"Damn it! We need to find that uncle!" Gibbs shouted as he glanced outside at the setting sun.
It had been a long day to say the least. There had been tears and fights and struggles like no one would have believed out of the MCRT at NCIS. Gibbs had even seen Tony lose control for the first time since meeting him, completely in tears. Ziva had snapped at Ducky of all people and screamed at him for not having enough information for her to bring up to Gibbs.
Gibbs in some respects wanted to laugh at the dysfuncionality of the team, but he knew that this particular issue was going to be what would break them instead of solving the case. He looked at the sleepy-looking Ziva then the worried-looking Tony and to the guilty-looking McGee.
"We're trying, Gibbs," Ziva said icily.
"That's it, dinner time!" Gibbs said angrily. "McGee call Abby and Ducky up here. We're taking a dinner break and relaxing our minds through it!"
Nobody questioned him, not even Vance who was looking at the team curiously. He just continued standing there watching the overly dysfuntional team do as they were told in calling Abby and Ducky upstairs to go to dinner. He knew that something was going on that he didn't see yet, and he was going to trust Gibbs to handle whatever it was.
For Vance's part, he had never seen Tony looking so emotional, never seen Ziva looking so tired and snapping at Gibbs or Ducky. He had never seen McGee looking so guilty (not even on the day he had lost his credentials). He had never seen Abby look so spitefully toward anyone as she was at Gibbs right now. He hadn't ever known Gibbs to snap quite like that at his team. He knew that something was up and disrupting the way the team was running and he whole-heartedly agreed with a dinner break for them to discuss this.
Once Abby and Ducky were upstairs, looking confused Gibbs glared around at everyone. "McGee go get the van, we're going to my place for some sandwiches and a small talk about what's going on today, before anyone says something they don't really mean. Then, we're coming back here and finishing this up with clear heads," Gibbs said, sounding slightly more calm than he had only a moment ago.
They followed McGee downstairs. Tony was holding Ziva to his side and Vance's eyes narrowed as he tried hard to spot the reason for the difference in their work behavior today. They had relied so heavily on each other, but Vance couldn't spot it. He shook his head and hoped that Gibbs knew what he was doing.
The ride to Gibbs' place was deadly silent and when they got inside, Ducky helped make some sandwiches for the team. They ate in silence and Gibbs had some bourbon. The only two who didn't have any of Gibbs' bourbon were Tony and Ziva and the only one who didn't know why was Ducky.
"Okay, let's get something out there," Gibbs said quietly looking around at his familly. "We are a family and we sometimes have problems. You all need to work together at work. Whatever problems you have outside of work need to stay outside of work from now on. Ziva, I know you're pregnant and this is an emotional case for both you and Tony, but get control over who you are snapping at and when. Abby, there's no need to glare at everyone because of some conversation you didn't complete with McGee. McGee stop looking guiltily at Tony and Ziva before I decide I need to smack you. Ducky you've been very patient, thank you."
"Sorry, Gibbs," Ziva said.
"Don't worry, Ziva. You're over-tired," Gibbs said, shaking his head.
"That doesn't give her an excuse for treating us the way she has today!" Abby remarked.
Gibbs stood up and walked over to Abby, and for the first time since knowing her, smacked her on the back of the head. She rubbed her head and shouted, "Hey!"
"That's for keeping Ziva up and for not understanding," Gibbs said. "Trust me, pregnancy hormones are not fun to deal with."
"I still don't see why I'm getting a DiNozzo slap!" Abby said. "You just don't do that!"
"And usually you are more understanding," Gibbs argued back at her.
Abby didn't say anything else. There were tears in her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Gibbs stood up and took the glasses. "Back to work," he said quietly.
They all stood up and suddenly they all felt a little better. Gibbs had gone out of his way to make sure everyone was working together and they were now determined to work better together. Abby still had tears in her eyes. Ziva glanced at Tony and Tony nodded to her. She walked to Abby and pulled her into a hug.
"It's okay, Abby, everything will be alright," she whispered to her.
Abby smiled tearfully at Ziva and embraced her tightly and led them out of the house and back to the van. By the time they arrived back at work, they were laughing at one another and especially at Ziva's exhaustion, because her Israeli accent was much stronger when she was so over-tired.
Within minutes of being back they not only located where the uncle was but what he was up to. He was their main suspect for the case. Gibbs unwillingly sent Tony and Ziva to go get him. They had insisted and he was a little nervous that their exhaustion would be a hinderance. But, McGee was just as tired as they were and hadn't had as much coffee that day.
He really hoped that they would get the job done well and have each other's backs in the field. He was half tempted to go with them, but he needed to have a conversation with Vance by the looks of things. Vance was now involving himself in this case and watching the team curiously because of the changes that had taken place over the course of a short break. Gibbs met him at the top of the stairs and nodded toward Vance's office.