SUNDAY
You know those commercials where they show the housewife standing in the middle of the kitchen working at a regular pace while a dozen people all around her are moving at the speed of light around the kitchen? That's how Tony felt, standing in his living room on Sunday afternoon. He felt like he was moving in super-slow motion while everyone else was in constant activity.
But the day hadn't started that way.
Tony had made it to bed by 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night. He'd been lulled to sleep by the soft hum of the humidifier, and he hadn't woken up once with a dry scratchy throat. Sometime during the night, Fornell and the FBI guys had come back to collect their computers and files. Unfortunately, that was all they collected. All the other litter – Chinese food containers, soda cans, coffee cups, just general dirt on the carpet – was exactly where Tony had left it last night. "There are no such things as clean-up fairies in the FBI," Tony sighed.
He poked around in the refrigerator to see if there was any food left – those FBI guys were like vacuum hoses. "Aha!" Tony exclaimed, as he reached into the fridge and found an orange, a tomato and just enough milk to put on his cereal. There were also a couple of eggs. So, he scrambled the eggs with the chopped tomato, had a small bowl of cereal, and chased it all with the orange. Not bad, considering the shambles his kitchen was in. He was definitely going to have to go food shopping.
By the time he had showered and dressed, it was nearly 10:30 a.m. Tony had just pulled out a garbage bag when he heard someone at the door. "I will never complain about an empty apartment again," he vowed. His place wasn't exactly ready for guests, but he couldn't just leave whoever-it-was standing on the stoop, so he opened the door to see the smiling faces of Kate, Abby and McGee.
"We're not too early, are we Tony?" Abby began. "Because I told Kate and McGee that you were still recuperating and that 10:30 on a Sunday morning was prime recuperation time and that maybe later would be better and then Kate said that if you were still sleeping that it meant you maybe weren't feeling all that much better and you'd need us there and if you weren't still sleeping then you might be ready for company … boy, your place is a mess," she said, all in one breath.
Kate looked into the apartment from behind McGee and Abby. She slowly took in the empty food containers, balled-up paper overflowing the wastebasket, apple cores and dirty dishes and snarked, "you've been off a full week and you haven't cleaned once, have you?"
Tony thought about reminding her that Gibbs and Fornell had been there with a band of FBI agents, working on a case, but he really didn't have the energy.
"I'll have this cleaned up in a minute, you guys. Please … come in," he said instead. "I was just about to go food shopping …" he added, hoping one of them would get the hint. They didn't.
"Sweet!" Tony heard McGee say from the living room. He'd apparently found the Xbox.
"It was a gift from my frat brothers," Tony said. His voice sounded a little more raspy than he thought it should. He cleared his throat. "There are more games in the bottom drawer." McGee and Abby started going through them as Kate grudgingly helped Tony clean.
"Really Tony," she said in that condescending tone Tony hated, "if you just did a little bit of basic cleaning every day, you wouldn't find yourself with this backed-up mess at the weekend."
He stopped picking up trash and looked her square in the eye. "For your information, Kate," her name coming out with full emphasis on the "K" and "T" sounds, "I keep my place just as clean as yours." She raised her eyebrows. "Just as clean as … Gibbs'," he amended. "But there were twelve FBI guys in my apartment for nearly nine hours yesterday and this is what they left behind. So I'm sorry if at the end of a really long day, I decided to leave it for the morning because I was tired and sick and preferred to go to bed."
Kate stopped in mid-motion, the cleaner and towels in her hands hovering over the table. She softened considerably. "I'm sorry, Tony," she said as she walked over to him and took the trash bag from his hand and finished the counter and then emptied the smaller trash can into it as well. "I thought that FBI op was only supposed to take a couple of hours. What happened?"
Tony slumped onto one of the stools by the counter. "There was a mole in the police department who was feeding the suspects information about the stake-out, so they didn't move. By the time we figured out that they were getting inside information, it was four hours later, and then it took another three hours or so to get the guy to talk and to smoke them out. Gibbs and Fornell and a batch of assorted feds were here until almost ten."
"I'm sorry," Kate said again. "I didn't mean to …"
Tony waved her off. "Don't worry about it," he said with a small grin. "It's just been a long week." A yell and a hearty laugh came from the living room. "We'd better get in there and find out what the kids are up to," Tony said with a shake of the head. Kate put down the garbage bag and started to follow him.
