Title: Emetib
Chapter 3: Run Tony run!
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Pairing/Characters: no pairing. Featured characters include Tony/Gibbs/Ducky/Kate
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: Nothing can prepare the team for what happened on a full moon.
Warnings: supernatural, little bit of humor.
Disclaimer. If I owned the NCIS characters, Tony would wear considerably less clothing, so I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Notes: Inspired somewhat by the story Issums Bunny on http://ncis.fictionresource.com/index.php
Thanks to Quislet for chapter title suggestions
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Ducky shone a torch into some garbage cans, "Anthony, if you're in there, please come out. I don't need to go sorting through rubbish in the rain at my age." A cat *did* shoot out of the garbage cans as Ducky shone the light on it, but it was a skinny black cat and not the sleek brown tabby that Tony had turned into. "Oh dear," sighed Ducky, "I always did have better luck with dogs." He continued up the block, hoping that Jethro would have better luck.
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"Here kitty kitty kitty," called Gibbs, feeling just a little self-conscious. "Dammit Tony, where the hell did you get to?" Gibbs was considerably more worried than Ducky, as he knew exactly how many households in the immediate area had dogs...big ones. The house across the road had a German Shepherd who could eat Tony the cat in two bites. "DiNozzo!" yelled Gibbs. "Dammit, when I get you back, I'm getting you a collar with a GPS locator."
After walking to the end of the block, all Gibbs had to show for his search was wet hair and no DiNozzo. He was starting to get even more worried. Tony was fast enough in human form, with four legs he could be half way across town. But that was assuming that he had kept on running. Okay, he'd probably been a little shaken when Kate had thrown him but surely he'd have realized soon enough that she posed no threat. That was of course assuming that Tony the cat had as much or as little brains as Tony the human. Ducky had seemed convinced of cat Tony's sentience, and certainly the way he had behaved with Kate was evidence that Tony had retained his human consciousness. But maybe the feline brain had been taken over. Whatever. All Gibbs knew was that he had to find Tony and quickly.
"If I were Tony," Gibbs said to himself, "Where would I go?"
Two minutes later Gibbs was in front of a house about three doors down from his. As usual there was music coming from the house, was occupied by a bunch of air hostesses.
Gibbs had had to interview one of them a few months earlier regarding a marine who'd gone missing just after disembarking from one of their flights. As Tony had been on his best behavior that week, Gibbs had taken him with him to conduct the interview and he remembered how attentive Tony had been to the young ladies living there, insisting on checking that he'd spelt all their names right.
"Special Agent...Gibbs?" said Betty, the woman he'd interviewed before. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd found your missing marine."
Gibbs put on his most pleasant smile, "I'm afraid I have another important case that needs your help. This time I'm missing a cat, have you seen him?"
"Oooh, it's not a tabby is it? Because one showed up on our doorstep only half an hour ago. Poor thing was wailing so pathetically that we just had to let him in and dry him off a bit."
Typical DiNozzo, thought Gibbs as he followed Betty into the living room where two of her housemates were busy making a fuss over Tony, petting and stroking him as he tucked into what looked like a bowl of chicken. As Gibbs's shadow fell upon him, Tony looked up with as guilty an expression as Gibbs had ever seen on his human face.
"Looks like you've made yourself at home, Di...Tony," said Gibbs. The smile on his face was one which he knew Tony would recognize...the smile that while to the untrained observer might look like the happy smile of a person who'd just found his lost kitty...but any member of Gibbs's team would easily recognize it as the smile of a man who was planning on retribution at a later date.
"I hope he hasn't been any trouble, Miss Wu."
"Oh not at all, we've loved having him here. If you want we can look after him for you a bit longer." Betty picked up Tony and scratched his belly, making him squirm in delight. "He's sooo adorable."
"Oh he is that," said Gibbs. "But I'm just looking after him for a friend. Unfortunately a colleague of mine showed up unexpectedly and he did a runner, but I'll make sure that can't happen again." Cats don't usually gulp, but Gibbs was sure that Tony did just that as Betty handed him over. "Thank you ladies."
