Thanks to Richefic and Twinx for reading and making very helpful suggestions. Just a bit of fun and hopefully something new!
***
Today Jethro Gibbs was pissed off. And while it was true that he lived with a low level of irritation most of the time, this was different. This time he was actually pissed off.
Damned stupid SecNav's idea. "Team Dynamic Analysis Project". I've got a better acronym, Gibbs thought grimly. Current Really Annoying Pileof.....
As a reward for his team having the best clean up rate across three agencies, Gibbs was now required to spend valuable time away from said team to explain to some shit-brick organizational psychologist how his team worked, so they could create a "model" of the most successful team structure.
The fact that the Director said that another of the aims of TDAP was to identify what additional resources and equipment his team required did not soothe Gibbs' temper one bit. It was still a damned stupid waste of his time.
Gibbs made it clear that there was no way this project was going to take precedence over any active case that came in and was almost disappointed when the Director agreed. Then no active case came in and he had no choice but to front up to the conference room for the first project "session".
The shit-brick organizational psychologist was not what he was expecting. She wasn't a red head but she was tall and slim, with thick ash blonde hair tucked neatly behind her ears and dark lashed grey-blue eyes. He guessed she was about his age and pegged her for southern European, maybe northern Italian, even before she opened her mouth and introduced herself. Mariella Fillacci, she said with a warm smile and a firm handshake. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all, Gibbs thought.
And it wasn't. Dr. Fillacci knew what she was doing. She was direct, efficient and prepared. She knew what NCIS did, its structure and its priorities. What she wanted to know was whether it was possible to extract from the success of Team Gibbs any principals that could be applied to the composition and operation of other teams.
Rather than using names which, she explained, had a tendency to carry personal associations for both speaker and listener, they would discuss the strengths, weaknesses and role of "Senior Agent, Junior Agent, Overseas Liaison, Forensic Scientist and ME". And, of course, Team Leader.
She and Gibbs would discuss the overall operation of the team and the role of each team member. She wanted warts and all, she said, strengths and weaknesses. Once she had enough from him, she would meet with each team member before preparing her report. Might take a while, Gibbs thought with an enthusiasm he had not thought possible a few short hours ago.
She asked him for a brief statement on the background and experience of each team member. Gibbs stuck to the purely factual, keeping his opinions to himself. Then a general overview of how the team operated on a day to day basis. They talked about the lines of communication between the team members, the Forensic Scientist and the ME both at crime scenes and at the office. What information was most important, what came first, how decisions were made about what lines on inquiry to follow.
After a slow start Gibbs warmed to the topic and she let him speak, interrupting only to clarify specific terms and technical information. He was impressed by her insight into the thinking and behaviour that underpinned effective law enforcement. After a while he began to see the unspoken assumptions that lay behind his decisions, and the patterns that recurred in his methods. So she wasn't some ivory tower academic, he thought, beginning to think that this exercise might be some use after all.
Never had a session on an official project gone by so quickly for Gibbs.
When Dr Fillacci leant back in her chair and closed notebook, he smiled.
"All good?" he asked.
"All good," she confirmed.
"When are you going to speak to the others?"
"When I'm done with you."
Gibbs couldn't prevent the corner of his mouth twitching upwards and he gave her slight sideways glance. She caught his eyes. Did she blush a little? Or was that just his imagination?
"I think two more sessions should do it," she added, sliding the pen and pad into her brief case on the floor. "And then a short session with each of them. Another week or so to pull the report together, and then we're done."
Done already? Gibbs was not sure he liked the sound of that. But maybe "Done" was good. Because once they were done he could ask her out. If she seemed interested.
The silence stretched and neither of them moved. Say something, Gibbs thought. Something smooth.
"So," he said, with a small smile, "same time next week?"
Not smooth. Very not smooth. But he'd never been smooth. Direct, yes. Smooth, not so much.
She smiled. "Next week I want to go through each team member in detail, their strengths and weaknesses. That session may take longer, but I hope that won't be too inconvenient."
"Think I can handle it." Gibbs assured her.
