Putting on a show

Summary: A bet with the director of the FBI over who could produce the best show for halloween has Director Shepard organising a production of the musical 'Wicked'. How will the casting go and what will ensue with the agents of NCIS clearly being taken out of their comfort zone.

AN: Ok...my first fanfic. In this both Kate and Jenny are still alive because I like them so much but Ziva is still a part of NCIS as she joined after Ari nearly killed Kate. The story is set around season 6 in terms of timeline.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or Wicked, just the crazy idea of merging them together like this.

00: A bad day and a conference

Director Shepard was growing tired of the day already and it hadn't even hit noon. Her morning coffee had been interrupted by Cynthia bringing her an urgent call from Tobias Fornell of the FBI. In her opinion nothing coming from that man seemed to give her good news. Today was no different as she listened to what he had to say. It seemed that a certain agent had once again gone over her head in an effort to try and solve the most recent case to come in. "Agent Fornell. I know he has a rather roundabout way of doing things but you and I both know if anyone can solve the case it is him." She knew that of all the FBI agents she could speak to he was the only one who would begin to understand. The response she recieved was much less positive than she hoped for. "Try telling that to my director. He wants a video conference with you at eleven so if I were you I would be in MTAC ready by five to cause he is like Gibbs without his coffee at the moment." Rolling her eyes she thanked Tobias for his warning before ending the phone call. The woman took a minute to clear her head before letting out a very audible sigh. The redhead asked Cynthia to summon a certain agent to her office before retreating back to her desk to try and finish her coffee before what she knew was about to come.

She had timed it just perfectly, throwing the empty coffee cup into the trash can underneath her desk just before her door came crashing open without any warning. The woman found it strange that she was so used to this occurence that it didn't make her jump anymore when it did happen. "I have a door for a reason Jethro," she remarked in a slightly snide manner. The man who had just entered the room just raised his eyebrows slightly in response. "Well, I can go back out if you want Jen but I was told you wanted to see me." At this the woman raised her own eyebrows. She gestured for the man to sit down and he took the seat on the opposite side of her desk. Surveying his attitude she judged that he had not been deprived of his morning coffee like some mornings which made things a bit easier when it came to reprimanding him. "Agent Gibbs." At that title Gibbs had to surpress a sigh. He knew the director well enough to know that she only addressed him like that in her office if there were others present or he was in trouble for something or another.

He knew better than to not pay attention as Jenny continued. "I've just had a call from your friend Fornell. Care to explain what you were doing getting Agent McGee to snoop around the FBI files on the Fazelli case without any authorisation?" This time the man didn't hold back his sigh with the intention of his boss hearing it. All this time and she still didn't see why he didn't always go through the official channels. "FBI were hiding something, Director. Do you really think they would have agreed to let us poke around and find it?" Jenny could easily see the point her agent was making but knew she shouldn't show that in front of him. The man needed to be kept in check and admitting she would probably have done the same was not a good way to accomplish that. "You tell that to their Director who I happen to have to video conference with at eleven." There was a mutual silence between the two as they took in the situation, each daring the other to make the first move. Eventually the man had had enough and got up from his seat to head towards the door. He spoke calmly to his boss but she wasn't fooled by his voice. That voice told when he was at his most annoyed. "You wanted to be Director, Jen. You handle the FBI. Meanwhile me and my team will be trying to find out who killed this marine." Before the woman could utter a response the door had slammed shut.

It hardly felt like any time had passed at all when the director of NCIS found herself in MTAC ready and waiting for the feed to go live with the director of the FBI even though he wasn't due on the line for five more minutes. She had been forced to abandon the coffee she had not long made and leave it by her usual seat as she stood in view of the screen ready. The screen flickered into life right on the cue of one of the technicians and Jenny took a deep breath before gazing at the face now being displayed in front of her. The two directors greeted each other formally before getting straight down to the business at hand. They were on opposite sides of the table but both had an impatience for idle chatter until after business was done with them each having an agency to run. "Lets cut to the chase here Director Shepard. I would like to know why your agents have been snooping around our files." The woman wasn't fazed by the man's attitude towards her and had her reply prepared within seconds. "If you hadn't been hiding information that is vital to our case they wouldn't have had to." At her comment she could see the director of the FBI sour a little in the face but it actually made her feel better rather than worse. The truth had a knack of hurting and this had only futher proved the point. Knowing he was beaten, the man wanted to get the conference over with so replied hastily to try and get the woman off the line. "Look. I have enough to do running this place without trouble from NCIS. Not to mention having to try and organize a show at the same time."

"A show?" It was the first the woman had heard about anything at the sort going on within the FBI and it had peaked her curiosity. The man gave a sigh. He really hadn't meant to let that bit slip in front of the director of NCIS. Now the only option left was to tell the truth and it wasn't exactly a positive one. "Truth is the FBI haven't exactly got a good image with the public at the moment and a halloween show was SECNAV's idea of trying to bridge the gaps as to speak." Jenny found the thought rather amusing and failed miserably to contain a small giggle. If there was anything that would give the man on the screen hell it was trying to save his agency's reputation with his agents making fools of themselves in public. It seemed to irritate the man and his response was snappy. "Think you could do it better Shepard?" At that she raised her eyebrows slightly in mock amusement. "I don't have to try since I can keep my agency under control in public." Jenny had thought this might end the conversation prematurely but it seemed the other director had a different idea. "How about making this interesting. If you can control your agency well enough to make a better halloween show then your christmas party is on us but if not it is the other way round. Let the public be the judge." Catching the glint of determination in the woman's eye he could see she was caught right in the weak spot. There was no way she would back down from a challenge. Jenny ignored the glances being thrown her way by the technicians in MTAC as she accepted the challenge with the proviso that the FBI do their performance first since they had a head start. It was all agreed and the conference ended.

Back in her office the director was deep in thought. Taking on the challenge of the FBI had seemed the right thing to do in the spur of the moment but she really had no idea how to begin to tackle it. What were they even going to perform out of the amazing variety of shows there were to choose from. At least there was the whole halloween thing to narrow it all down. Think Jennifer, she told herself. What do people associate with halloween. I don't remember any good shows about zombies so they are out. Ghosts. I suppose we could do 'The Woman in Black' but that will be a bit too dark so would pretty much be for adults only. Wait, of course. Witches. I know exactly what to do. With her new brainwave she typed a global email on her computer before sending it to all NCIS staff.

NCIS employees,

It has been decided this year we will be putting on a show for the public to celebrate halloween. I have chosen the musical Wicked as our performance to tie in with the theme. Auditions will start next week and will be mandatory for all staff in the hopes of finding the best talent for the show. I wish you all the best of luck with this.

NCIS Director Jennifer Shepard

AN: How did I do for my first chapter? This one is more to set up the plot than anything else but things will start to get more interesting soon I promise. Please leave me a review so I know what to improve.