Tim pulled up outside Cassies apartment, knowing she was on her way down, after texting her when leaving the coffee shop. Lillies Coffe Shop was one of Tims best finds here in Jacksonville. He had found it his third day in the city, and thought of himself as a loyal customer. As well as morning coffees he picked up, for himself or the team, or as today, just him and Cassie, he went along for their music nights, as well as the local wi-fi bloggers meeting, which usually attracted some more of the serious computer gamers. No matter what he did in life, Tim McGee always found a kindred spirit in the gamers of the world.
Today, Tim had his usual Americano with extra shot, along with a Breve for Cassie, both 20oz. He had even picked up apple cinnamon pecan muffins for breakfast. In the cool box in his trunk, Lillies had his order ready for collection. A baby spinach and gorgonzola salad, with extra turkey, and a greek wrap, for a tear and share lunch, plus a selection of cookies to snack on for the day. Tim didn't know the university that well, but had put a blanket in the trunk, along with drinks for what he hoped would be a picnic lunch on a nice spot of grass.
When Cassie came out of her door, Tim smiled at her, she looked as beautiful as ever. Her dark hair was loose, shining in the morning sun. Tim noticed she was wearing her "super agent costume". The dark blue trouser suit, coupled with a pale red blouse, and black high heels, Tim knew she meant business today. He. himself, had stepped it up as well.
"Tim, why are you wearing that suit?" Cassie asked, slightly amazed. She had practically made him buy the suit at gunpoint, knowing he needed a new suit for a charity event he was attending as Thom E Gemcity. Cassie remembered that night very well, having to convince everyone she was there as "Thoms" plus one, rather than date. Tim was wearing the Versace micro jacquard suit, the morning sun gave it an even more shiny appearance than normal. He had matched this with the gucci poplin duke shirt.
Cassie had had a fun day playing dress up with her "walking talking Ken", as Tim had described himself. She and Tim had had a lot of fun on a weekend trip to New York, flying up on a random Friday straight after work, coming back on the Sunday, laden down with shopping bags. Every designer shop they went in though, Cassie noticed the looks they got. Every time she mentioned they were just friends, the assistants clamoured round Tim, hoping to be noticed. When she didn't say anything, the conversation went one of two ways. The first way she hated, questions she such as "Has he popped the question yet?" or "Whens the big day?" really got on her nerves. The second way was a lot more fun for her.
Some of the male assistants noticed the lack of chemistry between them, and spent a lot of time measuring Tim for his suits. Cassie got to watch Tim be baffled by all the attention, especially from the young fashion assistants, who spent almost too much time making sure everything fitted perfectly. Yes, the weekend was much more fun for Cassie than Tim.
"Show them what they could be wearing one day. Anyway, Ms Kettle, any reason for your choice in outfit?" Tim rejoined, knowing Cassie loved the suit, no matter the man wearing it,
"Just sending out the right message, Mr Pot."
"And the message is?" Tim wondered what Cassie was about to say.
"I carry a loaded Sig Sauer and I'm allowed to use it." Yeah, just as Tim thought. Cassie would probably make a point of showing her gun the minute someone started with the heckling.
"Well, if you promise not to point it at me today, you can have your breve." Tim said, reaching for the cup in the carrier, handing it over to Cassie, the MCRT special agent accepting it gratefully.
"I love Lillies. Keep your Starbucks, this is the best coffee I've ever had."
"I also got some muffins, along with lunch. You also get the keys for the day." Tim said smiling, watching Cassies eyes light up at the mention of the food.
"Tim, you are already taking me out tonight, you didn't need to feed me all day."
"O'Donnell let slip that Baxter had volunteered for the recruitment talk, this is a thank you for not being stuck with him." Simon Baxter was, in Tims mind, the most boring talker ever. He was an accomplished special agent, a shining example of everything an NCIS should be. However, Tim had listened to a briefing by him when helping the MCRT. It only lasted ten minutes, but Tim thought to was more like two hours. Baxter, when briefing, tended to deliver the information in a monotone, rarely was there any inflection in his speech, and definitely no humour. Not the kind of talk that was going to keep the audience today.
"Yeah, ok, now I see the reason for the extra thank you. You ready to go?" Cassie was relishing getting behind the wheel of the porsche. She had driven it quite a few times in the last three years, sharing the driving duties when she and Tim attended different events around the city.
"Yep, just remember, the city has a speed limit, keep to it."
Cassie never took this remark to heart. She knew of Tims car accident at 16, and since then, she knew Tim was a very careful driver. When he was in his car, he expected the driver to obey his rules. "In your own car, drive how you want, but my car, my rules. No speeding."
Making their way to the campus, Cassie and Tim talked about their college days, Cassies being a bit more wild than Tims. Cassie was hoping for a quiet day, filled with simple questions and nice students. Tim wanted the nerds and geeks to show up, the guys he had been in college, to show them what was waiting for them when they graduated. Hell, he even hoped to get a few of the athletes there as well. Tony DiNozzo may have been a pain, but he had good skills when he use them for his job, rather than pranking.
