Thanks for the reviews, guys! :D Here's chapter four. And also, thanks, Dolphin645757, for the simple yet great story suggestion that actually saved me from not posting this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ncis, but Larry the janitor belongs to me.

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Another day came and went. Gibbs was quite happy to walk in on a sunny and busy Wednesday morning, though he had been feeling rather sluggish lately. Tony and Ziva were already hard at work (McGee must have been with Abby) when he quickly plodded into the bullpen and collapsed into his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes.

After a few minutes, the former marine finally opened one eye to observe how his team was doing, only to jerk both open when he caught sight of something sitting next to his blinking computer screen.

It was a rather large and steaming Starbucks cup. The words, "Hello, Gibbs. I've missed you," were written in red marker right under the trademark mermaid symbol.

Gibbs eyes quickly shot up to glare at Ziva, but the ex-Mossad was busy discussing something on the phone. So Gibbs sent his hard glare flying at Tony instead, who was typing something away. Oh well, his report would have to wait.

"Tony!" Gibbs demanded sternly while standing up. "What is this?" he pointed at the cup of coffee. Tony just stared with a puzzled look.

"What boss?" The confused agent's eyes began searching his boss's desk.

Gibbs just gritted his teeth, making them ache. "You know good and well what I'm talking about." But Tony just continued searching the desk with his eyes frantically. The former marine let out a frustrated groan. "The coffee cup on my desk! Who put it there?"

By now, Ziva had hung the phone up and was studying Gibbs with a baffled look.

"Um, Gibbs," she stammered. "There is nothing there."

Gibbs sent his glare flying back at his desk, and sure enough, the coffee cup was there, mocking him.

What's happening?

"What are you talking about?" he questioned quite loudly. "It's right there!"

DiNozzo had stood from his seat and was now leaning over his own desk, squinting. "Um, Boss, there's no coffee cup."

Gibbs just shook his head, looking back at the coffee. It was right there! It had to be there! He was looking at it right now!

Then a thought popped in his mind. Oh no. He was hallucinating, but he couldn't be!

Without another second to lose, he grabbed the coffee, stomped over to the trash can sitting next to the probie's desk, and hurled it down. It landed with a sweet sounding thud. Gibbs sighed with satisfaction. With that problem solved, he turned back to his desk…

…Only to find another hot and steaming cup waiting for him. This time it read, "Aw, Gibbs. That hurt my feelings."

All Gibbs could do was pause and gawk (mentally, of course. He never showed if he was surprised, which he was). His two team members continued to send him confused stares.

"Boss, are you okay?"

"Tell me that you see that," Gibbs said through clenched teeth.

Ziva could only raise an eyebrow. "See, what Gibbs?"

Oh man, he really was hallucinating.

"Boss?"

"Tell me that you see that!" he yelled, pointing at the horrifying cup.

Tony just looked at Gibbs worriedly. "Boss, are you sure you're okay? There's nothing there."

"Don't tell me there's nothing there! It's sitting right there!" He jabbed his finger at his desk.

"Uuum…" Tony sent his worried look at Ziva, whose face matched his.

Gibbs let out a long and frustrated groan, then once again snatched the so called cup and hurled it at the trash can.

When he turned back, there was another one. This one read, "You're mean, Gibbs."

"Augh!" the now baffled boss moaned. "You guys can't see that?" The other two could only shake their heads, earning another held out groan. "Larry!" Gibbs called. The janitor looked up from the window he was wiping. "Tell me that there's a cup of Starbucks coffee sitting on my desk."

The young man's face sported a puzzled look as he gazed at Tony and Ziva, who were slowly shaking their heads.

No, no, no! He couldn't be hallucinating! He had always known that he had had a love of coffee, but not so much as to give him ridiculous hallucinations!

"Augh!"

With that, Gibbs stomped out of the bullpen and to the elevator.

XXXXX

Tony could only hold his laughter until the elevators closed behind his boss's back. As soon as they did, loud and hearty guffaws flooded from his smiling mouth. Ziva had slammed her head down on her desk while silently giggling. Larry the janitor could only smile.

"Did you see the look on his face?" DiNozzo exclaimed between fits of laughter. "That was hilarious!"

His teammate snorted. "I have to admit, Tony. That was pretty good."

"Man, Ziva. I knew you were a pro' assassin and all that, but I didn't know you could move that quick!"

"Thank you, but I was actually hoping that I could put at least one cup up," The ex-Mossad answered while holding two more large paper cups.

"Hahaha! I told you I would have my fun, Ziv'! I just had to wait for the right time." His laughter ended, and he sent a look flying to Larry, who was silently standing between the two desks. "Hey, Larry, I owe you one!"

The janitor glared through his bushy mess of dark and greasy hair.

"Okay, okay. I owe you more than one, but could you follow Gibbs and make sure he doesn't go and cave in. We still have to make sure he wins," Tony explained with a wide grin.

Larry just scowled, until he was handed a twenty dollar bill by Ziva. Then the young man silently strolled to the elevator.

The two teammates continued to laugh.

XXXXX

Abby had had enough.

