I Never Wanted to Take Her Place

[OffMyRocker]

Title: I Never Wanted to Take Her Place
Summary: She’s been there a month… so why can’t she get through to them? The developing story of the girl who tried her hardest NOT to take Kate's place...
Pre-Story Author's Note: This is the first story in what I'm hoping will be a trilogy, and, since this is a purely people-oriented (as opposed to action/case-oriented) story, it will probably be the shortest. I'm just saying, don't expect kick-ass suspense here.

Prologue

My first day of work. Wow. How long had it been since I worked in the private sector? Well… if it could really be called “private”. I mean, I was still technically working for the government, just on a much smaller, and less dangerous, scale.

I parked my car in the number they had told me to, and rested my head against the headrest, feeling the air conditioning blast over me. People had been telling me left and right how this summer in Washington, DC was one of the hottest they’d seen in a long time. Which meant I should have felt right at home, being from Florida. But did I? No way!

And why, might you ask? Well, I was in a city I’d never been in before, just starting to meet people, just starting a new job, and I didn’t know anyone I’d be working with. The only thing I’d been told was that the girl before me had been killed while working.

And all this, while having only one leg and half a kidney!

Just kidding. And my dad says I need to lighten up…<br>
I took a deep breath and turned off my car. Almost immediately, the heat began to seep in, so I stepped out and locked my door, hurrying to the elevator in the underground parking lot and pushing the button a couple hundred times until a man came up behind me and started staring.

I grimaced a smile in his direction and stepped away from the door, fiddling with my hands behind my back to keep from reaching out and jiggling the button a few hundred more times. The man smiled over at me as the door dinged open.

“First day?” he asked, letting me into the elevator first, and then getting in himself.


“Yes.” I let out a relieved sigh and finally took a good look at him. Tall, sandy-haired, a little older than me… and good-looking. “How could you tell?”<br>
“You look green,” he stated thoughtfully, appraising me carefully. My signature lopsided grin fell quickly. “I’m just kidding,” he continued quickly, smiling apologetically at me. “Actually, I could tell because I’ve never seen you before.”<br>
“Oh.” My grin returned. “I thought maybe it was because I was messing around with the button, but… I do that anyway.”<br>
“I’m Carlton Contreras, by the way,” the man stated, reaching out his hand for me to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Carlton. I’m Ellie Nolan.” I gave him a real smile, not my little I’m-happy-but-I’m-not-sure-why grin.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, too, Ellie. You can just call me Carl. Everyone else does.”<br>
“Oh.” An uncomfortable silence developed between us, and I found myself wondering if the elevator was broken, it was taking so long. I glanced down at my watch.

“So, you’re new?” I nodded. “Who are you going to work for?”<br>
“Uh… I think his name is… Glibs? Er… no, that’s not it. One minute…” I wrestled the paper out of the manila file I clutched in my hand. “Gibbs! Mr. Leroy Gibbs. Do you know him?”<br>
Carl winced. “Yeah, I know him. I’ve gotta tell you though, he’s a little…” He made a crazy sign as the door slid open.

“What do you mean…?”<br>
“Listen, I’ll walk you there, okay? Just to make you feel a little better,” Carl suggested as the door opened with a pleasant ding.

“Uh… sure…” I mumbled. I was taken by the elbow, to be led through a large room filled with a maze of cubicles, dividers, desks, copiers, lamps… you name an office supply, they had it in there. Heck, I probably could have asked the elderly lady in the muumuu for one of those gigantic paperclips and she would have had one.

“Here we are,” Carl announced, bringing me to a stop in front of one of the little office spaces. It was separated, like the rest, by cubicles, four desks in a sort of circle, three of them obviously occupied. The other was completely empty, aside from the blank computer and the phone. Probably the killed agents.

What made this group stand out so much, though, were the people in it – and what they were doing. I watched, totally unnoticed by the male occupants, as they hastily stuffed papers into trash baskets and swept crumbs off their desks. Not a hard job, but obviously rushing after procrastinating for so long, and messing up constantly, wasn’t getting them very far.

