They See Me Trollin'...

Book 1 – the Box

"So, did you finally finish it?"

"Yep, last night." McGee set his package down on Abby's table before handing her the large cup he was holding.

She took a long draw on the straw, eyes almost crossing before she stopped sucking to take a breath. "Thanks, McGee, I really needed that this morning. How come it took so long?"

McGee's eyes lit up and he started to open the package before stopping to look around. "We're alone, right?"

"Yeah..." Intrigued by his secrecy, Abby leaned closer as Tim took an elegant looking wooden box out and set it on the metal table. "Wow, I didn't know it was going to be that fancy."

"The kit wasn't. That's why it took so long. Cameras ready?"

In answer, she punched a few keys on her computer and brought up an image showing a perfect view of his desk upstairs. One more key stroke and she turned back to him. "It's recording."

"Thanks, Abs." A kiss to the cheek and he was gone, sliding the box back into the packaging as he went.

-NCIS-

Leroy Jethro Gibbs loved Mondays, a rare thing, he knew. He loved the fresh start to a new week, new challenges to solve and he especially loved watching the various members of his team drag themselves in, as he was alone in his love of Monday mornings.

Coffee in hand, he arrived in the bullpen to find that he was not the first to arrive that morning. The desk lamp on McGee's desk was lit, although the younger man was nowhere to be seen. The second fact wasn't that much of a surprise, since the work day didn't officially start for another forty minutes.

Coming closer, Gibbs reached out to turn off the unnecessary lamp when he noticed a new addition on the younger man's desk. Rosewood, his practiced mind recognized instantly as he bent closer to examine it. The wooden square was fairly small, perhaps six inches long and a little narrower. Tiny brass feet raised it slightly above the desk surface. They, and the ornate brass screws that held it together gave it more of a decorative feel than he would have expected to find on an item on McGee's desk. He assumed it was a gift to the younger man, perhaps from his grandmother, possibly even a family heirloom.

Looking closer, Gibbs determined the item was too new to be an heirloom. He picked it up and gave it another look. The care in building it was apparent with perfect bevels and it felt solid in his hand. Instead of a lid that lifted off, the top was split down the middle and tiny hinges could be seen on the outer edge of one half. There was no latch, only a toggle switch on the other side.

After setting it back down, Gibbs continued to study it, tilting his head as he did. It was obviously a personal item and Gibbs made it a policy to stay out of his team's personal affairs and he'd certainly never snooped in their belongings before.

Even as his conscious mind was reminding him of that, his lizard brain let his curiosity win and sent his hand out to push that switch. He could hear quiet gears turning for a split second before the lid popped open just enough for a small metal finger to poke out and flip the toggle back before instantly retreating and the lid slamming shut.

Despite himself, Gibbs barked out a laugh then looked around to see if anyone was watching him. Seeing he was alone, he reached out and pushed the toggle forward again only to have the machine inside the box reach out and turn it off in the blink of an eye.

-NCIS-

After carefully placing his box on the corner of his desk where it would be the most visible, Tim went downstairs to start on the favor he was doing for Director Vance today – upgrading the computers in the evidence lock-up. He couldn't complain as he'd written the new program and it it was even half way successful, their evidence tracing system would be the envy of the rest of the armed alphabet soup. Vance had even agreed to fund the hand held devices McGee wanted to add if phase one lived up to expectations.

Step one was to get everything backed up onto external hard drives and he wanted to get it started before the work day officially started. He'd barely sat down at the desk when his phone buzzed with a message from Abby to check their live feed. Pulling it up on the screen in front of him, he was just in time to see Gibbs leaning close to see his handiwork.

Alone in the dimly lit office, Tim felt a smile spread across his face at the look in Gibbs' eyes as he picked the box up and studied it. The kit had come with pre-cut plastic pieces, but it had looked cheap to Tim. With his limited experience working with wood, the rosewood veneer had been a trying challenge, but seeing the approval on Gibbs' face made the dozens of hours and all the splinters worth it.

