Old Vendetta (NCIS Fanfic)

Ch. 1

A/N - Hello to you all! Okay, so this was one of my first NCIS stories I published on another site. I'm sort of combing through the story before I put a chapter up, but this story is fully written. Please let me know what you think.

She was sitting in the corner booth of his favorite coffee shop. That was when he first noticed her. For him, it was a huge step as he hadn't had a steady girlfriend for over a year. This was not because he hadn't found anyone attractive, he was just preoccupied with writing his fifth book. Tony had taken to ribbing him for the past month, once he found out he was not seeing anyone. For his part, Tim was taking it all in stride.

He took a sip of his coffee, glancing up from the notebook in front of him that contained the notes on his latest novel. He saw her smile, a smile that lit up her face beautifully. She tucked a section of her auburn hair behind her ear as she adjusted her ear buds so she could better hear what she was watching on her iPhone.

He lowered his eyes quickly when she looked his way, color filling his cheeks, a dead giveaway that he had been caught. When he dared to peek again, she was still looking at him. Instead of turning back to her phone, she waved for him to join her.

Grinning, he closed his notebook, grabbed his coffee and walked over to her booth. She motioned for him to sit down across from her. She took the ear buds out before talking. "I'm glad you came over."

"Thanks for asking. I'm sorry I was staring at you," he apologized, blushing furiously again.

She smiled, strangely attracted to his shy manner. "I didn't mind. I have to confess, I was checking you out too. When you were writing."

His smile melted her more as he held his hand out to her. "My name is Timothy McGee. But my friends call me Tim."

She smiled and took his hand to shake. "I'm Elizabeth Morgan. Everyone just calls me Beth."

"It's very nice to meet you Beth."

"You too Tim."

Both took a sip of their coffees, pausing to gather their thoughts. Beth was the first to speak.

"So Tim, I noticed you have a notebook with you. Are you a writer?"

"Its my second job."

She raised her eyebrow slightly. "Oh, that's cool. What's your first job?"

He smiled and glanced down before replying, "I'm a federal agent. I work for NCIS."

"Sounds exciting," she replied, smiling.

"It definitely can be. So, what do you do for a living?"

"Believe it or not, I'm a firefighter with the District Fire Department."

He looked slightly surprised. "Now that would be an exciting job."

"It is. I've been doing it since I was eighteen and still love my job. That was fifteen years ago. How long have you been a NCIS agent?"

"Eight years. I was twenty-five when I became a probationary agent. I was in school for almost six years to prepare to get into NCIS. But I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I love my job too much to ever give it up."

"So, do you come here often for coffee, Tim?" Beth asked, twisting a strand of her hair around her finger.

"Every day, if I can. You?"

"Just found it the other day. I was out jogging and decided to stop for a cup of coffee. Today I came here on a whim." She glanced down as her cheeks reddened, "I'm glad I did."

He took her hand before responding, "Me too."

He glanced down when his phone began to vibrate. When he saw the Caller ID, he looked apologetic as he said, "I have to take this. It'll just be a moment."

A minute later he was collecting his notebook and coffee. "I hate to say this, but I have to go. Could we meet here again tomorrow morning?"

"Sure, I can be here."

"Awesome. It was nice to meet you Beth."

"It was nice to meet you too Tim," she replied, waving as he left the coffee house. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to meet such a nice guy. She put her ear buds back in, going back to her show she was watching, smiling the whole time.

NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS

"Nice of you to join us McGee," Gibbs said as Tim jogged over to the team. He had put his NCIS hat and jacket on as soon as he arrived at the scene to which they were called. They were at Anacostia Park, where a petty officer had been found dead near the river.

"Sorry Boss. Won't happen again," he replied, pulling his gloves out of his pack and grabbed the camera.

"See that it doesn't," Gibbs replied gruffly, looking over the crime scene.

McGee began taking photos of the area around the dead petty officer. "So do we know what happened?"

"Well, we know how he died. There is a deep puncture wound in his lower abdomen. He bled considerably. He was killed right here," Ducky said, examining the body.

"Who found him?" McGee asked, glancing over to where DiNozzo and Ziva were.

"Apparently a couple were taking a romantic walk when they literally stumbled on the body. The woman was so panicked that she had a major asthma attack from falling over the body. She had to be rushed to the emergency room," Ziva replied, marking footprints around the crime scene for McGee to photograph.

"Do you have a time of death, Duck?"

"I estimate around 6-8 hours ago. Okay Mr. Palmer, lets get this poor soul back to autopsy so we can see if he is hiding anything else."

"Yes Doctor," Jimmy replied, helping Ducky bag the body.

"So McTardy, why were you late this morning?" Tony asked, looking over at his partner, hoping to get a rile out of him. When that didn't happen and Tim only smiled instead of answering, Tony became instantly suspicious. "What is up with you? Wait! You finished your book finally didn't you?"

Tim looked confused as he glanced over at Tony. "What? No, I haven't finished my book yet. I'm on chapter fifteen now. Why?"

"Because you look like the cat that swallowed the hamster," Ziva replied, earning her a smirk from Tony.

"Its canary and I am just happy this morning," Tim responded, turning back to the job at hand.

Tony and Ziva exchanged a look before Tony said, "You are never this happy in the morning Probie. You are definitely not a morning person."

"Could you just drop it please?" Tim asked, a pleading look in his eyes. He definitely did not want to give Tony any fodder to play with. Beth was a nice girl and wanted to keep her a secret for as long as he could.

Tony looked back to Ziva and shrugged his shoulders as they went back to processing the scene.