July 25
Have friends, not for the sake of receiving, but of giving. – Joseph Roux
The squad room was fairly empty when Tim walked in. He wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up running so early for once.
Not that it mattered. He would rather be early than late, especially given Gibbs' mood for the past week. Their team leader had been like a bear with a sore head, mainly because of the sheer amount of paperwork they were struggling with and the complete lack of cases.
Tim knew the feeling; sometimes he would rather be in the middle of a complicated case, short on sleep and with adrenalin running through his veins than sitting behind his desk. It was why he had become a field agent after all.
Everyone was taking the lack of activity badly. Tony was harassing him more than usual – there had been a rubber band war, a paper airplane war and a paperclip war. The last one had only ended when Ziva had threatened to kill the pair of them with a single paperclip.
The present in his hands was to thank Ziva for putting up with them. The Mossad officer had been attacking her computer more often recently as well as showing off her knowledge of swear words. At least Tim assumed they were swear words; he didn't understand all the languages Ziva knew.
He placed the stress ball carefully in the middle of her desk before hurrying over to his own. He might be early, but Ziva was due any minute. He could only hope she would see the lighthearted side of his gift…