Meme Ficlets (NCIS)
Title: Hot Hot Heat
Prompt: Gibbs, #6 (hot)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG
Word Count: 457
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Ziva David, Tim McGee, Tony DiNozzo
Continuity: Set sometime after Season 2 and before Season 7's Power Down.
Summary: The hottest day of summer means the team's about due for another air conditioning failure.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
Edited 12.23.2011 to change from past to present tense and some word choice.
(pimped to ncis_gen, ncisfanfic, tonydinozzo and zivadavid)
It is, of course, the hottest day of the summer when the air conditioning at NCIS decides to fail. (Actually, it's a full blown brownout, complete with dimmed lights and the shutdown of all nonessential systems in order to keep MTAC and autopsy running on full. Naturally the air conditioning is considered nonessential by the sadists who decide such things.)
McGee's eyes widen as the room and his computer screens darken. "No, no, no!" He begins searching through his electronics as if there might actually be some other, fixable reason behind the shutdown. "Tell me this isn't happening again."
Ziva's brow furrows. "Again?"
Waving her off, Tony picks up his phone. "Before your time." He scowls and slaps it back into the cradle harder than is strictly necessary. (Not that it matters; it's dead, too.) "Looks like it is, McSweaty."
McGee groans, dropping his head into his hands. Already the insufferable humidity is edging into the building. Sweat stains are imminent for the unlucky suit-wearing agents.
Ziva's gaze bounces between the two men, a smile playing on her lips. "It is just a bit of heat."
"Says the woman from a desert country," Tony retorts. "You probably like this weather."
She shrugs but the smirk she tries to hide is as good as a confirmation.
Gibbs chooses that moment to waltz in, carrying his usual cup of coffee with him. His gaze sweeps over the agents and he pauses. "Something the matter?"
Tony and McGee exchange a glance, the former speaking only when the silence begins to stretch into uncomfortable territory. "The air conditioning's off, Boss."
Raising his brows, he takes a sip from his cup. (Somehow he makes this a pointed gesture.)
"What Tony means," McGee picks up the conversation thread, "is that all nonessential systems are on low power or shut down due to a brownout. No computers or phones available, minimal lights and Abby is probably stuck running one machine at a time down in the lab."
Gibbs crosses his arms. "So what were you doing before I arrived?"
Now all three agents look at each other. "Working on case reports," Ziva offers when neither man pipes up.
He gives his team his patented, "And you aren't doing that now because?" Look.
"But, Boss..." McGee's tone is hesitant and filled with dread, "the computers..."
Plucking a pencil from his desk, Gibbs hands it to McGee. "Here, use mine."
McGee's acceptance is reluctant. "Uh, thanks." He sounds more downtrodden than grateful at the prospect of writing reports longhand.
There is something of a smirk on Gibbs face as he sits down his desk. It's been a long time since he's seen agents handling paperwork the old-fashioned way. He has to admit, he doesn't hate it.
Title: A Place Called Perfect
Prompt: NCIS, #15 (writer's choice)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG
Word Count: 702
Character(s)/Pairing(s): (somewhat one-sided) Tim McGee/Abby Sciuto with Jethro the dog
Summary: Abby and McGee walk Jethro. They have a reversal of roles as she talks about the future and he tries not to think about it.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
(pimped to abbymcgee and ncisfanfic)
Abby and Tim are walking Jethro when she says four words that make his blood run cold: "So, I've been thinking."
No good ever follows that phrase and Tim braces himself for whatever piece of crazy he's about to receive. (Or humiliation or other unpleasantness.) "Yeah?" He can't quite keep the dread out of his tone.
She elbows him in the ribs for his trouble. "Yes." She clasps her hands. "I was thinking about you and me." He can see her eyeing him speculatively out of the corner of his eyes.
This does nothing to quell the sense of foreboding Tim feels-- if anything, it makes it worse. Because he loves Abby, he does, but they haven't been a "them" for a very long time and it's kind of critical to their friendship that they not be one again unless it's for real because he doesn't think he can do that again and still be friends after. He just... can't. And he loves her far too much to not be friends and, well, that's where the foreboding comes in. So he keeps his attention on Jethro and offers a noncommittal answer, "Okay."
