Hocus Pocus
Disclaimer - I don't own anything to do with NCIS (or Hocus Pocus)
Tony's apartment, 9pm, 31 October
He was sitting in his apartment, among all the clutter, turning on his widescreen HDTV, and his surround sound speakers. Rain was clattering against the window with so much force that Tony had moved one of the large wooden cabinets to stand in front of the window and muffle the sound. It was Halloween, a night of the year that Tony would usually be at work, investigating some strange case. Something strange always happened on Halloween, always. So there was some concern in the back of Tony's mind that nothing remotely strange had happened yet. Of course, this was the reason that he was nervously glancing at the phone, expecting the midnight call from Gibbs to tell him to get his ass over to the squad room or some crime scene an hours drive away. Admittedly it was only nine pm, but Tony had learned from his boss to expect the unexpected, and midnight calls at nine pm were probably as unexpected as it came.
He had rented a DVD for tonight. Yes, he was going to watch it alone, but he didn't think it was right to have to leave his apartment when the call came if he had company. He inserted the disc into the slot. He didn't expect 'Hocus Pocus' to be as terrific as 'Magnum', 'James Bond', 'Alien' or even 'The Boy In The Plastic Bubble', but as he was never in the situation to rent a film on Halloween night, it didn't occur to him that the video store would have already rented out every horror film that he had deemed worth watching. Just as he was giving up hope of finding anything and having to return home with nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs, his eyes wandered over a title that was beginning to fade under a thin layer of dust. He took it to the desk.
"Not really a bestseller, this one," remarked the clerk.
"I know, or else I'd have seen it," replied Tony, "but the only other things on the racks are chick flicks."
"How do you know this isn't?" the clerk had said, smiling. At least it'll be more interesting than the plate of burnt mac and cheese waiting for me at home, Tony thought. He had never been much of a cook.
As the opening sequence began to play, Tony started to wonder whether he could have found something else to watch after all. Yes, he had wanted to watch a Halloween themed film, but 'Magnum' seemed all the more appealing now.
Only a few minutes in though, and Tony found this film much more interesting, as he found himself watching the most unexpected thing he had ever seen on Halloween.
No, thought Tony, it can't be…
He never got a midnight call, in fact the telephone didn't ring all night.
Maybe, thought Tony, these strange things on Halloween aren't always bad…
Squad Room, 8am, 1 November
McGee looked up from his desk. Kate was sitting at her desk also, but Tony, who had been in the Squad Room before him every morning since McGee started work, was somewhere unknown. Even more strange was the fact that Gibbs wasn't here either. Kate looked at McGee, and commented on this strange situation. Both of them quickly turned their heads when the elevator doors pinged open. Tony strolled in, with a wide grin on his face, and he was clutching something in his right hand.
"What's that Tony?" McGee asked curiously.
"Last night's Halloween surprise," replied DiNozzo. Kate and McGee exchanged a look that meant what the hell is he on about?
"Tony, we didn't have a strange case last night," Kate informed him.
"I know Kate, but don't you think that's strange? You see something strange did happen last night, but it wasn't a case."
"Now for us, that is strange" Kate thought aloud.
"What's strange, Kate?" Gibbs was striding towards them taking a sip of his morning coffee and placing the cup down on his desk. He turned to his three employees expecting an explanation.
"That's exactly what we were trying to get Tony to tell us, Boss" stated McGee to cut the awkward silence.
"Tony?" said Gibbs, expectantly.
Now Tony knew that he had to spill the beans to avoid a headslap.
"Well," he started, but was harshly interrupted by Abby running towards McGee.
"McGee, it's so cute! Why didn't you tell me? I mean you could have told me! You should have known I wouldn't laugh at you like Tony did!" Abby said while squeezing McGee in a tight embrace. He pushed her away from him, looked into her eyes and said:
"Abby, what in hell are you going on about?"
"Your film, Tim! Hocus Pocus!" McGee went a shade of beetroot, and started stuttering that he didn't have a main part, and that he was young when it was filmed. Before he knew it, Tony had pushed a DVD into the slot next to the plasma, and the opening sequence of a film started to play. A witch was flying over a forest, and then a small village, and then the scene changed to a young man in 17th Century dress. Tim McGee, only years younger. The whole team excluding Abby burst into laughter, and McGee buried his face in his hands and prayed for this nightmare to be over.
"Wait for it" said Tony, "this is the best bit!" as McGee's team mates burst into laughter again, for a 'ten year younger' Timothy McGee had just been turned into a black cat.
McGee was now officially embarrassed.
"Don't worry Tim, I think you suit being a black cat. Plus, you know I love black cats. McGee, I love you more than I love black cats!" Abby's comment made Tim's day, and as he heard these words, he forgot every embarrassment this film had ever caused, because it was only this person's opinion that mattered to him, and she didn't laugh.
The End
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By the way, Hocus Pocus is a real film starring Sean Murray. It was part of the inspiration for this story, though I did pretend that Tim McGee was the actor in it when he was younger.