Title: Visiting Micaëla
Author: WriterKos
Rating: FR7
Parings: none
Characters: Gibbs, Ducky, Tony, Tim, Ziva, OC
Genres: Character Study, fluff
Warnings: All info about the Met Opera can be found at Metropolitan Opera website
Summary:Ducky can't stay working late tonight as he has a date for the Metropolitan Opera, fact that spurs everyone's curiosity. Who is this mysterious woman and where did he meet her?
"I have a pair of Norman Rockwell tickets. Anyone interested?" – Ducky in season 8
"Hey Ducksman, why all this Hollywood-like production? Got a hot date tonight?" DiNozzo asks as he sees Ducky walking in a hurry in a tuxedo, holding a trench coat in his hand and his hat in the other at the end of their workday. He sets his coat and hat over Gibbs' desk, who looks at him curiously as Ducky makes a show of picking a lining on his own lapel.
"Indeed, I do. Jethro, please, do I look elegant enough for a night at the Opera?" Ducky fidgets with his bow tie, waiting for Gibbs' verdict.
Gibbs smirks, stands up and slaps away Ducky's hand, fixing his bow tie to be perfectly horizontal on Ducky's ensemble.
"You look dashing. Anyone I've met before? You haven't told me you had met someone."
"Ah, it's not like that. Nothing romantic, I mean. Do you remember that Norman Rockwell exposition I had tickets for and you did not attend it with me? Well, I went on my own and met a delightful young lady. Quite young, I admit it, but a kindred soul nonetheless. She is a great fan of arts, in all aspects, and we shared a delightful evening walking around the masterpieces of the Master Rockwell. She, like myself, longed for a companion to enjoy the artistic opportunities offered here in DC, so I gallantly offered my services. We've already been twice to expositions at the Smithsonian and tonight we'll be watching Carmen, at the Metropolitan Opera."
Ziva smiles at Ducky's enthusiasm, as they knew how rarely he had the chance of enjoying the nightlife of DC without being interrupted by work. His enthusiasm with this new friend was endearing, but still a little bit worrying, as Ducky tended to be too trusting towards people.
"Any chance we get to meet this delightful creature?" McGee asks, already picturing someone like Dr. Jordan, someone extremely intelligent and reserved, who would love to hear Ducky's stories as he rambled on and on.
"Oh, yes, I've just asked security downstairs to let her in; she is in the elevator as we speak."
Ducky pats his pockets, and frowns lightly, "I believe I've left my cell phone downstairs. Jethro, would you please welcome her here and tell her that I'll be back shortly. I've told her about you, so she will recognize you straight away. I don't want to be late, but I need to retrieve my cell phone from my desk downstairs."
With those parting words, Ducky hurries back to the elevator, which pings and takes him downstairs to autopsy.
Gibbs shakes his head, sitting down again on his chair while Ziva, Tony and McGee exchange amused looks.
"It's nice to see Ducky finally going out again. He was a little too quiet after his mother's death." Ziva says, thinking about the last months in which the gentle M.E. had valiantly tried to hide his pain of losing his only living parent from them.
"Ah, Ziver. Nothing like a new love to improve a man's spirit. Have you seen his smile? He's totally smitten," says Tony.
"Tony, not everything is about sex. He said it's nothing romantic. He just found someone who shares the same interests he has, so he is enjoying it as much as he can. There's nothing wrong with that," McGee says, trying to rationalize Ducky's actions.
"Ah, come on, McLonely, aren't you jealous that even Ducky has finally found a kindred soul and you still are going to sleep alone tonight?"
The elevator pings, announcing the arrival of the car, at the same time that McGee glares furious at Tony, who smirks evilly back at him after his hurtful comment. He opens his mouth to answer back when his eyes fixes on the person currently exiting the elevator, walking towards the first desk and asking directions.
His mind goes blank, and whatever he was about to say slips out of his mind as he looks transfixed to the most glorious creature he has ever set his eyes upon.
Tony notices the glazed look in McGee's eyes and follows their direction, ready to jerk McGee's chain for losing his ability to speak, just to be left with his mouth hanging open, his jaw on the floor, as a Goddess in a Red dress turns towards Gibbs' team, her soft hazel gaze landing on them for a second before she smiles brightly, her perfect white teeth a sharp contrast with the cherry red lipstick she is using.
"Ohhh my …." Tony's ability to speak goes down the drain as the beautiful goddess starts walking down the corridor towards his desk, her long red dress giving soft glimpses of softly tanned legs as she walks.
Ziva and Gibbs turn around and follow her approach, and she briefly glances at them smiling as she approaches their desks. Her gaze lands on Gibbs and she smirks, her eyes shining with recognition. Gibbs can feel his eyebrows rising, as the young beautiful woman nods to Ziva, and to the two mute struck men who are currently gazing adoringly at her.
"You must be Agent Jethro Gibbs. Ducky told me a lot about you." Her voice was sweet and slightly accented, as if she had learnt to speak English only after she was already an adult. She offers her hand to be shaken.
Gibbs smiles and stands up, taking her small hand in his and shaking it, "Yes, I'm Agent Gibbs. Unfortunately Ducky hasn't told us anything about you."
She throws her head back, laughing delighted. It sounds crystalline in the air and both younger men sigh out loud, completely enamored of Ducky's date.
"I'm Natalia Gonzales. I've met Ducky at the Rockwell exposition. He found me crying before one of Rockwell's paintings and offered me a handkerchief. We started talking about our common interests in art and we've struck a friendship. He is a very sweet man."
