Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out by now, Charlie, DiNozzo, and all the characters of their respective shows belong to CBS. Though I desperately want Charlie's "pi" shirt.

Author's Note: I am completely blown away at how much you guys seem to love this story. Special thanks to the C2 Best of the Best Fanfiction for adding my story to their list, and a HUMONGOUS thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story. I'm trying to update this as often as I can, but as I'm trying to write a chapter of this story and a chapter of my other story at about the same time, and with my hectic schedule, there isn't a lot of time left for me to write. I'm glad you all like it, though!

The chapter was edited slightly 7/26/06. Nothing was changed plot-wise, but a miswrite was pointed out by Noma.

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"We are now in Washington, D.C. The weather is very warm, but there is a light rain falling. Currently, the temperature is 87 degrees."

The flight seemed to take much shorter than it should have for Charlie. Where had the five hours and twelve minutes gone? No matter where it had gone, no matter what he had been doing, he felt as though he boarded the plane maybe five minutes earlier.

"Thank you for flying Southwest Airlines. We hope that you continue flying with us in the future, and have a wonderful time at your final destination," the stewardess said over the speaker.

As the rush started to get out of the airplane, Charlie couldn't help but ponder why that was always said, especially the 'final destination' part. Isn't the destination always the final part of the trip? he wondered. Unless they count death as the final destination. But I can't imagine death being 'wonderful'.

As the crowd of people finally passed him, Charlie finally stood up and hit his head on the overhead compartment. Hoping this wasn't an omen of what was going to come in the near future, he grabbed his backpack out of the compartment above him and, rubbing his head with one hand, headed towards the front of the airplane and out the door.

Walking down the walkway, Charlie wondered how he would be able to find Director Shepard in the throng of people ahead of him. People were calling out to loved ones; others were on cell phones, calling a cab, most likely. If Director Shepard were there, he wouldn't be able to recognize her. Hopefully she would know whom to look for, by seeing his photo or something. If it were Agent Gibbs that came to pick him up-well, maybe it would be good to walk past him "accidentally".

"Doctor Eppes? Over here."

Charlie looked over to see a woman waving him over. She was wearing a cream-colored business suit, and her hair was cut short. She looked nice enough, though a bit on the serious side. She smiled at him politely, but she was scanning him, taking in his appearance.

Charlie began to blush, as he was wearing a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee (never bothered him before, nor had it bothered the FBI agents), as well as his pi t-shirt that was wrinkled from the flight. He was wearing a blazer that buttoned up half-way (very stylish, according to Amita), so it was covering the shirt a little bit. But nothing covered up his mess of hair, where the curls were tangled together, possibly from him trying to get some sleep during the red-eye flight. Compared to Director Shepard, he was a mess.

Well, he thought, if bumping my head on the overhead compartment wasn't an omen of what's to come, this probably is.

… … … … … … … … … … … …

Jennifer Shepard couldn't help but be surprised by the guy's appearance. Somehow, the fact that he had a Ph.D. made her believe that he would look somewhat professional. But the jeans, t-shirt, jacket, hair, and 5 pm shadow made him look almost like a college student trying to look "cool".

Some of the color drained out of his abnormally red face, though a bit of pink remained in his face. Maybe he had been blushing? She couldn't really tell.

"You must be Director Shepard," Dr. Eppes acknowledged, extending his hand.

She took it and shook it while replying, "Yes. So you are Dr. Eppes."

He nodded. "But please, call me Charlie."

"Charlie," she repeated, slightly startled, however much she tried to hide it. He was the first person she knew of who had a Ph.D. and yet did not go by the title "Doctor". "Well, Charlie, let's get your stuff, and head off to the office."

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"Well, Charlie, let's get your stuff, and head off to the office."

It was all Charlie could do to keep from groaning. Did Director Shepard not realize that Charlie had been up since seven o'clock the previous morning? It was now 5:30 Pacific Time, making it 8:30 Eastern Time. Sure, he could stay awake for days working on a math problem, but he wasn't doing that right now. Instead, he was headed to the NCIS office. Hopefully he would be getting involved with some exciting, or at least interesting work soon. He was afraid he would just doze off otherwise.

As the two of them waited for his suitcase, Charlie couldn't help but feel nervous. Director Shepard seemed to become agitated at how slowly the two of them were going. Finally, Charlie spotted the old, worn suitcase, and went to pick it up. Grabbing the handle, he pulled up the weight and head back over to Director Shepard.

"Shall we?" he asked her.

"We shall."

The two of them walked out to the parking lot, and Director Shepard led him towards a car with another woman leaning against it. She looked like she was Middle Eastern, and she was wearing a black sleeveless top. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and she was wearing a baseball cap with the letters NCIS printed on the front.

"Charlie, I would like to introduce to you Special Agent David. Ziva, this is Dr. Charles Eppes, otherwise known as Charlie."

"It's nice to meet you, Agent David."

