A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!
Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!
And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!
A big hello from Auckland, I'm having lots of fun over here. This chapter is a lot shorter than the others, but hopefully the others will make up for it
Tony yawned and looked at the clock and frowned as he saw that it read five past three. It must have stopped. He looked back to the clock on his computer, nine thirty two; he looked up to Gibbs, wondering when he would let them leave. Sighing, he looked back to his screen and frowned. The cabin he'd thought he'd bought somewhere on the border of Idaho, near Lewiston and Moscow, had been sold. He banged his desk in frustration and stared at the space between his desk and the wall opposite him.
"Something wrong DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, looking up
"No, boss. Just venting some frustration" he replied
Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "At what?"
Tony frowned, "At how slow my computer is"
Gibbs nodded in agreement and looked back at his own computer, then got up and headed for the elevator, probably for more coffee.
Tony silently swore, looking back to the screen in-front of him. He was sure that he'd got the property, nobody else had seemed interested and that was only a week and a half ago. He cursed again, blaming the case for his bad-luck. He'd been looking to spending some time off, some much-needed personal time and he'd found a great place to stay. But not anymore, somebody else had bought it. Tony stared at his computer for a while, before getting back to the search he was supposed to be doing.
The ding of the elevator broke the silence, making Tony look up as Gibbs came out. Gibbs walked into the bull-pen and told them to go home, there wasn't anything else to do until the following day. Tony breathed a sigh in relief and collected his stuff.
"Ah, boss? Could I get a lift home, my car is still screwed and so is the courtesy car." He asked as he turned off his light
"Ah, I'm going to stay a bit longer, you could get a lift from Abby, she taking McGee home as well" Gibbs replied, going back to his desk
"I can't work out their relationship, it's weird" Tony said, frowning
"Why? Because it's not like any of yours?" Kate asked
Tony smiled, "You have no idea…"
Kate looked up at the clock, almost midnight. Everybody else in the office had left for the night; even the cleaners had been and gone, just leaving Gibbs and herself. She yawned and looked over at her boss. He looked tired, but better than before, at least he'd had some coffee and his color was now returning. She looked back at her paperwork, the black was running into the white, making it hard to see the words and make out the sentences. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face.
"Gibbs, could you send me Abby's notes?" she asked, determined to get the majority of paperwork out of the way tonight.
"Ah, yep." He replied, squinting at the screen
Kate smiled, "You need glasses" she called over to him
"Nope. I'm fine, a bit tired though" he called back, not taking his eyes of his screen. "Okay, done" he said, leaning back and carrying on with his own paperwork
She heard the beep of the message received and opened the file. She picked up the coffee cup on her desk and took a gulp, she screwed up her face, her coffee had gone cold. She looked back at the screen and froze; she felt her cheeks begin to burn. She looked back to Gibbs, unaware that her mouth had fallen open; she looked back at the picture on the screen, then back to Gibbs. She was going to kill Tony in the morning, but now, she had to deal with her boss.
"Something wrong, Kate?" Gibbs asked, not looking up
Kate looked back to Gibbs, opening her mouth a couple of times, then closing it. "I …I didn't know you kept this" she eventually got out
Gibbs frowned and looked over at her, "Kept what?" he asked
Kate cleared her throat, "NCIS, special agent of the month" Kate replied
Kate watched Gibbs' reaction, surprised that he actually turned red, embarrassed, that was a new reaction for the man. He couldn't believe that he'd just sent her the wet T-shirt picture. He'd put the image under a different file name, one relating to work, so that if anybody looked through his computer, which wouldn't have been hard – he didn't have a password on it, they would only have found things relating to his cases. Gibbs closed his eyes and rubbed his face with both hands, then looked back at Kate, who had an unreadable expression on her face. "I, uh… meant to delete that" he explained
"So why didn't you?" she asked, frowning, but she didn't sound angry, or even annoyed, more curious.
Gibbs tried to read her face, but failed. He sighed, "Because I thought…" he stumbled, then tried again, "I thought you looked …" he stopped again and looked at her, frowning, then shrugged his shoulders, sighing again. "I need coffee" he said, getting up and walking to the office tearoom
"I thought you said that wasn't coffee, that you wouldn't drink the sludge they called coffee" Kate said
"Special times call for special measures" he called back, without looking back
That's it for chapter 27... I hope you like it! Please review, please!