"Gibbs," hissed Director Vance down the phone, "what the hell do you think you're up to?"
"Leon?" asked Gibbs in a puzzled voice, "what you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you running an undercover operation without telling me. That's what I'm talking about!"
"Leon, it's Saturday. I'm at home, doing chores," said Gibbs in a more patient and reasonable voice than he usually used with the Director.
"Well, your team's not," said Vance, "and I've just alerted the FBI that something's going down, so I suggest you get here. NOW!"
"Where?" demanded Gibbs.
"Forget what I just said," said Vance, "that wasn't a suggestion. It was an order. Get down here."
"You're going to have to remind me where this op is going on, Leon," said an irritated Gibbs.
"303 South Street East," said the Director curtly. "Now, Gibbs!" and he put the phone down.
The Director sighed. How had a simple visit to the library to pick up a book for Jared turned into a full blown security issue? He had collected the book and been about to leave when he heard the sound of children's laughter and found his gaze drifting to where the noise came from. A wave of nostalgia had washed over him as he saw that a group of about twenty young children were sitting listening to a story; it brought back memories of him and Jackie bringing their toddlers to similar sessions. The Director's vision had blurred momentarily as he recalled those happier days. He wiped his eyes angrily and then started with amazement when he recognised the story teller.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was sitting cross legged on the floor surrounded by a gaggle of eager tots who were hanging on his every word!
Vance had gone from nostalgic to furious in an instant. The high-handed Gibbs had not thought to tell him that he was running some sort of operation from the library. Leon fumed as he thought how irresponsible it was to go undercover in a place where so many children and families gathered. He had phoned Fornell at the FBI to warn him that there was a danger of criminal activity happening at the library and had then phoned Gibbs to demand an explanation only to be further infuriated to discover that the team leader couldn't be bothered to be present.
Having set things in train, Leon looked round to see if he could get a clue to what sort of sting might be going on. He was disturbed not to be able to see any other NCIS agents in position. He hoped it was because they were hidden very well but began to worry that DiNozzo had gone off piste completely and was running some sort of hare-brained solo scheme.
Leon looked round for someone in authority; he felt he should let the library staff know of the potential danger they were in. It was the responsible thing to do as Director. He saw a youngish woman sitting at an information desk and he decided to start with her. As he drew nearer he saw there was a name plate on the desk, "Ms Frances C. Jones, Assistant Head Librarian."
"May I help you?" she raised her eyes towards the Director as he stood in front of her desk.
"I don't want you to be alarmed," said Vance smoothly.
Ms Jones's rather lovely eyes widened and she made to stand up but Leon gestured for her to remain seated.
"Stay where you are," he ordered.
Ms Jones looked round nervously and tried to peer past Leon towards the space where she could hear the children laughing.
"There's nothing to be worried about," continued Vance, beginning to think that he wasn't going about this the right way.
"You're not being very reassuring," said Ms Jones, recovering her poise a little, "who are you?"
"My name is Leon Vance. I'm Di …" he words were drowned by a particular loud burst of laughter behind him. "You need to be ready to evacuate the building. It may not be necessary but you should be prepared. I assume you have evacuation procedures to follow?"
Ms Jones frowned at these words, "Of course, we have," she said a little stiffly, "but you haven't explained why you think we will need to leave the building."
"I have reason to believe there may be criminals in the library," explained Vance, "so we need to be ready. I have advised the FBI and they are sending a team over."
"What sort of criminals?" asked Ms Jones, "What sort of danger are we in?"
"I don't know," admitted Vance, "but I feel we should not take any chances."
"Very well," said Ms Jones who was clearly a bit doubtful, "do you have any identification on you? You will understand that I need to know who I am talking to."
"Of course," said Leon, realising he should have shown her his ID earlier on, "now don't be alarmed but I'm going to reach into my pocket to get my wallet out."
Ms Jones paled a bit at these words and the Director realised that he had now put the idea of a concealed weapon into her mind. It really was far too long since he had been a field operative. He reached slowly into his pocket but found it to be empty. He grinned apologetically and put his hand in another pocket; and another and then another before remembering that he had left his ID at home.
"Actually, I don't have my badge with me," he confessed, "but another of my agents is on the way."
Ms Jones looked even more doubtful and, despite instructions to the contrary, stood up and seemed ready to confront Vance if needed. Vance took a moment to admire her figure and tried to think of some reassuring words. Before he could come up with anything, however, they were interrupted by terrified shrieks from the children. Ms Jones swung into action. She raised over to the fire alarm and pressed it. She then ran towards the children calling,
"Children, we've got to leave the building. Quietly and calmly now. Parents and carers, please take your children out slowly through the main door and gather on the grass outside."
"But we want to hear the end of the story," wailed a small redheaded boy.
"Peter the Pirate was about to walk the plank," said a curly haired little girl."
"I'll finish the story later, Jack," promised Tony as he got up, "come on, Charlotte, we need to go," and he picked up a particularly small child and helped Ms Jones shepherd everyone out.
Tony looked puzzled when he saw the Director but decided not to ask questions until everyone was out of the building. They had just got everyone out when two cars screeched to a halt. Tony was astonished to see Agent Fornell leap out of one of them and Gibbs out of the other. Ms Jones had finished checking that everyone was accounted for and walked over to Tony,
"What's going on, Celeste?" he asked.
"A man said there were some criminals in the library," said Celeste, "he was a bit creepy, couldn't give any details. I was beginning to think he might be mentally disturbed but then the children screamed … and I thought something had happened."
