Yo. Enjoying it so far? Or is it a little too early to ask that? Anyways, Please read and respond. And I still don't own NCIS.

Chapter two: The Meeting

McGee stood on Tony's front stoop, still not really sure about what he was to find on the other side. Raising his hand to the door, it was opened before he could knock. There stood Tony, in a pair of beige cargo pants and a black t-shirt. "Finally made it McGee, I was wondering when you would show. Ziva, Gibbs, and Abbey are here already. Come on in, we're just waiting for Ducky and Palmer to show up." McGee just looked at him, but held his tongue. This really wasn't like Tony, but he ignored it for the time being and said, "Thanks Tony." McGee thought as he walked through the hall and into the other room, 'Maybe Gibbs is right, and he really is just turning over a new leaf.'

"McGee, yay, you're here. But of course you're here, you said you would be. Did you get any more info on our mystery girl?" Abbey was dressed in her usual black and white clothes with her hair up in pigtails. He still thought she looked incredibly cute like that. She was bouncing from her half consumed extra extra large thing of soda. Behind her, sitting on the sofa, was Ziva. Wearing a pair of jeans and an off the shoulder short sleeved purple shirt. The whole look really complimented her. Gibbs was in his usual pair of jeans and a button up shirt in pale blue. At least he fit in with the group this time by wearing almost the same thing that Gibbs wore, only instead of a pale blue shirt, his was white. Tony came into the room and started talking with everyone.

"DiNozzo, when is she supposed to be coming?" Gibbs was sitting on a lone seat off to the side. He had a glass in his hand and was drinking what appeared to be soda. Tony looked down at his watch, "She's supposed to be here in about fifteen minutes." He went over to the counter and poured a glass of soda. McGee walked over to the counter and saw only soda on it with a couple of glasses. "Um Tony, why is there only soda here? Doesn't a welcome home party normally mean having some version of alcohol in it?" Not that McGee was about to really complain about it, he enjoyed soda just a little more than alcohol. "She doesn't like drinking the stuff except on really special occasions. Most of her family drinks, and she can't take it." Tony looked down into his glass at the still slightly fizzing soda. Everyone had heard his last comment, and didn't speak. Slicing through the silence that had fallen onto the room, was the door bell. Tony took his drink and left the room, leaving everyone else to just look at each other. They could hear laughing and joking coming from the entrance.

"I didn't realize you were the young lady we were welcoming home. Why, I shouldn't have bored you so much about how homecoming parties in the mid nineteenth century was a whole town affair."

"Don't worry about, I quite enjoyed it actually."

"Um, Ducky, you forgot your hat…"

"Huh, oh, thank you Tony. Jimmy, could you just place it at the front entrance for me, thank you." A group of four people came in. In the front was Tony and the mystery girl, while coming behind them was Ducky and Palmer. McGee could only stare at her. It was her; Brittney Pemberly. She was looking at Tony and laughing at something he just whispered in her ear. Ducky and Palmer moved around the two and made their way to the drinks. He had his arm securely around her waist, just as she did with him. Tony stopped and introduced her to everyone in the room. "Guys, this is Brittney. Hun, these are my friends and coworkers. The one in black and white is Abbey, the one in purple is Ziva, pale blue shirt is Gibbs, the one in the white shirt is McGee. And you've already met Jimmy and Ducky." They all waved at the now blushing girl.

McGee looked her over. Long brown hair tied back into a pony tail with big brown eyes that could easily flit between emotions. Her figure was very nice, saying that she did eat right and worked out. She was wearing a pair of jean capris with a simple sleeveless shirt. All in all, she was pretty to look at.

Tony walked to stand next to McGee as Brittney had gone to talk to Abbey and Ziva. Gibbs had made no attempt to talk to her yet. "So, do I get your paycheck?" McGee came out of his reverie and looked at him. "No you don't. I was joking." Tony just sighed and drank some soda. McGee turned away and started moving when he heard Tony mutter under his breath, "Looks like I'm going to have to go for that payment plan after all." He stopped and turned, "what?" Tony looked startled and said a little too quickly, "Nothing." He moved away to talk to Gibbs. McGee just looked curiously after him. 'Tony is never like that. I wonder what's up.' He decided he would think about it later.

