James Palmer—Jimmy to his friends—had wondered what kind of people worked at the NCIS. Asking anyone questions about it hadn't really helped him either, as it seemed very few even knew what NCIS was. The only image he had somehow managed to form in his mind was that it was something like the FBI, but then on his first day alone, all the neat and institute-like images were gone.

The first thing that he had seen when he stepped inside the building, was a goth, but he figured that she was probably someone's daughter, or maybe she was part of some case. He then later discovered that she was their lab goth called Abby. He thought he'd really seen it all by the time he finally met doctor Mallard.

While still a little uncertain how to be around the man, he was already starting to like doctor Mallard, or Ducky as the man was called by most people so far. Even his endless stories and the way he talked to the dead, while odd indeed, was all so fascinating. As happy as Jimmy was that doctor Mallard had accepted him so quickly, seemingly without any reservations, it made him just a little wary at first. Especially with the way the old man was treating him, like an old friend instead of someone you just met. He didn't know much about the previous assistant, only that he had been injured and wasn't returning. Jimmy wondered whether the other assistant had also been accepted this easily.

And then there was that strange moment when he met doctor Mallard for the first time...


- FLASHBACK -

Entering the room, at first Ducky didn't notice the fidgety young man standing there, with slightly hunched shoulders and uncertain look on his face. He removed his coat with a sigh, wishing for the umpteenth time that his old friend would finally pull his head out of the land where no sun ever shineth. For all Jethro's faults and growling when he ought not, Ducky was used to the man being who he was and he'd learned how to maneuver around most of it. But when the infamous bastard had made up his mind on something, he rarely—if ever—changed it.

"Um... Doctor Mallard..?"

Startled by the nervous and young voice, Ducky finally turned around and saw another person in the room with him, one who was alive, thank God. Even he wasn't prepared to see one of the corpses to one day start talking and moving around. The young man's round glasses made him look even more awkward. Still, looking at the kid, Ducky could tell he would like him. Gut feeling, as Jethro would say. "Ah. And you are..?"

"James Palmer. I... Uh... I am your..." the kid stuttered nervously. Ducky waited patiently and was finally rewarded when, after taking a deep breath, Palmer finally got it out, "I'm your new assistant, doctor Mallard."

Well, he'd guessed that much, Ducky mused with a small smile. "It's Ducky to you, James."

"R-right, doctor— Ducky. You can call me Jimmy."

Ducky's eyes widened with surprise as he remembered hearing Anthony mentioning that name before, many times, before the trust had been lost. His smile faltered for a moment, but then he smiled wider than before. The name had never been mentioned with any bitterness or hurt, unlike with almost all the other names from the 'dream'. Moving closer, Ducky took Palmer's hand in his hands and gently shook it. "It is my pleasure to finally meet you." Leaving bemused Palmer stare at him, he walked away. "Now, if you don't mind, we have work to do. Our guests can wait forever, but the living will not."


Jimmy looked up when the door opened and a man with piercing blue eyes stepped in the room. The gentle look in Ducky's eyes disappeared and Jimmy watched with amazement as the old doctor straightened up to his whole height and by some miracle maybe even more.

"Jethro." Ducky pursed his lips. He wanted to say so much and more, but with his new assistant eagerly listening while trying to not appear doing so, he wasn't about to get into a shouting match with Jethro.

"You got anything for me?" Gibbs asked, nodding at the body on one of the tables.

"If I had, I would have called you."

"Ducky..."

"I will call you," Ducky said and turned around, ignoring the Agent.

Gibbs glared at his back, but when it became clear that he wouldn't be getting anything else, he sighed, "What's wrong with you? Will you finally stop this?"

Ducky slammed an organ against the table with a loud smack and turned around. Jimmy flinched at the sound and silently retreated to the other end of the room, now trying to not listen anything, which didn't work when both men raised their voices.

