Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, and sorry for the lack of updates. For those who asked, I will explain at some point what the video meant to Tony...

I'm going away for two weeks at the end of next week, so I'll try to update as often as I can this week.

Thanks again for keeping reading this story.

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Tony flashed a dazzling smile. "I know where she is".

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"Care to elaborate?" Gibbs prompted.

"No." Gibbs was not amused.

"Come on, DiNozzo…" The begging made Tony's heart grow fonder and he toyed with the idea of telling his boss, but, as the words were about to pass his lips, he thought better of it. Gibbs noticed his agent's dithering attitude and decided not to push it further. Yet.

"Is she safe?"

"Yes, she is." He clutched the little frame tighter into his swollen hands and added softly for Gibbs' benefit, "She'll remain so as long as nobody suspects that I know where she is. And so will you."

Gibbs eyes dropped to the frame too. He was touched that his senior agent thought of his well-being and, he was sure, that of the rest of the team too. "How…"

"… do I know where she is?" His brow creased as he finished the unuttered sentence. He lifted his head up and looked around suspiciously and sighed.

"Listen, boss. Can we have that conversation later? I mean… there's a lot of people around here and… Well, I assume you're going to take me back "home" anyway later."

Gibbs nodded in agreement and stood up, taking a second to loosen his numb legs. As he walked past DiNozzo, he patted his shoulder and added "We'll get her back, Tony" before disappearing in the lift.

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McGee and Abby had automatically headed for the lab, but Ducky had met them on his way down from the mezzanine and the motley crew had migrated towards the relative quietness of the pathologist's den.

As he alighted from the elevator, Gibbs heard Abby's shrill voice.

"But Timmy, he looks horrible… He looks so sad! I thought… I thought maybe…" The rest of the sentence was muffled by what Gibbs suspected might be McGee's shoulder.

"Abigail, young Anthony has been through a lot over the last week. You cannot blame him for his current frame of mind. Besides, who are we to bear judgement on him when none of us knows for sure what happened to him?"

"Well, if he had confided in us, we could have helped more!" retorted Abby.

"You have done plenty already, Abs". Gibbs' appearance in the doorframe had been unnoticed and the three acolytes turned over to him. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the sight of his favourite nestled against McGee's chest. His tone was neither reproachful nor reassuring, and Abby squirmed at the sound of his voice. She extricated herself from McGee's embrace and stepped forward, her head bowed in submission, awaiting the sentence. "I'm sorry, Gibbs."

"Why?"

"Well, I have disobeyed a direct order, and implicated McGee in my search for Ziva."

"And?" His face was indecipherable.

"Well, I thought you'd be mad at me and McGee for…"

"Right now, I don't know who I'm the most mad at, Abs." He pointed at her. "You, for going behind my back". "You…" His finger moved menacingly to McGee. "For helping her and being there for her". McGee stood still, fully understanding the hidden message that was carried by the icy blue eyes. "You, Duck, for not calling me up on my mistakes or him…" he pointed upwards "for refusing to open up and tell me what he knows."

Abby smiled sadly as she hugged Gibbs in an attempt to appease him but stepped back when her embrace went unrequited.

Gibbs' face had suddenly hardened. "McGee, go back upstairs and keep Tony company. " Tim exited promptly, sending Abby a worried look over his shoulder on his way out.

Whilst Abby's eyes were looking from some unknown company on the grey floor of the lab, Ducky's had remained locked to his friend's face. His features betrayed his anger, but there was sadness in his gaze that betrayed some deeper turmoil.

"What is it, Jethro?"

Gibbs remained silent and turned to Abby, given her the stare. Ducky was uncomfortable with the situation. He could see the anger rise steadily in Gibbs and his friend's foul mood would explode soon enough, with him for sole company and witness.

"Listen", Abby started with a broken voice. "I said I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done what I did, but you left me all alone and McGee was bored and Tony looked so sad I cried every time I looked at him. And then I also missed Ziva and it felt like Timmy and I had been abandoned and that there was no team anymore. And I just couldn't stand the idea of not seeing all of you around anymore, so…"

Before she finished her diatribe, Gibbs interrupted. "Have I ever abandoned you, Abs?"

"Honestly? Do you really want me to answer that?" The bluntness of her answer tore through his heart like a bullet as she continued.

"I've lost you twice before, Gibbs. And yes, you came back and I was all happy again, but I can't… I just can't start to think how my life would be without you." Tears were brimming on the edge of her eyelashes. "I just can't do it anymore, Gibbs. You, I, the team, we're family. Every time one of you gets hurt, a bit of my heart gets torn away. If you died, I'd die too and none of them could save me, not even Timmy. And if anyone of them dies or disappears forever, I'll be broken, and you'll be broken too, and the team… Well, there won't be a team anymore. And right now, I can't deal with that. So yes, I got McGee to help me. And yes, we did try to find Ziva." She moved a step closer to Gibbs, invading his personal space. "I need hope, Gibbs. I just want them back, all of them. I just want to see Tony happy again. I can't stand seeing him beating himself up for things he had no control over. I can't do it anymore. I want my Tony back."

"I know, Abs. And he wants his Ziva back." Gibbs took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Abby's shoulders, holding her tight to his chest. His anger towards his team had subsided, only to be replaced by feelings he couldn't even start to contemplate. He pressed his lips against her forehead before adding: "And I promise I'll never…" She pressed her finger against his lips to shut him up.

"Don't. I know you won't be able to keep that promise." She disentangled herself from his arms, tears streaming on her cheeks.

"If somebody's looking for me, I'll be in the lab, dissecting that video to see what else I can find."

