Disclaimer: Tortured is written for personal motivation, no infringement on characters or situations intended.
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Gibbs slammed the NCIS and FBI files shut, sending other documents on his desk fluttering to the floor. McGee scrambled from his chair to pick up the errant papers and hastily arranged them before returning them to where they had fallen from; in the process he sent an empty paper coffee cup toppling over.
"Damn it McGee just leave it. Did you get anything from the Major's computer?" Gibbs stood up and walked to the plasma screen situated in the team's bullpen.
"No Boss, there is nothing of interest on the hard drive. It seems Major Shields used the computer for purely recreational purposes." McGee turned to the plasma screen and reached for the remote control sitting on the shelf beside it, he pressed the power button and information he had collated appeared before them.
"Define recreational McGee . . . are we talking fun and games, general interests or DiNozzo's definition of recreational?" Gibbs pointedly turned in Tony's directed, pinning him with a stare that told Tony his boss hadn't forgotten his previous indiscretion which resulted in Kate having to answer some very uncomfortable questions relating to her spare time activities and sexual preferences.
"Hey Boss! I viewed those websites for research purposes only, it wasn't my fault that Kate took offence!" Tony having appeared to take great offence at Gibbs' insinuations, stood up and gestured wildly at Kate's desk, momentarily shoring himself up for the onslaught of accusations he knew Kate would never pass the opportunity of throwing at him; before he remembered his partner was still in Court testifying in a case the team had worked on previously. Apparently the defence had additional questions that had to be answered about the profile Kate had compiled about the accused. Kate was expected back in the office within the next couple of hours and Tony hoped she would bring food with her from the new Deli they had discovered during one of their 'team lunches'. Kate had not been at the crime scene, nor had she been involved in any of the preliminary investigations undertaken by the team, so Tony had had to do more than his normal share of the work load and therefore felt he needed to be adequately compensated - food, in this instance, would suffice.
"Offence DiNozzo? She spent an afternoon explaining to the tech department why she had so much ham on her computer . . ."
"Uh Boss its spam not ham, but I uh can see how a person could confuse the terms; not meaning that you're confused but that the two words are very similar and I'm gonna be quiet now" Tony prattled out before realizing he may have just fuelled Gibbs wrath.
"Spam? Ham? I don't care if it's corned beef – you used her computer to visit risqué websites and she had to convince the geeks not to involve the Director and start an internal investigation procedure."
"McGee – define RECREATIONAL!" At this, Gibbs re-focused his attention at the plasma screen and listened while McGee stuttered and stumbled through a review of his findings.
Gibbs, having gained no additional insight about the Major announced he was leaving for coffee, but he wanted answers when he returned. He knew Tony and McGee could not pull the answers out of thin air any more than he could; they needed information badly. Gibbs hoped that when Kate was finally released from Court she could review the information they had accumulated with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective and speculate about a motive that just was not glaringly apparent.