Without even realizing it, Tim held his breath as Gibbs set the box back down, waiting to see what the older man would do next. Gibbs continued to stare at the box, cocking his head to the side before his hand crept out and pushed the button. Tim knew what the box would do, so he watched the older man's reaction instead of his hand. There was no sound, of course, on the video but Gibbs' eyes crinkled as he obviously laughed. Not the smirk or snort they'd heard from him over the years, but a real belly laugh.

The fact that Gibbs immediately looked around to see if anyone had seen him laughing made Tim sad, but then Gibbs reached out and tried the box again. The second laugh was more subtle, but Tim could definitely see the amusement on his face. Gibbs tried it a third time for good measure before carefully making sure it was exactly square on the corner of Tim's desk and only then did he retreat back to his own desk, still smiling.

Tim's phone was ringing even before Gibbs sat back down and Tim didn't even have to look at the caller ID to know who it was. "Hey, Abs."

Did you see that?

"Oh, yeah."

He laughed. He really was laughing. I haven't seen him even smile since...

"I know." These few weeks since Tony had returned from Israel and they'd faced the fact that Ziva was not coming back had been hard on all of them. Tim had built the box with the hope of getting a chuckle out of DiNozzo, but this had been almost better. "I know and now he'll get to watch Tony's reaction."

That's going to be good.

"I hope so. At least, that's the plan. I've got to go upstairs for a few minutes, then I'll be down here for most of the rest of the day."

I'll bring you lunch, my treat.

"Abby, you don't have to do that." He could hear her smiling even if he couldn't see her.

No, but I want to. That was, yeah... you made him laugh, McGee.

"Thanks, Abby." Tim ended the call as he looked back at the monitor. By now Gibbs had returned to his own desk, but still wore a fond smile on his face every time he glanced over at Tim's workstation. Leaving a note to remind the other agents and evidence techs about the upgrade that would be going on all day, Tim headed back upstairs.

-NCIS-

"Morning, Boss."

"Morning, McGee." The facial expression was the same as every morning, but there was a twinkle in his eyes that could still be seen. "Today the day for your new evidence program?"

"Sure is." Tim sat down at his desk and started pulling things our of his backpack. "I've got an extra system wide back up going on right now, then I'll be taking the computers down there off-line for a few hours. With any luck, that part will be done by lunch time and then I can deal with any bugs this afternoon. Tomorrow, our team will be integrated into the new system."

"That's good."

Gibbs didn't understand a lot about computers, but he did understand enough to know what a big deal this new system was, eventually allowing every agent to cross-reference evidence directly from the crime scene as it was being processed, not to mention providing better security for the evidence in their own lockup and evidence warehouses across the country. For the first few weeks only the MCRT would have access giving McGee the ability to tweak the new system as he put it through its paces. In time every team would have the program and the scanners that would make their jobs that much easier.

Tim stood up with the stack of disks and drives that he needed for the next step. "Okay, I'll be downstairs if we get a call-out." He was half way to the elevator before Gibbs said anything.

"Good job on that computer stuff. I'm proud of you."

McGee almost stumbled as he stopped at the words. "Thanks, Boss, but we don't know if it's going to really work."

"It'll work. Haven't seen you fail yet at anything you put your mind to." Gibbs gave him a nod before turning his attention to a file on his desk.

-NCIS-

"Man, I hate giving a deposition first thing Monday morning. Why couldn't they have scheduled it for Friday afternoon so I could have looked forward to the weekend while I'm sitting there?" Tony came around the corner, expecting to find the rest of his team, but they were still missing a third. "Where's McGee?"

Gibbs was leaning back in his chair, a file folder covering the bottom half of his face, but he looked over the manila edge at Tony. "Computer upgrades, remember?"

"Oh, that's right." Tony dropped his backpack on the floor behind his desk as he looked over at McGee's. "Well, hello, what is this? Timmy has something new on his desk."

"Uh-huh." Gibbs was watching closely, the file hiding the twitching of his cheek. "You have something new on your desk, too."

