Hey, guys. Well, I know I should be working on Eldunari, but I'm having a serious hard time and, in order to prevent myself from going crazy, I wrote and posted this. NCIS is one of my favorite TV shows and I have a big project planned, and I wanted to test the waters. So, enjoy! Or not, but please review?
Perhaps the Moon
Or: Fifty Lessons Learned, Glimpses Glimpsed, and Reasons Why We're All Crazy
***
Perhaps,
in that moment
At a far distance,
Far beyond the imagination,
Someone was seeing me
in a forgettable dream. –Perhaps the Moon, Mahmud Kianush
***
#01 – Walking
"Let's go walk on the beach," Jenny says, and, to Gibbs' surprise, he discovers that walking on the beach (even on the crowed, loud, boisterous French beach) sounds like a wonderful idea.
#02 - Waltz
The sweet music swirls about them and the room is crowed and loud, and all Jenny can see is Gibbs, blue eyes twinkling, as he twirls her around and around with startling grace and poise.
#03 - Wishes
Hunching under a flimsy plastic covering somewhere in the depths of Russia, Gibbs glares at the rain slashing down from the sky and half-wishes that he had stayed in Pennsylvania, carving up rocks.
#04 - Wonder
I wonder, Ari thinks, pretending to be the tame Mossad puppet is his most definitely not, what would I be if I had walked away from my father?
#05 - Worry
When he sees his current partner (a cocky Baltimore LEO, young, goofy, but surprisingly intelligent) go down, Gibbs feels a flash of unreasonable worry and rushes to check on the younger man, who bounces up, grinning, and receives a slap to the head (his first ever) for worrying the NCIS agent.
#06 - Whimsy
"I want this op," Tony announces, loud, fierce (desperate to prove himself), and it is only after Gibbs gives him the undercover op that he notices the brightness in his newest agent's eyes, and the older man realizes that Tony actually likes undercover work, and on a whim hopped on board.
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
The first time she kills, she's not Ziva David but Ziva Harai, and she's just left the enemy in ruins behind her (blood on the walls, blood on her hands) and she looks in the mirror and discovers that she might not be cut out for this.
#08 - Whiskey and Rum
After multiple shots of whiskey and rum, the rooms spins madly and Tony can barely stand up straight, but that's okay, because neither can the mobster he's trying to get in with, and Tony smiles as he realizes that he's in with the mafia and damn, that was fun.
#09 - War
Gibbs picks himself up from the ground, spitting grit and blood from his mouth, and leaves the wreckage behind him, chanting I hate war, I hate war over and over to himself.
#10 - Weddings
Weddings are actually not that much fun to attend undercover, because all the hot girls are taken and he's not allowed to have any champagne (Boss's orders) and the best man is shooting Tony all sorts of looks that imply things he does not want to think about (why is the best man gay, of all things?), and it's all Tony can do not to take down the target to keep from dying of sheer boredom.
#11 - Birthday
"Happy Birthday, Jethro," Ducky says, and Tony's eyes go round and wicked with the knowledge, and Gibbs groans inwardly.
#12 - Blessing
"You have done well, Ziva," Eli David rumbles approvingly, blinking down at his daughter, and he rests his hand on her forehead, and he knows she will be the child to bring down Mossad's enemies.
#13 - Bias
"I hate Doritos," Tony announces, two hours into the surveillance shift, a bag of orange tortilla poweder in his hands, and the look McGee gives him could very well be the best 'WTF' face ever (though in a very quiet, round-faced, McGee-ish way), and from that point on McGee makes a point of avoiding Doritos, if only because the threat of Tony appearing out of nowhere and smashing them to power is absolutely horrifying.
#14 - Burning
The sunburn is rather horrible, and it's all Shannon can do to keep from laughing, and Gibbs growls something inarticulate about Mexico and hot sun and hatred before kissing her passionately and then hissing in pain as she pokes him in the shoulder.
#15 - Breathing
Lying next to Tony, pretending to be an assassin (well, a different assassin, anyway), Ziva listens to him breathe and wonders how someone so loud during the day can be so quiet at night.
#16 - Breaking
Jeanne's face is beautiful in sleep, and her breath tickles his ear, and he wants nothing more than to grab her and tell her the truth and hide her away from the pain that is sure to come, and God, when did I fall in love with this woman?
#17 - Belief
"Do you believe in God, Agent Gibbs?"
#18 - Balloon
"Will you get me a balloon?" says the little Spanish girl, eyes wide and innocent, (please, Daddy, please) and Gibbs' heart aches and he gives in and buys her a balloon, because maybe he's not as tough as he thinks he is.
#19 - Balcony
Mike Franks shifts uncomfortably, blinking owlishly down at the small woman batting her eyes seductively, and tries to block out his Probie's laughter in his ear, cursing who ever invented balconies and moonlight nights.
#20 - Bane
Here lies hope, Tony (in a rare philosophical mood) thinks, and he watches Jeanne sleep as the brutal truth of his mission twists itself in his mind, a snarling monster, and he glares at the dark ceiling, cursing himself for agreeing to this op in the first place.
