Set sometime in Season 7. No copyright infringement intended. Not making any money out of it. Etc Etc.
What's in a name?
The agents kept working until late, and Gibbs finally signalled them to shut up shop and go home.
The agents started shutting their computers down, gathering their things and coats. DiNozzo kept watching himself the whole day, trying not to invent nicknames as, every time he started saying a name, she would look at him and show him her duct tape roll. He would reconsider immediately.
Ziva could barely contain her mirth, as she realized she had found a colleague in torturing and intimidating DiNozzo. She did it with paperclips, Buchanan with duct tape.
After a lot of whining, Gibbs ordered him released from his makeshift prison and, as soon as he was free, he went running to the men's room to take care of his business, hearing the laughter of his teammates.
Tony had a very thoughtful expression on his face, as he was putting his jacket on, covering his shoulder holster, when he turned to Buchanan and simply asked, "Why?"
She glances at him briefly and keeps on buttoning up her overcoat.
"Why what, DiNozzo?"
"Why are you so….. Prickly about this?" he glances at McGee, who had frozen, putting his scarf around his neck, and his eyes were running from Tony to Joy, just waiting for an explosive reaction on her part again.
She stops for a moment, turns to Tony and studies him for a moment. She sees that, for once, he's being totally serious so she answers his question with another question, "What is my name, Tony?"
Tony smiles, and looks at the other agents, Ziva and Gibbs are also watching the interaction, wanting to see where they would take this conversation.
"What, have you forgotten it?"
"No, I haven't forgotten my own name," she says completely serious, "I just want you to tell me what is my name," He thinks for a moment, and says, "Joy Buchanan," she nods.
"Why did my parents name me Joy?" she wants to know, looking at him, completely serious, "am I a particularly jolly person? The joy of the party? Someone whose single presence can illuminate a room? Or do I entertain people with my rapier wit?"
"Ah…. Ahh…" he thinks about it, and sees her approaching him, he doesn't want to offend her being truthful, but he can't lie either, "no, you're not, you are…" he looks at her and she is studying him, "you are not a very happy person," he then continues, "sometimes you are pretty much…" he pauses, and she is just waiting for him to continue, so he does, "sometimes you are very much sour and bitter," he says truthfully, fully expecting her to deck him as soon as his words were out of his mouth.
She doesn't do that, simply nods.
"Then why did they name me Joy?"
"Ah, I have no idea."
Buchanan scratches her head for a moment, using the time to gather her thoughts. She looks lost for a moment, and DiNozzo feels he is going to regret asking it.
She starts softly, "we were nine siblings, all children of the reverend, studying in the same school, having the same friends, visiting the same places. Our names were very hard to ignore in a small town in the middle of rural America," she looks up at him, "all of the girls were given names related to the fruits of the Spirit, the boys, the four gospels. I think that,if it were only one or two, I think probably it would have been unremarkable, no one would have really noticed, as they weren't strange names at all, but we were nine," pause, "so we were an easy target."
"It was as if we had this huge bull's-eye on our backs, just waiting for the first joke, the first bully to come over and mock us. And they always came. The boys would always get home nursing bruises or having been sent to detention. First they were beaten, but once they grew up and filled out, they started fighting back. After they entered boot camp, and became marines, no one dared mock them ever again."
"With us girls the process was bloodless, but not less painful. The wars were fought with wit and words, backstabs and treason. Some whispered words here, some lies told there, and suddenly we would find our names being dragged into one or another scandal or," she laughs, but there is no joy in it, as Tony can see that she is remembering a very painful moment, she pauses for a moment, she looks at him and says, "or have your name spray-painted on the headmaster's car saying that you are the 'Joyful whore' of the senior year," she makes quotation marks with her fingers, "that definitely tops any other humiliation I can remember right now."
"I really don't remember how many times dad had to collect me from the headmaster's office because I had attacked someone who had insulted me or my sisters. Or because someone had completely humiliated us. I just remember that there were many times."
She pauses, and studies DiNozzo.
"Just someone who had been through that can fully understand how painful it is to have your name mocked and twisted into something that it's not," she looks DiNozzo in the eye, trying to make her point, "because it is hurtful and mean, and twists around something that was supposed to be important," she shrugs, "it isn't by chance that we were given the names we were, but when someone does that, they disregard everything, all the hopes and dreams our parents had when they gave this name to us."
She looks around, and sees the team watching her attentively. She takes a deep breath, and continues, "I was named Joy because dad said that I was a ray of sunshine in his life, something that changed his perception of things, of what was really important and what wasn't, and that every single day he thanked God for my being given such a joy in his life," she looks back at Tony, and he has a thoughtful expression on his face.
"You might think that, just because you do it for fun, and because you two," she points to McGee and DiNozzo, "are good friends, it won't hurt, but it does, every single time. Just because it is a joke, it doesn't mean it would hurt less."
"A name is much more than just a title, a label that your parents chose randomly once you were born. Most the time, they spent several months trying to decide just the perfect name, which will accompany you throughout your life. But that name must also represent something, almost like a wish of who your parents expect you to be."
"Why don't we talk about your name, Anthony?"
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