Chapter 4
McGee was mentally kicking himself. He had loaded all the evidence into the car, without any help by his fellow agents, thank you very much, and was ready to drive back when he realised that, although the car had been open, the keys were nowhere to be found. Now he had to go and find Tony to get them.
It didn't take much imagination to hear Tony chuckle at his lapse.
Grumbling to himself, he went back into the hotel. As soon as he stepped off the elevator on the third floor, he followed the sounds of a commotion around the corner. It almost sounded as if the whole team - minus him of course - were there already. Noticing the open door further along the corridor, he quickened his pace and entered the room just as he heard Abby calling out "Xander!"
Wait.
"Abby?" he asked flabbergasted. What was she doing here?
--
Xander smiled. She had used what he considered to be his real name, not Alex, Alexander or worse, Kojak. She had called him Xander.
Tony and the woman, Ziva, looked at each other and back at Xander. Who was wriggling his eyebrows at them.
Ha, take that. She knows me. She likes me. "Told ya. Pirates."
Then another man entered the room and Xander couldn't help but roll his eyes. Just how many of them were there?
"McGee?" Tony asked.
McGee, still looking somewhat confused in the direction of the bathroom, turned to his co-worker. "Ah, car keys. I need them." Ignoring the quite murmurs coming from the bathroom for now, figuring that Abby would be fine with Gibbs, he took a closer look at the handcuffed man on the chair. "Uhm, why did you cuff Abby's brother?"
Xander couldn't help but snicker at Tony's face. Winking in McGee's direction, he said, "Didn't you know? He's into the really kinky stuff."
--
Meanwhile in the bathroom Gibbs tried to prevent Abby from rushing out. "Shh, it's okay. You're safe."
Abby stopped short and glared at him indignantly. "Of course I'm safe!" As long as she wasn't looking into any bright lights, that is. "Ow," she mumbled and closed her eyes as quickly as she had opened them. She didn't even protest when Gibbs pulled her into his arms again. "Ow."
Ducky patted her shoulder. "The perils of too much alcohol, my dear Abigail."
"Not too much," she protested feebly. Lifting her head up from its comfy resting place, she frowned. "Not more than usual."
Gibbs and Ducky exchanged a worried look.
Suddenly Abby pushed away from Gibbs again. "Xander. Where is my little Xander?"
This time she reached the door before he could grab her again.
And there he was, giving her his best boyish grin. "Morning Abs."
Gibbs, who was standing behind her, locked eyes with Tony. The glare intensified when nobody stepped in to prevent Abby hugging the guy on the chair.
Abby rushed to her brother and, when he didn't get up, she plopped down on his lap and hugged him tightly. "Handcuffs? Handcuffs? They cuffed you?" her voice became more and more agitated by the second. Turning around, she looked at Gibbs accusingly. "You cuffed my little brother?"
"Oh dear," Ducky muttered as he watched Tony undo the cuffs.
"How was I supposed to know?" Gibbs defended himself, realising he could be in quite a lot of trouble - and not just with Abby. "There's been a murder in this hotel and you were in bed, not knowing where you are or how you got here!"
"But he's harmless!" Abby pinched Xander's cheek, who winced in return. "Look at him, Xander's still a baby!"
Tony coughed in the background, but quickly stopped when he received glares from all sites.
Arms akimbo, Abby continued to stare at Gibbs. "We were clubbing and ... and -" Looking at Xander, she asked, "How did we get here?"
Pushing her onto the bed, he frowned at her. Tiredly rubbing his eye, he said, "You zonked out in the taxi, I had a spare bed. Figured it'd be the easiest and safest."
Ziva, who was watching from the back with Tony and McGee, tilted her head. "You had much to drink, yes?"
Xander slowly shook his still hurting head. "Not nearly enough." Standing up, he quickly pulled on a long-sleeved shirt, glad Abby hadn't noticed the scars on his exposed skin. He absently rubbed his still upset stomach as he looked at Gibbs, his eyes suddenly hard. "I'm not much of a drinker." Not when he didn't know the area and was with someone he cared about. "So we mostly checked out the non-alcoholic cocktails."
"Right." Ducky figured it was time someone took control of the situation - and Gibbs seemed to be too preoccupied. "Timothy, Ziva, Tony, I believe you have a case to solve. Don't forget to close the door on the way out."
