Something hinky goes this way.
Characters: Mainly Tony, but also Abby, Ziva, McGee and Gibbs.
Pairings: You can easily detect some Tabby! (but intended as friendship)
Rating: FR17 (some bad words)
Words: 2754
Summary: It was a dark and stormy night, Tony is happy to arrive home, but than he noticed that he worst possible thing has happened.
Challenge: Yeah, something wicked comes this way.
Authors Note: Not beta-ed, I like to thing that me and my spelling/grammar are getting better, but please feel free to give me constructive criticism. And the title? Completely uninspired as always!
For Barbara, Told you that people would write for your challenge!
As always, not mine! And I have this bad feeling they never will be mine either, but I can play with them!
Tony was freaked out, and not just a little, he was freaked out big time. As much freaked out as Gibbs would be when his boat got out of his basement, or coffee would become illegal. That much freaked out. His knees were more than weak and he could barely stand up. His stomach was turning and he could already taste the sandwich that had once been his lunch. Pastrami never tasted that good a second time.
He bended over and tried to avoid his shoes as his lunch came out again. Wiping his mouth he felt at least a little better. He stepped aside from the pile of vomit and reached for his backpack. He drank some water and took a mint after wards, that didn't make the bad taste disappear but it would do the trick for now.
Shaking he walked over to the wall were once his DVD collection had been. Those shelves had been filled with hundreds of dvd's but now every single one of them was gone. A empty dvd box lay on the floor as a reminder of what once had been.
He sat down on a chair, still afraid that his legs would gave out as he called Abby. He didn't tell her what happened, just asked her to come over. He just sat there, waiting for Abby to come safe him. He tried not to cry, he really did, but before he was even aware of what he was doing a tear fell down his face. And thus he sat, silently, without moving until Abby walked in to his place.
As soon as she saw what happened she ran over to him as fast as she could in her high platforms and sat down on his lap. She hugged him tightly and held him for quite some time, just as long as he needed..
Even though Tony always seemed like a really shallow guy Abby knew that there was so much more then what would meet the eye. Movies for instance, everyone usually though that he was just obnoxious and liked to quote them, but nobody knew where his love for movies came from.
It had started years ago, when his life still had been good. He used to watch movies with his mother. Just him and his mother, no personel, no father, everything had been great. And when his mother became sick he came home as much as he could from college, bringing the newest movies with him.
After his mother had died his father had been torn apart from grief, the once so warm man and dedicated father became a beast, he didn't spoke to his son anymore. One Christmas when Tony had came home to 'celebrate' Christmas with his family the maid took him apart. She told him that his father had ordered to throw all of his mothers movies away. Much to his relief the maid also told him that she had boxed all the movies and they were now waiting at the garage for him.
Tony had moved many times in his life, he never brought the furniture along, it was replaceable, but the only thing he packed with great care were his movies, a thing that reminded him of better days, hours together with his mother.
And now his most precious memory was gone.
There were some collectables in there, most of it probably replaceable, but it would never be the same.
He was glad that Abby was there for him, really glad, she was his life saver, she was going to get him trough this. She stood up and guided him to his bathroom, forcing him to brush his teeth. After that she parked him on his bed and went to clean up his vomit.
When she had finished cleaning up again she walked back to him. "I'll get my fingerprint kit" she whispered before pressing a kiss on his cheek. And true to her word she was back a few minutes later. She brushed every surface that could contain fingerprints and she found a lot of fingerprints. During her search she discovered that a window wasn't closed, it was almost closed, probably done from the outside she figured before stepping on the balcony and dusting prints on the outside. Much to her joy she found a fresh piece of chewed gum and put it in an evidence bag.
Tony needed to be cheered up Abby decided and she took her friend with her to the lab. Letting him watch a movie probably wasn't the best idea so she continued with her second best; alcohol She put him and the alcohol in her ballistics lab while she started to work on the prints and gum.
Meanwhile she had called Gibbs, Tony needed to do an official report of the break in, otherwise her evidence would be useless. Abby knew that Tony would probably prefer Gibbs over some stranger so she wouldn't take no for an answer when he refused to come at first..
It was all a fog in Tony's brain, he didn't notice the things going on around him, but all of a sudden Abby jumped up and pulled him in front of a screen.
