A/N: My first FanFiction. Oof, I'm so nervous right now! Just a small, one-shot Easter fic. It may not be Easter where you are, I meant to upload this morning, but I got behind (dog walking, a teensy bit of HW...), but hey, it's still Easter in some parts of the world, including where I am right now. So, please enjoy, and review, but don't be too mean! :)
What the…? Gibbs stepped out of the elevator. He slowly started toward his desk. Am I in the right place? The walls were the same orange as always. When he didn't hear the steps of his team, he knew he wasn't the only one seeing… it.
"Did you…?"
"No."
"Who did?"
"I have an idea."
"Gibbs!" The tall figure of the forensic tech at NCIS jumped up from McGee's desk. "Gibbs! Do you like it?" 'It' was the Easter decor festooning the walls and desks.
"Uh…" was Gibbs' response.
"Come on, Gibbs! Where's your Easter spirit?" Abby whined.
"Not here," Tony whispered to Ziva. The latter chuckled.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs sighed.
"Sorry, boss." Tony said quickly.
"It looks amazing Abby." McGee said. This time DiNozzo chuckled.
"It's great Abby." He said. "Hey, you got any of those chocolate bunnies?" he asked her.
"Of course!" Abby ducked down. When she stood, she was carrying the handles of six baskets. She stepped out from behind the desk and placed each basket on the desks then set the other two on the desk behind McGee's.
"But first, you have a mission. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to participate in Abby Scuito's First-Ever Squad Room-Wide Easter Egg Hunt!" Abby hurried back to the desk and pulled out more baskets, each in a different color. They had the name of each member of Team Gibbs. Gibbs had blue, Tony had green, Ducky had yellow, Ziva had purple, Palmer had orange, and McGee had pink.
"Pink?" McGee squeaked.
"Yes, pink Timmy. I couldn't give Ziva pink, she hates it, and Palmer chose orange so it was you or Gibbs. I thought about giving Gibbs the pink, but I wanted him happy." Abby smiled at Gibbs who smiled back.
"Why not give Tony pink?" McGee asked. Abby held up a finger. She was on the phone with Ducky.
"Easter Egg hunt?" Ziva muttered to Tony.
"Yeah, little children run around a house or backyard and try to find as many eggs as they can. Sometimes the eggs are real, sometimes plastic. Sometimes they have a little treat in them." Tony whispered back.
"Children?" Ziva asked.
"Usually. Sometimes it's federal agents in a federal building." Tony replied.
"Everyone's here! You guys can come up now!" Abby snapped her phone shut. A couple minutes later, Ducky and Palmer were emerging from the elevator.
"Easter Egg hunt? Bring it on!" Palmer said excitedly. Everyone rolled their eyes.
"Um it's not that exciting Jimmy." Abby said. "Oh, but there will be a little prize for the winner. Remember that cupcake Ziva got for me last year that someone" she looked pointedly at McGee, "ate? Well, I got another one, and that's the prize. One Chocoholic's Choice Cupcake!" Everyone, minus Gibbs and Ducky, subconsciously licked their lips.
"Rules. I didn't hide any in my lab, didn't want overenthusiastic boys to break anything. And you don't have to move anything. Okay, is everyone ready to go?" Abby looked at everyone. McGee and Palmer were in a stance similar to starting a race. Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Gibbs were just standing. Abby whistled loudly. Everyone jumped and looked at her. "Go!" She prodded.
McGee and Palmer were off, racing to find the most eggs. Tony sauntered around, picking up random eggs he found. Ziva and Ducky walked close to each other, having a whispered conversation. Gibbs had disappeared.
A little over an hour later, Abby called them all back.
"Okay, let's see how many you found. Gibbs, you…" She looked around. Gibbs was gone. "Alright then. Ducky, how many did you find?" Abby counted Ducky's eggs. "Ducky! Only seven? Well, at least you found some. Tony! You next!"
"I don't think I found as many as Ducky." Tony said sheepishly.
"Oh just give me your basket." Abby took the basked and counted Tony's. "Well, you found more than Ducky. Fourteen. Ziva!" eight eggs later… "Only eight? Well, I hid a hundred. So there are a lot more to go. Palmer! Front and center!" Abby yelled. She giggled when he jumped like he was just shocked.
"Sorry." He muttered.
"It's okay." Jimmy handed her his basket. "Thirty-five! Nice! McGee, you don't have a chance! Oh, but there is a small chance. Tiny." Abby added when she saw his face. "Well," she counted McGee's eggs.
"Thirty-five too! I guess you and Jimmy will just have to share the cupcake, McGee. So who wants to go to church with me?" Abby asked. "It starts in an hour."
"I'd love to, but I have to finish a report…"
"I have to find some info on…"
"Okay, I'll just head back down to my lab." Abby sighed and left.
