DISCLAIMER: Don't own it... No money is made... Just for fun and enjoyment!
SUMMARY: Sequel to "The SecDef Cheats." Lt. Col Cassidy moves in to NCIS and this will mean for Abby in the long run. McAbby, Drama/Romance/Angst
RATING: T - Adult subject matter, rare mild language, killer smooching.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this one done... But I had a busy week, what with the arrival of my newest nephew :D
REVIEWS: I am always trying to improve my writing, so all constructive criticism is welcome. I would also like to thank you in advance for any reviews you might wish to leave. They really are a great boon to a writer's ego and gives you a huge incentive to live up to your expectations.
Chapter 3
At precisely 0800 hours, Lt. Col. Cassidy walked her bicycle through the main doors of her office and leaned it up against the wall opposite her personal secretary, Lt. Tiner. As she entered, he immediately stood at attention and waited for his instructions. The Colonel smiled at his precision and wondered with a little amusement how much of that reverence had come from his time working in the Judge Advocate General's main office as a non-commissioned enlisted officer.
"Tiner, I'm going to take a few minutes to clean up from my ride, but I would like the latest budget figures from the appropriations committee on my desk when I come out." When he nodded, she unslung the pack from her shoulders and then gestured to her bike, "Is that going to be a problem in here, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir. I'll requisition a rubber mat to place in that corner." Tiner appeared to be forming a question. "Colonel?"
"Speak freely, Jason. If we're going to spend this much time working together, we're gonna have to get a little familiar from time to time." She paused, wanting to add one more thing to her statement, "It's one of those perks that come with the commission."
Tiner lowered his head and blushed at her remark, "Thank you, ma'am… Would you mind if I brought mine in sometimes as well?"
The Colonel shrugged and said, "Not at all… I didn't know you rode."
He smiled and answered, "Yes, ma'am… Sometimes it's just easier to bike it through the city."
"Well, make sure you get that mat, so we don't destroy the carpet." She turned and started towards her private office when the Lieutenant spoke again.
"Colonel… You have a meeting at 0900 with Special Agent Gibbs and Dr. Scuito, lunch with Lt. Commander Cassidy, as well as an appointment with Commandant May at the Pentagon for 1330 hours." Tiner read off her schedule purely from memory and the Colonel had to admit that she was impressed.
"Right, change the appointment with the Commandant to drinks at the Yard O-Club, 1800 hours, and mark 1400 hours for a budget planning meeting with Dr. Mallard, please." When he saluted her request she smiled and shook her head as she continued into her office.
Lt. Tiner had been a strange choice in a personal secretary, but she had been assured by Admiral Chegwidden that he would be up to the task. That thought reminded her of another schedule change and she called out to the Lieutenant, "Tiner… I also need you to schedule me for a two hour block Thursday afternoon for a meeting with some retirees."
"Aye, sir… Names?"
"Ah, Gunnery Sergeant Cassidy, USMC Retired and Admiral Chegwidden, USN Retired." She heard the gasp that left Lt. Tiner's mouth and smiled when she added her last request, "And make sure there is someone to cover you on Friday, since you'll be taking the day off at the Admiral's request."
"Aye, aye!"
The Colonel walked into her private bathroom smiling at Lt. Tiner's response to her surprise. The Admiral was taking a fishing trip with her father-in-law, and when they called from the Carolina Coast to inform her of their estimated arrival time at the Gangplank Marina along the Potomac, she was thrilled to receive them for a visit.
When she exited the private bathroom, the Colonel looked down at her watch and was pleased to discover that she had showered, changed and emerged again in under fifteen minutes. Having her own facilities was proving to be a greater benefit than she imagined.
Lt. Col. Cassidy took her seat behind the desk and fired up the laptop she had deposited there upon entry to the office and began to go through the messages she had accumulated since her departure that morning. She remarked to herself that her new position had suddenly made her the focus of a great deal of attention, and she was not quite sure that she enjoyed that aspect of the assignment.
When she had entered the Naval Academy she was considered the same kind of novelty, and the attention it brought her was most often unwelcome. Then, she was one of the first women through the Academy as a Marine, and the very first one to refuse the physical requirement modifications for gender. This time around she was the unwitting participant in a power play made by the Secretary of Defense against the Secretary of Justice, and the fallout was that everyone on The Hill was watching what she did with great interest. She had barely been appointed before she was summoned into a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the formation of a budget for the newly created agency division.