"Nice to meet you too, Charlie. May I take your luggage?"

Charlie handed over his suitcase to Agent David, and followed Director Shepard inside the car. Once they were all settled, Ziva started up the engine of the car, and drove insanely out of the parking lot. Director Shepard's smile looked forced now, and Charlie couldn't help but notice that her knuckles had quickly turned white.

"I hope my driving isn't too scary for you, Charlie," Ziva noted, though she didn't bother to slow down.

"No problem. I guess I've gotten used to it, having a fed for a brother and living in L.A. Though, I'm a little used to the sirens being on, or at least the flashing lights."

… … … … … … … … … … … …

"DiNozzo! McGee! Where is he?"

Tony DiNozzo looked up from his desk, where he was filling out paperwork. "Boss, Doctor Eppes' plane only landed half an hour ago."

"So why wasn't he here fifteen minutes ago? Is the Director treating him to breakfast or something?"

"Well, Boss, often times, people don't get out of the airport as long as forty-five minutes after the plane lands. And then there is probable traffic during rush hour…" McGee informed him.

"Yeah, like traffic is going to stopped Ziva," Tony commented, remembering all the times he had been in the car while she was driving. "Who knows, she might have killed them all with her driving."

"Very funny, DiNozzo. Let me know when the doctor is in, alright?"

"No need, Jethro. We are here."

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The ride on the elevator was spent in uncomfortable silence. It seemed as though it took eons for the doors to finally open. Finally, the doors did open, and an angry voice said, "Let me know when the doctor is in, alright?" It had to be Agent Gibbs.

Director Shepard stepped out of the elevator in front of him, and replied, "No need, Jethro. We are here."

Ziva was carrying his suitcase again, although he had offered to carry it several times. Charlie and Ziva walked out of the elevator together towards the bullpen. There, an older man with graying hair stood in the middle of a few desks. On one side of him, two desks were occupied with men, each in their mid-thirties, Charlie guessed. On the other side of the man standing were two other desks, both empty.

"About time," Gibbs muttered under his breath, but it was still loud enough for Charlie to hear. He turned around to face Charlie. "Doctor Eppes. Good to see you. You've met Director Shepard and Agent David. This is Agent McGee," Gibbs pointed towards the man on the left, who Charlie figured had just been staring at the computer, given his hand was still on the mouse, "and this is Agent DiNozzo." This time he pointed to the man on the right, who was working on some paperwork, though he did look up and nodded in response to his name. "And I'm Agent Gibbs."

Charlie nodded. He wasn't quite sure how he should respond to Agent Gibbs' short introductions. Fortunately, he didn't have to, as Agent Gibbs spoke up again.

"Now that introductions are over, social time is also over. Ziva, take Doctor Eppes down to the lab. Abby has a desk down there ready for him."

"He goes by Charlie, Agent Gibbs," Ziva interjected.

"Fine. Take Charlie down to the lab. Abby has a desk down there ready for him." Agent Gibbs turned back to Charlie. "Charlie, you are going to be set up down in the lab with Abby. You are allowed to go to the morgue, you can be up here, you can be in the lab, and if you ask one of the other agents to take you to crime scenes," his voice level raised, making sure that everyone heard him, "they will be more than happy to take you there. Got it?"

"Got it, Agent Gibbs," Charlie finally found his voice, and he followed Ziva before Agent Gibbs called him back.

"Oh, and Charlie? Make sure when you get down to the lab that you tell Abby that you are not her assistant, you are simply working with the entire team. She's had some bad experiences with her previous assistants, and if she thinks you are one, she'll bite your head off when you enter the room."

Charlie nodded again. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it. Welcome to the team, Doctor Eppes." As Gibbs sat down at his desk, Charlie couldn't help but notice he had used his full title. Maybe as a rite of passage of sorts? Hopefully, it wouldn't be a passage from bad to worse.

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"Don! You're here early," Megan commented.

Don smiled at her. "Can't be talking much yourself, Reeves. I figured I would be the first one here, given it's only six o'clock. What's going on?"

"Couldn't sleep, and I figure there was no point at staying at home when there's work to be done here. How's Charlie?"

Don was caught aback at the fact that she switched the conversation quickly to Charlie. "He's fine. He was a little worried about going off to D.C. so suddenly, but he got on to the plane all right. Why do you ask?"

"Well, just the way you were acting while on the phone yesterday clued me in. You, the protective older brother, wouldn't give his information out, even though it was to NCIS. I'm guessing he was wanted to consult for them as he does for the FBI, because I can't imagine Charlie doing anything illegal. So why were you so worried?"

"It's not so much about him heading to D.C. It's more about the fact that he'll be working with some Agent Gibbs. Charlie seems to think that Agent Gibbs is mad at him for some reason, even though they've never met."

"Well, that doesn't mean that you should be worried about him. He's an adult now, Don. He can't have you protecting him all the time," she reasoned.

"He may be an adult, but I don't think he's fully grown up."