Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. The characters are borrowed from the CBS network show NCIS for personal entertainment purposes only. No profit is or shall be made from this fan tribute to the show which is owned by TPTB. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

Set in time: NCIS 2001, pre-series

Spoiler warning: N/A

Main characters: Tony DiNozzo, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Director Morrow

A/N: Inspired by 12×23 quote "Did you see him do that eye-scanner? First time I did it - 14 tries!"

MTAC Sesame

(by VG LittleBear/vglb)

This morning had been crazy, well, there seldom were any that weren't. Blackadder from the FBI had shown up again, wanting to be part of their current case. Gibbs had sent her back to the Hoover building to pick up additional information, or stay away. Gibbs himself had stormed off for coffee, short-tempered. And just now, Tony had been told to report to MTAC.

Special Agent (not probationary any more) DiNozzo had only gotten the authorization for the 'Multiple Threat Alert Center' this morning. Coincidence? Not likely, Gibbs had a rule for that. Something in the 30-ish range, Tony was sure, but he was so going to sail into that room of mystery, or MTAC as it was commonly referred to.

He'd straightened his collar, brushed his hair, temporary borrowed a compact mirror out of a purse sitting conveniently close at a desk nearby to give himself a once over, and marched up the stairs. Halfway up he heard the outraged cry of Brenda Hill, who'd discovered her compact slung haphazardly into her purse, and grinned self-satisfied.

'Silly woman, she should know better than to leave her handbag out. Those drawers in her desk were meant to be used,' thought Tony. They even locked, not that this would stop him from messing with Brenda's things. He'd fast gotten a reputation as a menace to all things personal.

Full of himself, Tony sidled up to the MTAC door and pushed his nose up close to the contraption. Tony imagined a laser beam hit on his orb, and - no go. Probably should have taken his glasses off. Tony didn't need glasses, but he liked the air they gave him.

Putting his glasses away, Tony once more came up to the scanner and - no. Must have been his hair, he probably should get that haircut Gibbs had been hinting at more or less bluntly for some time now.

Well, three's the charm, so Tony simply moved his hand over his forehead and made sure no stray hair was obscuring his eye, and - no again!

Tony was trying to remember if he was supposed to mumble a password along with the scanning, but he came up blank. There had been nothing in the documentation he got this morning. Although he'd occasionally seen Ducky use a sentence out of 'One Thousand and One Nights' to get things to open. He'd give it a try.

Scrunching up his nose, he said at his most serious Aladdin voice "Open Sesame!" - The scanner came on - no green light.

Undeterred, he tried again with the French version he'd learned from his mother's goodnight tales: "Ouvre toi, Sesame!"

Still nothing! He also wondered why his mother had used this keyphrase in French to get the vampire into the boudoir of her victim, but that was beside the point.

Okay, this was silly, but he had one word left. Blustering he got into position once more and carefully pronounced "Abracadabra!"

It didn't really surprise him, but he felt a slight let-down that the magic words had not worked. He started to feel a pressing need to empty his bladder. Maybe it was a good idea to take a short detour to the bathroom? It would also get him away from the people starting to notice that he had been standing at the door to MTAC for some time now.

The bathroom break gave him another chance at pushing his hair out of his face, and of course relieved him, even if it had not really been long enough since his last bathroom break to be in any sense urgent. He was back quickly, there was only so much grimacing he could do in front of the mirror with other people around, but he'd gotten some ideas how to proceed next.

The lip-stick position, granted, he'd have been surprised if it had worked. The majority of people accessing MTAC were not of the female persuasion despite a rising number of women in Special Agent positions at NCIS.

The Wild Wild West: scrunching his left eye closed, he flung a challenging eye at the scanner. - The scanner rejected him.

The pirate - not having an eye-cap, he covered his left eye with his left hand, and had the scanner do its thing. Still no result!

This was getting so frustrating!

Next he tried getting his eye scanned from slightly to the side: left, right, up - none seemed to impress the scanner. Obviously he couldn't look down as that would mostly hide his eye pupil.

Was he using the right eye? Well, obviously he was using his right eye, but maybe he should use his left? He had nothing to lose, pushing his left eye against the scanner he waited. In vain. That's when the hairs in the back of his neck stood at attention.

"What the heck are you doing, DiNozzo?" asked the Gunny's voice.

Gibbs stood right behind him!

"Boss, I was just going to get into MTAC!"

"Get on with it!" came impatiently from the man, followed by a swift slap to the back of his head.

Both eyes wide open, Tony leaned once more his right eye towards the scanner. The light switched to green, the door popped open, and he was in, closely followed by Gibbs, who snapped the door closed. Tony didn't quite understand the hectic exchange of money that broke out just then among the MTAC technicians, but he walked confidently down the ramp to take his seat.

What Tony didn't see was the smirk Gibbs was hiding behind his almost full coffee cup as the Gunny snapped his fingers at Director Morrow to pay up on their bet. He'd left Abby's lab when the count reached ten as the director had bet him DiNozzo would get in with single digit number of tries at the scanner, and he'd said more than ten. Gibbs was going to take her a Caf-Pow as soon as he got out of the briefing, and watch the entire scene she had set up to record from the moment Tony got the call to report to MTAC.

DiNozzo had too much experience for an extended probie-ship, but that didn't mean the Director and his Team Leader couldn't have fun with Tony's first time access to MTAC.

- finis -

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this fluffy offering. I've been very fortunate with my other posts to have you not only reading, but also following, favoriting, or reviewing! It makes my day to get your feedback, and I appreciate it very much. Please keep doing it! Thank you!