"Of course," she continued, "if you're busy on a case, just let me know and we can reschedule." She held out a business card. Gibbs took it, making sure that their fingers brushed, just for a second. And this time he was sure she did blush. Not too bad, he thought wryly, but handing her his business card would have been smoother. Well, maybe he'd manage smooth next week.
As soon as he returned to Team Gibbs, Senior Agent spoke up.
"How'd it go, Boss?"
Team Leader gave a noncommittal shrug. There was a reason why his poker face was legendary. But over the course of the day he couldn't hide the slight bounce in his step, and he didn't miss the glances exchanged between Senior Agent, Junior Agent and Overseas Liaison.
They caught a few cases that week and wrapped them up pretty quickly. The day before his next appointment he found himself for the first time in his career hoping that they wouldn't catch a big case.
That next morning he did something he hadn't done in years. He hesitated about what to wear to work. In addition to his meeting with Dr Fillacci he had an inter-agency seminar on recent changes to the laws governing search and seizure obligation. It was important that NCIS appear serious and professional in front of the other agencies, especially the Hoover boys. So he wore a suit.
Senior Agent's smirk was short-lived in face of The Glare. Overseas Liaison and Junior Agent kept their heads down. Over the course of the morning Forensic Scientist and ME both visited the bullpen on spurious pretexts but neither commented on Team's Leaders uncharacteristic sartorial choice.
Dr Fillaci arrived on time, but Gibbs thwarted the curiosity of his team members by meeting her at reception and taking her to a conference room in a different area of the building. If asked, he couldn't have described what she was wearing, other than to say it looked damn fine, and his stomach did an adolescent flip when she turned and smiled warmly at him. He was following through on this one, he thought. Damn straight he was.
Business first, though. This time they shared a more detailed discussion about each team member.
Gibbs spoke about their obvious strengths, and she coaxed a few acknowledgements from him that he hadn't expected. Their faults were easy enough. God know he'd seen enough of them over the years.
It was all going smoothly. And then she asked how he handled things if the team wasn't delivering.
So Gibbs told her about The Glare. And some of the different "motivational" tools he used. Then he decided to confess. Let's see how she handles this, he thought.
"Sometimes I hit 'em," he said bluntly.
She paused, her pen raised over the page, and looked up.
"Hit them?"
"Just a little..." Gibbs raised his hand and demonstrated a quick tap in the air. "On the back of the head. It's a.... a wake up call - gets their attention and keeps them focussed."
"I see." She smiled and shook her head as she made a note. "I'm not sure how I'm going to express that in the report," she teased, "but I'll think of something".
Okay, Gibbs thought. How had she handled that? She'd got it. Better and better.
They finished with a few case studies and then she put down her pen. "Okay," she announced. "that's it for today. As I said, I'd like to have one more session with you, and to speak to the team members individually."
Gibbs nodded.
"In the next session, I want to talk about you."
Gibbs stopped nodding and looked up sharply.
"C'mon," she encouraged with a wry smile, "you knew it was coming."
Gibbs sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes, drawing a chuckle from her.
"Don't worry," she placated, "this isn't therapy, I'm not going to ask about you childhood. Just about how you work as team leader."
"Can't you just read my file?"
"I've already done that."
He looked at her sharply and then turned to look at the window. He knew that since his Mexican vacation, some new information had been added to his file. "So you know about....?"
"Your first wife and your daughter? Yes." She was matter of fact. No tepid expressions of sympathy. He was grateful for it. And she didn't linger. Another good sign. "And your subsequent marriages."
He looked back at her. "Are they relevant?"
"No," she replied calmly, "but it's interesting that you married three more times. You don't strike me as impulsive, so I can only assume that you're either old fashioned or romantic."
He snorted. "Or gullible," he suggested.
"Hopeful," she corrected.
His smiling eyes met hers across the table and she held his gaze. Finally he blinked and looked down.
"It's only relevant to me to the extent that it influences your work at NCIS," she clarified, her professional demeanour back in place. "And we all make mistakes. I made mine when I was 18."
He raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"Disastrous starter marriage," she explained. "I bet none of yours ended in deportation."
