Midnight
AN: It's Christmas, so to spread the spirit, I'm deviating from my usual formula of shameless Tony whumping to deliver you a special order of extra cheese. Reading this over, there are several gaping plot holes, not to mention the ridiculous timeline. But hey, it's Christmas. Hope you enjoy :D
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the NCIS building, nothing was stirring… except for two special agents. They were the only people in the building, excluding of course the bodies in the morgue. The only living people anyway, and alone they were working the Christmas Eve night shift.
Both had volunteered to work, neither having any to speak of; one by choice and one against his will. They sat in the bullpen at desks on opposite sides of the room, silent except of the shuffling of cold cases and paperwork.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said, tossing down a bundle of papers and removing his hated reading glasses.
"Yeah boss?" Tony didn't look up, eyes focused on a particularly intense game of Tetris. He knew he should be working but it was Christmas and it was late and he was tired and bored. Besides, he had a sneaking suspicion that Gibbs had been filling in the newspaper crossword behind those folders.
Gibbs glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight, but he knew an all-night diner not too far away.
"I'm going for coffee." He said, reaching for his gun, badge and wallet.
"Kay," Tony said. Gibbs paused for a second to look at his senior field agent, still playing Tetris with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. Gibbs smiled and made a mental not to pick up one of the sickly-sweet excuses for coffee the man seemed to enjoy.
Twenty minutes later he returned carrying a steaming cardboard cup of coffee in each hand. The bullpen was empty but Gibbs thought nothing of it. Tony's backpack was still in the corner, his desk overflowing with paperwork, chocolate wrappers and Chinese food cartons. The coat was missing from the back of the chair but that wasn't unusual; since his battle with the plague Tony seemed to feel the cold more easily. He figured Tony was in the head or the staff common room or maybe in Abby's lab, setting up a practical joke to play on the Goth.
After 15 minutes Gibbs was concerned, but more annoyed. Tony's coffee was getting cold.
After 30 minutes he got up to look for Tony. He checked every floor; the bathrooms, elevators, morgue, gym, lab, stairwells, parking lot, even MTAC even though he knew Tony didn't have clearance to enter at will.
It was no good. He was gone.
Frustrated, Gibbs stormed out of MTAC, taking the lift down to the lobby of the building. He'd come back into the building through the parking garage after getting coffee, so he hadn't yet spoken to Mike, the security guard on duty.
If Tony'd gone out for pizza, there'd be hell to pay. NCIS rules strictly dictated that at least one agent be present in the building at all times. Gibbs didn't think Tony would ever purposely violate the agency's golden rule, but … well, Gibbs couldn't think of a but. He needed answers. He needed to find his agent.
Mike was absent from his post which, in itself was strange. Gibbs stood at the empty checkpoint as he considered his next move. Decades of experience as a Marine and then an NCIS agent had taught him to expect the worst. Kidnapping was the first thing that came to mind and he mentally berated himself for waiting so long before looking for his agent. Tony had worked in the law enforcement for just about all of his adult life. Four different jobs in four different cities equaled a lot of enemies all wanting revenge. The criminals Tony nailed years ago were only just becoming eligible for parole. Not to mention associates of his family looking for payback. There was a very good reason Tony avoided contact with his father and the rest of his family at all costs; Anthony DiNozzo senior was a shark; a ruthless, dirty business man with a reputation for his shady dealings.
Swallowing that thought, Gibbs tossed up whether he should involve the rest of the team. It had been fifty minutes since he last saw or heard from Tony. He knew McGee was spending Christmas at home with his parents and sister, Ducky was celebrating with his elderly mother, Shepard was at a function with the director of the FBI and Abby had plans to attend a party with music so loud it made Gibbs' ears hurt just thinking about it. Ziva had no family in the country, nor did she celebrate Christmas, but she had been invited to attend a Mossad gathering at the Israeli Embassy. An invitation, she had told the group solemly, that she was literally unable to turn down.
But then, if he did call in other agents and it turned out to be a false alarm, DiNozzo would lose his job for sure. The younger man had an alarming propensity for hopping between jobs; when Gibbs met him in Baltimore he'd never stayed in one place for more than two years. No, Gibbs decided. He'd worked too hard to keep DiNozzo at NCIS. He wouldn't risk losing him over what could just be a misunderstanding.
The piercing wail of an ambulance interrupted his thoughts as it screeched through the gates of the Navy Yard, headed for the building.
Then Tony appeared, covered in blood and yelling as he stumbled towards the doors.
50 Minutes Earlier
Tony glanced up at the closing doors of the elevator as Gibbs left for coffee. In that millisecond of distraction, the Tetris blocks piled high. Game over.
"Damn." Tony muttered. He put the phone down, stood up and stretched. It was eerily quiet in the office and dark too; all the lights save for his and Gibbs' desk lamps switched off. The metallic Santas Abby had plastered all over the building sparkled in the dim light. Never one to miss an opportunity, Tony double-checked that Gibbs was really gone, then crossed the squadroom, sat down and pulled open the first drawer of Ziva's desk.
A brightly wrapped parcel took up almost all of the space in the drawer. Atop it sat an envelope labeled 'Tony'. He grinned and pulled the card out.
Tony –
Touch my desk again and I will kill you.
Merry Christmas
- Ziva
Swallowing thickly, Tony took out the present, ripping off the paper. Inside lay a hideous sweater, a combination of brown, orange, grey and turquoise stripes, with a large, lime-green Christmas tree in the middle. Tony laughed; she must have bought it from the same store where she shopped for sweaters.
