Tony jumped out of bed and grabbed his gun from the dresser. "Stay here!" he said to Jess as he slowly went to the door.
"Tony!" Jess said in a loud whisper. "Broken glass … put your shoes on."
He gave her an incredulous look that clearly said, "We're under attack, and you're worried about my feet?" but he slid his loafers on anyway.
He moved out into the hallway, and looked both ways, inching his way to the living room. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone rang.
"Mr. DiNozzo," said the man leaving a message, "we just got a silent alarm trip from your apartment. Is everything okay?"
Tony picked up the phone and said, "Looks like it. A rock or something just came through the window. There's been some damage."
"We'll send someone over," said the voice on the line. Tony thanked him and hung up.
"It's clear, Jess," Tony said. She walked out of the bedroom, still in pajamas. "Hey!" Tony yelled as she entered the living room barefoot. "Slippers or something, OK? There's broken glass out here." Jess shook her head and turned back into the bedroom. Tony's eyes followed her as she put on some sneakers. Then he turned and started looking for whatever it was that came in through the window.
It didn't take long to find the lacrosse ball with the note attached. Tony went to his backpack and pulled out some gloves. He put them on, and picked up the now-identified flying object. He unfolded the note, and together, they read: I guess I need to be more obvious. You didn't notice my gift yesterday. This is too easy. Trey
Tony looked around the apartment, looking for anything that was out of place or new. Aside from the flowers that Ziva had brought and the rest of the dessert McGee had provided, there was nothing different. But wait … the flowers. He had assumed they were from Ziva, because he'd noticed them about the time Ziva got there. She'd been fussing with them – fixing the arrangement – and he assumed she'd brought them.
"What did Ziva bring to the party last night?" Tony asked Jess, so quickly and intensely that he startled her.
"Sorry," he said, as he put his hand on her shoulder. "What did Ziva bring last night?" he asked again, in a more normal tone of voice.
"Other than an attitude?" Jess said. Tony glared. "OK … let me think."
"She brought wine," Jess said, as she remembered. "That red wine from Israel; and she brought the pistachios that we put with the antipasto. Why?"
"The flowers," Tony said. "They weren't there yesterday when we left, but they were there at dinner. Who brought them?"
Jess' face paled. They both jumped when they heard a knock at the door. It was the security company, there to check on the damage.
By the time the security company left and the glass was cleaned up, Jess and Tony were both ready to get out of there. The security guys had done a plywood patch for the window, promising to have a glazier come by in a day or two to install new glass. Tony had tossed Jess a pair of gloves, and they bagged the flowers, the vase, the lacrosse ball, and anything else they could find that was remotely foreign to the environment. They dressed quickly and headed to NCIS.
"Damn!" said Tony, as they walked into the building and saw HAZMAT tape everywhere. "There's that biochemical drill this morning." He looked at his watch – it was 9:32am. "It'll be another half-hour before we can get to my desk." He stood there, holding his box of evidence, as Jess looked around the lobby for any other options.
Then Tony turned and grabbed Jess' arm. "We can use the lab!"
"Are you sure Abby won't mind?" Jess said, as she followed him to the stairs.
"She's probably there already," Tony said with a smile. "She can get a head start on this while we try to access Trey's prison records."
Loud music was blasting as Tony and Jess walked into the lab. Abby and McGee were there, playing computer games and obviously embroiled in enthusiastic competition with each other.
"Die, Elf Lord!" Abby yelled as she aimed a flying torch at his character.
"Not so fast, Raven Princess," McGee countered, utilizing one of his many escape routes.
"Having fun, kids?" Tony said, loudly enough to startle them both.
"T-Tony …" McGee stammered. "Uh … Jess." He began to redden. "Um … hi." He looked at his watch. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Yeah, Tony," Abby said with a smile, not at all embarrassed. "It's not like you to come in early on a day when we're allowed to come in late." She smiled and waved at Jess. "Killer party last night!" she bubbled. "I had cold lasagna for breakfast. It was awesome!"
"Thanks," Jess said with a small smile.
Both Abby and McGee noticed that Tony and Jess were somewhat preoccupied and not at all the fun and festive pair from the night before.
"What's in the box?" Abby said, looking to Tony for an explanation.
