Gibbs hates this.
He hates Abby going away for stuff like this. Why the heck did she have to go to Los Angeles to go chase "The Phantom"? What the heck did Leon expect her to find? Would Callen and Sam make sure to protect her like their own child?
I'm losing it thought Gibbs as he leaned back in his chair. Callen was practically Abby's age, and Sam couldn't be much older. They're not going to see Abby as their child, like he did.
That caused Gibbs to again. Damn Abby, why did you go? Gibbs thought, half hoping for an answer. What he got was two crashes…
The first was from Tony, showing off a move he saw in some Bruce Lee film, knocking half the stuff off Ziva's desk. Ziva, in a move that surprised…well, no one who knew her, leapt from her desk to rearrange Tony's limbs. Tim tried to leave the bullpen, discreetly so no one would notice. That's the best way to gain Gibbs' attention.
"What the hell's going on?" roared Gibbs.
Immediately, Ziva let Tony out of her headlock and Tim sat back down.
"Now get back to work" Gibbs roared and turned back to his blank computer, giving it a Gibbs stare so that it'll have the common decency to tell him Abby was fine.
Tim worked on his report, or just messing around with it, since it was done already. Ziva went about cleaning up her area, thinking of ways to get back at Tony. Tony sat down, opened his word processor, and just typed furiously. The letters and words were just gibberish, but Tony just wanted to look busy to avoid Gibbs' wrath. Ever since Abby left for LA, Gibbs has been grumpier than ever. They all knew Abby was one of Gibbs' few bright spots. They all loved Abby and would kill anyone who harmed her, but Gibbs… Well, they pity any fool who thinks they can mess with Abby and never see Gibbs' angry face.
However, right now, the only people they pitied were themselves. Gibbs was worried, and took it out on the others. He yelled at Tony for being a few minutes late to a crime scene. He yelled at Tim for accidently knocking a ball a few feet away, saying he was contaminating a crime scene. He yelled at Ziva when, in a rare moment of forgetfulness, forgot to take a picture of a chip off the sidewalk. However, that was typical "fluffy" Gibbs. If Tony, Ziva, and Tim go a day without Gibbs yelling at either one of them, they would half expect to see flying pigs outside their windows. However, even Helen Keller could've heard Gibbs chewing out Ducky, one of his closest friends, for not noticing a heart defect in their latest victim. Besides Abby, Ducky was the only person Gibbs never lost his temper with. Well, now Abby was the only one.
The moment the team knew Gibbs was really, truly, losing his cool was when he found Ziva hugging Bert, Abby's stuffed hippopotamus that farts (Ziva was actively making sure not to make Bert fart: Ziva didn't exactly see the humor in it). Ducky and Palmer were also there and witnessed Gibbs tearing Ziva a new one. When Ziva explained she was scared for Abby as a sister, Gibbs mentioned that he hoped she didn't meet anyone else from Ziva's family for a "family reunion" like Caitlin Todd did. He then snatched the hippo and took it back to Abby's lab. The other four men looked on in shock, and then noticed Ziva blinking back a few tears. She then returned to her work as if nothing had happened. None of them were fooled and Ziva knew it. From Ziva, someone who's usually composed and kept her emotions in check, a few tears might a well be full blown sob fest.
So the team toiled around that day, wishing Abby would come back soon to let them know she was okay. Ultimately, they want Gibbs to see she was okay, so he would feel better and, for them at least, mellow out. They knew: one more day with an Abby-less Gibbs, and one of them was going to kill him.
Gibbs knew the team was getting impatient and angry with him. He truly felt bad for snapping at them, especially for his snide remark to Ziva. He knew he was losing it, but he didn't care. He just wished Abby would return, so he could relax and have Abby where he could protect her.
Earlier, I mentioned Gibbs heard two crashes. Well, have you ever been told that someone you cared about was in danger or dead and you can just heard your world crashing down. That, unfortunately, was the second crash.
Director Leon Vance came down the stairs. He was never a jubilant person, but Gibbs still realized something was wrong and he could hear the rumbles of the impending crash. He prayed this wasn't about Abby. When Leon came in front of Gibbs' and looked at him, Gibbs knew his prayers weren't going to be answered. Tony, Ziva, and Tim looked up and saw Leon and Gibbs. Ziva can see both Leon and Gibbs' faces and knew what was wrong. Tony and Tim could only see Gibbs, but that was all they needed.
"I'm sorry to inform you, Gibbs" Leon began.
Gibbs braced himself for the inevitable. Abby was in trouble, or maybe even worse.
"Miss Sciuto has been kidnapped" Leon finished.
There it was. Gibbs' world was crashing. Not just his. Tony was, for once, speechless. Tim's hand was lying on his keyboard, making his report just as confusing-looking as Tony's fake report. Ziva just stood there, stunned. None of them noticed she dropped the container of pencils she had just picked up. No one really cared.
Abby, please come out and say surprise Gibbs pleaded silently. Tell me Leon is joking. But Gibbs knew Leon would never pull a joke like that. Abby had gone to LA and she's now…
Kidnapped! Gibbs thought. That doesn't mean dead. Gibbs looked at his three agents. He could tell, instinctively, that the same thought had popped into each of their heads. So did Leon.
10 seconds. That was how long it took.
10 seconds ago, Leon asked the team to let the LA crew handle finding Abby.
8 seconds ago, Leon realized how stupid he was for assuming Gibbs would listen. He should've known better.
6 seconds ago, Team Gibbs had their gear in tow.
4 seconds ago, Gibbs told Ziva to get Ducky and Palmer. Ziva headed to autopsy while the rest of the team headed for the elevator.
2 seconds ago.
"Hurry up, Ziva, you're driving" Tony shouted.
Tony would usually have drunk anti-freeze before voluntarily getting in a car with Ziva driving, much less tell her he wanted her to drive.
10 seconds. That was how long it took for the bullpen to empty out. Ziva's area was a bigger mess than when Tony attacked it. Heck, all of them managed to mess up their stuff in their haste. None of them bothered to turn off their computers.
I should've known Leon thought as he headed back into his office. Team Gibbs would've never sat by while knowing Abby was in danger. As Leon sat back down in his office, he took comfort in knowing there was still one assumption he could safely make.
Whoever this Phantom is, they're dead.