A/N: Remember that time I said I didn't want to get stuck with the story? Well, I think it's happening. I'll try to get myself together, write and post again this week but if I end up updating until next week, I apologize. Thank you for sticking around and for reading, this is all for you!
Chapter 11, Tug Of War.
None of them knew how on earth they ended up in the same room. Well, alright, that's most likely a lie since Abby always needed a little extra help to polish her plans. They were in the edge of "the messiest four months ever" mark now but ever since that day, things were not so very different. The half of the team that still had their job at NCIS tried to investigate or overhear anything that seemed important or private. Director Vance was a recurrent presence in the autopsy room and every time he was there, Jimmy tried to disappear to leave him and Ducky alone and see if he could get something out of him.
Then, down in Abby's lab, the temporal replacement team as she liked to call them (let's face it, her team would be back eventually) spent a long time staring at her while she ran multiple tests on pieces of evidence without saying a word. It drove her insane. She had always had the firm idea that everyone, at some point, breaks. It doesn't matter how strong they are or how cold they seem to be, everyone needs to let things out. It was getting harder and harder for them to hold on to hope but then things changed. For the first time in a very long time, they had news, Abby had news and that required an urgent Team Gibbs meeting.
And here is where Abby needed as much help as possible.
First, the three of them met at her lab during lunch time. Ducky and Jimmy listened carefully to Abby's words but she only told them she had big news to share with all of them so it wasn't such a big deal. The big, complicated and important deal was what came next, the evil part of her plan.
Each of them was responsible of one of their co-workers to bring them to the meeting and since Abby was the one with the information, she chose first and she chose Ziva. Jimmy protested immediately and then they spent about ten minutes listening to his multiple reasons of why neither Tony nor McGee would answer his calls. Sadly for her, it was fair enough. Since Abby didn't want to call Tim and Jimmy didn't want to (or couldn't) call the boys, it was Ducky who brought order to the plan. He gave Ziva to Jimmy, that was the only way to go with him, and he gave Tony to Abby. He would take the good Timmy. Abby didn't seem to be so happy with how the plan ended but she couldn't complain. Instead, the three of them got started on their job. They had one mission, bring the three of them together and get through the night without anyone dying.
So finally, one way or another, there they were. It was a medium sized hotel room, big enough for the six of them to fit without any complications. Abby was sitting in the bed, Ducky was in a chair from the very small living room by the window and Jimmy was sitting on the couch for two. The three of them were looking at their tensed, disorientated and kind of pissed off partners who were, for once, standing all next to the other. Ziva had her eyes firmly placed on Jimmy's. He had told her he was planning a surprise for Breena and wanted her opinion on the hotel room he was supposedly getting. Then there was Tony, staring at Abby with disbelief since he really was looking forward to that "secret movie festival" happening on the downtown hotel. And Tim, well, he had known all along and Ducky asked him to set the example to his friends by giving in so he walked through the room and took a seat by Jimmy's side. Tony and Ziva looked at him with aversion.
"What is this?" Ziva was still staring at Jimmy when she talked. He looked at his sides nervously asking for someone, anyone, to answer that question for him.
"So you knew, McBackstabber?" Instead of getting an answer, Tony spoke up. Tony and Ziva must have been too busy interrogating his partners to realize they were standing next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, with their arms crossed in front of them. Abby couldn't help the smirk that showed on her face.
"What is this?" Ziva asked once again with a more aggressive tone. She must have felt Tony's movement against her shoulder during that exact second because she took a couple of steps away from him, suddenly. She didn't feel like asking the same question again when nobody answered but it was impossible for her to simply stay quiet. "You have a motive for this and I would like to know it before I have to resort to other methods."
"And you didn't tell us," Tony kept his own conversation's trail and it seemed that he hadn't listened to a word Ziva had said. Instead, he took a few steps closer to where Tim and Jimmy were sitting, never leaving Tim's gaze. Ducky made a sign with his hand to Tony that could only be interpreted as "shut up and let me talk"; it was just a matter of throwing an English accent and large words to make it accurate.
He caught the hint, though, and he leaned against the T.V furniture so he could face everybody. Abby was still in the bed and for some reason everyone was staring at her, expectantly. Abby had been focusing on how to get them together for this reunion, she never actually thought about what she would say or how would she say it. It made her nervous. The vibe in the room wasn't the one she would've wanted but given the circumstances there was no way to complain. With their eyes still on her and with Ziva dangerously close, Abby talked.
"I have something," She looked by her side, at Ducky, and he nodded. Then she took her gaze a little bit to the left, where Jimmy was. "We have something."
"Something?" She turned her head when she heard Ziva talk as she saved a note in her mind: never give your back to a mad ex-Mossad agent.
"What do you mean with "something"?" Tony emphasized with his hands as that particular word left his mouth. "Something, they have something Tony." Tim said and when Tony looked down to meet his gaze, the conflict between the two men showed again.
