Author's Note: Hello everyone, I'm back! Totally random fact, but I just saw the Avengers movie last night and it was totally AWESOME! For those of you who haven't seen it yet, it's a must-see movie! It's totally awesome! Anyways, here is Chapter 10, which I hope that you enjoy. I am so glad that so many of you like it so far! It's really encouraging to me, and I absolutely LOVE reading the reviews! Thank you for all of your support! I hope that you enjoy!

Chapter 10

Probie and Poison Ivy Problems

As McGee trudged back down the trail, he couldn't help but wander in his own thoughts. He couldn't help but replay the events of the day that had happened earlier. First, he had stopped for that man and helped him restart his car, then he had arrived at work late, then he had been yelled at by Gibbs, and then he had fallen for Tony's prank. None of those previous events fazed him too much, except for the time when Gibbs had yelled at him and when he had been locked out of his computer.

"Ha, I guess that I really am gullible," McGee thought. He had never had any major problems with his computer, unless if it had been hacked into or if it was running slowly, but still, those kinds of problems rarely occurred. He should have noticed earlier that there was something wrong with his computer instead of a slight malfunction when it locked him out on the first try.

McGee walked deeper into the forest and continued to replay the events of the day. After falling for Tony's prank, he had been yelled at by Gibbs again, had been called on a case, made fun of by Tony, found a lead, and he had fallen down a cliff. What a way to start a day!

McGee found some comfort in knowing that Gibbs had taken the time to actually apologize to him, in person. Heck, Gibbs had broken one of his own rules! McGee was reassured to know that Gibbs truly did care for him, and that he thought that he was a "d*** good agent," and he was also reassured by the fact that Gibbs had chosen him for who he was, not just his skills. He still had some doubts, but those were quickly erased when he reached the crime scene.

"About time you got here, Probie," teased DiNozzo, who was busy bagging evidence.

"Give it a fracture, Tony," Ziva said.

Gibbs, Tony and McGee chuckled when they heard Ziva's latest "Ziva-ism", or her latest misunderstood quote.

"It's not "Give it a fracture," Ziva, the correct saying is "Give it a break."" Tony cued Ziva in on her latest mistake. Tony thought that her latest saying was very funny, and from the looks on their faces, McGee and Gibbs thought that it was funny as well.

"Well excuse me if I don't always use American quotes correctly," Ziva started. "It's not my fault that I don't understand most of them yet. I'm still getting used to your American ways."

As Ziva turned around to face McGee, she was glad to see that he was smiling once again, and then she knew that things had been made up between him and Gibbs. She was also glad because she realized that this meant that she wouldn't have to talk to Gibbs after the day was over about his anger management problems and the way that he had treated McGee.

"What would you like me to do now, Boss?" McGee asked Gibbs, who was inspecting the trail of blood nearby.

"The usual, McGee- I would say bag and tag this time, but I need you to take photos of the evidence instead" Gibbs addressed McGee without looking up. "And try not to break the camera this time," he added.

McGee blushed a little bit, but he knew that Gibbs wasn't angry at him this time. "Yes, Boss, I promise that I won't break the camera this time," he finished.

In the background, Tony chuckled out loud.

"And if I were you, I would make sure that the lid is off, and that the film canister is actually inside the camera as well, McProbie," Tony chimed in.

"I think I know that already, Tony," McGee replied. Boy, he couldn't wait to go back home after he finished his work at the office and crawl into his nice, soft and warm bed. At least when he was at home he would be able to get some peace and quiet instead of Tony's endless conversations and nicknames directed at him.

"Alright, time to get back to work, now." Gibbs ordered.

McGee didn't hesitate any longer. He couldn't wait to finish taking pictures and be allowed to drive back to the office with Ducky and Palmer. If he was lucky, he might be able to catch a ride with them in time.

As the rest of the team continued to work on examining the evidence and investigating the rest of the crime scene, McGee worked diligently to take detailed photos of every square foot of the crime scene. When he had finished taking photos of the blood trail, he headed over towards the tire tracks that Ziva had mentioned earlier.

McGee was so focused on taking pictures that he didn't notice the shadow of another person sneaking up behind him. As he was adjusting the lens and as he was about to take another picture, a light tap on his back sent him jumping back a foot in the air. When he turned around, he was surprised and relieved at the same time to see Tony standing behind him, grinning mischievously.