"Tony" she exclaimed happy "We have a match, and now we are going to find out who did that horrible things."
Smiling the pressed the 'show results' button. Gibbs was standing behind them as the results popped up. "Let's see..." she said reading the text on the screen. "James Hay, 37 years old, lived in Washington DC for a few years, robberies, federal assault, nothing big. And Ohh..." she said as her face fell. "he died 3 years ago in a car accident."
"Dammit" Gibbs hissed "Abby, find out how this is possible, DiNozzo, Tell McGee and David to come in." He ordered before marching out of the lab only to reappear a few seconds later.
"Last known address Abbs?" he asked her before accepting a note with the address on it."Thanks" he said before walking out of her lab again. "Take a caf-pow on my tab!" he told her before he doors closed.
Abby started typing franticly at her computer while Tony picked up her phone. "McGee, work, now" he barked in to the phone before dialing Ziva's number and repeating the message. Unnecessary to say that he wasn't really up for conversation. So Abby laid him on her futon, "you stay here while I work my magic" she said before pushing an other kiss on his cheek.
A few minutes later Gibbs phoned the lab to tell that he was going to check out the house on his own.
Some hours later Gibbs, Ziva and McGee appeared back in the lab. They were carrying a few boxes with evidence.
"Turned out out is was an abandon building, but some people from the neighborhood recognized James from our picture, so we took everything in his 'house'." He finished as he put the boxes on the evidence table.
Tony meanwhile had been busy himself, he had finished almost half a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Why this Abbs?" he slurred. "The only thing dear to me, well, you know, thingies, not persons and they take it from me." he put his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "It's just not fair" he said while drooling a little on her shirt.
"Tony, we are going to find them" she assured him before freeing herself from his hug. " we are going to find them, every single on of them and everything will be just fine." Since there was no point of removing him she just let him stand there, hanging on to her while she continued to work on her computer.
It was past midnight when Gibbs appeared again. He told them to get some shut-eye, it would be their first priority next morning.
Tony wasn't necessarily feeling better the next morning, but at least he wasn't drunk anymore, and since he was pumped up on caffeine the headache was reduced to a minimum.
Sleeping that night with Abby on the futon had made him feel safe, Abby in his arms was a nice feeling. Somehow being able to protect someone who made him feel better. And now he was able to face a new day with new strength. He made a mental note to thank her for that later.
He insisted on going to the building again, his gut was bugging him about something but he couldn't put his finger on it. He called shotgun as Gibbs drove them with McGee and Ziva to the building. Suddenly Gibbs slammed the breaks. He jumped out of the car simultaneous with Ziva en McGee.
Tony had no idea what was happening but for good measure he also jumped out of the car. "What's wrong boss?" he asked after studying his boss' face for a few seconds.
"The building" Ziva said stunned"It's gone, not even a brick left."
McGee couldn't form words, he just pointed to a big construction side.
"There was a building yesterday" he finally managed to say "and we were in it."
Tony felt like his co-workers were playing a joke on them, but when he realized that Gibbs reacted the same way he knew it was real, no way that the boss would go for such a childish prank.
Silently they drove back to the yard after they had gone back in the car. As a defeated army the took the elevator to the bullpen, sitting down on their desk silently.
All of a sudden Gibbs slammed his hand down on his desk and yelled: "I want some answers!"
As if struck by lighting McGee began to type; "I'll check satellite image" he said, more determent than ever to get some answers.
"I'll review witness statements and check crime scene photo's." she said while grabbed her notepad from her drawer.
When Gibbs looked over to Tony he realized that he had no clue what he should do. "I will uh, check on Abby" he said before making his way out of the bullpen.
Down in the lab things were no better. "It can't be" she said to no one in particular as she marched in front of her equipment. "Something very hinky is going on and I want answers" she finished as she pointed to her main computer.
"Hi Abbs"
"Hey Tonyboy!" Abby said as she spun around and walked towards him. "What hinky?" Tony asked before accepting her hug.
"Well.." Abby hesitated. "James Hay is really dead. Ducky pulled some strings and they exhumed him last night. Dental records confirm that it is really Hay. I am running a DNA test to confirm it, but the results don't show anything else."
