I'm not sure if Paula and Kate knew each other, but for this chapter they do.

. . . . .

Tony ducked into the doctor's lounge to grab a cup of coffee before his shift started. He'd glanced at the patient board on his way in and it looked like he was in for a busy shift. He heard the door open behind him.

"Oh good, Tony, you're in here," Tom, the head of the department said. "I want you to meet Pamela, she's the new patient coordinator while Joan's out this week. Pamela, this is Doctor Tony DiNozzo."

Tony turned around and caught himself from dropping the coffee cup in surprise. "Um, uh, sorry, hi," Tony held his hand out to Paula Cassidy. "Sorry, you look just like my cousin. Caught me by surprise. Nice to meet you."

Tom chuckled, "at least she's not one of your suspects! Be nice to him, Pamela, or he might arrest you." Paula- Pamela looked between the two doctors. "Arrest me? I don't understand," she said.

Tony took a large swallow of his coffee before answering. He knew Paula must be undercover, although he had no idea why. She didn't seem as surprised as he felt. He wondered if she'd gotten a staffing summary before coming undercover and knew he'd be on duty in the ER, or if she just hid her surprise well. It could be either one, Tony realized. Hiding her surprise would be a necessary part of maintaining her cover. "When I'm not playing doctor, I'm a federal agent. NCIS." He knew if they'd been at NCIS, the 'playing doctor' comment would've gotten him a sexual barb in response.

"NCIS? That's the National CSI, isn't it?" Paula even managed an expression of innocent confusion. Tony had to admire her composure with that question, even as he glared back at her. "No. It's the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. Are you connected to the Navy or Marines?"

She shook her head when Tom interrupted the exchange. "Finish your coffee Tony. We have 7 ambulances on the way from a 10 car pileup on the I-95." Tony nodded, he'd heard about the accident on the radio driving to the hospital. The accident was far enough away that they were likely getting the overflow from other hospitals. Hopefully that meant the less seriously injured that could travel the longer distance. Or it meant they were getting the last people pulled from the wreckage, possibly with severe trauma.

Tony watched Tom and Paula- Pamela- leave the lounge before finishing his coffee. He decided that Paula hadn't known he was going to be in the ER, otherwise she would've said something yesterday before he left NCIS for the weekend. Unless her undercover assignment had popped up in the last 18 hours. Tony shook his head. He had patients, not an undercover op, to concentrate on.

The next 6 hours passed quickly. Between the car accident victims, the patients transitioned to him from the previous shift, and new patients, Tony was too busy to think about why Paula- Pamela- was doing in Bethesda's ER. He was just glad that she'd gotten enough training to handle the job she was temporarily doing. Tony finished a patient briefing with his assigned intern and residents (probies, he thought, even here I can't get away from probies) and checked the status of his patients. Everyone seemed stable for the moment, and he decided to take advantage of that and go for a quick dinner break.

"Pamela, I'm going to the cafeteria for dinner break. I'll be back in less than 30 minutes," he told Paula as he updated his availability to "BREAK" on the status board next to her desk.

After paying for his meal, Tony headed for a small isolated table in the back corner. It was late enough that the cafeteria's seating area wasn't too crowded, but Tony prefered the isolated semi-privacy. Besides, he was expecting company.

"May I join you? Doctor." Paula didn't wait for an answer and sat down in one of the other chairs. The table was arranged so that both she and Tony and their backs to a wall and had a fairly good view of the rest of the room.

"And if I said no?" Tony asked with a grin. Paula laughed, "you wouldn't say no. Just tell me something. Please tell me that, as crazy as it sounds, you're really a doctor. Because going undercover as a doctor- and using your real name- has got to be the worst cover I've ever seen. Do you even have a cousin?" She spoke quietly, even though there wasn't anyone within earshot of their table.

Tony choked on his sandwich. "Undercover? As a doctor? Are you nuts? Do you know what the hospital's and NCIS' liability would be? " He shook his head, "I'm really a licensed trauma doc. Med school. Residency. Board certified. The whole nine yards. And yes, my cousin Angela lives outside of Manhattan. Doesn't look much like you though."

"How does a ER doc end up working in law enforcement?"

"Long story. National CSI? Did you have to say that?" Tony asked. "And speaking of undercover, why are you here? Who's your backup? And don't say it's me, because there's no way I can cover your six while I'm on ER duty. I'm not even armed, unless you count a syringe full of muscle relaxants or sedatives." Tony patted his lab coat pockets, "uh, nope, not even that much."

Paula shook her head. "It's too complicated to get into now. I'll brief you at NCIS on Monday."

"And just how are you going to explain that to Gibbs?"

. . . .

Monday morning at NCIS.

. . . .

Tony walked into the bullpen and groaned silently when he saw Paula Cassidy at Gibbs' desk. Tony sat down at his desk quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called out. Tony wasn't surprised that Gibbs had seen him come in. "Yes, Boss?" Tony stood up and headed over to the Senior Agent's desk. "You're on loan to Cassidy's team. She thinks your weekend activities are pertinent to one of her cases." Gibbs tone made it clear that he didn't like the reassignment, no matter how temporary.

"Weekend activities?" Kate asked. "You're dating a suspect, Tony?"

"No, Agent Todd, he isn't," Paula answered sharply. She knew Tony acted the fool sometimes, it helped the team deal with the stresses of the job. She didn't know why Kate didn't see it as the act it was.

Kate's jaw tightened. She wanted to snap at the other woman, but Paula was a Senior Agent and Kate didn't want to get reprimanded for insubordination toward a team leader.

"That's a good question. Special Agent Cassidy was just going to elaborate on those activities," Gibbs said in the tense silence. His glance fell on his second in command, "unless you want to explain."

Tony and Paula exchanged looks. Tony sighed, "I have a part time job in the organization Paula's team is investigating. I don't know the case details." He doubted that would satisfy Gibbs, but he could hope that for once Gibbs wouldn't ask questions.

His hope was shattered quickly. "You have a part-time job at Bethesda Hospital." It came out as a flat statement of fact, although Tony knew it was meant as a question.

Tony nodded. "A few years now. Only work there on off-call weekends here."

"Doing what DiNozzo?" Gibbs' patience was wearing thin. DiNozzo wondered briefly where McGee was.

"I work in the ER. I'm a," Tony hesitated. It just occured to him that except for Ducky and Palmer, he'd never told any one at his various law enforcement jobs that he was also a doctor. "I'm a doctor. Trauma specialization."

Gibbs and Kate stared unbelievingly at Tony.

McGee picked that moment to walk into the bullpen. He looked at this teammates, "What did I miss?"