Please go to my author page and vote about whether or not you want to see Tony get spanked in this story. Also, feel free to leave comments about that in the reviews.
He'd considered calling in for some of that vacation time Jenny had always tried to make him take, but in the end, he decided to just bring Tony with him. He was better behaved nowadays than he'd ever been as his usual, fully-grown self—how much trouble could the kid get into on a Navy base? Anyway, Abby wouldn't mind the company, and if Tony got bored, Gibbs had faith she could think of half a dozen decent ways to keep him entertained in that lab of hers.
"C'mon, Tony, get a move on," he said, sticking his head in the door. Gibbs had been awake for nearly an hour now, waking naturally at the break of dawn. Tony had slept on, oblivious. Was still sleeping on, oblivious. Gibbs sighed. He entered the room and shook Tony's shoulder. "Tony..."
Tony came awake quickly, but when he turned his head and saw Gibbs, he relaxed again and buried his face in his pillow. Gibbs sighed. "No, c'mon. Get up. Gotta get to work."
"I don't have work," Tony mumbled.
"No, but I do. You're coming with me. Now come on."
Tony sat up reluctantly. His hair was sticking up at all angles.
"Shower," Gibbs directed. "Breakfast in ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?" Tony echoed.
"Nine!" Gibbs replied as he walked out of the room.
He was surprised that Tony made it to the kitchen in seven, dressed and showered. "That was quick," Gibbs remarked.
"Didn't want you to leave me," Tony said by way of explanation.
Gibbs jerked his head towards the cupboards. "Grab some breakfast. We have to get going."
Tony looked out the window as Gibbs drove. Sometimes, he'd swear that he recognized something, but just as soon, he'd know he didn't. In fact, he realized that he had absolutely no idea where they were. For all he knew, they could be in Kansas.
Gibbs pulled into a parking lot in a strip mall. "You work here?" Tony asked, surprised. "I thought—"
"Getting coffee," Gibbs explained. "Want some?"
Tony shrugged. He wasn't much for coffee, really. Gibbs nodded and walked into the building, which had a sign above the door that read STARBOCKS COFFEE. Huh. But Gibbs had already been drinking coffee this morning...
After about five minutes, Gibbs came out the door holding a white cup in one hand and a...was that a smoothie? in the other. He opened the car door while Tony watched and stuck his hand inside. "Here," he said.
Tony took the drink from his hand as Gibbs got settled back into the car and took a sip. It was as delicious as it looked, and tasted like strawberry and banana and milk. "Thank you," Tony said. A smoothie, this early in the morning? Mom would not approve...but he sure did.
"Welcome," Gibbs replied, putting the car in gear. Tony could smell burning rubber as they left the parking lot.
"So, Abby said you were her boss," Tony said a little hesitantly. Gibbs didn't seem to talk much, and Tony wasn't completely sure his attempts at conversation would be welcome. His father hated when he would ramble on. "And she said she works for NCIS, which is like a government agency, seeing who killed people by testing their spit for DNA. Is that what you do too?"
He saw Gibbs shake his head out of the corner of his eye. "Nope," he said. "I'm an NCIS Special Agent. I do the legwork. Go out into the field and ask people questions, mostly."
It didn't sound like what Tony thought a special agent would do. Wasn't James Bond a special agent? And he spent a lot of time trying not to get blown up and rescuing people from villains. "I thought a special agent was like, James Bond or something," Tony confessed.
He saw Gibbs smirk for just a second. "Kind of," he said. "I don't think people try to bomb us as often as they do James Bond."
"Well, James Bond is in a movie," Tony reminded him. "So you should be glad they don't, because unlike James Bond, you could die." A hint of last night's nightmare flashed through his head. Tony kept talking to banish the image. "He never dies, he's never gonna die, because if they bombed him and killed James Bond, then he couldn't be in another movie, and that would screw things up. I mean, 008 just doesn't have the right sound to it, you know?"
