Chapter 8 – Reprieve and Gratitude
"So, Boss, you're saying that the… dog ate your computer?" Timothy McGee bit down hard on his tongue as he stared at the damaged laptop . He was caught somewhere in the middle of disbelief, dismay, and insane, uncontrollable laughter. If any one word could ever be used to describe Tim McGee, "suicidal" most definitely wasn't it.
"Boss, I'm good – I'm not this good. There's only so much I can fix. You're just gonna have to requisition a new one. Sorry," he said, shrugging. He shrunk back slightly at the death glare that Gibbs was firing at him.
"So, sounds like Meredith arrived just in time," Tony observed carefully.
Gibbs nodded, grunting slightly. He would really rather not talk about his afternoon with Ducky's mother. The old Medical Examiner was like almost like an uncle to him. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Ducky.
No, scratch that.
There was one thing he would no longer do for Ducky.
He thought he'd weep with relief when he'd opened the door, and there stood Jimmy Palmer, with an older woman standing at his side.
"Agent Gibbs, this is Meredith. She's a home care nurse. Dr. Mallard just hi…"
Jimmy's words were cut off when Gibbs grabbed the woman's arm and rather unceremoniously dragged her into the house. She was shocked when he planted a very large, very grateful kiss on her cheek. He grasped her hands and gave them a desperate squeeze of gratitude.
"You're an angel, whoever you are. Thank you. Dinner's in the oven. Ducky's due home in an hour. Dishes are done, you just need to dish up dinner when it's ready." Meredith stared in disbelief at Gibbs, then glanced with slight dismay over at Jimmy.
"It's been a stressful week, Meredith," the young morgue assistant said. The woman simply nodded. "I see," she said. "Well, point me to the kitchen then, Agent Gibbs."
Jimmy looked at Gibbs when he turned to him and said, "I can go now after this, right?" Jimmy smiled warmly and nodded. "Consider yourself paroled. Time off for good behaviour."
Gibbs had to stop himself from giggling, as he let Meredith into the house, waving Jimmy to follow them.
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"So, the reason I have gathered all of you here," Ducky said, once the entire team had assembled in autopsy, "was to thank you all for everything you have done for myself and Mother this week. I know how difficult she can be at times, and you have all truly gone above and beyond. It is true, what they say about friends in need."
Abby glanced at Ziva, and the two women shared a small smile. McGee and Tony gave each other a look normally reserved for old soldiers who had seen and survived battle together. Gibbs smiled slightly at Jimmy, who really had no idea at all what Dr. Mallard was up to. Hell, Jimmy was just glad the team was still speaking to him, after his suggestion had come to rather startling and unexpected fruition. Well, it wasn't like he'd held a gun to their heads. Even if he'd had one, it wouldn't have been necessary. They all felt the same way about Ducky. He was their patriarch, of sorts. If one could say that it was Gibbs who kept the team together – then it was Ducky who kept Gibbs together.
A slight look of alarm passed over everyone's faces, as Ducky said, "So I would like to invite you all to dinner tomorrow night."
"Um, I have some reports I need to finish. You know how lazy I can be sometimes," Tony said hastily, with a small self-deprecating laugh, as he headed for the door. McGee stared after him. "I have a computer in Abby's lab that I have to… um… retrofit with a… er… flux… capacitor…" he dashed after Tony, and when he'd caught up with him, the senior agent whispered to him, "80's movie reference. I'm impressed, Probie." He winked at his younger colleague as the two men got the hell out of Dodge.
"Oh, I'd better go make sure McGee retrofits the right… um... computer with the right model of… er… flux… uh… seeya Duckman!" Abby dashed out of the morgue without much further adieu.
"Oh, Gibbs, I think maybe, perhaps you need to review my report from yesterday… you know how confused my English can be sometimes," Ziva said, as she gave their leader a desperate look. She followed Abby out hastily.
"Well, you were going to make reservations at a restaurant, weren't you, Sir?" Jimmy said suddenly, as he remembered what the doctor had told him earlier, right after he'd hired Meredith. Jimmy shook his head and rolled his green eyes slightly. Haste makes waste – and the entire team had just wasted a perfectly good free meal.
"Why, yes, Mr. Palmer, I was. Well, perhaps I'll get a chance to fill them in on the details later. In the meantime, we have work to do here, my boy."
Gibbs took the hint, and chuckled softly to himself as he, too, headed out of the morgue.