She'd been with the team for two weeks now, and Michelle Lee still felt like she didn't belong. Aside from the coffee she'd had with McGee last Thursday night and a few conversations during rare moments of downtime, the rest of the team hadn't even made an effort to get to know her, it seemed. Part of it was the fact that they were still struggling after the sudden absence of their leader Gibbs, but it was still hard. Tim had told her that it was hard in the beginning, but she didn't realize just how hard it would be. Besides, Tim had always had Abby to go to as a friend, and Michelle didn't have anyone.
"Agent Lee." Tony's voice brought her out of her moment of self-pity, and her head popped up.
"Yes, sir?"
"Go down to Autopsy and check on Ducky. We need his official report on Petty Officer Rachel Dunlap for the file.
She nodded. "Of course." As she entered Autopsy, she looked around for Dr. Mallard. She just didn't feel comfortable calling him Ducky, even though he'd told her several times it was all right.
He wasn't there, and she was about to leave when she heard a voice.
"Can I help you?" It was Jimmy Palmer, Dr. Mallard's assistant.
"Tony sent me down here for Petty Officer Dunlap's autopsy report."
"Aah, it's over here." Walking over to a side table, he picked it up, and brought it to her. "I was just getting ready to bring it up, and I got sidetracked."
As she took the file, he continued. "So how do you like it as a field agent?"
She looked down at the file, and then back at Jimmy. "It's not easy. They're all really good at their jobs, but I don't think they like me much."
"I don't know why they wouldn't. I like you." As soon as he realized what he'd said, Jimmy flushed a bright shade of red, and it made Michelle smile.
"Thanks, Jimmy." Suddenly, she had an idea. Just because she wasn't making friends with the members of her team that easily didn't mean she couldn't make friends with other people at NCIS. From what she'd seen of Jimmy so far, he seemed like a nice enough guy. "Would you like to have lunch together? I understand if you can't, but I just thought it would be fun, since I don't know many people here and--"
"I'd love to." Jimmy interjected. "As long as we don't eat in here."
"Deal." They shook hands, and then she took the report back to the bullpen, placing it on Tony's desk. Things were looking up just a little bit.
---
Every day, both Michelle and Jimmy looked forward to lunch together. As they ate, she would talk about casework, and he would tell her about Ducky, Tony, Ziva, McGee, Abby, and the shadow that loomed over them all, Gibbs. Of course, they didn't only talk about work. They discussed everything, and sometimes nothing at all. While Michelle knew that she didn't always fit in with the rest of her team, she knew that Jimmy would always be there to listen to her and make her feel better. She'd found a true friend at NCIS.
Then, one day, after lunch, he looked at her with an odd smile on his face.
"What?"
"You've got something on your cheek. I'll get it." He dabbed it with a napkin, before leaning in and kissing her. It radiated throughout her entire body, flushing her cheeks and sending a tingle down her spine. Then, Jimmy pulled back.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" She didn't even give him a chance to complete the thought, pressing her lips to his. His soft sigh was all the excuse she needed.
When Michelle came back from lunch, no one was in the bullpen but Tim. Try as she could, she just couldn't wipe the smile off her face, and he noticed.
"I see someone had a good lunch." He smiled.
"I did."
---
"Are you sure about this? Here?" The shocked look on Jimmy's face was priceless, and Michelle didn't have a camera.
She nodded, grinning broadly. "Why not?"
"Why not?" He laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with Michelle? She'd be quoting me NCIS regulations against this sort of thing." Jimmy was right, even now in her head she could cite down to the line each regulation against this sort of behavior, the fraternization between agents. The carefully chosen legal terminology seemed far too cold to describe the heat between them. For once in her life, she didn't care about the regulations as long as they could be together.
"I can still quote regulations, Jimmy. As far as this is concerned, I just don't care." That was all the encouragement he needed as they headed off hand in hand to the supply closet.
---
It would be lying if she said that there hadn't been close calls. Once, she'd left an earring on an Autopsy table, and Jimmy had to toss it to her behind Ducky's back. At the time, her blood ran cold at the thought of what could happen, and she'd quizzed Jimmy about it later.
"But what would Dr. Mallard have done if he'd found it?" This was an important thing to know.
Jimmy was slightly amused. "He would check to make sure that it didn't belong to any of the individuals we had in Autopsy at the time, place it in an evidence bag, and put it in his desk. Then, when he left Autopsy, I would open the drawer, take it out, and give it back to you."
She wasn't satisfied. "But what would he do when he found it was gone from the desk?"
This required a little more thought on Jimmy's part. "Dr. Mallard would look for it, ask me if I knew where it was. I would say no, of course. He would look for it for the next couple of days, not find it, and probably give up, unless he remembered seeing you wear similar earrings on a visit to Autopsy."
All the color drained from her face, and Jimmy put his hand out to cover hers. "Calm down, Michelle. He didn't even see it. Even if he did, I don't think Dr. Mallard would tell anyone. He's very understanding. He'd probably only tell Gibbs, and Gibbs isn't here anymore. It's ok."
She sighed in relief, resting her head against Jimmy's shoulder, his arm around her. "You're right."
---
But, Gibbs didn't stay gone forever. One day, he came back from Mexico. After an initial rocky start, his team fell in line behind him, leaving Michelle with a box of office supplies and a new job with the NCIS legal department. Although she would only admit it to Jimmy, it came as a bit of a relief. She still wasn't sure she was cut out to be a field agent. The fact that it was a lot easier to sneak down to Autopsy when she worked in the legal department was an added bonus. They both agreed that it would be in their best interests if Gibbs never found out they were dating anyway. To this day, he still hasn't and they plan on keeping it that way.