"Are we a little jumpy today, Probie?" Tony inquired. He truly hadn't expected McGee to be so surprised to see him, but McGee's reaction was funny anyways.

"Don't do that!" McGee practically yelled in Tony's face.

"Do what? This?" Tony taunted, reaching with his right hand towards McGee and tapping him on the back.

"Yes, that!"

"Why not? It's fun to see your reaction!" Tony smirked.

"Just…don't. Tony, just don't do that. Please" McGee added.

"Okay, okay, fine, McProbie. I was just coming over to help direct you to another piece of evidence that needs to be processed," said Tony.

"And what might that be?" McGee asked, becoming a little suspicious.

"It's nothing too major, just a piece of evidence that I dropped," Tony started to whistle, while trying to act all innocent and nonchalant.

Alarm bells were ringing in McGee's head. Tony managed to drop a piece of evidence? Why did he need him to get it for him, instead of getting it himself? There was something hinky going on, but McGee couldn't figure out what it was exactly yet. So he decided to play along with Tony's ruse.

"Alright, fine, but why can't you just go and get it yourself?" McGee asked Tony.

"Because it's located near the tire tracks that you're supposed to be taking pictures of, and because it's actually something that belongs to you, Probie," Tony finished. "So are you coming or not?"

Loud tornado warnings and sirens were screaming in McGee's mind, but he had to ignore them and push them aside. Hopefully Tony hadn't planned for something too terrible to happen, and hopefully it wouldn't be another one of Tony's stupid pranks. McGee really didn't want to fall for another one of Tony's pranks. He had fallen for one too many today already.

"Alright, I'm coming, just give me another minute," McGee trailed off. He was interrupted rudely in mid sentence with a loud "Time's up!" from Tony. McGee sighed. Tony was giving him a really hard time today, and by the looks of it, he wasn't going to stop.

Finally, McGee finished taking photos of the crime scene around him, and followed Tony through a small patch of woods until he reached the section of the crime scene where the tire tracks were.

"So what exactly is it I'm supposed to be retrieving for you?" he asked Tony.

Tony flashed McGee another one of his trademark mischievous grins and said, "your camera."

McGee stopped and turned around and stared at Tony. Now he was a little bit upset. Hadn't Gibbs told Tony that he was supposed to retrieve his broken camera from the brush where McGee had fallen next to?

"What the heck, Tony? Is this some sort of joke? I thought that Gibbs told you that you had to retrieve my camera for me! Not me! So why are you telling me that I have to do your job?"

"Whoa, chillax, Probie! I already retrieved your camera from the brush at the bottom of the cliff, but I left it hanging on a branch on one of the trees nearby. It should be right next to the tire tracks, but I don't know that for certain. The tree that I hung it on might be more that a few feet away from the tracks instead. How am I supposed to remember?" Tony asked McGee with an innocent expression on his face, but McGee could see behind the imaginary halo two small little devil horns popping out.

"Gee, thanks, Tony," McGee said sullenly. He was irked at Tony for making him have to put up with all of his nicknames today, but he was also irked that Tony had deliberately harder for him to find his camera once again.

"Just call me if you need anything!" Tony yelled cheerfully as he walked back up the rest of the trail.

McGee watched Tony hike up the rest of the trail, then set about to work, trying to find his broken camera. He was not having a good day so far.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, McGee finally saw a glimpse of a metal reflection shining off of the sun. When he looked again, closer this time, he found his camera hanging off of a nearby tree branch, just like Tony had said, except for the fact that the tree branch wasn't nearby. No, Tony had put his camera on a tree branch that was on a tree more that fifty feet away!

"Great." McGee muttered to himself as he started to tread through all sorts of forest plants trying to walk towards his misplaced camera. When he finally reached the tree, he reached up and grabbed his camera off of the branch.

As McGee headed back towards the set of tire tracks that he was supposed to be photographing, he noticed that his legs felt as if they had suddenly started to swell and when he looked down, he realized that they had begun to swell. Angry red blotches had made their way up his ankles underneath his pant fabric and were now spreading to his knees. There was only one thing that could have caused his skin to react like it was doing now, and McGee realized with a sickening feeling that he had probably walked through some poison ivy.

