Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS


Tony yawned as he exited the elevator at 0520 and walked to his desk with one eye closed in the vain hope that it might be the equivalent of getting half a sleep. He cursed the silence of the bullpen and threw his backpack beside his desk and slumped down onto his chair and raised his eyes to the ceiling and closed them.

He heard the ding of the elevator and the footsteps of someone approaching his desk and smiled at the cough of Tim McGee. He continued with his eyes closed,

"You know Probie, I think Gibbs is totally over-reacting to this whole thing, I mean it was an itsy bitsy scuffle and we tidied the damn place up, I really can't see what his freakin' problem is."

With his eyes still closed Tony heard McGee let out a strangled cough.

"My problem is you two playing football and fighting when you should be working"

As if electrified Tony jumped from his seat and stood up, his eyes wide at his boss. He gulped as he noticed the pale face of Tim McGee standing next to him.

"M..mm…morning…boss, didn't hear you coming in there, with McGee."

Gibbs lifted his hand not entirely unexpectedly.

"OW!"

"The two of you get to work, if we get a case you can stop, till then, you get that supply room cleaned, now move it!"

Tim put his gear at his desk and accompanied Tony to the supply room, stopping off beforehand to get the cleaning supplies from the cleaners closet.

"This seriously sucks! I mean no-one cleans this early in the morning!" Tony moaned.

Tim closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, "I had nightmares about this last night" he said quietly.

Tony chuckled, "Tell me more McGee."

"I dreamt that I was locked in this room and couldn't get out and there were these huge pencils chasing me through miles and miles of shelves!"

McGee frowned as Tony instantly doubled up with laughter.

"It wasn't funny Tony, the pencils were….oh God, I know I shouldn't have told you!"

Tony put his arm on Tim's shoulder and thrust a bottle of cleaning fluid into his chest, "My sources tell me that scary pencils can be eliminated by dousing them in cleaning fluid, so get those sleeves rolled up McGee and let's start the war on stationery!"

Tim sighed heavily and took the cleaner and cloth and went to the nearest shelf and set them down. He started to remove the pile of notebooks from the shelf when Tony squealed.

"Woah, Probie! What you doin'?"

"I'm cleaning the shelves Tony," Tim frowned,

"Didn't they teach you anything at MIT?"

"What?"

"He wants this place cleaned McGee, not 'deep-cleaned', just clean, you know what that means?"

"Uh…no."

"You dust only the parts he can see or reach."

"But he said to clean the shelves."

Tony quickly raised his finger to silence Tim.

"Hey! As your Senior Field Agent, I give the orders. Clean DiNozzo style McGee or else wind up this cleaning cloth and whip you silly with it!"

Tim replaced the notebooks and started to dust around the shelves at eye level.

Within 40 minutes, Tony DiNozzo had declared the room 'squared away Gibbs style' and sat down on the table.

"Sit on your brain Probie, it will be at least another hour before Gibbs decides to pay us a visit."

Tony leaned back on the table and started drumming on small tubs of paper clips and staples with two pencils.

"I really need to get myself a drum kit."

"You can't keep a rhythm! There is no way you could play the drums!"

Tony stuck out his bottom lip as his face fell,

"That's not nice McGee, I am musical, I had piano lessons when I was a kid, my music teacher said I had a unique style of playing the piano."

"She didn't say that it was good though did she?"

Tony stared ahead blankly, "That woman made the witch from the Wizard of Oz look like Mother Theresa. She hated me and I hated her. It was a hate-hate relationship. I still can't listen to Chopin without hearing her shrieking voice."

Tim winced in sympathy, "It was Little League for me. I lasted three weeks till I threw up on the coach's shoes. My mom decided then that I was a lost cause when it came to sports."

Tony chuckled, "Good times Probie!"

Tim looked sheepishly at Tony for a few moments, "Uh…Tony, listen…..about what happened yesterday…I'm….uh"

Tony frowned as Tim continued,

"I'm….sorry for punching you. It was stupid and we wouldn't have ended up…"

"Don't worry about it," Tony smiled as he rubbed his jaw,

"If only you could throw a ball as well as you can throw a punch, then I'd…..."

The door handle clattered quickly and the door swung open as Gibbs stomped in.

"Hey boss!" Tony snapped as he stood up quickly from the table.

Gibbs stood tall and inhaled deeply, his nose twitching at the scent of cleaning fluid. His eyes scanned the room and then narrowed as they setlled on the two agents standing in front of him.

"You two finished in here already?"

"McGee is like Mary Poppins boss, he can clean faster than you can say 'Supercalifragi….OW!"

Tony rubbed the back of his head as Gibbs ran his finger across the top of the nearest shelf and then inspected it. He raised his eyebrow when no dust appeared.

