Friday's Choice
By Channel D
Written for the NFA The Playboy, the Goth and the Geek Challenge
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Humor
Setting: Washington DC, December 2007
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Chapter One: Types
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Disclaimer: I own nothing of NCIS. Nothing at all!
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Earlier in the week…
Scenario 1: Do you want to go out Friday night? You and me, babe?
Scenario 2: I know you're only in town for a week, and, uh, you probably have plans for Saturday, but, uh, I was thinking, uh, if you weren't doing anything Friday, maybe you and I could…
Scenario 3: Yep. Cool…So cool…Awesome…So, like Friday?...Rockin'. See ya.
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If you're unattached, a date for Friday night can be one of the choicest rewards for surviving a week at work. Unwind! Throw your cares away! Go wild—you don't have to be back at the job, respectable and neatly dressed, for Two. Whole. Days. Might as well be talking about next year.
Now, as our story begins, this particular Friday in early December in Washington would have been an ideal date night, steeped in the holiday gaiety, were it not for the weather. There was cold. And snow, enough to snarl the city (it only takes half an inch), despite the District Department of Transportation's eternal snow readiness plan.. And a thin coat of ice. Suddenly Friday night at home, curled up to the DVD player, sounded much more appealing.
Unless you were used to working in bad weather, and saw this Friday night as no different than any other...
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Scenario 1: "No, listen, Madison, everything's going to be fine. Just fine." Tony swiveled in his desk chair, cell phone still held to his ear, to look out the window. Chubby white flakes of snow were an invasion force from the heavens, mounting attack as they had been doing since mid-morning, and it was now1 o'clock.. "There can't be more than an inch out there, and you know what? Ol' Tony's betting that the snow will end any minute now…no, I'm not a meteorologist, but I've lived here a number of years, and...I don't care what the TV says. This is not going to be a big storm. No, really!...Have I ever steered you wrong?... Okay, scratch that, and stop laughing while you're at it." He frowned at the phone.
Scenario 2: Across the aisle, Tim was on his own cell phone, fingering his tie nervously as he talked."Ivy, really, December snows never stick here. This isn't like Boston…no, I don't have a degree in atmospheric sciences, but...so, we're still on for tonight?"
"We're still on for tonight?" Tony asked his date, and his voice changed to a purr. "Good, because let me tell you what I have in mind. After we're back from the clubs, I have a plan that involves you and me and a large…" He looked up; saw Gibbs heading into the squad room.
So did Tim. "I've gotta go," Tim and Tony said simultaneously; hanging up their phones.
Gibbs glared at both of them. "More personal calls on government time?"
"Uh, that was a, a, woman who wanted the phone number for the IRS," Tony lied.
"Uh, mine was a, uh…" Tim flipped his hands helplessly; he wasn't a liar by nature or design, but every so often he tried to save himself by sidestepping the whole truth. It almost never worked.
Gibbs sighed, "Don't think you're getting out early because of the snow, if you have any plans for the evening. We have a full day's work ahead of us."
"So says the man who lives within sight of the Capitol building," Tony muttered.
"What was that, Di Nozzo?"
"Uh, I just said it must be lovely to be inside the Capitol building. In all this snow."
Gibbs gave him a look reserved for observed moments of pure idiocy, and headed for the elevator.
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Scenario 3: "No, Coleman; the weather doesn't bother me at all. Does it you?" Abby looked up to see out the windows from her below-street-level lab. People walked by along Sicard Street in boots, kicking up slushy snow as they went. She smiled, feeling she could almost hear his smile over the phone. "Good. Well, you're very brave to come in all the way from Virginia in this. So we're still on for tonight!" She heard the ping of the elevator. "I've gotta go," she said, and hung up hurriedly. "Gibbs! Did you bring me a Caf-Pow!?"
He eyed the phone in her hand. "Oh, not you, too."
She tried to look innocent. He wasn't convinced. "Need those test results before you leave tonight, Abbs. You'd better get on it."
"Yes, Jefe," she stifled a sigh, and thought longingly of her new outfit, hanging in her locker. Coleman will love it…if I get away in time,,,
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"You have a date tonight," Ziva remarked to Tony. "With a woman named Milwaukee?"
Tony winced, as Tim grinned. "Madison. Her name is Madison."
"Why are you dating women named after cities in Wisconsin?" she asked, puzzled.
"I don't—"
"They're not all named after cities in Wisconsin," Tim jumped in. "There was that bar maid, Savannah; the animal control officer, Dallas; and, uh…
"I remember East St Louis," said Ziva. "That's an unusual first name."
