Chapter 2 - Oblivious

"Shouldn't Gibbs be back by now?" Tim asked, looking over at Tony. Ziva looked over at her two colleagues, and glanced at the clock. "It's been an awfully long coffee break, hasn't it boys?" Tony frowned. He had been so engrossed in wrapping up the final details of the case that never ends, that he'd completely lost track of time. He was about to say something, when his phone rang.

"Special Agent DiNozzo," he answered cordially.

"Tony, Dr. Mallard wouldn't be up there, would he?" Jimmy Palmer sounded like he was beginning to border on worried.

"No, Jimmy. He's not. Why?"

"He left with Agent Gibbs on a coffee break. But that was three hours ago. It isn't like him to be gone this long."

Tony sighed. "Ducky's been gone three hours and you're just now telling us?" He could almost hear the eyeroll on the other end of the line. "I was caught up in work down here. You try doing an autopsy without giving it your undivided attention," Jimmy retorted, defensively. Tony shook his head and sighed again. "Right," he conceded, with an apologetic tone. "Fair enough. Well… we kinda lost track of time up here too. I'll check into it, Jimmy. I'll let you know, okay."

The voice on the other end of the line seemed slightly relieved. "Thank you, Tony." Tony hung up his phone, and sighed.

"That was Jimmy. Ducky's UA too, it seems."

"Did he leave with Gibbs?" Tim asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yeah," Tony answered. "Jimmy said they left together. Three hours ago. Have we really been so wrapped up in this case that three hours flew by and we didn't even notice?"

Tim and Ziva shared a look, then glanced back to Tony and shrugged. "Looks like it," Ziva said.

"McGee, you call Gibbs. I'll try to raise Ducky."

……………………………………………………………………

Abby had a stroke of genius.

She knew that Caitlin already had Gibbs wrapped around her finger. He'd be an easy sell. She'd have to avoid Shepard, but if worse came to worse, she'd think of something.

Anyway, it had been far too long since either Ducky or Gibbs had seen Caitlin, and she knew how much Tim missed his little Princess when he was at work. And Tony could really use the practice, with Faith ready to go into labour at any moment. Ziva had been there just that morning, and Abby wasn't convinced yet that she'd quite had her recommended daily allowance of Baby Girl.

Yeah. "Lesson number one in the art of being a woman, Baby Girl. We can justify pretty much anything if we really want to."

She smiled broadly at her daughter. "Come on, Caitlin, let's go surprise your Daddy! And Uncle Tony, and Auntie Ziva, and Uncle Gibbs, and Uncle Ducky, and Uncle Jimmy, and you have to have your sweetest face on, in case we run into Madame Director."

Caitlin cooed and waved her arms, green eyes bright, as Abby tucked her into the car seat.

Abby grinned to herself as she pulled out of the driveway. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner?