Longish author's note: Here it is… the sequel to Figuring It Out, which in turn was the sequel to my first story, Post Obsession Conversation. This picks up just about a week after FIO ends, and references lots of events from that story, so I definitely recommend reading that one first. FIO was about Gibbs and Tony starting up a serious, romantic relationship, much to their own surprise, and Second Law is about them settling in and continuing to figure out how to balance the different aspects of their lives. This is therefore certainly a slash story, and will include some very explicit scenes, though not in this particular chapter. So, consider yourselves warned on that point!

I have to say that I make no promises about how quickly I'll be able to update… it's been difficult to get my creativity and my time coordinated – lately when one is good to go, the other isn't. I had all sorts of plans to get a lot done before I started posting, but finally had to admit that it just wasn't going to happen. I seem to work better under pressure, so I decided to go ahead and start posting. I know where the story's going, but I don't necessarily know exactly how I'm getting there, so I'm along for the ride too. :)

As always, the recognizable characters are not my creation, I'm just writing about them because I find them so incredibly intriguing. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the wonderful writers, actors and producers who have created them and their world. Oh, and this chapter contains a tiny nod to Bugs Bunny.

This series goes AU right after the season 7 episode Obsession; the Mexico storyline never happened.

Second Law

The second law of thermodynamics essentially states that the universe tends toward increasing disorder, chaos and randomness, otherwise known as entropy.

From chapter 35 of Figuring It Out:

This Certificate Entitles Jethro Gibbs and Tony DiNozzo to an All Expenses Paid Weekend Away at the Vacation Spot of Their Choice. From Abby, Ziva, McGee, Ducky and Jimmy.

1: Conversation, Crime, and a Conundrum

Gibbs and Tony in the Morning

Tony's eyes widened and he shut off his electric razor. He looked over at Jethro standing next to him, accomplishing the same task, though in a more low-tech fashion.

"Hawaii."

Jethro snorted and rolled his eyes. "We're not going to Hawaii for a weekend, Tony."

Tony bounced a little on his feet. "Come on, Jeth… it would be amazing!"

Jethro turned on the sink and rinsed his razor. He glanced over at Tony's hopeful puppy-dog eyes in the mirror. "We're not asking the team to pay for a trip to Hawaii."

Tony sighed heavily, then switched his razor back on. "We've got to come up with something, Jethro. It's been over a week since the party, and Abby's been bugging me every day about where we want to go. Hey, how about Bermuda? It's a lot closer."

Jethro put down his razor, rinsed his face, then loosened the towel at his waist and used it to dry off. "Still too much to ask, Tony."

Tony's eyes drifted down Jethro's body and he hummed appreciatively. Jethro shot him a smirk in the mirror. "Not if you figure it per person. There's five of them… it would only be a couple of nights."

Jethro shook his head, then turned to walk out of the bathroom, slapping Tony on the rear with the towel. Tony grinned at Jethro's departing reflection, finished shaving, then followed the other man into the bedroom. "You should suggest something, since you've shot down all my ideas. You know, I still think Vegas would be great… we could gamble and win and send them all on vacations as a thank you."

Jethro chuckled lightly as he pulled on his boxers and reached for the slacks he'd draped on the bed. "Or we could lose and have to hitchhike back to DC."

Tony tossed his own towel into the bathroom and walked to the dresser, bending over far more than necessary to open a drawer and getting a pinch on his right cheek as a reward. "Ow. No, we wouldn't. They'd have already paid for the flight and the hotel."

"Then we'd starve."

Tony stood back up, boxers and socks in hand. "So, suggest something."

Jethro watched Tony dress. "I was thinking…."

Tony waited while Jethro's voice trailed off. "You know, it's not like you to waffle."

Jethro raised an eyebrow. "I'm not waffling."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm..." he shook his head and smiled ruefully. "You know, that never used to work on me before we started this."

Tony grinned and executed a shallow bow. "I am the master."

That earned him another, more sarcastic snort. Jethro picked up a t-shirt and pulled it on. "Was thinking we could maybe head up to Pennsylvania, stay near Stillwater. I could show you some of my old hangouts, we could visit my dad."

Tony's grin got a heck of a lot bigger. "Seriously? That would be even amazinger than Hawaii!"

"I don't think that's a word."

"If hinky can be a word, amazinger can be a word. Would you limit the number of questions I could ask Jack, like you did last time?"

