Thanks for the reviews! I get worried that I'm the only one who will like this lol.


"You are aware of the type of cases we investigate?" Gibbs asked Angel.

She nodded. "I'd mostly be dealing with it on paper though, wouldn't I?"

"There will be some rather gruesome photography in some of the files but to some degree I'll try to shield you from those – keep them separate or covered until the case you were working on was ready to be filed away. I can't promise that you won't see some disturbing things."

"I'll probably okay as long as it's not in my face all the time." She told him. "Besides, I've learned that you can get used to all sorts of things that you never thought you could deal with. I worked for a funeral director for about a year – not in the actual mortuary or anything but I was still exposed to things I never thought I'd be able to cope with and managed just fine." Angel shrugged. "Besides it's not like I'll have to examine any of the crime scene photos closely or anything, will I?"

"Nope. Just make sure all the required photos listed are in the file. If a case is particularly disturbing I can make one of my agents do that part for you." Gibbs replied. "If you were training to be an agent I'd be forcing you to learn to cope with things like that but if there's no need then I'd rather not expose you to more than necessary."

"Thanks, Gibbs." Angel smiled shyly as she drank the rest of her water.

"So…" Gibbs quickly drained the rest of his coffee. "You wanna come check out the place? Meet some people?"

"Really?" Her eyes lit up.

"Yes, really." He leaned forward seriously, making her giggle again.

"Okay."

Gibbs insisted on paying the tab of course. She accepted this with a pleased, embarrassed little smile – as if this was something she wasn't used to. This made Gibbs feel annoyed – not with her – but with the fact that this occurrence was so unusual to her. It really boggled his mind that men weren't falling over themselves to impress this sweet woman.

They walked back to NCIS headquarters together in companionable silence. He only just stopped himself offering her his arm, or putting his hand on her back to guide her. He had an almost overwhelming urge to protect her. He almost wished he were Ducky because the good doctor could get away with such chivalry and women thought it was adorable.

He was pleased at how delighted she seemed to be with everything in the NCIS building. He'd never really noticed all the details she pointed out. Sure he'd noticed that the décor was stylish and modern compared to the previous building NCIS had been housed in and he noticed all the high-tech security systems you had to go through to get into the building but beyond that it was just a place of work to him.

Gibbs decided to take her down to Abby's lab first.

"Does that hurt?" Angel asked him as he put his eye near the retina scanner that was required to operate the lift down to Abby. Then she grinned. "Man, I'm so dumb, obviously it doesn't hurt. I mean… that's gotta be pretty bright."

"You get used to it." He smiled at her. "First few times it's a bit strange."

"If I work here will I have to get that set up for me?" She asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Yeah, that and an ID card. The usual. Until that is done, I'd get someone to go with you if you needed to be elsewhere in the building." He patted her shoulder. "Don't worry it's not much more involved than getting your fingerprints taken."

"Sorry, I'm a bit weird about some stuff."

"Don't apologise. It's one of my rules." He smiled kindly at her. "We all have our little quirks. The key is to acknowledge your fears and the things that make you nervous and then face them."

"True. I'm working on all that. I've come a long way in the past few years. Been working on my self-confidence and assertiveness. Some days I'm good, other days I feel like I have a long way to go."

"If you don't mind me asking…" Gibbs kept his eyes on the numbers as the elevator descended. "How bad did it get?"

"With my evil bosses?" She asked. "Well, nothing illegal. Could have been a lot worse. Hmm, I'd say the most damaging was the woman boss I had that made me cry every day until my nose bled."

"Geez." Gibbs was horrified.

"It just messed with my head. She'd tell me to do something that was outside my area of expertise and she wouldn't explain anything. Then I'd finally somehow manage to get it done and then she'd change her mind about what she thought she'd told me to do. I just couldn't win. I don't actually remember all the crap she put me through but by the time she was finished with me I had lost faith in my ability to even type. The legal department at the university we worked at wanted me to take her up on harassment charges but I didn't want to."

Angel looked at the floor. "It probably seems incredibly stupid to you. To let someone get to you that much. I try not to feel too pathetic though because there was a male professor out on six months of stress leave because of that woman and another female professor who went through the whole mediation process trying to find a way to work with her and she ended up having to change to a different department because they couldn't come to a solution to the badness."

"I don't think it's stupid at all. It can't be easy to deal with constant psychological abuse especially when you were so new to the workforce."

"You're nice to say that." Angel shook her head.

"I don't really make a habit of being nice." Gibbs told her. "If there were professors who couldn't stand up to her then how was someone as young as you were supposed to cope with her abuse? She sounds like a nasty piece of work."

"No, not really. She was just like so many of the other evil bosses I've had – not really evil at all – just uncomfortable and insecure in their positions of power. Unsettled in their personal lives as well and needing someone to kick to make themselves feel better." She smiled up at him then, the slight sadness in her eyes melting away. "Something I don't have to worry about with you, Gibbs. I have absolutely no doubt that you are one hundred per cent confident in your leadership. That you're comfortable with your power and that you use it for…" Her voice turned mock dramatic. "…the good of mankind!"

Gibbs wrinkled his brow and shook his head in amusement. The doors opened and he hurried forward to turn down Abby's music before Angel went deaf.

"Abs!" He called out. "Got someone here I want you to meet."

She rolled out from behind her desk with a flourish. "Hi!"

"Hey Abby." Angel smiled, holding out her hand. "I'm…"

"Evangeline Daniels!" Abby called out enthusiastically, shoving herself away from the desk and rolling over to Angel via her desk chair to pump her hand. "I read your manual! It's so nice to meet you in the flesh!"

"You too. You can call me Angel for short if you want."

"Woah, just when I thought your name couldn't be any cooler!" Abby stood and turned to Gibbs. "We are hiring her right?"

"Actually…" Gibbs waved his hair airily. "I'm the one currently being interviewed. It'll be up to Angel if she wants to hire me as her boss. So far I think I'm making an okay impression."

Abby giggled. "How are your references?"

"Kind of ordinary." Gibbs replied sadly. "Apparently I have issues with authority."

"As long as it's not issues with your own authority then maybe I'll let you slide on that one." Angel teased. "We'll see."

"So where you guys headed to next?" Abby wanted to know.

"To visit Ducky, then up to the bullpen for the others."

"Say hi to everyone." She grinned. "I hope to chat with you properly sometime soon, Angel."

"Me too, Abby. I love your outfit by the way." Angel indicated the chunky buckled boots, short plaid skirt, black lace up top and leather choker. "Especially the boots!"

"Thanks!"

Abby grinned when she heard Angel whisper to Gibbs, their heads conspiratorially close as they headed for the elevator again. "Yep, definitely not a glitter goth."

Sitting back down on her chair and allowing herself a pleased twirl, she sighed happily because she knew that the new girl and Gibbs were already looking very comfortable with each other and there was no way in hell that either of them would turn down this working arrangement.

Gibbs was so cute when he liked someone. Not that Angel was the type he'd go for in a romantic way – she didn't have red hair or a fiery temperament or a slight leaning towards insanity for example – but it was nice to see her old silver-haired fox getting out and making some friends. She knew that Ducky would immediately adore Angel. So would Kate for that matter. As for Tony and McGee… Abby cracked up. They weren't gonna know what hit them.