Tony went to sit near Gibbs

"So boss, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"About Brit. I know you haven't actually spoken to her, but you do watch people. And I was just wondering what you thought."

Gibbs turned his head to look at Tony. Was he really kidding him, asking him if he liked her, what was he supposed to be, the father who gave the yes and no about someone? "She's isn't your normal, so that's a plus but I can't say anything else 'til I watch her some more and possibly talk to her. Now, don't you have something else to do Tony?"

"Yeah, good point boss. Hey everyone, what do you guys want, burgers or hot dogs?" Tony stood up and started counting what people wanted, eight burgers and ten hotdogs. He moved into the kitchen with the numbers in his head and started making everything and putting it onto a plate to be transferred to the grill in the back. He watched the food sizzle on the hot metal grill. 'Should I go with the one from Tiffany's- nah. She doesn't like the real expensive stuff. Okay, so somewhere small, preferably family run. She likes those. Okay, so. Where is one of those located around here?' He flipped the meat over and went back to pondering. 'Well, I do need an idea of what she might like to have. Time to recruit a girl from around here. Ziva might be a good choice, shes good at subtly getting info, but she might not understand. Abbey might be a better choice, but she might scare her away from what I need.' He watched the meat some more and let his mind wander.

"Tony, is the food done yet? I'm hungry." Tony turned to see Abbey standing next to him looking at the sizzling meat.

"Hey Abbey, can I ask you a favor?"

Abbey looked up at him and started saying, "Well sure, so long as I don't have to go into work to look up something."

Tony pulled her in and said, "I need you to find out for me what Brit's favorite stone is."

Abbey looked up questioningly, "She's your girlfriend Tony, surely you should know that one by now."

"Not when she's trying to prevent me from ever buying her any real good jewelry. She always says, 'Get it off a five dollar rack, I'm happiest then.'."

Abbey's mouth went into an 'oh' look. "Ok, no problem. Now how about food? Cause you have to feed your worker."

Tony laughed and said, "Give it another two minutes and tell the others to come get it hot off the grill."

Abbey left him and went to the others, told them the 'good news' and sat back down next to Brittney and Ziva. She tried thinking of a way to start up the conversation, but Ziva started it for her. "Brittney, what is that ring that you are wearing? It is beautiful."

Brittney laughed. "This is my old high school ring. I try to wear it as often as possible, to show everyone that I was proud to go there." Ziva was curious now. "May I see it?" Brittney nodded, pulled it off, and handed it to her. Ziva studied it carefully. "Your birthday is in October then, yes?"

Brittney shook her head and laughed, "No, it's actually in March, but I love October's stone. March is very pretty but can look too much like a diamond at times. When October's stone is put into this kind of setting with this particular cut, it changes color."

Looking at it in different directions, Ziva nodded in agreement, then studied the cut. "Ah, it is the sunburst cut. Now I can see why. It truly is beautiful. And the engravings on the inside are your initials. But what does the 'C' stand for?"

"My full name, including confirmation name, is Brittney Cecelia Rose Pemberly. But I only put in my full name. I decided to leave out the confirmation name, it wasn't really needed. But I still love that ring, all the way down to the fact that it falls off my finger at times. After all this time, I still never got it sized properly." Before anymore could be said, they heard two large growls. Abbey and Brittney looked down at their stomachs, back to each other, and laughed. "I think it's time we eat." Abbey shot up and said, "I vote yes on that statement." The two girls continued to talk going straight out the door.

McGee stood and watched the women as they talked about random things. Gibbs could tell that the girls of this group could get along very well, almost like sisters now. Even Ziva was talking more. Ducky was giving a lecture to all the men in the room about something down in Africa. Jimmy looked interested, but that was about the extent. Soon everyone followed out Brittney, Abbey and Ziva to the back deck where Tony was pulling everything off the grill. Brittney walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. She just held him as he finished giving everyone else their food. She stood on her tip toes, kissed the back of his neck, and grabbed her food and walked off. It was her form of thanks, and he loved it.