They walk together in silence for a few moments before Abby pokes him. "Well? Don't you want to know what I've been thinking?"
Not particularly, he thinks but Tim knows better than to say that. Instead he just nods. "Sure." He has no idea if it sounds sincere or not.
Regardless, this time Abby explains herself. "Okay, so you know I visited my grandfather last week, right?" This is a rhetorical question but he nods all the same. "And he's living in this home thing now and it's a strange place but they feed him all the time, which is kind of awesome, you know? Anyway, I was there and I was trying to imagine myself in a place like that-- which is weird, right? Because I'm so not the thinking-about-the-future type, but, like, I'm totally down for living in one of those places as long as they let me bring my coffin to sleep in." She's animated as she speaks and even Jethro pauses in his mission to sniff everything in the park to watch her. "And then I was all, that'd be fun but you know what'd be even more fun?"
This time she looks like she expects an answer, so Tim just shakes his head because he honestly has no idea where she's going here.
"If you came with me! I mean, can you imagine it? You and me hanging out in an old folks home and playing video games together and hacking stuff and just being us?" Abby's grin is as wide as it is happy. (Which is to say a lot.) "It'd be perfect. You and me and a Caf-Pow machine and maybe another dog if they'll let us." She loops her arm through his and leans into him. "Just perfect."
Tim smiles a little at the image but it's almost bittersweet for him. See, he wants a family-- a wife and kids and a home in the suburbs. And that doesn't mean that he doesn't want to hand out and play games with Abby or be friends or anything like that; he does. It's just that he wants more. He wants to love and be loved, and he'd be over the moon if Abby could be the person to share that with him, but he doesn't think she wants that.
Still, the part of him that will always be a little in love with her pops an image of that life into his mind. The one where he gets what he wants and so does she. Where, somehow, they find a compromise. And he smiles despite himself. "Yeah," he agrees finally, "perfect." He means it, too-- just differently than she does. But not so much so that he can't appreciate the fact that she wants him in her life in some way when she's old enough to be in a home. Because that? Is a step forward for the woman who refused to even consider any part of the future with him years ago. And, because of the aforementioned will always be a little in love with her thing, he'll take it.
Title: Perspective
Prompt: NCIS, #15 (writer's choice)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: G
Word Count: 300
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo, Tim McGee, Ziva David, Abby Sciuto, Donald Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, Leon Vance (cameo)
Summary: Everyone has their own way of telling a story.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
(pimped to ncis_gen, ncisfanfic, tonydinozzo and zivadavid)
Later, when everything's over, Tony will explain what happened with as much exaggeration as fact. McGee will get the facts right, but he won't emphasize what's important very well. Ziva will tell the story fine but distract (READ: frighten) any listeners with comments about how she could have tortured, maimed or killed the perp with whatever had been around.
Abby, who wasn't there, will take Tony's version and add even more exaggeration, along with wild gesticulation and conjecture. Ducky, who also wasn't there, will start to weave the tale as he was told it (probably by Gibbs) but will go off on a tangent relating to a story he was present for-- or possibly something interesting he just happens to know-- and eventually the listener will leave or he'll forget what he was originally talking about. Palmer, who definitely wasn't there, will only hear bits and pieces and ask confused questions that no one will bother to answer.
The only one who would get it right is Gibbs and he's not talking (to anyone except Ducky because he's an old friends and Vance because he doesn't have much of a choice). He'll write his report and his agent's will match it because they'll leave out the bullshit or be forced to rewrite it but no one will ever speak the real, whole truth. Gibbs isn't bothered, though; no two people experience the same thing the same way.
Besides, the important thing is that the people involved know what happened. And Gibbs always, always makes sure they do. (Except when he's protecting someone who needs it or punishing someone the system can't and then it's always for the greater good-- or so he works to convince himself as he drinks bourbon in his basement and builds boats named after ex-wives with hand tools.)
