NCIS Special Ops Challenge #6
"Big news! The coffee machine is only stocking decaf," Tony whispered urgently to Kate.
"Aren't you a little young for coffee, Tony?" Kate quipped.
Tony didn't seem to catch the barb. "Don't you see? Gibbs will be a nightmare," Tony groaned.
Kate did not look alarmed, or even mildly afraid. She actually laughed! Tony frowned, wondering how she could take this so lightly. She had been here long enough to know about Gibbs' coffee. "Kate, it's really not that funny. Gibbs without coffee...do you remember what the last time was like?"
"Come on, Tony," she soothed. "The whole point of decaf is that you can't tell it's decaf, right? It tastes the same."
"Yeah, right! Kate, Gibbs knows coffee better than anyone. He'll know!" Tony whined piteously.
"Tony," Kate stopped laughing long enough to sound condescending. "You're forgetting one tiny, little point. Gibbs doesn't drink office coffee. Remember the time I spilled his?" She cleared her throat and affected a scowl. "'That's...not coffee.'"
Tony calmed down enough to give a small chuckle. "You're right," he sighed in relief. "Hey, Kate, that wasn't a bad impression."
"Thanks," she acknowledged before returning to work. He wasn't finished, though.
"Can you do Ducky?"
"Tony..." Kate warned, barely looking up from her computer.
"C'mon, Kate," Tony pleaded. "Just this once."
"Promise?" she demanded. At his eager nod, she rolled her eyes and cleared her throat again. Putting on a British accent and shaking her finger slightly, she began. "This reminds me of...of a body I autopsied, oh, twenty years ago. That one had similar markings around the torso. It turned out he was dropped, with a rope around his chest, from a great height...likely a cliff. They never did find the perpetrator."
"All right, Kate!" Tony cheered, astounded. She offered a small smile in return before returning to her work. "Oh, come on! You can't stop there! How about me?"
"Oh, Tony, that requires more energy than I have."
"Have some coffee," Gibbs interrupted gruffly, walking in empty-handed. Kate nodded vaguely, then did a double take. Empty-handed! Oh, no...
"W-w-where's your c-coffee, boss?" Tony squeaked.
Gibbs glared at Tony, sizing him up. "Traffic," he replied, with no further explanation.
"Oh," Tony said, as if he understood. "So...office coffee, then?" he asked innocently.
"It's caffeine," Gibbs shrugged before stalking off to the coffeepot.
Tony's eyes widened to the size of small plates, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he tried to swallow. Kate, alas, had almost forgotten what Gibbs was like without coffee and so enjoyed watching Tony sweat.
"Hey, Tony, I think I can do you now," she grinned. She got no reaction, but decided to plow on anyway. Smiling as big as she could, she wiggled her eyebrows. "Hey, there," she said huskily. "My name's Tony. Come back to my place?"
"There are two of them now?" a very disgruntled Gibbs called, returning with a mug of coffee. He was clearly not happy and Kate could only assume he had discovered the hard truth about his precious coffee. "Somebody hand me the aspirin."