Outside Looking In
An NCIS drabble
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The NCIS characters belong to Donald P. Bellasario, not to me. I have a hankering to feed the rarepair monster gnawing at me to write these two. :3c Read, review, and enjoy!
- ^-^3
She senses him before she spies him.
Over by the staircase, watching the team, he's a curious audience of one, fascinated by the camaraderie on display as Jimmy shows off his latest video of his daughter's gymnastics prowess to McGee and Torres. Knight senses first, of course, because she's a bit like him right now, not partaking in the scene. So, she slips away from her desk on the left-hand side—heading to the restroom or to the break room, if anyone fancies a guess—and rounds the staircase from the other side. She doesn't muffle her footsteps, though, because she's not looking to scare him.
"You could always go watch with them," Knight suggests. "I know, for a fact, that Jimmy Palmer will never waste an opportunity to show off anything about Victoria."
Parker politely glances at her before his eyes get drawn back to the scene in the bullpen. "Of that, I have no doubt. But, nah, I was just…" He gestures vaguely with his hand.
"Lurking?" She grins when he shoots her a dry look.
"Observing the team dynamics," Parker settles.
Knight nods. She scrunches her nose up at him. "I know. I just wanted you to admit it. I also noticed you said 'the team dynamics.'"
He doesn't bite this time.
"Still hard to feel like part of the team, right?"
There's a hard set to Parker's shoulders that tenses before easing up after Knight hits the nail on the head. He tilts his head slightly her way, not fully cocking it to one side, but thoughtful nevertheless. "You, too?" he infers.
Knight nods again, sticks her hands in her pockets, even rolls back on her heels a bit, as though this is old news. "Yep. I've been at NCIS a long time, but they've been through a lot in the past year—and I met and briefly worked with both Bishop and Gibbs. There's just…something about the bonds this team forms. They're established. It makes it hard for others to work with them sometimes, let alone join them."
Parker scoffs, though the sound is a bit too tired to sound condescending. "Yeah… Yeah, they do kinda make the rest of us feel like interlopers, huh?"
Knight grins. "Ha, look at us, using some fancy words. 'Interloper'—that should be our Word of the Day." She bumps his elbow with hers for good measure.
He groans but snickers regardless. "That…seems like a bad habit to get into."
"What? You hate fascinating words? After Gibbs, a man of few words, I kinda thought you might be the opposite, but you are a true man of mystery, Parker…"
Parker shakes his head. "No, word appreciation I support. But you and me, thinking of ourselves as not part of the team—"
She catches his eye and raises her eyebrows, stopping him short. "Never said I wasn't. You got some doubts about joining this band of misfit toys? Sure, I'm new around here, too, but give it some time—you'll feel like a fellow misfit soon enough." Knight punctuates her notion with an even bigger grin. "And, if you doubt yourself, come and find me for a new Word of the Day."
Parker appraises her for half a beat before her enthusiasm rubs off on him, and he returns her grin, a chuckle caught somewhere in his throat. "I'll have to take you up on that offer…."
- ^-^3
83c I've been sitting on this ship for a while, and I'm in sore need of the fluffy feels they give me, so I thought it's high time I share! :D This early s19, pre-Parknight drabble does highlight my main premise for them—bonding over being the "interlopers"/outsiders in the team—but, trust me, I've got more ideas for them, thx to recent eps from s19. I'm just. Rly digging them, okay? ;w; Also, a HUGE shout-out to my sis, autumn_midnights, for help with the ship name bc my brain abandoned me when I dithered to her about all my feels regarding these two. This is what friends are for! XD
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 :3