He winced. "No," he conceded. "And now?" It was an opportunity to find out if she was available and he was damned if he was going to miss it.
She looked sideways at him. "Widowed," she announced matter-of-factly, and then exclaimed. "God, isn't that an awful word! Conjures up visions of old crones dressed in black. I should just say that I'm single. My husband died three years ago."
He didn't know whether to say he was sorry – having been relieved by her lack of platitudes, it seemed hypocritical to offer his own. So he simply nodded and stood.
She rose with him, and he reached out his hand. "Thank you, Dr Fillacci."
"Mariella," she corrected.
They shook hands, retreating into the comfort of formality. She looked up at him, and her hand felt warm and soft in his. Let go of her hand, he told himself sternly. Now. Finally his hand listened.
Seven days, he thought, I can wait seven days.
Six days dragged by more slowly that he had ever thought possible.
On the seventh, Gibbs walked whistling into the bullpen dressed in his best suit, a top quality white shirt that DiNozzo had given him for Christmas and a tie that Abby had once told him was "hot".
DiNozzo, McGee and Ziva were all at their desks. They were ostensibly working but Gibbs sensed immediately that he had interrupted something. Their attention was focussed on their computers in the way it is when they really weren't focussed at all. Tony's eyes glinted with amusement, and McGee was trying too hard to look serious. Even Ziva's Mossad-issue stone face showed a few cracks. Gibbs, however, was in too good a mood to care.
"Listen up," he announced. "You will each have a meeting today with operational psychologist Dr. Mariella Fillacci who's gonna ask all of you some questions about how the team functions. Each meeting will take at least an hour. This comes direct from Sec Nav so I expect you to make yourselves available, and to be helpful and honest."
"Really honest?" Tony asked seriously. "Or just, you know, fake honest?"
Gibbs glared at him.
"Right Boss," Tony amended hastily. "Real honesty it is."
"Don't make anything up, don't leave anything out," Gibbs ordered.
He saw them exchange looks across the bullpen and was glad that he had got in first and told her about the headslaps – at least she wouldn't be taken by surprise when the inevitable happened.
Gibbs settled down to work, quickly scanning the reports left on his desk. But his mind was wandering, swinging between looking forward to seeing her and not looking forward to talking about himself.
But he should have trusted her.
"Tell me about the case involving Geoffrey White," she began, "and the Iraqi antiquities. I understand that Senior Agent went undercover?"
As she had promised, she didn't ask the sort of intrusive, personal, touchy feely questions he had been dreading. And in between questions he had the plesure of looking at her. I'm turning into a teenager, he thought, trying to be stern with himself and failing.
They finished that case and moved smoothly to another. "Cody Myers," she asked. "Tell me about that one."
And that was easy too.
A few more cases were canvassed. In each, he started by speaking about the case in general terms, and then she went through each of his decisions, analysing his reasoning and expectations. He noticed that Senior Agent featured prominently in the cases she had selected, and she asked particularly about the interaction and communication between him and Gibbs. She asked "Why?" quite a few times, but she never once asked him how he "felt".
He was surprised when she put her pen down and closed her notebook. He glanced at his watch and saw that they had run over the allotted time for their session.
"That's it?" he asked involuntarily.
"Yes it is." She smiled at him. "And that means that it's time for me to meet with the first team member."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I'd like to start with Forensic Scientist or Medical Examiner, and then I'll move on to the core team members," she explained.
Gibbs moved to rise, and then hesitated.
She read his anxiety perfectly. "And of course everything you told me is confidential."
He nodded and rose.
"And equally," she continued, standing with him, "the reverse applies. Everything they tell me is also confidential."
They stood eye to eye for a minute, before he gave in with a smile and a shrug. It was only fair, he thought. No glare was required, and looking into her eyes he wasn't sure he could summon one if he tried.
He picked up the phone and dialled Ducky's extension. The Medical Examiner was available, and sounded delighted to be the first asked to attend.
Gibbs turned back to Mariella, searching for words. "Well," he settled on, extending his hand, "it's certainly been ... more enjoyable than I expected."
