Dead On Arrival.

Chapter 1.

This story is an Abbey/Tony fic. BTW this is NOT a sequel to my first story Doctor Death, so for all those that liked Palmer he's still here & Ducky's no longer evil. Hope you enjoy.

Tony DiNozzo sat at his desk. Only three more hours & he would be sitting with his girlfriend, Jeanne, in Valentino's. Hopefully things would go smoothly until then. Jeanne would kill him if he had to re schedule again. He looked up as McGee & Abbey came into the squad room. Abbey was wearing her usual high heeled black lace up boots, black fishnet stockings, black mini skirt, black & slightly red t-shirt & her hair was in its usual pigtail style. Abbey had her black lipstick on & dark eyeliner & even darker eyeshadow. She was glaring at McGee.

"Probie! What have you done to upset Abbey this time?" Tony said sharply. McGee jumped.

"Uh… I didn't do anything?" he stammered. Tony looked at Abbey with one eyebrow arched.

"What'd he do, Abs?" Abbey ran over to Tony & pretended to cry on his shoulder.

"He doesn't like my newest tattoo!" she half sobbed half giggled. "You've got another one?" asked Special Agent Caitlin Todd, walking up & sitting at her desk. "Yep," said Abbey proudly. She stepped back from Tony & pulled up her shirt to reveal her back. There was a gothic cross that they had all seen but there was a new tattoo underneath despite himself Tony moved closer to get a better look. It seemed to be a photo of something. No, of someone. "It's the photo of the team that Director Sheppard took last month." Abbey explained. Tony looked at McGee & Cate. Cate looked amused but McGee looked uncomfortable. "What's the matter, Probie? Why did you tell Abbey you didn't like it? Say sorry, McGeek you've hurt her feelings!" McGee moved forward to apologize & Tony slapped him on the back of the head. Immediately he felt a slap on his own head. He turned around to see his boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs standing behind him.

"Nice Tat Abs how long did it take?" Abbey looked up & saw Gibbs smiling at her. "Gibbs! Glad someone likes it. Only took a couple of hours." She glared at McGee again.

"I'm sorry Abbey; I didn't mean to make you angry. I just thought it was a bit strange to have the team tattooed on your back. But to be fair you did ask for my opinion. If you didn't want to hear my opinion, you shouldn't have asked me!" with that he stormed off to the elevator.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning." Remarked Director Sheppard as she walked down the stairs. "Agent DiNozzo can you please go & fetch him?" Tony looked at her & then at Gibbs. He nodded & Tony headed off to the elevator to catch up with McGee.

"I'm assuming you sent Tony for a reason?" said Gibbs. The director nodded. "Ziva just called. Apparently she was driving past Tony's place & saw the door wide open. She stopped & went to check that Tony was ok & found a woman in the lounge room. She'd been stabbed to death. Ziva's at the scene now. Take Tony with you if you have to but don't let him inside, Jethro." Gibbs nodded & threw the truck keys to Cate. "Gas the truck & tell Tony & McGee to grab the gear." Abbey headed back to her lab. Ducky was in the elevator when she got there. "Someone was killed in Tony's house Ducky. I hope we don't have to prove Tony's not a killer again." Ducky put his arm around her. "I'm sure we won't Abigail. But Tony may need our support anyway. I have a feeling that whoever it was that was killed may be someone Tony knows." Abbey looked at Ducky, horrorstruck. "Poor Tony. I'll take him home with me tonight. Make sure he's ok." Ducky smiled. One could always rely on Abbey to look after people.

When they got to the scene, Gibbs started delegating tasks. "McGee, photos, Cate, go talk to Ziva. DiNozzo…" He pointed as he spoke.

"Inside, boss I'm on it." Gibbs grabbed his arm before he could move. "No, perimeter. I'll be inside." Tony was surprised. Usually Cate or McGee or even Ziva did the perimeter, he (Tony) was always inside with the boss. Nevertheless he did what he was told.

Inside was a mess. Blood everywhere. It was going to take a while to clean this up. The woman lay in the middle of the room. Her stomach & chest were covered in red & her face had been mutilated.

