NO ONE GETS THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT SCARS

CHAPTER 11

Shipping and Receiving-Stock Warehouse

La Place, Louisiana

Mandie took her job as dayshift supervisor seriously. She wasn't the kind to sit in the office and play computer solitaire all day - she got out on the floor with her workers. Because of her left leg, she couldn't do too much of the heavy work, but she drove forklifts, moved what she could, and generally tried to be visible to her "guys," let them know that she wouldn't ask them to do anything she wouldn't do - or attempt to do - herself. When their last supervisor had been fired (for hiding in his office and playing computer solitaire all day), everyone on dayshift begged upper management make Mandie the new supervisor, even though she was low man on the totem pole, having only worked there about two years. But she was fair, honest, and not afraid to pitch in and help. So Mandie had fast-tracked to management.

She was in the process of discussing the placement of new shipping pallets when her boss called from across the stockroom. "Sewell! Need ya' up front!"

Mandie handed her clipboard to her foreman, a gruff-looking, well-muscled older man named Ben, who was really a big ol' teddy bear, except on the job. He had the most seniority in the warehouse, but he'd been the first to recommend Mandie for the promotion. He was quite happy, being her number two. "Try not to send Lewis into the middle of Pontchartrain again, ok? Ya'll know he gets lost easily," she teasingly ordered the man with a smile.

"Awwww Mandie," Ben mock-complained. "You're takin' away all my fun!"

She rolled her eyes as she headed for the door. Her boss, Joe, was sitting in his office. "Yeah, boss?"

He nodded toward the front offices. "Not me. Up front."

Mandie nodded and walked down the hall to the corporate offices. She always felt out of place walking up here in her dusty, dirty jeans and t-shirt, work gloves hanging out of a back pocket. As she neared the door, she took out the ponytail she wore in the warehouse, letting her long hair fall over the left side of her face. There was nothing she could do about her limp - really only noticeable when she was tired or on her feet too much - but she could lessen the shock of the scar running down her face.

She stepped up to the administrative assistant's desk, but before she could get a word out, there was a high-pitched scream from behind her.

"Mandie-Lou-Who!"

Only one person ever called her that. "Abby-Dabby-Doo!"

The two women ran to each other and hugged, jumping up and down and babbling just like little girls.

Having a little sister, McGee was used to such girlish displays, so he had a smile on his face, enjoying seeing his friends so happy. Tony and Ziva, meanwhile, stared at Abby and Mandie incredulously. "Please tell me this is not an American custom I must learn," Ziva ordered Tony nervously.

Tony just stared at his friends. "I have no idea what this is, Zi," he murmured back. But he hated being left out, so he cleared his throat. "Quit hogging the hugs, Abbs. Save some for the rest of us."

Mandie immediately stopped and turned. "Ohmigod!" She squealed and ran over to the rest of her friends. She all but jumped into McGee's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Ohmigod! I can't believe ya'll are really here!" She let go of McGee and moved on to Ziva, who accepted the exuberant hug graciously. Mandie then fell into Tony's embrace. It felt as comforting and safe as always, and she realized how much she'd needed to feel this safe. She struggled to hold in her tears, and finally released her hold on Tony, who seemed just as reluctant to let her go, as well. Turning to face the group, Mandie noticed someone was missing. "Where's bossman?"

Everyone looked to Tony. He was the only one who would be able to carry off the story they'd come up with. Mandie would be able to tell the rest of them were lying. Tony silently thanked his team with a sarcastic look. "He's, uh, finishing up a case. He should be down soon, though."

Mandie accepted that with a smile, just happy to have her family with her. "Where are you guys staying? When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming? How long can you stay? What's…mmmmph!"

Tony put a hand over her mouth. "Definitely a friend of Abby's," he teased, eyes twinkling. His hand flew off her mouth and he jumped back a step or two. "Eeeewwww!" Mandie had licked his palm. "Like I said," he groaned, looking for a place to wipe his wet hand, settling for the back of McGee's shirt. "Definitely a friend of Abby's!"

"We're staying as long as you need us…." Abby stopped at the glare she got from everyone. She'd almost given it all away. "…..to, be…fore you get sick of us and want us to go home. As for the rest of it, we got in a couple of hours ago, we're staying at the Hampton Inn, and we didn't tell you because we wanted to surprise you!"