Gibbs turned towards a gate. A woman in a uniform stood inside it. "ID?" she asked. He watched, fascinated, as Gibbs flashed his badge at her. "And yours, Agent DiNozzo?"
"He's with me, Kim," Gibbs said. There was a long pause, and Tony got the distinct impression he was missing something, but finally, the lady nodded. "Thank you, Agent Gibbs," she replied, waving him in and pushing a button that opened the gate.
"She called me Agent DiNozzo," Tony said. "What's that about?"
Gibbs glanced over at him. "You don't remember this place at all?" he asked. Tony shook his head.
"I should?" he asked.
Gibbs nodded. "You used to work here."
"No way," Tony said, astounded. "I mean...what would I even do here?" This was like something out of a movie. In real life, kids didn't work at government agencies. Maybe that was how he'd gotten stuck in this huge, old body that was so different and weird. Some kind of science experiment gone wrong, like what happened to Peter Parker or something. Did that mean there was someone else out there running around in his old body? "I'd think I would remember that," he mused.
Gibbs didn't answer, only pulled his car into an impossibly narrow spot. "C'mon," he said, changing the subject. "I bet Abby's already here, waiting to see you. I'm surprised she didn't show up at the house this morning."
"Tony!" Abby shrieked, watching as Gibbs ushered him into her lab. "I'm so glad you're here! I wasn't sure if Gibbs was going to call a babysitter for you or if he was going to bring you in, but I'm really glad he brought you in, because, well, I think I'm more fun than any babysitter Gibbs could find. You'd end up with Fornell on your back, and that would just be trouble, since you know, he's never been your—oh, Caf-Pow!" She took the drink Gibbs offered and gave him a hug around the neck. "Don't you worry, Gibbs. Me and Tony will be just fine down here." She took a few steps backwards and set the Caf-Pow on top of one of the tables.
Gibbs hands moved. Don't scare him, Abby, he warned behind Tony's back. She glanced at Tony's face; he did seem a little overwhelmed. He was clutching a large soda in his left hand, looking nervous. Afraid of her? Well, she knew how to fix that.
Ok. She grabbed Tony's free hand, ignoring Gibbs' glare. "You wanna play some computer games, Tony? I've got Tetris," she offered.
Tony nodded and glanced back over his shoulder at Gibbs.
"Abby knows where to find me if you need me," Gibbs said. "Right, Abs?"
"Of course," Abby replied. She grinned conspiratorially at Tony, trying to put him at ease. "But we're not gonna need him are we, Tony? I bet I've got enough computer games on there to keep you busy till kingdom come!"
"Bye, Gibbs," Tony said, and turned back to Abby. He sounded just a little nervous to Abby's ear, and she put her arm around him.
"Now, don't worry, Tony. Really, he's just upstairs, and if I know the bossman, and believe me, I know the bossman, he'll be down here as soon as Major Mass Spectrometer has any kind of word for him. Here. Let me show you how to work this game." She pulled out the chair at her computer and gestured for him to take a seat. "Go on."
It only took a minute for Tony to catch on, and she smiled as he started flying through the levels. "Feel free to look through the games," she told him. "You installed half of them, so there's got to be more than one game on there that you'll like. And if you need me, I'll be in the lab. Okay?"
Tony nodded, never taking his eyes off the screen. "Uh huh," he said. He sounded preoccupied.
Abby was satisfied that Tony was fine, and she quietly left him in her office, returning to the lab to work on his case. She cranked up her music and dove in.
Tony wasn't sure how much time had passed when he suddenly, urgently remembered his bladder. He clicked the pause button on the side of the game. Man, he'd better get moving or he was likely to pee himself! How had he not noticed for so long?
He opened the door separating Abby's office from her lab. Abby had her back to him and she looked busy, although he hadn't the faintest idea what she was doing. Her music was deafening.
Well, there really wasn't any reason to bother her, Tony reasoned. He could read; he'd be able to find the bathroom by himself. And he'd better hurry about that, because if he didn't...