Her first two weeks as a Lieutenant Colonel had been tumultuous at best. First, she to moved out of her office at the Pentagon and closed up any ongoing files she had been assigned; distributing them to the appropriate personnel and securing all of her data. Then she was briefed by the Commandant of the Marine Corps regarding her new role, which included consulting work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and special assignments from the Secretary of Defense, along with creating an entirely new division to an existing governmental military oversight agency.
That, in and of itself, was proving to be a daunting task, since she was being held responsible for staffing the entire entity, creating a feasible budget plan, developing the policy system and making sure it adhered to all current governmental policy restrictions and criteria. And just to make things even more interesting, she had to create the pay scale system for the division as well. However, she honestly believed that it was a completely achievable goal. That was, until the Commandant informed her that she had to be marginally operational within six weeks of the approval of her transitionary budget, and fully operational within six months of final approval of her fiscal budget.
All of that meant that, since it was the first week in May, she would have until the first week in October to make it through her transitionary period and then six more months before she had to have an operational division reaching every single field office in the NCIS roster. With that realization, she had told her husband that she was not certain if it had been a promotion or a punishment.
By the time she had made it through her incoming messages, and responded to a few questions from Appropriations Committee, she was finally ready to look at the newest figures sent in for her review and corrections. The budget debacle had become her daily ritual, and she dreaded the moment she submitted their final fiscal budget, because the transitionary budget had already consumed so much of her time. She was hopeful that it would be approved soon, because the first thing she wanted to do was to hire her three assistant directors to take some of the administrative load off of her hands.
When she looked up from the report a short while later, she noticed the time and called into the reception area, "Lt. Tiner, are we ready for my first meeting yet?"
"Aye, sir… Coffee and pastries were just delivered. Would you like me to bring them in and set up?" Tiner's voice came through the speaker with perfect clarity, so she could only assume the man had already gotten the thing fixed after the previous day's fiasco.
"Affirmative, Lieutenant." It was only a moment or two before there was a knock on her office door and she gave the all clear, "Enter."
Lt. Tiner entered the room, saluted, and then rolled in the metal cart carrying a pastry box and a very large thermal carafe of coffee. "I took the liberty of learning the coffee shop that Agent Gibbs uses, Colonel, and ordered everything from there. I hope that was all right."
"Perfect, Jason..." She noticed that the chairs and table she had been waiting on had been set up in her office, even though she was told that it might take another week for them to be delivered. "Jason, where did those come from?"
Tiner looked as though a light bulb had just gone off in his head. "Sorry, ma'am… I called a friend in supply yesterday and got them to clear the way for the order. It was just some red tape holding it up, and the CNO gave me strict instructions about making sure your office was in prime working condition before his meeting with you on Friday." Tiner answered as he set up the small table with the coffee, some cups, spoons, napkins, sweeteners, cream, small plates and the large tray of pastries. "When I got word last night that the stuff was ready for delivery first thing this morning, I came in early to coordinate it and set the stuff up. I knew you were having a morning meeting, so I didn't want it to be disruptive, ma'am."
The Colonel observed as Tiner set the perfect table, and then remarked, "Well, Jason, I'd say you've got this assistant thing down pat. I'll have to be sure to thank the Admiral when he arrives."
Tiner's cheeks turned red at her compliment, but he recovered quickly. "Thank you, ma'am. I just hope I can be of more assistance than just a personal secretary."
"Well, I'm counting on it… Your knowledge of Navy regs and military law are going to be invaluable to me in this position. And it's my hope that your study of civilian law will also prove useful to NCIS investigations." She took the cardboard box from his hands as he stood stock still, almost in shock at her admission. When she turned back around from tossing the box into the trash bin she found him still in that position. "Is there something wrong, Tiner?"
"No, sir!... I suppose I was just surprised to hear you describe my position that way, ma'am." That was when the Colonel realized Tiner did not understand why he had been selected for this duty.
"Tiner, you do understand that typically, a position of this importance is not given to Second Lieutenant, right?" His lack of an answer prompted her to continue, "Tiner, my last secretary was a Captain, and this position typically calls for someone of at least that rank. You were recommended, because of your service in the JAG office, and your study of law, both of which are areas where I am personally lacking in intimate knowledge. When I spoke to the Admiral about needing someone I could trust, and that would bring something else to the table, he immediately recommended you. He told me that you had the strongest character of anyone he had known, that you had a unique and varied perspective on things, that you were efficient, but above all, the most steadfast sailor he had ever had the pleasure of commanding. But when he told me about your study of the law and your interest in some of the aspects of military technology, I was sold. I only interviewed one other person, and they came in before you did. After you, I called the personnel office and told them to push your transfer through immediately."
