"Is he all right, Gibbs?" Ziva looks up from her seat at in the waiting room, where McGee and Abby both were as well. McGee had figured Tony was dead, as he had ridden in the ambulance with Gibbs and Tony-and had watched as Tony collapsed and the EMTs had tried to resuscitate him before arriving at the hospital and rushing him to surgery. Ziva had arrived right afterwards, trucking Abby and Ducky with her-and Abby could take her driving, but poor Ducky almost passed out.

Gibbs pauses from his walking toward Ziva, waiting for a moment before looking up. "He's fine."

"Fine? After what happened, really?" Ziva still; McGee is still off in thought.

"He nearly bled out, he went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance, was clinically dead for nine minutes, but after being given blood on the surgical table, he came back. They removed the bullets and stitched him up."

Abby is now standing next to Ziva, her eyes widen as Gibbs explains the details. She shakes her head. "How is that possible?"

"Well, Abbs; sometimes I wonder if he's immortal. Nothin' ever killed him, even before his curse."

Abby smiles a little. "I feel the same way. When.. can we see him?"

"He's resting now, recuperating. Ducky will let us know when we can see him."

Speak of the devil; here comes Ducky now, having accompanied surgery with the doctors, and consulted afterwards. His face looks a little grim. "Jethro, I'm afraid I have some bad news." He glances back and forth between the worried people. "Do not worry, Tony shall live. His doctors and myself have concerns for his mental health. Having lost so much blood, and being dead for so long before returning.. we have no idea what his brain function will be until he awakens."

McGee finally returns from his dream and looks up to see the worried look on Gibbs' and Ducky's face. He spots the same on Abby's and Ziva's, and has a thought that Tony might not be dead after all.

"How.. serious could it be, Duck?" Gibbs asks worriedly; fearing he already knows the answer, but needing to hear it nonetheless.

"At worst? No brain function whatsoever. Young Anthony would be a vegetable."

Abby's hands go to her mouth and her eyes fill with tears; she shakes her head with an angry look, pointing at Ducky. "You're wrong! Tony will never give up, don't even /think/ about that possibility!"

Ziva reaches over to Abby. "Abby, please, calm down," she says, but her voice comes out as a cracked whisper. Her cheeks are wet with a fresh wave of tears; Abby, who was about to yell at Ziva for this, instantly calms down, taking Ziva's hands in her own.

"Ziva.. what would we do without him?"

"You'd.. sure as hell.. miss me, wouldn'tcha..?" Tony appears around the corner behind Gibbs, wearing a hospital gown, head bandaged slightly; he's leaning against the wall, leaning over slightly, panting from the effort of walking this far-he'd barely had any time to recover. His vision hazes over as he looks at his very, very suprised team. He's really pale, and feels sick to his stomach; but he just flashes his trademark grin before groaning, keeling over and collapsing.

"DiNozzo you idiot!" Gibbs rushes forward, using help from the others to lift Tony and get him back to his hospital room. once settled, Gibbs wipes the sweat from his brow. "Well, we know he doesn't have any brain damage."

"Are you certain of this?" Ziva asks, a half-smile on her face. Gibbs can't help but smile at this, followed by a laugh.

"Tony's o-kay! Tony's o-kay! I just knew it!" Abby bounces up and down, clapping, and McGee, traumatized until he had seen Tony in the hall, grins, pulling Abby into a hug. Abby returns it, grinning happily. "Our Tony's gonna be just fine!"

"Yeah." Gibbs grins. "No puttin' down this dog."


Only a week later, Tony is fully healed, having been sent home to get some real rest. He had tried to return to work, but Gibbs had ordered him back home, saying Tony must take a full week off from work until he feels a hundred percent again. So Tony spends it with the usual relaxing venues.. movies, internet, clubbing, meeting girls.. well, it's relaxing to him.

He arrives at work after four days of this routine, snapping his fingers and dancing around in his usual uppity way, making his way from the elevator straight into the bullpen like this, not stopping for the stares of his team members, or when Gibbs says his name. The music continues to play in his head, and he continues dancing, opening his eyes as he spins and rocks about, grinning widely. "Daaaaaamn, you guys gotta dance with me! This music is so awesome!"

Ziva glances at Gibbs, who is staring at Tony with a suspicious expression. "DiNozzo, c'mere."

Tony acts as though he hadn't even heard his boss, continuing to dance to a song that only he can hear.

Gibbs stands and walks to Tony, grabbing him by the shirt collar and stopping him. He looks into Tony's eyes, getting his answer. "Geez Tony, who the hell drugged ya?"

"Tony.. was drugged?" McGee gets up, walking closer, and sees the blissful look on Tony's face as he rocks his head slightly to that music. His pupils are dilated and he's fairly sweaty, but other than that, just looks like he's heaving a good ol' time.

"Yeah. McGee, take 'im down to Abby. Have her call me when you find out what it was."

Ten minutes pass before Gibbs receives a call. "It was just ecstasy, Gibbs. Tony's fine. He remembers a club, but he doesn't remember taking any pills. Somebody probably slipped it to him." She's talking loudly, as the music in the background is turned up pretty loud. In the background, Gibbs can make out Tony dancing to the music, as though he was in an actual club. Tony spins too fast, stumbles, hits the floor and bursts out laughing like an idiot. "Don't worry, Gibbs, I'll take care of him." The communication ends as Abby goes to take care of Tony.. AKA party with him.

Gibbs shakes his head and looks up at Ziva.

