The bullpen was unusually quiet. Not too much excitement had occurred all week. Not one petty officer had been brutally murdered, not on sailor had been slaughtered and no terrorist cells had been uncovered. Tony was frustrated and bored due to the lack of "real work" to do. Him and McGee were stuck doing paperwork. Tony would occasionally glance over at the empty desk across from him. Memories of Ziva's presence fulfilled his mind and small smile crept on to his face.

It had been three months since she decided to stay in Israel to find herself. It had been three months since he had seen her. It had been three months since they'd kissed and for the past three months... 12 weeks... 90 days, Ziva had consumed almost every one of his thoughts.

Though, no one had knew what happened between them back in Israel, it was clear to the rest of the team that Tony was missing his former Mossad partner. Except for their occasional emails and rare phone calls, they haven't spoken much.

Gibbs walked into the Bullpen, coffee in hand and DiNozzo and McGee looked up.

"Do we had a case Boss?" DiNozzo said, hopeful that there would finally be something interesting to happen at NCIS.

"Nope." Was Gibb's simple response.

McGee looked up and finally decided to speak.

"Boss, I think it's time we fill the empty desk." McGee said, glancing over at Ziva's former desk, before adding, "Only if you two are ready..."

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs said finally looking up at his remaining two agents.

"McGee's right boss. It has been three months, I think it's evident that she's not coming back." DiNozzo said with an underlying sadness in his tone.

"Okay, start looking." Gibbs said before getting up and pacing out of the bullpen.

"You sure you're ready Tony?" McGee asked sympathetically.

"Yes McSympathy, I'm ready." Tony replied.

"Okay well I have a file here of a woman that I think will be perfect for the job. Graduated from Howard University at the age of 20, with a double major in Criminal Justice and Information Technology, a minor in psychology. She previously interned with the C.I.A for two summers while in college, and she is fluent in Spanish and sign language." McGee said briefly looking over his potential new colleagues file and application.

"Wow, well she's more then qualified, let's call her in for an interview." Tony said in utter shock.

*Two days later*

A woman steps of the elevator and slowly walks towards the bullpen. Tony and McGee were sitting at their desks still doing paper work.

"Excuse me." The woman said in a rather low tone.

"Hello, how may I help you." Tony said right before looking up at the woman he has previously seen before.

"Laurel Castillo." Tony said before standing up. "What are you doing here?"

"Wait you two know each other." McGee said.

"Yes" Laurel and Tony said simultaneously.

"And to answer your question Agent DiNozzo, I'm here for a job interview." Laurel said with a smile.

"What? You? You're the brainiac that graduated from Howard and applied here? Wow! I am impressed. Well I hope you get the job." DiNozzo said with a genuine smile.

"Thank you so much." She said returning the smile.

"So am I doing the interview with you two?" Laurel said.

Before the two could respond Gibb's came back to the and answered "No you're doing it with me."

Gibb's walked to his desk to put his coffee down and looked up finally realizing who he was interviewing .

"Laurel Castillo. You're the last person I would expect to apply here." Gibb's said before picking up her file on McGee's desk and flipping through it. McGee sat there confused as to how everyone knew this woman expect for him.

"You graduated from Howard here in DC at the top of your class, summa cum laude, you have interned at the C.I.A, and worked with the FBI, why do you want a job here?"

"I have wanted to work her for a long time. After my fathers death..." Castillo started and then paused.

Tony looked down and Gibb's showed a shred of emotion.

*Flashback*

Gibb's opens a closet door to find a 14 year old girl crying. The girl obviously been beaten and potentially raped.

*End of flashback*

She then continued by saying, "I wanted to work here and protect people. I've been trying to get a job here ever since I graduated but no luck. When I saw there was finally an opening here, I jumped on that opportunity."

"Well you're more than qualified, do you really want to do this."

"Yes. I really do." She said before making eye contact with Gibb's. They stood in the bullpen silent for several seconds before Gibb's responded saying "Okay we'll see how this goes."

"Wait that's it?" Laurel asked.

"Yep." Gibb's responded in his typically short but sweet manner.

"Grab your gear, we got a dead marine in Norfolk." Gibb's said and Tony and McGee quickly grabbed their gear and headed towards the elevator. Laurel stood there a bit confused as to what to do considering she had just been hired less than five minutes ago.

"You too Castillo. There's extra gear in the van let's go." Gibb's said before leading the way back to the elevator.

A/N: This is my fist time writing NCIS fanfiction in five years. I had other stories on here that were so atrocious that I decided to delete. I really hope you enjoy this story. I know exactly where I want to go with it and I hope you're along for the ride.

Well, I guess this was rather short, but it was a bit of an introduction. I've had this idea for a little over a year now and like I said before, I know exactly where I want to go with this story. I am 100% Tiva shipper definitely expect to see Ziva in the story later on. Laurel Castillo is the name of a character on ABC's How to Get Away with Murder and I don't know I just thought it sounded cool, Special Agent Laurel Castillo... It kind of just goes together. Yeah so anyway give this story a chance. I am trying my hardest to stay true to NCIS in the way that I write so don't bite my head off at any AU/OOC moments okay? Thank you for reading. Have a lovely Saturday.