"Wow…. I mean, thank you, Colonel. Your confidence in my abilities is, um, I mean, ah… Wow." The Colonel laughed at his flustered gratitude and walked back to her desk. "Sorry, Colonel. I was just a little surprised, because I thought this was just another assignment until I got out of school."
"Don't worry about it, Jason. I just want to make sure I have someone else trained before you leave here for law school next year." The Colonel had taken her seat behind the desk and Tiner was finally able to break from his stupor when he heard the elevator ding outside the reception area. He saluted the Colonel to show he was ready to exit the office.
"Dismissed." The Colonel shook her head and chuckled at his recovery and quick-timed departure. When she looked at her watch again, she understood why he was so quick to exit. It was almost 0900, and her meeting guests had probably just arrived.
As if to answer her conclusion, the buzzer went off on the intercom. She clicked the button and said, "Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Sir, Special Agent Gibbs and Dr. Scuito have arrived for their meeting, sir."
She sat up straighter in her chair and exhaled sharply before responding, "Very well… Show them in, Lieutenant." She stood up and made certain that she was presentable before the door opened and Lt. Tiner preceded her guests into the room. "Agent Gibbs… Ms. Scuito… Thank you for coming."
They both walked into the room and Gibbs extended a hand to the Colonel, but she noticed that Abby was looking only at her own feet. "Thank you, Colonel…" He looked around the room as they released their grips, "I see you've gotten a lot done in here since yesterday."
The Colonel also glanced around the room, noticing the pictures that were expertly hung, the equipment that had been set up and all the furniture in the right places. Lt. Tiner had stayed late to make sure things were taken care of so that she could enjoy her dinner with her husband. She was going to have to do something nice for the man before it was all done. "Yes, well, my assistant is amazingly efficient." She looked at Tiner who looked as though he had been busted and then said, "Thank you, Lieutenant… Please hold my calls until we conclude… Dismissed."
"Aye, aye, sir." Tiner exited the room, double time, closing the door behind him softly.
Gibbs shook his head as he waited for the door to be closed, "I just can't get it out of my head that I've met that guy before."
The Colonel gestured for her guests to take their seats, and once they began to sit down, she followed them as well. "Well, I imagine in your work, you probably did… Tiner used to work in the JAG offices here in D.C."
"THAT'S where I've seen him…." Gibbs practically smacked his thigh with the exclamation. "He worked with Admiral Chegwidden, didn't he?"
"Yes, he did… That's actually who recommended him to me, in fact." The Colonel gestured to the table with the coffee and pastries, "Please, help yourself. Tiner managed to find out where you score your fix, Gunny, so the coffee should be to your liking."
Gibbs smiled from the side of his face and reached for a cup, but instead of pouring the coffee into it, he handed it first to Abby, who had still not said a word, or looked directly at the Colonel. She did take the cup and Gibbs grabbed another, but that one he tried to hand to the Colonel. However, she held up a hand to refuse the offer, "What, no coffee for you?"
"I never touch the stuff, actually, which was why I had to send out for it. I think I'm the only administrator in all of Washington without my own coffee maker or service." Both the Colonel and Gibbs laughed at her admission.
"Well, you're loss I guess…" He waited for Abby to notice that he was holding the carafe beside her cup before he began to pour it in, "I know Abs is taking some. And me, I've been going since 0330 on crap coffee, so this is going to be a welcome improvement."
The Colonel nodded at his attempt at small talk, as she watched Abby putting sugar and cream into her coffee. "Sounds like you had an early rollout, Gunny."
He nodded his head to the side, "Not an uncommon occurrence, Colonel."
The Colonel's patience for small talk reached its end and so she ended it quickly. "I think that is sufficient, Agent Gibbs..." She turned to face Abby dead on and continued, "Are we ready to get down to business, Ms. Scuito?"
Abby's eyes finally met hers when her head shot up at the mention of her name. However, she was not quite ready to talk, so she just nodded her head.
"Very well." The Colonel rose from her seat and went to a set of folders on her desk. When she returned to her seat near the other two people, she handed each of them one of the folders, keeping the third for herself. Gibbs set his coffee cup down after taking one last drink and reached into his blazer for his glasses. However, Abby left her folder perched atop her knees, which were now trembling just a bit.