She saw how Tony's face fell and so she went with a big smile herself. "But I am Abigail Scuito, no dumbass is going to get away with stealing from you!" she told him before turning back to her computer. "And now I need to work" she told him as she waved him away with her hand.
Tony took the stairs to buy himself some more time. Gibbs wasn't going to like that answer and he had to think of a resonable explanation before he was upstairs. But when he opened the door the elevator doors popped open and showed an over excited Abby.
"Gibbs!" she shrieked as she ran towards the older mans desk. "I have it!" she exclaimed as she bounced up and down. Then she discovered that Tony wasn't there yet. She waved enthusiastic to him as she saw him coming.
"One of disc's you brought from the crime scene had a message for us." She said as she handed a disc to McGee who popped it in his computer.
Seconds later a homemade video message appeared on the screen.
It was a man, maybe the same age as Gibbs,but he was bold and the glasses he was wearing definitely didn't help.
"Hello Tony" he started. As he said that everyone looked quickly over to the senior field agent who seemed unfaced.
"I am guessing you already recognized me" the man grinned. "Big secret around the house was that I was screwing your mother, like a pig. Like she deserved. "
Tony's face fell and Abby jumped to his side to give him some casual support.
The man continued to share horrible details of the things he had done, and at some point there was even a little piece of what must be a home made tape of his mother and the man together in a bed.
Gibbs casually handed Tony a garbage container when he turned a little green. He threw up inside it an no one mentioned it.
At the end of the horrible tape the man disappeared and a Address appeared. Gibbs ordered Tony to stay with Abby. He would take the rest of the team.
In the car to the address McGee told Gibbs and Ziva that the satellite pictures showed nothing on the day that they had visited 'the building' In fact, it had been a construction side for weeks.
The address turned out to be a house not far from Tony's apartment. McGee taped everything when they went in, they had enough trouble believing themselves as it was already.
Gibbs didn't wait a few seconds after he announced himself as federal agent, he almost immediately kicked the door in.
He stood a few seconds blocking the entrance before walking in, very careful with his gun drawn. The entire apartment looked like a horror house, it was filled with corpses, witches and monsters.
It was Ziva who noticed the first one, "A dvd" she said before pointing to the place she had spotted it. A few seconds later Tim and Gibbs started to notice DVD's everywhere.
"Don't touch anything" Gibbs said before turning to McGee. "Call Abby, let her come her with Tony and the truck." Looking over to Ziva he gave her the next order "Call Ducky, let's make sure every corps is fake."
Suddenly Gibbs realized that they hadn't cleared the house. He gave himself a head slap before making sure the apartment was empty.
He smiled at the sight of snow white upon the bed, it had been Kelly's favorite tale.
When he was sure the apartment was empty he closed the door and waited with the rest of the team outside for everyone to arrive.
Abby and Tony arrived first, Abby who had a field day with only the fact that she was going to a real crime scene and Tony who was wondering which horrible things he had to see this time.
As McGee took him to the apartment he broke out in a smile, "My DVD's!" he said. "They are all here."
They worked the entire day on that crime scene. Abby was so excited that Gibbs decided to cut her from caff-pow for a while.
"It is so Hinky, I love it!" she repeated time after time while bouncing around with evidence bags."
As it turned out one of the monsters was Reese Mikla, the man from the tape, a former employee of the DiNozzo residence. The the gun in one hand and a note clutched in his other he lay there, like some sort of weird fairytale monster.
'I'm sorry, this isn't fair' it said.
Tony took the utmost care packing the dvd's in a box, smiling upon the memories they all contained.
It turned out that Reese was wearing gloves with fingerprints on them. "My guess is that that are James' fingerprints" Abby said pointing to the gloves.
That night Abby decided to buy everyone a drink to celebrate the ending, but when she arrived at the bullpen she noticed that Tony was long gone.
Making sure that he was okay she drove to his apartment. She used her spare key to open the door and peaked inside.
What see saw almost broke her heart.
Tony was sitting in the middle of the living room, surrounded by DVD's. He cleaned each and everyone of them before putting them back in to selves, the only place they belonged. With a smile Abby closed the door, everything would be just fine, she thought as the walked to her car and disappeared in to the night.