NCIS Fic: Change in Perspective - Chapter 2/3
Title: Change in Perspective
Author: penumbria
Rated: M
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo, DiNozzo & McGee friendship
Summary: Gibbs quit. Tony is in charge. McGee is confused.
Spoilers through Hiatus and some Season 4
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,632
Occurs in the summer after Season 3 before Season 4 begins
Written for NCIS Secret Santa SeSa 2014 - http://ncis-sesa.livejournal.com/
Beta: Thanks to Jacie (solariana) for all of her help!
Fic can be found completed at AO3
Art by penumbria
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. I only own this fic and I make no money from it.
This fic was originally written as a Secret Santa gift for annieb1955
Chapter 2
Special Agent Timothy McGee entered the building at NCIS late one night. It was after midnight, but he had left a flash drive with important information about his upcoming book release on it in his desk and needed the information in order to send an e-mail to his publisher before he left for work in the morning. No one at the office knew that he had gotten an actual publishing deal, though everyone knew that writing was one of his hobbies, along with his computer video games. He had made sure his book would be published under a pseudonym, he knew that he would be unbearably teased if it was revealed.
It had been almost two months since he had been made senior field agent under Tony DiNozzo's team lead when Gibbs had retired. And frankly, Tim couldn't understand how he hadn't been given the job before. With his intelligence and his degrees, he knew that he deserved it much more than Tony did, with his physical education degree and working as a beat cop while he chased everything in a skirt that had a pulse. Even transvestites, Tim chuckled to himself, recalling the case with Commander Voss who had murdered an NCIS agent and ended up making out with Tony in the guise of Amanda Reed, his female alter ego.
I don't understand why the director confirmed Tony's appointment to team lead. It's not like Gibbs was in his right mind when he turned his badge over to Tony. And he didn't really have faith in him either. “You'll do.” Obviously even with his head full of memory holes, Gibbs still realized that Tony is only worthy of being a place holder. Plus he keeps trying to act like he's Gibbs. But then comes up with dumb things like his stupid campfires.
Tim's mind ran along these lines as he rode up to the bullpen in the elevator. He walked out into the darkened area, where the lights were dimmed to a nighttime shine, as Tim turned the corner to head to his desk, planning to simply grab his flash drive and leave as quickly as possible. But before he could carry out his plan, he stopped dead in shock. His team lead, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, was asleep at his desk; the L-shaped one that used to belong to Gibbs. As the older man slept, his head was resting on a stack of file folders and his computer screen was on.
Ever curious, and wondering why the playboy was working so late, and how much of his paperwork he needed to re-do, McGee went behind his senior agent to look at the computer monitor. On the screen was a copy of Tim's latest report on their last case. Tony had been in the process of editing it. McGee was incredibly insulted. He was a soon to be published author. How dare he change his reports?!?
Tim grabbed the keyboard and pulled it over to himself, carefully and quietly. He began searching through the old files of his case reports since Gibbs left. He found that they had all been edited, often added to. His jaw set, Tim searched further back and found that Tony had done this even before Gibbs had been blown up and disappeared after waking from his coma. He saw that after his first two months on the team, Tony had begun editing his reports before Gibbs signed off on them. He remembered how Gibbs continually sent his reports back to be changed for those first months and how he could never seem to get it right, then all of a sudden Gibbs had accepted his reports as written. Tim had thought that he had finally been doing them correctly. But it seemed that Tony was correcting them to Gibbs' standard instead.
Tim was confused. Why would Tony do this? If he was trying to make McGee look stupid, he would have let him keep handing in sub-standard reports. It didn't make sense. Tim pushed the keyboard back towards Tony and went to his own desk, lost in thought, trying to make sense of things.
Tim decided to do what he did best and began a computer search, then another and another. He first checked all of Kate's old reports, then Ziva's, then Tony's own. He found that Tony had corrected Kate's reports after a few months and Ziva's as well. Looking at Ziva's most recent reports, handed in since Gibbs' retirement, Tim saw that they were beyond sub-standard. To him, the originals looked like something a high school student would turn in. Her early reports when she first joined the team were nowhere near as bad. And Tim even found a few recent reports that were written in Hebrew. Not just the notes, which could be excused on some level, but the actual reports themselves. Tony obviously had to translate them somehow before adjusting them to be turned in.