The Colonel opened her folder and began to flip through the pages as she spoke, "Ms. Scuito, I tried to handle this in an informal manner, but you were unreceptive. That is the reason for my involving Agent Gibbs in this meeting; both as an advocate for you and as a voice of authority here at NCIS." The Colonel flipped back to the first page in the folder and invited the other parties to do the same, "If you'll notice the first page of this report… It is the copy of the first recommendation for dismissal from the personnel department, along with the second recommendation, which was re-submitted on my first day as the Director of Forensic Sciences. Seems the first recommendation was mysteriously lost somewhere at the administrative level."
Abby reluctantly looked down at the item and then the air rushed out of her lungs when she noticed the date. "And as you can see, the first recommendation was made more than six months ago. It would appear that the personnel department is not terribly fond of Ms. Scuito, but more importantly, that she has failed to meet the requirements for continued employment within this agency." The Colonel paused and then flipped a few pages into the folder, "And if you'll turn to page six, you'll see the report from the in-house Post Incident Counselor showing that Ms. Scuito has not completed a single Post Incident Counseling session. And on the following page, you will see an excerpt from the NCIS policy manual stating that each staff member must submit to a minimum of six, one hour PIC sessions, to be completed within six months of each prescribed incident. The subsequent pages detail the three separate incidents in which Ms. Scuito has been intimately involved over the previous eighteen months."
The Colonel looked up to see that Abby and Gibbs were both going through the report she had prepared. "Specifically, the two attempts on Ms. Scuito's life, both while on the premises of NCIS headquarters, in both of which other members of the staff submitted to PIC sessions, as prescribed by the Incident Assessment Committee. The remaining incident involving the death of a co-worker in the line of duty. In each instance, Ms. Scuito was prescribed the minimum PIC session requirement, and also in each instance she participated in none of those prescribed sessions, nor sought other counseling, as is allowed in the policy manual."
The Colonel looked up from the report once again, and then regarded Abby directly with her next volley, "Do you have anything to say in regards to these findings, Ms. Scuito?"
When Abby's eyes finally lifted from the pages, she looked as though she was about to cry, and though the Colonel knew this meeting had been utterly necessary, she still felt a bit guilty about the pain that it was obviously causing the young woman. Abby's voice came out in a tone so quiet that neither Gibbs, nor the Colonel actually understood what she had said. Gibbs was the one to speak up and ask her to repeat herself, "What's that, Abs?"
Abby looked down into her lap and sighed, "How long do I have to clean out my office?"
Gibbs and the Colonel both shook their heads at her question, but it was the Colonel who spoke up first, "That will depend entirely on you." Abby's head shot up with the Colonel's reply.
"I don't u-…"
"Are you prepared to deal with this situation and follow the prescribed course of action to correct it?" Abby's mouth was working like a fish out of water, and the words were failing her completely.
Gibbs took Abby's incapacity for speech as his signal, "Abby, nobody wants to see you go… But, we're worried about what this place is doing to you." She shot him a surprised and frightened look. "The Colonel pulled your access logs, and when she told me how much time you've been spending here, even I was surprised."
"But Gibbs… You spend jus-…"
"Not even close, Abs… You've got about twenty percent more hours than I do over the last six months." Gibbs sat forward in his chair and put a hand on Abby's shoulder, "And with everything you've been through lately, it's a wonder you aren't completely fallin' apart, kiddo."
The Colonel took that as her cue to continue, "Honestly, I was shocked when personnel came to me with their recommendations. When I did a little more digging, I was appalled that no one had ever approached you with these concerns. It became very clear to me that you were operating in a void of administration, as was anyone else in your position. I sat down with Dr. Mallard and we both decided that this shake up was probably the best thing that could have happened for NCIS personnel. The various technical staff members were without anyone they could voice their concerns and grievances with, and they had no one in authority they could go to in order to make improvements in their plights or working environments." She took the pages containing the recommendations from her folder and tore them straight through the middle. "All employee evaluations will be coming through me from now on."
"So, I'm good then?" Abby's voice held onto a glimmer of hope.
"Good? No, you have some serious work to do if you want to live up to the requirements of your position." The Colonel was totally blunt and it scared Abby more than a little bit.
"What kind of work?"