"Oh no," he said with a sigh. "Bring the bag. The men in black spent some time in here too."
An hour or so later, the apartment was clean – well, it was cleaner than it had been. It's hard to vacuum when two people are spread out on your rug with an Xbox. McGee and Abby were having a grand old time with the new toy, which was really okay with Tony, since that left Kate as the only one he had to entertain, and she was amusing herself by reading all the cards on Tony's fridge.
"You got a card from Director Morrow?" Kate said, with surprise. Tony smiled from his place at the counter.
"Yeah," he said. "I didn't even see that one until after I got home."
"Who's 'Bobbi'?" Kate asked with a smirk. She was holding up a card that had a photo on the front of three kittens with hot water bottles on their heads.
"She's in Personnel," Tony said, waiting for the sarcastic comment that would follow as Kate realized that Bobbi dotted her "i" with a heart. But either Kate was merciful, or she didn't notice, because she moved right on to other cards.
"Wow," she said, continuing down the fridge door. "You have cards from people at NCIS I've never even heard of." She looked at Tony with an expression that was part 'I had no idea you were this popular' and part 'You bought these all yourself and signed them, didn't you?'
"Well, I've been there longer than you Kate," Tony reminded her. "I've gotten to know more of the staff."
"And not all of them are from women," Kate said, in a disbelieving tone.
"Not unless Director Morrow is hiding a pretty big secret," Tony said, with a grin and a wink that made Kate laugh. She reached for another card.
"Are you going to go through every single card on the fridge, Kate?" Tony asked, with a raise of an eyebrow. "If I was going through your mail like that – even stuff in plain sight, stacked on your desk," he added in order to head off the anticipated remark about how his cards were accessible and out in the open, "– you'd have elbowed me in the ribs by now AND made some kind of comment to get Gibbs to yell at me." He didn't really mean it to sound like he was scolding her, but he was a little tired. Kate put the card back on the refrigerator door.
"I'm sorry, Tony," she said, with a light and teasing tone that had just a tiny edge to it. "But you had them all displayed there, so I figured you wanted people to see how many cute women sent you 'Gosh, I hope you're all better soon!' cards."
"If that were true, Katie," Tony said with a tired smile and an edgy tone of his own, "yours wouldn't be up there, now would it?"
Kate's eyes narrowed, and she gave Tony a dirty look. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
"I put them there – 'displayed them', as you say – to remind myself that there are people who care about me. I know it sounds silly and self-serving, but sometimes it's little things like that that get you through the day." He sighed and rolled his head, stretching his neck muscles and trying to wake himself up a bit. Kate looked at him and found that she could not form a suitable response. She was even a little misty-eyed at the thought that Tony – who had kept up the silly comments and movie references and bravado through nearly their entire hospital stay – would drop the façade long enough to make a statement like that.
"Tony," she started, not knowing at all where she was going with it, "I …"
He cut her off with a smile as he hopped off the stool with new-found energy. "Let's go see how the kids are doing … they're awfully quiet in there …" He grinned.
Kate knew she'd missed her opportunity, but was still grateful that she'd seen that moment of vulnerability from Tony, even if he didn't necessarily realize that he had shown it. She was saved from her reverie by a knock at the door. Tony's eyebrows went up, in an expression of both anticipation and trepidation. The door opened before either one of them could get to it and Gerald peeked inside.
"Got room for one more?" he said, with a smile. He was carrying a covered dish in his hand.
"If you're carrying food, we do," Tony said with a grin as he walked over to open the door and let Gerald in.
"I am," the M.E.'s assistant said as he removed the covering on the plate with a flourish. "My grandmother's deep dish peach pie. She assured me that it was 'good for what ailed you'," he continued, "although I'm not sure that even Granny-ma's peach pie could stand up against the plague."
"Looks to me like it could," Tony said with admiration. He suddenly realized that he was hungry again. "Crack that thing open!" He reached into the cupboard for some plates and forks, while Gerald grabbed a knife from the sideboard and started slicing.
"Nice precision there, doc," Tony said.
Gerald chuckled. "All of that cadaver practice was bound to come in handy."
The two men had just finished putting pieces of pie on five plates when another knock came on the door. Tony looked to the heavens for strength and opened it to find Ducky, Mrs. Mallard and … the dogs. 'Well', Tony thought, 'at least I haven't cleaned the carpet yet'.