Tim shook his head in wonder as he looked at the search results that had Tony's name on them. He had expected there to be more than any of the other searches since Tony had been there the longest but, the sheer mountain of paperwork that McGee discovered amazed the man. There weren't just case reports but, also all kinds of bureaucratic paperwork, from expense reports to mileage reports on the vehicles to requests for various supplies and training days.
With a frown, McGee did something that he suddenly felt he should have done months, if not years, ago. He searched for the job requirements of a senior field agent, both the prerequisites for the position as well as the job duties.
Both searches were eye openers. To become an SFA, it was required that the applicant had at least a Master's degree and had been a field agent or the equivalent for at least three years. The job duties were numerous, varied and included a huge amount of paperwork that Tony was obviously still doing rather than handing it to Tim. Being painfully honest with himself, Tim acknowledged that he hadn't exactly been giving his best to Tony since Gibbs split.
Several more searches revealed the true extent of Tony's education, which did start with a physical education degree but, went on from there passing a Master's degree and including classes that were leading to a doctorate. McGee felt a little humiliated that Tony never told him but, realized that with the way he rubbed his degrees in Tony's face, it wasn't all that surprising. He wondered if anyone knew or if they all bought into the playboy frat image that Tony projected so well. Tim could see now that it was just an image as he stared at the time logs going back for years. If Tony was often in the office in the middle of the night, working on things, he wouldn't have time to be the player and skirt chaser he portrayed.
Tim realized he needed to step up and try to be a friend to Tony. And definitely be a better agent. In actuality, Tim shouldn't even be a temporary SFA. He didn't have the time as a field agent. So he needed to support Tony and learn to do the job the director had given him, rather than let Tony burn himself out trying to do Gibbs' old job as well as Tony's own old job which was now McGee's responsibility. If he wanted to move up the ladder, he needed to learn and the only one available to teach him was Tony. Thinking back, he realized that was the way it had always been. Gibbs had never really taught them anything other than his precious rules. Tony was the one who taught him how to be a field agent. Now he would learn to be a proper SFA from him. Tim just needed to figure out how to bring it up without it seeming like an attack to Tony.
McGee shut down his computer and grabbed the flash drive he had come for. Walking to the elevator, he contemplated how he was going to change and if Tony would even be willing to help him after his attitude lately.
Author: penumbria
Rated: M
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo, DiNozzo & McGee friendship
Summary: Gibbs quit. Tony is in charge. McGee is confused.
Spoilers through Hiatus and some Season 4
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,632
Occurs in the summer after Season 3 before Season 4 begins
Written for NCIS Secret Santa SeSa 2014 - http://ncis-sesa.livejournal.com/
Beta: Thanks to Jacie (solariana) for all of her help!
Fic can be found completed at AO3
Art by penumbria
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. I only own this fic and I make no money from it.
This fic was originally written as a Secret Santa gift for annieb1955
Chapter 2
Special Agent Timothy McGee entered the building at NCIS late one night. It was after midnight, but he had left a flash drive with important information about his upcoming book release on it in his desk and needed the information in order to send an e-mail to his publisher before he left for work in the morning. No one at the office knew that he had gotten an actual publishing deal, though everyone knew that writing was one of his hobbies, along with his computer video games. He had made sure his book would be published under a pseudonym, he knew that he would be unbearably teased if it was revealed.
It had been almost two months since he had been made senior field agent under Tony DiNozzo's team lead when Gibbs had retired. And frankly, Tim couldn't understand how he hadn't been given the job before. With his intelligence and his degrees, he knew that he deserved it much more than Tony did, with his physical education degree and working as a beat cop while he chased everything in a skirt that had a pulse. Even transvestites, Tim chuckled to himself, recalling the case with Commander Voss who had murdered an NCIS agent and ended up making out with Tony in the guise of Amanda Reed, his female alter ego.
I don't understand why the director confirmed Tony's appointment to team lead. It's not like Gibbs was in his right mind when he turned his badge over to Tony. And he didn't really have faith in him either. “You'll do.” Obviously even with his head full of memory holes, Gibbs still realized that Tony is only worthy of being a place holder. Plus he keeps trying to act like he's Gibbs. But then comes up with dumb things like his stupid campfires.
