Exceptions
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, nor am I making an profit from this.
Rating: M (to be on the safe side). This contains some sexual references but nothing explicit, so I hope I don't offend anyone.
This is my first story of 2008, so happy new year everyone!
Comments are always appreciated :) Thanks for reading!
It wasn't his fault. That much he knew. At least he thought it wasn't his fault… his brain wasn't working at full speed. It might have been because of the half-naked woman standing in front of him, currently occupied with the task of removing the remaining items of clothing on her body.
He shook his head. It definitely wasn't his fault. Not that he was complaining. If anything, it was Gibbs' fault.
Yes, Gibbs'.
If Gibbs hadn't hired him, none of this would've happened. If Gibbs hadn't been such a bastard to the agents who used to work for him, none of this would've happened. And if Gibbs hadn't scared all of the technical support people to within an inch of their lives, none of this would've happened.
Come to think of it, maybe he needed to thank Gibbs…
His first day on the job. His second day in Washington DC. His first day as a federal agent. With the gun and the badge and the whole shebang- so much cooler than being a cop.
The security guard escorted him up to Human Resources, where he sorted through several trees worth of paperwork, and then, armed with directions, he left to meet his new boss.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Not for the first time, of course. He'd met Gibbs a few months back in Baltimore when they'd worked a case together. Gibbs didn't seem too impressed by him then, so Tony was surprised to get a call from the man two hours after he'd resigned from the Baltimore PD.
"8am on Monday morning. You're mine now."
Tony chuckled at the memory, waiting for the elevator doors to open. Gibbs hadn't even bothered to identify himself, let alone give Tony a chance to consider the offer. He'd spent the rest of the week boxing up his DVD collection and the rest of his stuff and packing it into a U-Haul. He'd lucked out, finding an apartment that was only slightly dodgy, relatively affordable and close enough to his new office.
The elevator arrived and he rode it up to his floor. Gibbs was waiting as soon as he stepped out.
"Where have you been?"
Tony waved the sheath of papers. "HR. Sorry…"
Gibbs glared at him. "Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness." He sat down at what was obviously his desk, littered with empty coffee cups, and pointed to the desk diagonally opposite.
"That one's yours, DiNozzo."
Tony sat the papers down on the desk and leant over to get a better look at his computer. There was a fist-shaped hole in the screen. He glanced up at Gibbs.
"You do this?"
Gibbs frowned at him, then chuckled. "No. That one wasn't me." He nodded to the large box covering the desk across from Tony. "New computer screen thing in there. Get it set up. I'm going for coffee."
Gibbs marched out of the office, leaving Tony all alone. Tony looked over the computer with great trepidation. His desk at the Baltimore precinct had consisted of a table, a notepad and a hell of a lot of files. Budgets were tight and they shared computers. It looked like things were going to be a little different at NCIS.
"Okay DiNozzo… you can do this."
Taking a deep breath, Tony pulled the cords out of the back of the broken monitor and disconnected them at the tower, then lifted it off the desk and set it to the side. Then it was a matter of pulling the new computer monitor out of the box and connecting it.
Connecting it. Right.
Fistfuls of wiring in hand, Tony crawled under the desk to try and figure out which cord went where. He was fully absorbed in the process, swearing to himself like a true sailor (which he thought was fitting, since now he worked for the Navy) when he heard footsteps.
"Umm… hello? Gibbs sent me up here… I can help you get your hard drive running…"
A female voice filtered down through the desk. Unfortunately, the only words that reached Tony's ears were:
"I can help you get… hard."
He jerked up, whacking his head on the top of the desk in the process. Rubbing the sore spot, he slid out from under the desk. To be met with black, vinyl platform boots stretching all the way up to knees. And then a whole lot of leg. She could indeed.
One of those boots tapped him on the head.
"So you're the new guy."
Tony pulled himself up, running a hand through his hair. "Tony DiNozzo. And you are?"
She smiled wickedly. "Abby. Need help with your computer?"
"Oh yeah."
She squatted down at the back of the computer and in less than a minute it was whirring into life. Abby stood up, adjusting her pigtails.
"So, Tony. Like what you see?"
He nodded dumbly and she patted him on the cheek before spinning around and strolling out of the room.
Then they caught a case and he was too busy trying not to screw up on his first day to think about her anymore. The next time they saw each other was in her lab, a place as unusual as the woman who worked there. She noticed him admiring her Jack Skellington doll while she was going over the ballistics report with Gibbs and winked.
He stayed back after Gibbs left and she came over, standing much closer than any female he'd ever worked with. But then, he figured, she didn't know him very well. Yet.
"He's cute, huh," Abby said, tickling her doll.
"…yeah," Tony replied. "It's a pretty good movie."
"The best," Abby replied, tugging on Tony's tie before turning back to her microscope.
Three days passed and Tony found himself in the parking garage, feeling as if he might fall over from exhaustion. He didn't care; they'd caught the guy and he had the whole weekend off. Sleep sounded like a very good idea. 48 hours of blissful, non-interrupted sleep.
"Closed your first case. Nice," said a familiar voice and Tony realized he'd been about to doze off standing in the middle of the garage. Abby walked over, linking arms with him. "You got plans for tonight?"
Tony shook his head.
"Good," Abby grinned, pulling him further down the car park.
They passed Tony's Corvette.
"Abby, what-"
She quieted him by pressing a finger to his lips. "You can pick it up tomorrow. Unless-" she stopped walking. "You're too tired to play?"
"I'm never too tired to play," he hissed into her ear, all traces of fatigue vanishing instantly. He could sleep later.
And that was how he came to be sprawled back on Abby's bed as she stripped in front of him.
After a week with Gibbs, he'd learnt most of the rules. Always carry a knife, always wear gloves, never be unreachable, double check everything, don't apologize … but there was one, something that he knew was important. He was just finding it a little hard to concentrate with the beautiful, almost-naked woman standing in front of him.
It hit him like a lightening bolt and he sat straight up. "Rule 12 Abs. We can't do this. Gibbs will fire me. Or kill me… or both."
Abby laughed, removing the last item of clothing (her panties) and tossing them on the ground. "Rule twelve... never date a coworker. Well that's okay."
"It is?" Tony said, feeling more than a little disappointed.
She nodded. "There are always exceptions to the rules."
Then she lunged, kissing him breathlessly. "Technically, I'm not your co-worker. I don't have a team, I work with everybody. Exception."
He flipped her over so he was on top. "I'd say that's more of a loophole than an exception to the rule."
"Are you complaining?"
"Not at all." He kissed her hard and she gasped into his mouth, dragging her fingers through his hair.
Exception or not, Gibbs was going to kill them when he found out. More specifically, he was going to kill Tony when he found out. But – Tony closed his eyes as her deft fingers finished unbuttoning his shirt and moved toward his belt buckle – it might just be worth it.
Correction. It would definitely be worth it.