After the recording, Gibbs gave them a case, making Jen and Danny leave. They all gathered around the monitor, showing a picture and a few documents.
"Petty Officer Henry Danton," Tony started, "was found dead, washed up on the shore of a beach two hours ago."
The rest of the day was the case. Finding information, delivering the body to Palmer and Ducky, questioning and interrogations. When Tony was working, he was keeping an eye on Caroline, seeing how she worked and handled the under-appreciated pressure of an NCIS murder.
She handled it well. Finding and reporting information quickly, questioning suspects fairly well and getting the needed things from them, and eventually helping Ziva with piecing it all together to figure out who the murderer was.
McGee handled the final interrogation, and eventually got a confession, with Tony and Caroline in the viewing room. As McGee questioned the killer, Caroline smiled warmly.
"What?" Tony asked, noticing her.
"What?" Caroline asked, snapping out of her thoughts.
"Why were you smiling like that?" Tony said, softly chuckling.
Caroline scrunched her face. "Like what?"
Tony mocked her smile, sarcastically fluttering his eyelashes.
Caroline playfully hit his arm. "I do not look like that."
Tony playfully hit her back. McGee coughed in the other room and glared at them through the glass.
Caroline bit her lip and Tony smirked.
They were wrapping everything up over the case at around 6:30 in the evening. They were all at their desks, typing the final reports and going through the necessary tunnels and channels for the prosecution.
Tony stopped typing and looked at Caroline. "Well, Carrie, you've completed your first day at NCIS."
Caroline clicked her mouse before falling back in her chair, spinning to look at Tony. "Well, this place is definitely different than UCOD." She smirked. "But I think I'll be fine."
They all finished in about a minute of each other, relaxing back in their chairs as they finished.
McGee stood up and smiled. "Officially done."
Caroline stood up as well. "Ditto. Now if you guys will excuse me, I have a date."
Tony stood up, blocking her from going to the elevator. "No no, dear Carrie. You're first day is over. You're first night has just begun."
Tony reached behind his desk and pulled out a six inch stack of papers. "You, being the newest probie, get to do all the paperwork for the case."
Caroline looked at his pleadingly. "You're kidding me, right? I have a date."
"Yes," Tony smirked, "so I heard. But so do I, and Ziva."
Tony dumped the papers on Caroline's arms and smiled. He turned to Ziva, holding out his hand. She took it, and they went to elevator.
As the elevator doors closed, Caroline turned to McGee. They looked at each other for a second before she walked back to her desk, dropping the papers, making a loud thud. She turned back to look at McGee.
"I've forgotten about this part of the job." She chuckled and shook her head, looking down.
"It's okay." McGee said smiling at her. "I can just stay here with you and help."
Caroline raised her head. "I can't let you do that. I'm the new person, I get the long hours and crap jobs, everyone else gets a decent amount of sleep."
McGee nodded. "I guess you're right." He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and headed towards the elevator.
Caroline turned to look at him as he walked, and raised her voice so he could hear her. "You still owe me a coffee."
McGee turned and smirked as the elevator doors opened. "I know." He walked into the elevator.
Caroline walked to her chair, sitting back in it, staring at the stack of papers. She grabbed a pen and sighed as she took the top paper off the stack.
Caroline looked at her watch. 7:10 pm. It had only been forty minutes, and she was only done with about an inch of papers.
She held her head in her hands, and rubbed her temples as the elevator opened.
She looked up to find McGee walking towards her, holding two plastic bags and a coffee carrier with two cups, and smiling.
"What are you doing?" Caroline asked, unable to control her grin.
"Well, I figured," McGee started, putting the the bags and coffee on her desk, next to the stack, "just because you had to miss your date, doesn't mean I have to miss my date."
He went to his desk quickly and wheeled his chair to the opposite side of her desk, sitting down. He reached in one of the bags, pulling out a few take out boxes from the local Chinese restaurant. "Do you want the vegetable lo mien or orange chicken with white rice?"
Caroline looked at him, confused. "What?"
McGee pulled out the coffee cups from the carrier and placed them in between the two of them. "Caramel macchiato or white chocolate mocha?"
Caroline's expression became more confused. "Huh?"
McGee smiled at her. "I'm giving you the choice between food and between the drinks. Do I need to repeat the options?"