--
"Abby's brother," Tony said to no one in particular as they walked along the corridor.
"Well, she mentioned him," Ziva replied.
"But Gibbs didn't even recognise him, nor did Ducky," Tony said then turned to McGee. "But you did."
He shrugged his shoulder. "Kate asked to see a picture a couple of years ago. I just happened to be there."
Tony tried his best to sound uninterested. "Eye-patch?"
"No," McGee eyed him suspiciously. "Why? I thought it was just part of his outfit?"
"Tony?" Ziva prompted. She had seen him reach for it but had been scrutinising the room at that moment and hadn't seen his reaction to lifting it up. Well, maybe he'd looked a bit green afterwards but it could have been the light.
He visibly shuddered. "Empty socket. Scarred and ... eww."
"What?" McGee all but screeched.
"Abby does not know," Ziva said matter of fact. Rolling her eyes at the questioning looks from both men, she added, "Or she would have mentioned it, yes?"
McGee held out his hand to Tony. "Anyway, I'm off to the lab. Keys please."
Tony scowled but handed them over anyway. "Coward."
McGee shrugged his shoulders. He'd been called worse things by Tony. And if that was all it took to keep him away from Abby - and her wrath when it hit home just how they've treated her brother - then he could live with it without problem. He'd just have to make sure to have a fresh Caf-Pow at hand when Abby came to the lab.
With McGee gone, Tony turned back to Ziva. "Drugged?"
--
"Ow," Abby said for the umpteenth time since waking up. Only this time it wasn't because her head hurt - though, albeit her quick shower doing wonders already, it still did - but out of protest for the needle currently sticking in the crook of her elbow.
Ducky gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I am sorry, my dear, but it is necessary."
"I can't believe someone slipped me something," she grumbled.
"We don't know that yet," Ducky reminded her. Though, judging by the amount of alcohol they had drunk last night, this seemed to be a reasonable explanation for the massive hangover and partial loss of memory she'd experienced. He'd already taken a sample of Xander's blood, though his symptoms were much milder than Abby's. Once realisation hit that someone might have drugged Abby, Gibbs had interrogated Xander about last night before he had stormed out of the room. That was enough for Xander to almost forgive him his earlier treatment of him.
"Here, drink this." Xander, freshly showered and dressed as well, handed her a mug of tea. "Willow's special hangover cure."
Ducky looked up with interested. "What's in it?"
Snorting, Xander shook his head. "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Well, I sure as hell don't. But it works great."
"Willow Willow?" Abby asked with interest. "Your bestest friend from kindergarten?"
Nodding, Xander grinned. "Just not so little anymore. But she's still my bestest friend."
"O-oh! Just a friend?"
Winking at his sister, Xander said, "Yup. I'm afraid you're currently more her type than I am."
"Oh. Oh! Wow. Little Willow. All grown up."
--
"I've got to have some of that tea!" Abby announced as she danced happily around Xander, her headache and queasy stomach a thing of the past. "It's incredible!"
Xander smiled in amusement at his sister while he waited for his visitor's pass. He'd tried to stay back in the hotel - so he could revisit the club from last night - but Ducky had insisted he'd come with them. There were too many open questions to be answered. Abby, of course, had jumped at the idea of showing Xander her lab and as he'd never been able to resist his sister, he'd resigned himself to the fact that the visit to the club would have to wait. However, he had called Willow while they'd stopped at Abby's place so she could change, and asked her to check it out, seeing how there were several demons present when they'd been there last night. And that included the barkeeper. At least he was pretty sure of it.
With the formalities finally over, Xander attached the visitor's pass to his shirt and turned to Abby. "Lead the way."
Linking arms with him, Abby did just that.
Opening the door to the bullpen, she made a wide circling motion with her arm. "Welcome to NCIS." Winking at him, she added, "Though the really cool stuff is downstairs, of course."
"Your lab."
"Yep." Abby nodded happily, her pigtails bobbing up and down. "And the morgue, of course." Pulling him into the room, she moved towards Gibbs' team, who all happened to be present. Stopping in front of them, she ruffled Xander's hair. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my little brother... Kojak!"