Prompt: Gibbs, #6 (hot)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG
Word Count: 457
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Ziva David, Tim McGee, Tony DiNozzo
Continuity: Set sometime after Season 2 and before Season 7's Power Down.
Summary: The hottest day of summer means the team's about due for another air conditioning failure.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
Edited 12.23.2011 to change from past to present tense and some word choice.
(pimped to ncis_gen, ncisfanfic, tonydinozzo and zivadavid)
It is, of course, the hottest day of the summer when the air conditioning at NCIS decides to fail. (Actually, it's a full blown brownout, complete with dimmed lights and the shutdown of all nonessential systems in order to keep MTAC and autopsy running on full. Naturally the air conditioning is considered nonessential by the sadists who decide such things.)
McGee's eyes widen as the room and his computer screens darken. "No, no, no!" He begins searching through his electronics as if there might actually be some other, fixable reason behind the shutdown. "Tell me this isn't happening again."
Ziva's brow furrows. "Again?"
Waving her off, Tony picks up his phone. "Before your time." He scowls and slaps it back into the cradle harder than is strictly necessary. (Not that it matters; it's dead, too.) "Looks like it is, McSweaty."
McGee groans, dropping his head into his hands. Already the insufferable humidity is edging into the building. Sweat stains are imminent for the unlucky suit-wearing agents.
Ziva's gaze bounces between the two men, a smile playing on her lips. "It is just a bit of heat."
"Says the woman from a desert country," Tony retorts. "You probably like this weather."
She shrugs but the smirk she tries to hide is as good as a confirmation.
Gibbs chooses that moment to waltz in, carrying his usual cup of coffee with him. His gaze sweeps over the agents and he pauses. "Something the matter?"
Tony and McGee exchange a glance, the former speaking only when the silence begins to stretch into uncomfortable territory. "The air conditioning's off, Boss."
Raising his brows, he takes a sip from his cup. (Somehow he makes this a pointed gesture.)
"What Tony means," McGee picks up the conversation thread, "is that all nonessential systems are on low power or shut down due to a brownout. No computers or phones available, minimal lights and Abby is probably stuck running one machine at a time down in the lab."
Gibbs crosses his arms. "So what were you doing before I arrived?"
Now all three agents look at each other. "Working on case reports," Ziva offers when neither man pipes up.
He gives his team his patented, "And you aren't doing that now because?" Look.
"But, Boss..." McGee's tone is hesitant and filled with dread, "the computers..."
Plucking a pencil from his desk, Gibbs hands it to McGee. "Here, use mine."
McGee's acceptance is reluctant. "Uh, thanks." He sounds more downtrodden than grateful at the prospect of writing reports longhand.
There is something of a smirk on Gibbs face as he sits down his desk. It's been a long time since he's seen agents handling paperwork the old-fashioned way. He has to admit, he doesn't hate it.
Title: A Place Called Perfect
Prompt: NCIS, #15 (writer's choice)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: PG
Word Count: 702
Character(s)/Pairing(s): (somewhat one-sided) Tim McGee/Abby Sciuto with Jethro the dog
Summary: Abby and McGee walk Jethro. They have a reversal of roles as she talks about the future and he tries not to think about it.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
(pimped to abbymcgee and ncisfanfic)
Abby and Tim are walking Jethro when she says four words that make his blood run cold: "So, I've been thinking."
No good ever follows that phrase and Tim braces himself for whatever piece of crazy he's about to receive. (Or humiliation or other unpleasantness.) "Yeah?" He can't quite keep the dread out of his tone.
She elbows him in the ribs for his trouble. "Yes." She clasps her hands. "I was thinking about you and me." He can see her eyeing him speculatively out of the corner of his eyes.
This does nothing to quell the sense of foreboding Tim feels-- if anything, it makes it worse. Because he loves Abby, he does, but they haven't been a "them" for a very long time and it's kind of critical to their friendship that they not be one again unless it's for real because he doesn't think he can do that again and still be friends after. He just... can't. And he loves her far too much to not be friends and, well, that's where the foreboding comes in. So he keeps his attention on Jethro and offers a noncommittal answer, "Okay."
