The Geek, the Goth, the Assassin, and the General
By Dallassteele
Rating Teen
Pairings Team Story Implied Gibbs/DiNozzo
Authors Note- This came to me while I was playing a computer game of Risk the other morning by myself and listening to the Tron Legacy soundtrack on my walkman. It started as a wake for Mike Franks and ended with a hard fought game of Risk played between McGee, Abbey, Ziva and Gibbs.
It was the day of the memorial for Mike Franks and it was raining. Everyone there was as depressed as the weather. Gibbs hadn't spoken more than 5 words to anyone since the night that Mike had died. Tony and Tim had taken turns sleeping on the couch to make sure he was alright. Abbey and Ziva had trouble not breaking down in tears in the middle of the work day.
Jackie Vance had suggested several days earlier that they needed to have a wake for Franks after the service. Naturally everyone gathered at Gibb's place to talk and drink to Mike's memory. Earlier during the week when Tony spent the night on the couch he had explored the house since he could not sleep and he knew that Gibbs was in the basement with his boat and a bottle of bourbon. During his searching in a closet in one of the bedrooms he found a flat box labeled Risk. He took it out and looked at the board and the plastic boxes of wooden pieces that were there. He read the instructions on how to play and thought that this was something that they could play some time maybe when the whole team was together instead of watching movies.
As the people gathered at the house each brought food and drink to add to what Jackie had ordered and had been delivered earlier that week. Jethro had just thought that it was only going to be his team but it became much more. Mike Franks had quite a reputation at NCIS. A few retired agents had heard the news and had stopped by to pay their respects and joined to tell some of the tales that even Gibbs had not known. Even the Secretary of the Navy and stopped by and shared a drink with everyone. It was about 5:30 when the crowd started to thin out and just the team and the Vance's were left. Jackie had decided to leave and check on the kids and make sure their house was still standing after leaving them home alone for the majority of the day.
Jackets, ties, heels, and shoes suddenly were abandoned for comfortable chairs and floor pillows. Gibbs grabbed the steaks he had bought the day before and started prepping the fireplace to grill them. There was plenty of salads and veggies left from the trays that had been brought that nothing else was needed except dessert. Tony ran down to the closest megamart and got a variety of pies, half cakes and ice cream to feed the MCRT and then some. Before he left the store he made a dash to grab some popcorn in case some one wanted to watch movies that he had brought.
Everyone had finished and McGee and Ziva were picking up the trash and putting away what meager leftovers there were. Tony had earlier placed the game on the floor beside the couch where he could grab it with out spilling his drink. He had found that he had a pretty good buzz going on from all the alcohol that he had consumed during the day and he started talking and mentioned to his fellow team mates that when he conquered the world he would make sure that Ziva has her own country, McGeek could have the computer franchises, Ducky was going to run all health care for the world along with Jimmy Palmer, Vance would run all the world security from MTAC and that Abbey would design all the school uniforms to look like her favorite Goth outfit.
"What about me DiNozzo? What role do I play in the grand scheme of things?" Gibbs leans over the back of the couch ready to slap the back of Tony's head.
"Oh no Boss, I did not forget you. You are the General of the World Troops, you teach them to be proper Marines. You teach them to be men and women of honor, duty and respect for your fellow Marine." Tony crossed his hands behind his head and watched his friends for their reactions.
"Not bad DiNozzo, now how are you going to get this plan to work?" Leon asked having seen the box next to the couch.
"Well I found this old game in the closet the other day and it gave me the idea. Anyone up for a game called Risk?" Tony placed the box on the coffee table an starts getting things set up.
"Hey you went snooping in the closest in my second bedroom." Smack. "No more alcohol for you either, I don't want another incident like the last time when you got so drunk you puked in my bed and I had to go buy a new mattress and sheets from Walmart at 3am." Gibbs tells the group. Everyone looks at Tony grinning and snickering. Tony looks embarrassed.
"Payback is a bitch Gibbs." Tony states
"We can set it up in the dinning room because we will need the room if all of us play." McGee grabs the box from Tony. Abbey studied the board as she followed behind.
"There are 8 different colors so we can play as individuals or in teams." Palmer says.
"I have never played this game." Ziva studied the board over Abbey's shoulder. "It looks very interesting Tony. Gibbs there seems to be something written here I can't figure it out."
Gibbs looked at the board and finds sets of initials for Kelly, Shannon and his inscribed on various locations of the board.
