"McGee gets to be lead on an undercover FBI investigation?" Tony was flabbergasted.
"But…. but that's like going from playing in Little League and going straight into the Majors! He hasn't even done any undercover work"
Tim frowned and tried to defend himself as his team clustered around him in the bullpen listening to Gibb's announcement.
"Yes I have Tony"
"Uh No McGee. Going undercover as yourself doesn't count"
Gibbs didn't like to see the hits McGee's self confidence was taking. He was going to need all of it he could get.
"DiNozzo what was your major at Collage?"
"Phys Ed"
"And McGee what did you do?"
"Well I have a Masters in Computing Forensics from uh ….. MIT and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins"
"And?" Gibbs queried forcing the point home
"I also did a year of independent study in advanced string theory?"
Tim found himself making his statement a question as he wasn't quite sure what Gibbs wanted from this little demonstration as his team mates already knew what he had done.
"McGee what do you know about genetic food modification?"
"Well not much more than the average person I suppose? I was reading in New Scientist that by 2011 they expect to have red fleshed apples on the shelves of your local supermarket. You see most of the goodness in an apple is in the skin but it's often cut off so they want to introduce it into the flesh of the fruit.
Oh and they are even working on an Aloe Vera fruit? They just need to find something that tastes palatable for consumption but there appears to be societal differences in just what constitutes a nice tasting fruit.
It's all very fascinating and represents the cutting edge of genetics as really it is all very right now rather than conceptual and with the new generation of super computer DNA modelling developments…….
Gibbs waived his hand at McGee to get him to stop and he trailed off just as he was getting warmed up on a rather interesting topic.
"And THAT DiNozzo is another reason why McGee is going undercover and not you. Although primarily it must be said that McGee, with some wire glasses, a tan and some blue contact lenses is going to look remarkably similar to Mr Wilson."
Tim grinned happily at Tony, still kind of shocked at the recent turn of events that had him being whisked away from his team for a detailed briefing on an undercover operation at the Hoover building instead of filing endless reports.
Fornell flicked up the picture of Toby Wilson onto the plasma that Gibbs had seen earlier.
"We are also very lucky that the man apparently spent much of the last decade working around the clock in a research lab with little to no personal life. There are very few photos available of him at all which is always helpful in these situations. The man is apparently a genius and is held in very high regard in the scientific community especially considering his young age. But few people have actually met him."
"If he has no social life then who's the hottie under his arm? Tony queried
Fornell grimaced and turned to look at the screen.
"Ah that is the recent Mrs Wilson. It would appear it is a case of opposites attract. Damita…(she has only one name, like Madonna apparently) is Spanish, very attractive, passionate but she is a rather how shall I put it …….carefree woman. She has been a dancer, model, baker, swimmer, singer, bar tender, poet, hair dresser, sculptor, rock band groupie, dog walker, and actress and at one stage had Muse as her full time occupation. While Mr Wilson has barely a photo to his name Damita has a photo of everything"
Fornell clicked through dozens of images showing what appeared to be a completely different women.
"Here she is naked covered in mud at a festival, this is a backyard swimsuit calendar she did, this is her modeling with blonde short hair, this is her singing with red spiked hair, this is her in her semi professional race car driver's uniform and this is her during her heroin chic phase. Glitter. Henna Tattoos. Animal fur protesting…."
Fornell turned to face Gibbs.
"The only advantage there is that I could use any woman of approximately the same height, ethnicity and with good grasp of Spanish in her place.
Toby Wilson and Damita got stuck in a lift together when Mr Wilson went to Germany to investigate some new equipment for his lab. Damita is afraid of enclosed spaces and panicked. Mr Wilson spent an hour calming her down and talking her through it before they were released and they have been inseparable ever since. Damita is currently trying to launch herself as a hand bag designer. The Wilson's are currently holed up in a suite in Los Vegas for their own safety courtesy of the Federal Government and being rather blatantly head over heels in love with each other."
Tony grinned "So it's sort of the Beauty and the Geek then? See Probie there is hope for you yet. You just need to find a woman who is suffering some major psychological trauma and make sure you're the only man around for miles to help her through it. Simple!"
Tim frowned and began collecting what he wanted to take with him out of his desk while Tony continued to joke.
"I'm ready to go now. Fornell I will meet you downstairs as there is some stuff I want to get out of my locker. I'll see you later guys"
Tim waived over his shoulder and started walking quickly towards the elevator with his bag tossed over his shoulder eager to begin.
"Hey Tim?" Gibbs stopped him by the elevator and Tim hesitated over the use of his first name.
"Yeah Boss?"