Mandie hugged her again, and the two friends began jumping up and down and squealing all over again. The other three members of Team Gibbs shared a look and rolled their eyes, waiting for them to finish.

Mandie stopped jumping. "Hey, know what? Let me go clock out, tell the boss I'm leaving, and Abby and I can show ya'll around La Place." She headed for the door. "Well c'mon! You can see where I work!" When they got to her boss' office, she gave them all hard hats just to be safe, and introduced everyone. Then she led them into the main stock warehouse, putting her hair back into a ponytail.

McGee couldn't help the gasp that escaped when Mandie turned to face them, seeing her scar all healed for the first time. While it was no longer red and angry-looking, the thin, bright white, jagged line down the left side of her face stood out against Mandie's beginning tan. Abby and Tony both gave him a good head slap.

"It's ok, guys," Mandie said with a sad smile, "I'm used to it. The surgeon did a great job, but he couldn't make it invisible." She looked around for her foreman. Not seeing him in the immediate area, she popped into her office for her walkie-talkie. "Hey Ben, where you at?"

With a radio crackle, Ben responded. "Down in receiving. Got a problem with the delivery. Need ya' down here, boss. Maybe this rube will believe you, if'n he won't believe me."

Mandie sighed. There'd been problems with a lot of their goods received lately, and she was spending a lot of time on the phone correcting mistakes. She hated having to be stuck in her office on the phone. "On my way." She started walking toward the elevator that would take her down to the receiving bay. "You guys are more than welcome to come. It shouldn't take long." Her friends shrugged, and hopped onto the elevator with her. They hadn't known she was "boss man." She told them a little about what she and her crew did during the day and how she'd come to be called "boss." Her friends were impressed and said so, but Mandie brushed it off. "Truthfully, guys. No one else wanted the job, not even me. But hey, it adds a few hundred bucks to my paycheck every other week, so I'm not going to complain." The elevator stopped and Mandie threw open the gate. As she neared the open bay, she could see what the problem was.

About seventy-five percent of Mandie's workers were black, mostly creole, including her foreman. While no one in the company even blinked an eye at it, there were still some other companies they dealt with that hadn't heard yet that the Civil War was over. Most of the time, the skinhead drivers would just unload their trucks and leave, not talking to anyone or causing trouble. But every once in a while, there was that one idiot skinhead that had something to say. Like this guy confronting her foreman and her employees. She put on her "I'm the Boss" face and posture and walked into the stand-off. "Problem, gentlemen?"

Without taking his stare of the bald, beefy driver, Ben ran down the situation for Mandie, which was basically that when the driver couldn't get a rise out of the employees with his name-calling, he damaged some crates, saying how no one would believe that he'd done it because he was superior to them all just because of his skin color. "That true Mr…." she looked at his nametag on his shirt. "Beau?"

Beau the Skinhead sneered. "Well look-ee here. Didn't know you boys were bringing me down a present." He made a show of leering over her. His eyes narrowed at seeing her scar, but that didn't slow him down any. "Little damaged, but guess that's only fair, seein' as your shipment was damaged."

"Our shipment was damaged?"

Skinhead reached a hand out and traced a finger down her scar. "Yep. Can't trust these guys you got working for ya', sweetheart. We had words, and they went nuts, breaking into the shipment this way."

Mandie smiled. "Well then the cameras will have caught everything, right?"

Beau didn't like being contradicted, not by a man, and most certainly not by a woman. He stepped closer, towering over her. "You callin' me a liar, bitch?" He asked dangerously.

She pretended to think about it. "Mmmmmm….that would be…yes. Now, you're going to sign off on the damage to those crates, and you're going to return them back to your company. This confrontation has been recorded on video and will be submitted to your employer. If you're scrubbing trucks with a toothbrush after this, you'll be very lucky. Ben," she held her hand out to her foreman, never taking her eyes of Beau Skinhead. "Bill of Lading, please."

The driver was on her before she knew what hit her. "Listen, Franken-Bitch, no sewed together slut is going to tell me how to do my job, hear me?" All sound in the area came to a halt, and when the driver looked up, he saw he was surrounded by not only dock workers carrying various improvised weapons, but three people aiming guns at him.