I didn’t notice until then, but Carl’s hand now rested on my shoulder. I felt slightly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat loudly, and the three men looked up. There was a grumpy-looking, silver-haired man, who got two desks, plus a nicer computer (I guessed this was Mr. Gibbs), a geeky-looking guy about my age – maybe a little younger, and a tall, dark, handsome guys in the desk directly across from the empty desk. All looked extremely harrowed and not at all happy to see me.

“Carlton…” the tall guy murmured, glaring at my escort… ew. I’m not that kind of girl. Sorry. My guide.

“DiNozzo…” Carl growled, glaring back.

“Hi.” I gave a small wave and strapped on my brightest smile, which I knew was probably very frightened-looking at the moment. “I’m Ellie Nolan.”<br>
“I’ll be going now,” Carl spat out, giving me one last pat and dashing away before another word could be spoken to him.

“Mr. Gibbs?” I asked tentatively, not sure whom I should be speaking to.

“Come here and face me,” the silver-haired man stated, glaring at me slightly. I was hesitant, but complied with as little visual averseness as possible. “Let me see your papers.” I felt the eyes of the other two men on my back as I handed him my folder.

“So…” he began finally, once he was done flicking through my file. “You’re who they’ve sent to replace Todd?”<br>
“I’m not here to replace anyone, sir,” I replied, fiddling with my hands behind my back again. Mr. Gibbs traded glances with the two other men. “Please, sir, I was just assigned to your team.”<br>
“Good.” He stood and gestured to the empty desk. “You’ll address me as Mr. Gibbs…” The tall, younger man snickered, but Mr. Gibbs glared at him. “And you’ll do as I say, understand?”<br>
“Yes, sir,” I replied, trying to pull my best smile, but failing miserably, as I sat down at the desk.

This was so weird. I got the feeling of a happy, exciting place being turned into a drab and quiet place to work, of normally happy people creeping into their cocoons to hide from everyone else’s feelings. This was a sure sign that their comrade had been gone less than a few weeks. If this was the case, I really shouldn’t have been placed into this situation, both for their sake, as well as mine.

I took a deep breath and booted up the computer, hoping that they would open up to me a little more in the future…<br>

---

by A. Person

[glow=purple,2,300]Feel free to review![/glow]

[Gibbsgirl]

Interesting beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take this. Keep up the good work.

[OffMyRocker]

Chapter One

One month later…

“Hey, Tony, could you hand me that list?” I asked, leaning over my desk to try and receive them from him, while remaining on the phone. I could tell he ignored me on purpose, so I picked up a file and slapped his desk with it. He finally looked up at me, and I had just enough time to mouth ‘LIST?’ before the person I was on the line with came back.

“Okay, I’ve got what you need right here,” the woman stated.

“Alright, I’m going to need you to e-mail me those credit card reports,” I replied.

“I can get them to you in a few days,” she said.

“No, I need them now,” I growled, feeling her lack of helpfulness combining with the usual lack of helpfulness from my teammates making me very angry. “Send them to [e-mail]. Now.”<br>
“Okay, okay… God, you NCIS agents can get really bitchy sometimes.”<br>
“Thanks for your help,” I growled, slamming the phone down on its hook.

“Having a bad day, Nolan?” Mr. Gibbs asked as he passed by my desk.

“The same as usual, sir,” I replied, blocking the light out of my eyes for a few seconds and twisting my hair around my finger. I watched him for a moment as he sat down, then got up and approached his desk.

“Can I help you?” he asked, when I didn’t immediately say anything.

“Well, it’s just… you see, sir, I’ve noticed how Tony and Tim call you Gibbs, or Boss, and I was just wondering… uh… I was wondering why you made me call you Mr. Gibbs.” I began silently praying he didn’t take his gun and kill me right then and there.

Gibbs sat back in his seat, smirking. “That’s a good question, Nolan. The only real reason I asked you to call me that was that you did it anyway, and I thought it was funny.”<br>
“Oh…” I took a deep breath and sat back down at my desk. For a few seconds, I mulled things over, and then, taking a decisive stance, I stood. “I have to go to the bathroom…” I muttered, rushing off in the general direction of the bathroom. I’d learned a while ago that no one would follow me if I did this, which was usually what I wanted… but not all the time.