She was tired of not having Gibbs show up in the morning with a hulking cup of soda. She was tired of the still growing itch in her throat. She was tired of Ziva walking in every now and then with her favorite beverage. She was tired of having to drink nasty water all the time.

She was definitely tired of this stupid bet!

Abby could only be thankful that she had a friend like McGee to comfort her that morning. After he had left, everything went silent, until a the glass doors swished open a few hours later.

This time, instead of Ziva, Larry came in with a Caff-Pow! The same depressed look that he always carried around was plastered on his face (Abby guessed it was because Tony kept taking advantage of the young man).

"Hey, Larry," the goth greeted, trying her best to sound like her old cheery self.

"Oh, hey Abby."

Then they stood in awkward silence, both staring at the floor. The janitor took a sip of his drink.

"I didn't know you liked Caff-Pow!'s," Abby replied, still feeling quite awkward talking to a man she barely knew. She wondered why he was here in the first place. He wasn't even carrying his mop!

"Oh. Yeah. Um…" The man stared off into space, and then returned to reality. "Um, actually I don't," he admitted. Then he gingerly set the huge cup on the metal table and left the lab, muttering something about how stupid Tony was.

Abby just gaped in horror. "But, Larry!" she called. "You… you… I-" She couldn't find the right words and finally collapsed in her seat, sending glares at the abandoned soda.

Why did the world hate her so much?

The first thought that crossed her mind was to throw the beverage away, but she quickly decided against it, hiding the Caff-Pow! in the fridge instead. Then she went back to work, scanning the clothes from a dead marine found the other day.

After a few hours of nothing, her eyes reverted back to the fridge, longing for the Caff-Pow! that called for her.

One sip wouldn't hurt, as long as she didn't get caught.

After quietly opening the glass door and grabbing the soda, she slowly and cautiously held the straw to her lips.

"Abigail! What are you doing?"

The lab rat turned to find a frowning Ducky walking briskly toward her.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Ducky!" she exclaimed with disappointment. "I couldn't help it! Larry came in here, and then we stared at each other, and then he left his cup, which Ziva and Tony have been doing a lot lately. I didn't know they liked Caff-Pow! But anyways, Larry left it, and I was thirsty, and I couldn't help it 'cause I've been through too much already-" She was cut off when Ducky butted in.

"It's okay, my dear," he replied while laying a hand on the goth's shoulder. "But you had better be glad it was me who walked in and not anyone like Gibbs. He would have declared himself winner by now, even if you hadn't taken a sip. Now, we wouldn't want that to happen would we?"

Abby shook her head, causing her braids to swish.

"Well, then. When Timothy came down to the morgue and explained to me what you and Gibbs had brought up, I was quite determined to help you win. I mean, Gibbs almost always gets what he wants. So I thought we might make a change to that."

The goth could only smile and then grabbed the good doctor in an embrace. When they released, Ducky nodded.

"You know, this reminds me of a time back in London…"

XXXXX

It had a long day, and Gibbs was glad to finally get into his car. He was also definitely glad that the hallucinations hadn't continued. Strangely, nobody had said another word about it. Tony and Ziva had been especially quite, and every time Larry passed by, he gave Gibbs a scowl (then again, Larry always wore a scowl. He would have to tell DiNozzo to stop taking advantage of the kid).

Gibbs stopped himself before he started up the engine. It was only seven o'clock. He had told everyone to leave early since they were obviously not going to find any clues about the case that night. The thought of going home alone and having nothing to do bothered him. He didn't want to work on the boat either (he hadn't worked on it ever since the bet started).

The former marine didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to stay and work on the case (which seemed impossible to solve). Before he knew it, he had pulled out his phone and started dialing Abby's number. Then he paused.

What are you doing, Gibbs?

He flipped the phone shut and began shoving it into his pocket, but the thought of Abby needing comfort crossed his mind. Gibbs once again fished the cell out of his pocket and forced himself to dial the number.

"What's up, Boss-Man?" she answered heartily.

"Um, hey, Abbs." He began searching his head for the right words. "You doing anything tonight?" he asked hopfully.

A pause. "Nope. I was just gonna go home and um… y'know, do stuff." Gibbs chuckled at the answer. "Why, Gibbs?"

"Well, I was thinking it was still sorta' early and I might take you out for dinner or something." He mentally begged for her to say yes.

There was another pause. "Cool beans, Jethro! Sounds like fun. Where we goin'?"

A smile found it way on the former marine's face. "Where do you want go?"

"McDonalds!"

Gibbs sat there, unsure of what to say.

Abby was laughing happily. "I'm jus' kidding, Gibbs!" Pause. "Actually, there's this new Italian restaurant that I've been looking forward to eating at."

He chuckled. "Okay, Abbs. Whatever you say. Are you still in the lab?"

"Yup!" was the cheery reply.

"Okay, I'll come get you right now." Gibbs flipped the phone shut, hurled a newspaper that was resting on the passenger seat next to him to the back, and stumbled out of the car. He gave out a satisfied sigh.

Inside the building, Abby was seated at her desk, waiting eagerly for her "Silver-haired Fox" to arrive.