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2020-11-05
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Getting to Know the Team

Summary:

the title tells the story

Work Text:

Getting to Know the Team
by Starbucks Sue

 

"I get to do forensics?"

"No Abby does the forensics, you get to schlep for Abby."

As Gibbs and Tony left the lab Kate saw Abby grin in amusement at the look of surprise and enthusiasm that she just knew was showing on her face. The two hadn't had much time together in the few days since Kate had joined NCIS and she had been looking forward to getting to know her new colleague better, this seemed like the ideal situation.

The two women worked quickly and efficiently, the conversation light and friendly as they got to know each other better, chatting about their interests and families, their choice of career and how they had ended up at NCIS.

"So how long have you been working here?" Kate asked eventually, she'd noticed the easy familiarity with which Abby had spoken to Gibbs and Tony and realized that they must have worked together for some time.

"Nearly five years now, I was so lucky. When I saw this job advertised I didn't dream I'd actually get it, I thought they'd want someone with a bit more experience than I had, so I really lucked out. This is such a amazing place to work."

It was Kate's turn to grin at Abby's enthusiasm, the forensic scientist's were hands waving around as she spoke and Kate's question was more of a statement. "You obviously enjoy it then."

"It's awesome, I mean, not that people are dying of course, but I love my work and there's so much to get my teeth into here. It's a really satisfying job and working for Gibbs is terrific as we get to close so many cases. Gibbs always has the best people working for him and won't put up with anything less than 110%.

"But he puts up with DiNozzo?" Kate frowned, it was the one point that puzzled her. Tony and Gibbs seemed polar opposites and she really couldn't understand what Gibbs saw in the loud mouthed, frat boy who seemed insistent in trying to wind her up at every turn. She'd seen the way Gibbs often had to try and hide a grin at the younger man's antics and was amazed at his patience with the young agent.

"Oh Gibbs loves Tony! He hired him on the spot when they worked together on a case in Baltimore. Tony's partner was murdered when he went out alone to try and get some information about a case, along with a young marine who was killed trying to help. That's how NCIS got called in. The agency was suffering from the worst flu bug I've ever known and Gibbs went out on his own and they worked the case between them. Tony's former Captain and his colleagues at the PD were all mad at Tony as they blamed him for his partner's death, so Tony was pretty happy to get out of there." Abby stopped herself, suddenly realizing that Tony might not be happy at much she was giving away.

"Tony doesn't seem to take the job seriously a lot of the time though, but Gibbs seems to put up with his messing around, even finds it amusing at times." Kate was still puzzled, as a profiler she was usually very good at understanding people but she just couldn't get a handle on her young team mate. "It doesn't sound like you were too keen on him at first either." She remarked, wincing as she remembered Abby's comment about Tony being like a piercing.

"No, it was a case of mistaken first impressions." Abby explained with a look of shame. "I kinda thought the same as you did that Tony wasn't taking things seriously and that Gibbs had ended up having to work the case with some cocky frat-boy who was more interested in his image than in results, but Tony has a really serious side too, he's a first class investigator and detective who thinks outside the box, he's also brilliant under cover. He doesn't let people push him around and he's willing to disagree with Gibbs if he thinks he's wrong. Gibbs likes that and respects him for it."

"It still surprises me though, Gibbs doesn't seem like the most patient person and I wouldn't have thought he'd put up with Tony fooling around." Kate persisted, trying to understand the dynamics between the two men she had to work with every day.

"Gibbs is our Papa Bear! Ok so when he's on a case he's focused and impatient and he really doesn't suffer fools at all, he always wants everything ten minutes ago and he does get pissed off when Tony's not fully concentrating on the job, but he lets it go a lot of the time because in this job things do get too intense sometimes and he knows that Tony's only trying to lighten things up a bit. Tony does get the occasional head slap if Gibbs thinks he needs pulling into line though." Abby laughed as she turned to see Kate's stunned reaction. "He calls it a 'Gibbs-slap' and says it's a sign of affection, he really doesn't mind at all despite the fact that he objects and whines theatrically at times. Only Gibbs can do it though, it's special." She warned.

