I can't wait to post the next chapter! It's going to be fun on a bun, you just wait and see! I want to thank each and every reader, reviewer, favoriter, and alerter! You make my world go around, which makes me dizzy sometimes, and I like that :)

(See chapter one for introduction.)


Chapter Four: Deceivingly Anticlimactic

Gibbs was still smiling his amused half-smile as the team turned to him for said 'battle plan.' However, according to his gut and everything the world seemed to be telling him at the moment, there did not seem to be much of a battle.

Listening to the radio on the way over, Gibbs assumed the government officials were scrambling to contain public fear. Word had been streaming in from every corner of the globe that, from the newborn infants to the ninety-year-olds, every person had been affected, regardless of location. There was no mental alteration, no reason for anyone to panic. It was being drilled into their heads from the start by direct quote from the Surgeon General himself:

"There is no need to panic. We as Americans pride ourselves on our ability to stay calm in turbulent times. We stand united and strong while our neighbors may turn in on themselves and collapse. I repeat, there is no need to panic. There is no need to panic."

It had been a phrase he heard fifty times on the fifteen minute drive from his house to Abby's place. As sugarcoated and whitewashed as the quote was in order to keep the formidable mass of the American public in control, it did give Gibbs what he needed for his battle plan.

He looked up at the waiting faces.

"What we are going to do is nothing. This isn't World War III, and this isn't some sort of apocalyptic death for all of humankind." He met each of his team member's eyes, refusing to be disturbed by their unfamiliar, bizarre coloring. Abby's smooth caramel brown, Tony's bright copper-gold, Ziva's distant yellowy orange, and Timothy's cold citrine-green. "We're going to keep doing our jobs, and we're going to keep serving criminals justice. It's what we do." He moved to leave. "You better be at work tomorrow."

In the wake of his finishing words came a tapping knock from the door, startling all of his team from their disbelieving stares. A woman's voice called in. "Abby! Hello?" The team exchanged a look as Gibbs turned to the sound. The Director- that could not be good.

Abby moved when the others did not, lighting over and letting her in. She gave her a quick squeeze of a hug. "Hi, Jenny! Did you get a call from Gibbs?" Abby asked as bright and irrepressible as ever. "Ooh, love the wings. You're like an angel."

Jenny did indeed seem like an angel. Almost impossibly broad wings of utter white hung with a natural ease behind her. The only thing that put off the angelic image was a stubby, white-feather tail. Gibbs resisted his pinch of a smile that indicated his hidden amusement. Jenny knew him well enough to recognize this behavior and turned to him with a trademark poison-sweet smile.

"Something funny, Jethro?"

"Oh, no, of course not. This is a very serious matter."

They locked eyes and had a momentary stare-down. Gibbs, despite knowing that he should not challenge a superior, seemed to savor the battle, and only when she quirked up an eyebrow a bit did he look away, smirking.

"Uh, we were just about to go, Director," Timothy said. She turned that dangerous smile to him, and he shrank.

"Oh, that's fine. I only need to speak to Jethro, anyway." In other words, leave. They listened, but not before Ziva stopped at Jenny, then looked back at Timothy. She squinted, looking at their foreheads.

"Look, it is the same marking." It was true. The little black point on Timothy's forehead matched the one on Jenny's forehead. Gibbs and Tony both turned their heads, looking at the two markings, while Timothy tried to see up his own face.

"Huh, that's weird." Timothy scrubbed the spot with the side of his hand, but it was a part of his skin and did nothing but redden slightly at the self-inflicted irritation. He looked back to the group to find them waiting for him to unblock the doorway. "Oh, sorry guys." The agents filed out, all murmuring goodbyes to Abby.

Ziva and Timothy left together while Tony walked off in the opposite direction towards his car. Abby stood on her tiptoes, looking out the peephole of her door as Gibbs and Jenny talked. Her knack for lip reading allowed her to get bits of the conversation.

"This is just so bizarre," Jenny was saying, her stance expressing both stress and annoyance. Gibbs' smile was a bit too playful for the seriousness of the matter to her.

He shrugged, looking nonchalant. "Hey, you gotta roll with the blows. I think both humanity and NCIS can withstand this… strangeness." His eyes followed the worried shuffle of her wings. Jenny looked up, and his gaze went to her eyes. They were dark, dark brown, almost black, stark against their previous hazel.

Abby grinned and leaned in as close as she could to the door. She could see this getting juicy any minute.

"We'll have to see in the morning," Gibbs said quietly, barely moving his lips. Or, "Wells don't help without warning," Abby could not be sure. Either way, at that moment, Gibbs looked straight at her and said, "Abby, get outta here." She gasped and ducked, deciding that he would have been able to do that even without his new doggy senses. Gibbs was the master.