Tony suddenly regains his ability to speak, "Yes, he is." He stands up and walks up to the beautiful woman, offering his hand to be shaken. She offers hers, and he gallantly kisses the top of her hand, in a cavalier gesture, "I'm very very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, at your disposal."
She gazes at him smirking for a moment, glancing at his smiling eyes, "I see Ducky's descriptions of your team were quite correct, Agent Gibbs. I guessed you were DiNozzo from the moment you opened your mouth to speak."
DiNozzo frowns at it, "Really? Why?"
She shakes her head, her long curly raven hair softly bobbing over her shoulders, "Because he told me that, as soon as you saw me, you would make a pass on me."
DiNozzo's smile freezes on his face, while Ziva and McGee start snickering behind his back.
"Really? Did he really say that?"
She nods, and looks down at their still joined hands, "May I have my hand back? I need it for the Opera tonight."
DiNozzo let go of her hand, as she smiles back at Gibbs who is looking amused at DiNozzo's dismayed face.
Ziva stands up, and offers her hand to the stranger, "I'm Ziva David, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Ziva. May I call you Ziva? Ducky told me he calls you Ziva."
"No problem. You are a foreigner, are you not? By your accent, I'm guessing you are from South America. Argentina, perhaps?"
Natalia nods, "Very good, Ziva. I'm actually from Mendoza, a district in Argentina. But I have been living in America for the last five years."
McGee leaves his desk and stands beside Tony. Natalia glances at him and nods, saluting him, and he smiles at her, "Hi, I'm McGee, Timothy McGee. But you may call me Tim."
He stammers as he feels a blush burning up his neck, face, all the way to his ears, and he hears Tony snickering behind him. She blushes prettily, "I'm Natalia, but you may call me Natty."
"Natalia, my dear," Ducky says as soon as he spots her standing with the team. She turns around and smiles at the M.E., who stops for a moment in his steps to look her up and down, "oh dear, you are a vision to behold."
She shrugs coyly, "What? This old thing?" she points down to the beautiful blood red satin dress she is wearing, in Basque lace up style on the back. "I've borrowed it. Chrystal from the Costume department from the Conservatory told me that I should dress appropriately to see Carmen."
"Conservatory?" Gibbs glances over Natalia's shoulder to Ducky, who approaches the Argentinean woman and gently kisses her cheeks, once in each.
"Natalia attends music lessons at the Washington Conservatory of Music in her free time, whenever she's not working as an Aupair for a French couple living here in Washington. She also gives introduction musicality lessons to children below ten. She is a quite talented young lady."
She blushes under his praise, "Thanks Ducky, but you can't say that. You've never heard me playing yet."
"Ah, but I'm sure you're quite talented, my dear. Someone with your musical knowledge should not be wiping babies' butts for a living." He says in a stern tone of voice, and her smile dims a little, but doesn't disappear completely.
"We've spoken about that before. That's the job I've found which enabled me to come to America to further my studies in music. That's just what I do for a living. Not who I am."
"Really?" McGee asks, his interest perking at each little detail Natalia revealed about herself. "What instrument do you play?"
"Cello. But I'm also attending piano and composing lessons."
"And she has a glorious voice." Ducky adds, and Gibbs can't help but smiling at his old friend, who apparently had taken the young woman under his wings.
"Not as good as the Carmen performers tonight. By the way, I've met by chance," she opens her purse, and starts looking for something in it, "my old conductor, from the time I played in Switzerland in a small state funded orchestra. He is now working as assistant producer for the Met and he gave me this," she gets something in her hand and waves in the air two purple badges. She takes a step towards Ducky and pins one of the badges to the lapel of his tux, pinning the other to the lace of her dress over her chest.
"What is this?" Ducky studies curiously the badge, where the words PRESS are written in bold black letters.
"This is your entry ticket to the backstage of the Met Opera. It grants you access to restricted areas, giving you access to the singers and the musicians."
Ducky looks up at Natalia, then down at the badge. "No. You're kidding."
"Yes. With that you will finally get to meet and ask an autograph for Hei-Kyung Hong that you've been talking about for the last two weeks."
"Oh, dear, that's an incredible gift." He hugs Natalia tightly, his voice choking with emotion.
"Who is Hei-Khan Gon?" Tony frowns as he tries to pronounce the strange name, butchering it badly.
"Who is Hei-Kyung Hong?" asks Ducky outraged, releasing Natalia and taking a step towards Tony, who looks surprised at him. "She is a diva. The most amazing and purest soprano I've ever heard, with dolce cantabile tones in her melody, with spectacular tonal range." Ducky closes his eyes, his face taking a dreamy quality as he mentally hears the melody in his mind, "I've watched her debut, as Servilia in Clemenzia de Tito, back in 1984. Her voice floated through the hall, filling the air with its magic."
Tony looks at Ducky, surprised with Ducky's fascination with the soprano. Gibbs shakes his head lightly at his old friend, while Ziva and McGee stare fascinated at this new facet of the M.E. they had never seen before.
"Well," Natalia interrupts Ducky's sweet memories, "we'd better get going. You don't want to be late to meet your Diva."
Ducky opens his eyes, and runs his hand over his tuxedo, "Do you think I'm presentable? What if she doesn't like me?"
Natalia rolls her eyes at him, grabs his hat from Gibbs' desk and puts on Ducky's head. "What's not to like? Come on, your Micaëla awaits you."
She puts her hand on the fold of Ducky's arm, and starts guiding him out of the bullpen, speaking in low tunes about the show they were about to watch, and the long awaited dream-come-true meeting about to happen.
The end.