Jethro looked at Tony carefully. "No," he replied, after a moment, dragging the word out a bit. "But I would reserve the right to veto any of them."

Tony's eyes seemed to sparkle. "Deal. I'll make sure to save the really good ones for when you aren't around."

Jethro started to respond to that when he was interrupted by a tinny voice in a Brooklyn-ish accent repeatedly saying, "This means war!" Glancing around, he realized it was coming from his cell phone, sitting on the nightstand.

"What the hell…?"

Tony gave him an innocent look. "I might have changed some of the ringtones on your phone."

Jethro glared at him.

"That would be dispatch," Tony added helpfully.

Sighing, Jethro flipped the phone open. "Yeah, Gibbs." He opened the nightstand drawer and removed a small pad of paper and a pen, making a few notes. Then he flipped the phone shut and looked at Tony. "Dead petty officer in Arlington. Call McGee and Ziva, have them meet us there." He handed Tony the pad with the address, moved to grab his polo shirt, then turned around and shoved his cell into Tony's hands. "And change it back."

"No time, Boss. We've got a crime scene to get to." Tony tossed the phone to him and gave Gibbs his most heartfelt look of complete innocence, then moved to finish getting ready.

Gibbs sighed and looked around for his shoes. "Next time we stay at my place."

Crime Scene

The petty officer's body was lying under some thick brush near a baseball field in a small park off route 66. The area had been cordoned off by the local police; Gibbs and Tony were the first to arrive and quickly took over the scene from the cops. Tony spoke with the LEOs to get everything they knew, while Gibbs approached the wide-eyed teenage boy whose dog had found the body. The kid was sitting on a nearby bench, holding his dog in his lap. The dog was growling at the cop standing nearby; as Gibbs approached, the dog's attention shifted to him and he barked once. Gibbs glared at the small terrier mix, who immediately whined softly then went quiet.

Gibbs nodded to the officer. "I'll take it from here." The cop returned the nod and left.

Gibbs looked at boy, whose glances kept wandering between the body's hiding place, the cops, and Gibbs himself. Gibbs gave the boy a small smile. "Mind if I sit?"

The kid shook his head. "Nope."

Gibbs sat, pushing his cap back on his head a little. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." He held out his hand.

The boy looked a bit startled, but reached out and shook Gibbs' hand. The terrier gave a disgruntled snort. "I'm Kevin. Kevin Whitten. This is Smokey," he added, gesturing toward the dog. "What's NCIS?"

One corner of Gibbs' mouth twitched into a small smile. "Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The body you found is a naval petty officer, so the cops called us in. We have jurisdiction over cases involving Navy and Marine personnel."

Kevin nodded. "You gonna get the guy who killed him?"

"We usually do."

"Cool."

"Can you tell me when you found him?"

Kevin nodded. "Smokey's the one who found him. He likes to pee over there."

"You come here every morning?"

"Yeah, it's my job to walk Smokey before and after school. Had to promise that I'd take care of him if we kept him."

Gibbs smiled. "Always good to meet a man who keeps his promises."

Kevin smiled and sat up taller. "I made the honor roll at school too. Had to promise to do all my homework."

"Good for you. So what time did Smokey find the body?"

Kevin's face scrunched up a bit as he thought. "I think it was probably around six forty-five. I know I left the house at 6:30, and that's about how long it takes to get here."

"You come here after school yesterday?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. Smokey didn't notice anything then, and I know my dad brought him here last night, and he didn't say anything about a body or Smokey acting weird or anything like that."

Gibbs watched out of the corner of his eye as McGee and Ziva approached the bushes, Ducky and Palmer not far behind. Tony greeted them all and said something Gibbs didn't catch. McGee pulled out the portable fingerprint scanner and crawled into the bushes.

Gibbs turned his attention back to Kevin. "What time did your dad get back from walking Smokey?"

Kevin thought about that for a minute. "I was playing World of Warcraft with Brad online… Brad had told me he had to quit at 11:30 'cause of homework, and Smokey came running into my room just after Brad signed off, so I guess it was right around then."

"Brad always on time?"

"Oh, yeah. He wants to join the military after high school, so he says he needs to practice."

Gibbs grinned. "That's a good move on his part. What do you want to do when you graduate?"

Kevin's eyes lit up. "I want to go to college, major in computer programming, and design online games."