"I hope Anthony hasn't seen this, Jethro." Gibbs turned to see Ducky & Jimmy Palmer entering the room. "Cause of death Duck?" Ducky chuckled. "Gibbs you know I haven't even got into the room. Let me see here." He bent down beside the body & pulled out a liver probe. For once he didn't have to push hard for it to slide into the body. "Any idea why the face was mutilated Duck?" Ducky looked at him & chuckled again. "Only a preliminary guess I'm afraid Jethro but maybe she offended him somehow?" Gibbs nodded in agreement & while Ducky waited for the liver probe, he began to look around the room. There were photos of Tony & a woman he had never seen before. Gibbs suspected that she was the elusive Jeanne. Then he realized that there was a very real chance that she might be the victim Ducky was bending over. "Woah, why do I get the feeling I'm being framed again?" Gibbs spun around to see Tony standing behind him. Luckily he was standing between Tony & the victim, meaning that Tony couldn't see her. "DiNozzo! I thought I told you to check the perimeter." He yelled. "All done boss so I thought I'd come in & help you in here." Tony recognized the look on Gibbs' face. He was in trouble. Tony realized he'd done the wrong thing by coming inside. Ducky stood up with the liver probe in his hand. "According to this, she died about three hours ago, Jethro. If it's alright with you I think Mr. Palmer & I should get her home." Gibbs turned around & nodded at Ducky, nodded for Jimmy to bring over the body bag. Just then Gibbs noticed something in her hand. He bent down to get a closer look, forgetting as he did that he was the only thing blocking Tony's view. He quickly straightened up when he heard Tony gasp. "Jeanne! Oh my god. This can't be happening. Boss you gotta believe me I wouldn't kill her." Gibbs grabbed him as he started to fall. He led Tony outside to the truck & made him sit down. Cate, Ziva & McGee started to come over to see what was wrong. But one look from Gibbs & they all went back to what they were supposed to be doing. Tony watched as Ducky & Jimmy carefully loaded Jeanne's body into the van & drove off. "Gibbs, what am I going to do? Jeanne was the only girl… woman I've ever really loved. How could someone do this to her? To me?" Gibbs placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "We'll catch them."

When they got back to headquarters, Abbey, Jimmy & Ducky were waiting for them in the squad room. Abbey took one look at Tony's face & could tell he was already depressed by what had happened.

"Tony. Are you ok? You can sleep over at my place tonight if you like?" Even though he was upset & didn't feel like talking to anyone he couldn't help but smile. Abbey had this kind of effect on everyone. It was always hard to stay upset when Abbey was around. "Thanks Abs. But just so you know I'm probably not gunna get much sleep." Abbey smiled & shrugged. "Doesn't matter Tony. I'll stay up all night with you if you wanna talk. And if not I'll stay all night & keep you company anyway." Everyone smiled at that. "Abs, I need you to go through everything here with a fine toothcomb. We're going to treat this case like its one of our own down in Ducky's freezer." Abbey nodded & headed for the elevator. Ducky & Jimmy followed.

All afternoon Tony was left pretty much to himself. Gibbs checked on him every couple of hours or so but didn't force him to talk or anything. Cate, Ziva & McGee had obviously been told to leave him alone. While Tony appreciated them obeying orders for once, he wished they would at least talk to him. If not about the case then about something. Gibbs got up & stretched his legs. He looked over at Tony who was playing his favourite Whack-Osama game on his computer. "I'm going for coffee. Ziva you & Cate go check with Ducky see if he has anything to update us on. McGee you go & help Abbey. Do whatever she tells you to." They all nodded & headed to their respective tasks. Gibbs headed for the elevator to get coffee & Tony found himself alone in the squad room. He stopped playing his game & closed the page. He opened a file on his computer that contained photos of him & Jeanne & put them on a slideshow on the plasma. As he stood watching the photos, he unconsciously walked back to his desk. Before he realized what he was doing he had picked up his weapon & cocked it & was sitting at his desk with his sig saur pointed at his head. He was so tempted to pull the trigger but he knew Gibbs would kill him if he did. But try as he may he couldn't bring himself to put the gun down. "Agent DiNozzo what are you doing?" Tony turned around to see Director Sheppard coming down the stairs. She rushed over to him & pulled the gun out of his hands. She put the safety back on & placed the gun on McGee's desk. Just then the elevator pinged & Gibbs, Cate, Ziva, McGee & Abbey stepped out. They all walked over just in time to see the director taking Tony's gun out of his hand. Abbey rushed over as the director placed the gun on McGee's desk. "Tony what were you thinking?" she punched him hard on the arm. "OW. Abbey! What was that for?" Abbey glared & gave him a you-know-what-for look. Before they could stop him he leapt out of his chair & made a grab for the gun. As he did both the director & Abbey tried to stop him. Even Gibbs flinched as they heard a loud bang. Tony dropped the gun & fell to his knees. Abbey & Cate screamed, while McGee's eyes followed the gun as it fell to the floor.

That's all for the moment folks but stay tuned to find out what happens next.