Pulling up to the campus, Cassie noticed the signs, arrows pointing the way to the lecture hall. She also noticed how busy it was on campus for a Saturday morning. She knew the campus had an amazing athletics program, but she doubted a game was on this early. Stepping out the car, she glanced at Tim, seeing a small smile on her face.
"What did you do?" She knew her friend very well, and this amount of people should have shocked him. Instead he seemed happy with the number of students that were there.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Does your version of nothing include doing something with your computer? A post to the UNF eNotice board? Something that makes this lecture pop up each time you log-on? An email that won't delete itself, no matter how many times you try?" Cassie was trying to figure out what Tim was playing at. She was all for recruitment, but she didn't know if she could convince this many people to think about applying for NCIS.
"Cassie, the college contacted me after I had sent out details for the visitor's passes. They offered to send something to the students, and I passed it along."
"What did you send?"
"A video."
"What video, Tim?" Cassie was worried what Tim had down.
"A short one."
"Showing what?" Cassie was practically growling now, not being aware of this.
"A few clips of recorded footage of takedowns we have organized. Think it may sparked their interest."
"Sparked!" Cassie exclaimed. "Sparked! If this is sparked, Tim, I don't want to know what your idea of ignited is." Cassie was hoping this didn't backfire. Why did Tim always have to overreach?
"Excuse me? Excuse me?" Tim and Cassie both turned to face the raised voice. "Coming through, excuse me." Coming through the crowd, was a young man, looking slightly frazzled. Tim and Cassie glanced at each other, wondering who this young man was.
"Hello, are you the NCIS agents here to give the talk?" The young man was slightly out of breath.
"Yes, Special Agents McGee and Yates." Tim said, hoping this man didn't have asthma.
"Midshipman Anderson, NROTC. I'm your escort for the day. If you would follow me, please." The midshipman turned and walked away from them, Glancing at each other, the two agents followed quickly.
"Has the venue been moved?" Tim asked, worried the day of the talk had clashed with another agency, such as CIA or FBI, the more high profile agencies.
"No, but the Hall isn't big enough. The Brookes hall is used for most recruitment talks, but normally it isn't half full. Today, we were full by 9.15. The first meeting will still be held here, but the talks scheduled for 11.30, 2.00 and 3.30 are being moved to The JJ Daniels Hall. The first lecture at 11.30 will be by booking only, we are already at 90% capacity for it." Tim paled, not realising how popular this would be.
"Tim, this better go well or we will be the laughing stock of campus. What were you thinking, giving them a trailer? This is NCIS, not the premiere of a Brad Pitt movie!"
"Cass, it'll be fine. You've seen the shots, we just need to talk to these guys, tell em some funny stories. It'll be fine," Tim was confident in his talk, he had kept it light, funny in places, but still showed NCIS as an important agency in the Federal Government.
"Funny stories?" Cassie thought, wondering what stories Tim was going to tell.
"Come in this way please. This is the staff entrance to the stage. This way, you can avoid the crowd. You need any help setting up?" The midshipman was one of only three Naval ROTC cadets on campus, the ROTC program on campus only having one hundred and seven members, most of them Army cadets.
"Tim, this is gonna go wrong. There is no way we can keep these kids interested for an hour."
"Cassie, these kids are here to see what I promised them. Two special agents from NCIS, a government agency that works here and abroad, takes down drug kings, stops people trafficking, gathers intelligence to stop terrorist attacks. I attended the talks given by FBI, NSA and NCIS when I was at college. Did you?"
"Yeah."
"So did I," interrupted Midshipman Anderson. "The FBI had four talks scheduled three weeks ago, their last one had no attendees. Apparently, all this guy did was talk at them. NSA and CIA have had the same problem the last couple of years. I've seen that video, you guys are gonna do great."
The midshipman had a massive smile on his face. Depending on how this talk went, he was thinking of joining after his tour of duty was over.
"Exactly. All the se guys do is talk, we are gonna show em. Cassie, have I ever let down?"
Cassie looked up into the deep green eyes of her best friend. Cassie did trust him, more than any other man other than her father. If Tim told her to jump out of a burning building into his arms, Cassie knew she would do it, her faith in Tim absolute. Even this, terrified out of her mind that it would go wrong, Tims calmness seemed to seep into her, stilling her beating heart.
"No, and I do trust you, Tim, before you ask."
"Then lets do this. I'll set everything up, you get your mic fitted." They had arrived at the stage, the curtain closed. TIm moved to set up his laptop, wanting his program set up and powerpoint presentation ready. He even had a bluetooth operator to move the slides, meaning him and Cassie could move around the stage, neither one of them needing to be at the computer.
Ten minutes passed, Tim had gone over the program, tested both his and Cassies mics and bluetooth pointers. He was ready, hoping it went as well as he hoped.
"Tim, are you sure about this?" Cassie still wasn't sure.
"Positive. Cassie, this will be brilliant, trust me." Cassie believed him, for some reason, she never doubted Tim. Even when the odds were stacked against, Cassie would back him.
In thirteen hours, Cassie would look back on this day as the last day of her life.