Countdown

Inspired by the fact that I've been counting down until I report to school (4 days!) until the kids come back (11 days!) and, like many of you, until the new season starts (33 days!). Trying my hand(s) at fluff, let me know how it goes.

Also, I wasn't going to tie this to a particular point in the series, but for reasons that will soon be obvious, I had to link it to a real world event. In terms of the show, this would be happening just after Tony's return from being agent afloat, which explains in part why everyone's a bit giddy in this story.

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October 7, 2008

Tony strode down the hallway from the elevator, and turned to face McGee and Ziva, already at their desks, with a grin spread across his face. "Twenty-two," he announced.

Ziva raised her eyebrows. "Isn't that a little young for you?" she asked drily.

"Ziva! You've been back in the states for weeks and haven't heard yet?"

She darted her eyes to McGee for help, but he shrugged.

Tony set his bag down and rested his hands on Ziva's desk, leaning over her, delivering his gospel in an approximation of Sean Connery's accent: "In three weeks and one day, the newest James Bond movie will be released."

McGee snorted with suppressed laughter while Ziva rolled her eyes. "I actually heard about this one," McGee directed to Ziva. "Quantum of Solace, it's called. What does that even mean?"

Tony nodded as if humoring him. "It means you get to see Olga Kurylenko nearly naked, so what do you care?"

Ziva threw a stapler at his elbow from two feet away.

"Hey!" Tony put on a hurt face and staggered to his own desk. "In twenty-two days I'm not letting you come with me to see it."

"Tony," Ziva said coyly, "if you were old enough not to still make countdowns, I might go with you." She smirked.

"It was great when you were a kid, though," McGee interjected. "Getting excited for a holiday or a birthday or something?"

"What was?" Abby asked, entering the bullpen past McGee's desk.

"Making countdowns," he explained quickly. "My friends and I would create little countdown clocks for big events—I remember the release of Monkey Island 2, when I was fourteen...we bought it at midnight and played all the way through in about 18 hours."

"Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!" Abby shouted, and they laughed.

Ziva and Tony looked at them strangely.

"What did you count down to, Abbs?" Tony asked.

She looked away for a moment, the smiling fading from her face. "Well, I counted the days you guys were gone."

Tony studied her, then answered gently, "that's counting up. Counting down is the opposite, it means you're excited. What did you count down for, as a kid?"

A smile twitched across her lips.

"Aaaa-bby?" Tony drawled.

She crossed her arms. "You'll laugh."

Now Ziva piped up, interest piqued. "I'm sure we could find ways to make you tell."

Abby opened her mouth to object.

"She's ticklish," said McGee, slyly.

Abby whirled on him. "How dare you!"

"So?" Tony asked.

Abby pursed her lips, then forced it out. "When I was seven, just before Christmas—there was this doll I wanted." She paused, taking stock of their rather confused expressions. "A barbie."

The men instantly dissolved into laughter, while Ziva looked confused. "What?"

"It was 1982!" Abby protested. "They'd just released Punk Barbie!"

Tim's laughter wore off. "It's okay, Abbs, you were a kid."

"Somehow I'd have imagined all your Barbies were punk Barbies," Tony added.

She grinned, a little fiendish. "They were by the time I got done with them!" Then she laughed. "My brother should have had a countdown, too; they were always short-haired and decorated with pen a day after I got them and my mom would confiscate them. He'd snatch them from captivity and use them for target practice with his BB gun." She shrugged with glee.

Ziva nodded. "We were the opposite. I would shoot the dolls to begin with, then my little sister would repair them." She smiled at the memory.

McGee and Abby glanced at her, surprised, then at Tony for a cue. He put the question to Ziva. "So what did you countdown to, though? I can't imagine you were that excited to get the dolls in the first place."

She took a minute to think, then laughed.

"Yeah?" Abby urged her.

"When I was a child my mother made every rule contingent on my bat mitzvah. I could get piercings after my bat mitzvah, I could stay out later after my bat mitzvah...I think I spent about as much time thinking about what I would get to do afterward as I did preparing."

"And what did you get pierced?" Tony asked suggestively.

Gibbs cut him off with a headslap as Ziva reached for her earring, grinning at his discomfort.

"Every think about counting down headslaps, Tony?" McGee asked.

"That'd mean there was an end in sight," Gibbs quipped. "Gear up."

Tony mock-flinched in the face of their laughter as he pulled out his gun and badge, but found a real smile as he whispered, "twenty-two!" at Abby as she waved goodbye.

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A/N Punk Barbie is real, believe it or not. As is Monkey Island.

P.S. Leave me reviews, please!