She took his hand in hers. Holding it a moment longer than necessary, she looked him straight in the eye. "For me, too," she affirmed with a quiet smile.
Gibbs heart thudded hugely once and his breath caught in his throat. As she continued smiling at him, he felt his mouth curve into a smile that he hoped wasn't completely stupid. Gunny, he thought, you've got it bad.
"And of course," she continued, "I may need to call you to ....check facts." She looked at him, eyebrows slightly raised.
Gibbs smile grew wider. "So you're not done with me yet?" he teased.
She smiled back at him, and looked him square in the eye. "No, Agent Gibbs," she affirmed, "I'm certainly not done with you yet."
A knock on the door broke the moment, and Gibbs cursed Ducky for his uncharacteristic display alacrity. He released Mariella's hand and growled "Enter", irritation shifting his features back into their usual sterner lines.
She spent about an hour with each of Ducky and Abby. Gibbs sent McGee in next, then Ziva, and each was longer than the last.
When Ziva returned to her desk DiNozzo was missing, having found an excuse to visit Abby, and Gibbs took advantage of his absence to head to the conference room.
"All going okay?" he asked, watching as Mariella stood and stretched the kinks out of her neck and back.
She nodded and smiled. "Nearly done. Just Senior Agent now, although he might take a while."
"Oh, I'd put money on it," Gibbs commented. He watched her roll her shoulders. "He's juststepped out for a minute. Why don't you come out into the bull pen? It's not fresh air, but it's fresher than in here."
She smiled in acquiescence "You wouldn't have any decent coffee in this place would you?" she asked hopefully, as he stepped back to allow her to precede him out of the room.
"I'm sure I can find some."
Gibbs was not surprised to see Ducky leaning on the partition in the bullpen speaking to Ziva and McGee. The two agents and the ME all greeted Mariella with smiles.
"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, eying the still empty desk.
Ziva glanced at Gibbs and answered slowly. "I phoned him and he is on his way up from Forensics."
Mariella's head snapped around to face him. "DiNozzo?" she repeated, surprised.
Gibbs' eyes fixed on Mariella. "Yeah," he confirmed. "My Senior Agent, Anthony DiNozzo."
"Anthony DiNozzo?" Mariella asked, her eyes widening. "From Long Island? Son of Dominic DiNozzo of DiNozzo Enterprises?"
Gibbs nodded slowly, a slight frown creasing his forehead. Ziva and McGee exchanged glances.
"Oh dear," Mariella said softly, raising one hand to her lips. She stepped closer to Gibbs. "Um, Gibbs ..." she began, her voice low, "I think I should explain. You remember that I mentioned an unfortunate "starter marriage"? I was very young and it..."
She was interrupted by the arrival of the lift. Tony's laughing voice floated across to the rest of the team. "I'm serious, he's worn a suit every time...."
They rounded the partition and froze. Abby winced and dropped her eyes to her boots. Tony opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing qualifying as speech emerged.
Mariella was not so silent. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide, mouth open. "Anthony!"
Tony's eyes widened. He stared at the woman before him. Then took in Gibbs' ferocious glare. Then looked back to the woman.
Finally he fixed his most pleading gaze on his Team Leader. "I swear to god Boss," he said devoutly, raising his hands palms out, shaking his head, "I have never seen this woman before in my life."
Mariella stepped up to him. "Anthony? Don't you recognise me? It's Mariella. Mella?"
Tony's eyes snapped back to her and widened. "Mella?" he breathed.
She nodded, and moved as if to step towards him, then stilled.
"How ... how are you?" Tony finally managed to ask.
She gave him soft laugh, shaking her head. "I'm fine Anthony," she replied, her eyes bright. "But look at you! You look ... well, wonderful."
Gibbs could feel the space where his stomach had been slowly hardening into concrete. The first woman he'd been attracted to in too damn long and DiNozzo, of all people, why did it have to be DiNozzo ......
"So do you," he heard Tony reply softly.
They stood there, looking at each other, and then spoke simultaneously, words overlapping.
"I really missed you..." he began.
"I'm so sorry I left you ..." she confessed.