"So what's Gibbs like when he's not focused on a case?" Kate had to admit she was intrigued with her new team leader and decided to make the most of the younger woman's ability to chatter constantly as she worked.

"He's much more relaxed, he does smile and joke sometimes you know, he's not always Mr Serious, although he's a man of few words. He does looks after us though, he always brings me Caff-Pows and remembers everyone's birthday and when Tony got injured on a case he insisted on taking him home with him for a week as Ducky said he needed to stay off his foot and the elevator at Tony's apartment block hardly ever works."

"So have they always worked as a two man team?" Kate enquired.

"No not usually, Director Morrow usually likes at least three, or preferably four, on the major case response teams. Naturally Gibbs' team is number one, but it's not the only one. There are other teams working both major and less serious cases and there's Pacci's cold case team, but Gibbs team historically has the best close rate in the agency and it's been even better since Tony joined, even when there's just the two of them."

"So how come there is only two of them? I mean, if Gibbs' team is that good I'd have thought agents would be queuing up to be on it." Kate had been surprised when Gibbs had thrown out the job offer, wondering whether he actually had the authority to do so.

Yeah, but Gibbs would have to approve them, he prefers to pick his own people. Director Morrow made him take on a third agent a few months back who'd transferred in from the FBI and it was a monumental failure, she went crawling back to the FBI at the end of three months after screwing up a major terrorist bust. Since then Gibbs has gone back to just having Tony and then borrowing agents from teams here or from other local NCIS offices if they need anyone else." Abby stopped for a slurp of her Caff-Pow before continuing.

"Before Tony arrived Gibbs actually had a team of four, but Brent Langer the team's probie was poached by the FBI, Chris Pacci was given lead of the cold case team and Stan Burley requested a transfer off Gibbs team because he couldn't deal with the stress any more, he was given an Agent Afloat position. The timing was just bad as Langer and Burley went within a couple of weeks of each other and then the flu epidemic hit and Pacci was off for nearly a month, when he returned it was time for him to take over the new team. By then Gibbs had persuaded Tony to quit and join NCIS, Tony jumped at the chance as he was really unhappy at Baltimore with the way they were treating him, it was really unfair as he honestly didn't know that his partner had gone off on his own and he felt guilty enough as it was without them making him feel even worse."

"You mean agents ask to be transferred off Gibbs team?" Kate felt a prickle of apprehension, what had she gotten herself into here?

"It does happen occasionally, some of them just can't hack it, Burley was with Gibbs for years before he finally had enough, some don't last more than a few weeks but those that stay the course turn into really good agents, Gibbs has been here for so many years that he's trained a lot of the field agents, but I've never seen him have quite such a good partnership with any of them as he has with Tony, they may seem like very different people but they think along very similar lines, so much so that I swear they can almost tell what the other is thinking, Tony will react to something that Gibbs hasn't actually asked him to do and Gibbs seems to know Tony's going to do something without him having to ask. It's really creepy sometimes but it makes them such good partners, especially out in the field when they're in a dangerous situation as they intuitively know how each other will react, it's perfect teamwork."

As if on cue, the two agents under discussion walked into the lab.

"What've you got for me Abbs?" Gibbs asked.

Kate backed off, watching her new colleagues carefully as they interacted, mulling over what Abby had told her. She liked the Goth. Abby's enthusiasm was contagious and her willingness to chat about NCIS and her colleagues had allowed Kate to learn a lot more about her new team, she decided that on the whole she'd liked what she'd heard. Gibbs had impressed her from their first meeting, she had a lot of respect already for the Senior Agent and liked the fact that he was his own man and, by the sound of it, supportive and protective of his people. She'd liked Ducky too and looked forward to being able to spend more time with quaint Englishman and actually getting to listen to some of his stories. DiNozzo was another matter, she hadn't spent much time with the younger agent but he'd reminded her of some of the cocky Air Force flyboys she'd come into contact with; male chauvinists who were all talk and flash cars, but from what Abby had told her it sounded like she would have to re-examine her first impression. If Gibbs and Abby both thought that highly of him there had to some substance behind that wide grin and smart mouth.

Kate stepped forward and smiled as she was drawn back into the conversation, maybe she had made the right decision after all.

 

end