The next morning as Timothy entered the NCIS complex, he still walked with a wary lightness, ready to run at the slightest danger. Something bounced off the back of his head, and he spun around, crouching, teeth bared. Tony was standing ten feet away, looking far too innocent. Timothy saw the balled up piece of paper on the floor and glared.

"Not funny, Tony." Timothy picked up the paper and tossed it into the garbage with a natural, easy accuracy.

Tony caught up with him on the way to the elevator and grinned. "Whatever, Probie." He slipped in beside his fellow agent.

"Hold the elevator! Hey!"

The doors were closing, and Timothy's hand shot out. A sensor told the system to halt and made a gentle ding as the doors seemed to bounce away from the human obstruction.

Jimmy Palmer stepped in, flustered as usual, carrying a black briefcase with papers sticking out in a haphazard fashion. However, that was not what the agents were staring at. Rather, the black ears protruding from Jimmy's curly hair caught their attention. The black rabbit ears.

He looked between the two men as the doors closed, and his smile faltered. "What?" Tony motioned to the ears, and Jimmy turned around as he looked up in a clumsy effort to spot them, revealing a small, fluffy black bobtail. "Oh yeah, it's a little embarrassing, isn't it? You agents are probably lions and bears, and I'm a rabbit. The truth is, I didn't even notice them till this morning. When I woke up in the night, I thought my cat was just sleeping on my face again. Then, when I went to the bathroom in the morning and saw'em in the mirror, you can guess I just was shocked!" The long, black appendages went from high and alert to hanging in self-consciousness, then back up in his ardor. "I think it looks a little unprofessional to leave them down like that, so I keep them up. What do you think?"

The elevator dinged and opened on the agents' floor, and they walked out. Jimmy smiled after them, giving a little wave.

"Of course you wouldn't notice rabbit ears growing out of the sides of your head," Timothy said in disbelief before the doors slide shut. Jimmy's smile disappeared.

"What do you mean, McGee? Hey!" The elevator closed, and the oblivious ME was left alone. "I wonder what he meant," he murmured to himself, then looked down his body and around his back. "Oh, my god! I have a tail!"

Back at the bullpen, Timothy was sitting at his desk, watching the news on the big plasma. Tony had indulged in a powdered doughnut and barely paid attention to the professional-looking anchor.

Channel 8 News was playing footage from around the world, from a small Namibian town where a little boy was dashing about with spotted cat ears, to a hospital in Alaska where a newborn had been born with what appeared to be tiny bird wings and tail, to a Japanese street where pedestrians walked in mass like nothing had changed- except for the various animal appendages in the sea of humans.

Gibbs walked in with Ducky, and the agents stood up for a better look, as if expecting the wings the doctor was sporting to be yellow. They were, however, white-speckled brown, and, above his glasses, jutted two bristling feather 'horns' that gave him an intimidating look.

"It is quite beyond me, Jethro," Ducky was saying. "Mother nearly had a fit. I do believe she is, ah, a dog. Corgi, in fact, from the looks of it. What are the odds? Our dear nurse showed up for work, though, which I am ever thankful for. I'm hoping between Abby and I that we can get a bit of our own research done on this phenomenon in the next couple of weeks." The two old friends stopped at the entrance to the cubicle area. Ducky continued. "I'm also a bit peeved that I had to sacrifice one of my favorite coats for these things." He fluttered his wings, which were impossibly broad, indicating at the rough cuts that allowed them to go through the coat, and nodded. "But I must be getting down to autopsy. I do hope Mr. Palmer is doing well."

"All right, Duck, we'll talk later," Gibbs said, mouth twisted in a wry smile, and patted the doctor's shoulder. They separated, and Gibbs, as he entered the bullpen, once again become stoic and composed. The agents sat down instantly like they hadn't been listening to the entire thing.

"What've we-" Gibbs began to say but was interrupted by an eager Abby, running towards them with unopened evidence bags and a tiny pair of scissors.

"Gibbs, wait, don't start yet!"

He sighed. "Yes, Abs?"

She settled down in front of the team, smiling. "I need samples from all of you." Gibbs perked up. What would Abby be testing for so? Disease? Poisoning? Any perceived threat to his people made Gibbs stand with tension pulling his body taut, which made the other agents more alert.

"For what?"

She rolled her eyes. "I downloaded a couple DNA databases. I'm gonna find out what our animals are!" Of course Abby would be so concerned. They groaned, having worried for nothing.

Timothy stuck up for her since he himself was interested in knowing exactly what he had become. "How long will it take you to get results?"

Abby gave him a appreciative grin. "About a day, if I push it." Then she said a bit more mysteriously, "Then, all shall be revealed." It was Gibbs' turn to roll his eyes.

"All right, Abs. Get it over with."


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