A/N: Another ficlet for the NFA Nepal Charity auction. The request was for Tim perception of Ellie as the new member of the team. I happen to like Ellie, and so this isn't the place for bashing her. :) It's only a oneshot.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS and I'm not making any money from this fic.

Who Sits in the Chair
by Enthusiastic Fish

"There. Done. Any other menial jobs you have for me?" Ellie asked the room at large.

"I didn't, Probie, but now that you mention it," Tony said, grinning.

Ellie held up her hands. "No. No. I wasn't asking you to think up something else. I've been here for more than a year. Shouldn't I be closer to being an equal yet?"

"Not even close, Bishop," Tony said. "You've got to pay your dues. Don't worry. You've got it easy. Just ask McGee."

Ellie raised an eyebrow at Tim.

"Don't look at me. I'm just trying to stay quiet and hope that Tony forgets about me. I'm so glad you're here," Tim said with a smile.

"What happened to chivalry?"

"I believe it's dead," Tony said. "I don't know who killed it, but it's been dead for years."

Ellie sighed and then started packing up.

"Well, if you have more nasty tasks, you can save them for Monday. I already cleared it with Gibbs. I'm out of here."

"Have a nice weekend, Bishop," Tim said.

"Will do."

She left the bullpen.

"I like her," Tony said.

"Never would have guessed," Tim said.

"You want to get a drink?"

"If I don't finish this report before I leave, Gibbs will never let me forget it. I'm not in the mood for that."

"All right. I'll have to get Abby, then."

"Have fun," Tim said.

"You, too, McSlowPoke."

Tony headed out and Tim figured that he had a little while alone to work on his report. He'd been a little sloppy and Gibbs had called him on it. No shortcuts this time through.

Still, he'd been staring at his computer screen all day and he felt like he could use a break. So instead of typing more, he leaned back and looked at the ceiling, letting his mind wander. Then, he sat up and his eyes fell on Ellie's desk.

He started to think about their new teammate. She was different, that was for sure. Ziva had been very different from Kate, but Ellie was exponentially different from Ziva. For one thing, she was so much more openly enthusiastic. Tim had never seen Kate as anything but experienced, but Ellie had grown from being totally new to being a competent agent. Ziva, while new, had never been inexperienced in the same way. Ziva had seen too much for that. Ellie wasn't naive by any means, but she was so happy to be doing this work and she wasn't afraid to show it. In a way, it was fun to have that element on the team. A little wearing at times, but still fun. She was learning about all the aspects of the job that had become old hat for Tim. It made him think about them himself.

Whatever else she was, Tim couldn't fault her enthusiasm. He was getting used to how different she was, that she wasn't as poised as Kate had been and wasn't as assertive as Ziva. She was almost...perky. At first, he hadn't been sure about that. Neither Kate nor Ziva had been perky.

And yet, somehow, it worked. She was genuinely excited about all these things. They were having to modify themselves a little bit to fit her in, but who wanted to stay the same all the time? Change was hard. He hadn't wanted Ziva to leave. ...but then, he hadn't wanted Kate to die. He still missed Kate. He missed Ziva. But the desk wasn't empty any longer. Ellie had filled the space, and she was bringing something new to the chair she filled.

Then, he smiled to himself. When she deigned to sit in the chair, she filled it. That particular quirk was still taking some getting used to, but he could see the value in spreading things out. One could get the big picture by seeing everything all at once. It wasn't the way he approached things, but he was more into the computer side. It was hard to spread a computer out.

Ellie was a thinker. Ziva had been a doer. Kate had been equal measures of both with her profiling skills and her training in the Secret Service. All of them had been competent in their jobs. Tim knew that he himself hadn't been the typical federal agent, but he felt that he fit into his space pretty well.

For just a moment, he allowed himself to regret Kate's death, Ziva's departure. Then, he felt grateful that there had been someone else to sit in that chair, someone else to come and shake things up a bit, make them appreciate what they had again. It was easy to take things for granted. In another year, Ellie would be so much a part of the team that they'd take her presence for granted as well. He almost looked forward to that.

"Are you done with your report, McGee?"

Tim jumped and there was Gibbs looming over him. He straightened and shook his head.

"Not yet, Boss. I'll be done soon. Just a few more things to fix."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him and then glanced over at Ellie's desk. Tim followed his gaze. Gibbs said nothing. He just walked away. Tim wasn't surprised by that. He returned his focus to the file waiting for him on his computer.

Before he started typing, he looked at the chair one more time.

He was so glad it wasn't empty.

FINIS!