Tony gleefully looked down, hoping to find something cool, but finding a stack of cold cases. "I do? Oh, wow, Boss, you shouldn't have."

"Gotta have something to do while McGee's working downstairs – and before you ask, whatever that is, it was already on McGee's desk when I got here."

"Well, did you ask him? No, of course you didn't." Tony dropped down in his chair and picked up the first file on the stack, but his attention was bouncing between the file and the box on Tim's desk.

Gibbs watched for the first hour as Tony became more and more restless. Nothing like a riddle just out of reach to get the curious man distracted. Muting the sound on his phone, Gibbs sent a text to McGee.

U got eyes on UR treasure box?

Just a few seconds later his phone vibrated in his hand and he casually looked down, even though Tony was much too distracted to pay any attention.

Yes. Abby does too.

The lab was closer and the excuse was easier, in case DiNozzo asked. He didn't and Gibbs was stepping out of the elevator when he realized that Abby and McGee had probably been watching his experiments with the box earlier. He laughed and jogged down the hall.

-NCIS-

Tony tried to focus on his work, but that mystery on McGee's desk kept calling to him, mocking him with that little switch begging to be flipped. Just when he thought he couldn't take it any more, he realized that Gibbs had disappeared. On his feet before he could consciously think about it, Tony found himself standing in front of the box.

He leaned down and closely examined the box, going as far as getting down on one knee to peer at the tiny space between the bottom of the box and the surface of the desk. He couldn't see any pressure switch or trip wire, so he nudged it back a fraction of an inch to see what would happen.

There was no reaction and Tony stood, still staring at the device, tapping his fingertips together as he contemplated his options. No one was around. He checked on that for one last time before finally giving into temptation and pushing the toggle forward.

It happened so fast, that he wasn't sure what he'd seen, but the toggle switch was back in its original spot. Tony chewed on his lip, then puffed out his cheeks before trying it again. This time he made sure to keep his eyes open and watch as the little finger stuck out and pushed the toggle back.

"What the hell?" Tony felt the first twinges of a smile crossing his face for the first time since he'd said goodbye on the tarmac in Israel. Flexing his fingers first to loosen them up, Tony tried again, pushing the toggle a second time, hoping to beat the machine, but the machine instantly flipped the toggle back into position and the lid slammed shut once again.

Determined to beat this... whatever it was, he tried again, this time from a different angle.

Push. Flip.

He let out a chuckle. Maybe faster?

Push, flip. Push, flip. Push, flip.

"Agent DiNozzo, what are you doing?"

He'd been giggling madly by this point, but Tony almost did a back flip at the Director's voice. "Director Vance, I was just... umm..." He reached out and snagged a pencil from the cup on the other side of Tim's desk. "Borrowing a pencil, Sir. All of mine seem to have wandered off."

Vance nodded slowly, obviously not convinced and Tony scurried back to his own desk. Turning, Vance stopped and stared at the object on McGee's desk that had been causing the fascination. He stared at it, turning his head, but never reached out to touch it. Tony debated saying something about the box, but Vance continued on his way upstairs. Alone once again, Tony let out a deep breath, his gaze wandering over to the rosewood box, but he made no further attempt to touch it.

-NCIS-

"Aww, it was so good to see Tony laughing. Good to see you laughing, too." Abby wrapped an arm around Gibbs' waist and squeezed.

"Yeah." He tightened the arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, you're right. We all needed that."

Before returning up to the bullpen, Gibbs made a coffee run and dropped one cup off for McGee, ruffling his hair as he did. Nothing was said, but Tim knew exactly what was meant.

-NCIS-

One look at Gibbs' face and Tony knew he'd been busted, but he had his own suspicions when Gibbs set a cup down for him, especially when he saw the smirk on Gibbs' face as he walked past that corner of Tim's desk while going back to his own desk.

"Caught you, too?"

"Oh, yeah." Gibbs gave a shrug and a grin. "If he wasn't hoping to catch me with it he wouldn't have bothered with the wood exterior."

"He made that?" Tony turned back and looked closer at the box. "Really?"

