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Dr. Mallard and Maj. Cassidy walked casually through the hallway in the basement of NCIS headquarters, talking as they moved away from the morgue and towards the lab. Dr. Mallard was still reeling a bit from their discovery on the body. He had been shown a little glimpse of his youth and it was evident on his flushed cheeks.
"My dear, I truly wish to thank you for coming here today."
The woman nodded in deference to the older doctor, "Really, Sir… I was just doing my job."
Ducky shook his head, "No, no, not that… I wanted to thank you for reminding me of a very valuable lesson." He stopped momentarily and the Major did the same, in kind, "You see, it would appear that I have forgotten that everyone can learn something from anyone else. I believe that I have gotten so caught up in believing that I am smarter or wiser than everyone else, that it never occurred to me that I might learn something from another person, or gain anything from looking at my work from another perspective." The good doctor took the Major's hand. "Thank you for coming in here and causing me to question myself and my techniques, because without that little seed of doubt, we might never have found our clue. And better yet, I might not have been able to improve myself."
The Marine officer was now blushing just a bit, "Dr. Mallard, your work was never in question. I was just taught that I should never take what is given to me when making my analysis, and that no one is perfect. So a fresh pair of eyes is never a bad thing on one of these cases." She returned the doctor's handshake, "Besides, I was just reviewing your work with the benefit of having the body there for reference. It was actually you who found the mark. I just knew how to collect the sample."
They returned to walking, but Ducky had one last thing to add, "Perhaps, my dear, but had I not felt questioned in my findings, I'd have never looked on the remains in a new light," Ducky punctuated his statement with a final wink, "so to speak." They both laughed a little at his joke and walked through the doors of the NCIS lab.
Once inside, they found Agent Timothy McGee on all fours, setting up a table and running cords to it from across the room on the floor. "Timothy, what on earth are you doing?" Asked the good doctor.
Looking up quickly after having been surprised by their entrance, McGee hit his head on the underside of the table and knocked over some of the papers which were once piled on top of it. "OWWW!" He clumsily stood up from his precarious position, rubbing the top of his head, "Ummm, I was just getting the Major set up here in the lab, like Gibbs told me to." McGee went over to the wall and threw the switch on the power strip, "And now it's ready… After learning about the markings you found on the Gunny, Gibbs wanted to make sure you had everything you needed in here while you reviewed the rest of the case files and evidence."
McGee crossed the room to stand next to Ducky and Maj. Cassidy, he then turned back to get a good look at his handiwork. "So, do you think that will work for you, Maj. Cassidy?" McGee asked with his boyish smile.
The Major walked up to the table, noticed the powered table and the ethernet connection resting on the tabletop, as well as the printed case files and a small box of evidence. She placed her metal case upon the table and turned back to the two men, "I think this will be just fine, Agent McGee. However, I won't be needing the ethernet connection."
McGee quickly came to his own defense, "Well, I know that signals can be pretty bad in here, what with all the magnetic fields created by this equipment, not to mention Abby's toys. So, I-…"
McGee is interrupted by Ducky, "Where is Abigail, Timothy? I thought you were going to introduce her to the Major." Ducky looked around with great interest.
"Ah, yeah… I have no idea where Abby is hiding at the moment… Came in here to tell her the good news earlier, when I dropped the Major off with you, and well, she wasn't here… I did manage to find the copies of the files she was hiding, but I'd like to keep that to myself, if you don't mind… Kinda like to keep my head, if you know what I mean, Ducky." McGee looked almost as though he could practically come unglued at the mention of Abby's whereabouts, leaving Ducky with a sneaking suspicion that Agent McGee knew exactly where she was, but was covering for her, none the less.
"Very well, then you will be certain to keep the Major company until Abigail returns, correct?" Ducky wanted to make certain that Maj. Cassidy was not left to fend for herself when it came to Abby.
"Oh yeah, no problem there, Ducky. I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy, let alone someone sent here to help us out." McGee gave Ducky the assurances he needed before turning to leave the lab.
"If you should need me for anything, Gwendolyn, you need only call my office. This case is the first priority for many of us here at NCIS right now." He looked back at the Major as she began to open her metal case, "And we are all terribly happy to have you working with us, my dear… Terribly happy."
"Thank you very much, Sir. I am happy to serve, as always." The Major returned her attention to the metal case, withdrawing her computer and a digital tablet. As she began setting up the equipment for her work, McGee started to shift nervously, and retrieved the rest of the papers from the floor.
"Ah, like I was saying… The cell signals in here tend to get pretty weak, so I ran the ethernet line so you could plug straight in to our network. I also got you set up with a login, which will grant you specific access to our digital case files." McGee carefully returned the last of the papers to their proper stacks.
"That won't be necessary, Agent McGee… I already have that access and I'm not really using a cell signal to communicate with my network. So, there isn't likely to be any interference with the equipment here in the lab." The Major continued setting up her equipment without stopping for any of the conversation and without once looking Agent McGee in the eye.
Standing straight up with his mouth hanging slightly agape, Agent McGee was only able to say, "Oh."
While he stood there with the puzzled look on his face, Abby Sciuto practically came skipping into her laboratory. Oblivious to the presence of the Major, she instead focused on the presence of Agent McGee and she nearly pounced on the still dumbstruck young agent. "MCGEE! I really did it this time!... No, really! They will never figure out what happened with those car tires until it's way too late." Suddenly realizing that McGee had not stopped looking on one direction, she thwapped him in the ear and said, "McGee! You aren't paying attention to me again… What could you possibly be looking at that is more important than me sabotaging Fornell's c-." She looked in the general direction of McGee's stare and stopped cold on the face of Maj. Cassidy. "Who the heck is that!" Her playful expression immediately turned to one of total suspicion and anger.