"Someone threw a lacrosse ball through my window this morning," Tony said. "And we found a couple of other things in the place that didn't seem to fit. Figured I'd bring them here and see if it was an accident or on purpose."
Abby stood and went to her work table. Tony put down the box, palming the bag with the note from Trey, just until he could explain what was going on. "Let's see what we've got," Abby said, as she started going through evidence bags.
Jess asked if she could borrow a computer. "Absolutely!" Abby said. "Timmy – get her set up, will you?" McGee quickly logged off and escorted Jess to a desk near the wall.
"Here," he said. "It might be less noisy over here." She smiled. "Do you need any help?" McGee asked, sincerely.
"No … thanks though," Jess replied. Then she looked back at McGee. "Elf Lord?" she said, with a questioning look.
"MMORPG," McGee said, with an embarrassed smile. "That stands for …"
"Massive multiplayer online role-playing game," Jess completed the thought with a nod. McGee looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I have nephews," Jess said with a one-shouldered shrug.
"Vile, evil, manic nephews," Tony tossed back over his shoulder. Jess laughed.
"Those are the best kind," Abby said.
NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS
An hour later, Abby was logging evidence and Jess was deep into various computer searches. McGee was working with Abby, trying to determine the florist who had sold the flowers, while Tony stood behind Jess, copying down information and commenting on facts that were being found. No one noticed that it was now nearly 10:45am – forty-five minutes past the time when they were all supposed to be in the office.
The airdoors to the lab opened and everyone jumped. Ducky walked in.
"Ah …" he said, with a light tone and a smile. "Here you all are." Then he turned to Jess. "Many thanks again, my dear, for a delightful dinner party last night. It reminded me of a summer solstice celebration that I attended once in the Italian Alps …"
"Another time, Duck," Gibbs said, as he came through the lab doors, with Ziva right behind him. "Unless it has something to do with why Officer David and I have been sitting upstairs all alone."
Gibbs looked to Abby, McGee, Tony and Jess, all frozen in their places and looking back at him, guiltily. Ziva's expression was a mixture of annoyance that she'd been on her own for 45 minutes upstairs with Gibbs and disappointment that she hadn't been included in whatever it was everyone else was doing.
"Hi Jess," Gibbs said, with a serious, but inquisitive, expression. "I hadn't realized that we'd hired you."
Tony stepped forward to explain, as McGee and Abby quickly packed up evidence and Jess started saving files and hastily organizing papers.
"When we got up this morning," Tony began, "there was this crash …well, no, that didn't happen right away. First there was the argument …" Jess shot him a look. "Um … but … well … that doesn't really have anything to do with this, does it?" Tony fumbled through. "Anyway, there was this crash and then the alarm company called, and we noticed the flowers and there was the note …"
"There was a note?" Abby said, with surprise. She started going through the evidence box again. "I didn't process a note."
Tony sheepishly took it out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I can't BELIEVE you're holding out on me!" she said, swatting his shoulder.
Tony looked back at Gibbs. "So … anyway … this note and with the alarm and the window and everything …"
"Enough!" Gibbs yelled, at exactly the same time that McGee, reading the note over Abby's shoulder, said, "Who's Trey?"
There was silence.
"And you people say that my stories go off on tangents," Ducky said, sitting down near the desk where Jess was standing.
Gibbs glared at Ducky and then shifted that glare to Tony. "DiNozzo," Gibbs began, with enough of an edge in his voice to command everyone's full attention. "I ASKED for an explanation as to why my entire team is down in Abby's lab working on a case that I know nothing about."
"To be fair, Boss," Tony said, "it's not your entire team. Ziva was upstairs with you, and Palmer isn't here."
"DINOZZO!" Gibbs yelled.
Jess took a few steps forward and put herself between Gibbs and Tony. She looked around at the assembled group and then straight at Gibbs. "Look, I'm sorry," she said. "It's not Tony's fault."
She started to leave the lab, bumped into a counter, and dropped everything she was holding. McGee and Ziva exchanged a glance as she bent down to pick the papers up off the floor; Ducky and Abby moved to help her, but Gibbs sent a small shake of the head their way. He put his hand on Jess' back and took the files from her. She stood up and took a step away from Gibbs, and looked at Tony, unsure of what to do next.
"Maybe you should just tell us what's going on, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, much more gently than anyone had expected.
