Chapter 2 - Busted

Gibbs winced slightly, then turned around slowly. "Ducky," he said. "We had an incident. Don't worry, it's all worked out." Ducky frowned, then turned an accusing glare on his hapless assistant. Jimmy flinched slightly, then said, "It wasn't me Dr. Mallard, I swear it."

"Timmy, what did you do to Ducky's morgue?" McGee closed his eyes. He was right, his nose hadn't lied to him – Abby had just arrived.

"Abs, honey… what are you doing here? I thought you were wrapping up wedding stuff… and wait, I thought Ducky's flight didn't get in until later?" McGee tried to change the subject, but didn't get far, when Abby's eyes grew wide as she noticed the wound on his arm. "Oh, no… Timmy what happened?" McGee had to stop himself from smiling, and returning a face at Tony, who was rolling his eyes at the display.

"Just a small… hostage taking," he explained, hastily, muttering the last two words as unintelligibly as he could manage. "Like Gibbs said, it's all worked out." Abby narrowed her bright green eyes at her betrothed. "Hostage taking? Tony, what did you do to my fiancé?"

"Nothing, Abs, I swear it," Tony tried to say. He moved quickly over to where Abby was standing, trying to reassure her. "You should've seen McGee. Those high-school wrestling moves really came in handy, I was so damned proud of him… And Ziva… man, that's our girl, she's so quick on the draw, she's our little Crack Shot…"

"Quit trying to gloss this over, Anthony. I still haven't been told what the hell happened to my morgue." Ducky sounded extremely unhappy at the state of things.

"Pretty much what Tim said, Doctor," Jimmy whispered nervously. "We had a small incident with a man who came in demanding to know what had happened to his brother. Turned out he was armed… and, well, as you can see, things got a bit out of hand…"

"A bit, Jimmy?" Abby was clearly unhappy. McGee tried to soothe her with some quiet words of reassurance. "Well, Abby… we managed to fake him out. I had to run some basic tests with your mass spectr…" was all he managed to get out, when Abby glared at him, cutting his words off at the pass. "What did you do to my baby, McGee?"

"Nothing, Abby. Honest. He just ran some basic tests. Just enough to get some authentic results to fake the guy out, that's it. I saw the lab myself. It's all good," Gibbs tried to reassure her. He draped a paternal arm around her shoulders. "Gibbs, how the hell would you know if any of my equipment was broken? You can't even reboot your own computer when it crashes."

"Well, it was humming and beeping and purring. It looked exactly like it does when you're using it," he said with authority, and sounding like he had no intention of carrying the conversation on any further.

"Anyway, this guy came in demanding to know how his brother died. Fortunately, Jims here was able to fake him out too," Tony stated, sounding quite proud of how they'd handled the crisis without their resident experts on hand to help.

"Tony, I did not fake him out," Jimmy said, raising a finger and waving it defensively in the air. "My actions and my findings were absolutely authentic. Ask Dr. Mallard after he reviews my report." Jimmy couldn't help the "so there" tone in his voice. He all but stuck his tongue out at Gibbs' senior agent.

Ducky sighed, and sagged against a table. "Well, Mr. Palmer, I trust you will not be leaving this evening, until autopsy is in a fit state to carry on with business as usual, in the morning?" Jimmy smiled at him sheepishly. "Of course not, Doctor. It'll be ship-shape before I leave." He sighed, and got to work tidying up, Ziva taking pity on him and joining him in the clean-up effort.

"So, how did the shopping go this afternoon, Abby? The last time we found that amazing little black cocktail dress for my bridesmaid outfit, did you find something for yourself this time?" Ziva asked, as she helped to pick up items off the floor, and sanitize areas that had been contaminated in one way or another, from the day's events.

"Oh, yeah, Ziva. I think I finally found my dress!" McGee smiled at this. "See, I wouldn't have been able to go with you anyway," he said. Like Jimmy before him, he couldn't quite stop the "so there" tone in his voice, either.

"What? That would've been a problem?" Gibbs asked, perplexed. Abby and McGee looked at him, rolling their eyes in unison. "Gibbs, don't you know that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride's dress before the wedding?"

Gibbs smiled slightly and shrugged at this. "Oh. So that's what happened then. And here all this time I thought it was just because I'm a bastard."

"Well, be that as it may, Jethro, you still haven't explained what happened to my morgue." Ducky still wasn't happy with the elusive explanations he was receiving. "And by the way, I managed to catch an earlier flight, and Abigail happened to have her cellular telephone on when I called her. She came and picked me up. So do not bother asking again why I'm back so soon."

"It's just like we've told you, Duck. We had an incident that just happened to transpire here in autopsy. We handled it, everyone's fine, your morgue will be fine in the morning, and wow, it's getting late, don't you agree? I think I need to go home and pop some pain killers, then call it a night…" Ducky glared at Tony. "You're glossing it over, Anthony."

"Am not."

"Am so. And do not attempt to play little children's' games with me, Anthony DiNozzo."

"Well, if the shoe fits," McGee muttered, causing Abby to giggle slightly. "Come on Timmy. Let's get you home. You look like you've had a long day, my poor Baby needs some TLC." McGee resisted the impulse to milk Abby's sudden nurturing attitude for all it was worth. He didn't want to push his luck – after all, he still wasn't sure that he'd left her lab in satisfactory shape, according to her standards, at least.

As Abby and McGee headed towards the door, Tony recognized his chance to get out while the getting was good. "Hey, wait up," he said suddenly, dashing over to catch up, as quickly as his throbbing arm would allow. "Can I catch a ride home with you guys?"

McGee glanced at him gratefully, mouthing the words, "Thank you," just as Abby said, "Sure, but we're stopping by my lab first. I have to check on my babies." Tony nodded in understanding towards his younger colleague, and reached out with his good arm, resting his hand on McGee's shoulder. "I'll always have your back, Probie," he whispered, winking.

Ziva and Gibbs watched the trio leave, then turned back to the task at hand. Gibbs had started helping with the clean-up as well, much to Ducky's satisfaction.

"So, Jethro, please. Tell me what exactly you mean by a hostage taking? What exactly transpired here today?"