Gibbs sat at his desk trying to keep a lid on his growing impatience and concern. Even though he had decided to give his agents 30 minutes to settle their dispute, after only 15 he began to wonder if he should have gone after them. A smack to the back of their heads was what they really needed, in his opinion.
Ziva was sitting quietly at her desk. While sneaking a few glances at Gibbs she had also been keeping an eye on the clock, not to mention listening for any sound that would indicate the return of McGee and Tony. Although she had only heard Gibbs side of the conversation, she wasn’t stupid; she had pretty much figured out what was going on.
McGee was still standing in front of the elevators, talking to Abby on the phone, when Tony came out of the gym.
“I’ve already told you everything Abby.” McGee said.
“But I want more details” she practically whined.
McGee was about to respond when Tony suddenly grabbed the phone out of his hand from behind.
“Hey Abby” Tony said into the phone.
“Tony!” she squealed, “Just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“Don’t have time right now, gotta get back to work.”
“But Tony, I have questions.”
“Later Abby” Tony said then hung up, cutting her off.
“Hey!” Abby said to the now dead phone.
As they got on the elevator, McGee just shook his head.
“I can’t believe you just hung up on Abby.”
“What’s the big deal?” Tony shrugged.
“Aren’t you afraid she’s going to, you know, get back at you somehow?”
“Nah, she loves me.” Tony said as he gave one of his patented grins.
As the elevator doors opened McGee just shook his head, he was once again amazed at some of the things Tony got away with.
That was the scene that greeted Gibbs and Ziva when the other two agents walked into the bullpen. McGee with a slight smile, shaking his head while Tony followed behind grinning.
As Gibbs studied the two, all appeared ok with them. He turned his gaze to Tony noting that the relaxed pose meant nothing; with him it was all in the eyes. As he sat down behind his desk Tony could feel Gibbs looking at him so he raised his head, returning the stare. He tried to convey to Gibbs that everything was fine. Tony was relieved when Gibbs gave him a slight nod and went back to work, to see that the message had been received.
Gibbs glanced up about an hour later and seeing that it was now dark outside he looked at his watch; he hadn’t realized how late it was. He looked at each of his agents and noticed how tired they looked; it was then that he made a decision.
“Listen up” Gibbs said to his team. As they all 3 looked up he continued, “Go home but I want you all back here early tomorrow, we can continue the investigation then.”
McGee and Ziva hurried to gather their things and head for the elevator, both realizing what a rare occurrence this was, but Tony stayed seated at his desk.
“DiNozzo” Gibbs said.
“Yeah Boss?” Tony looked up.
“Go home”
“I just wanted to finish going through this.”
“Tony” Gibbs began but was interrupted by Abby.
When the elevator doors had opened for McGee and Ziva, Abby exited. She gave a passing “Hey guys” to them before heading straight for Tony.
“Hey there Abby, what’s up?” Tony asked with a smile.
“What’s up? What’s up mister is you have some explaining to do.” Abby said as she crossed her arms and planted herself in front of Tony.
“About what?” he replied innocently.
Abby scowled “Don’t you act all innocent Anthony DiNozzo. You know what I’m talking about, our conversation on the phone? You know, the one where you hung up on me?”
“Abs, that was like over an hour ago.” Tony raised his eyebrows “It took you this long to come up here?”
“Yeah, well, I had some tests to finish for another case.” She said as she waved her hand in the air. “ But that doesn’t change the fact that you hung up on me.” She crossed her arms again.
“I did not hang up on you,” he said as he stood up “I said good bye.” At her disbelieving look he continued, “OK technically I didn’t say the words good bye but it wasn’t like I pulled a Gibbs and hung up without…hey” Tony yelped as he was cut off when Gibbs smacked the back of his head.
“What was that for?” he asked, turning to face Gibbs as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Hanging up on Abby.” Gibbs said with no expression on his face. Abby meanwhile, had trouble keeping the grin off of hers.
“Like I already said I didn’t” he paused for just a fraction of a second getting a look at Gibbs face “mean to do it. Won’t happen again Boss.”
Gibbs gave a short nod with his head then headed back to his desk, throwing over his shoulder. “Go home, both of you.”
Abby waited as Tony gathered his things together. As they headed out, Tony turned and asked “You coming Boss?”
Gibbs just waved them off and the two of them continued on to the elevator. They rode in silence until the doors opened up to the parking garage and Tony finally spoke.
“I know I’m probably going to regret asking this but how come Gibbs always takes your side?”
“Cause I’m his favorite.” Abby said with a smile as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. She then waved good-bye as she headed towards her car. Tony rolled his eyes at her and headed to his own car, a smile slowly spreading across his own face.
Tony drove straight home and after grabbing a quick bite to eat, went straight to bed. He was exhausted and hoped to get in a good night of sleep. But those plans were shot to hell when he was woken up in the middle of the night by one of his nightmares. When he looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 3 a.m., Tony knew that he wouldn’t be falling back to sleep anytime soon, so he decided to head back into work.
Tony had been back at work for a couple of hours, going over the same file for what seemed like the tenth time. Something had been bugging him about this particular file; it just seemed, well, hinky was the one word that came to his mind. He sat back in his chair and massaged his temples, letting his mind wander. After just sitting there zoning out he suddenly sat up straight, what he had been missing hit him like a lightening bolt. “Damn it” he said to himself “why didn’t I make the connection sooner.”
Tony spent some time trying to dig up information on the computer but wasn’t having a whole lot of luck. He sighed as he realized that the call he was about to make was not going to be fun and might get him into trouble but he didn’t think he really had a choice. After dialing a number, Tony tapped his pen impatiently while he waited when he finally heard someone answer.
“Hey it’s me, DiNozzo” he said, “We need to talk.”
“Yeah, fine you can shoot me later.” He responded to the person on the phone. “I’m at work, how soon can you get here?”
After a pause Tony continued “I’ll see you when you get here.”
He hung up and then gathered what little he had found along with the file. Knowing that he had some time before help arrived, Tony headed out for coffee.
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