#21 - Quiet
Gibbs hides in the grass, his rifle beside him, watching the Columbian drug dealer and his friends bustle about, and he marvels at how quiet the rainforest is, and thinks that maybe he'll come back someday.
#22 - Quirks
"I need Starbucks," Ziva announces halfway through the op, and Michael Rivkin blinks at her and wonders if she hit her head harder than he thought or if Ziva has just gone crazy, because there is noStarbucks in the middle of the desert.
#23 - Question
"Tony, do you love me?"
#24 - Quarrel
The first time Tony and Kate argue, really argue, it's on record (stupid surveillance equipment) and it's loud and angry and spiteful, and Kate is fire and Tony is ice, and neither mention it again.
#25 – Quitting
"I quit!" Gibbs roars, and as he walks away he realizes the world is shaking.
#26 - Jump
When Gibbs asks Tony to jump, that first time, across the roof and after the criminal, he does it immediately, without even pausing to consider the drop below him, and Gibbs never asks again, because he doesn't want to see DiNozzo fall.
#27 - Jester
Tim McGee is surprisingly chatty when he's nervous, and the target blinks at him bemusedly as he chatters incessantly about dogs and writing and rare artifacts while Tony cracks up in his ear.
#28 – Jousting
"Ziva, I'm not good at this!" Tony cries, as she thunders towards him on horseback, and he screws his eyes shut and then he's in the dust, spitting out dirt and cursing renaissance fairs in three languages.
#29 – Jewel
The slim gold necklace Ari buys her is beautiful, in a covert way, like herself, and she values it far more than any diamond.
#30 - Just
It's not fair, Gibbs thinks, looking at the dead drug dealer in the car, his brains and his blood splashed across the windshield, because he didn't suffer.
#31 - Smirk
McGee's cry of anguish resonates across the bullpen, and to Gibbs' surprise, DiNozzo has a perfectly straight face—until the hapless Probie rushes into the squad room, covered from head to toe in foam.
#32 - Sorrow
The taste of defeat is bitter in their mouths, even though Haswari is dead, and they sit in Abby's lab, heads bowed, and listen to their silence.
#33 - Stupidity
"God, Tony," Gibbs shouts, dragging the injured young man (stupid boy, what on earth was he thinking, leaping in the way like that) out of the way, "it's a damn good thing you're wearing your vest!"
#34 - Serenade
If Tony ever gets wind of this…. Tim thinks, watching the old high school video, mortified as he watches his younger, geekier self attempt to woo Sandra Mickey out of her room.
#35 - Sarcasm
"Ya think, Probie?" Mike Franks growls, and hits Gibbs upside the head.
#36 - Sordid
Ziva quickly learns that she most definitely does not want to know if "that's what she said."
#37 - Soliloquy
Ducky thoroughly enjoyed having a new agent in the building, if only because Probies (with the exception of Gibbs) didn't want to offend the doctor by interrupting his long, rambling stories.
#38 - Sojourn
In one of her contemplative moods, Abby looks at all the members of the team and wonders if they are merely temporary travelers in her life or if they will stay forever.
#39 - Share
His green eyes glisten pathetically and he sticks out his lower lip in his best impression of a kicked puppy, and with a heavy sigh Ziva tears off part of her donut and throws it to him, ignoring his delighted shout (and pretending it does not make her smile).
#40 - Solitary
When Gibbs doesn't show up for a few days, right after Jenny's death, his team has been shattered and therefore can't comment on it or offer their support, and, strangely, he wishes he wasn't alone in his grief.
#42 - Neutral
"I want absolutely no part of this," Ducky warns, watching Caitlin and Anthony glare at each other.
#43 - Nuance
The slight shift in Tony's expression, the tightening of his jaw, the steeling of his eyes, tells Tim that he's gone too far, and he learns (quickly) that Jeanne is off-limits.
#44 - Near
"Stay here," he pleads, green eyes begging, and she relents and sits with him, watching the world roll by.
#45 - Natural
"It's only natural," Gibbs murmurs, looking down at his bloody hands, and wondering what Shannon would have said.
#46 - Horizon
Sometimes, Tim looks out at the sunset and thinks that he can do anything.
#47 - Valiant
Gibbs chokes on water and air, eyes fluttering, and he sees a soaking Tony shivering above him, and he's never loved the man more.
#48 - Virtuous
One day Kate brings in the Seven Heavenly Virtues (being the good Catholic girl that she is) and announces that they all have something to work on, and Tony finds this so funny that he tacks it up in his office, giggling every time he looks at it.
#49 - Victory
"We got him, Boss!" Tony shouts, triumphant, and he roughly pushes the serial killer into the car, trading grins with the entire team.
#50 – Defeat
"You are coming with us," Abby tells Gibbs, grabbing his arm in a vice-like grip, and the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs is pulled (not unwillingly) to a fancy dinner for wine and small talk and camaraderie, and he discovers that he doesn't mind losing an argument every once and a while.
So what do you think? Hate it? Love it? Whatever? Please review, because I want as much experience in this fandom as possible before I commit.
~WSS