clothes. She will call when she is done." Replies Ziva, without hiding the curiosity in her face or in her voice.
"Hey, Boss, who is the new chick?"Asks DiNozzo, pointing the woman with his chin, already calculating in his head the likehood of getting her in the sack.
"This is Special Agent Joy Buchanan, McGee's brand new partner" Says Gibbs with irony in his voice, moving around the woman towards his desk "Where's McGee?"
"I'm here, Boss, what do you…" He leaves the sentence hanging, because he stops to stare at the woman, and she is staring at him back.
Insert a really awkward pause here.
"Hey, do you know the new Probie, Probie?" Asks DiNozzo with a leer.
"Do you know each other?" Asks Gibbs with a fierce frown. This can go sour very quickly.
"Ah, Boss, ohh I eh … We…" Stammers McGee.
"We´ve met" Says Special Agent Buchanan with a firm voice. A small smile forms in her face "All I know is that he is not a heavy drinker" The smile gets bigger. "At all."
"But then, neither are you." McGee smiles back. Another pause, this time not awkward but there is definitely something there that Gibbs can't put his finger on it. And he doesn't like it.
"She is going to be your new partner"
"Partner? I'm getting a partner?'"
"Why is probie getting a partner?"
"Director's orders. Is this… whatever it is… going to be a problem?" Gibbs had to ask.
"Not at all" Says Buchanan.
"No Boss, I'm cool with it."
"Then, back to WORK" Gibbs barks the last word and returns to his desk.
"So Probie Buchanan, I'm the one, the only the very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, but my friends can call me Tony", says DiNozzo, and he is able to check her out and put as much leer in his voice as possible at the same time he stretches his hand for her to shake.
"Tony" Says McGee uncomfortably, knowing his friend and colleague was hitting with all his Italian charm on the new agent.
She looks at him with a piercing gaze, looks down at his outstretched hand, smiles politely and surprises the hell out of him "I'll try to remember that".
"Your charm must be slipping, Tony" Says Ziva. "She didn't even blink."
Buchanan turns to McGee who had walked to stand beside his desk "I will need the crime scene photos and sketches. And I would appreciate if you could review them with me so I can prepare a preliminary profile of the unsub."
"profile?"
"unsub?"
"She is a trained profiler, ex-FBI." Says Gibbs, standing up and walking up to stare down at Buchanan, obviously trying to intimidate her. "One of the best. Or so I've been told. Let's see how good you really are." Smirks Gibbs.
"Boss, I could…" McGee tries to interfere what he can see might become a very explosive situation very quickly.
"Indeed" Says Buchanan. Tony and Ziva are looking at each other trying to figure out how things have got to where they were. Gibbs normally wasn't very friendly, but he was clearly antagonizing the new agent.
They have a staring match, and Gibbs gives her another smirk and goes back to sit down on his table. McGee tries to steer her to the investigation, but Buchanan keeps looking at Gibbs with calculating eyes. She makes a sign to McGee to stop trying to talk, and goes to stand in front of Gibbs desk, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence.
"Do you have a problem, Agent Buchanan?"
"Indeed I have, sir."
"I told you not to call me…"
"That should be the least of your concerns." Gibbs raises his eyes from his paperwork. "You told me you work for a living. That's the reason you do not wish to be called sir. Newsflash: So do I. I mean, work for a living." That got his attention.
"In my line of work, there are two types of people: the people who make my life easier and the people who make my life harder." Pause "Believe me, you don't want to make my life harder."
"Really?" Gibbs can't believe is being lectured by a Probie.
"The whole marine drill sergeant routine won't work with me. My father was an Air Force Colonel, my four brothers are hardcore marines to the bone." Pause" I am not a probationary agent for you to lord over, I am a ten year veteran on the hardest to work unit in the whole FBI."
"You are not in the FBI anymore, Buchanan"
"I'm aware of that."
"Anything else you would like to add to your little speech?" Gibbs is smiling now at her spunk.
"Yes, sir" The emphasis on the sir makes it clear that she is silently fuming. She leans over Gibbs desk, looks him in the eye and manages to wipe the smile of his face. "You were trained to catch killers. I was trained to catch monsters."
She stands straight and collects her backpack from the floor, where she had left once she started talking with McGee. She did not turn to Gibbs to ask "Where should I put my things?" he points with his head to the unused desk at the other side of the division, on McGee's side. "You will have a preliminary profile in one hour." She sits down and starts booting her laptop.
For once, an astonished silence reigns on the bullpen.
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