He scurried across the floor and out of Abby's lab, moving pretty fast. Where on earth was a bathroom?
He came to a crossway in the hall, and picked quickly, left, and kept moving. "Come on, come on, come on," he muttered under his breath. He'd cut it awfully close.
And then, it caught his eye. The universal symbols for 'bathroom' along with arrows. "Yes!" he crowed triumphantly, ignoring the odd look a passing woman in a business suit gave him.
It took him another minute to follow the twists and turns of the arrow to the actual restroom, and by the time he got there, he felt thoroughly discombobulated. The building hadn't seemed this big from the parking garage...
Well, no matter. He could find his way back, no problem. No problem.
"Why did you bring Tony with you today, Boss?" McGee asked.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. McGee hurried to explain. "Not that that's a bad thing or anything, but, um...I don't know. It's just, shouldn't he be...I don't know. Sleeping or something? He injured his head."
"It is not advisable to sleep too much when one has a head injury," Ziva said in that matter-of-fact way of hers, and McGee could have kicked himself. Duh. He knew that; what a stupid thing to say. And Gibbs just kept watching him. He swallowed uncomfortably.
"Uh, right. Awake. But, um...here?"
Gibbs gave him a look. "And where exactly do you suggest I find a babysitter for an eleven-year-old inhabiting the body of a thirty-something? Not like I can just send him off to school, McGee."
"Right, boss," McGee said. He could feel his cheeks burning, and he ducked his head to hide the flush. "I'll shut up now."
"You do that," Gibbs said, turning back to his paperwork with a sigh.
McGee sighed too. Not for the first time, he missed Tony. At least if he'd been here, it would have been Tony saying stupid things that drew Gibbs' attention. Then again, if Tony were here, Gibbs would have a higher threshold for Probie stupidity.
He'd gotten himself lost. How, he wasn't sure...he'd thought he just needed to take two lefts, a right, and another left to end up back in Abby's lab, but instead, he'd made his way into...a storage closet? There were piles and piles of dusty boxes stacked on top of one another here. Tony sneezed.
Well, no use in freaking out. The building wasn't that big. He could surely find his way back. Maybe it was one left and two rights. It was worth a try, anyway. He closed the door to the storage closet and started to back-trace his steps.
"Yes!" Abby crowed triumphantly as Major Mass Spectrometer beeped loudly, announcing that he'd found a match for the print she'd been searching for. She took a long sip from her Caf-Pow. Gibbs would be pleased, pleased enough to provide her a refill.
"What'd you find, Abs?" Right on cue, Gibbs came into the lab, setting another gigantic Caf-Pow in front of her.
"We've got a match, Gibbs," she said. She turned to the computer. "A Lance Corporal Justin Dawes. Prior demotions for insubordination and a charge of drunk and disorderly when he was on leave in—"
"Abs, where's Tony?" Gibbs interrupted.
"Huh?" Abby was completely thrown. "Tony? He's playing Tetris in my office." She glanced over her shoulder at Gibbs, who was staring towards her office. She followed his gaze.
Tony wasn't sitting at her computer. In fact, she couldn't see him at all. But the game was on pause, the screen visible from where they stood. "Uh..." Abby replied. "Well, he was playing Tetris in my office." She glanced back at Gibbs again and then raced over to her office. The doors were clear, but she entered anyway, wondering if he was hiding in some niche. Not that there were really any spaces big enough to hide Tony's lanky frame...
He wasn't in there. She turned back to Gibbs. "He was here just a...a..." Now that she thought about it, she'd been so absorbed she hadn't checked on him in at least a half an hour. "He probably went to the bathroom," Abby said. She glanced at the soda he'd left next to the mouse; it was empty. "Yeah. See?" She picked up the empty cup and gave it a shake. Ice cubes rattled around the bottom of it.
Gibbs sighed. "I'll go check the head. You ask Ducky if he made his way over to autopsy somehow." He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit the speed-dial. Moments later, Abby heard Ziva's crisp accent through the phone.
