NCIS. Tony DiNozzo/Tim McGee. 035. Sixth Sense.
Title: History
Fandom: NCIS
Characters: Jeanne/Tony, Tim/Tony, the rest of the team in small doses
Prompt: 35. Sixth Sense
Word Count: 1237
Rating: PG
Summary: Tony’s friends move like a fog between Jeanne and her fiancé.
Author’s Notes: AU’d by 4x24 and the new season premiere. This is as if they were relatively normal people. LDT.
Disclaimer: I don’t own NCIS, and don’t make any money from this. But if McGee, Tony or Gibbs want to haul me in for questioning, I wouldn’t mind.
Cross posted at FF100.
The first time Jeanne makes it into Tony’s place of work, her left hand is sparkling. She said yes.
He’s taking her to meet his team, finally. She wouldn’t be this nervous if she were going to meet his parents, not by a long shot. With the way he talks about these people, compared to his parents, which is never, she doesn’t know what to expect.
After pulling into the parking lot Tony guides her through a set of doors, breezing past a receptionist who hands her a visitor’s pass almost as soon as Tony opens his mouth.
There’s a hallway and an empty elevator, and as if time is refusing to give her a moment to prepare, suddenly they arrive, the doors slide open, and Tony’s hand pulls her forward.
He guides her to a small collection of cubicles where three people are sitting at desks, looking distinctly bored. The two of them stop in the entrance to the bullpen, and the hand holding hers slips from her fingers and slides around her waist easily.
“Hey guys,” Tony says, and the two younger-looking agents shift their attention away from whatever it was they weren’t interested in up until now.
“This is Jeanne,” he continues smoothly, the arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. “We’re getting married.”
There is a buzzing noise, and what sounds almost like a shriek, and the grey-haired man who had not yet acknowledged their presence jerked a telephone away from his ear.
“Abby’s coming,” he says easily, hanging up the phone.
Tony smiles, and Jeanne guesses that the shriek was Abby on the other end of the line, and that her coming was a good thing.
Jeanne’s attention returns to the three agents rising from their seats. The two younger agents are on their feet almost immediately, but they wait for the other to reach them first. This must be Gibbs.
For the first time, Jeanne fully appreciates everything Tony has told her about his boss. And everything he’s left out. His face is unreadable as he stands in front of her and looks her in the eyes, waiting. Whatever she’s supposed to do now, Tony must have left out of the instructions, so she goes with her gut.
“Jeanne Benoit,” she says, sticking out her right hand, “It’s good to finally meet you.”
Whatever part of this sentence were the magic words, she must have said them right, because he shakes her hand and gives her a ghost of a smile. She can feel the tension she hadn’t noticed build in Tony’s arm drain away. Gibbs moves on to shake Tony’s hand, and the other two agents take this as the queue to step forward.
The woman reaches her first, but as she begins to introduce herself, the same shriek is heard once more, and this time it’s getting closer.
A lab coat and pigtails appear, and suddenly Tony disappears, as the pigtails make a running leap and pull Tony away from Jeanne’s side.
The arms locked around his neck are pale, with spider webs creeping down them, and this must be Abby.
She’s babbling, and Jeanne can’t make heads or tails of it, but Tony must be able to decipher her words because he’s nodding and speaking to the threat of asphyxiation clinging to his neck. He catches Jeanne’s eye and smiles, and she is reassured that he is in no real danger.
Jeanne returns her attention to Ziva David, who is looking for all the world like this is normal.
“Tony doesn’t mention you much,” Ziva says, and it is her piercing eyes more than her ambiguous tone that that causes Jeanne to hold her breath momentarily. Was this another test?
“He mentioned that he had been a bit secretive about me. That’s not normal for him, it is?” Jeanne asks, smiling sincerely.
This must have been close enough to what Ziva David was waiting for; her face is no longer characterized by harsh, indistinguishable features. They have melted away, retreating into to the corners of her eyes, where only a faint, wicked glint remains as a warning.
Before Ziva can answer Jeanne’s question, the only man yet to speak approaches, laying a hand on Ziva’s shoulder and sending the agent a glance that Jeanne interprets as a belated “play nice” order. He turns to Jeanne and smiles, before a look of worry flashes across his face. Jeanne tenses, expecting a shout or a gun or blood - something to explain Tony’s eyes on those occasions when he arrives at her apartment late at night. Instead, the young man moves quickly toward the knot that is pigtails and Tony. The man, McGee, she realizes, places his hands on Abby’s forearms, prying her off of Tony. She obliges, and as if to compensate for the increased distance she continues her monologue louder.
