Chapter 2:
Six and a Half Months Ago
Gibbs sometimes wondered if he observed things a little too much. Like a school teacher watching over his students, concerned with their grades, their wellbeing, their problems…
He always seemed to be the referee in every argument Tony and Ziva had.
"Gibbs," Ziva would say. "Tony stole my stapler!"
"Only as payback boss," Tony would smile and reply. "For her stealing my paperweight."
"I don't care who did what," Gibbs would yell back. "You're both working now, do we understand!"
"Yes boss…" they'd both say.
Damn! Why couldn't they fix their own problems without supervision? What was this, Kindergarten?
"Geez," Gibbs would tell himself. "What is going wrong with this team, I mean they are all friends why can't they act like it all the time?"
When Gibbs found the time he would review Agent profiles just to taunt his agents into behaving better. He would plop down at his desk, pull up his feet and rummage through files. His team members would stare at him and immediately they would whip more into shape than ever before. This was Gibbs' favorite game. But all games had to come to an end.
NCIS – NCIS – NCIS – NCIS – NCIS – NCIS
One day Tony had had about enough of Gibbs' favorite game.
"Boss," Tony stood up and announced. "One day you're going to be sorry you teased us with these files, because one day I will quit and you'll have to look through those for real!"
Tony didn't know if he had rattled Gibbs' cage or not, but from the look on his bosses face it sure looked like it.
"I apologize Tony," Gibbs stared at him weird and then stood up. "If it bugs you that much, I'll stop?"
"Thanks," Tony smiled and sat back down. "Thanks very much boss."
Gibbs again thought that maybe not only did he observe things too much, but he didn't pay attention enough…
RNR