Tony sighed heavily and sat down at his desk. Yet another suspect who thought kidnapping him and taking him hostage was a good idea. All things considered, it was getting pretty old. Tony closed his eyes, only to crack one open again when he realised something was amiss. There was a black rectangular box on his desk that hadn't been there this morning.
"You know my birthday isn't until next month." Tony called out to nobody in particular as he picked up the box. Carefully he lifted the lid and looked inside. What he saw made him almost drop the box.
"What's that, Tony?"
Tony looked up at McGee, who had just walked in. "You didn't do this?"
"What? I haven't done anything." McGee thought for a second before smiling. "Y'know, I saw Kawalski at your desk about half an hour ago. I think he's getting you back for that prank last week." Tony sighed in relief. A prank. Of course that's all it was. No need to panic."Why?" McGee asked. "What did he do?" Tony tried to think of an excuse not to show McGee, but he couldn't, so he turned the box towards his friend.
Inside was a plain black collar with a silver tag attached. McGee had to squint to read the engraving.
'If lost return to L.J. Gibbs.'
McGee laughed softly, obviously not taking it seriously. "Abby would get a kick out of this. You should show her."
Tony nodded absently; still staring down at the collar. Without another word, Tony got up and left the bullpen, box in hand.
(~*~)
By the time Tony got down to Abby's lab, he had worked himself into a panic.
"Hey Tony, what's up?" Tony didn't answer Abby, instead he handed her the box and sat down on the floor next to her fridge unit. Abby looked at what she'd been given and sucked in a breath. "Where did this come from?"
"Kawalski."
"Oh," Abby grimaced. "Payback for the wasabi cupcakes?"
"Yeah." Tony sighed again. He and Kawalski really got on. Their little prank war had been going for months now. Just little things that would embarrass the other, but never anything malicious.
"Hit a little close to home with this one, didn't he?" Abby sat next to Tony, the box forgotten on her counter top.
"I don't think he knows," Tony eventually mumbled. "But when I saw it..."
"It was like someone could see your heart," Abby finished; knowing exactly how Tony felt about the whole situation. She was the one to sit up with Tony all those nights, going over every what if. She'd even tried to set him up with a Dom friend of hers but, after one entirely platonic date, he'd called to say he couldn't work with someone who was so obviously in love with someone else.
"When I got grabbed today, I panicked," Tony confessed softly. "I know it's happened before, but it doesn't get any easier. But the moment I heard Gibbs' voice; the second I knew he was there for me... I just, I don't think I can look at that right now, Abbs. It's too hard."
"It's ok, Tony," Abby pulled Tony into a hug. "I'll keep it safe for you."
Tony was about to reply, but the sound of the elevator pinging made both look up. When Gibbs walked through the door, Tony wished he knew how to self destruct.
"There you are." Gibbs huffed a breath, and Tony almost thought he saw concern in the older man's eyes. "Did you see Ducky?"
"Um, yeah," Tony spoke quietly. "All ship-shape. Lucky for me this particular kidnapper was too scared to do any real damage."
Gibbs nodded shortly. Abby stood up, getting ready to step closer to Gibbs, but he moved away. It took both Tony and Abby a few seconds to realise he'd noticed the box. Tony shot to his feet.
"Gibbs, don't." Tony's call was too late, as Gibbs pulled the box towards him and looked inside. He read the tag and looked up. His eyes pinned Tony; expression unreadable.
"It was a joke," Abby spoke quickly, sensing Tony's panic. "One of the guys, because Tony gets lost so much. He brought it down here to cheer me up. Um, the leather is really good quality, I was going to ask if I could buy it..." Abby trailed off. Gibbs hadn't looked away from Tony, and Abby flinched when she looked over to him. It had been a long time since Abby saw Tony looking so vulnerable. The stresses of the day had knocked his defences, and Tony looked tired, desperate, and scared. His eyes hadn't strayed from Gibbs', but Abby could see from his stance the effort it was taking to remain upright.
"Tony, maybe you should go home," Abby whispered, voice laced with worry. "You don't look so good." Tony didn't move. Abby looked over to see Gibbs still staring at Tony. Suddenly sure there was a conversation going on here that she wasn't aware of, Abby turned her attention to Gibbs.
"Tony needs to go home, Gibbs." The only acknowledgement Abby got was a single, stunted nod. Gibbs took two steps forward, and Tony instinctively moved to mirror him. Without a word, Gibbs placed a hand at the base of Tony's neck and steered him out of the lab. Abby looked on with a worried expression, belatedly noticing the collar was gone.