"Abs!" He called after her. Without looking back, she waved her hand at him to signify that she wanted to be left alone and stepped out of the lab.

Knowing that nobody would know any different, and unwilling to witness his friends' feuds, Ducky had gone to his desk, where he had poured himself a Scotch and absent-mindedly started peering over files. With Abby gone, he knew that his services were now going to be required and turned back to his friend, handing him a glass half filled with the same amber liquid.

What he had not expected to see was the single tear falling on Jethro's face as he murmured "I've let them down, Duck."

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"You're alright, Tony?" McGee asked nonchalantly as he entered the bullpen.

"Whadyathink, Probie." Tony wasn't in the prettiest of moods. "I feel like a monkey in a zoo. All those… people looking at me…"

"Well, that's not that far from the truth, Tony", answered McGee in a cheerful voice.

"I'd slap your head if you weren't so tall, McGoo. Now, help me back behind my desk. I can at least pretend that I'm working."

"Ok."

Tim pushed Tony's chair all the way around his desk. "There, happy?"

"Better, thanks". Tony's head was bent over his desk, his eyes bewitched by the team picture, which he lay carefully on his desk.

"Uh, Tony?"

"Yeah?" The young agent was still standing in front of his desk.

"I just wanted to say, if you need anything or if you wanna talk…"

Tony sighed. "I know. Thanks."

McGee sat back at his desk, playing with some random object on his desk, pushing it around with a pencil. He sighed and shrugged before asking.

"Seriously, Tony. Did that video mean anything to you? Did it at least make you king of happy or relieved or… I dunno, anything?" His voice like the pencil pushing game, was becoming more animated.

"It was nice, thanks." The words were truly inadequate, but Tony couldn't describe the mix feelings that had overtaken him.

"Well, that's not enough, really. I mean, Abby and I have been working flat out since you got to hospital. I've hardly slept or eaten in five days. Abby..."

Tony smiled mischievously. "No time for McSex, then." He hadn't anticipated McGee's reaction. The young man got up swiftly, swerved Tony's chair around and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him upwards.

"You may want to watch your mouth, DiNozzo." He let go of the fabric and sat down on his chair. "You're just so selfish, blind and arrogant, Tony, it's unbelievable. Can't you just wake up and see things for what they are? Gibbs, he's bent backwards to stay with you this week. Abby, she can't stop crying whenever she goes to see you. And I? I've spent most of my time trying to calm her down and the rest of it trying to do something that would help you."

Tim's eyes reached for the little gimmick on the desk as he started pushing it around again. "I may look so, Tony, but I'm not stupid. I know full well that you all think I'm some kind of nerd who'll never make a brilliant agent, well, maybe in cybercrimes, but not in the field. I know I'm not Abby's first choice. Not even her second. But I'm fine with that. I mean, I know if she had a choice, Gibbs would win any time. And she'd save you over me; she'd do anything for you. But I'm fine with that too. I love her for what she is, and what she gives me back is enough to make me happy. So I want you to respect that."

Tony nodded, slowly realising the error of his ways.

"I just hoped all along that all our efforts would be worth it, that you'd see something we didn't, that it would all make some sense to you. No one on the team is blind, Tony. We all know that you and Ziva have this..." he struck his fists together," ... bond that none of us fully understands. I was hoping that..."

"I did. See things that you didn't. I just wanted to protect her, you, the team."

"You don't trust us, then?"

"McGee, you just don't get it. This is no IT kindergarten of yours! Lives beyond mine and Ziva's depend on this, and I'm not prepared to put yours or Abby's or Gibbs' at risk just because I think I may have seen something on a video."

"You did see something, then."

"That's not the point."

"Yes it is. Catch!" He threw the little object he'd been playing with in DiNozzo's direction."

"What's that?"

"Some nerdy Elf Lord magic for you. It's a tiny webcam I've modified." He scribbled something on a piece of paper. "You can stick it on the frame, and nobody will be able to detect it."

"How does it work?"

"Sort of like a webcam. You press the switch, it turns on and you can record something." He handed Tony the sheet of paper.

"What's that?"

"The web address to which it's downloading and the three passwords you need to open the page. Trust me, it's safe. Unless you have the address, you won't know that it exists, so there's no chance of it being detected."

"So?"

"Well, I was hoping that you knew where Ziva was, so that we could send her that info. That way you could talk to her whenever you wanted."

Tony was incredulous. "You did that? For me?"

McGee sighed. "Yes, Tony. Open your eyes. In spite of everything, there are people out there who care about you. Just make sure you don't drive them all away."

Tony squirmed on his seat pushing himself forward with his valid arm and just managed to stand up when his knees gave up under him and he started falling to the ground. Fortunately, McGee had pre-empted his move and caught him before he reached the ground.

"What do you think you were doing, Tony."

"Coming to say thanks, Probie."

"There's no need, Tony."

Both men were standing, hugging each other between their respective desks.

"Uh... I don't know about you but I don't want the scuttlebutt..."

"Yeah, fine. Put me back down."

As McGee carefully placed him back on his chair, Tony's hand caught McGee's arm as he lifted his head up to connect with him.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"No, I really mean it. Thanks for the wake-up call... I owe you one."

"I'll collect."

McGee sat back at his desk and opened the first file on his neglected pile when Tony's voice resounded through the office.

"AND THANKS FOR LOVING ME, MCGEE", his smile etched across his face.

Tim buried his head in the file, shaking his head in disarray. Tony was back.

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OK, give me two more chapters and we'll go and get Ziva.

Next chapter will be all Gibbs/Ducky and Gibbs/Tony.