"Tony find his way up there?" Gibbs asked, heading out the door. Abby sighed, then followed him. Might as well take a minute and see if by some chance Tony'd gotten bored and found his way into autopsy. Ducky had enough stories to keep him entertained for a long time, after all.
"No Gibbs. I have not seen height nor hair of him," Ziva said.
"It's 'hide' Ziva," Gibbs heard McGee correct. "Hide nor hair."
"Whatever. I have not seen any of him, not hide, not hair, and not feet!" Ziva snapped back. "Is he lost?"
"Abby's looking for him with Ducky and Palmer," Gibbs replied as he started up the stairs.
"He couldn't have gone that far," McGee butted in. "I mean, it's not like he'd leave the building."
"Remember he's a kid, McGee. Maybe he got bored and decided to go play outside," Gibbs said. "It's not impossible." He found himself worrying, even though his famous gut didn't tell him it was necessary. Then again, how would his gut know what to do with this particular situation?
"He would not leave the Navy yard," Ziva said. "Even if he did go outside, one of the guards would notice if he tried to leave the yard on foot."
"McGee--"
"Calling security," McGee said.
"Ziva?"
"I will call Abby and make sure she hasn't found him already."
"If she has, good," Gibbs said. "If not, we're gonna look for him. If he isn't in this building, we have a problem." He hung up as he walked into the bullpen.
He watched as Ziva talked tersely to Abby via the telephone. She shook her head. Gibbs heard her say, "We are going to search for him in the building, Abby. Do not worry. He is fine. He just got lost. He cannot get in too much trouble while he is in the Navy Yard. Perhaps you and Palmer can spare some time to look for him?"
Gibbs sighed and turned to McGee. He shook his head. "No one's seen him; they radioed around. But they'll all keep their eyes open. I've told them about his, um, unusual situation."
Gibbs nodded. "Alright, then. Let's look for him. Like Ziva said, if security hasn't seen him, then he's still in the building."
They split up.
"Gibbs already looked down here, Jimmy!" Abby protested. "Let's go look upstairs."
Jimmy didn't look sure. "There are a lot of hallways down here, Abby. He didn't check them all, surely?"
"If he was down here, Gibbs would have found him!" Abby insisted. "Maybe he found MTAC or something and got distracted."
"Don't you need a security code to get into MTAC?" Jimmy asked.
That made her pause. "But--"
"We can split up and make sure we check all the hallways. There are a lot of hallways," Jimmy reiterated. "C'mon, Abby."
"Okay," Abby capitulated finally. "But if we don't find him down here, you owe me a Caf-Pow."
Before he'd just felt silly; now he felt stupid and was bordering on nervous. How had he gotten so lost? All these rooms looked alike, and he wasn't completely sure that they were different rooms. He'd gotten himself turned in circles. Abby was going to be mad when he didn't come back. And Gibbs would be even madder. He'd said he wouldn't get mad at Tony for something that wasn't his fault, but if he'd just asked Abby where the bathroom was, he never would have gotten himself in the mess. He felt nervous butterflies awakening in his stomach. He was in so much trouble.
What was he even supposed to do? There weren't signs anywhere, as though a person would just know their way around. But this was a maze. They should have put signs up.
He opened another door, into another identical room with a table, a few chairs, and a big mirror on the wall. How many of these rooms were there anyway? And what on earth would they need them for?
He backed out of the room and sat down in the narrow hallway with his back against the wall. He looped his arms around his knees. He'd just sit and wait. He'd heard somewhere that if you got lost, you were supposed to stay still and let someone find you. Of course, that was for out in the woods or something like that, and it also assumed someone was looking for you. What if no one was looking anyway? Maybe Gibbs had been relieved that he'd run off.
He rested his chin on his knee. He'd wait for a little while, anyway. Someone would have to come down here eventually, and he could ask them how to get out. After all, they wouldn't build a bunch of hallways that no one ever used, would they?
He tried very hard not to think of all the places in his own house that no one ever used or went into. He tried.
