(quote from Chapter 2 of the Doctor DiNozzo story)
"I don't get it Tony." Gibbs asked, cutting in, obviously irritated. "Do you like this job?"
Tony's mouth dropped open. He had expected Gibbs to yell at him. He had expected 'the look.' But this…this threw him off. "Do I…What?"
"Do you like this job, Tony?" Gibbs said. "A simple question deserving a simple answer."
Tony's mouth opened and closed once before he could find the words. "Of…of course, I do, Gibbs?" Tony paused. "Where is this coming from?" Tony couldn't believe his ears.
Gibbs started to pace. "Try EVERY Monday morning, after every free weekend. You…you come in like you haven't gotten over your partying." Gibbs paused. "I used to not say anything. But…but Tony you…at first it wasn't every weekend. I wasn't too concerned. But now…it is every weekend we aren't on call. I…you're not a college kid anymore."
Tony smiled and started to chuckle a little.
(end quote)
A dozen agents and support staff from various areas within NCIS reluctantly filled the small training room. None of them were looking forward to spending the better part of the day learning the new protocols for tracking the various pieces of evidence and logs (phone, internet, financial, among others). The seats were arranged around the U-shaped table with the instructor standing in front, cheerfully greeting everyone as they entered and chose a seat.
"Ok, looks like everyone's here, so let's get started," the trainer said as he handed out a thick stack of paper stapled together to everyone in the room. Gibbs took one look at the 30-something man in a neat grey pinstripe suit and decided he'd never set foot in a crime scene, much less actually qualified as a field agent. He hid his grimace behind his coffee and settled in to what promised to be a useless training session.
After a few minutes of introductions and 'setting expectations' for the session, Zach (the trainer) asked a question of the group. "So how well do you really know each other?"
"We're like family! We know EVERYTHING about each other!" Abby looked around the classroom as if daring anyone to contradict her. A chorus of agreement sounded through the room.
"We know how we work together. That's enough," Gibbs muttered. Tony, seated next to him, grinned when he heard the blunt statement.
Zach looked around the room, "ok, then. let's see if Abby here is right. Will you come up front please?" Abby jumped up and happily joined the trainer.
"Ok, this is very simple Abby. You'll give you two pieces of information about yourself. One is true and one isn't. Your teammates, your family as you said, have to decide which is true and which isn't. Ok? Think about it for a minute, and then tell us your two things."
Abby nodded and after a minute, nodded sharply. "Ok. Got it. Number 1", she raised one finger the same way she did in the lab explaining a finding from her 'babies'. "Number 1, my brother Luca is deaf. And number 2," raising another finger, "I had a pet alligator when I was growing up." Zach nodded slowly, "Ok, thank you Abby," then he turned to the rest of the group, "So, which is true? and which isn't?"
McGee stated confidently, "Luca isn't deaf, so number 1's not true." An agent from one of the other teams disagreed, "A pet alligator? No way. That's the lie." Zach let the group discuss a few minutes before calling for a vote. The pet alligator was voted 5 to 5 (Gibbs refused to vote) to be the lie. Abby had a wide grin on her face. "Nope, that's true. We found it when she was a tiny thing, barely 3 feet long, and kept Ally-the-alligator until her broken leg healed. And then we let it go in the backyard."
Zach stared at her, "in the backyard? Aren't there laws against that?"
Abby shrugged, "In Louisiana? I don't think so. Besides, that's where we found her. She went right back into the swamp without even looking back to say goodbye." She looked a little teary-eyed.
"Um, ok, thank you, Abby. Who's next?" Zach looked around and had the agent that first disagreed with Tim come up and give two statements. It was fairly obvious which was which, and the lie was determined quickly. Zach asked for one more volunteer. "How about you, Gibbs?" Zach hesitated at Gibbs' glare, "um, ok, maybe something else later, how about you?" he pointed at Tony.
"Sure," Tony stood up and adjusted his suit sleeves before walking up front. "Ok, well, number 1, and I've never admitted this to anyone before," he started, "but except for NCIS assignments, I've never been to Hawaii." (which was a bald-faced lie. He clearly remembered, at age 12, the amazement of seeing live palm trees growing on the side of the street, and then the sheer panic when he realized that his father had abandoned him in the hotel.) He cleared his throat, "and number 2, I work part-time as an Emergency Room doctor at Bethesda." The entire room, except for Gibbs, broke out laughing. But even Gibbs was smiling, he had to admit, as a true-or-not story it was a good one, although extremely obvious as the lie. Tony looked at his Team Leader and gave small half-nod. Tony watched the Gibbs' smile fade and be replaced with a look of puzzlement before settling back into his usual Gibbs-is-pissed look.
Zach raised his hands to quiet the room. "Ok, let's see, I'll say that's 11 that say number 2 is the lie, Tony,"
Gibbs interrupted to say, "the Hawaii trip is the lie." Kate started to argue, but stopped when Gibbs glared at her. "Hawaii is the lie," Gibbs repeated. His gut told him that was the case, but it made no sense that Tony could also be a doctor. But Gibbs depended on his gut in the field, he could depend on it in a silly training session too.
Zach turned to Tony, "ok, not quite unanimous, so which is it? The Hawaii trip or the doctor?"
Tony gave a small shrug, "I visited Hawaii when I was 12, so that was the lie. I've been working at Bethesda for 4 years."
Gibbs, as usual, broke the sudden silence. "So that's what you do on your weekends off."
Author's Chapter Notes:
The team goes to a training session and have to share things about themselves