Jan 26
Therefore, they who were my friends
Never can be changed or old;
For the beauty of their youth
Fond remembrance well can hold. – Phoebe Cary, "Loss and Gain"
"Happy birthday, Duck."
Ducky looked up from dissecting Ensign Ellis' liver. "Jethro! I was just about to call you. It seems that our young friend here –"
"Later," Gibbs interrupted. "One bottle of scotch," he waved it in the air, "and a new teapot."
The ME carefully placed the scalpel down and moved over to his old friend's side. "I fail to see the teapot."
"You're a better investigator than Palmer then."
"Oh, dear. What has Mr. Palmer done this time?"
Gibbs motioned for him to take a seat, which he did. "I left your presents on my desk this morning, with the teapot all wrapped up. When I went for coffee, it appears that DiNozzo got a bit curious about the contents of your present."
"How on earth did Mr. Palmer become involved?"
"Seems he was hunting for Michelle Lee, something about a missing autopsy report?"
"Yes, I sent him up there. That poor girl keeps misplacing them. You know, last week I had to send her four extra copies!"
"According to Ziva, Tony managed to persuade Palmer to open the present very carefully to see what was inside. When I returned, your assistant was so shocked that he dropped it on the floor."
"Oh no. Is everyone OK? China shards can be very dangerous."
Gibbs grinned. "I'm sure that they're all discovering that right now."
"What have you done?"
"I gave them all a tube of superglue and told them to reassemble it."
Ducky smiled. "And I presume you got that idea from the time we accidentally dropped that teapot in Jacksonville? It took weeks to get it back together!"
"Oh, I remember that one. Never thought something so simple could take so long."
A comfortable silence fell over Autopsy for a while, as each man stayed lost in their thoughts of past adventures.