The little office at the back of Abby's lab was very crowded but it was the most soundproof location they could find in the lab. The futon took up a great deal of the floor space and with Abby, Gibbs and Ducky gathered around McGee lying supine on the floor with his hands clasped protectively across his still growling stomach, it was hard for anyone to move.
Ducky flicked the needle in his hands once to eliminate the air bubbles.
"I'm using a very low dose", he explained to McGee, in an attempt to relieve the fear he could see clearly etched across his face, "In all probability, it will only serve to make you more relaxed or just drowsy so you can sleep naturally."
McGee's gave him a disbelieving look; there was no way he could sleep with three people leering at him and a microphone in his face. This was ridiculous.
"Ok, Timothy, just relax", and he felt the cold swab followed the needle's quick jab.
He waited with his heart in his throat looking up anxiously at Abby who seemed to be staring at his eyelids rather than his eyes. She gave his hands a comforting, yet still impatient squeeze. A warm and deliciously drowsy sensation washed over him. His eyes slid shut, the world darkened and he drifted off to sleep.
Abby waited expectantly with the microphone in her hand.
"When does he snore, Duck", she asked impatiently shifting from one foot to the other.
"Give it time," Ducky assured packing up his equipment. "I'll be back in an hour to check how you're going, give me a ring if anything unexpected happens".
"Thanks, Ducky", said Abby distractingly hanging over McGee with her microphone at the ready.
Abby leapt up excitedly on Ducky's return. McGee was on lying contently on his side, dead to the world and still snoring loudly.
"Oh Ducky!" she exclaimed, "This stuff is gold! I've gotta get this into the noise suppressor. I got the huffing, grunting, groaning, shifting, I even got the teeth grinding and the whale noises! I'm gonna release an album! Thanks Duck!", and she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"You're very welcome, my dear", he smiled as she bounced out the door.
"Don't wake him 'till I check it all worked", Abby called back from the lab.
Ducky looked down at McGee, "I was thinking of just leaving him there", he said thoughtfully, "he looks very comfortable and it's getting pretty late. Is there any point to waking him?"
Abby paused in her tracks. "Probably not," she considered, "and he might be a bit less grumpy with more sleep, he wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs this afternoon."
Abby fed her recordings into the spectrum analyser and started up her noise suppression program. "This is going to be so great!" she said to no one in particular.
A few tweaks latter and she was ready.
"OK", she announced, "Snoring on" she clicked her mouse and McGee's snores echoed around the lab.
"Snoring off", she clicked her mouse again and the snoring magically disappeared leaving residual voices. She jacked up the volume and could clearly make out a conversation in the background that had been completely obliterated a moment earlier.
"Yes, Yes, Yes", she jumped around the room.
"I love this algorithm! Wives around the world are going to thank me for this technology one day! If only I could apply it to some active noise cancellation ear plugs."
"OK", she sat down again, "Let's do the little bit before Gibbs comes in and then we'll go for the stomach noises".
She put the headphones on and listened for a while, her eyes growing wide in concern. She paused the recording and put down the headphones."
"Ducky", she called, "Get McGee up, he's gonna want to hear this."
Then she picked up the phone.
"Gibbs", she said without fanfare, "I know what happened."