Two floors down and across the street, Maryanne McKenzie had almost reached her car when she felt a sudden, agonizing pain tear through her abdomen. She fell to her knees, clutching at her stomach. White-hot pain washed over her and she fumbled desperately through her handbag for her cell phone.
Her husband was working the night shift almost an hour's drive away. Instead, she rang the NCIS switchboard knowing that her call would automatically be transferred to the on-call agent. They'd be able to reach her long before any paramedics. And, if she was correct and the agent she though would be working really was, he'd answer on the first ring.
Tony instantly dropped the sweater back into the drawer and slammed it shut when he heard his cell phone chirp on his desk. He leapt across the bullpen and picked up the phone, knowing it would be Gibbs calling to tell him to get out of Ziva's desk. The man was scarily psychic sometimes. Or maybe Tony was just getting too predictable…
"DiNozzo."
"Tony?" The voice was familiar and a quick glance at the caller ID confirmed his thoughts. Maryanne was a secretary working on the ground floor of the building. He openly flirted with her every morning on his way in, but he had no idea why shoe would be calling him at close to midnight on the Christmas Eve, especially since the last tie he'd seen her was almost two months ago before she'd gone on maternity leave.
"Tony, I need help," Maryanne said, gasping for breath as she gripped the cell phone.
"What's going on Mar- where are you?" Tony asked, immediately concerned.
"I'm across the road, Tony please –" she dropped the cell phone as another wave of pain rushed through her body. Tony could hear her sobbing in pain. He grabbed his gun, jamming it into the holster as he ran towards the elevator.
"Mike!" He yelled, jumping out as soon as the elevator touched down. "You seen Maryanne lately?"
Mike nodded, startled by Tony's sudden presence. "She just left, said she left something here in her desk."
Tony nodded. "Call 911. Get an ambulance over here, now."
Mike opened his mouth to ask why, but Tony was gone, sprinting out of the building and across the road. He recognized Maryanne's white sedan, parallel-parked on the other side of the road. 10 metres down he saw her, wearing a long, pale blue dress and sweater. She was on the ground, leaning on the trunk of a tree.
"Maryanne!" He yelled as he approached the heavily pregnant woman. He squatted down and she grabbed his hand. "What are you doing out here? I thought the doctor put you on bedrest?"
She smiled, still breathing shakily. "I ordered Rob's Christmas present months ago, concert tickets, he's going to love it." She clenched her eyes shut, squeezing the life out of Tony's hand for a moment before continuing. "Left them in my desk when I went on leave. I just remembered, had to pick them up."
Tony rubbed her hand and watched as Mike ran across the road to them, praying that the ambulance was on its way.
"Oh shit!" Maryanne, the ultra-conservative shouted suddenly. Tony's eyes widened.
"My waters just broke."
At the exact same time, Mike announced, "There's a huge pile-up on the freeway. Ambulance is delayed."
"Oh shit." Tony said.
"Oh shit." Mike agreed as he realized what was going on.
"Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkk!!!!!!" Maryanne screamed as another contraction hit her.
Tony looked up at Mike. "You ever delivered a baby?"
Mike shook his head firmly. "Hell no. I watched my wife give birth twice though."
Tony nodded as he removed his jacket, rolled it into a ball and placed it behind Maryanne's back for support. He moved around so he was at her feet.
"I don't know much about this; I don't know if it's safe to move you or I'd drive you to hospital myself. I've got to check the dialation, see how far along you are." Maryanne nodded through a grimace and he reached for the hem of her dress.
"Mar, I really hope your husband doesn't kill me."
Thirty-five minutes later, after a whole lot of pain and screaming, Tony emerged from under Maryanne's dress holding a tiny, purple, crying baby boy. Ever grateful for Gibbs' rule number nine, he cut the umbilical cord with his knife before handing the squealing baby to its exhausted mother.
As he did, the long-awaited ambulance skidded into the Navy Yardand Tony jumped up to direct it over to the new mother and baby. As he passed the NCIS building, he saw Gibbs standing there, giving him a very strange look. He glanced down and realized he was drenched in blood and amniotic fluid, but for once he didn't care that his suit had been ruined. He got the ambulance driver's attention and led them over to Maryanne, Mike and the baby.
After getting a call from Mike the security guard, Rob McKenzie employed more than a few of Gibbs' driving techniques, cutting the travel time almost in half as he sped towards the Navy Yard. His wife was tucked into a stretcher when he leapt out of his truck, running over to her. She smiled up at him, flushed and fatigued, holding up a tiny baby.
"Rob, this is your son. Robert Anthony McKenzie. Merry Christmas."
Tony and Mike watched as Rob climbed into the ambulance with Maryanne and they left for the hospital.
"Well that's definitely an interesting way to start Christmas," Tony said, shivering in the cold.
"Ya think?" Said a voice behind them. Gibbs. Tony and Mike jumped.
"Shoot! We left the building unattended!" Tony muttered to Mike as realization dawned. He looked back to Gibbs, preparing himself for the inevitable. Firing, suspension, a black mark in his file maybe.
"You did good, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, smirking when Tony's jaw literally dropped. He punctuated the point with a slap to the back of the head.
"What was that for?" Tony asked nervously, rubbing the point of contact.
"Going through Ziva's desk," Gibbs answered, heading back into the building and out of the cold. Tony smiled, following closely behind.
"Merry Christmas boss."
THEND
Merry Christmas everyone!