Gibbs opened his eyes groggily and looked up. It was the first thing he saw each morning, the faded white paint that decorated the ceiling of his bedroom. He rubbed his eyes as the events of last night slowly came back to him.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said loudly, sitting upright, now fully awake. "Ziva, McGee." What had happened to Tony and the others?
He grabbed his cell from the table to the right of his bed and pressed the number for Tony. It was a couple pf seconds before he heard the muffled reply of a newly awake Tony.
"DiNozzo."
"Tony, are you alright? What happened to the others?"
"What do you mean, Gibbs?"
"What the hell do you think I mean, DiNozzo. Last night, did you black out too?"
"Well after watching a repeat of the first Lord of the Rings; I think it was ok for me to…"
"What are you talking about, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, now getting annoyed.
"You sent us home early, Boss. Seeing as we have no cases at the moment, there was no point in…"
"No cases? What about the Petty Officer with the bite marks…"
"The Petty Officer with the…Gibbs what are you talking about," Tony said laughing, but the concern was evident in his voice. "Are you ok, Gibbs? You haven't inhaled too much sawdust have you…"
"I'm fine, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, his voice calmer. "I've got to go. I'll see you at work."
"Er…ok" Tony said before he was cut off. Why couldn't Tony remember anything? What about the rest of the team? He keyed in the number for Ziva and she picked up after one ring.
"Gibbs."
"Ziva, what did you do last night?"
"Er, I um, went and did a couple of laps at the local pool and then went to bed early. Why?"
"No matter, I was just asking."
"Is everything ok, Gibbs?"
"I'm fine, everything's fine. I'll see you at work." Gibbs said, not even giving Ziva a chance to answer before cutting her off. There was one last hope. He looked at the number pad of his cell for the third time and hoped that maybe this time he would strike gold.
"Tim McGee," came the answer.
"Tim, can you remember anything from last night?"
"Er, I think so."
Hope rose inside Gibbs, "What can you remember?"
"Well I got home and wrote a bit of a new chapter, then got something to eat before…"
"That's all, Tim. Hurry up and get to work. I don't want to see you late."
"Er, ok, Gibbs. Are you…"
Gibbs disconnected him with a click and lay back down on his bed. Was it a dream? Or was he going mad. His eyes drew wide as an idea hit him. There was one thing that would could prove him right; Ducky.
Gibbs stepped into the elevator and watched as the doors shut in front of him. He was taken aback as a red headed woman just made it before they closed.
"Jenny," Gibbs said, nodding at her.
"Jethro," she answered, a weird look in her eyes.
"What's wrong, Jen?" Gibbs asked, sensing she was worried about something.
"I received a strange call from DiNozzo this morning…are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Jen!" Gibbs said rather more sharply than he had meant to. Silence echoed around the elevator.
"It's just, Tony was worried about you, and now so am I," she said quietly, looking into Gibbs' eyes.
"Well there is no need for either of you to be worried."
"I can already see that you are on edge."
"You can put that down to a lack of sleep, Jen."
"You know you can talk to me. We may not have been as close recently, but I'd like to think you could still talk to me."
"I can and I will, when there is something to talk about."
"Just as long as you know I am here," she said, almost pleading with Gibbs to let her in.
Gibbs looked back at her, deep in the eyes. "Jen," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders, "there really is no reason for you to be worried. I'm fine."
Jen searched around in his eyes and, after letting out a sigh, looked away defeated. "Ok, you win. You know where my door is," she said stepping out the elevator as it opened out onto the NCIS floor. She looked back at Gibbs who remained still.
"You not coming out here?" she asked, the eyes of the rest of the team looking over from the bullpen in the background behind her. Gibbs could see the worried looks in their eyes.
"No, there's something I need to do first."
Jen's mouth opened in question, but the doors shut before she could utter a word. Gibbs let out a breath and leaned against the back wall. Was he really going crazy?
After a minute the doors opened again and Gibbs wandered out into Autopsy.
"Ducky?"
"He's not in yet," came a hurried voice from behind the furthest autopsy table.
"Palmer?" Gibbs questioned, confused, as he watched the assistant ME stand up from behind the metal table. Gibbs eyed him over as he noticed the creased shirt Palmer was wearing, only two of the buttons done up so that one side of the shirt hung lower that the other. Gibbs couldn't quite tell whether the autopsy gremlin was wearing trousers or not, but something told him it was the latter.
"Er, Palmer…" Gibbs said nodding to Palmer's shirt, where a black lace thong was slung over his shoulder. Palmer looked down at his shoulder and blushed a deep shape of magenta, hurriedly removing the thing and holding it behind his back.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I um…I er…"
Gibbs frowned at the use of 'Sir' but decided to let it go in favour of leaving the lab as quickly as possible.
"Palmer, was there a body brought in yesterday? A Petty Officer, mid-twenties?"
"No…no one was brought in yesterday," Palmer answered, confused.
"Thanks, Palmer, er, carry on," Gibbs said, backing away and retreating to the lift. Visions of Palmer in women's underwear flooded his mind and he closed his eyes in order to shut them out. Yes, he was definitely going mad.