Tag to season 4, episode 17 Skeletons

Very Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo was bored.

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, particularly when he was at work, but the fact remained that he was bored. Gibbs had gone to check out a lead with Colonel Mann, not that he would ever dare use Gibbs as a target anyway, and Kate and Ziva were checking out one they had found together, which left only McGee as a target for the senior field agent to cure his boredom. So, balling up a spare piece of paper, he tossed it at the other agent's head.

"Tony," McGee groaned in aggravation. "Stop it."

"Can't do that, McGeek." Tony denied immediately. "I'm bored."

"Then maybe you should actually do some work." That statement only earned the younger man another ball of paper to the face.

"Or maybe we should talk about the bossman and what's going on with him and Hollis Mann." the Italian grinned gleefully, almost like a child.

"Tony, no." McGee shook his head, looking up at his coworker. "If he comes back and hears us talking about that, there's no telling what he'd do to us."

"Come on, McChicken, he's gonna be gone for ages. Don't you find it interesting that he's so weird around her?" McGee looked around, almost as though he were afraid Gibbs would magically appear and headslap them.

"Well yeah." he admitted. "Do you think they started something last time?"

"Come on, McClueless." Tony half scoffed, half laughed. "There's no way."

"What? Why not?"

"She's not a redhead." the senior agent replied in a tone that told McGee he was being stupid.

"What's that got to do with it? I know he likes redheads, but he could like blondes too." McGee argued, abandoning his attempts to find more information about Len Grady.

"Not a chance, Probie." Tony denied, tossing a pen at him and grinning when it bounced off the side of the man's head. "She's not his type."

"People change, Tony." McGee said for the second time that day, sighing. "Maybe he decided he wanted to try something different."

"Something different being Colonel Mann?" Tony nearly snorted, spinning slightly in his chair and nearly falling out of it when he saw the subjects of their conversation staring back at him from the entrance to the bullpen.

"Oh, uh, boss, C-Colonel Mann…" McGee stammered, his face going red as he struggled to think of something,anything, to make this situation better.

"What the hell are you two doin'?" Gibbs barked, his trademark glare in full force.

"Uh, we were just, uh…" Tony laughed a little. "It's a funny thing, really, we were just-"

"Talking about us behind our backs?" Hollis raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two younger men and getting a feeling of deja vu from the last time she'd worked a case with the team and said those exact words.

"We meant no disrespect." McGee was quick to say.

"I'm sure." the blonde dipped her head in acknowledgement, though her tone held the slightest bit of sarcasm.

"That is the third time I've heard those words." Gibbs muttered as he walked to his desk, smacking Tony in the back of the head on his way.

"Heard what words? That we meant no disrespect?" the Italian winced, rubbing the back of his head and half glaring at the amused colonel still standing in the entrance of the bullpen.

"No." his boss grunted as he typed something on his computer before looking up. "That she's...not my type, whatever that means."

"See, McGee!" Tony shouted triumphantly, pointing at the man with a grin. "Other people agree!" Tim's only response was to roll his eyes.

"Who else claims I'm not your type?" Hollis questioned. She wasn't necessarily offended by the statement, merely curious. It wasn't uncommon to meet someone you were attracted to who wasn't generally characterized as "your type".

"Kate, Ziva, and Abby."

"Ah, so that's what you two were talking about that day." she hummed, recalling the sign language conversation she'd witnessed between the man and Abby during their second case involving Mamoun Sharif. Gibbs just grunted once more, apparently refusing to speak any more on the matter.

"Well, Jethro." she prompted after a few moments of nothing but the sounds of the man's keyboard clicks and the elevator dinging filling the area. "What do you think?" He glanced up at her before back at his computer.

"About what?" he asked, steadfastly refusing to admit he knew exactly what she was talking about and almost hoping she'd just let it go.

"Do you think I'm your type?" Just his luck that she would push and all while Tony and McGee were badly pretending they weren't listening to every word.

"Don't have a type." he grunted stubbornly. Hollis rolled her eyes, though the corner of her lips turned up slightly.

"Sure you don't." she humored him, stepping over and picking up the clicker they used for the monitor.

And if she felt his eyes on her as she began to speak, she didn't comment on it.