Disclaimer is in Chapter 1.
Chapter 3
Patrons looked at the sound of the laughter and frowned. A loud group had overtaken a corner of the outdoor café and their loud noises occasionally interrupted the discussions of other people.
"I can't believe we won!" Tim said, shaking his head.
"I can't believe Tony bee-lined the pitcher!" Ziva laughed, using a new word she had learned.
"He was asking for it." Tony commented. "Besides, I didn't like Rebecca saying there wasn't room for two egos. That left me with only one choice…take him down."
"Did you really need to hit Fornell with your bat, Jethro?" Jen asked.
"I overspun on that swing, Jen." Gibbs shrugged. "Not my fault he started to stand up."
Slightly isolated from the group, Ducky sat with Rebecca.
"I'm glad you showed up today, my dear. It's nice to see them laughing." He smiled at the younger woman.
"You've told me much about them, Ducky. And after Kate's death, well, it sounded like there was something of a team left but not much in the way of laughter."
"Yes, well, we miss Kate."
"And I miss hearing about her. But life goes on. New people enter our lives. Ziva and Director Shepard have not had an easy time of it and this was hopefully a good way to help them get a foothold within the team. To successfully work together, they need to listen to each other and trust…they need to be an extended family."
Gibbs approached with two pints of beer in his hands.
"Thank you, Ms. Lyndsey, for your help today."
Rebecca actually blushed.
"I just gave some pointers and reminded you to work together. The rest you already knew." She replied quietly.
"Ducky said something about you arriving tomorrow?" Abby asked, her arm wrapped around Tim's waist. He was still glowing from being the one to knock in the winning run...a hero after all.
"Yes, my job has me doing some work down here for the next few months. Training and establishing standardized processes…rather dull stuff to the outside world, but I love it." Rebecca smiled.
"Training?" Jen mused. "And team building exercises?"
"Guilty as charged, Director." Rebecca smiled unabashedly. "We still need to speak about how I'm going to help out at NCIS for a while. If I don't and Fornell gets wind of it, he'll cry foul."
"Once he's done crying over losing." Tony offered.
Jen smiled. "I know tomorrow's Sunday, but why don't you come by the office and we'll talk. I've got a few ideas."
Gibbs' eyebrows shot up. His gut began to worry.
"I'd love to. First thing…say around oh-eight-hundred? I have to be at the airport to pick up a package for noon."
"Works for me." Jen stood up and stretched. "In the meantime, I need to go. Phone call to make to the FBI regarding my hair colour."
A few shouts of laughter came from around the table.