It’s only when Abby notices that Tony’s attention isn’t entirely focused on her does she stop at a convenient sentence break. Turning, she spots Jeanne, and again launches herself into a running hug.
Jeanne’s attention is divided between the approaching young woman and her fiancé. The air in the office becomes still. Time slows to a mere trickle, inching forward by only fractions of a second. Jeanne feels as if something in her head has been turned on, or maybe just tuned in. McGee has extended his arm, and the two men shake hands warmly before Tony pulls him into a hug. But there’s something… something is different. Over Abby’s nearing shoulders Jeanne watches them, hands that sweep too low, arms clinging too tight, Tony’s face buried in the crook of McGee’s neck, McGee’s eyes sliding closed…
And then her vision is blocked, and she staggers at the impact. The silence she has been unknowingly engulfed in breaks, sounds rushing past her to make up for lost time. Voices, Ziva’s and Gibbs’ and Tony’s, Abby’s now, in her ear, a chorus of “It’s so good to finally meet you! Tony’s tried not to let anything slip, but I can read him pretty well, he’s like a perfect result from the Mass Spec…”
Finally, the dancing pigtails subside, and Jeanne suspects this divine intervention comes from Ziva. She sends the agent a grateful smile, who acknowledges it by releasing Abby’s forearm. The unstoppable young woman continues speaking, as Jeanne’s eyes frantically seek out her fiancé.
She finds him quickly, and something that had been momentarily held inside her is released when she sees that the two men have broken apart. Tony is speaking with Gibbs now, McGee standing firmly at his side. Between the smiles and nods required to satisfy Abby, Jeanne watches as Gibbs steps away, and McGee turns toward Tony again. Casually, Jeanne watches over shoulders and past heads, as a familiar hand comes to rest on Tony’s arm.
Jeanne continues to watch, growing desperate, but her vision is blocked again. Another man, older, arrives from a different elevator; a red-haired woman enters from a set of stairs.
Tony’s friends move like a fog between Jeanne and her fiancé, milling and turning and clouding her view. Lines of sight are valid for only split seconds before being compromised. She watches the two men, between the lines of the conversation she attends to; across the bullpen from the crowd they are occupied by their own muted conversation: Tony, and this young man for whom Tony’s eyes shine.
Fandom: NCIS
Characters: Jeanne/Tony, Tim/Tony, the rest of the team in small doses
Prompt: 35. Sixth Sense
Word Count: 1237
Rating: PG
Summary: Tony’s friends move like a fog between Jeanne and her fiancé.
Author’s Notes: AU’d by 4x24 and the new season premiere. This is as if they were relatively normal people. LDT.
Disclaimer: I don’t own NCIS, and don’t make any money from this. But if McGee, Tony or Gibbs want to haul me in for questioning, I wouldn’t mind.
Cross posted at FF100.
The first time Jeanne makes it into Tony’s place of work, her left hand is sparkling. She said yes.
He’s taking her to meet his team, finally. She wouldn’t be this nervous if she were going to meet his parents, not by a long shot. With the way he talks about these people, compared to his parents, which is never, she doesn’t know what to expect.
After pulling into the parking lot Tony guides her through a set of doors, breezing past a receptionist who hands her a visitor’s pass almost as soon as Tony opens his mouth.
There’s a hallway and an empty elevator, and as if time is refusing to give her a moment to prepare, suddenly they arrive, the doors slide open, and Tony’s hand pulls her forward.
He guides her to a small collection of cubicles where three people are sitting at desks, looking distinctly bored. The two of them stop in the entrance to the bullpen, and the hand holding hers slips from her fingers and slides around her waist easily.
“Hey guys,” Tony says, and the two younger-looking agents shift their attention away from whatever it was they weren’t interested in up until now.
“This is Jeanne,” he continues smoothly, the arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. “We’re getting married.”
There is a buzzing noise, and what sounds almost like a shriek, and the grey-haired man who had not yet acknowledged their presence jerked a telephone away from his ear.
“Abby’s coming,” he says easily, hanging up the phone.
Tony smiles, and Jeanne guesses that the shriek was Abby on the other end of the line, and that her coming was a good thing.
Jeanne’s attention returns to the three agents rising from their seats. The two younger agents are on their feet almost immediately, but they wait for the other to reach them first. This must be Gibbs.
For the first time, Jeanne fully appreciates everything Tony has told her about his boss. And everything he’s left out. His face is unreadable as he stands in front of her and looks her in the eyes, waiting. Whatever she’s supposed to do now, Tony must have left out of the instructions, so she goes with her gut.