Meanwhile, Gibbs had been sitting in Abby's lab. He didn't know why a simple Easter egg hunt was so upsetting. Maybe it was because Kelly used to love them. Following her around, watching her face light up when she found an egg was unforgettable.
*Flashback*
"Daddy! The Easter Bunny hid the eggs to good! I can't find anymore!"
"Well the Easter Bunny is very smart," Jethro smiled at his wife Shannon.
"I found one! I found one!" The egg was placed in the basket.
"You have a lot, I think we should count to see if you found all of them." Jethro said. Kelly plopped down and dumped out her basket. As she counted her eggs, Jethro and Shannon kissed.
"All done!" Kelly said. Jethro and Shannon quickly pulled apart.
"How many do you have?" Shannon asked her daughter.
"Thirty-two. Are there anymore?" Kelly asked.
"Yeah, there's one more. Hmm, it's hidden really well. I bet you can't find it. What do you think, Shannon?" Jethro teased his daughter.
"Oh, I don't know, it's pretty tough." Shannon laughed as she went along with it.
"Of course I can find it!" Kelly ran off to find the egg, giving Jethro and Shannon more time to themselves.
"Baby, when are you leaving?" Shannon asked with concern.
"Soon," was all Jethro said.
"Could you be more specific?" Shannon asked sadly.
"In…" Jethro was interrupted.
"Daddy! I can't find it!" Kelly whined.
"Want to do 'Hot and Cold'?" Jethro asked.
"Yeah!" Kelly said happily.
"Well, start walking!" Kelly started walking in a random direction.
"Cold…" Kelly changed direction.
"Warmer…" Kelly started walking faster.
"Ooh, you're getting hot!" Kelly started running.
"Oh, no. You're cooling off!" Kelly turned back.
"Getting warmer again!" Kelly walked a few steps then stopped.
"Ouch! You're on fire!" Kelly jumped and laughed. She was standing in front of the couch. She looked through all the pillows.
"Daddy! I don't see it!"
"But Kelly! You're on fire!" Jethro said. Kelly looked under the couch. She saw the glow in the dark egg.
"I found it! Yay!" She reached her small arm under the couch and pulled out the egg. It rattled when she moved it. "There's something in the egg!"
"Open it sweetheart!" Shannon encouraged.
"Oh! I love it! Can you put it on?" Inside the egg was a small gold locket. There was a picture of the three Gibbs' together. Shannon took the necklace and put it on her daughter's neck. Her hands were trembling a little.
"Kelly, go in the kitchen for your chocolate bunny!" Jethro said with false cheeriness. Kelly ran off leaving Shannon and Jethro alone.
"I'm really going to miss you." Shannon said softly, tears falling into her lap.
"I'm going to miss you too." Jethro pulled Shannon into a tight hug.
Kelly popped out of the kitchen. "Daddy, are you coming?" The little girl said impatiently.
"Yeah, hold on one second okay?" Jethro said.
"Okay!" Kelly disappeared back into the kitchen.
"Come on, let's go make sure Kelly doesn't eat the whole thing in one gulp!" Jethro laughed, trying to make Shannon smile.
"Okay!" Shannon laughed. She dried her tears and let Jethro lead her to the kitchen.
*end flashback*
"Gibbs! What are you doing down here?" Abby asked in surprise. She hadn't expected Gibbs to be in her lab. He was on the floor in a corner.
"Uh, I lost a contact." Gibbs said, trying to think of an excuse. A contact? How stupid!
"Gibbs! You don't wear contacts!" Abby said.
"I know."
"Are you okay?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I don't believe you." Abby slid down next to Gibbs. She put her arm around him. "What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking of Kelly." Gibbs answered.
"She like Easter didn't she."
"Yeah. She did." Gibbs voice was husky.
"I'm sorry. This was too much, wasn't it?" Abby asked concernedly.
"No, not at all. I'm just being thick." Gibbs answered. He didn't want to hurt the Goth's feelings.
"You're not. You…" Gibbs' phone started ringing.
"Yeah, Gibbs," pause. "Alright, we'll be right there." Gibbs snapped his phone shut. "Sorry Abs, I got to go. Murder at Quantico. How about when we're done, I take you out to dinner?" Gibbs asked.
"Sounds great! Bye Gibbs!"
Gibbs turned to leave. When he was almost to the door, he turned around. "I almost forgot." Gibbs reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small pink egg. "Were you looking for this?" he asked.
"Yeah! Thanks!" Abby took the egg. Gibbs kissed her forehead and walked out pulling out his cell phone to call the others.
With something to look forward to, maybe today wasn't too horrible. Abby thought. She brought half of the Chocoholic's Choice Cupcake down to Jimmy and waited for the team to get back.
THE END