Work Text:
Observations
by Starbucks Sue
Early on in her college years, Caitlin Todd had come to realize that the strict upbringing by her parents combined with her attendance an all girls' Catholic boarding school had left a definite gap in her knowledge when it came to understanding the opposite sex, despite having grown up with several brothers. During college she found the boys that she and her friends hung around with to be a complete mystery to her, although it hadn't stopped her from having her fair share of fun especially during Spring Break. As she'd moved on and joined the Secret Service she found the men she worked with to be more on her wavelength, the mostly military or former military staff had been of a different mindset and the officers that she dated were as career-oriented as she was. Based at the Pentagon she never had a shortage of available suitors.
Of all the men she had come into contact with in her life, she'd never met men as hard to understand as her current colleagues, Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Anthony DiNozzo. Granted she had only been working with them for a month but each time she thought she was beginning to get a handle on either of them, they would do or say something that would throw her completely. The relationship between the two men confused her even more, both had an uncanny ability to know what each other was thinking and anticipate what the other was about to do or say and that just increased her confusion, especially when Tony's actions provoked Gibbs' wrath, Kate could clearly see Tony anticipating the response from Gibbs so was mystified as to the younger man's actions.
She realized that their relationship was close; the sheer fact that they had been working together for two years, often as a two man team, relying on each other for backup, putting their lives in each other's hands and practically living in each other's pockets during hot cases meant that they had to know each other well in order to operate well as partners, but there was something more to the dynamics of their relationship that Kate had never previously experienced anywhere else she had worked which she really didn't understand and it confused her.
Kate found herself watching Gibbs and Tony carefully as the days progressed. She assured herself that she wasn't profiling them, it had always seemed inappropriate to do that to the people she worked with; although by now it was so second nature that she often found herself doing it unconsciously to each new person she met. However, her interest had been piqued and she realized that she was never going to understand their relationship if she didn't understand more about the men themselves.
She'd watched their interaction at the beginning of the investigation, noting Tony's initial delighted surprise when Gibbs had remembered that it was almost two years to the day that he had hired him, but the look had quickly disappeared from his face at Gibbs response that it had seemed like a good idea at the time. The flash of emotion on the younger man's face came and went so fleetingly that she didn't had time to identify it. Ducky had just rolled his eyes at the comment seemingly taking it as their normal bantering.
Kate still wasn't so sure, she had yet to get the hang of Gibbs' banter, the man always seemed serious in all that he did. As a Team Leader, Gibbs' - second b for bastard as she had learned before they'd headed out that morning - appeared to live up to his reputation as the toughest supervisor within NCIS, his training as a marine gunnery sergeant obvious in just about everything he did. He worked his agents hard and seemingly without mercy and didn't suffer fools or slackers. Kate understood that but the head slaps he gave Tony were another matter entirely. Kate had been up in arms the first time she had witnessed the perceived punishment the previous week, in this day and age any form of physical punishment from a superior agent to a junior agent was, in her book, bullying. The first time it had happened in Kate's presence Gibbs had left for coffee after the incident and Kate had rounded on Tony, horrified at his acceptance and tolerance of the senior agent's action. They had almost ended up coming to blows themselves; in her indignation Kate just couldn't see it from Tony's point of view. They'd finally ended up almost face to face in the middle of the bullpen, both getting equally frustrated with the other.
"It's a wakeup call, Kate, it's Gibbs' way of telling me that I'm not doing the best that I can, maybe I'm goofing off or making myself look bad. The Boss always pushes his agents, not just to get the most out of us but to make sure that we get the most out of ourselves and reach our full potential." Tony took a deep breath and visibly tried to calm himself. "It's because he cares Kate, he wants us to be the best that we can be and he'll do whatever it takes to get the message across."
"And you really don't mind?" Kate was still bemused.
"No Kate I don't. He doesn't do it in anger or to hurt, although it stings a little sometimes but I can put up with that, it just shows that he's interested enough to care." A myriad of emotions passed over his face far too quickly for Kate to decipher as Tony swung himself away from her and sat back down immersing himself in his work, conversation, from his point of view, over.
Kate hadn't been convinced but it was obvious that the action meant something to the younger agent and that intrigued Kate, why did it mean so much to Tony? She'd watched her young colleague's behavior again today whilst he and Agent Owens were working on tracing Martinez, Gibbs had thrown a definite challenge at both men but whilst Owens was amused by the competition Tony had obviously been vying for Gibbs attention, trying to do better than the Pearl Harbor Agent and gain Gibbs' approval.
Kate sighed as she made her way down to Abby's domain, her sprits rising as she left the elevator and heard the music blasting from the lab; she and the forensic scientist had hit it off from the start and Abby was so easy to understand and always found a way of lightening up her spirits.
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