"Tony!' Jimmy called as he walked down yet another hallway. He didn't usually spend much time down here where interrogation went on, and he could see how someone could get lost; all the hallways looked the same. Likely on purpose, Jimmy thought. After all, if a scared suspect tried to bolt, he'd have a hard time finding his way out of the endless maze of identical halls that looped back and around each other.
"Oof!" Jimmy tripped, not seeing him until he was already falling. He managed to catch himself on his palms, and felt the sting as the carpet abraded his palms. "Ouch!"
"Jimmy!" It was Tony, crouched against the wall, who had accidentally tripped him up. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"
Jimmy rolled over and sat up. "Are you okay?" he asked. They were face to face. "What are you doing down here?"
Tony's lip shook a little bit. He opened his mouth and a torrent of words flowed out. "I got lost. I didn't mean to. I couldn't find the bathroom, and then I really couldn't find my way back, and I don't even know how I ended up here. I know I should have told Abby. I'm really sorry! And I'm sorry that I tripped you."
"It's okay. Agent Gibbs will be glad you're alright," Jimmy said, patting Tony's upturned knee with a stinging palm. He pulled his phone from the pocket of his scrubs and dialed Dr. Mallard. "I found him, Doctor," he said.
"Splendid!" Dr. Mallard said through the phone. "I'll tell Jethro. Bring him back to autopsy, please, Mr. Palmer. I'm sure he's just fine, but Jethro will want me to look him over."
"Yes sir," Jimmy replied, relieved that Dr. Mallard would tell Agent Gibbs that Tony had been found. Despite everything, Jimmy still had a healthy fear of the gruff Special Agent. "We're on our way now."
He hung up and got to his feet. "C'mon, Tony," he said. Tony didn't move.
"Tony?" Jimmy questioned. Even if he hadn't known that Tony's mind was like an eleven year old's, the way he sat and the expression on his face screamed that he was a frightened kid. "You're okay, aren't you? Did something happen?" He was suddenly worried, although he didn't know of what. After all, what could possibly happen to a special agent, even a disabled one, in the safety of the Navy Yard?
"He's gonna be really mad at me," Tony mumbled. "I didn't mean to get lost."
"He won't be mad, Tony," Jimmy said, praying he was right. "Nobody gets lost on purpose. Agent Gibbs knows that." Ignoring his stinging palm, he extended a hand to his friend who sat curled up on the floor. "C'mon. You've got to be getting hungry. It's nearly lunchtime."
He pulled Tony to his feet and was surprised when Tony clung to his hand for dear life. The poor kid was terrified. "Tony?" he asked, facing him and disregarding his sore hand. "You sure you're okay?"
Tony nodded and let go of him. He straightened his shoulders, and Jimmy suddenly got a flash of what Tony DiNozzo had looked like as an eleven-year-old—serious round hazel eyes and nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. "Gotta face the music," he said as though he were announcing his impending death.
Jimmy put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," he said. "Come on. I don't know about you, but I think I'm ready for lunch."
But he felt regret at Tony's fear. No one should be so nervous about an honest mistake, especially one that hadn't hurt anyone. If Gibbs got mad, well, Jimmy would just give him a piece of his mind. Because as nervous as Gibbs made him, he would still protect his friend from any unfair treatment on the part of the gruff marine.
And although Jimmy didn't realize it, he too squared his shoulders.
The relief he felt when Palmer escorted Tony into Autopsy nearly made Gibbs weak in the knees. It was ridiculous; Tony had never been in danger. He still stepped forward and took Tony by the shoulders. "You're ok?" he asked; his voice sounded rough to his own ears. He didn't miss Tony's flinch.
"Now, Agent Gibbs," Palmer said, pulling himself to his full height, "it was an honest mistake, and I would hope you wouldn't be angry at him for getting lost, because really, it could happen to anyone—"
Gibbs cut him off; the kid was starting to take after Ducky with those long, rambling speeches of his. "I know, Palmer," he said. He looked at Tony, who was staring at his shoulder. "You okay, Tony?"