"I'd just got to the part in the story where Peter the Pirate was captured by Brian the Brigand," said Tony, "and was told he'd had have to swim with the fishes. I guess I might have overdone the peril a bit 'cos the children all screamed!"
Celeste gave a shaky laugh and leaned into Tony for comfort.
"What happened to the creepy man?" asked Tony, worried that someone dangerous might indeed be at large.
"He's over there," said Celeste, pointing to Vance, "Oh look, he's coming over here."
Fornell and Gibbs ran towards the Director as he approached Tony.
"Agent DiNozzo," Vance demanded, "what is the meaning of this?"
"Of what, Sir?" asked Tony.
"You know him?" asked Celeste.
"This is Leon Vance, Director of NCIS," said Tony.
"Oh," said Celeste, "he's not how you described him."
"Special Agent DiNozzo," said Vance again, "explain yourself."
Tony looked puzzled again and noticed that Gibbs and Fornell were hovering with something like feral grins on their faces.
"Well, I guess I may have got carried away," Tony confessed.
"You think?" said Vance in a hostile voice.
"But, I'm new at this," pleaded Tony.
"New?" hissed Leon, "you've been doing this for fifteen years!"
"Tony," said Celeste with a hint of reproach, "you said this was your first time."
"It is," protested Tony.
"But it's my fault," said Celeste bravely as she turned to face the Director, "I take full responsibility, Director Vance. I asked Tony to do it."
"You asked him?" said a bemused Director, "but you said you didn't know anything about it." He whirled round as he heard a stifled laugh from the direction of Gibbs and Fornell.
"You didn't ask me!" said Celeste, beginning to think her initial impression of a slightly mentally disturbed man was correct.
"It's not your fault," said Tony stoutly, "and I'll know better next time,"
"Next time?" roared Vance, "there's not going to be a next time. You'll be lucky not to lose your badge over this."
"What?" said a shaken Tony, "but I didn't mean this to happen."
"What do you mean you didn't mean this to happen? You should know you have to get proper authorisation. You have to go through channels so we don't end up with this sort of mess," shouted Vance.
"I needed to get permission?" said a stunned Tony.
"Of course you did! What sort of idiot are you?"
"But I didn't know you'd care," pleaded Tony.
"Of course I'd care! I'm the Director of NCIS."
"Gibbs is right," said a saddened Tony, "bureaucracy has gone mad."
"It's not bureaucracy," said Vance, slightly calmer as he saw that Tony was beginning to realise the enormity of what he had done, "it just keeps things safe."
"I suppose it was technically about the Navy," said Tony, trying to be fair.
"What do you mean, 'technically'?" asked Vance.
"Well, it did involve pirates," said Tony.
"Good Lord, this was about pirates?" said Vance, "it's worse than I thought."
"Do pirates make it worse?" asked Tony wondering why Fornell and Gibbs seemed to be supporting each other as they rocked with laughter.
"Of course they do," said Vance, turning to glare at Gibbs and Fornell.
Tony sighed and turned to Celeste, "I'm sorry, darling, it looks as if I won't be able to finish the story after all. Director, do I still need to get permission to tell stories if they don't involve pirates? I've got some about farmyard animals; could I use those so long as they don't involve going on the duck pond?"
"What?" said Vance.
"You know, Director Vance," said Celeste a little crossly, "I'm surprised that Federal agencies are so, so … anal about what their employees do in their spare time. I would have thought that they would only too pleased to see them involved in community activities."
"What?" repeated Vance.
"And literacy is a high priority in government thinking," said Celeste warming to her theme, "and statistics show that high literacy rates are a key part in reducing crime."
"Well, of course, it is," said Vance, "and it's an interesting point but I'm not sure what relevance it has at the moment."
"And that's the problem, isn't it?" said Celeste hotly, "it's never the priority at the moment. There's always something better to be done, something more important but I consider reading to be vital to the good of this country!"
"And so do I," said Vance honestly.
"But when one of your agents volunteers to give up his Saturday morning to read to a group of children, you insist on putting obstacles in his way. I'm going to write to my congressman about this. I think it's deplorable."
"What? I don't understand," said Vance.
Gibbs seemed to decide it was time to enter the fray. His boat was waiting for him after all.
"DiNozzo here volunteered to take story time, Leon. He's … er … taken an interest in literacy projects since he met Celeste."
"Who's Celeste?" asked Vance.
"I am," said Celeste.
"But your name plate said your name's Frances" said Vance.
"Frances C Jones," said Tony.
"The C stands for Celeste," said Ms Jones, "Tony always calls me Celeste. He prefers it," and she bestowed a dazzling smile on Tony. Vance began to understand why Tony had developed an interest in literacy projects.
"So you weren't undercover?" said Vance weakly.
"Without permission?" said Tony, aghast, "of course not."
"D'you think you might have overreacted, Leon?" asked Gibbs with a straight(ish) face.
Before the Director could reply, they were interrupted by the voice of a small boy,
"Please, can you tell us the end of the story, Mr DiNoz. We want to find out if Peter the Pirate gets eated or not."
Tony looked down and smiled at the lad and then looked at the Director,
"Director? Permission to finish the story?"
Vance nodded and Tony returned to the library with the children in his wake. Celeste beamed at Gibbs,
"Nice to see you again, Agent Gibbs." She turned to Director Vance and sniffed disapprovingly,
"I'm still going to write to my congressman," she said before following Tony back to story time.
AN, After writing 'May the force be with you'. I decided I quite liked Celeste so she and Tony may turn up again!