"There a lot of money in that?"

Kevin stared at Gibbs. "Well, yeah." His tone of voice clearly indicated that Gibbs should know that.

Gibbs ducked his head a bit to hide his smile. "You move the body at all?"

Kevin shook his head. "No way. I watch a lot of crime shows, and they always say not to do that."

"Good job. You recognize him?"

Kevin shrugged. "I didn't really see his face. He wasn't moving even though Smokey was barking, so I just called 911."

Gibbs watched as McGee crawled out of the bushes and reported his information to Tony. "McGee!"

The junior agent's head snapped around and he jogged over to them. "Morning, Boss."

"Special Agent McGee, this is Kevin Whitten and Smokey. Smokey found the petty officer. You confirm the ID?"

McGee nodded to Kevin, then looked at Gibbs. "Petty Officer Second Class Terrence Drimel."

Gibbs made a note on his pad, then gestured toward the scanner. "You got his picture on the screen?"

McGee nodded and handed the scanner to Gibbs, who glanced at it and then held it out to Kevin. "He look familiar to you at all?"

Kevin looked carefully at the picture. "Nope. Never seen him before."

Gibbs nodded, then handed the scanner back to McGee. "Cops took your address and phone number when they got here?"

Kevin nodded.

Gibbs took out his wallet and removed one of his cards, then held it out to the boy. "Hang on to this – you remember anything else, even if you don't think it's important, you call me, or email if you prefer."

Kevin looked at the card carefully, then up at Gibbs. "Jethro's kind of a funny name."

McGee stifled a laugh. Gibbs ignored him and smiled at Kevin. "Just meant I was the only one in my classes at school. Didn't have to share the name."

Kevin grinned at him. "There were three Kevins in my sixth grade class."

"See?" Gibbs held out his hand. "Thanks for your help." He shook Kevin's hand again, then glanced down at Smokey, who looked back at him suspiciously. "You going to be late for school?"

Kevin looked at his cell phone and grimaced. "Yeah. Mrs. Bradon's gonna yell at me again."

Gibbs looked at McGee. "Get the number for the school, call them and tell them why Kevin's late."

Kevin grinned. "Awesome! Thanks!"

Gibbs smiled at him, then got up and headed over toward the bushes where Ducky and Palmer were starting to move the body. He could hear Smokey growling at McGee as he walked away.

He moved past the bushes where Tony was sketching the scene and Ziva was photographing and collecting trace evidence, walking over to where Ducky and Palmer were securing the body on a gurney. "Time of death, Duck?"

Ducky glanced up at him and smiled. "Good morning, Jethro! It is too bad this young man didn't live to see the sunrise. Did you happen to catch it? Beautiful colors."

Gibbs smiled slightly. "Was otherwise occupied, Duck. Time of death?"

Ducky returned the smile while Palmer glanced quickly over at Tony, back at Gibbs, then focused intently on tightening the straps when he realized Gibbs was watching him.

"Time of death… ah, yes, between three and three-thirty a.m."

"Cause?"

"Ah, that will take more doing, I'm afraid. There is no blood, no obvious signs of physical trauma, such as a gunshot or knife wound. So we shall have to wait to get him onto a table to ascertain that particular piece of information." Ducky shrugged slightly at Gibbs, then turned to help Palmer move the gurney to the truck. "This reminds me… Mr. Palmer, have I ever told you about the time I helped to investigate a series of murders in which none of the victims had any noticeable signs of external trauma or internal poisoning?"

Gibbs smiled and turned away, heading back to where his team was working and forcing his mind away from thoughts of why he'd missed the sunrise that morning.

Abby's Oops

Abby popped into Autopsy, moving quickly to the table where Ducky and Palmer were just starting to work on Petty Officer Terrence Drimel. Ducky glanced up and smiled.

"Good morning, Abigail! To what do we owe the honor of your presence?"

Abby came to a halt next to the table and looked down at the body. "Good morning to you, Ducky! And Jimmy! My babies are ready to go and I have absolutely no evidence to process yet, so after I made sure everything was spic and span, I decided to come here so I could take stuff back to my lab and get started."

Ducky peered closely at something on the Petty Officer's neck. "Ah, just a mole. Nothing of import." He looked at Abby. "You shall be saving Mr. Palmer a trip to see you, then. Mr. Palmer?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

Ducky looked significantly at Palmer, who looked back with a smile and then suddenly stood up straighter.

