A/N: These quotes were given to me by Aunt Kitty, and hence this little series is for her. Happy birthday, my lovely. While I've written it after completing Every Day Quotes (which I'll post in 2012), I'm posting it now as a little taster of what's to come next year and to give myself a break from writing an average of a month a day *keels over from exhaustion* And I wonder why I keep running headlong into block…

Self Affirmations

I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs raised an eyebrow as two of his agents staggered into the squad room. If he hadn't had a call from Agent Smullen to inform him that his suspect was in custody and were his agents okay?, he would have been on his feet and barking at them.

He gave them a second look. Tony was limping, favoring his right foot, while Ziva had a nasty gash on her forehead. Briefly, he wondered if he should send them down to Ducky before discarding the idea. Ziva would rather collapse in front of everyone than admit she was injured, and Tony would spend the rest of the day basking in Ducky's attention.

He glared at them, not needing to put his order into words. Immediately, they began speaking.

"This is all Tony's fault!"

"This is all Ziva's fault!"

He gave a subtle nod to Ziva to encourage her to go first.

"The suspect tried to hare," she began.

"Rabbit," Tony interrupted, only to be glared at by an ex-marine and Mossad assassin. He wilted in fear.

"And so we chased him," Ziva continued, happy Tony was not going to interrupt her again.

She was wrong. "We were on a building site, boss," Tony added helpfully.

Ziva kicked his bad foot as subtly as possible. Tony whimpered but remained standing. "Tony tripped over a loose brick."

"It was hard to see it," Tony commented. "The light hid it, and I was trying to keep my eyes on the suspect. Jeez, boss, I swear the guy must run every day like Ziva. I twisted my ankle."

"He was not that fast," Ziva promptly contradicted. "But Tony fell over an obvious brick, and I fell over Tony."

"I don't see how," Tony crowed.

She glared at him. "All of your limbs went in separate directions, as far away from your torso as possible. Your left leg caught my right knee and knocked me over."

"She caught her head pretty bad on another brick," Tony noted. "Got blood everywhere."

"It is only a scratch."

Gibbs felt Ziva would declare life-threatening injuries 'scratches'. "Who got the suspect?" he demanded, deciding he would spare the one who got the job done.

They both winced. "One of the construction workers saw us fall," Tony explained. "And he tackled the suspect to the ground."

Gibbs nodded. How was it possible these were his best agents?