First Day...Kind Of

Willow glanced around the office for the hundredth time, hoping she didn't look as nervous as she felt.

It was her first day at NCIS, and her stomach felt like it was training for the Olympics.

Well, technically, it was actually her fourth day, but she didn't think the first three counted, as she'd spent them alone in an empty office, watching training videos and reading over the fifteen bajillion confidentiality statements she had to sign.

But today she was actually going to be able to do something...just as soon as someone told her what her job was. The job description had been suitably vague, in that she had no concrete duties.

Junior IT Specialist. AKA – whatever we don't feel like doing ourselves.

She just wished someone would get around to throwing her something soon. There was only so much time she could spend 'setting up her computer' (she'd already hacked Windows and given herself admin privileges, because it was stupid to not allow her admin access on her own computer), and any minute now she was going to start surfing the net for a new desktop background. She also didn't know how much programming she'd end up doing outside of the .NET stuff, so there was no point in setting up a dual boot with Linux just yet – though it would kill the time until it was time to go home.

On the plus side, she'd been given a Level 3 access to the firewall and various internal servers, so at least she wouldn't have to tunnel her way through the government enforced internet access control to get to certain sites.

But that didn't mean she wasn't any less bored.

Just when she was about to give in and email her uncle to express her boredom, the main door to IT opened, and a harassed young man flew in. He looked cute in that hugable teddy bear way, with his short dark hair and round face. He also looked out of place in his business suit, surrounded as he was by khakis wearing computer geeks.

“What can I do for you, Agent McGee?” asked Jason Chalmers, the head of NCIS IT and her boss.

“I need a new phone. Now.” he said, rushed and out of breath, eyes wide.

“Dare I ask what happened to yours?” Jason asked, eyebrows raised in amusement as he tried to keep the smile off his face. In fact, everyone else in the room had a sudden interest in their current tasks, though Willow was sure she'd heard a muffled laugh or two. Willow, herself, was having trouble keeping the smile off her face.

The stories about agents destroying their equipment were vast and varied, but none quite so legendary as that of her uncle's team. The number of phones alone, was staggering.

“It's not mine, it's Gibbs'.” McGee said, holding out what Willow could now see was a badly damaged PDA phone. A 'brand new' badly damaged PDA phone. In fact, it was the one she'd seen her uncle grab off the kitchen counter this morning before coming in to work.

“What about the backup supply?” she heard Jason ask, and wondered what he meant by 'backup supply'.

“This is it.” said McGee, motioning to the broken device. “It's been a bad month. We put in for another batch, but it hasn't come in yet.”

Jason just sighed in a way that Willow was becoming familiar with. It was his 'humouring the field agents' sigh. Then he called out to Willow and motioned her to join them.

“Take Agent McGee to the Vault and get him one of the new 830's as a replacement. They're more durable, so should last a little longer.” The last part was said to McGee, before they were sent off down the hall.

This was one of the things she knew how to do, as she'd been assigned her own phone just hours before. (Every person in IT had one, for both emergencies and to keep in touch as they moved throughout the various NCIS buildings they serviced.) It was also her only defined job, currently – to keep field agent's mobile tech up-to-date and functional.

As they left the smallish office, Willow noticed the smirk that was barely held in check on Jason's face, and knew that she would be interacting with Agent Gibbs' team more often. The others in IT had a vile dislike of the team, though no one could decide if it was because of Gibbs and his destructive tendencies, or MIT-computer genius McGee who kept showing them up – that much she'd learned over lunches and breaks these last few days. Either way, the overworked IT guys had decided that Gibbs was the devil and his team were his evil minions.

Not that Willow minded. At least she had something to do now.

It would be interesting to see how her uncle interacted with the other agents, and Willow was under no illusions about Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

He was a marine to the core.

Who apparently didn't like phones.

Well, no one's perfect.

END

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