Thank you so much for all the awesome reviews. You guys rock! So here's the next chapter, it's pretty uninteresting but there's more to come. I'll update again soon. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!!!!

Chapter Eight

Tony woke to the smell of bacon sizzling. He lay still for a moment, breathing in the aroma.

"Tony, you're awake. Good morning dear boy."

He squinted up to see Ducky smile at him, setting plates down on the table.

"Breakfast is ready."

Tony pulled himself up, stretching his stiff body. A glance to the clock told him it was a little after 7 am. He shook his head slightly, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had seven hours of uninterrupted sleep. "Where'd the food come from?"

"The store," Abby said from her place on the couch, where she was watching the news with Gibbs. "Hey look, you're on TV!" She pointed as the footage from the press conference was replayed on the screen.

"Like I said, this is a big story." Tony said, sitting down at the table.

"Gibbs! Look, it's you. You look good." Abby squealed. Gibbs' eyebrow twitched as he turned his head back to the screen. The station was now playing the footage of Gibbs and Tony walking into the police department headquarters yesterday morning. She grabbed the remote, turning up the volume.

"Channel Five has exclusively managed to identify the man sighted with Detective DiNozzo yesterday morning. The man, who was not handcuffed or restrained, was initially believed to be a witness to the latest attack which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning. However, sources have identified the man as Special Agent Leroy Gibbs, a federal agent with the Navy Police. This information has lead to suspicions that victim number seven, the most recent victim whom we know nothing about other than her age, 27, is somehow involved with the Navy. Local police have refused to offer any more information at this time and declined to comment on our findings. This is Anita Hedgeworth reporting for Channel Five news."

"Navy Police," Gibbs muttered, taking his place at the table. Abby and Ducky joined him.

"This is good, Duckman." Abby said with a mouthful of food. She swallowed, glancing at Tony. "Do you have to go to work today?"

Tony scowled. "Captain told me he didn't want to see my face until Monday morning. Told me to get some sleep. So it seems I'm stuck here until then."

"Well you don't have any more leads anyway, do you?" Abby asked.

"… not exactly, but I could be going through more file photos. Or there could be a hit on the print from the knife-"

"DiNozzo, the lab will call you if there's a match to the print." Gibbs interjected. "And the photos are all from previous convictions, so he'll only be in there if he's done this before."

"If I may add my thoughts," Ducky said politely, "based on what you've told me of the case, the man we're dealing with is relatively new to this. I say this because he keeps changing his methods; I may not be a profiler, but in my opinion, if he had done this kind of thing before, or any crime for that matter, he would be more set in his ways. Prison really does change a man…you know, this case does remind me of a story I heard in my travels in India. You see –"

"What time you heading back, Duck?" Gibbs cut him off somewhat bluntly. Tony glanced across to Ducky, expecting some sort of reaction, but the older man seemed quite used to being ignored, smiling blandly and answering Gibbs' question.

"I thought sometime this morning. Rescue the poor nurse from my lovely mother."

Gibbs chuckled. "I'll drive you back. You should give the nurse a bonus for staying overnight you know."

"I do agree she's earned it." Ducky replied as he began gathering the empty plates from the table. "Let me clean up here and gather my things and I shall be ready."

Gibbs looked over to Abby. "Have you decided?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Morrow called me while you and Ducky were getting groceries, he heard about what happened. He said he wouldn't be letting me back for at least two weeks, regardless of my injuries. The temp that was covering for me while I was at the convention is gonna stay on. So I was thinking, maybe I would stay here. If that's ok, Tony." She added quickly. "Because if it isn't, I could stay at the hotel. Or just go back to DC."

"No, Abby, you're welcome here for as long as you want. I mean that." Tony said, grabbing her hand before she worried herself into a knot. "Besides, I need to get an official statement off you. I know we got one at the crime scene, but I want to get another one when you're thinking a little more clearly."

Abby nodded. "Is that okay, Gibbs? I mean, if there's a big case or whatever I'll go right back to Washington, the temp is alright but she's not me…"

Gibbs smiled and stood, kissing Abby on the top of the head. "That's fine."

Abby stood as well. "Good. Now Ducky – Tony and I are washing up. You go pack, or whatever you need to do. I think you've done enough for one morning."

Tony took the plates of Ducky. "Thanks for breakfast Ducky. Definitely beats stale Captain Crunch."

Ducky shook his head at that, but relented, releasing the plates and heading to the spare bedroom to gather his things. True to his word, he was ready in a few minutes and after a ferocious hug from Abby, Gibbs and Ducky were gone, leaving Abby and Tony alone.

Abby smiled deviously, twirling a dishrag in her hand. Tony, elbow deep in soapy water, glanced over at her.

"What?"

"I was just wondering…" She chuckled.

"Yeah?" Tony raised an eyebrow, then flicked a finger at her, spattering her with soap suds.

"Hey! I was just wondering how a cutie like you is single." Abby winked when Tony's eyes met hers, then busied herself drying the plates. Tony shook his head, pulling the plug out of the sink.

"Fair question. I guess you could say it's only temporary. Kind of obvious this case doesn't give me much time for a social life. But, as soon as we catch the bastard, I plan on rectifying that."

Abby grinned, tossing the towel on the bench and heading back into the living room. "Mind if I play some music?" she called out.

"Go for it," Tony replied, following her in. He wasn't sure any of his music would be to her taste. Sure enough, after pressing a few buttons on Tony's sound system, music that could only be described as noise filled the room. Definitely not from Tony's collection.

"Brought my own CD's." Abby yelled, bobbing her head furiously with the beat.

Tony smiled weakly in reply, silently wondering how Abby wasn't completely deaf.

TBC