"I hope you don't mind, Tony," Ducky said in a slightly apologetic tone. "But mother was asking about you this morning after we returned from church and would not consider any other activities this afternoon until she stopped by to deliver her good wishes."
Tony's response was pre-empted by Mrs. Mallard's blood-curdling scream. She pointed a shaky finger at the sight of Gerald holding a knife in the kitchen. The scream caused the dogs to begin barking and running frantically around the small room. The noise brought McGee, Abby and Kate running in from the living room. It took a good half-hour (and a glass of Scotch) to calm the elderly woman down, and by the time that Tony had Mrs. Mallard situated in the living room with a nice Hepburn & Tracy comedy on the TV and the dogs had been let outside and brought back in again and installed on the couch cushions next to her, the rest of the guests were gathered around the dining room table, chatting and eating what appeared to be the very last of the deep dish peach pie. Tony looked down at the empty pie tin and then at Gerald.
"Please tell me that you put my piece in the fridge?" he said, with hope in his eyes and a plea in his tone. They all looked up at Tony guiltily.
"I told you he never took a piece!" Abby said, as she punched McGee in the shoulder. "I told you to ask him before you had seconds!"
"I … I'm sorry, Tony," McGee stammered. "I really thought you'd had some when Gerald first came in. Ow!" Abby punched him in the shoulder again.
Tony sighed. "No problem, Probie," Tony said with a weak smile. "I'll just have something …" His voice faded out as he surveyed the refrigerator and realized that he still hadn't gone food shopping.
Suddenly, Tony found himself longing for Terri and Liz to come back and play commandant and nursemaid, respectively, getting everyone out and taking care of him. What he wouldn't give for Terri to come walking through the door with a bag of groceries or for Liz to wander in and tell everyone that, for Tony's well-being, they all needed to leave. He'd tried, earlier, to get in touch with them, but neither one was having a better Sunday than him. Terri had been called to the White House to help deal some last-minute protocol mess for a pair of visiting dignitaries and Liz was stuck working a double shift to cover for another tech out on maternity leave. They had both assured him that they'd much rather be at his place, and they both promised to come back as soon as they could. But that still left Tony on his own with a houseful of people, when all he wanted to do was veg in front of the TV and watch football. Wasn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?
Ducky was the first to pick up on Tony's fatigue and despair. "I think, perhaps, I should take mother and the dogs back home," he said quietly. "And then pick up some groceries for you on the way back. Do you think, Gerald, that I could enlist your help?"
Gerald agreed readily, still feeling badly about the peach pie incident. "Of course, Dr. Mallard," he said. Then, to Tony, "do you want to make a list, or should we just wing it?"
"No wings," Tony said, absently.
"We'll just do our best then," Ducky said, nodding at Gerald. Gerald began rounding up the dogs and rousing Mrs. Mallard, who had fallen asleep on the couch. "Katelyn," Ducky addressed Kate, still silent at the end of the table, "would you be so kind as to get Tony's meds from his room or the bathroom …"
"Bathroom," Tony interjected.
"Yes," Ducky continued. "From the bathroom, and perhaps you could also set up the sofa so that he can be made comfortable?"
"Of course, Ducky," Kate said. She looked at Abby and McGee. "Don't you two have some Xbox gear to put away?" She sounded like a mother lightly scolding her children.
And then, suddenly, Tony was in his living room with activity going on all around him. McGee and Abby cleaned up the Xbox and straightened the entertainment center, Ducky and Gerald ushered Mrs. Mallard and the dogs out of the apartment, Kate grabbed Tony's meds along with a pillow and afghan from his room and guided him over to the couch to lie down. As Tony dozed, on and off, he vaguely remembered McGee vacuuming the area rug in the living room while Abby and Kate cleaned the kitchen and straightened his room. By the time he woke up for good, around 4 o'clock, Ducky and Gerald were back with groceries, Kate was in the kitchen helping put dinner together, and Abby and McGee were in chairs in the living room, watching a football game that was on with low volume. Tony knew neither of them liked football, and he glanced over at McGee with a questioning look.
"Abby thought you might want to wake up to something familiar …" he said, with a shrug. "Something you'd probably be watching on a Sunday if we weren't all here."
"Do you want us to go, Tony?" Abby said quietly, with an expression that said "please let us stay, we'll be good" but also had a tinge of "we'll leave if you want us to" in it.
"No," Tony said, with a gentle smile. "I really want you all here." He sat up and tried to articulate what he meant. "I just …" he began.
