Chapter 17: Dr. Palmer has a thing… for shoes

The following day, after clearing the air and making heartfelt promises of keeping in touch, the team decided to drop by Jimmy's job to say their goodbyes before going to the airport. They had the chance of observing the frantic actions of the doctors in their day-to-day tribulations, and were pleasantly surprised with how well their dear Autopsy Gremlin fitted in the well oiled machine of Gloria's trauma unit.

As soon as Jimmy had a break after fixing a toddler's broken arm, he came to their side and invited them for a coffee in the well stocked and buzzing doctors' lounge. Gibbs immediately zeroed in the three coffee machines on the counter, each producing endless litters of coffee in order to keep the doctors, nurses and interns awake during their day and night shifts.

Jimmy chuckled as he saw the interested glance Gibbs threw at the brew in one of the doctor's hands, the strong scent of coffee reaching them despite the fact they were standing several feet away.

"Wanna try it?" he offered, just to receive a raised eyebrow from Gibbs. "It's right up your alley. The stuff here is so strong that we usually joke the doctor's stomachs must be lined with lead in order to deal with it."

"I might." Gibbs answered, his eyes following another doctor looking extremely haggard standing by the coffee machine and staring sightlessly at the brew being poured in his cup.

Tony's eyes, in the other hand, were fixed in an extremely young and attractive nurse sitting by herself in the other side of the room, stirring her cup of coffee while eating a donut, her gaze on the fashion magazine in her hand.

"So man, are you sure you haven't found any cool chick in here?"

"I'd rather not talk about that."

"Ah, come on, man. Give me a break. There are some really gorgeous babes in here."

"I am not you, Tony. Regardless of what you think, I don't reduce the woman I date to mere objects or one night stands. I simply can't function like that. Besides, I have specific interests."

Ziva and McGee grinned, exchanging a knowing look as they remembered Jimmy's specific preferences. "Sure, Jimmy. We know."

Jimmy folded his arms, chagrined at the teasing grins on his friends' faces. "Come on, I am just very particular on my likes and dislikes, okay? There's nothing wrong in admiring beauty."

"Sure, Jimmy." Ziva said, noticing a drop dead gorgeous blonde doctor waltzing into the doctor's lounge in high stilettos shoes. She squinted at them, aware those must have cost a pretty penny and they were right up Jimmy's alley. "But then, you know you just have to grab the opportunities as they present themselves, right?"

Jimmy followed Ziva's gaze and found the pretty blonde doctor, noticing her going across the room and how she stopped by the coffee machines. His eyes slid easily over her curvaceous body but when she supported her side against the counter and daintily lifted one delicate feet of the floor, showing the beautiful red color of the soles of her shoes he was struck mute.

His reaction was instantaneous and comic, making his colleagues fall into laughter as they watched his brain literally go into a halt and his Neanderthal instinct go into overdrive as he literally salivated about those dainty feet in high pricey shoes.

"That's right up your alley, right, Jimmy?" Tony said as he put an arm around Jimmy's shoulders, squeezing it lightly.

"Ah... Ah… wow… those are Christian Loubotin's shoes."

Tony grinned, nodding and looking at the blonde doctor, who turned around with her coffee in hands and found both men gazing at her, one almost apoplexic and the other smiling lasciviously.

"What?"

The blonde doctor frowned and glared at them, crossing the room to demand explanations. Tony just raised his arms showing he was unarmed and not dangerous, but her gaze zeroed on Palmer in his hospital uniform. The young doctor gulped and started sweating, his eyes becoming huge behind his eyeglasses. Obviously, she was out for blood and the one being spilt in the near future would be of the new trauma doctor.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah… eh… nothing is wrong?" He looked desperately at Tony, who just chuckled and shrugged, in the universal gesture of saying `it's your problem, not mine, buddy`.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"No, ma'am. I mean… Dr." Jimmy looked at her name tag. "Dr. Olden, absolutely not. We were not making fun of you."

"So why are you smiling like idiots?"

"Oh… we? No we…"

Tony decided to go straight to the point. "We were just admiring your shoes."

"My shoes?"

Jimmy nodded vigorously, vaguely pointing at her stilettos. "Yes, your Loubotin's."

"Yes, these are Loubotin's. How do you know designer shoes?"

"Ah… ohh… uhm…"

Gibbs just folded his arms and stared at Jimmy, who blushed brightly under the scrutiny of the team – Ziva, Tony and Tim were just looking at the young doctor waiting for his answer, barely containing their laughter – while Ducky chuckled lightly and cleaned his glasses, not willing to add to the younger man's discomfort.

"Ah… ohh…."

"Are you gay?"

Palmer blanched, lifting his arms in shock and taking a step towards the gorgeous doctor glaring at him.

"NO! No.. it's just… I have a thing… I mean… I just… I like shoes. Just… ah… It's my thing, you know, women shoes."

The beautiful blonde dropped the disgruntled face, now smiling at him with a knowing glint in her eyes.

"So you like shoes?"

"Ah… Yes ma'am." He blushed brightly, feeling mortified for admitting that outloud.

At that point, Tony was already howling with laughter, while Ziva had hidden her face against McGee's chest and was snorting. Loudly. McGee was trying to keep a dignified face, but he wasn't very successful in that.

She took a step closer to Jimmy, gently touching the sleeve of his doctor's apron and studying him with a come-hither look.

"You know, beside this Loubotin's I have a couple of Manolo's back home."

"Oh… Manolo's?"

"Yep."

"Oh…"

"You see, there's the one with the lace and open toes."

"Lace?" Jimmy was visibly sweating, his eyes glazed as he imagined the shoes… or better yet, the doctor with only the shoes in her feet. Nothing else.

"I also have the Kahika boots."

Jimmy had to hold back his whimpers. "Black cut out flowers in suede?"

She leaned towards him until she could whisper in his ear. "Red."

Jimmy's brain froze completely, his neural pathways glancing at each other, shrugging lightly and going door-to-door shutting down its functions. The blonde smiled wolfishly at him as she noticed the glazed out look in his eyes, patting him lightly on his cheek before grinning at the agents standing by his side leaving the doctor's lounge with a sexy swing on her hips.

Tony went to Jimmy's side, wiggling his eyebrows to Ziva as he saw that Jimmy didn't even acknowledge his touch in his shoulder, such was his fascination with that woman's shoes.

"So… Manolos, uhm?"

Jimmy was barely blinking, his gaze lost in a fantasy of long pale legs and red suede boots up to the knees. "Red Manolos…"

"Man, you're sick."

"He's not sick." Timothy said, trying to find a word to define their friend and finding none appropriate. "He's just being… Jimmy."

- the end? -