Merry Christmas, if you do of course celebrate Christmas, I would hate to assume. I was not planning upon uploading this today, but I felt that I would be nice, since I do not know when I will be uploading another chapter - I am away for a couple of days. This one is not so Christmassy, but I did upload my Christmas present to you all earlier today, so do check that out. We are starting another case as well, and this one is, well, you will see.
XXV. Whoever Said Nothing Is Impossible Never Tried Nailing Jell-O To A Tree.
"Tony, we are going to be late for work." Ziva chuckled as he pulled her back down onto the bed.
"I don't think anyone will mind." He scraped her hair back off of her face.
"I certainly will not object, so long as you will be the one to tell Gibbs why we are late." She kissed him and grinned as he froze.
"You're right, we need to get to work." He sat up, re-buttoning his shirt for the third time that morning and throwing Ziva her jeans. "Don't want to anger the beast."
"Especially since he was in such a good mood yesterday."
"Gibbs is always in a good mood on Christmas. I think it's his way of tricking us, lulling us into a false sense of security."
"Or maybe he just likes the holidays." He looked up at her when she said that and they both shook their heads. "Your version is more likely." She nodded, a smile spreading across her face.
"I have known the man longer." He shrugged and laughed. "And I still don't know how to get on his good side. Or if he even has one." He frowned, locking the door behind him.
"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, no time to say hello good bye, I'm late I'm late I'm late…" Tony muttered as they ran through the building.
"A book, at last." Ziva grinned.
"No, I was thinking of the 1951 Disney cartoon. Bill Thompson as the white rabbit." He grinned.
"I have only read the book." She frowned as they stopped in the elevator.
"You really need a movie-cation. We're gonna watch Star Wars and Alice in Wonderland and every other movie you have never seen." He sighed and shook his head.
"What is a movie-cation?" She asked as they exited the elevator.
"An education in movies. It is important."
"David, DiNozzo, nice of you to join us at last." Gibbs didn't look up as they sat at their desks.
"Couldn't find my keys." "We got caught in the snow." Tony and Ziva said, synchronized, looking at one another and then to their boss.
"DiNozzo, would you and officer David like a moment to get your stories straight?"
"Uh, no boss." He shook his head. "See, the thing is, Ziva just looked so beautiful this morning and so I…"
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled as Ziva threw an eraser at her fiancé. "I do not need the explicit details of you sex life!"
"I was just being honest, boss." He smiled, a smile that fell at the sight of Gibbs' glare. "Duly noted. It won't happen again. Well, it probably will happen again, not the being late or the detailing of our sex life, but the er… Shutting up boss." He looked at his superior's expression.
"Good, DiNozzo." Gibbs answered his phone, listened and hung up. "Got a dead petty officer. Gear up."
"Well this is…" Tony fought for the words.
"Yes." Jimmy frowned.
"Unusual?" Tim suggested.
"Quite." Ducky stared.
"He looks happy." Ziva tilted her head. They all looked at her with raised eyebrows. "He is smiling." She pointed.
"He's suspended in a swimming pool of Jell-O." Gibbs stated.
"Is it bad that I really want a bowl of lime Jell-O right now?" She looked at the five men. "I will take your expressions to mean yes."
"I didn't think you were allowed to eat gelatine?" Tim frowned.
"You can make Jell-O out of agar-agar." Ziva grinned. "Perfectly kosher."
"How'd they get it to set?" Tony crouched down and poked the red gelatinous substance with a gloved finger.
"I think the bigger question is 'how much Jell-O powder would something like this need?'" Jimmy said.
"And who would have that much just lying around?" Ducky added.
Gibbs looked at all of his people and shook his head. "No, the question I want an answer to is 'why is he submerged in Jell-O and who put him there?'"
"Jethro, I find a more pressing issue at this precise moment to be 'how are we going to get the poor fellow out of there and back to the lab?'" Ducky sighed.
"We don't." Gibbs murmured quietly to his friend and shrugged.
"Abby is going to have a field trip." Ziva laughed to Tony, McGee and Jimmy.
"Field day, Ziva. A field trip is when you go out into the field…on a trip." Tony said, hitting the button on the camera to capture the image of Ziva's confusion.
"Ziva's right, DiNozzo." Gibbs looked at him. "Get Abby out here."
"This is so cool!" Abby's face lit up as she ran into the tiled room. The overpowering aroma of cherry had hit her immediately, giving her flashbacks to her childhood.
"No running by the pool." Tony laughed, standing up from where he was photographing, or at least trying to photograph, the petty officer at the bottom of the pool.
"This is like every child's dream!" She walked over and kneeled down by the sugary grave.
"You had strange dreams." Tony stared at her.
"Tell me about it. Once, I had this dream that I was a ragdoll and I kept falling over and having to be sewn back up, I woke up screaming all week because of it." She looked at him. "You've got all this to look forward to." She grinned. "Where's Ziva? I thought she was here with you?"
He shook his head. "The smell of the Jell-O was making her feel sick so she went back with Gibbs."
"It has got quite a powerful smell." She chuckled.
"How much powder would be needed to fill this pool?"
"One 3 ounce sachet takes two cups. Sachet is a very cool word, don't you think?"
"Abby." He looked at her, exasperated.
"The pool is 33' by 15' and 6' deep." She paused, doing the calculations in her head. "That means approximately 355,474 cups…divide by two makes 177737. That's a lot of sachets of Jell-O." She frowned.
"It would take a lot of planning to do that."
"And a lot of money buying Jell-O."
"Not the cheapest murder." Tony scoffed.