Chapter 6

Tony stood enjoying the view when he heard noises behind him. He smiled, it was his first day as Honolulu's first NCIS Team Leader. He was ready to meet his team and get on with his day.

Tony turned and smiled. "Good Morning, Agent Winters."

Sally shook Tony's hand. His picture had not done him justice. He was much more handsome in person. "Good Moring, Agent DiNozzo."

"You can call me DiNozzo or Tony." Tony replied. "Despite who we represent, I'm not terribly military. No Boss or Sir." He grinned when he realized she was still standing. "And no assigned seating. Take whichever desk suits you." He could not stand to have his agents call him Boss. It brought back memories of people and places he wanted to forget. And he just didn't like 'Sir,' it was too formal.

Tony lapsed back into thought as Sally took her seat and got comfortable. She took the desk directly across from his. Tony had laid a stack of papers on each agent's desk, and a copy of the NCIS Field Agents Manual. He knew the reading and signing alone would take hours. But, that would give him a little time to make some decisions he had to make about his leadership. Namely, who was going to be his second.

Logically, his second would be Sally. She had the most experience and seemed the most suited. But, he was not sure. Very few male team leaders had female senior field agents. It was just grist for the rumor mill, and Tony didn't want to take a chance on ruining her reputation. Especially since his old rep with female agents was less then stellar. But, of course, if she was as good an agent as she seemed on paper, she would have already done her research on him. So, maybe….

BJ Hooper strolled into the office at 8:58 a.m. He walked over to Tony's desk and held out his hand. "Agent DiNozzo."

"Welcome and Good Morning to you, Agent Hooper." Tony said, standing. "And it's either DiNozzo or Tony. I do not answer to Boss or Sir. Go ahead and choose the desk you want and Agent Christian will get the last one."

Tony then addressed both agent. "You have hours of paperwork ahead of you. So, I will go ahead and show you where the restrooms and the breakroom are. We also have a locker room with showers, and a gym. But, we will get to those later. I promise you will have the full tour by the end of the day. So, go ahead and get started. Then we'll take a break, and I will show you around."

Tony took the agents to the break room. There was a regular coffee machine and an expresso machine. He had bought donuts and Danish for each of them. He had sat out some fresh fruit also.

"Grab a plate and eat up. This will not be a daily occurrence." Tony said as they all got their plates and their coffee and took it back to their desks. Then after they finish their food, they dug into the paperwork.

A couple of hours later Sally was finished with her paperwork. She stood and stretched. BJ was ready for a break. He also stood. He left his desk and headed over to the windows. They were in the city. But they still had a great view of the ocean.

Sally sat back down at her desk. She had friends who had worked in D.C. And Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was infamous. She had heard story upon story of this womanizing, pain-in-the-ass, blabber mouth. But, she was seeing nothing of that description. She, if anything, saw sorrow and pain behind those expressive green eyes of his. She had, then, made sure she had read up on the agent. She wanted to be sure she would not regret her decision to move. She figured everybody deserved a second change. She was leaving an unhealthy relationship. She needed to give him that chance, just as she had been given one.

What Sally read had surprised her, though. It was as if the agent on paper and the agent in real life were two totally different people. This guy on paper was a totally professional, decorated, dedicated cop, detective, then agent. Sally decided she would reserve judgment. She had made snap judgements on other occasions and things had not worked out well. She was on the Hawaiian Islands. She didn't have the money to go back on her own. Plus, she was in freakin' Hawaii. She got up and joined BJ at the windows.

"What does BJ stand for?" Sally asked her coworker.

"I read up on you Agent Winters, very impressive." BJ stated. "And I really, really hate my first name." He eyed her. "But you know what my name is…you read my file, just as I have read your file."

"I like to meet people first, if at all possible, then read the files. Sometimes…the file is not always the best way to get to know a person." Sally said.

BJ nodded. "Yeah, I was expecting Party Central when I got here this morning, just from the rumors, you know. I could not understand Director Vance personally recommending DiNozzo for this position if there was not more to him. In DiNozzo's case, it was best to read the file first."

"That was Vance's problem with me, Agents." Tony said. He had looked up from his desk to find both his agents had taken a break. "He believed the hype. So much so that he didn't want to read my file. He was positive he wouldn't find anything to change his mind."

BJ started. "I'm sorry. I…."

Tony shook his head. "Reputations follow you, for good or for bad. I won't go into it. But, I left a less-than-ideal situation in D.C. to come here."

They both nodded at that.

"What do you know?" Tony asked.

"Gibbs was living up to the second B." Sally said. "Especially on the Monday you left."

Tony was shocked. "What? Is this on YouTube?"

BJ grinned. "Actually," He went back to his desk. Sally and Tony followed. He pressed a few buttons and a thumbnail of an irate Gibbs showed up. He pressed the video icon called 'Lion's Den Lunacy!', submitted by ib4ncis.

"I know an agent on Balboa's team. I don't know if he took the video. But, from what he said, several agents were using their camera phones." BJ explained before he hit the play button.

Tony looked at Sally.

Sally sighed. "I have a friend in the accounting department. She was upstairs when Gibbs when 'ape-shit crazy' as she called it. She called her co-workers to come upstairs. Then she started recording. I don't know who put this on YouTube. But I'm sure others have. It's much too good to…" She looked at Tony's face and cleared her throat.

Tony grinned. "It's okay. Vance told me about it. But, I've been too busy trying to get the office up and running. I would love to see this."

BJ and Sally looked at one another.

"It's okay. I do really, really want to see this." Tony replied.

"I have no idea who this person is who submitted this." BJ said. "And I never googled to see how many videos are out there. But, this is...epic."

Sally and Tony watched in a sort of stunned silence. Tony absolutely loved Vance's speech to Gibbs at the end.

"Wow!" Sally replies. "I thought he was going to pop a vein in his forehead or something." She shook her head as she grinned.

Tony started to laugh. "That was awesome. That was Freakin'awesome." He chuckled.

BJ grinned. "It's just as funny, every time I see it. And I just ran across it. I think, the day after it happened. I didn't connect it to you. I wasn't even thinking about those connections. I was too busy trying to get things finalized and getting moved. When I read your file and I saw pictures of Gibbs, and McGee and David. It just…things fell into place."

"I had not seen it before. My friend just mentioned it as a part of the ongoing office gossip. She said she was too far away for good video. She said she got the voices okay, when Gibbs was yelling. But, it didn't pick up Vance's voice that well." Shelly stated.

"If you were to ever find out who that is, let me know." Tony replied. "I want to send them a Thank You card."

TBC