“Jeanne Benoit,” she says, sticking out her right hand, “It’s good to finally meet you.”
Whatever part of this sentence were the magic words, she must have said them right, because he shakes her hand and gives her a ghost of a smile. She can feel the tension she hadn’t noticed build in Tony’s arm drain away. Gibbs moves on to shake Tony’s hand, and the other two agents take this as the queue to step forward.
The woman reaches her first, but as she begins to introduce herself, the same shriek is heard once more, and this time it’s getting closer.
A lab coat and pigtails appear, and suddenly Tony disappears, as the pigtails make a running leap and pull Tony away from Jeanne’s side.
The arms locked around his neck are pale, with spider webs creeping down them, and this must be Abby.
She’s babbling, and Jeanne can’t make heads or tails of it, but Tony must be able to decipher her words because he’s nodding and speaking to the threat of asphyxiation clinging to his neck. He catches Jeanne’s eye and smiles, and she is reassured that he is in no real danger.
Jeanne returns her attention to Ziva David, who is looking for all the world like this is normal.
“Tony doesn’t mention you much,” Ziva says, and it is her piercing eyes more than her ambiguous tone that that causes Jeanne to hold her breath momentarily. Was this another test?
“He mentioned that he had been a bit secretive about me. That’s not normal for him, it is?” Jeanne asks, smiling sincerely.
This must have been close enough to what Ziva David was waiting for; her face is no longer characterized by harsh, indistinguishable features. They have melted away, retreating into to the corners of her eyes, where only a faint, wicked glint remains as a warning.
Before Ziva can answer Jeanne’s question, the only man yet to speak approaches, laying a hand on Ziva’s shoulder and sending the agent a glance that Jeanne interprets as a belated “play nice” order. He turns to Jeanne and smiles, before a look of worry flashes across his face. Jeanne tenses, expecting a shout or a gun or blood - something to explain Tony’s eyes on those occasions when he arrives at her apartment late at night. Instead, the young man moves quickly toward the knot that is pigtails and Tony. The man, McGee, she realizes, places his hands on Abby’s forearms, prying her off of Tony. She obliges, and as if to compensate for the increased distance she continues her monologue louder.
It’s only when Abby notices that Tony’s attention isn’t entirely focused on her does she stop at a convenient sentence break. Turning, she spots Jeanne, and again launches herself into a running hug.
Jeanne’s attention is divided between the approaching young woman and her fiancé. The air in the office becomes still. Time slows to a mere trickle, inching forward by only fractions of a second. Jeanne feels as if something in her head has been turned on, or maybe just tuned in. McGee has extended his arm, and the two men shake hands warmly before Tony pulls him into a hug. But there’s something… something is different. Over Abby’s nearing shoulders Jeanne watches them, hands that sweep too low, arms clinging too tight, Tony’s face buried in the crook of McGee’s neck, McGee’s eyes sliding closed…
And then her vision is blocked, and she staggers at the impact. The silence she has been unknowingly engulfed in breaks, sounds rushing past her to make up for lost time. Voices, Ziva’s and Gibbs’ and Tony’s, Abby’s now, in her ear, a chorus of “It’s so good to finally meet you! Tony’s tried not to let anything slip, but I can read him pretty well, he’s like a perfect result from the Mass Spec…”
Finally, the dancing pigtails subside, and Jeanne suspects this divine intervention comes from Ziva. She sends the agent a grateful smile, who acknowledges it by releasing Abby’s forearm. The unstoppable young woman continues speaking, as Jeanne’s eyes frantically seek out her fiancé.
She finds him quickly, and something that had been momentarily held inside her is released when she sees that the two men have broken apart. Tony is speaking with Gibbs now, McGee standing firmly at his side. Between the smiles and nods required to satisfy Abby, Jeanne watches as Gibbs steps away, and McGee turns toward Tony again. Casually, Jeanne watches over shoulders and past heads, as a familiar hand comes to rest on Tony’s arm.
Jeanne continues to watch, growing desperate, but her vision is blocked again. Another man, older, arrives from a different elevator; a red-haired woman enters from a set of stairs.
Tony’s friends move like a fog between Jeanne and her fiancé, milling and turning and clouding her view. Lines of sight are valid for only split seconds before being compromised. She watches the two men, between the lines of the conversation she attends to; across the bullpen from the crowd they are occupied by their own muted conversation: Tony, and this young man for whom Tony’s eyes shine.