Xander groaned, then whispered something into her ear. Abby squealed and blushed, then turned back to her friends. "You may call him Xander." Before they could reply, she put her arms on her hips, tapped her foot on the floor and glared at all of them. "And just so you know, I'm still mad at you for handcuffing him!"
Pleased that they had at least the decency to look guilty, she added generously, "But that can wait till Xander's gone again."
The corners of his mouth twitching slightly, Gibbs shook his head at his favourite Goth. Seeing her old bubbly and exorbitant self had lifted a huge weight from his shoulders. Even if he hadn't liked his phone call to the police earlier. But that could wait. Abby was fine.
Tim was the first to hold out his hand to Xander. "Timothy McGee, it's nice to finally meet you."
Xander shook his hand and grinned at him.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."
Xander didn't even waver when Tony tried to impress him with a firm handshake. And how could he? He'd been living with Slayers for years! Smirking, he said, "Ah, Mr Bony-knee-in-the-back! Easy to freak out though, huh?"
Abby's eyes became as big as saucers. "Mr Knee-in-the-back?" She lapped Tony's arm. Hard.
Xander patted her shoulder and winked when she turned back to him. "It's okay, Abs. Can't fault him for being afraid I might beat him up."
Amidst Tony's spluttering protests, Ziva stepped forward and took his hand. "Ziva David."
Returning her look without wavering, Xander eventually gave a small nod of acknowledgement - as did Ziva.
That left only Gibbs. Knowing how much he meant to Abby, Xander was the one to offer his hand. "Thanks for watching out for my sister."
"Mr Harris." Everyone turned at the voice of Jenny Sheppard coming from the stairs.
Smiling, he offered, "Xander. Mr Harris makes me sound so ... grown up."
The Director of NCIS smiled. "Xander. If I could have a word with you in my office, please?"
Xander frowned. "Is something wrong? 'Cause, you know, I've suddenly got that 'called to the principal's office'-feeling."
"Did that happen often?" Tony asked with glee. He still wasn't over the fact that Abby's brother had made fun of him. Only him. Not Ziva or Gibbs - okay, he wouldn't do that either - nor McGee.
"Wasn't my fault," Xander said with a shudder. "Our principal was evil. Honestly." Well, their first principal was actually quite nice - but he'd been eaten by a pack of students-turned-hyenas, and he'd almost been part of that too. Luckily, the important word there was almost. But he could hardly mention that now, could he?
Tony, seeing an opportunity, asked, "What did he do? Bore everyone to death with long speeches? Especially during graduation?" Grinning, Tony turned to Abby. "Abs? What did you think of him?"
She crossed her arms in front of her. "Well, someone forgot to invite me to his graduation. So I can't comment on that."
Xander rolled his eye in a, thanks to long Giles-speeches, well practiced move. "Come on, Abs, I've sent an invitation. I just mixed up the dates. That's all."
"You mixed up the date of your graduation?" McGee asked curiously. "How?"
"Numbers are evil." Xander grinned casually. "Can't say I'm sorry about it, though."
"What?" Gibbs asked, given him one of his patented Gibbs-glares.
"Seeing how my high school blew up during the ceremony..."
"Seriously?" Tony asked with interest.
"Very freaky gas leak," Xander explained matter-of-factly. Custom made at that. By him. Without gas but a huge honking demon snake to kill. But he didn't mention this, of course.
Shaking her head in disbelieve, Jenny pushed herself off of Gibbs' desk. "As interesting as that sounds, I'd still like to have a word with you. And with Agent Gibbs."
--
A/N: Ahem. Last on A/N ... I'm on vacation (the kind where you do nothing ... much)! Woohoo! ... famous last words, I tell you. From that moment on, I got up early every day (and I'm a firm believer in sleeping in!) to help with a wedding-newspaper (apparently it's a German thing, kinda a summary of the life of the bride and groom with lots of funny bits) which turned out to be a full-time job. So not much of a vacation, but my friends have to be nice to me for the rest of their life! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! To be fair, we had lots of fun doing it ... but there wasn't much time for anything else. Now I'm back at work and - hopefully - should have more time for writing (I really, really hope so! I mean, I'm starting to believe this story is jinxed as ever since I started it I have less and less time for writing. Sniff.).