McGee stopped where he was and examined the environment around him. He was only ten feet away from the set of tire tracks, and he was surrounded by clumps of poison ivy bushes. If he continued to walk straight forward, then he would run into the tire tracks and mess up the evidence. His only other option was to walk around the tire tracks and exit on the side of them, but then that would mean that he would have to walk another thirty feet through the poison ivy.

McGee sighed once again. He didn't want to disturb the evidence, for fear of making Gibbs mad at him again and for fear of destroying a possible lead, but he really didn't want to walk through another thirty feet of poison ivy. McGee closed his eyes for a minute and then took deep breaths. He knew what he had to do; he just didn't want to do it.

"Okay, there's no other way that I can avoid it, so I might as well just get it done and over with," McGee thought to himself. "I guess it doesn't really matter anyways, because I'm already developing poison ivy rashes and more poison ivy isn't going to hurt me any more than I already am" McGee tried to convince himself with his last statement, but he knew better. Waltzing into more poison ivy would only irritate the rashes on his legs more and add to his misery.

"Alright, on the count of three, you're going to start walking," McGee thought. "Okay…one, two, three!"

On the third count, McGee started to walk as fast and as carefully as he could through the field of poison ivy. When he finally reached his destination point, he could feel his legs swelling even more than they were already. When McGee looked down at his hands, he saw to his horror that they were developing poison ivy rashes as well.

"Well at least that's done and over with," he thought. "I can't wait to go home tonight and crawl into a nice, warm bed. There shouldn't be any poison ivy at home," McGee half-heartedly joked to himself.

"Alright, it's time to get back to work," said McGee aloud to himself, and then he began to photograph the rest of the crime scene.

When Tony was hiking back up the trail, he had almost reached the top of the hill when he ran into Ziva.

"Hey, wait, Ziva! Wait for just a second! Where are you going?" Tony yelled.

Ziva stared at Tony with a frown and then answered, "I'm going to check up on McGee. He should have been back up here by now!"

"Aw, don't worry about him, he's probably fine. Knowing Probie, it's most likely that he ran into some poison ivy or got caught in a field of it, or maybe he lost his camera, and now he's trying to retrieve it," Tony finished. Too late he realized that he had made a mistake.

Ziva's frown darkened, and as she walked up to Tony, she asked, "And just what would you know about McGee losing his camera and him trying to search for it? Just what would you know about McGee walking into poison ivy or getting stuck in a field of it? Is there something that you would like me to know, Tony? Or is there something that you're trying to hide? Maybe I should call Gibbs on over here,"

Tony made an audible gulp, then tried to reassure Ziva, "What I meant was, McGee is most likely just being McGee. Knowing him, he probably ran into some minor trouble, but he should be fine, shouldn't he?" Tony's tone of voice increased in pitch on his last question.

Turning around, Ziva gave Tony a warning glare before she added, "Well then let's find out for certain. Let's you and I and Gibbs go check on McGee, Tony," she said with a threat in her voice.

After finishing her sentence, Ziva yelled up the trail, "Gibbs!"

The response was a loud "What? What is it now? I'm in the middle of something right now, d*** it! Can it wait, Ziva?" Gibbs yelled.

"No, I'm afraid it can't, Gibbs. It seems as if Tony has pulled another prank on McGee, but this one might not be so harmless."

Within a minute, Gibbs was standing in front of Tony and Ziva. Tony grimaced at the sight of Gibbs joining their posse, because he knew that he was in for it now.

"What is it you've done this time, DiNozzo? Speak up, and you'd better tell me the truth, because I'll know if you're lying, and if you are, then that won't be a pretty sight," Gibbs threatened.

"Let's talk as we walk down the trail," Ziva suggested.

"Good idea, Ziva. Now tell me, DiNozzo, just what exactly did you do to poor McGee this time?"

By the time that Gibbs, Tony and Ziva had reached the bottom of the trail, Tony had finished explaining his "harmless prank" for McGee to walk through poison ivy to retrieve his camera that he had "lost" earlier.

The frown on Gibbs' face was a clear sign that Gibbs wasn't too happy with his senior agent. Talking to him about his "harmless prank", however, would have to wait until later. Gibbs stared at his youngest agent when he finally reached the bottom of the trail.