Tony glanced at Tim and winked. His face then fell and he swallowed hard as he watched Gibbs take the small step stool and stretch up to the top of the shelf and reach his hand into the back, behind a stack of boxed staplers. As Gibbs towered above them, he turned and held his fingers up for inspection,

"What is this?"

Heavy sighs accompanied the duel response, "Dust."

Gibbs stepped down from the stool and glared.

"Get……this room…..cleaned….you have one hour"

As he stood toe to toe with Tony he kept his voice low and quiet.

"If I find so much as a speck of dust in one hour, I will find a more creative use for one of those rulers. Do I make myself clear?"

Both boys nodded quickly and then watched with slumped shoulders as Gibbs stomped out of the room. Tony stood at the door of the supply room his face clearly showing his displeasure at the prospect of further cleaning. Tim folded his arms and was about to protest the unfairness of their situation when he saw Tony's face light up instantly.

"Ha! We've struck gold Probie!"

Tim frowned in confusion as Tony continued to beam widely,

"Hey Carla! Psst! Carla, over here!"

The older woman shuffled over to the door of the supply room, stopped at the door and placed her hands on her ample hips. Tony put her arms around her and hugged her.

"Hey you! Don't get fresh with me!" she snapped with her distinctive Italian laced accent. She slapped Tony playfully on the chest.

"Carla, we need a favor…please…..a big favor, 'uno che paga i contanti', you interested?"

Carla, NCIS's resident cleaner, brightened her eyes registering the mention of cash. Despite working for NCIS for years, it was well known that the older Italian grandmother wouldn't turn down the chance to make an extra dollar or ten.

She smiled maternally at Tony and Tim, "What you two done now?"

Tony placed his arm around her shoulder and guided her into the supply room.

"We haven't done anything Carla! Gibbs just wanted us to clean this room cos we don't have any cases at the moment and he wanted to keep us occupied. But we know that we could not clean this place to your exacting standards, so that is why we, McGee and I, will pay you to clean this room by giving you…uh…fifty bucks."

"One hundred!" came the quick response.

"Seventy five!" Tim added even more quickly.

"Done!" Carla snapped and thrust out her hand.

Tony and Tim grinned as they got out their wallets and handed over the money to Carla who quickly placed it inside her bra, causing both boys to wince in disgust.

Over the next fifty minutes she worked away cleaning the room from top to bottom until the air smelled fresh and there was no speck of dust to be seen. Tim managed to usher her from the room just moments before Gibbs marched down the corridor.

He walked into the room having a sense of déjà vu and eyed the two boys suspiciously. After inspecting shelves and obscure areas of the room he smirked and then stood in front of the two younger agents.

"Good job" he said quietly and began to stare at them in silence.

A few moments later Tony and Tim began to wilt under the intensity of the stare and Gibbs eventually decided to bring things to a close.

"Your behavior was completely out of order. If I have to break a fight up between you two once more, trust me, I will be the one who will be causing the bruising and they will not be anywhere you would show Ziva! Now I want both of you to get back to your desks, start acting like adults and quit the fooling around!"

Tim and Tony eyed the floor with the required amount of remorse to allow Gibbs to quit chewing them out.

"Ok….get out of here," Gibbs growled.

There was no hesitation as they scarpered back to their desks quickly.

The day rolled on. Jethro Gibbs looked at his watch and took in a deep breath, at 1820 it was almost time to end the long day, made even longer with tedious paper work. He stood up and eyed his three agents working away quietly.

"Go home!" he barked.

It did not take long for the entire team to get their gear together and head for the elevator. As the elevator doors swished open, Carla exited with her mop bucket in hand. Tony and Tim paled instantly, recalling that they had not warned her not to mention anything to Gibbs about their arrangement.

"Special Agent Gibbs," she said with a smile.

Gibbs quickly smiled back politely.

"You really should find another way to occupy these young boys, they could never have cleaned that room as good as I did. I think you are trying to work me out of a job!"

Gibbs frowned and then raised an eyebrow as he realized exactly how the supply room had become so clean.

He opened his mouth about to read the riot act to Tony and Tim when he felt the sharp smack to the back of his head.

"And don't think of taking it out on these boys, for showing some initiative, or else you and I will be having a little chat like last time!"

Gibbs gulped as Carla raised her eyebrow and then walked off towards the stairwell.

The eyes of Ziva, Tim and Tony went wide, accompanying their open mouths at the sight of their boss getting whacked upside the head.

With a nod of his head, Gibbs stepped into the elevator and whacked the button.

His voice was cold and firm but perfectly clear,

"Any of you say one word and you'll be counting paper clips till Christmas."

THE END


A/N Eventually finished. Sorry for the delay folks. Hope you liked this last chapter.