Tim's mind ran along these lines as he rode up to the bullpen in the elevator. He walked out into the darkened area, where the lights were dimmed to a nighttime shine, as Tim turned the corner to head to his desk, planning to simply grab his flash drive and leave as quickly as possible. But before he could carry out his plan, he stopped dead in shock. His team lead, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, was asleep at his desk; the L-shaped one that used to belong to Gibbs. As the older man slept, his head was resting on a stack of file folders and his computer screen was on.
Ever curious, and wondering why the playboy was working so late, and how much of his paperwork he needed to re-do, McGee went behind his senior agent to look at the computer monitor. On the screen was a copy of Tim's latest report on their last case. Tony had been in the process of editing it. McGee was incredibly insulted. He was a soon to be published author. How dare he change his reports?!?
Tim grabbed the keyboard and pulled it over to himself, carefully and quietly. He began searching through the old files of his case reports since Gibbs left. He found that they had all been edited, often added to. His jaw set, Tim searched further back and found that Tony had done this even before Gibbs had been blown up and disappeared after waking from his coma. He saw that after his first two months on the team, Tony had begun editing his reports before Gibbs signed off on them. He remembered how Gibbs continually sent his reports back to be changed for those first months and how he could never seem to get it right, then all of a sudden Gibbs had accepted his reports as written. Tim had thought that he had finally been doing them correctly. But it seemed that Tony was correcting them to Gibbs' standard instead.
Tim was confused. Why would Tony do this? If he was trying to make McGee look stupid, he would have let him keep handing in sub-standard reports. It didn't make sense. Tim pushed the keyboard back towards Tony and went to his own desk, lost in thought, trying to make sense of things.
Tim decided to do what he did best and began a computer search, then another and another. He first checked all of Kate's old reports, then Ziva's, then Tony's own. He found that Tony had corrected Kate's reports after a few months and Ziva's as well. Looking at Ziva's most recent reports, handed in since Gibbs' retirement, Tim saw that they were beyond sub-standard. To him, the originals looked like something a high school student would turn in. Her early reports when she first joined the team were nowhere near as bad. And Tim even found a few recent reports that were written in Hebrew. Not just the notes, which could be excused on some level, but the actual reports themselves. Tony obviously had to translate them somehow before adjusting them to be turned in.
Tim shook his head in wonder as he looked at the search results that had Tony's name on them. He had expected there to be more than any of the other searches since Tony had been there the longest but, the sheer mountain of paperwork that McGee discovered amazed the man. There weren't just case reports but, also all kinds of bureaucratic paperwork, from expense reports to mileage reports on the vehicles to requests for various supplies and training days.
With a frown, McGee did something that he suddenly felt he should have done months, if not years, ago. He searched for the job requirements of a senior field agent, both the prerequisites for the position as well as the job duties.
Both searches were eye openers. To become an SFA, it was required that the applicant had at least a Master's degree and had been a field agent or the equivalent for at least three years. The job duties were numerous, varied and included a huge amount of paperwork that Tony was obviously still doing rather than handing it to Tim. Being painfully honest with himself, Tim acknowledged that he hadn't exactly been giving his best to Tony since Gibbs split.
Several more searches revealed the true extent of Tony's education, which did start with a physical education degree but, went on from there passing a Master's degree and including classes that were leading to a doctorate. McGee felt a little humiliated that Tony never told him but, realized that with the way he rubbed his degrees in Tony's face, it wasn't all that surprising. He wondered if anyone knew or if they all bought into the playboy frat image that Tony projected so well. Tim could see now that it was just an image as he stared at the time logs going back for years. If Tony was often in the office in the middle of the night, working on things, he wouldn't have time to be the player and skirt chaser he portrayed.
Tim realized he needed to step up and try to be a friend to Tony. And definitely be a better agent. In actuality, Tim shouldn't even be a temporary SFA. He didn't have the time as a field agent. So he needed to support Tony and learn to do the job the director had given him, rather than let Tony burn himself out trying to do Gibbs' old job as well as Tony's own old job which was now McGee's responsibility. If he wanted to move up the ladder, he needed to learn and the only one available to teach him was Tony. Thinking back, he realized that was the way it had always been. Gibbs had never really taught them anything other than his precious rules. Tony was the one who taught him how to be a field agent. Now he would learn to be a proper SFA from him. Tim just needed to figure out how to bring it up without it seeming like an attack to Tony.
McGee shut down his computer and grabbed the flash drive he had come for. Walking to the elevator, he contemplated how he was going to change and if Tony would even be willing to help him after his attitude lately.