"Hey, Ziva."

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"Feel like babysitting?"

Ziva looks at Gibbs curiously, then her eyes widen and she grins. "Wh-Tony? You are serious?"

"Yeah, Ziva, I am. Someone has to keep him out of trouble, and it has been a little slow here."

Ziva groans and leans back in her chair, then glances at the one-brow-raised expression on Gibbs' face. "Yes.. I will babysit the baby."

"Good. when you get him home, make sure he stays there. Don't let him out of the house."

"For anything?"

"Unless I call."


McGee had gone down to the lab to check on Tony not long after Ziva had agreed to babysitting. He arrives at the door, suprised to hear, not rock music, but dance music playing. The lights are down, but Abby has a program on her computer that is creating a light show synced to the song playing. Cascada. What surprises McGee even more is that Abby is dancing alongside Tony, rocking out to the music freely, expending some of that caff-pow energy. McGee watches, heart thumping to the music; seeing Abby moving like that, he can't help himself; he heads in, moving a little to the beat; but as Abby spots him, he starts moving more and more.. before he's dancing as well, ending up with a high-five from a very high and giddy Tony.

"This is great Abby! We should do this more often!" McGee calls over the music, and Abby makes McGee's body temperature rise more as she pulls a sliding and popping move.

"I agree! This is so much fun! Tony picked out the song, too!"

"You dance really good, Abby!" McGee continues to dance, slowly inching toward her with his moves.

"You do too Tim!" She continues dancing, showing herself off without realizing it-until McGee meets her face-to-face, his chest bumping up against her. She looks into his eyes, body still moving-less than before, now just in place. She stares, as though searching for something.

McGee's nerve up, he stares back, reaching his arms around Abby's back and pulling her into a gentle, though hesitant kiss. His heart is still thumping like mad-though now, it has nothing to do with the music.

His kiss is returned, though Abby's is far from timid-she reciprocates with full-on fire and energy, overwhelming McGee and making his emotions skyrocket. As Tony continues dancing to the music, Abby and McGee are soon on the floor in her office, visible to anybody who looks-but they are left to their vices, not found until several hours later, around the time they usually head home.

"McGee, what the hell?" Gibbs looks down at McGee, whose fly is unzipped and who is also missing his shirt.. which is outside the office, laying on the floor. Abby is just waking up as well, hair tousled, miniskirt on her waist unevenly, leash laying on her desk.. right next to the black lace bra.

McGee opens his sleepy eyes and looks around, remembering the bliss of not long ago.. but then realizes that Gibbs is standing in front of him, too aware of what had happened. "Uh, boss, I.."

Abby quickly grabs the leash and bra from the desk, which she had been lying next to-McGee laying next to her on the floor. She stuffs them under her desk, face red. "Hey, Gibbs, how are you.." she trails off.

"Let's see.. I think this covers it." He gives a light kick to McGee's side, who jerks at the sensation, sitting up fully.

"S-Sorry boss, I.." He looks up at Gibbs' face, which shows mostly disapproval for breaking a rule.. but there is a tiny, hidden hint of amusement and congratulations.

"It's about damn time, McGee. Get up, get dressed and go home. You too, Abbs."

Abby frowns as she stands, picking up the bra and folding it up. "Um, Gibbs.."

Gibbs looks at her, but only gives a half-smile. He leans in and whispers into her ear. "Don't hurt him, Abby."

Her eyes light up and she grins, grabbing her things and heading to shut down her computers. Gibbs heads out, leaving the two alone.


"The hell am I..?" Tony groans, laying on his couch at home, looking around in confusion. He feels a strange pleasurable buzz in his body, but all he remembers is raves and partying and.. a flash of work.

"You are home, Tony," Ziva answers, standing near Tony's DVD case, browsing the titles.

Tony jumps, whipping his head around to spot her. "Hey! What are you doing in my house? Why are you touching my movies?" He tries to get up, but finds his hand cuffed to the couch. "..Ziva, what the hell!"

"I was ordered to not let you leave this house," she says, but Tony can spot that grin on her face.

"Who told you.." He pauses, and grunts in annoyance. "Gibbs."

"Correct. You should go to sleep, Tony. Pass the time better."

"While cuffed to my sofa, and you free to wreak havoc and learn everything in my house? No way. Uncuff me."

"You will run if I do."

"Nah, don't have a reason to."

"Sorry, this is easier," she responds, a smug grin on her face.

Tony just grins and shakes his head. "Ziva, Ziva, Ziva; will you ever learn?" He shifts to his werewolf form, tightening his muscles up as much as he can.. but finds he cannot break them. He pauses before bringing the cuffs to his mouth and biting down, yanking and gnawing at it.

"Tony, give up. You cannot break through those cuffs."

A few minutes pass of Tony chewing it, and he yanks his hand free, tossing the mangled cuffs to the floor with a satisfied grin as he returns to human. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

Ziva stares at the handcuffs on the floor. "You destroyed them!" She walks over and gives Tony her own head-slap for that, but he just snickers.

"You can't do it anything like Gibbs," he taunts her, and receives a stronger one this time. To this one, which was actually painful, he just snorts. "Man, you hit like a girl. That really is sad." She huffs and hits him once more, but this time, Tony has no more comments; he blacks out instantly from the force of the smack.

Ziva watches Tony slump, and holds her hand where it is. "..Tony?" She leans forward to check on him, a little weary, as he likes to prank people. Spotting he's really out, she shakes her head. "It is your own fault, Tony."