Written for a prompt at fic-promptly Any, any, An ill-considered practical joke.
Tony was forever pulling pranks on them, making them the butt of his jokes, it was their turn to return the favour. That was McGee and Ziva's excuse when Gibbs had questioned them, it was just a joke.
It wasn't a good one, not only was it the wrong sort of thing to call a joke, it was also the wrong time to play it. Jokes and pranks should never be played in the field, and leaving an Agent without backup was certainly no joke.
Tony was recovering nicely, so Internal Affairs were dealing with the situation instead of Gibbs.