"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

The calls rang out as the team stormed through the home of the suspected drug dealer.

"Ugghhh dead guy in lounge! Looks like our guy. " Tony called out as he holstered his weapon and peered at the man sprawled messily across the lounge room rug.

"Dead guy number two in bedroom" Ziva called out.

Gibbs sighed and pulled out his phone to call Ducky. Great. They get a lead and it ends up dead on its own lounge room floor.

"Did you hear that?" Tony cocked his head at the strange noise as Ziva joined him in the main room.

Ziva and Tony, with their hands on their guns cautiously stepped out into the back garden. With a quick glance at each other they stepped around the side of the house.

"Damn it McGee, we nearly shot you!" Tony shook his head in exasperation as Ziva laughed at the sight before her.

Tim was lying on his back on the lawn currently swarming in eager, face licking, tail wiggling, adorable puppies. The strange sound they had heard was a combination of a McGee giggle and puppy yips of excitement.

Tim's eyes were aglow as he held up a fat squirmy gorgeous Labrador puppy towards Ziva.

"Look puppies! There are twelve of them. The poor things must have been left out here all alone. They were so excited to see me. They must be hungry and thirsty. Yes. Yes you are" Tim rubbed the belly of one of the puppies affectionately while another chewed on his shoe lace.

Tony rolled his eyes "Well yeah McGee, given that the only people in the house died some time ago they probably haven't been played with in a while."

"Oh I have got to take a picture of this" Ziva pulled out her phone and McGee gathered up the puppies into a lumpy armful, several of them clambering on top of him, attempting to chew on his trousers and trying to lick his face. Two puppies were playing tug of war with his NCIS swoop cap which Tony quickly rescued with a playful grin.

"Hey!" Gibbs voice from inside the house broke up their little gathering and Tony and Ziva went back inside the house while McGee surreptitiously filled several containers with fresh water and placed it in the shade for them.

"See you later little guys" Tim smiled before disappearing into the house to start processing the crime scene.

Gibbs rubbed his eyes. It was going to be a very long day.

"What the hell is that noise I keep hearing?"

Tony and Ziva looked at each other before shrugging.

"What noise Boss?" Tony concentrated on the road and cursed Tim's puppy dog eyes for getting him involved in this.

Gibbs listened carefully and sighed frustrated as he now couldn't hear anything.

"Well I can't hear it now. It comes and goes. Kind of high pitched?"

Ziva looked thoughtful "Perhaps the truck is due for its service?"

Gibbs made a mental note to make sure the truck was fully checked out before they needed to take it out again.

Tim meanwhile breathed a sigh of relief in the back as he peaked under the rug he had thrown over the large and very wriggly cardboard box. For the first time he was grateful to be banished to the back of the truck instead of riding up front.

"Now I need you guys to be very quiet for a little while" he whispered as twelve little eager head's popped up at the sound of his voice.

When Tobias Fornell entered the bullpen Gibbs knew it was going to be a VERY long day.

"What do you want Fornell?'

Fornell grinned "Well Gibbs, I want a lot of things. Most of which are not in your power to grant me. But you can give me information on your dead guy number two."

Gibbs leaned to peer around Fornell to watch as McGee stuck his head under his desk for the thousandth time that afternoon. Surely his cable thingy couldn't be that loose?

He returned his attention to Fornell.

"Why should I Fornell? It's our case so you should simply give us the information YOU have out of the kindness of your heart"

Fornell grinned tight and sarcastic and pulling at his trench coat, he perched on the edge of Gibbs's desk.

"Oh come on now Gibbs, you know that's not the game we play"

Gibbs watched as McGee stuck his head back under the desk again.

"McGee! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

There was a bang as Tim hit his head on his desk in surprise and then he sort of froze under the desk.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at what he could see of his young agent sticking out from under his desk. Mostly it was his lower end still awkwardly attached to his chair.

"McGee"

There was no room in Gibbs's tone of voice not to answer and after a split second Tim came up from under his desk.

"Yeah Boss?' Tim asked hopefully, his face suspiciously red.

"What are you doing under the desk?" Gibbs asked patently.

Tim frowned and chewed on his lip. He couldn't lie to Gibbs and although he hadn't actually disobeyed any orders ...

"McGee!" Gibbs barked and Tim jumped again.

"Uh I was checking on the puppies Boss."

Gibbs stared at McGee for a moment before asking .

"Puppies, as in some new computer thingy?"

"Uh no Boss." Tim quickly reached down ad picked up the nearest wiggling young canine and showed him to Gibbs.

"Puppies."

Gibbs flicked a quick look at Fornell who appeared to be enjoying the show immensely. Damn him.

With a deep well of patience born from many years of working with DiNozzo, Gibbs asked McGee carefully and slowly.

"And why do you have puppies under your desk McGee?"

Tim pulled one of his faces, chewed his lip and then launched into his explanation.

"Well they were at the crime scene today and they were so cute and if I just dropped them off at the shelter there is a good chance they might get destroyed because there are so many of them and they are still so little and Ziva was going to send out an email with a picture of them to the entire agency and I'm sure that we can get them to good homes Boss if we can just have them for a little while?"

Tim took a deep breath and waited for the verdict watching his Boss's famous blue eyes.

He took a chance and held the golden furred puppy complete with too big feet, silky soft ears , large liquid eyes and round tummy up next to his own far too young looking face.

"Please Boss?" Tim begged, making his eyes go all soft and desperate.

