NURSE/PATIENT
"Your turn Tony." Abby said as he opened his eyes once again. He seemed to be drifting in and out of sleep and Abby was quickly becoming bored with him.
"Hmm." Tony looked at his letters and couldn't think of one word to put down. The meds seemed to be making everything a little hazy. "Can't think of one."
"Let me." Abby said.
"I'm sure that's not how you play the game Abbs." Tony responded.
"I've been having your turn the last couple of goes." Abby said.
Tony arched his eyebrow and looked down at his letters. "I thought these weren't the same letters as I had last time. Am I winning?" Though that sounded like a stupid question.
"You're just ahead of me." Abby said.
"My scrabble's improved." Tony couldn't help but smile.
"Sure has." Abby laughed and Tony yawned. "I'm sorry I'm boring you." She added.
Tony stretched a little. "I'm sorry that I'm not much of a host at the moment." Tony responded. "I have a guest over and I can't entertain them."
"Well… One small technicality Tony, you're not the host. You're a patient recovering from a bad case of the sickies and doing it quite well." Abby said to correct Tony. "You're looking better than the last time I saw you."
"Thanks." Tony said.
"Though your voice sounds a little strained." She observed.
Gibbs entered his place and saw Tony sleeping on the couch in a sitting position with Abby sitting on the floor with two sets of Scrabble tiles engaged in an intense battle of intellect with herself. It seemed he was totally flaked out.
"Had he been resting?" Gibbs asked quietly.
"Yeah… We talked for a bit… Played for a bit and he fell asleep on me." Abby said. "I must say he's been very well behaved."
Tony's eyes opened and he scanned the room. "Hey Boss." Tony smiled.
Gibbs stared at him for an eternal second. "You had pizza." He stated.
"Boss?" Tony wondered how the hell Gibbs knew he had some pizza. The box wasn't in sight.
"Don't you deny it DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "You've got that look on your face that you get when you come into work after getting laid or after you've eaten a good pizza. Since Abby's the only one here… You've had Pizza." Gibbs went through the lengthy explanation leaving Tony pondering on the 'look' he possibly had. "What did I tell you about Pizza DiNozzo?" He asked.
"Um… If you get pizza, bring enough to share?" Tony looked at Abby who shook her head to reveal that there no slices left for Gibbs. "Sorry Boss." Tony said.
He tapped his foot impatiently. "Did you at least let Abby have any?" Gibbs said.
"I was the one who brought it over." Abby said jumping onto the couch next to Tony. "We shared it… Half and half actually… Well not exactly Gibbs. I had more than Tony."
Gibbs rubbed his face again. It felt as if there were two children sitting on the couch. What could be worse? Tony was clearly on the mend and would be even tougher to get a handle on.
"Well you're still sick so no more pizza and you…" Gibbs pointed to Abby next. "You stop encouraging him."
He sat down beside Tony and talked to Abby. "So you did a good job this time?" He asked.
"Yeah-huh." Abby answered.
"Good." Gibbs said. "You should stay for some dinner… DiNozzo here makes great bacon and egg."
"On it Boss." Tony went to stand up and was promptly pushed back down.
"It's rude to step in between two people that are talking DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "So, how about it?"
"Sure." Abby answered.
"How about it DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked and when Tony went to stand up again but was promptly shoved back down again. "Does it look like it's dinner time DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.
"I don't know Boss." Tony said. "I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when. I'm stuck in Gibbs' prison and I know I'll never be free. Hey." Tony said as Gibbs slapped him in the back of the head.
"Go and look out the window." Gibbs sighed.
Tony did as he was told while Abby threw Gibbs a questioning look to which he dismissed with a wave of the hand as he watched Tony walk to the window and look outside. "It's still daylight." Tony stated the obvious.
"So that means its not dinner time yet doesn't it?" Gibbs asked. "Sit down and we're going to play Scrabble, me, you versus Abbs here."
"Hey." Abby said.
"Can you get me a drink DiNozzo." Gibbs ignored Abby's protest as she began to set up another game. "And don't forget a bottle of water for yourself."
"Yes Boss." Tony replied.
He eyed his senior agent carefully when he came back to the couch. Tony handed over the drink and looked at the letters that Gibbs had picked.
"I hope you know, this means war." Abby said eying down her opponents.
"How… about… a… nice… game… of… chess?" Tony asked. Of course nobody paid attention to that slight reference. Either they didn't get it or just refused to acknowledge it.
The game seemed to drag on and on especially when Gibbs and DiNozzo began eagerly debating which letters to put where. Tony thought he had the perfect word until his Boss pulled rank and placed the letters down to form the word styling.
"That's very good you two." Abby exclaimed as she clapped her hands.
But in the end Abby dragged herself over the line and claimed victory by fitting the word canine over a triple word score. "I won!" Abby exclaimed as she did her little victory dance but quickly shut up when she saw Tony with his head back sleeping peacefully and decided to leave the room to go to the bathroom. She was well out of hearing range.
"It worked." Tony said. "She stopped."
Gibbs couldn't help but smile. Yes… DiNozzo was definitely on the mends.
Tony allowed a couple of days to pass to gather up his strength and now he felt that post-flu all round greatness. Gibbs had left him alone while he went out so he decided it was about time to start having some wild fun. Tony flicked through Gibbs' CD collection and was very surprised that he even had one. He'd pegged him for a tape man but he'd proudly admit that he was wrong. Then he found the song that was perfect. The vacuum cleaner started and so did the song. As it played, Tony lip-synched the words.
Take those old records off the shelf
I'll sit an listen to them by myself
With the vacuum cleaner and the music going, the whole world was shut out. Nothing else could be heard.
Today's music ain't got the same soul
I still like that old time rock and roll
Don't try and take me to a disco
You'll never even get me out on the floor
Now Tony was fully dancing around as well as pushing the vacuum cleaner around the living area having a good old time. It was on those rare occasions where he could almost act out a movie scene… But suddenly the music stopped playing.