I cried a little, just enough to hold me until I got home, then proceeded to wash the tell-tale signs of tears off my face and reapply my make-up.

“This is the worst birthday ever…” I sighed, straightening my top in the mirror, holding my head high, and marching back to my desk. When I got back, Tony was nosing through a bouquet resting on my desk, a combination of bright pink roses and purple orchids.

“Who’s this for?” I asked, shoving Tony away unceremoniously. I saw Mr. Gibbs trade an amused glance with Tim out of the corner of my eye.

“Uh… Duh.” Tony rolled his eyes. “It’s on your desk, isn’t it? Obviously it’s for you.”<br>
“Who brought it?” I asked, plucking the half-opened card out of Tony’s hand and reading it.

“I dunno… some guy just…”

“Oh! It’s from Carl!” I grinned and sat on my desk.

“Why’d he send you flowers?” Tony asked, something more than curiosity showing through in his question.

“It’s… my birthday,” I replied, staring down at my feet. “See? He wrote here… For my favorite special agent, on her birthday…” I blushed and sat back down in my chair.

“Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?” Tim asked. I smiled nonchalantly and shrugged.

“Well, y’know… I didn’t want to bug you guys with that kind of stuff… I mean, we might start a really important case soon, and need to focus…” I mentally slapped myself. I’d been trying since eighth grade to stop lying to people just to placate them, but I also didn’t want to unload my emotional garbage on people, especially to the people whom most of my emotional garbage was directed at. I cleared my throat. “I don’t make a big deal out of my birthdays.”<br>
STUPID LIER!

~*x*~

I have to admit, normally, I don’t take naps, but, for some reason, I was feeling particularly mentally (and emotionally) exhausted that day, so, while everyone else was out buying their super-sized fries, and I should have been eating my delicious tuna with lettuce sandwich, I was taking a nap.

I mean, it’s just weird, because I really should have been awake. I haven’t taken a nap since I volunteered at my church, and ended up pulling an all-nighter. That was tenth grade. And I would never exchanged food for sleep. Except that day, apparently.

It wasn’t like I was missing out on anything, though. They never invited me to eat with them, and today was a slow day, so they went out to eat.

When I woke up, Tony was standing right in front of me, a small, grocery store-bought chocolate cake in his hands. The candles in the cake looked like someone had tried to shove twenty-seven of them in at once, and then taken them out and tried to space them out a little better. Tim and Mr. Gibbs were standing behind him.

I blushed brilliantly and tried to smooth out my rumpled hair as they began singing Happy Birthday to me. When they were done, I tucked my hair behind my ears and blew out all the candles with a couple of breaths.

Tony set the cake down in front of me and I sat there, staring at it. For the first time in a month, I got the feeling that I was glimpsing what kind of people they had been before I’d come. And you know what? I liked those people.

“You guys really didn’t have to do this,” I stated, feeling a little choked up. God. Me and my stupid sentimentalism. “I mean, I…” I trailed off as tears welled up in my eyes. I turned around and grabbed a couple of Kleenex, wiping my face quickly.

“Ellie, are you okay?” Tony asked, leaning up against my desk and staring down at me with concern in his eyes. I think, for the first time, that they realized that I was a real person, instead of “that girl who replaced Kate”.

“Yeah.” I grinned at all of them. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’ve just got these bad allergies, with the flowers and all… y’know, I’m allergic to everything…” I glanced down at the cake. “… Except chocolate.”<br>
~*x*~

After a day full of tears, allergies, naps, some more tears, and pure happiness, I felt like this was my first good day of work in a long time. That’s what’s so great about my mindset. Even if the rest of my day has been crap, as long as the last thing to happen to me is good, even in the smallest amount, then the entire day was good, in my opinion.

The best part? I wasn’t the only one smiling at the end of the day, finally.

Tim was the first to leave. He normally wasn’t, but he said something about wanting to spend some time with Abby (I’d been introduced to Abby in my first week – she was nice enough, but, like the rest of them, highly suspicious of me and my intentions). Tim had also been the most open to me; I’d actually spoken to him a few times, and he’d opened up the most.

