Dec 21
America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.
Georges Clemenceau (1841 - 1929)
Jennifer Shepard had very few breaks in her long day. Most of it was scheduled for her. Meetings in her office, meetings in MTAC, meetings about missions, meetings with team leaders, paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork… The very few gaps in her calendar tended to be filled rapidly with everything else running late.
When she had very brief breaks, she liked to spend them on the catwalk above the squad room. A few minutes watching various teams interact not only made her smile and remember previous times when she had been in their relatively carefree position, but also warned her about any upcoming problems between team members. She preferred a heads-up before it all went to hell and she was called in.
Today she was observing Agent Gibbs' team. Or rather two particular members of Agent Gibbs' team. Agent DiNozzo had stolen Agent McGee's favorite pen. Agent McGee had protested verbally. Agent DiNozzo had stuck his tongue out in an unprofessional manner. Agent McGee had again protested verbally and then threatened to call Agent Gibbs back from his caffeine supplier and inform him of what was going on. Agent DiNozzo had paled, called him a snitch, and stolen Agent McGee's second favorite pen.
Which had led to the current fight in the middle of the squad room. Jenny was secretly siding with McGee, while wondering if, as the only other person in the squad room, she was required to go down there and break the fight up.
Gibbs solved the problem for her by storming back into the squad room, coffee cup attached to his hand, and bellowing for his two agents to separate. As the two men sheepishly returned to their respective desks, Gibbs glanced right up and her and gave her a quick grin.
She returned it before heading back to her office. She was going to be treated to him tearing his agents a new one while she continued her paperwork.