"You just didn't want us all here, all at once, taking over your apartment and not realizing that maybe a little bit goes a long way?" Kate finished as she came into the living room.
Tony smiled at her. "Close," he said.
"Dinner is served!" Ducky called from the dining room. Tony, Kate, McGee and Abby all made their way to the table. Ducky, Gerald and Kate had whipped up a nice wholesome meal of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, a salad, a few vegetables, and – at Tony's place at the table – one perfect piece of store-bought peach pie.
"It's not the same as Granny-ma's," Gerald said, with a contrite smile, "but I'm still pretty confident about the healing powers."
Tony laughed. "Thanks man," he said. Then he looked across the table at McGee. "Mine," Tony said with a narrowing of the eyes and a make-believe look of challenge.
"No problem, Tony," McGee said, rubbing his shoulder. "I've got a black and blue mark the size of a baseball on my arm that says I won't be eating peach pie for the rest of my life." He shot a look at Abby. Everyone laughed.
The group spent the next hour and a half eating dinner, catching Tony up on what had happened at work during the week, and kidding McGee about his secretive conversation with, as it turned out, his mother. Tony also provided an overview of his week at home – describing everything, from his father's visit to the appearance of Nurse Bobbi and the girls to the Jehovah's Witnesses and the FBI op.
"I cannot believe you are still standing," Gerald said with a laugh.
Abby nodded. "We figured that you'd be sitting by yourself watching movies for five days, bored out of your mind, and that you'd be dying for some company by Sunday!" she said with a shake of the head.
"When all you really wanted was a day alone," McGee added, with an apologetic expression.
"No, Probie," Tony said. "That's where you're wrong. This …" he motioned with his fork at the assembled group all gathered around his dining room table, "this is what I really wanted."
And Kate found herself once again surprised by Tony's sentiment and candor.
Ducky was the one to break the silence, Tony's peach pie reminding him that the almond is also a member of the peach family and how he found that out on a group tour he took once to Spain, a leading almond producing country, where he met a lovely senorita …
Once dinner was over, Abby and McGee offered to clean up, since the others had done the cooking. Ducky, Gerald and Tony sat in the living room watching the end of the game and chatting about nothing in particular. Once everything was clean and put away, all five of Tony's guests took their leave at the same time. It was early evening and Tony would still have a few hours to himself before he headed off to bed.
"Feel better, man," Gerald said, shaking Tony's hand and giving him a half-hug. "Don't want to see you on an autopsy table."
Tony laughed. "I promise. Tell your grandmother thank-you for the pie." He looked directly at McGee. "It was apparently delicious." McGee reddened and everyone laughed.
"I said I was sorry, Tony," McGee said with a smile as he lightly punched Tony in the shoulder.
"No worries, Probie," Tony said. "I'm sure I've stolen enough food from you to more than warrant the payback." He lightly smacked McGee on the head. "Thanks for coming."
Ducky put a hand on Tony's shoulder and looked directly into his eyes. "You will call if you need anything, my boy." It was a statement, not a question. "There's no room here for bravado or stubbornness." Then he smiled warmly.
"I will, Ducky, I promise. Thanks for the shopping and the dinner …" Then Tony laughed quietly. "Tell your mother that I'm sorry about the whole knife, 'Psycho' thing."
Ducky chuckled. "I doubt she even remembers it," he said with a fond smile. "Or at least, she won't until the next time she sees you."
"Duly warned," Tony said.
Abby kissed Tony on the cheek and gave him an all-encompassing but gentle hug. "You be good. I'll be able to tell from blood tests if you're not doing what you're supposed to, and I know ways to get your blood without you even knowing."
Tony's eyes went wide in mock fear. "Yes, ma'am," he said. She took Ducky's arm and the two went out the door to join the others. The only one left was Kate.
"Kate," Tony said, getting serious for a moment. "I don't think I ever thanked you for … you know … for staying … in the hospital with me. I mean, even if you did flat-out lie to me and tell me that I'd infected you, and even if you did tell Nurse Emma about the transsexual thing and even if you ..."
Kate cut him off. "I miss you too, Tony," she said with a smile. She gave him a hug and walked out the door. "Bye, Tony," Kate said, turning back as she got to her car. "Have fun during your second week off. Think of us all, working hard!"
Tony stared at his five colleagues as they drove away. "A second week off," he said to himself. Then, he froze. "A second week off?"