"According to Abby he did."

Tony was back on his feet, trying the box again. No matter how many times, it still made his chuckle. "It's kinda addicting, you know? I hope he keeps it here." Now it was Tony's turn to shrug as he sat back down.

Gibbs would have agreed with him but Dorneget was walking through the bullpen and the box caught his eye. "What's that?"

"Open it and take a look." Since Dorney had his back to Tony, he grinned widely. "McGee won't mind."

They both watched as Dorneget seemed to think about it for a moment and then reached out. His broad back blocked their view, but they recognized the sounds and the mechanical finger reached out and flipped the switch back off before the lid slammed shut. Dorneget jumped, then he laughed and tried it again before finally leaving.

Tony realized that it was even more fun to watch other people's reaction. "At least we didn't giggle like that, right Boss?"

DiNozzo had been dangerously close, but Gibbs opted not to tell him.

-NCIS-

"Pretty cool, McGee." Down in Evidence Lock-up, Tony had just finished the lesson on using the evidence scanner that they would be testing live on their next case. "Almost as cool as that little box sitting upstairs on your desk."

Tim ducked his head at the praise. "Figured we could all use a laugh right about now."

"So, do we get to see the video of all the various people who were..."

"Nosy?" Abby provided with an innocent expression and a smile, but Tim cut her off.

"Curious, and sure. I thought I'd make a highlight reel eventually."

Tony thought about it. "Dorneget was pretty funny. I wonder if any of the night crew will try anything?"

"Now."

Tony was on a roll and kept talking over Gibbs. "I'm sure Harlan helps himself to the pens on my desk so he'd be...

"No, now." Gibbs pointed at the monitor and the figure standing in front of McGee's desk.

"Is that..."

Gibbs grinned as he settled back to watch the show. "It sure is."

-NCIS-

Glad to be getting out of the office at a reasonable time, Vance took the stairs down one level before cutting across to the elevator. There were only a few people in the bullpen. Gibbs' people were nowhere to be seen, but he knew they were down in Evidence with McGee. Speaking of which – giving in to his curiosity from earlier, Vance detoured to the young man's desk.

Yep, the ornate little box was still there and this time there was no one else watching him. Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to his actions, he picked up the box and studied it closely. No additional clues could be found, not even a manufacturer's logo on the bottom. It reminded him of a music box his grandmother had had when he was a child, even if the wind-up key wasn't evident.

Still weighing it in his hand, Vance gave into temptation and pushed the toggle forward. Instead of the expected music, a small finger popped out and turned it off just before the lid slammed back shut.

"Shit!" Startled, Vance had to juggle to keep from dropping it and that did attract attention.

"You all right, Director?"

"Yeah, Harlan, I'm fine." Laughing at himself, Vance carefully set the box back down and tried it again, then three more times for good measure. He wondered if McGee would let him borrow it the next time he had a visitor from the Hill.

-NCIS-

"You okay there, DiNozzo?" Gibbs peered down at Tony, who was laying on the floor, laughing.

It took several attempts for Tony to regain control. "The look, did you see the look on Vance's face when he almost dropped it? That was the best."

Tim was too aware of rank to publicly admit he was laughing at his Director, but among his team it was a little different. "Yeah, that was the best one yet."

Tony climbed to his feet as he thought about it. "The next time Fornell shows up, that needs to be on Gibbs' desk." The suggestion got a grin and a nod from the older man.

"That works. We done here?"

"I think so." Tim secured the work station he was using and slipped the keys in his pocket as Tony slapped him on the back.

"How about some pizza tonight? I think you've earned it." Tony looked over at the other two. "Abs, Boss, how about it?"

Abby nodded enthusiastically while Gibbs looked thoughtful.

"Boss?"

"How about we go back to my place and I'll grill up steaks for all of us, instead?"

Tony grinned at Tim and Abby before he turned back toward Gibbs as the spokesman of the group. "That'll work."

If you want to see the box in action, go to the think geek website (thinkgeekdotcom) and look for the "useless box". It's rather addicting.