"You were right to leave you - were miserable..."
"But not like that...."
Could this get any worse? Gibbs thought in incredulous disbelief. What next? A hug?
Yes, was the answer to his unspoken question. It could get worse. Oblivious to the blatant curiosity of his teammates and the granite expression of his Team Leader, Tony stepped forward and gently folded his long arms around Mariella, pulling her to him. And she returned the embrace.
They stood like that for a few seconds and then each loosened their arms and looked at the other.
Tony shook his head in wonderment. "So you're who Gibbs has been meeting with? I can't believe it. I heard your name, but it just didn't register...."
"My name is Fillacci now, not DiNozzo," she explained with fond smile.
Tony's smiled back, but then his expression grew sombre. "I did miss you," he confessed quietly. "You were my favourite, you know."
His favourite, Gibbs thought. Well that's nice. At least she was his favourite. Bitterness drove all other coherent thought from his head.
"The one who came after you wanted me to call her "Mom"," Tony continued, shaking his head. "I offered to call her a cab instead."
Gibbs started. "Mom"? he thought. "What the ....?"
Tony looked up and met Gibbs' puzzled eyes. "Boss?" he asked.
Gibbs realised that he had spoken aloud. He tried to form a question, but nothing came out.
Mariella glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Gibbs' expression. She immediately dropped her arms from around Tony and stepped away, realisation dawning on her face. "Oh, Gibbs, no, it's not like that. When I was a student, I came to America to study and I, I, ..."
"She married my father," Tony finished.
This time Gibbs did not even try to stop his jaw dropping. He dimly registered the sounds of Ziva gasping and Ducky quietly muttering "My word!"
Tony stared at Gibbs for a moment, studying his face. Then one corner of his mouth twitched up and his eyes began to sparkle. Stepping forward, he rested one hand gently on Mariella's back. "She was my Stepmom, Boss," he said accusatorily. "I mean, I was precocious, but that was a little young, even for me. Of course, later, older women were ..."
Gibbs stepped forward and smacked him firmly on the back of the head. "Shut up, DiNozzo."
Mariella looked between the two men and shook her head. "I can't believe it," she murmured. "I can't believe that the Senior Agent you've been telling me about is my ....."
"Stop right there!" Tony interjected raising his hand. "That nickname? I think it's best if we both try to forget it."
"Deal," she conceded with an indulgent laugh.
Then she looked between him and Gibbs. "Actually, I take it back. I can see how you could have grown to be the Senior Agent that I've been hearing about."
"Don't believe a word he says," Tony protested immediately.
She laughed again. "I will draw my own conclusions." She turned and looked fully at him, resting one hand on either of his arms and looking him up and down. "What I can't believe is how big you are – you were such a skinny little kid..."
"You have photos?" Ziva asked, exchanging a mischievous grin with McGee.
Mariella looked up at Tony, but her smiled faded and soft sadness coloured her eyes. "I should have done something more, for you," she repeated softly.
Tony shook his head. "My father had you deported, remember?" he protested. "What more could you do? Smuggle me out in your backpack?"
She shrugged but her eyes, still fixed on his face, were full of questions.
"We'll talk about it later," Tony said quietly, before moving to link his arm through hers, "but right now, aren't you meant to be interviewing me for your report on Team Gibbs?"
She winced. "Yes I am. And I'm going to have to disclose this in my report. Thank goodness I spoke to everyone else first. It shouldn't be a problem."
Tony smiled at her. Then he looked back at Gibbs, taking in narrow eyed gaze and the new suit. His grin widened.
The mischievous glint was not missed by his Team Leader.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs warned, his voice like a blade. "Watch yourself."
"But Boss," Tony objected, eyes wide with innocence. "You told me to be honest. Really truly honest."
Gibbs glared.
Mariella shifted her glance from Senior Agent to Team Leader, and smiled.
"Don't worry, Agent Gibbs," she offered. "You'll have a chance to correct any ...misunderstandings that arise. As I said," she began lead to Tony towards the conference room but glanced back at Gibbs and smiled, "I'm not done with you yet."
FF_1569342_193543737