The elevator opened silently, and Tony DiNozzo emerged, making a beeline for his desk. "It has to be here...it just has to be," he muttered, opening and slamming each drawer in turn.
"What did you lose Tony, a phone number?" Kate said, smirking at him from her own desk.
He ignored her, shifting his attention to the pile of papers on his desk. As he continued to look, Kate cleared her throat. "Tony,"
"Yes, Kate?" The annoyance in his voice was obvious.
"What are you looking for?"
"You wouldn't understand."
She smirked again, staring him down. "Try me."
"His little black book." Both Tony and Kate turned to face McGee, who had quit working at his computer to offer up this useful bit of information. Tony sighed as Kate started to laugh.
"Oh no...how on Earth will you tell Tammy from Tricia or Janet from Jamie? Your world must be ending."
He glared at her, his frustration growing more evident. "I know you took it, Kate, so why don't you give it back?"
She raised her hands in front of her innocently. "Me? How do you know I took it? Maybe it was McGee.."
"I-I didn't take it," McGee stuttered, not wanting to be dragged into the middle of another one of their petty squabbles.
Tony snickered, glancing briefly at McGee before turning his attention back to Kate. "Please... McGeek wouldn't know what to do with it. You, on the other hand, might be open to a little experimentation." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Kate's smirk vanished, and her expression turned icy. "I swear, DiNozzo, you're a 12-year-old boy in a suit. Grow up."
Before Tony could answer her, he was surprised by one of Gibbs's trademark slaps to the back of the head. "Why don't you all get to work? DiNozzo, go check on Abby and see if she's got any results yet."
"Boss...I'm kind of looking for something."
Gibbs stared at DiNozzo, his face blank. "Really, and what might that be?"
"My address book."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "You planning on writing a letter, DiNozzo?"
"N-No..but,"
"Then go check on Abby." Kate laughed under her breath as McGee quickly looked back at his computer.
"Right, Boss." As Tony crossed in front of Kate's desk, he hissed under his breath. "Give it back, Kate." She only smiled and said nothing.
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As the doors to the lab whooshed open, a series of earsplitting screeches assailed Tony's ears.
"You torturing a cat down here, Abby?"
She spun around on the chair, a bemused smile on her face. "No, Tony...it's called music. "
"Not to me, it isn't. Can you turn it off?" Abby nodded, pigtails bouncing, as she hit a button on the remote, plunging the lab into silence.
"What's up?"
"Gibbs sent me down to check on whether you had any results on the fingerprints we found at the scene yet." Abby shook her head. "Not yet--but that's not really surprising, considering how many there were to go through."
Tony nodded, seemingly distracted. "All right. I'll go tell him."
"Tony, what's up?" She hopped off her chair, bouncing over to Tony. He sighed.
"I lost my black book."
"Oh no Was it Volume One or Two?"
He smiled a little. "Two. I had to retire One after the pages started falling out. I made sure to copy over the best ones though."
Abby grinned. "Like the double-jointed flight attendant?"
Tony's smile grew wider. "Yeah, she was amazing. She could do this thing with her–" He stared at Abby for a few seconds in shock. "How did you know about that?"
She laughed. "You left it in the lab once. After I flipped through it, I put it back in your desk drawer."
"Is there any chance I left it in the lab again?" he asked, looking hopeful.
Abby shook her head. "Sorry, Tony."
"I bet Kate took it...as payback." he grumbled, under his breath.
"Payback for what?" Abby wanted to know.
Tony really didn't want to tell Abby that he'd been taunting Kate for days with a picture of her in a wet T-shirt contest. She would either find it amusing, or work with Kate to get him back, and he was afraid of what the two of them could do together. "The usual." His answer made Abby laugh. "I gotta go. Gibbs will be wondering where I went." With a smile, Tony headed back out the lab door as Abby turned the music back on.
When he made it back to the bullpen, only McGee was there, and Tony decided to take advantage of the lone probie. "McGee..."
He stopped typing to look up at Tony. "Yeah, Tony?"
He patted McGee on the shoulder. "Where is my black book, McGee? Better yet," he paused, "How did you know it was missing to begin with?"
"Kate told me, " he replied quickly, but the tips of his ears were starting to turn red.
Tony smirked, turning McGee's chair to face him. "You forget you're talking to a senior field agent, McGeek, I remember things. You told Kate it was missing, not the other way around."
McGee didn't say anything at first, only sighed.
Tony leaned over, so his face was only inches from McGee's. "Where is it?"
"All right, I'll tell you. But you didn't hear it from me..."
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He waited until everyone else was gone for the night before he made his move. Taking a deep breath, he waited stoically at Gibbs' desk. Finally Gibbs looked up from his reading, and answered in his usual no-nonsense tone.
"Something I can help you with, DiNozzo?"
He held out his hand. "I'd like my black book back, boss."
Gibbs snorted. "Took you long enough." Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out the book. He was about to place it in Tony's hand, but stopped, holding it up. "McGee?"
Tony paused. "I am not at liberty to divulge my source."
Gibbs chuckled. "He was the only one there when I took it."
Shaking his head, Tony continued. "You had it all along..."
"I did at that...but I figured it wouldn't take a senior field agent all day to find it." The amusement was evident in Gibbs's voice.
The senior field agent's face turned red. "I didn't consider you a suspect, Boss. Kate, McGee, even Abby, sure...but not you."
Gibbs handed Tony the black book as he spoke. "Never assume, DiNozzo. Remember Rule # 8..."
Both Gibbs and Tony recited the rule from memory. "Never take anything for granted."
"Right, Boss."