Caroline raised an eyebrow at him before slowly reaching for one of the cups. She took a sip than pursed her lips. "That," she said, putting it down, "is not the macchiato."
McGee laughed and picked up the other drink, handing it to her.
She took it from him and smiled warmly at him. "Thank you." She looked at the take out boxes then back at him. "Okay, which one is the lo mien? I don't want to look like an idiot."
He reached for one of the boxes, and placed it in front of her. "Lo mien. Chopsticks?"
She held her hand out in front of him. He grinned and reached inside the bag, pulling out a wrapped pair of the wooden utensils.
She laughed and they ate their food for a minute.
"So," McGee started, "this a good first date?"
"Have to say," Caroline said, leaning back in her chair, "it's looking pretty good for you." She leaned in towards him, her elbows on the table, "although next time, I'd bring egg rolls."
McGee raised an eyebrow. "So there's gonna be a next time?"
Caroline chuckled. "Well, unless you tell me you're married or something..."
He laughed and looked in the bag of takeout. He pulled out another box and looked at her.
Her eyes got wide and she shook her head slightly. "No way."
McGee smirked and pointed the top of the box at her. She hesitated before reaching for the box and opening it.
Caroline laughed. "Fried rice?"
McGee made a faked worried expression. "What? You don't like it?"
Caroline bit her lip. "That was clever, I have to say."
"Well, I am known for my wit and charm."
They both laughed and continued eating. After a few minutes of comfortable silence and smiles, McGee put his food down and reached in the other bag.
"I believe," he said, pulling something out, "I owe you a copy of a certain novel."
She smiled and took the book from him, looking at it carefully.
"The best I could do was third edition." McGee said apologetically.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. I just need to somehow get Gemcity's signature in my new book and then everything will be perfect."
McGee nodded. "Ah. Well, I think I can help you with that one as well."
Caroline looked at him, confusion painted across every inch of her face, as he took the book from her, getting up and getting a pen from his desk.
Caroline, curious to what he was doing to her book, stood and walked over to him.
McGee looked at her, smiling, and then wrote "Thom E. Gemcity" on the first page of her book.
"Tim," Caroline said, sounding worried, "you know that's forgery, right?"
"Caroline," McGee said in parallel, "you know you can't forge your own signature, right?"
Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
McGee chuckled and looked her directly in the eye, handing her back the book. "Thom E. Gemcity...is an anagram for Timothy McGee."
Caroline gave a look of utter disbelief. "No it is not." She looked to the side, thinking for a minute, then dropping her smile. "Oh my god it is."
It was barely a whisper but McGee still heard it and smiled widely.
Caroline looked at him and smiled even wider. She put the book down on his desk and stared at him. "You're..."
"Yeah, kind of." He paused for a minute, letting her process the information before asking her a question. "So how does it feel to be on a date with Thom E. Gemcity?"
She looked at him and hesitated for a moment before answering. "I'm not on a date with him. I on a date with Tim Mcgee, and frankly, I think he's better than Gemcity any day of the week." She winked at him, and he grinned.
A beat passed of silence before they realized how close they were. They dropped their smiles and Caroline bit her lip for a second before leaning in and kissing him.
Although McGee had hoped it would happen, he was only half way prepared for it. Her lips were soft and tasted like vanilla, making him smile into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck after a second, pulling him closer to her. He took that as an okay sign to put his arms around her waist.
It was definitely okay. She melted against him, and stayed that way when they came up for air.
"Damn, you're a good kisser. Is there anything you can't do?"
McGee thought for a second. "Can't fly." He thought for another second. "Oh wait. I did have my pilots license for a few years when I was in my twenties."
He looked down at her laughing. It was bubbly and musical and it made McGee's day a little bit brighter.
He kissed her again, and it was better than the first one, if that was even possible. He turned so she was against his desk, him in front of her. She sighed a bit as he did this and it just made him that much happier. After a few seconds, she pulled back and looked at him.
"Okay, not that I'm not loving this more than a shopaholic on Rodeo Drive, but I still have about four and a half inches to get through tonight."
McGee sighed as he grinned at her. He stepped back a bit, allowing her to walk back to her desk, following her, sitting in his chair across from her.
They worked through the night, looking at each other every few seconds, smiling and blushing. After a few hours they were done and went home.