Changeling definition: (from Western European folklore) A child believed to have been exchanged by fairies for the parents' true child.

"Okay, so tell me again why he's here?" Tony asked as nonchalantly as he could, hoping no one heard the desperation in his voice.

"He is here to help us with the computer forensics of the case, Tony," Cate huffed impatiently. "Gibbs already explained it to you!"

"Eggs -actly, Catie, Gibbs explained it to me. Gibbs. Talking. About computers. What words in that set of words don't belong together?"

"Oh for crying out loud, Tony, what is there to understand, none of us are smart enough to get the information we need off Hughson's computer and we need Tim McGee to do it, what part of that don't you get?"

"Why Abby can't do it, I mean, that's what I don't get, she's got mad computer skills, give her enough time and she can crack it like a -"

"Don't have enough time, DiNozzo," Gibbs answered for her, swinging into the bullpen. "Hughson walks, he leaves the country, computer and all, no evidence, no conviction."

"There's that, I guess." Tony conceded, but his face still showed his stony belligerence, and Gibbs could only wonder what was brewing beneath the surface. "He's staying at my place while he's here, no rooms avail -"

"Boss, we were supposed to-" Tony's protest died on his lips when he realized nothing was going right the entire day.

"What, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without looking up from his work.

Shit. The man had forgotten about it already. That figured.

"Uhh, nothing, Boss." Might as well give in to the wave, go with the flow, hold his water. "When's he getting in?"

"Should be here shortly depending on traffic. Send him straight down to Abby if he gets in and I'm not here."

"Got it, Gibbs." Cate put in, hoping to divert the job over to herself. Knowing her partner, he'd send poor McGee down to Ducky's lair, or worse, Director Morrow's.

"Back in a while, got a meeting with Fornell, he can't get out of the Hoover building."

Cate waited for Gibbs to disappear into the elevator before starting her interrogation of DiNozzo.

"So you can tell me, Tony, why don't you like McGee? There's not a thing wrong with him, he's hard-working, ambitious, unfailingly polite, and did we happen to mention his degrees from Johns Hopkins and MIT?"
So many times that I want to vomit on your desk top, Catie.

"Yes, I do recall being reminded of that, Cate." Tony answered flatly, all annoyance, in fact any emotion at all removed from his voice as he went back to his own computer. Conversation over, talking about the geek would only give him more power.

"Seems to have a thing for Abby, too." she added innocently.

Tony wanted to groan out loud. Just one more reason to want to give the guy a swirlie. True, maybe McGee was a better bet than Guido the Marine she had just dumped, but..

"Huh, well, I guess that's Abby's business, I'm not allowed to pick her dates for her, she stomped on my little toe with her big boots the last time I stuck my nose in her dating business. Not going there again."

Cate looked across the bullpen at her partner, trying to ascertain what was actually going on in his head, but like Gibbs had witnessed, she saw nothing of import on his face as he blandly pecked at his keyboard. Well, Tony was prone to fits of inexplicable behavior, especially when it involved someone he had difficulty in relating to, so whatever it was, would run its course soon enough, she decided, and went back to her own work, leaving the problem in the capable hands of their boss.

Which, they all found out later, proved to be a huge miscalculation.

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Doctor Donald 'Ducky' Mallard may have been considered eccentric and off-color by some, but to those who knew him, he knew exactly what the scuttlebutt and mood of the agency he worked for was at any given time, especially when it involved his two closest friends, Jethro Gibbs and Anthony DiNozzo.

Abby Sciuto had unwittingly informed him of Tim McGee's impending visit, and why he was visiting. When she realized that perhaps it was a tale told out of school, though there was really nothing wrong with anyone knowing he was visiting for a while, but maybe Gibbs didn't want the entire agency knowing he was totally ill-equipped to handle computer forensics for their present case, but didn't everyone already know that already, and really, they couldn't find a better employee of the agency to handle it if she couldn't...and Ducky had already let her ramble on for so long, she figured 'in for a pound, in for a penny', and proceeded to tell him that she was cooking up a plan to get Tim transferred to their agency to work in cyber crimes and maybe eventually Gibbs' own team.

Ducky's head snapped up from his work of measuring some unfortunate's cranium, and he stopped what he was doing to actually speak instead of just listen.

"Abigail, if I were you I would consider the plan that you are formulating a bit more carefully. It has taken Jethro many years to finally find a team that he can work with without being in a constant state of uproar. Adding someone who is efficient in the extreme in computer technology may just upset the apple cart, as it were."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ducky, they like Timmy, no one has ever said a bad word about him, not even Tony – well, he calls him a geek, but really, he's just stating a fact, but -"

"Working with someone long-distance, or even physically for a day or two is not quite the same thing as joining the team and changing the entire dynamic of it."

"But it's just the three of them, Ducky, adding the fourth will balance them!"

"Abigail, I am telling you that you are putting your romantic feelings for Timothy before what is actually best for the team!"

"Ducky, I would never do such a thing, Timmy is just a friend, and I'm trying to help him out, he so wants to come work here!"

"Then I suggest to you that you let him get here on his own volition and not force him on your friends here, friends, whom need I remind you, have always had your best interests at heart and would never consider foisting a friend of theirs on you to work along side you in your laboratory."

"Gibbs says he likes him, and he'll help me." she stated, her face set in a defiant pout.

"Yes, well, up until now, 'Gibbs' is not known for his sterling record when it comes to selecting members for his team. You were, as I recall, quite enthused about having that – what was the nickname Anthony gave him – Jelly Belly – ingratiate himself into Director Morrow's good graces and onto Jethro's team."

Abby blanched at the name and the memories associated with it. During an undercover case, the agent had been talking on his cell with his girlfriend instead of watching for Tony's signal that things were heading south, and as a result of missing it, Tony had spent two days in the hospital and another three at Gibbs's place mending from various scrapes and contusions fleeing for his life from the perps. No one ever knew what Gibbs had said to the guy in the interrogation room, but when Jelly Belly was escorted out of the building by security, he was ghostly pale and sweating profusely.

That evening, Chris Pacci had found the remains of the latest hot cell phone gouged into the carpet, all but unrecognizable after having been stomped on by a work boot belonging to a beyond furious Gibbs. Obviously either no one had warned the newest agent about Gibbs' fierce protective streak when it came to his team, or he stupidly chose to ignore it; either way, he was never heard about again in reference to any government agency or case.

"He's nothing like Jelly B- like Brian Dillman, Ducky, I would never -"

"Abigail, I know you mean well, and I know that no matter what I say to you, you will march right ahead with your plans, but mark my words, if harm comes to that team because of your being so headstrong, you will not have my sympathy this time, nor anyone else's."

"Timmie wouldn't hurt a fly, Ducky. It'll be fine, he's a super-cyber agent, he's not going out in the field with them."

Ducky sighed, shaking his head as he went back to his work. Though he had never made a big fuss about his gut instincts like Jethro Gibbs was accustomed to doing, he nonetheless had them, and very accurate ones to boot, and at the moment they were rapping him on the head in intuitive warning.

Perhaps he would have a chance to talk to Gibbs before the day was out and this business with Abby and Timothy McGee got out of hand.

TBC...