"You will submit to counseling at my prescribed level for the next six months, without fail… You will significantly reduce the number of hours spent in this facility on a weekly basis… And you will have to prove to myself and Dr. Mallard that you are capable of handling the responsibility of the position, before October one, when this lamb of a division is thrown to the wolves." Abby understood the first two items perfectly, but that last one had her baffled.
"So, what are you prescribing?" She decided to take items one at a time.
"Two one hour sessions, each week for the next six months." The Colonel was quick and to the point.
"There is NO WAY I am spending two hours a week with that pompous, condescending ass!" Abby was even more quick to object to the Colonel's decree.
The Colonel looked at her like she had two heads, because her outburst did not make any sense. "Who are you talking about? And why do you think there is only one person who can conduct your sessions?"
"But they told me I had to see that Hanover guy." Abby's voice had shrunk back from angry and indignant straight to timid and unsure.
"Not hardly… I have a full list of counselor's you can speak with… And then I have my own list from the Pentagon. But all that aside, I have one person I'd like to recommend." She handed Abby a printout giving the name and background of a licensed counselor. "She's actually a classmate of mine from the Academy, she has full clearance, and she counsels most everyone at Behavioral Sciences already." Abby looked up from the sheet of paper with a questioning look on her face. "The only requirement, outside of being licensed, is that they have a certain level of security clearance in order to counsel various members of the Armed Services and civilian personnel at governmental and military installations."
Gibbs shook his head in disgust and said, "Don't tell me… Personnel told you that you could only see that useless ferret?" Abby nodded her head to show that he was right, "Abs, you know those people have something against you… Did you ever stop to question what they were saying?"
Abby shrugged, feeling immensely foolish at having never thought about that aspect of the problem. "Sorry, Gibbs." She looked back at the Colonel, "So, just how much do I have to reduce my hours?"
She was quick and to the point, "Fifty percent."
"Are you KIDDING!" Abby threw her hands up in defeat, "There's no way I can cut my hours THAT much and still get anything done! How do you propose I cut my hours that much?"
"Easy… GO HOME!" The Colonel had just let her know that she was fully aware of Abby having spent most of her nights in the lab for the last six or seven months and that scared her a little. "You have gone four days without ever stepping foot out of this building before… That stops now. Without a lockdown, you will not spend more than a twenty four hour period inside this building in any consecutive interval. I have programmed the system to shut you out of all networks if such an event occurs."
"You'd shut me down?" Abby was completely shocked at the inference.
"I would, and I did… Agent Gibbs and Dr. Mallard are the only ones authorized to lift the shut down order, outside of myself." The Colonel was being very deliberate with her words and Abby felt the impact of each one.
"I can see I'm not gonna win this argument, but what is this thing about living up to the responsibility of my position? What do I have to do for that?" Abby needed to understand the full situation to be able to make an informed decision.
However, Gibbs was the first to answer, "First of all… If I get even a whiff of an inkling that you have BEEN to another illegal party, I'm gonna put you over my knee myself."
"Gibbs!"
"No way, Abs… I just found out that you've been picked up a few times at those things and I am not going to have to ID you at some PD morgue because you wanted dance with a bunch of degenerates, got it?" Gibbs put his foot down firmly, and Abby knew the next time he moved it would be to plant it in her butt if she did not listen to him, so she just nodded meekly at his insistence.
The Colonel had her own commentary to add to the discussion. "I can't very well have an assistant director making the police blotter in every D.C. paper because she wanted to go clubbing."
Abby's face immediately contorted into a mass of confusion and surprise, "A what? Huh?"
"Right." She reached into her folder and removed the last page of the report she held, and then handed it to Abby. "This is the staffing recommendation I intend to make when I turn in my final fiscal budget proposal at the end of the summer."
Abby started reading the page and her jaw nearly hit the ground when she read:
i
Administrative Staff:
Director of NCIS - Forensic Sciences Division – Lt. Col. G. Cassidy, USMC
Assistant Director of Administration, NCIS-FSD – TBD
Assistant Director of Pathology, NCIS-FSD – Dr. D. Mallard
Assistant Director of Laboratory Science, NCIS-FSD – Dr. A. Scuito
i
"NO WAY!" Abby could not believe what she was reading and so she looked at Gibbs for confirmation.
He smirked and tilted his head before he said. "You're the one who said you could run the whole thing yourself… Now you gotta put your money where your mouth is." Then he simply took another drink from his coffee cup and sat back in his chair chuckling.