Chapter Three

10:22am

"Ah, I see you are back Tony."

"Boss told me I should come to you for answers."

He watches Ducky turn the facet.

Ducky scrubs at his hands with the lathery soap.

"That is just like Jethro. You know, I can not think of a time where he has ever been patient. Well, if I account for the time--"

"Ducky I really should be getting on with the case."

Ducky hums in agreement. His long story has officially come to an end.

"Methanol is our culprit in the case of our dead navy officer."

"Methanol?" Tony ponders. "So he was poisoned."

"Very much so, but I will need to conduct further tests to find which way it was used to kill him."

"So he didn't ingest it?"

"No…no. The contents of his stomach consist of coffee and a pastry."

"Yummy." Tony clears his throat. "How long will it take?"

"If I work closely with Abby, we might be able to get you the answers you are looking for much faster."

Tony nodded, then turned on his heels. When he reached the elevator doors, he caught Gibbs standing off to the side.

"Find what killed him?"

Gibbs keeps his back pressed against the wall.

"Methanol."

"Poison."

"Well--yeah." Tony caught the look of death. "He didn't ingest it."

"Ducky furthering his autopsy?"

"A bit. With Abby." Tony wonders why the elevator hasn't arrived. "I would assume someone was conducting a private meeting, but you're standing right here…"

"Why were you late this morning, DiNozzo?"

"…I over slept?"

Gibbs squints his eyes. He is trying to read Tony.

"Is that a question?"

"…Would a statement make you less angry?" Tony is slightly nervous.

"No."

"It's a question." Tony decides.

Gibbs squints his eyes again. He pushes his back off the wall and stands directly in front of Tony.

"Ziva called you this morning."

"I must have slept through it." Tony eyes him uneasily. "Was anything the matter?"

"Well you would have known if you would have been more responsible."

Gibbs turns his attention to the elevator.

Tony stands still. He holds his breath.

"She arrived to work on Time so I assume that whatever her problem was she solved it."

"She called me!" Gibbs growls. "She was on time because I picked her up."

"Where was she?" Tony is curious now.

"She took the wrong bus."

"There's always the use of a cab." Tony replied a tad bit bitterly.

"She left her wallet at the dealer."

"But she's alright?" Tony asks to get some sort of reassurance.

Gibbs slams his palm against the elevator doors. The sound bounces off the steel, cool doors. The pain lingers in the center of his palm and the tips of his fingers. He turns to his side faster than Tony can realize what is happening.

"Yeah--she's alright, but I'm not!" Gibbs is centimeters from Tony's face. "Don't you get it, DiNozzo?"

"…I'm afraid to answer…"

Gibbs's stomach turns at the ridiculous look on Tony's face. He thinks it is a joke.

"Is this a game to you?"

"No." Tony replies.

"Then wipe that damn smirk off your face. Do you know what we do for a living? We're Federal Agents. Do you know how we communicate with each other? We open our mouths. What if we're not near one another? We use our goddamn cell phones. Do we act selfish? NO! We don't because we have partners to look after!"

Gibbs's face is red. He is out of breath.

Tony stands there. His shoulders are tense. He is afraid to speak.

"This is why you're here right now. This is why you're finding information instead of working on the field. You didn't earn your chance to come along with us today. You stay here."

"But boss, I'm a field Agent. I do my best work on the field."

"Learn to utilize other surroundings."

"…But boss!" He finds himself whining.

"McGee handles both surroundings without a problem."

"Probie?" Tony huffs with a tinge of jealousy. "He froze the first time he had to draw his gun."

"At least he's on time, DiNozzo."

Gibbs leaves Tony with a smirk. Walking over to the stairwell, he opens the door.

"Get a move on it DiNozzo, we haven't got all day."

Tony stands there. Slightly upset. Slightly angry. Slightly confused.