A/N:

NCIS folks: Gill and Cal are experts in lie detection, using facial expression (reading emotion), vocal stress analysis and other expertise. The Lightman Group helps various law enforcement agencies and other people when the truth is at stake.

LTM folks: Kate and Gibbs are federal agents who work for NCIS, investigating crimes affecting the US Navy or Marines. Kate is ex-Secret Service. Gibbs is a team leader and is reknowned for his gut instincts.

Tongue Tied

He doesn't even know he has a problem till he finds himself strolling through the room where they're sorting files, stops to be nosy, then realises he's somehow managing to ignore how Kate looks today (which is, in a word, astounding) in favour of staring at Gibbs.

Not watching what Gibbs is doing, or even searching his face for micro-expressions, nothing he can excuse as work or research, but just gawping at him idiotically. Admiringly. And doing so whilst Gibbs is standing next to a seriously attractive woman in a really well cut suit.

He goes from not realising he has a problem to realising he has an absolutely huge problem in the space of about half a second, and it takes all his willpower not to swear. As soon as the penny drops, he sharply looks away, down at his own feet. Out of the corner of his eye he can see them now watching him curiously, and clearly his sudden interest in his shoes hasn't gone unnoticed, has, in fact, drawn their attention, and he curses himself for being so incredibly bloody unsubtle.

When he glances up, they're both looking at him funny, and he shrugs, grabs a file from the stack, and goes to sit at a desk and leaf through it. He won't find anything, he's not really seeing the pages of documents, but at least it gives him something to do other than stare.

He's not given to staring at other men, but Gibbs is just so bloody... Gibbs. He can't find a more suitable adjective. He's not sure one even exists.

Now he thinks about it, he realises this isn't exactly an isolated incident. He's managed to brush it off before, he's found excuses for his sudden willingness to work with outsiders, his eagerness to go in the field and actually learn from someone else. He's totally ignored the way he has, without complaint, actually followed orders like a good little LEO instead of going his own way and screw anyone who didn't like it. But like a magic eye picture suddenly coming into focus, he can now see the larger pattern, and it's one he's really not comfortable with.

Ugh. He can't believe he's got a man crush. This is so not like him. This is not like him at all. It's not as if he wants to... do anything about it. But... God, he admires Gibbs and is kind of in awe of him and... stuff. And it's... sort of embarrassing.

It's not like he hasn't worked closely with law enforcement before, local and federal. He's not easily cowed, and he usually doesn't give a damn for their opinions as long as the job gets done.

He's proud to say most of the Feds he's worked with have found him to be a pain in the arse, an insubordinate, annoying little shit. He's pretty sure even Ben would say that, and he'd like to think - unfortunate shooting incident aside - that he and Ben eventually found their way to some kind of mutual understanding and respect.

(He did, after all, help save Ben's career, even his life, although admittedly he put Ben in danger a fair few times, too.)

So why does he now care so much what these Feds (okay, this Fed) might think of him?

It's really rather annoying. He might be pouting.

It's just as well Gillian isn't here to see - he's fairly sure she'd laugh at him, and he doesn't need any help in the 'feeling like a small boy' department.

No matter how impressive their NCIS colleagues are (and they are, on multiple levels), there's no way he should be gettin' all overawed and that sorta nonsense. It's absurd.

And for Pete's sake, if he's going to be the victim of a crush, couldn't it at least be on Kate? He doesn't have a problem with other people having crushes on, fancying, hell, sleeping with whomever they like, but... that... is not something he has ever done. He has no sudden urge to go snog Gibbs, nothing so ridiculous, it isn't, he assures himself, that kind of thing, but it feels a little too much like a crush crush for his personal comfort level. He wouldn't do anything even if it was on Kate, for many reasons, but it'd be a whole lot less weird.

He attempts to get reading, and it's not particularly successful. He's sure Kate and Gibbs have much better things to do than to watch him squirm, try to figure out what's going on in his head, he can even hear them talking about the case at intervals. It doesn't stop a small, paranoid part of his brain from trying to convince him they know exactly why he's sitting all the way over here and why his ears are, most likely, bright red.

"You okay, Cal?"

He manages, by a whisker, not to jump out of his seat or squeal like a little girl, even though he was miles away and Gibbs moves like a cat. (Silently. Stealthily. Cal is actually trying pretty hard to ignore other feline attributes the man might have, because... reasons.)

Gibbs is frowning slightly, and his voice is low and concerned, like he really cares, and it's not helping in the slightest.

"I'm fine." He knows he's being short and kind of rude, but he's not sure how to go about explaining why his tongue's got tied in a knot.

(Of course, 'short and kind of rude' is arguably his modus operandi.)

He admired Ben plenty, he still never behaved like a complete berk around him because of it. And most of 'em, well, he was quite happy to mess with their heads. Take dear old Bernard (oops, sorry, Bernard) Dillon, for starters, and there are many, many more examples of him taking no shit from too-big-for-their-boots LEOs.

Quite what has him behaving like an awkward, desperate to please teenager he has no idea. There's no reason for it besides Gibbs' innate Gibbsness, for which Cal still cannot find a bloody synonym, and he really doesn't feel like telling Gibbs he's too Gibbs is a very good explanation for why he is being such a gigantic pillock.

When he finally glances up, Gibbs is giving him one of those searching looks for which he is so well known, and Cal is deeply grateful he's had a lot of practice hiding emotions and that Gibbs, while he's undoubtedly better at reading faces than most, is still a mere untrained sort-of-natural, and therefore, probably, hopefully, isn't in a position to notice Cal is currently embarrassed, slightly awed, and rather more shy than he ever wants to admit to anyone.

"I'm. Fine."

Gibbs raises an eyebrow, and one corner of his mouth twitches into the suggestion of a smirk.

"Okay. If you say so." He clearly doesn't believe a word of it, but it seems like he knows when to leave well alone, and Cal is pathetically grateful.

After another long look, Gibbs shrugs, then turns and goes back to Kate, and Cal sinks further down into his chair, sagging with relief. At least he escaped with his dignity (mostly) intact.

He really, really has a problem. And the worst thing is, he's pretty sure the only person he can actually talk to about this is Gillian, and if he does, she is going to rib him about it forever.

He looks down at the file spread out before him, sets his jaw, and starts to read. It's coming to something when he's choosing paperwork over... well, more or less anything else, really, but if there's one thing he dislikes more than paperwork, it's humiliation.

If putting it off means he finds something sooner in these files, well then.

It could be worse.

~ fin ~