"Uh huh," Tony replied. "I didn't mean to—"
"Nothing to apologize for," Gibbs said. "Just tell Abby next time so you don't scare everyone, okay?"
Now Tony's eyes darted to his. "You aren't mad?" He sounded hesitantly hopeful
"Did you get lost on purpose?" Gibbs asked rhetorically. Tony shook his head fervently.
"No. I really didn't mean to; all those hallways look alike and I couldn't figure out which one led back here..." Tony trailed off. Gibbs nodded. He could see it happening.
"Didn't think so. No one's mad. You'll tell Abby where you're going next time, right?"
"Uh huh," Tony replied. He looked relieved. Gibbs ruffled Tony's hair, and was pleased when the boy didn't flinch again.
"Now, you're gonna let Ducky check you over, and then we'll find you some lunch. Sound like a plan?" Gibbs asked.
Tony gave him a sly look. "How about Ducky doesn't have to check me over, and we just go get lunch?" he asked.
Gibbs snorted. "Duck?"
Ducky put his hand on Tony's shoulder and steered him towards an empty table. "Come now, my dear boy, it'll just take a minute. You did give us quite a fright there for a moment. It reminded me of when Mr. Palmer started working here..."
"Tony! I'm so glad you're alright! Don't you go scaring me like that again, Mister, do you hear me? I thought something awful had happened!" Abby's hug nearly swallowed him, but he found he didn't mind.
"Don't strangle him, Abby," Gibbs said mildly from off to Tony's right.
"You'll tell me next time, right? Even if I'm in the middle of something, it's totally okay to interrupt me. You do...did, it all the time. And Gibbs is always popping up out of nowhere. So don't worry about that, okay? I don't want you to get lost again." She finally released him. "Okay?" she repeated.
Tony nodded. "I'm sorry, Abby," he said. "I was really glad when Jimmy found me," he admitted. "I thought I was going to be lost down there forever."
"No, never!" Abby said. "We would never let you get lost, Tony! And God knows you've tried, too, hasn't he, Gibbs?"
Gibbs nodded, a little smile on his lips.
"Well, I just kept thinking that maybe no one ever went down there and it would be a really long time before someone remembered me. Like my house, we've got kind of a lot of places like that," Tony said. He'd worried about it right until Jimmy had tripped over him. He hadn't even heard him coming; he might have fallen asleep for a minute or two. But only a minute or two. No way he could have slept longer than that!
"No one could forget about you," Abby said.
Tony swallowed. Wrong, he thought, remembering how his father had forgotten about him in the basement. If Lupe hadn't come downstairs with a basket of laundry, no one would have let him out. She'd cried out in Spanish when she saw him sitting on the stairs and then switched to English. "You are okay? Mrs. DiNozzo is so worried, she think you run away! How you get locked in?" A question he couldn't answer, didn't know how to answer.
"Although apparently someone could forget about me," she said. She looked at Gibbs then. "How come you didn't call me right away when you found him?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
"Wanted Ducky to have a chance to look him over without an audience," Gibbs said. He didn't seem to mind Abby's tone; his father would have been really mad that she was being disrespectful. "Anyway, Palmer only found him ten minutes ago."
"That's a long time to worry, Gibbs," Abby said.
"Won't do it again, Abs," he said, holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.
"You'd better not," Abby said. She blew air through her bangs and then said, "How 'bout you make it up to me. Buy me lunch?"
Gibbs only paused for a second. "What do you want?" he asked.
Abby hugged him. "I don't care. Although I wouldn't turn down a refill of Caf-Pow. Tony?"
"Uh...pizza?" he suggested. He was always ready for pizza.
"Sure," Gibbs said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
"Except..." Tony said, and then stopped. Maybe this wasn't a good time for a joke? Gibbs raised his eyebrows in silent question.
Well, he'd halfway said it; might as well finish it off. "Maybe a medium soda this time?"
Abby giggled. And after a second, Tony did too.
