Book Two – the Cougars

Set early season 4, after Dead and Unburied. Author's note at the end.

"McGee's late, he's going to get it." Tony looked around the crowded room, seeing no sign of his probie.

Ziva turned as she heard the back door open. "There, he is hoping to sneak in, I believe."

They both watched as his arrival caught Director Shepard's attention. "Agent McGee, there you are. Did those cougars keep you busy again?"

Tony's mouth dropped open. "Cougars? Did you hear that, Ziva? Our little boy is growing up." Instead of answering, Ziva hushed him so she could hear McGee's answer over the small talk as they waited for the conference to start.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry. One of them tore the buttons off my shirt so I had to stop and change."

For the first time since she'd joined the team, Ziva saw Tony speechless. Finally, he shook his head. "Did he say..."

"Is this when you admit the student has surpassed the master?"

Leave it to Ziva to get that particular one right. Tony glared at her, but most of his attention was on McGee as he smiled and talked to one of the women from ICE as they walked further away. Determined to know what was going on, Tony started to make his way across the room, Ziva at his heels.

Gibbs had been in the far corner, talking to Fornell, but when he saw DiNozzo's determined pace across the room, he moved to intercept. "What's going on?"

"McGee... McGee..." Tony waved his arms in frustration and Ziva cut in, trying to be helpful.

"McGee has had a wild sexual encounter with a group of older women and Tony wants details."

Of all the things Gibbs was expecting, that never made the list. An eyebrow crept up as he stared at them. His mouth opened and closed several times before any words came out. "And you figured this out, how?"

That finally got Tony talking. "Director Shepard asked him if the cougars kept him busy and he told her that one of them ripped the buttons right off of his shirt."

"McGee was talking to Jenny about something like that? McGee? Our McGee?"

Tony's hair bounced as he vigorously nodded. "Wild, isn't it? Who'd have thought..."

Something caught Ziva's eye. "Tony?"

"That geeky little Timmy McGee..."

"Tony."

"Would have done the wild thing with some cougar..."

"Tony!"

"Let alone talk to the Director about..."

"TONY!"

"What, Ziva?"

She pointed out the group of women now surrounding McGee, looking at something on his phone. "He is showing them pictures."

"What? No way." Tony started pushing his way through the crowd, Ziva and Gibbs one a few steps behind him.

By the time they arrived in the corner where McGee was holding court, there were several more women clustered around him, smiling at whatever picture he was showing them on his phone. Tony tried to give him a serious glare, but it really wasn't working. He settled for crossing his arms. "Getting close to a red-light situation here, Timmy."

"Just looking at some pictures before the conference officially starts."

"Pictures of you and your cougars? Well, share with the class, McGee."

"Sure." Tim handed the phone over without a complaint, which Gibbs realized should have been Tony's first clue. The image showed McGee holding a small wild cat, with deep blue eyes and a black pattern to its fur. "This is Nala."

"Nala? Nala is a... cougar cub?" Gibbs started grinning while Tony was shaking his head.

"I thought your cougar was a cougar, but it's not. It's a cougar, cougar."

McGee blinked as he tried to sort it out. "Ziva, what is he talking about?"

"I am afraid he left me behind about three cougars ago."

Off to the side, Jenny was looking very amused and Gibbs knew the original question had been raised strictly to get Tony's attention and it had worked quite well. The look on her face as she turned toward Gibbs showed that she knew exactly what he was thinking.

Tony's arms were waving around again as he tried to wrap his mind around what he'd seen. "Not that I'm not disappointed, because I am – tremendously – but why are you playing with furry little cougar cubs and not the..."

"DiNozzo!" The interruption from Gibbs probably saved Tony from a session with HR, but the younger man just shrugged.

"Just asking a question, Boss." He turned back to McGee, waiting for his answer.

"My girlfriend is an assistant animal handler at the zoo and they just received three orphaned cougar cubs this week. They're really cute." Tim took his phone back and started scrolling through to find more pictures and a video of the cubs.

Girlfriend or not, Gibbs was surprised they'd let McGee in with the animals. Apparently seeing the question on his face, McGee continued to explain. "They got hit by a hacker last week, and I spent the entire weekend shoring up the security on their site. I was pulling an all-nighter when the cubs arrived."

"So, you got to be there."

"Yeah. Niko and Nero are pretty rambunctious, but Nala's kinda timid and she bonded with me that first day." Having found the pictures he was looking for, Tim handed the phone back over, this time to Ziva, and the group looked through them. When they got to the short video of Tim and his girlfriend playing with the cubs, there was a loud and collective 'awww' from the entire group, including Jenny. Even Gibbs had a smile on his face.

Tony, however, was a little disappointed. "So, no Mrs. Robinson?"

Whack

"Thanks, Boss."

~Fin~

Our local zoo took in three very little cougar cubs after their mother was shot and killed by a hunter. As soon as they are old enough, they will be going to a zoo in North Carolina. If you'd like to see these little cuties, the Oregon Zoo has put up a video about them on YouTube. I can't put the full link here, but you can search for – xgc86ihzJOw and it should pull right up for you. Otherwise, search for Oregon Zoo rescued cougar cubs.

Next up – Tony has some fun.