Disclaimer: Tortured is written for personal motivation; any infringement on characters or situations is not intentional
I'm not great at character studies, so people involved in this story will not reflect their personalities as portrayed on the TV show. I stopped watching after Series 2 ended, so I have absolutely no idea how the characters have developed.
When Gibbs rounded the corner back to his bullpen, he caught the look of apprehension that Tony and McGee shared; he knew that his agents did not have any new information to crack this case open, and the strain was beginning to show. Anyhow, Gibbs still had to ask what new information they had and as predicted neither could enlighten him as to a possible motive. Having made amends with Abby in a means that she had appreciated, Gibbs decided it would be only fair to do so with his two investigative agents.
"Guys, lets call it a night. Tomorrow I want answers; if I don't get them NOBODY leaves this office until the case is solved. Go home, we restart at 7am. If anyone dares miss the start of the day, that person will be scrubbing toilets at Leavenworth, am I clear?" Gibbs spoke to his agents from behind his desk, having no intentions of leaving the building for a few more hours yet as Abby's tests may provide a vital piece of the puzzle, and he felt the team had wasted enough time playing petty bureaucratic games with the FBI.
"Thanks Boss, Probie what do you say to Gibbs?" Tony felt the need to scold the petulant McGee who seemed to have lost his voice, fearing that Gibbs may change his mind and he wouldn't be able to make a late movie and dinner with Gabrielle, the pretty nurse he met when interviewing Major Shield's ex-girlfriend at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
"Thank-you sir, ahm I mean Gibbs. I'll be here at 7am and make sure Tony is, will Kate be back then? Should I phone her with the time we're to report back?" McGee was hastily packing up his desk, fearing like Tony, that Gibbs would change his mind or that his phone would ring alerting them to another case.
"No McGee, I'll do it. She should be out of Court now, probably driving herself home. I'll contact her later." Gibbs then muttered under his breath "...and apologise for being such a first class ass."
Twenty-three seconds later, Tony and McGee were making a frantic dash to the elevator shouting "night-boss" "cheers Gibbs" "Hold the elevator" "outta my way Timmy" before their voices were drowned out by the closing of the doors.
Gibbs was left in the dim light of the bullpen and decided to make a mental list of what he wanted to accomplish before he went home. Top priority was to phone Kate, not so he could hear her talk or more importantly find out if she had returned home alone he kept reminding the snide little voice in his head; but to bring her up to speed with the progression of the case to date. He had no doubt that Abby had probably told her what the the team was working on and had just as likely told Kate about their earlier encounter in the lab; he had thought he heard the sound of her phone being lifted out of it's cradle when he was leaving, but wasn't sure. Abby, that was another priority on his list. Gibbs reasoned that after he called Kate he would probably either leave the office for coffee if he had found her to be home alone and would bring Abby a Caffpow or two back. Alternatively should Kate be with company (in particular the snobby naval prosecution lawyer who's been sniffing round her), he'd probably head straight home and finish the quarter bottle of bourbon in his basement and sand the frame of his boat until it turned to sawdust beneath him; in that scenario he'd just have to keep plying Abby with Caffpow throughout tomorrow.
Gibbs lifted his desk phone and dialled the number he knew by heart, whilst he was waiting for the call to connect he began to imagine how he wanted the call to go. He played it out in his head, he would have a pleasant conversation, wouldn't antagonise her nor end the call wishing to blatter himself over the head with the nearest heavy object. Gibbs heard the call finally connect and smiled in anticipation of hearing her voice, what he wasn't prepared for was her answering machine to start; he hung-up and dialled her mobile number, again recalling it from memory rather than using the speed dial, the call went straight to voice mail without ringing. Frustrated Gibbs put the phone down wanting to have an actual conversation with her rather than her answering machine; he knew it wasn't practicable of him to go home and drown his sorrows, so he decided to leave for coffee and Caffpow, and try contacting Kate on his return. "Damn it, why don't you pick-up when I want to talk"