"Don't let him get to you. He's just jealous. And an ass. You are going to do fine. Remember we wouldn't be asking you to do this if we didn't think you could do it."
"And because you don't have anyone else" Tim filled in with a small smile
Gibbs smiled "Yeah well that too. But the first thing still applies. And don't worry we will be around. This is Fornells operation but you're still my agent Ok?"
"Yeah Boss" Tim smiled feeling inappropriately glad to still in some way have Gibbs in his corner.
Tony looked up from his chattering with Ziva to see McGee about to disappear into the elevator and it occurred to him that it might be a while before he saw McGee again.
"Hey wait up!"
Feeling bad about his unnecessary teasing he ran to the elevator and held up his hand in farewell.
"McGee! Stay safe ok?"
Tony couldn't help the slightly worried tone creeping into his voice. Probie had never really gone anywhere without him before and now he was just being handed over to the FBI like …like…..well they never handed anything over to the FBI before why did they have to take McGee?
Tony stood in front of the elevator sadly and watched as Tim extended his own arm in slow farewell.
"See you Tony"
And the doors closed shut swallowing him up.
Tony trudged rather sadly back to the suddenly much quieter bullpen and considered McGee presenting himself at the Conference as Toby Wilson Genetic Engineering whiz and computer modeling expert.
Suddenly he brightened and turned to Ziva with a grin.
"Oh do you realize what this means? The top of their fields? The best of the best? Brought together from all over to test their skills against each other? It's like geeky Top Gun! McGee is Maverick which makes me Goose……No wait I don't want to be the sweet and funny wing man. It should be the other way around. I should be Maverick, the incredibly handsome but resists authority brilliant pilot."
Ziva screwed up her nose in confusion at the avalanche of information Tony hurled her way. "You want me to Goose you?"
Sacks grinned and sauntered up to Tony "Top Gun Huh? So that would make me Iceman, the always cool under pressure precise pilot who wins the actual competition."
"And my sworn enemy…" Tony narrowed his eyes at Sacks and Sacks corrected him gleefully.
"Actually I would be McGee's sworn enemy….until the shit hits the fan anyway and then I come swoop in and save his ass."
Tony muttered resentfully under his breath and then he cheered up and smiled at Sacks.
"Well Slacks at least I get to be with Meg Ryan AND everyone likes me. The audience weeps when I die because I'm so GREAT. Now Iceman on the other hand no one really cares about because he's an As.."
"DiNutso! Are you done wasting time? Can the big boy's go and play at some real work now?"
Fornell frowned and Sacks reverted to looking professional while Tony tried for a witty come back.
When he couldn't think of one Tony tapped his chest, pointed to his eyes and then at Sacks as he disappeared into the elevator.
I'm watching you
*******************************************************************
Tim stood alone at the front of the room and looked out at what seemed like an awful lot of people. Hundreds of pages of information had been stuffed into his head over the last few hours and he hoped it would all stay in there. At the moment he felt more like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and he was certain they could see shredded briefing notes sticking out the edges of his sleeves and collar.
Tim felt his mind whirling. This was their briefing room? There had to be like thirty people in here. Where had Fornell gone? Surely all these people couldn't be involved in the case? Was he supposed to introduce himself? It felt very hot in here.
Tim considered this for a moment and took a deep breath. He had told himself to be calm and confident. If he didn't believe in himself then how could he expect others to?
He cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone and podium.
"Um hello. I'm NCIS Agent Timothy McGee. I will be your lead agent on Operation Sourdough"
There were some titers around the room and a few of the agents looked at each other before as one they responded.
"Gooood afternoooon Agent McGee"
Tim huffed in embarrassment at the school teachers welcome. Great he had a bunch of comedians on his hands. He bit his lip and looked around for some support blushing uncomfortably under the scrutiny of the entire room.
Suddenly Tony waived enthusiastically from the far corner of the room where he had positioned himself behind two attractive female agents and then proceeded to give him the thumbs up. Tim couldn't help the grin that spread across his face at seeing at least one familiar face in the room. Even if it was Tony.
Fornell jogged into the room looking harried and stressed but smiling grimly.
"Ok well there has been another change of plans. Sorry to keep you waiting but it appears that Agent Kelly has unexpectedly found out that she is expecting a baby. Under medical advice she has been withdrawn from field duty.
But after a quick search it appears that we have already found a suitable replacement willing to step in at short notice. It also happens to be someone who is already familiar with our lead agent and has considerable experience working undercover. Office David of NCIS"
Tim looked down in surprise as Ziva stepped up beside him and wrapped her hands around his waist
"Hola!"