The puppy playing its part perfectly yipped and wriggled in his hands eager to be back on the floor with its playmates.

"Please? Just for a few more hours? I promise it won't slow me down" Tim pouted and begged, his eyes pleading for understanding.

Don't be a puppy murderer Boss? A few hours, how could it hurt? Please, I will work extra hard to make up for it. Please?

Gibbs sighed. How was he supposed to compete against that? He might be a bastard with a capital B but he knew when he was beat. Damn McGee and those eyes of his.

"Ok fine. A few hours. Just get them homes fast McGee and get them out of here."

Tim grinned happily and pushed his chair out, scooping up several more puppies into his arms.

"Did you hear that? Yes. Yes. Uncle Gibbs said you can stay for a bit. Yes he did!" Tim cooed while Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Fornell. Conference" Gibbs strode off towards the elevator attempting to regain his bad ass reputation. Fornell just grinned.

As the door closed and Gibbs went to flick the emergency switch he turned to a smirking Fornell.

"What? Like you could turn McGee and his puppy eyes down?"

Fornell shrugged in acknowledgement.

"Maybe not, but I might have taken a lot longer to fold then three seconds. You could have at least held out a little while and made him sweat."

Gibbs growled "Watch it Fornell or you might find Emily has a new furry friend to play with"

That wiped the smile off his face and Gibbs returned to their previous negotiations with a smile on his face.

"Oh he's so soft.." Ziva's murmur coming from under McGee's desk paused Director Vance's stride.

He quirked an eyebrow in Gibbs direction.

"Anything I should be worried about here Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked up and over to see McGee's and Ziva's feet sticking out from under McGee's desk and he tried not to smile.

"Nothing to see here Leon" Gibbs studiously returned to his paperwork showing his lack of concern about his teams activities.

Vance clamped onto his toothpick.

"Uh huh. Well I do not want to see any maternity leave forms coming from anyone in your team Gibbs. Administration has only just finished filing all of Ziva's agent paperwork and they will have a fit"

Gibbs's lips twitched.

"Good to know. I'll keep an eye on them.'

"No. No biting. Naughty" Ziva admonished faintly and Vance decided a new toothpick was in order.

Ziva muttered something unpronounceable in Hebrew

"Ziva? What did you do?" Tony eyed her over his own monitor as she continued her agitated clattering at her keyboard.

"I do not understand..."

"What Ziva? What don't you understand?"

"I emailed out the picture I took earlier of the puppies with a description and I made the subject FREE TO A GOOD HOME. I have already got hundreds of responses and ..."

"But that's great!" Tim jumped up from his desk to come over and have a look.

"That is just it. There are too many. They are overloading my In Box. There are more and more of them coming through every moment!"

"What like a virus?" Tim frowned

"I don't know" Ziva threw down her keyboard in frustration as hundreds more poured into her email.

"Ziva. What did you do?" Tony looked despairingly at her and she flicked a rubber band back at him making him jump.

"Shut up Tony. I was only trying to help."

Tim tried to calm the situation "Ok well what did you send out?"

Ziva pulled up her message and sent it to the larger screen so they could all see it. There was the picture Ziva had taken of McGee earlier in his navy NCIS jacket, sprawled out on the lawn surrounded in cute, growling playful puppies. His face was to the camera and his eyes were sparkling as he laughed happily, his white teeth flashing. His NCIS badge was clipped to his belt and his long jean clad legs disappeared off the edge of the picture.

Underneath the photo was a brief statement.

Free to good home.

Found at recent crime scene. Urgently needs loving and kind home. Gentle nature and easily trained. Healthy and disease free. Good with children. Will provide years of companionship.

Please contact Ziva David at this email address to arrange collection.

Suddenly Tony started laughing. Laughing so hard he had to clutch his sides.

Tim and Ziva looked at each other.

"What?"

Tony sniggered "Ziva! You didn't mention anything about the PUPPIES. They think you are trying to give MCGEE out to a good home."

"What?" Tim said horrified.

"No they aren't!"

He opened one of the still growing collection of emails.

I would be happy to provide a warm and loving home. If he is very good I will even allow him to sleep on my bed. Can I collect him tonight after work?

Lucy – Accounting

"Oh no!" Tim started furiously opening email after email his face turning a greater shade of red each time.

Does he respond well to discipline?

Anonymous

*********************************

Will he wear a collar and leash?

Abby

(Timmy, you should be careful who Ziva is giving you away to. Perhaps we should 'vet' your new owners?)

***********************************

What sort of breed is he? I would prefer a non commitment phobe...but am willing take what I can get.

Michael

Tim sank down at his desk and slowly placed his burning forehead onto his cool desk.

"I am sorry McGee. I did not think it would be taken that way. If it makes you feel better it does appear there are many genuine offers to take the puppies in amongst the others?"

"That's good Ziva." Tim murmured still blushing. Did he take a collar? Was he toilet trained? Oh ha ha.

"Hey McGee you should take it as a compliment. There are some seriously hot chicks here who want to take you home, pat your ears and rub your belly" Tony grinned while Tim groaned.

Tony was still joyfully reading through all of the emails when Gibbs came in.

"Progress?"

Tony grinned "Looks like we are going to be able to get rid of all the puppies Boss. McGee too, if we aren't careful"

Gibbs turned to look up at the plasma before giving his young agent who was still hiding his head on the desk a look.

"I thought you had given up on online dating McGee?"