Kneejerk
An NCIS drabble
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The NCIS characters belong to Donald P. Bellasario, not to me. Do you need more Parknight? Bc I need more Parknight! 8D Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: Set after s19e12, "Fight or Flight."
- ^-^3
"Wow. Interesting."
With the adrenaline from the rigged fight having worn off and knowing that their case was wrapped up, Knight finally was alone with her thoughts at her desk. Unfortunately, her thoughts were mostly circling on her brief stakeout with Torres and that stupid game of questions on which she'd insisted.
"Wow. Interesting."
No! Nope, it wasn't. Her answer to his random-ass question hadn't been interesting in the least bit. It had been frustrating, the fact that he'd so easily distracted her with said question. After all, she'd had one job (to get that clammed-up stinker to talk), and she'd failed miserably. Parker might've called her hostage negotiating "skills," but Knight felt as if she really needed to go back to training after dealing with Torres…
The thought of Parker, in conjunction with the memory of Torres' ridiculous question, pulled Knight from her head long enough to make her sit up straighter in her desk chair. She glanced around the bullpen.
Torres' desk was, thankfully, vacant, as Jimmy had wanted to see him before Torres went home. McGee had gone home maybe…ten minutes ago? Things in the office were relatively quiet right now, save for the quiet shuffling of papers and items at the desk to her left.
Knight pursed her lips before sneaking a peek at Parker, but she quickly yanked her gaze back to her keyboard before he might turn her way. A stupid reaction, but this was the effect of a stupid game played with a friend who'd been behaving stupidly lately, so. Y'know. Maybe Torres had rubbed off on her and she could just pin it on him tonight.
…that said, Jess Knight wasn't an idiot, and there was a tiny part of her curious as to why she'd answered Torres' question the way she had. Sure, she'd tried to avoid answering at first, but she'd still answered—and fast enough to have surprised herself, not just Torres.
That convinced her to sneak another peek over at their current team leader. Parker's attention was diverted by his phone at the moment, something that had him entranced long enough to let Knight have a good, long stare. So doing an appraisal was easy enough (the man pulled off his scruff well), and picturing him sans-beard wasn't too hard, either.
… …the mental image of a clean-shaven Parker…was a bit distracting…
"Wow. Interesting."
No! No, not interesting! A clean-shaven Parker would—would look nice, was all. Knight was really looking forward to hitting the hay right about now, in the hopes that a good night's rest would shake this damn Torres-in-the-brain…!
Parker locked his phone's screen then and pocketed it. He began to turn Knight's way—
—so she grabbed her bag and jacket, yelped all in one breath "HaveagoodnightParker!" over her shoulder without making eye contact, and practically dove into the elevator.
Except Knight had no plans to head home just yet.
She banged her head against the elevator doors a few times on the way downstairs. But it did the trick, helping to calm her and her breathing. When the elevator dinged, Knight stepped off and entered Autopsy, only then recalling that this had been Torres' last stop of the night. She cautiously knocked on the door before it slid open.
"Jess, hey," Jimmy said. He closed the supply closet's door and greeted her with hands on his hips. "What can I do for you? I kind of wasn't expecting to see anyone else down here tonight. Unless—?" He quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, no, no, we're off-duty," Knight assured with a dismissive wave. She glanced around the room. "Torres head home yet?"
Jimmy's smile dimmed, and he exhaled. "Yeah… I think it's a good thing, in some ways, that we had this case. It got him to face a few realities."
Knight frowned. "That bad?"
"He'll be okay." Jimmy walked backwards to his desk to check his open satchel. "But I'm also on my way out. So what's up?"
Knight froze, now that the spotlight was back on her. Still, she'd come down here because the best place to get advice about the subconscious was Dr. James Palmer. Nevertheless, she'd be mortified if she asked him outright about her exchange with Torres during the stakeout. So a roundabout tactic would have to do. "Say, Jimmy…" Knight fished for the right words. "What does it mean if you—have an immediate answer to a hypothetical someone proposes that you've never considered before?"
"What, like in the field?" Jimmy flipped through a notebook, slipped it into his bag, and smiled quizzically at her. "Isn't that kinda like the remaining twenty-five percent of your guys' job, when you're in a bind?"
"No, I don't mean— I mean, just in general."
"Oh. So, like a kneejerk reaction."
Knight blinked. "Is that what it is?"
Jimmy shrugged. "Well, it could be you feel strongly about the general concept of what you were asked. But, for some people, it could also mean they've thought about the topic before, without realizing it."
She furrowed her brow. "Like…subconsciously?"
"Yeah. Or, y'know, daydreaming. It's more common than you think." He paused and scrutinized her face. "Hey, Jess, you all right? You look a tad flushed."
"Oh! I'm good. Thanks again, Jimmy."
"Uh, yeah—"
Knight ducked out of Autopsy and back into the elevator, this time forgetting her manners in saying goodnight, but her mind was preoccupied. She was relieved once she got outside and the cool night air hit her face, but, frankly, talking to Jimmy for once hadn't helped, because now Knight felt more muddled than before she'd spoken to him.
After all, how the hell was one supposed to handle the notion that she'd been daydreaming about her boss?!
- ^-^3
XD That stakeout scene was a huge highlight for me in an otherwise v grim episode (I'm a huge Torres fan, so e12 rly hurt, dammit ;w;). I definitely find it interesting that she was able to answer so quickly and definitively, tho, hence this drabble. :3c Now, whether what Jimmy said is true—idk, I just wrote that and have no refs, so pls don't take that as science, kthx. Anyway, I'm off to write more Parknight~ -w-
Thanks for reading, and please review! Check out my other NCIS fics if you liked this. And, as with my other NCIS fics, show your support via tumblr with a reblog~
-mew-tsubaki B3
