Kate came round the corner of the screen and banged a small round object down on Tony's desk. "Happy New Year, Tony", she said. "I got you a present".
Leaning back from his keyboard, Tony squinted at the cardboard disc in front of him. "Well, Happy New Year to you too, Kate", he drawled, "But … what is it exactly?" He picked up the object and examined it.
"It's a Round Tuit, Tony". Kate smiled at him in a way that made him nervous. "All those things you tell me you'll do when you get around to it? No excuses anymore – that's a Round Tuit. Now you've got one, how about some follow-through on the Debsky paperwork? You're always late with your reports".
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Oh come on, Kate". Tony changed tack. "Give me a break. You know I've been busy with …"
"Don't whine, Tony, it makes you sound pathetic", Kate cut him off. "We're all busy. And Gibbs is dead keen to wrap up the Debsky case, so how about it?"
"How about what?" Gibbs asked as he swung into the bullpen and headed to his desk, coffee in hand. He shed his coat and scarf.
"How about … how about a New Year's picnic, Boss", Tony improvised, wiggling his eyebrows at Kate.
"A picnic, DiNozzo?" Gibbs' voice remained level, but the look he shot Tony suggested drawing and quartering. Must have been a bad night on the boat, Tony thought. "In the snow, right? Is that the best you can do?" Gibbs shuffled through his mail, then advanced on Tony's desk. "Where are we on the Debsky paperwork?"
Damn, Tony thought, the guy has ears like a bat. "Aah … Boss …", he started, but Kate took pity on him.
"McGee, Gibbs", she said. "He's following up on that last lot of phone calls. Should be done by lunchtime. "
"Glad to hear it, McGee. On my desk by 11", Gibbs said to a startled McGee, who rounded the corner just then. He headed off towards the elevator, leaving McGee open-mouthed behind him. Out of the corner of his eye as he stood waiting, he saw McGee advancing on Tony and Kate. Gibbs smiled to himself as he stepped into the elevator. Just another day in the bullpen. Didn't bode well for the new year.
McGee looked down at Tony's desk. "Oh, a Round Tuit", he said, picking it up. "I haven't seen one of those for a while".
"Probie!" Tony shooed McGee away. "The Debsky stuff! Now!" McGee huffed over to his desk and settled in.
"What's your resolution, Kate?" Tony asked, batting a scrunched up piece of paper over to his wastebasket as he turned back to his computer.
Kate shrugged. "Don't make them any more".
"Well, I can see why you wouldn't. You're the same weight you were two years ago, right? Guess those resolutions never took". He ducked as a chain of paper clips came sailing in his direction.
Kate swivelled round in her chair and gave him her undivided attention, or rather, her undivided glare. "So what's yours, then?"
"I never tell. It's like when you blow out the birthday candles – if you tell what you wished, it doesn't come true. Same thing with resolutions". Tony checked his hair in the mirror he kept in his top drawer. "But it involves a woman this year, I'll give you that much".
"He's going to ask you out, Kate", McGee put in from where he now stood by the fax machine. "Once he gets up the nerve, that is". He ignored Tony's scathing look and took the incoming fax back to his desk. With luck, it contained what he needed to wind up the Debsky report.
"Believe me, Tony", Kate sniped, "I'd rather marry McGee and have his baby than go out with you".
"Hey!" Tony and McGee protested simultaneously. There was a short (but pregnant) pause.
"I've got a better idea, Probie". Tony swung around to McGee. "Why don't you ask her out? Since she's so sweet on you …"
"Sorry, Kate". McGee shrugged. "Rule Number 12 and all that. Not that I wouldn't like to …"
"I'm impressed, McGee", Kate snarled. "You actually learned them".
Tony's cell phone buzzed. He glanced down at the incoming number display and smiled what Kate had told him was his Sleazebag 101 smile. He preferred to think of it as seductive. "Whoops, sorry to break this up, kids, but I'm out of here".
"What …!" Kate jumped up from her desk and came out into the central space. "Tony, you can't! Gibbs will have your hide. I'll have your hide." It wasn't only the Debsky business keeping them busy; the accumulated paperwork from several recent cases had piled up over the holiday break.
"I feel your pain, Kate. Just tell Gibbs I had to take care of something I've been putting off. I'll only be one floor away". Tony turned back to his desk and scooped up Kate's little gift. "And now that I have a Round Tuit, I really can't delay it further, can I?" Bestowing a smile of ineffable sweetness upon Kate, he headed for the elevator, leaving her spluttering in his wake.
"You really can't be too careful what you give him, Kate", McGee remarked as he ducked smartly off in Tony's wake, heading down to see Abby.
Kate sighed as she looked after them. Never give Dinozzo an even break, she thought. She'd remember that this year. Maybe resolutions had their uses after all.