"Oh! Right." He turned away and moved to the table next to them, picking up several sealed evidence bags. "We found some fibers and some material under his fingernails. Not sure what that is. But you could start there, and I could bring you the rest later."

Abby smiled at him and took the bags, setting them back down on the table and signing them. She then gathered them up and turned to go, but hesitated.

Ducky glanced up again. "Did you need something else?"

Abby shifted her weight from one leg to the other, drew in a breath through her teeth, then spoke rapidly. "I was just wondering if Gibbs or Tony said anything to you about where they want to go on their weekend away."

Ducky smiled. "You do appear to be very eager to have them take that little vacation we gave them. If I may ask – what is the rush? We only had the party last week, you know."

Abby sighed. "I do know. Tony keeps telling me the same thing. It's just… I really, really want them to stay together, 'cause I think they're really happy. I've never seen Gibbs so open with the whole team at one time – actually, I've never seen Gibbs so open with anyone at any time. And Tony's happy too. McGee says he thinks Tony won't even need to glue him to stuff anymore."

Palmer chimed in. "Tony does seem to be more settled. He's less, I don't know, less… uh…"

"Nutty?" Abby asked.

Ducky chuckled. "I would say impulsive. I do agree with you, my dear. Both of them seem happy in their new relationship. So why are you so concerned about their weekend away?"

Abby sighed. "It's just that relationships take work, you know? If you don't work at them, they fall apart, like an old barn that nobody maintains. It eventually just, you know, gets all saggy and dilapidated and at some point it collapses, 'cause that's the way the universe works." She started to pace around the table. "Tony's only ever had one long term relationship since I've known him, and that wasn't even real, 'cause he was undercover. And don't get me started on all the ex-Mrs. Gibbses. The honeymoon phase will be over sooner or later and if they don't keep working at it, they'll be like that barn. And if that happens, what will happen to the team? I don't want either of them to be unhappy anymore, or to end up leaving or anything like that." She looked beseechingly at Ducky, who wasn't really looking back at her, but was checking over Terrance Drimel's upper body with a large magnifier.

"Mr. Palmer, would you begin at the feet, please?"

Palmer complied, and Abby took the ensuing silence as an opportunity to continue. "So Gibbs and Tony were under a lot of stress, you know? I mean, they had to work out what was going on between them, and that can't be easy since they aren't really gay, just into each other, and then Gibbs goes and gets kidnapped by the crazy Johnson, you know, the car guy, not the one Ziva's been seeing, and then Tony leaves Gibbs in the hospital and takes off for parts unknown, and it's just too much!"

Palmer looked up. "Tony went to a beach somewhere in the Carolinas."

"Tony was so worried and stressed about everything, and then they were okay but Gibbs is only just barely healed up from what that evil guy did to him, and… Palmer, you're a genius!"

"I am?"

"Absolutely! A beach is a perfect idea. They could go to Florida, with the five of us chipping in, we can get them the plane tickets and the hotel room… they could be on the beach together. Wouldn't that be great? Tony would love it, and I bet he could get Gibbs to love it too." Her tone of voice turned slightly suggestive. "Can't you just picture them together on a beach? That would be so hot!"

"What would be so hot about Gibbs and DiNozzo on a beach together, Ms. Sciuto?"

Abby whirled around and squeaked in alarm at the sight of Director Vance standing in the doorway to Autopsy. A quick glance at the others showed Palmer looking panicky and Ducky looking grave.

"Oh, um, Director Vance! We were talking about beach vacations and I was just saying that Gibbs and Tony, well, alone each one of them is, you know, really se – um, attractive, but if they were both on a beach, that could be sensory overload –"

Abby voice broke off abruptly when Ducky reached out and gently touched her arm. She bit her lips and looked at Vance, eyes wide. Vance stared back, eyes slightly narrowed.

"Any of you seen Gibbs?"

Abby and Palmer shook their heads, while Ducky spoke up. "I haven't seen him since we left the crime scene with this poor fellow."

Vance looked somewhat irritated. "You see him, tell him I need to talk to him." He turned and left, the door closing behind him.

Ducky, Palmer and Abby stood frozen until they saw the elevator doors close, then Abby turned around and looked at the two men. "How long was he there?"

Palmer shrugged and Ducky shook his head.

Abby groaned and dropped her head into her hands.