McGee, finally shaken from his stupor, realized that he had better fix this one, and fast, "Uh… Ummm… Abby this is-…"
Abby held up her hand to silence McGee, "I think the spook can speak for herself. How else did she get that pretty uniform." The vitriole in her voice was enough to make the Major understand that this was not someone she wanted to trifle with today.
However, this time McGee decided he better step up to the plate and diffuse the situation. "Abby, don't freak out. This is Maj. Cassidy… And in case you forgot, Marines don't introduce themselves, so she was waiting for me to make the introductions." Tim was rewarded (or punished, depending on the point of view) for his comments with one of Abby's patented glares. In fact, the only thing that made Tim's skin crawl even half as much was one of Gibbs' patented glares (though admittedly, Abby was the better of the two at making him want to jump out of his own skin). "Abby Scuito, this is Maj. Cassidy, she was sent over by the SecDef to help us out with the Furmansky case." The Major stepped out from behind the makeshift workspace, "Maj. Cassidy, this is Abby Scuito, and she runs the lab here at NCIS." The Major then offered her hand to Abby, which Abby took and half-heartedly shook.
"I have heard many good things about the quality of work coming from this lab, Ms. Scuito. And I believe I read a journal article of yours recently. Aren't you the A. Scuito who wrote that compelling piece on "Forensic Examination of Electronic Components" in the Journal of American Forensics last month?" To McGee, it appeared as though the Major was making a decent attempt at getting on Abby's good side, but he could only hold his breath until Abby responded.
"Umm… Wait, you actually read that thing?" Abby was totally caught off guard by the woman's knowledge of her recent contribution to forensic science. "AND you read THAT article? Wow!... You must have no life." Abby's conclusion garnered her a small chuckle from the female Marine. "That didn't sound right, huh?" Abby stepped back to sit in her favorite chair while she continued her interrogation of this new face.
"Well, right or not, it is fairly accurate." The Major followed her lead and sat down in the chair that McGee had set up for her, "I'm not the best sleeper, plus I get stuck in my office for extended periods of time and the only thing I can do is catch up on my professional reading."
"So, if you work for the SecDef, where is your off-… Wait Just a Second!" Abby interrupted herself, "McGee! What happened with the Fibbies?!"
McGee, surprised by the sudden change of subject fumbled a bit, "Well, uhh, umm… Oh yeah! The Director and the SecNav pulled in some favors with the SecDef and they stalled the FBI from commandeering the case for another two weeks while the Major does a case analysis and helps us get our bearings on who this sicko is."
Abby pondered the information she had just been given, "So, we have TWO WEEKS! Wow! I could solve two of these cases with two more weeks… So, wait… Why were Fornell and his lackies here earlier?" Abby started to chew her fingernails a little.
"Umm… I guess they were still fighting it up until the SecDef came in and smacked them around and took the whole thing out of their hands. Gibbs said it got kind of ugly up there in the Director's office for a while." McGee chuckled a bit to himself, thinking of just what that scene must have looked like.
"Hmmm… Then I guess I'm gonna get thwacked by Gibbs today." Abby said with trepidation.
"What did you do this time, Abs?" Gibbs voice instantly made Abby's spine straighten up tight, and all the color drained right out of McGee's face.
"Hey Gibbs! Did I do something?" Abby spoke with a certain quality of panic in her voice.
"Just tell me that whatever you did can't be traced, and I'll let it slide." Gibbs gave her a look of resignation to let her know that she was off the hook.
"Gibbs, please… If anyone can get away with something, you know it's gotta be me." Her devilish smile was all Gibbs needed to see, and he let loose with one of his patented smirks.
"Okay… I see that you have met the Major… Did McGee properly introduce you two?" Gibbs looked directly at McGee when he spoke.
"Oh yeah, Timmy played the good little Probie and took care of all of that… We were just about to start trading piercings and hair products when you came in, Boss." The glint of mischief in Abby's eyes almost made Gibbs laugh, but the muffled giggles of the Major made the corner of his mouth turn up in one of those smirks again.
"Good to know… McGee, you've got work to do on that tattoo sequencing. Crypto has been looking for you and Tony is no help at all with that garbage." Gibbs gestured for McGee to get moving out of the lab and back to his desk.
"Right, Boss… Um… The Major is all setup here in the lab, and I already gave her the copies of the files and access is taken care of, as well, Boss…" Seeing the exasperated look on Gibbs' face made McGee realize he needed to get moving, "And I'm going back to my desk right now to work on that sequencing." And with that, Agent McGee very quickly exited the lab.
Gibbs gestured between the two women with the cup in his hand, "You two ladies gonna be all right in here?" And as he looked at the cup in his hands, he suddenly realized why Abby was looking at him like a big cat stalking its prey and handed her the giant cup filled with her Caff-Pow. She took it from him greedily and immediately began slurping up the extremely caffeinated beverage. "Yeah, forgot I had it, sorry." She mumbled something that resembled 'no problem' while continuing to suck on the straw. "Anyway, I want to get this thing put to bed BEFORE the two week deadline, so anything you need, do not hesitate to ask. Clear?"
The Major was the only one to answer, "Crystal, Sir." And Gibbs left the lab shaking his head at the extremely proper Major.