He smiled at me as he walked by, pulling on his coat. “Bye, Ellie.”<br>
“Bye Tim.” I straightened some papers on my desk as Tony leaned forward in his desk.

“Did you have a good birthday, Ellie?” he asked, smiling at me.

“Much better than I thought I was going to have,” I replied, smiling back. I got up and stood in front of his desk, leaning over and planting a light kiss on his cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked, grinning as I sat down.

“For accepting me,” I replied quietly. He looked like he was about to ask me what I’d meant by that (which I expected out of him), when he was interrupted by Mr. Gibbs.

“DiNozzo, if you’re not out of here in five minutes, I will not be responsible for what Morrow does instead of pay you overtime.”<br>
“Sure thing, Boss.” Tony jumped out of his desk, grabbing his bag and rushing to the elevator. But not before throwing a “Bye Ellie!” over his shoulder. That was the happiest I’d ever been when someone said goodbye to me.

I had the slight suspicion that Mr. Gibbs just wanted Tony out of the way so he could talk to me.

“Sir?” I asked, pulling myself back and forth by gripping the edge of my desk. My boss looked up from his work. “Is there a reason you asked Tony to leave and not me?”<br>
“Actually… yes.” He smiled slightly. “Ellie, I know we haven’t been very open with you…”

“Oh, well, really, it hasn’t been…”

“Ellie, I was a marine, I can tell when people are lying,” he stated quickly. I hung my head. “But I just want you to know that, well… it’s nice to have you on our team.”<br>
I smiled and tried not to laugh. I could tell how hard it was for him, a man, to admit to something like that. The not-laughing plan, however, didn’t work very well, so I settled for chuckling quietly.

He glared at me. “Is something funny, Nolan?”<br>
“No, Mr. Gibbs, sir, it’s just… I could tell how painful that was for you.” He stood. “I’m sorry I laughed at you!”<br>
“It’s alright.” He smiled down at me. “I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a new Ellie from now on.” I stood and kissed him on the cheek, the same way I did Tony’s. Except he knew exactly why I was doing it.

I blushed, grabbed my ten-year-old khaki messenger bag off the back of my chair, and dashed to the elevator.

“Nolan?” he called after me. I reappeared in the entrance moments later, staring at him intently. “You can stop calling me Mr. Gibbs. Just call me Gibbs. Or Boss.”<br>
“Sure thing, Boss,” I replied, giving him a large grinning and hurrying away to my car.

---

by A. Person

[glow=purple,3,300]Feel free to review![/glow]

[jo]

i really like this. you've made this a very believable story. hope there's more to come.

[OffMyRocker]

Chapter Two

I gazed across the way as Tony’s cell phone began to ring. Again. It was probably the fourth time in as many minutes that it had happened. I didn’t mention anything to him, because I thought maybe it was just coincidence, but the fourth time was kind of a giveaway that it wasn’t.

I smiled when he came back from the bathroom, looking harrowed. “Your cell phone rang while you were away. Again.”

“Oh my God!” he cried slamming his head down on the desk. “What is wrong with this woman?”

“Oh, poor Tony has woman problems…” I cooed, sitting down on top of his desk. I lifted his head up and rubbed it briskly, so that his hair stood up on end.

“Don’t mess with the hair!” he proclaimed, glaring at me. “Don’t you know it’s all about the hair?”

“If life was all about hair, then that explains most of my social experience in grade school – or lack thereof…” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, what’s up with this chick? Is she psycho-stalker-esque? Or just really stupid?” I crossed my arms over my chest. His phone began ringing again. “Why don’t you just answer it?” I asked, glaring down at him.

“Because it’s my ex-girlfriend, Christine, and I broke up with her a month ago,” Tony retorted.

“Ah. The Wayne’s World syndrome.” I nodded knowingly, adopting my two-personalities-in-one-body act. “Stacey, I broke up with you three months ago! That doesn’t mean we can’t still go out… Actually, it does.”

“Do you do a lot of impressions?”