McGee was unaware that his boss along with Tony and Ziva were a few yards behind him, watching him proceed to take pictures of the tire tracks, but he was aware of the burning and itching pain that was coming from his legs and hands.

As he was just about to take his final picture, the sound of someone calling his name alerted McGee that there was somebody behind him. McGee stood up and turned around to face Gibbs, Ziva, and a shame-faced Tony.

"McGee." Gibbs said.

"Hm? Oh, yes boss? What is it? I'm sorry that I took so long. I didn't mean to keep you guys waiting; I just need to finish this last picture here." McGee replied.

Gibbs nodded and waited for McGee to finish taking his last photo. When he was done, Gibbs approached him and put his hand upon his shoulder.

McGee paused and stared at the hand that was on his shoulder, then turned his head and looked at Gibbs with a confused glance.

"What is it, boss? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, not you. You didn't do anything wrong, McGee. This time, DiNozzo did." Gibbs answered his youngest agent with a look of concern on his face.

"What do you mean? Are you talking about the cliff…no, are you talking about the poison ivy…oh…" McGee stopped speaking as the realization hit him. He had ignored the pain in his limbs that the reaction to the poison ivy was giving him up until now. As he looked away from Gibbs, he looked down at his legs, and to his horror, they had continued to swell and were now almost completely red. Little red spots could be found everywhere along his legs and the lower half of his arms.

McGee turned his head around embarrassed. He didn't need Gibbs to give him his pity, or Ziva to give him hers for that matter as well. "It's nothing, Boss. Really. I'll be fine. I think I can handle it," he finished with a note of hope in his voice.

"No, it's not nothing, McGee, that's one serious reaction. I want you to ride back to Headquarters with Ducky and Palmer, and make sure that they have a good look at you. Don't worry about the rest of the crime scene; we'll finish processing it from here. You've done enough here already, McGee."

"But… are you sure that that's alright with you? I mean…"

"No buts, McGee. That's an order. Don't worry about anything else; we'll take care of it from here. Go back to Headquarters and take a small break. We should be back soon."

"Alright, if that's what you want Boss, then that's what I'll do. Thanks."

Gibbs just nodded his head.

After McGee had left, both Gibbs and Ziva turned to face Tony, who had turned around so as not to be facing McGee when he spoke.

Thwack!

"Thanks, Boss, I guess I had that coming, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did, DiNozzo! Just what the h*ll were you thinking? Making McGee walk through a patch of poison ivy? Don't you know that he's allergic to poison ivy? Do you think that that was fun? Just what the h*ll were you thinking?" Gibbs yelled at Tony.

Tony looked down at the ground. He knew that what he had planned was a little too far, but he didn't realize that everyone's reaction would be so bad.

"It was supposed to be a harmless prank," he offered as a weak excuse.

This time, it was Ziva who chose to bite his head off.

"That was not a harmless prank, Tony! McGee has had a really hard day already today, and by now I think that everyone had noticed that except for you! Don't you think that McGee has had enough excitement for today? Don't you think that he's not been hurting already? He fell down a cliff, for goodness' sake, Tony! Because you accidently pushed him! And then you had to make him walk through poison ivy! What kind of a team mate would do that? You really need to apologize to McGee, Tony. That was not a harmless prank at all."

Tony for looked back up the trail and Ziva could see the guilt that was beginning to make its way into his eyes.

"I guess that I have an apology to make now, don't I," Tony asked

"Ya think, DiNozzo, ya think?"

As the trio made their way back up the trail, Tony realized that he had a lot of apologies to make, and Ziva and Gibbs realized as well that they had played a major role in McGee's bad day so far. Everyone was starting to realize just how important McGee was, and then they realized that they were the ones who were responsible for his bad day, not McGee himself.

Gibbs hoped that he could make McGee feel better and that he would remember not to press him for answere immediately, while Ziva hoped that she couls make McGee feel better overall, and Tony just wanted to apologize to McGee for the h*** of a bad time that he had given him already.

They just hoped that they were not to late.

Author's Note: Well, in my personal opinion, Tony finally got what he deserved! I plan to update another chapter again soon this week, if my schedule allows for it to happer. Thank you again for reaing my story, and thank you so much for the reviews! :D