"You know perfectly well why I am mad at you, Jethro! You're doing the poor boy great injustice and there is no telling what damage this will do to him, and to your relationship with him!"

"He's been coming to you? He got something against me, he better speak it to my face!" Gibbs growled.

"Oh, I marvel what a big fool you have turned out to be, Jethro. You swore to me in this very room that you will do whatever it takes to get him to open up to you! To get him to trust you!" Ducky spat out the word 'trust ' as if it had personally offended him. "I find it marvelous indeed that it happened only a couple of days before that madman entered into our lives."

"He—"

"Do not even try to tell me that Anthony could have done more! You know itif you are willing to admit—that this is far more complex than either one of us can even begin to imagine! Did you even allow him to explain? No, don't answer that; I know you."

Gibbs shook his head wordlessly. He turned around and left the room without another word.

"Jethro!" Ducky was furious, but instead of following after the man like he clearly wanted, he muttered something about him, with a very brutal choice of words, ending it with a harsh, "Coward."

Once it seemed like it was safe again, Jimmy returned to the body, which they'd been working on before Gibbs entered the room. "Um... Doctor Mallard..? Who—?"

"Not now, James," Ducky snapped.

"I'm sorry, doctor Mallard..."

Ducky sighed and then he smiled tiredly. "I'm so sorry, my boy. That was not nice of me... It's Jethro I am mad at, not you."

"It's okay, doctor Mallard," Jimmy eagerly reassured. If anything, that other man had given off the vibe of 'in the wrong ' and 'mean personality '. "I understand. And it's not my business to know what that was about. I promise I won't mention it again."

"Did I not tell you to call me Ducky?" Ducky smiled gently and Jimmy blushed.

"Sorry, doctor Ma— Ducky. It's hard to remember..."

"That's alright. I'll just keep reminding you until you get used to it."

The went back to work and while there was still a slight tension in the air, Ducky was back to his gentle self, which was a huge relief.


Later that week, Jimmy was alone at the morgue as he cleaned up after the work they had done on several bodies. Ducky had been called somewhere, so this was his chance to try to impress his new boss by making sure things were as clean as he could make them be. Even if there was always a big chance that even before he could enjoy the results, they'd get another body... With his earphones on and fully immersed scrubbing at one stubborn bloodstain, which refused to cooperate, Jimmy didn't notice when the door opened.

Tony entered the morgue hoping for some solace in Ducky, but when he saw Jimmy, he felt comforted. Walking closer, he touched Jimmy's shoulder. "Jimbo."

Horribly startled, Jimmy screamed, "Don't hurt me!"

Maybe it was because he was so tired and hadn't had any good reason to smile lately or because it felt so good to see Palmer again; leaning heavily against the squeaky clean table, Tony started laughing.

Holding a hand over his heart, Jimmy removed the earphones and turned around. Slowly the color returned to his face. His frantically beating heart took a little longer to stop trying to jump out of his chest. "No offense, but could you please not do that in here..? I know they're dead, but just the very thought..." Jimmy shuddered and Tony still laughed.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you. Honest."

Shaking his head, as the embarrassment was finally settling in, Jimmy smiled. "It's fine... It was my fault that I didn't pay any attention to my surroundings. For all I know, I'll be murdered in here if I don't pay any attention."

The smile looked suddenly frozen on Tony's face. "Don't even joke about it. Especially not here."

"Sorry?"

Shaking his head, Tony held out his hand. "I'm Tony."

"Oh. Right. I saw you with Agent Gibbs. You're Agent DiNozzo." Jimmy took the hand in his and they shook hands.

"Tony," Tony reminded him. "So tell me, Jimmy, what's the movie?" At Jimmy's confusion, he smiled widely. "The movie that got you into the mindset of a horror movie."

"Oh! How did you know?"

Sitting on the floor, Tony listened fondly as Jimmy explained the movie to him with wide gestures and expressions. However short the moment may have been, for a moment the heaviness in his heart disappeared as he allowed himself to relax.