Demons of the past
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...
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4- Side effects
Getting into the truck, they waited for Gibbs to drive, but he handed the keys to Dinozzo, who shot a look of horror to his colleagues. McGee was riding with Ducky and was therefore lucky. With a look pleading for help, Tony started the van and Kate buckled up, which she rarely did when they headed out for a scene. Gibbs gave her a questioning look, but when the van shot out of the parking lot and almost hit a traffic sign, he put the seatbelt on immediately. "Damn, Dinozzo, we are not in that much of a hurry." He said when Tony hit the third red light in a row. "You drive like a maniac."
Kate grinned, inspite of being terrified right now. "Well, now you see how we feel when you are driving." She managed before grabbing the doorhandle for a hold.
At the scene, she felt herself shaking slightly when she could finally get out of the van. Abby´s warning had been correct -driving under the influence of those tablets in was surenot to berecommended. She got out the PDA and started to scan the scene for evidence while Tony took pictures. After about 10 minutes she heard the forensic van stopping next to the MCRT van. "Caitlin? Anthony? May I have a word with you?" She heard Ducky calling them and wondered what was up. She walked over to him and saw McGee sitting in the truck. Tony came over as well.
Gibbs was talking to some police officers and didn´t notice. "What´s up, Ducky?" She asked and noticed a look of concern in his eyes.
"I don´t think it´s necessary for Jethro to hear this, but I need to know if you took any tablets today. Maybe pink ones like these?" He asked and showed them a small pill, just like the ones they had taken.
They exchanged a look of horror. "Why are you asking?" Tony asked, some panik in his voice. No matter how he had found out, they were dead meat now.
Ducky forced them into the van. "Abigail collapsed in the lab shortly before we were called out. When I found her, she told me that she had given you these. She was right that they work fine in case you are sore or have a terrible backpain, but they are also dangerous. Did you take more than one of these?" He asked and from the tone in his voice, it was serious.
Kate nodded. "Two of them. What´s wrong, Ducky?" She started to get scared now.
"When did you take those?" He asked and frowned when they told him. "I need all three of you to go back with me now. Don´t ask any questions, but we got less than 30 minutes to give you another medication. I can´t do it here, because it can only be given by IV. I have Mr. Palmer looking after Abigail as we are speaking. Now, buckle up." He said, got into the driver´s seat and started the car.
All three swallowed hard. "Gibbs will kill us..." Tony muttered and watched how their boss spun around at the sound of the van, tearing out onto the road again.
"Do not worry, Anthony. Your secret will be safe with me as long as you promise me to come to me right away next time you need something. I shall tell Jethro that the four of you got some tricky drug into your drinks when you were out last night." Ducky told them and they were rather relieved.
"Ducky, we owe you one for this." Kate said and saw him smile.
"I was thinking about a nice homemade dinner. I do remember that you are said to have a hand for pasta, Anthony? And I heard that Kate does make a terrific chocolate cake. And some good salad will fit well with that, don´t you think, Timothy? Young Abby has already promised me to bring along some good wine for this." He smirked and pulled up into the parking lot of the NCIS headquarters a few minutes later.
He ushered them down into the morgue. Abby was lying on an autopsy table, awake, but looking mortified. "Hey, guys...Listen, I´m sorry about..." She said as she turned her head to them.
Tony raised his hand as he sat down on another table. "Not your fault. I just wonder what Gibbs will do to us when he gets back...We just bolted out from an investigation." He said and flinched as Ducky attached an IV-line to his arm. "How long does this take, Duck?"
The doctor smiled as he put the last IV line into Kate´s arm, who was on a table next to Abby. "Oh, just about two hours. It´s about 10 ounces of saline solution with a quench of a wonderful chemical that will counteract the toxic little devils all of you have in your systems. I must ask you to lie down though. Sitting up will give you a terrible headache, which is one of the unfortuante sideeffects. You are very lucky that this did not happen after you had left for your homes. I believe all of you have learned a lesson today, haven´t you?" He asked and gave them a stern look.
"Yes, Dr. Mallard." All four said in a chorus and continued to look mortified. They lay down, which felt a bit odd as there were normally dead people lying on these tables. None spoke for a moment until they heard Ducky laughing a bit.
"You know, this reminds me of my time at medical school. Back then..." His speech was thankfully interrupted by his phone and all of them knew who was on the other end of the line. Even the ringing sounded rather disturbing already. Ducky smiled and turned the speaker on. Abby had gotten him one of those as they made it easier for more than two people to communicate. "Yes, Jethro?" He said in his normal, calm manner, but stood a good three feet from the desk.
"Where in this world did you go, Duck? Where is my team? I´m standing here at the scene of a murder and everyone is just gone. There better be a very good explanation." Gibbs was royally pissed off. He didn´t yell or anything. His voice seemed calm and that was the one thing that was really a sign that he was angry.
"Jethro, I am sorry for not notifying you right ahead, but I had to take care of them first of all. As it seems, Abigail, Anthony, Caitlin and Timothy were out at a bar last night together and something has been put into their drinks. None of them had noticed until Abigail collapsed in her laboratory about an hour ago. When I saw her, I recognized signs of early toxic shock and questioned her about the reason. She did not know exactly, but pointed out that all four of them had been drinking from the same pitcher last night and as she hadn´t eaten anything since then, I thought it might be possible that the rest of them would be effected as well." He gave a rather long report about the situation and received four very grateful looks from them.
For a moment, there was nothing to be heard. "I´ll be there in 10." Was all Gibbs said and they looked at each other after the line went dead.
"Holy...he´s pissed, isn´t he?" Kate said, but Ducky shook his head, much to everyone´s surprise.
"I believe you are wrong about him there, Caitlin. From his reaction, I would say that he is rather worried about you. Eventhough he normally does not show it, he cares about everyone of you deeply. Now, you do not need to tell him that you know, but you may want to keep it in mind. I shall go and finish off some work in my office now. When Jethro gets here, please tell him where I am." Mallard said and then disappeared from their sight.