They walk together in silence for a few moments before Abby pokes him. "Well? Don't you want to know what I've been thinking?"
Not particularly, he thinks but Tim knows better than to say that. Instead he just nods. "Sure." He has no idea if it sounds sincere or not.
Regardless, this time Abby explains herself. "Okay, so you know I visited my grandfather last week, right?" This is a rhetorical question but he nods all the same. "And he's living in this home thing now and it's a strange place but they feed him all the time, which is kind of awesome, you know? Anyway, I was there and I was trying to imagine myself in a place like that-- which is weird, right? Because I'm so not the thinking-about-the-future type, but, like, I'm totally down for living in one of those places as long as they let me bring my coffin to sleep in." She's animated as she speaks and even Jethro pauses in his mission to sniff everything in the park to watch her. "And then I was all, that'd be fun but you know what'd be even more fun?"
This time she looks like she expects an answer, so Tim just shakes his head because he honestly has no idea where she's going here.
"If you came with me! I mean, can you imagine it? You and me hanging out in an old folks home and playing video games together and hacking stuff and just being us?" Abby's grin is as wide as it is happy. (Which is to say a lot.) "It'd be perfect. You and me and a Caf-Pow machine and maybe another dog if they'll let us." She loops her arm through his and leans into him. "Just perfect."
Tim smiles a little at the image but it's almost bittersweet for him. See, he wants a family-- a wife and kids and a home in the suburbs. And that doesn't mean that he doesn't want to hand out and play games with Abby or be friends or anything like that; he does. It's just that he wants more. He wants to love and be loved, and he'd be over the moon if Abby could be the person to share that with him, but he doesn't think she wants that.
Still, the part of him that will always be a little in love with her pops an image of that life into his mind. The one where he gets what he wants and so does she. Where, somehow, they find a compromise. And he smiles despite himself. "Yeah," he agrees finally, "perfect." He means it, too-- just differently than she does. But not so much so that he can't appreciate the fact that she wants him in her life in some way when she's old enough to be in a home. Because that? Is a step forward for the woman who refused to even consider any part of the future with him years ago. And, because of the aforementioned will always be a little in love with her thing, he'll take it.
Title: Perspective
Prompt: NCIS, #15 (writer's choice)
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: G
Word Count: 300
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo, Tim McGee, Ziva David, Abby Sciuto, Donald Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, Leon Vance (cameo)
Summary: Everyone has their own way of telling a story.
Disclaimer: Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/DPB; I am simply borrowing them for my purposes. Please don't sue.
(pimped to ncis_gen, ncisfanfic, tonydinozzo and zivadavid)
Later, when everything's over, Tony will explain what happened with as much exaggeration as fact. McGee will get the facts right, but he won't emphasize what's important very well. Ziva will tell the story fine but distract (READ: frighten) any listeners with comments about how she could have tortured, maimed or killed the perp with whatever had been around.
Abby, who wasn't there, will take Tony's version and add even more exaggeration, along with wild gesticulation and conjecture. Ducky, who also wasn't there, will start to weave the tale as he was told it (probably by Gibbs) but will go off on a tangent relating to a story he was present for-- or possibly something interesting he just happens to know-- and eventually the listener will leave or he'll forget what he was originally talking about. Palmer, who definitely wasn't there, will only hear bits and pieces and ask confused questions that no one will bother to answer.
The only one who would get it right is Gibbs and he's not talking (to anyone except Ducky because he's an old friends and Vance because he doesn't have much of a choice). He'll write his report and his agent's will match it because they'll leave out the bullshit or be forced to rewrite it but no one will ever speak the real, whole truth. Gibbs isn't bothered, though; no two people experience the same thing the same way.
Besides, the important thing is that the people involved know what happened. And Gibbs always, always makes sure they do. (Except when he's protecting someone who needs it or punishing someone the system can't and then it's always for the greater good-- or so he works to convince himself as he drinks bourbon in his basement and builds boats named after ex-wives with hand tools.)