"I think that teams would work don't you Director? As a person is eliminated he or she will help their partner so they can still play." Ducky adds his comment.
"Alright here is how it is going to play: Gibbs and DiNozzo are blue and red, McGee and Abbey are orange and black, Ducky and Jimmy are yellow and purple and Ziva and I will be gray and green. We roll for high dice to see which team starts then we go in descending order. If there is a tie in who goes first on a team then seniority rules." Vance and Gibbs moved the table to the center of the room and placed the chairs around it as everyone grabs a box of colored pieces and settles in to play.
Tony sat to the right of Gibbs at one end of the table as Vance and Ziva set up at the other end, Jimmy and McGee tossed a coin to see which side of the table they would take. Ziva took the chair to Leon's right, Tony had Abbey next to him with McGee next to Vance and Ducky was to Gibbs's left with Palmer to Ziva's right. They threw the dice and Gibbs and Tony went first setting their pieces on the board. Gibbs took the Eastern US and Tony Western US and so the game started with each team conferring on where to place their first piece and how to build their armies to make the most of each move. Tony got eliminated by McGee in the first 10 rounds of the game and got a head slap for making some of the dumbest moves Jethro had ever seen.
Leon looked at his watch and saw that 6 hours had gone by without anyone noticing.
"I need to get home or Jackie will have me sleeping in the dog's house for the next week. Take the morning off and get some rest, I don't want to see anyone of you until noon. Is that clear Agent Gibbs? This team has worked hard to get this killer and you deserve some down time. Jimmy didn't you have finals this last week?" Leon asks the Autopsy Gremlin.
"Yes I was suppose to, but with all the work we had I postponed them and all my professors have been gracious enough to allow me to finish my lab projects and finals this week so I might need to take a couple of days off if that is ok with Dr. Mallard of course." Palmer takes a breath.
"My God I completely forgot about your finals Jimmy. Take what ever time off you need and if you need a note for your professors I will be glad to write one." Duck apologized to his assistant.
"Thank you but they understand what working with you means to me and made arrangements when the semester started in case of emergencies like what we had these past weeks. I think that I had better get home as well, thank you Agent Gibbs for inviting me to the wake even if I did not know Mr. Franks as well as the rest of you." Jimmy grabs his jacket from the pile of clothes in the corner.
"Jethro I think that I will be leaving as well since I drove Mr. Palmer over. Tony this is one of the better nights I have had playing games since Mother passed. Abbey dear, try to get some sleep tonight I know that Mike's death has hit you harder than you let on. Why don't you and Ziva treat yourselves to a spa day sometime this next week, and dear Timothy don't get lost in your writings that you neglect your health. Jethro no sleeping under that damn boat, your back needs to sleep in a proper bed this week." Ziva finds his raincoat, hat, coat and umbrella from the closet where they had been hung. Gibbs takes the raincoat from Ziva and helps place it on the shoulders of his dearest friend. He gets a hug and gives Jim a pat on the shoulder as they walk to the front door.
"It has been an honor to have you with us Palmer; you are a part of this weird family even if we forget to tell you." Gibbs grins and shakes the younger man's hand. "Message received Director I will see you at noon no earlier." He nods towards Vance as he walked with Ducky to the older man's Morgan. "Drive safe Duck. Good luck on your exams Jimmy. If you need anything, call and I'll be glad to assist."
"Get back to the rest of the kids and make sure they get home soon as well or drag out the sleeping bags and bed them down in the living room. I will see you tomorrow afternoon." Ducky turns the key and listens as the motor starts with a familiar rumble and heads toward his townhouse.
Gibbs enters the house to the sounds of an argument between Ziva and Abbey over how to eliminate Timmy and share winning the game. Tony enters with 2 large bowls of popcorn that he placed on either end of the table along with beers for Gibbs and McGee, a large glass of iced tea for Ziva, and sodas for him and Abbey.
"Ducky and Vance get off OK Boss?"
"Everything is fine. Now let's finish this and get to bed. Ziva you can crash in the spare room and Abbey you get the couch. Tim you can have the bed in my office.
"Me, Boss?" There comes a whine from the end of the table.
"You're on the mat beside my bed on punishment detail." Gibbs says with an evil grin.
"Yes sir boss." Tony looked down at the floor dismayed.
Two hours later a final roll of the dice eliminates McGee and Gibbs declared that his women indeed rule the world.