"Oh, I didn't catch that, probie! I must be the only one here who doesn't know what we're talking about because you clearly know." Tony mocked and then he looked across the room. "Do you know why we're here, Ziva?"
"They claim to have something, Tony." They talked directly to each other for the first time in months and that made the atmosphere of the room change radically. They were fighting, yes, but at least not with the other. "Something that they will not tell us. Not even after they brought us here with lies."
"Ohh! So I am not the only one clueless person here! You are right, Timmy. It does make me feel better. I am feeling entirely—"
"Stop!" Abby cried with desperation and as everyone took their sight back to her, Tony immediately stopped talking. She took a moment to look, really look, at every single one of them. Tony's mind went back to when they first met so many years ago. Those eyes, it had been such a long time since he had seen Abby look at someone that way and it felt awful to be the one receiving that look. "What is wrong with you three?" She stopped for a second, maybe to reconsider her words but she went on. "You promised nothing would change, that we would still be a family and look at you now. You can't even be in the same room without yelling, without fighting. What changed, huh? What changed!"
"Abby," Ziva, the one closer to her, tried to place her palm on her shoulder but she moved aggressively. She asked her question once more, a little less loud than before. Ziva glance went to McGee's eyes and then to Tony's. The three of them had the same expression on their faces; they felt guilty, maybe a bit mad but they also felt the need to fix this. It was all their fault or at least it felt like it. She found the courage to answer to Abby's question with her eyes still on Tony. "A lot of things changed, Abby. We did not manage them as we should have but it does not change the fact that things are different."
"Well, work it out!" She was more calm now, she even let Ziva's hand finally reach her shoulder. "I want my family back, I need you to be the way you were before or whatever we do to help Gibbs isn't going to work out."
"To help Gibbs? What do you mean?" Tony tilted his head to his right and he frowned. Jimmy stood up and made Tim do the same in order to get closer to where Abby was. Ducky also moved his chair next to the bed and once he was done he approached Tony and patted his back. "If you had given us a minute to explain instead of yelling you would probably know by now, Anthony."
"We needed some explanation before, Ducky." Ziva interrupted. Tony nodded at her words and Ducky asked them to move to join the rest. At the same time, Abby got some files out of her backpack. Tim immediately tried to reach one of the documents but Abby hit his hand at the attempt. "McGee!"
Tim, Abby and Jimmy were on the bed with the files in front of them. Ducky was still sitting on the chair and Tony and Ziva were kneeling by the bed with their hands away from the records. It wasn't much, though. Just a couple of yellow folders sitting on the bed, one with a paper clip attached (Tony made the observation; maybe Ziva would be interested in that part). They were all quiet and Abby waited some minutes before telling them the few things she knew.
As far as she knew, this whole thing had a lot to do with Captain Wayne. When Abby finally gave them access to the files, McGee was quick and he took the most important one. Tony and Ziva were left with Wayne's expedient. According to what she had heard, Gibbs was in a very secret special mission for JSOC and she had managed to find the document related to it. McGee read the words "top priority" out loud and with a small bit of sarcasm in his voice as he finished reading the rest of the file.
It was more than obvious that Vance knew about this and chances were that Chegwidden did too. That was all Abby knew and, after four months of nothing, they were really thankful for any kind of good information. Tony's phone rang one, two, three times until he couldn't ignore it anymore and he stepped outside to answer. Ziva rolled her eyes but didn't interrupt the conversation she was having with Ducky about Wayne. They couldn't know how dangerous that famous mission was and, even though Gibbs was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, they couldn't help but worry.
They kept arguing the possible scenarios and nobody really noticed Tony stepping back inside after what must have been less than two minutes. The things they were saying were nothing more than "what ifs" and it didn't take long until they felt like they had nothing again. Both files were on the bed and this time no one made any attempt to reach them. Ziva realized Tony's shoulder had been rubbing her own for quite a while now and she looked at him. His face was pale and his eyes were lost somewhere.
"What is it with you?" Needless to say, a quiet Tony was not a normal Tony. As soon as Ziva spoke up, the rest of the team took their sight to the man who looked like he had seen a ghost. Tony kept blinking slowly but he was able to meet Ziva's gaze. He raised his hand holding the phone and he placed it on the bed next to the folders.
"He wants to see us." Tony never stopped looking at Ziva, his eyes showing an unmistakable sign of confusion and shock. Slowly, he moved his gaze to Tim but it wasn't long until he found Ziva's eyes again. For Abby, Ducky and Jimmy it was clear that whatever he meant with the word "us" it didn't involve them. Ziva narrowed her eyes and she held his gaze until the point where it almost felt like it was just the two of them in the room. She waited for the right moment, for the right look on his eyes to ask, "Who wants to see us?"
"Gibbs."
