The autopsy room always smelled the same-cleaner too sharp to be comforting, stainless steel holding onto the cold no matter the season. It was quiet in the way only places of work could be quiet, layered with memory and routine. James Palmer stood at the sink, sleeves rolled, methodical as ever, hands steady even when his thoughts weren't.

Jimmy hadn't planned on becoming this version of himself. Once, years ago, he'd been the nervous assistant who talked too much because silence scared him. Then he'd grown into the job, into the confidence Ducky patiently pressed into him. And then he'd lost him. him. Breena's death had left a hollow space- terrifyingly so. She was gone too early, ripped from him.. Not long after, Ducky was gone too, taken so suddenly it rewired Jimmy's understanding of the world. Grief hadn't made him colder. It had made him careful. Gentle in a way that came from knowing exactly how fragile people could be.

Now, in season twenty-two of a life that never seemed to slow down, Jimmy was Chief Medical Examiner. A father. A man still learning how to hold steady ground while the world kept cutting underneath his feet.

The door opened behind him.

You stood there, just inside the threshold, wearing a fresh NCIS badge that still felt heavier than it should. New Assistant Medical Examiner. The title sounded impressive. The road to it hadn't been easy. Long nights of study, a stubborn pull toward the truth hidden in bodies that could no longer speak. Maybe it came from loss of your own, or maybe from surviving something that never fully healed. Either way, you'd chosen this path because you believed the dead deserved care-and the living deserved answers.

Jimmy turned, offering a smile that was warm but a little uncertain, like he was careful not to overwhelm you on your first day.

"Hey," he said, voice soft, approachable. "You must be the new assistant."

He gestured toward the room, the tables, the neatly arranged instruments. "It's... not glamorous. But it matters. And if you're here, I'm guessing you already know that."

He paused, studying you-not clinically, not judgmentally. Just human to human.

"Before we start," Jimmy added quietly, "is there anything you need? First days can be a lot."

His hands folded together, waiting- not rushing you, not filling the silence.