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Gibbs didn't say a word to Tony until he'd gotten him back to his house and shut the door. Then he held him up and looked him straight in the eye saying, "Pull another stunt like that DiNozzo, and I swear I'll have you neutered!"
Tony wiggled and twisted in Gibbs's grip, his back legs almost crossing. Gibbs smiled as he hoisted Tony onto his shoulder and phoned Ducky.
"Ducky, you can come home. I've found our wanderer."
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"Why am I not surprised that Anthony picked a house of young women to frequent?" Ducky sipped at a cup of coffee.
"Why am *I* not surprised that he turned into a tom cat?" Gibbs knocked back a healthy dose of his coffee.
Tony was again sitting on the table between them, his tail twitching idly as his head turned to follow the conversation.
"Tony," said Ducky, looking straight into the cat's blue eyes. "Do you understand what's going on here? Have you still the memories of your human form?"
Tony's response was to start licking his paw.
"I wonder is that intended to be a yes or a no?"
Gibbs shrugged, "We're talking DiNozzo here, Ducky. I find it hard enough to figure out what's going on his brain when he's human!"
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The matter hadn't been resolved one way or another by the time Kate phoned Gibbs to tell him that Collins had died without regaining consciousness. As Tony was still covered with fur, this did prove that the death of the sire was not going to break the curse.
Gibbs had sat down on the floor with Tony, holding the cat firmly on his lap so that he could look him in the eye. "Tony, I still don't know if you even understand what I'm telling you now. I don't know if you'll remember it once you change back..." Gibbs kept silent over his concern that Tony might not even be *able* to change back. That was one worry that Tony didn't need on his mind - human or feline - at the moment. "But no matter what, you know that we've all got your back. Ducky, Kate, me. Abby and McGee if you want them in on it as well. We'll make sure that you're protected while you're like this, and we'll do whatever it takes to find out how to deal with your...situation." Gibbs found himself scratching Tony behind his ears. "You won't have to deal with this alone, and that's a promise." It took Gibbs a few seconds to realize that Tony's ears were starting to change in shape and that his hair was growing a bit longer...and his nose a bit bigger.
The Change back to human form was faster than when Tony had Changed earlier. Or maybe the earlier Change had just seemed to take a long time because Gibbs was so worried about what Tony was going to change into. Now he hadn't even time to move before he ended up with a naked Tony sitting in his lap.
"Hey Boss," said Tony, with remarkable composure given the circumstances. "Got any milk?" He landed on the floor with a thud.
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So Tony returned to human form, apparently none the worse for his four-legged experience. He claimed that he had originally been unable to control his feline nature and it had only been after a few hours as a cat that he had realized that he was really a human. Gibbs only half believed him. Kate definitely *didn't* believe him. And Ducky was busy devising all sorts of cognitive tests to be performed if and when Tony became a cat again.
"It's all so fascinating my dear Anthony," Ducky had said the next day when Tony was fully human again. "There are so many unanswered questions. Do you have the ability to Change at will? Have your senses while human been affected in any way? Will you change involuntarily in any situation? It's all so fascinating."
Fascinating wasn't the word for it, thought Tony as he crept along beside a wall, trying to sneak up on a suspects house a few nights later. He still hadn't figured out a way to change into a cat on command, but fortunately he hadn't changed accidentally either. He had noticed that dogs tended to bark at him a lot...but then that wasn't really anything new. And he'd started finding sushi a much more palatable meal than ever before.
But it was the changes to his senses that were the most interesting...and the most fun. His balance had improved immensely, as had his sense of smell. And as for his night vision...well lets just say that his neighbors really should start drawing their curtains at night...at least if they were going to be doing *that* sort of thing in bed!
All in all, life as a were-kitty wasn't all bad.
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The end
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony is on the loose, will Ducky and Gibbs find him before it's too late?
Chapter End Notes:
Inspired by James wonderful Issums Bunny series