I shrugged. “I guess…” This seemed like a very off-topic question, since we’d been talking about his ex-girlfriend fifteen seconds prior. “That’s an odd question.”

“Why?” he asked, smoothing his hair as he leaned back in his chair.

I shrugged again. “I dunno… it just is.” I glanced up as Tim walked by. “Oh my gosh! Timmy got a haircut!” I clapped my hands and followed him to his desk.

“Yeah… and…?” Tim asked, staring at me.

“Can I feel the back of your head?” I asked, seriously, staring at him.

“Uh, sure, I guess…”

I positioned myself just right, and rubbed the back of him head briskly. It felt soft, like when my brother got his hair cut really short in the back.

“Hey! What’s his hair got that I don’t?” Tony asked jealously.

“His hair is so soft!” I exclaimed in ardor.

~*x*~

The phone began to ring while Tony was taking a break in the bathroom. He’s the only person I know who would take breaks from his one-person fan club in the bathroom. I checked the caller ID. Christine. Looking around to make sure no one was looking, I sat down on Tony’s desk, picked up the phone, and answered.

“Tony DiNozzo’s cell phone, how may I help you?” I asked in my most smarmy, sweetest voice.

“Who is this?” the woman on the other end asked.

“Oh! Sorry, this is Tony’s girlfriend,” I stated, just as Tony sat down at his desk with a cup of coffee.

“Who is it?” he whispered.

“Christine,” I replied, holding the phone away from my mouth. He grinned, a sort of half-grin that meant he wasn’t sure where I was going with this. “Sorry, what was that?

“I said, what’s your name?”

“My name’s Ellie. Ellie Nolan.

“You must be one of those women he meets at strips clubs.”

“No, I work with him.”

Christine paused, stuttered. “N-not at a strip club?”

“Not at a strip club, no ma’am.” Tony gave me a thumbs up.

“Alright, then: how long have you two been dating?”

“How long have we been dating?” I stared at Tony, motioning for him to hurry. He held up a three and mouthed weeks. “Three weeks.”

“Oh…” I could hear her hesitation. This story almost sounded believable. “Well, I he must get back on the horse quickly, then. I guess I didn’t mean that much to him.”

“Yeah, I guess he does get back on the horse quickly. And, if it helps… you probably didn’t. Oh, I’m sorry! That’s not very helpful.”

“Well… what do you think he wants for his birthday?”

I bit my lip thoughtfully. “I’d say… a gun rack.”

“That’s an excellent idea! Thank you, so much.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime.” I hung up. “I think I took care of her for you.”

“You’re the best, Ellie,” Tony declared, hugging me.

“I know,” I sighed dreamily, giving him my lopsided grin. “That’s because I’m just wonderful like that.”

“What was the whole gun rack thing about?” he asked.

“She asked what you wanted for your birthday.” I rolled my eyes. “I told her a gun rack. Hopefully she’ll know it’s from Wayne’s World, and I’m joking, and that she should get a life.”

“I doubt she’d know any of those three.”

“Then you might be in trouble.” I grinned cheekily at him.

---

Read, review, lather, rinse, repeat.

by A. Person

[jo]

OMG!!!! i've got to remember not to read your stuff at work. i'm trying not to laugh out loud, so i'm crying. people think i'm nuts.
this is great... can't wait till chapter 3.
i think this is a great example of how someone new CAN come in and the show will go on.
if they get someone like your 'ellie' i think things will work out.
great story!! keep 'em coming.

[Margaret]

That was good. I especially like how Ellie is so different from Kate, but in a good way. She doesn't come off as a Mary Sue, and she's not trying to be everything Kate was and either failing or succeeding at everything. She's human.

[rednekgurl06]

Wow! This is good stuff, its refreshing to have a good example of how the show can go on. I like it a lot.

[jtbwriter]

;D
This is a great story-I love Ellie and the way she's really tried to fit in.....great interaction and very believable!

Hope to see more!

[swingcat]

Oh my goodness I just found this story and love it.

[nikkinor]

I like this story a lot, you can see something like this really happening on the show and it makes the story feel real, can't wait for the rest.