"Tony…! Tony, Tony, Tony. It won't work!"

"What won't work?" said a cheery voice. Tony and Ziva looked up to see Mandy entering the bullpen wearing one of Abby's spiked dog collars.

Before either of them could stammer a response; however, *(please see bottom of page for explanation) Mandy took in their expressions.

"What happened? Should I not be here or something?" She walked to stand in front of Ziva, her hands on her hips with a 'spill' look on her face. When Ziva's eyes strayed to Tony in a helpless sort of way, Mandy spun around to stalk to his desk. She suddenly stopped midway and spying the Beretta, practically screeched, "Holy crap, there's a bomb on the floor!" Ziva and Tony had jumped a mile at this outburst, their nerves being on edge.

"It's only a gun, sis," Tony assured her, "My job requires those, you know. In case there are any bad guys that need taking care of." He moved to pick it up.

"NO!!" she yelled, stopping her step brother's hand recoiling as if he had shaken hands with someone wearing a buzzer on their fingers.

"Mandy," Ziva spoke, "I think Tony can handle picking up a gun without shooting himself."

"No! He can't pick it up! You either!"

"Mandy! What the heck is going on!?" Tony demanded.

"You guys!" Mandy exclaimed, still standing exactly as she had when she spied the lethal weapon. "You're highly trained professionals! How can you not see that thing has a bomb attached to it?!"

"I've had that gun on my person all day," Ziva replied calmly. "I'm pretty sure it does not include a bomb."

"IT HAS A BOMB ATTACHED TO IT!" Mandy was nearly in tears. "Look at it!!"

Everyone huddled around the gun and stared because there, on the handle was a bug that probably was a bomb.

Ziva looked at Tony expectantly.

Tony looked at Ziva expectantly.

At that moment, McGee walked in.

Tony & Ziva looked at him expectantly.

"Why are you guys looking at me like I should be doing something other than going to my desk?" he asked self-consciously. "Oh hello, Mandy. Nice necklace."

"McGook," Tony said, strolling over to pat his shoulder. "We have reason to believe that there is a bomb affixed to Ziva's gun."

"Really." He said, leaning back in his chair, a slight smile on his lips.

"Really!" Mandy said, "I found it myself!"

"Well then why haven't any of you taken it off yet?"

"Um, you see," Tony started. Interrupting his ramblings, Mandy said,

"Tony's not man enough to disarm it himself so he wants you to do it." Her brother turned red.

"Okay where is it?" McGee asked, rolling up his sleeves, eager for the chance to do something Tony couldn't.

"Right here," Ziva said, crouching near the object in question.

McGee pulled out a pair of rubber gloves from his desk drawer. Tony's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh come on, Tony. I just don't want to ruin any forensic evidence that we might find,"

"We won't have any forensic evidence if you make a wrong move here, probe. This whole place could blow up. Ka-poosh!"

"So no pressure," Mandy added.

"Yes, thank you, DiNozzo #1 and 2," Next from his drawer came some tweezers and a funny contraption that looked like a white Life-Saver.

"This," he said, picking it up, "Is what I like to call 'disarm-o the bomb-o.' You place it on top of the bug after sucking on it to make it adhesive. It tinkers with the explosive settings and within minutes neutralizes the effect."

"When you say 'neutralize' do you mean that the bomb destroys the stuff inside of it instead of around it on the outside?" Mandy asked.

"Well yes, I guess that's what happens," McGee replied.

"Gee, deactivate many bombs lately?" Tony said sarcastically.

"Will it catch fire?" Mandy went on.

"Uh… I'm not sure…,"

"Can you-" she was interrupted by Ziva.

"Can you just disarm it already? We may be losing valuable time here. It could explode at any moment!"

"Oh yes, of course. Let me through, Tony," he said when he blocked his way.

"Don't mess up or I'll kill you. Actually we both would already be dead if you messed up so- just don't!"

"You don't seem very confident in me, Mr. I'm-too-macho-to-get-on-my-hands-and-knees-to-disarm-a-bomb."

"Let's just say I'm nervous and leave it at that,"

"As you wish, Buttercup," McGee said with a smile.

"The Princess Bride, 1987. You must be from the Stone Age."

"Guys!" Mandy interjected. "The bomb?"

McGee sidestepped Tony and sat down next to Ziva's gun, his palms slightly sweaty.

He popped the 'disarm-o the bomb-o' in his mouth to moisten it then carefully set it on top of the bug. Everyone held their breath.

…

It was so quiet for a handful of seconds you could hear a pin drop.

…

A whirring whisper emanated from within the bomb, intensifying in speed till it was close to the speed of a racecar at the Indy 500. Suddenly, with a click the bomb rolled off Ziva's gun onto the floor. Ziva swept it up and cradled the gun protectively against her, as if doing so would prevent anyone from taking it as evidence, which is what would eventually happen, she knew.

Meanwhile, the bomb, still with McGee's Life-Saver device stuck to it, began to smoke. The onlookers took a step/crawl backwards. The mechanism began to –there was only one word for it- melt as if burning from inside, taking the 'disarm-o the bomb-o' with it into a molten puddle of metal. With a loud 'pop' the puddle transformed into ashes.

Everyone was absolutely silent.

"I don't think that was supposed to happen," McGee said, wetting his lips.

"Looks like your thingy is not reusable," Mandy observed. She reached her finger out to touch the ashes.

"No!" the adults exclaimed.

"No what?" a new voice said. It was Gibbs. He eyed the circlet of ashes and said, "If those are the remnants of a bonfire, I have to say, it's pathetic."

McGee looked at Tony. "Tell him what it really is," he hissed, yanking off his rubber gloves.

"No way! You were the one who actually did it!"

"Did it? I didn't do anything! All I did was put a little thingy on the thing!"

"You're stammering, probe. Are you scared you'll get in trouble?"

"McGee!" Gibbs barked. "Is there a problem?" Without waiting for an answer he continued. "Now what is that stuff on my nice carpet?"

"Um… well, Gibbs. It's uh, the waste of a bomb. I, uh, disarmed it." he confessed, twisting his hands.

Gibb's face turned pale. "What the hell were you thinking?!" he yelled into McGee's face.

*oh yes!! I just used a transitional conjunction! Go me! –Haha but readers, you would only get this is you are/were in Mrs. Smith's 8th grade English class!!

A/N: Well. The whole bomb thing wasn't what I really had in mind for this chapter but it just came out that way! Hope you liked it!!!!! please comment and tell me what you think should come next in the story, even though I'm pretty sure I know what I'm gonna do!! thanks!! -ncischuckluver/ G