Tony was about to step in and take control when Ziva stopped him with a shake of her head. He looked at what was happening. Her employees had circled in closer, all holding some sort of blunt object, and her foreman stepped in between Mandie and the driver, murderous look on his face. "You're going to want to take a step back, son," Ben growled angrily. Say and do what you want to him, but nobody messes with his boss. "Thirty of us, one of you. Not the kind of odds you want to be betting on." He pushed the paperwork into the driver's chest and gave him a nudge backward. "Boss told you to sign off and go. I suggest you do that while you still can."

Taking the papers, the driver scribbled his name and ripped off his copy. Giving them all the 'evil eye,' he walked back to the cab of his truck. "This ain't over," he muttered. He pointed to Mandie. "You 'n' me got unfinished business." The truck roared to life and with a hiss of the air brakes releasing, it was gone. The workers all took a minute to come by and pat Mandie on the shoulder, see if she was ok. She'd helped all of them in some way at one time or another, and they would do anything for her. The team waited until Mandie was alone with Ben to come forward. She was giving the other man some final instructions. "…call his boss now. Get the video account from security, have a dupe of this made and sent in with the report to corporate, and another to that jack-ass' boss."

Ben nodded, back in "Gentle Ben" mode. "You got it, kiddo. Sorry you got caught up in that…."

Mandie smiled. "No you're not, you just like rescuing damsels in distress."

Ben laughed and handed Mandie the signed paperwork. "Damn straight! How'd you think I got my wife?"

"Way I heard it, she whacked you silly over the head 'til you begged her to marry you. In fact, I went to her victory party." The two friends laughed. "Soon as I'm finished with the call, I'm outta' here. I'll be out tomorrow, too, so no sending the new drivers to places that don't exist, ok?"

"Spoilsport," she heard him mutter as he walked away with a smile.

As she walked back to the team, Abby ran up and grabbed Mandie in a hug. "Ohmigod! Are you ok?"

Mandie rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Abby-Dabby." She wriggled out of the hug and led the way back to the elevator. "C'mon. Just have to make one phone call, and then we're outta' here." She and Abby chatted in the elevator, discussing everything they wanted to show their friends. "But first, we have to stop by the Hampton and get all your stuff." She saw that her friends were confused. "Why pay for a hotel when you can stay with me? Plenty of room with me at my cousin's house."

"Ooooo! Cousin Emily, cousin's house?" Abby fairly bounced, and Mandie laughed.

"Yes, Abby, Cousin Emily's house."

Abby turned to her friends. "Ohmigod, you guys are going to love Cousin Emily's house! It's huge! I've always loved it - it reminds me of an old plantation house….."

"That's because it is an old plantation house, Abby," Mandie interjected.

Ziva looked concerned. "Should we be just pushing our way into your cousin's home? Even if she has the room for us, it seems rather bold to just all of a sudden drop in and stay for who knows how long…."

"It's 'barging in,', Ziva," corrected Mandie, "and it's perfectly ok. Family is always welcome, and it's considered rude to stay in a hotel when there's perfectly good space for all ya'll with family."

McGee, Ziva, and Tony all looked at each other. While they didn't want to impose, this arrangement would work out so much better for looking after Mandie. After a shared look, Ziva spoke with a smile. "We would be delighted to join you at your cousin's home. Thank you."

Mandie smiled for what felt like the first time since she left D.C. She was back among family, and it felt great! She'd missed her friends so much - phone calls just didn't cut it. She wrapped her arms around the nearest person - which happened to be Tony - and sighed contentedly. Felt like home at last.

NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS

A/N - I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! OH MY, WHAT ELSE CAN HAPPEN TO MANDIE? BUT AT LEAST HER FAMILY IS WITH HER, AND ALL IS WELL. ….. OR IS IT? I'M BACK TO WORK NOW, SO UPDATING MAY BE SPORADIC. I'LL DO MY BEST TO KEEP UP WITH IT. BUT NOW YA'LL CAN DO ME A FAVOR - I'M HAVING A HARD TIMEBACK AT WORK, SO I COULD USE SOME REVIEWS TO CHEER ME UP. I SERIOUSLY NEED THE SMILES, SO PLEASE HELP ME OUT BY TAKING A MOMENT TO REVIEW. PLEASE? THANKS!

DISCLAIMER - NOTHING, AS USUAL. SAD, AS USUAL. : (