"That wasn't her name," Tony growled. "It was her title. Miss East St. Louis. She won a beauty pageant. And what about you, McGeek? Your girlfriend's name is Ivy League?"
Tim blushed. "It's Ivy Lange, and she's not my girlfriend. She's a friend; we were at MIT together. She's in town for a symposium and suggested we get together."
"And just what do geeks do when they get together? Recite the works of Immanuel Kant?"
Again Tim blushed. "Harvard geeks, maybe. MIT geeks, well…"
"Discuss male and female power connectors?" Ziva smirked.
Tim looked like he would fall over, but then broke out in a big laugh. "Not until after dinner and drinks," he finally said.
"If you're lucky, McGeek. If you're lucky," Tony said cooly. The two men stared each other down. It had crossed the line from individual plans for a fun evening out to a battle of types.
"At least my date has brains," Tim snapped. He held up his hands. "Nope, before you say it, no, I've never met your date, Sheboygan—"
" 'Madison!' "
"Right. I'll remember to shout it like you're doing. An unusual effect."
"Listen, McGeek—"
"No, you listen, Tony! I don't want you putting down my date because she's smart. She also happens to be cute and funny."
"Oh, yeah? So what does she see in you?"
Tim ignored that. "She is worth dating. Unlike yours, who's probably hoping to be a bunny to your playboy persona."
For a moment Tony mentally gaped, stuck for a good come back. Part of what Tim said was true, he knew. Tony was dating for type. Then again, so was Tim. Why didn't he look for something other than brains first, if he wasn't stereotyping? "We'd better get back to work," he finally mumbled. "Here comes Gibbs."
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Four-thirty didn't come soon enough. The snow had trailed off to flurries, but the temperatures had dropped and the slush had frozen. Workers who hadn't heeded the District's suggestion to leave work early jammed the subways and the slip-sliding buses, while car wheels spun, spun, and spun on under-treated and untreated roads. Just another winter day in an area that didn't see much of classic winter.
Tony and Tim had avoided each other, seeking out separate men's rooms in which to tidy up, don fresh shirts and tie that necktie. But Fate brought them to the building entrance at the same time, where Abby, also changed, was waiting inside the door.
"Whoa! You look…very very nice, Abbs!" Tony remarked, while Tim 'said' the same thing with his eyes.
She smiled and preened. "Oh, this old thing? Why, I hardly thought about it." She wore a short, sleek black skirt with a lacy bustier, with dozens of tiny skulls swinging on chains of black bones, with knee-high boots."
"You have a date?" Tim said, half in wonder, half in regret.
"'Course. It's Friday, isn't it? You guys have a date?" She then snickered, realizing how that sounded.
"Well, not with him," Tony said, jerking a thumb at Tim. "I'm not intellectual enough for him."
"Tony!" Tim complained.
"Maybe you didn't ask him nicely enough," Abby said innocently. "Did you think of that?"
Tim rolled his eyes. "I already have a date. Her name is Ivy, and she's sweet, fun, and pretty. And smart, yes."
"Oh?" said Abby.
"Yes. We went out a couple of times when we were at MIT. She's visiting DC and may relocate here. It'd be great if she did!"
"Oh," said Abby, with a little less spirit.
"And Tony's dating some bunny named Kenosha."
"Well, that's a nice name. Sounds like a city in—"
"Her name is Madison," Tony said through clenched teeth. "And she's no lightweight in the brains department. She went to Yale." As a girl who popped out of a cake in frat house parties, he didn't add.
"Oh. Well, good for her," said Tim, knowing the story didn't add up. "See you guys."
"You're walking, Tim?" asked Abby.
"How else will I get to the Metro? I'm leaving my car here until tomorrow. Only an idiot would risk their car on these roads tonight."
Tony softly let go of the car keys he'd just fingered in his pocket. "Uh, you got that right. Guess I'll call for a cab."
"Good luck on getting one," Tim laughed shortly. "On a Friday, at this time, in this weather?"
Simultaneously, Tony and Tim turned eyes on Abby. "Abby, what are you doing, hanging around the entrance?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all!" she said. "You'd better get going. It's a long walk to the Metro."
"You've got a cab coming, don't you?" said Tim.
"I made a reservation at 9 a.m. and you guys are not taking my cab from me!"
"Who said anything about taking it? I just want to share it with you," said Tony. "Probie can walk."
"And on that note, I'm outta here," Tim snapped, putting on earmuffs and stalking out. At least I don't have to see either of them for two whole days…