Thanks for all the brilliant reviews and ideas you all gave me ^^ Maybe all of your minds work as one, I had a lot of cute ideas that everyone thought of :D I'm definitely gonna try and put all of them in lol.
As they got back into the building, all three agents were quiet going up in the lift, none speaking and hardly daring to breathe as they listened to Tony's deep breaths, snuggled against Gibbs comfortabley, the older man's arms wrapped around him tightly, keeping him in a strong hold, with no danger of him falling. The lift doors opened and they all wordlessly got out, Kate and McGee rushing to their desks. There was a lot of work to be done on this one.
Gibbs meanwhile, reached his desk and carefully set the sleeping baby down in the net pen next to it. He covered him up with a blanket and smiled slightly, as Tony immediately dragged the blanket over his face and started chewing the corner. Gibbs bent over the pen and gently tugged the blanket out of his mouth, grinning now as Tony replaced that with various fingers.
"Gibbs?" He looked round to see Kate stood behind him, holding a sheaf of papers in her hands. He nodded at her to go on, which she did, clearing her throat slightly,
"Our dead marine is a Joshua Green, was reported missing a few weeks ago by his roomate, as far as I can find, he's never shown any interest in hiking or nature, so I'm assuming he was dumped in that woodland."
"Don't assume." Gibbs reprimanded, but without his usual hard tone. Kate nodded and continued,
"Ducky called and said he might have found the cause of death, should we head down?" Gibbs nodded, and was about to grab Tony, but remembered the effect seeing that body had on him. He didn't want to take him down to autopsy, sure that picking him up would wake him up, thus making him see the body, but neither did he want to just leave him here. All the agents on their floor had been told Tony had to go back home for a 'family emergency' and that the baby was Gibbs' nephew, but he was still wary of leaving him up here unattended.
"McGee!" He yelled, making his mind up, "You stay here with Tony, Kate and I'll go and see Ducky, if we need to see Abby as well, we'll come back up so we can get him." McGee nodded and sat at his desk, casting feverent eyes on the pen taking up most of the space in the office.
After about 5 minutes he relaxed. Nothing had happened and Tony hadn't even gicen the slightest snuffle. He started to do some work, tapping softly at the keys on his keyboard. Then he heard it. A small moan and a slittle shuffle from inside the pen. He gulped and cautiously padded over. Looking down, he saw Tony fussing about, curling up one second and then spreading himself out, moaning and clutching at his blanket. At first, McGee thought he might be ill, but he realised the baby was having a nightmare.
McGee did have a younger sister, so he knew something about waking people out of nightmares, but he wasn't so sure about babies. He carefully reached in and gently shook his shoulder, and drew back to whisper,
"Er... Tony? Tony, wake up... please? Erm, will you wake up? Please?" He almost laughed as he heard how formal and nervous he sounded, when talking to a baby. At first, McGee thought it did the trick and Tony slowly opened his eyes, but he wasn't completely with him, the young agent could see that. His eyes had started to well up, and he was looking at something that wasn't quite there. He started to properly cry now, everyone's attention being drawn to Special Agent Gibbs' office when a wailing 18 month old started to disrupt everyone's work.
"Oh no, Tony, come on, don't! Look, I'll let you probie slap me, I'll let you... I'll let you look through my computer, but please stop, Gibbs'll kill me, please?" The baby gave no signal at all that he'd heard or even understood what McGee had said, and had now started to thrash about, while the crying steadily gained volume. McGee had no choice but to pick him up, other agents popping their heads above their office walls to see why the sprog hadn't stopped crying yet.
He gingerly reached in, awkwardly picking Tony up, again holding him by the armpits. He jiggled him up and down in vain, hoping to quieten him, but he couldn't do anything, and was very close to resorting to making funny faces and seeing if that made any difference. He almost sighed with relief as he felt a sharp swat to the back of his head, but was still quite scared as to what Gibbs would do to him. What if he didn't believe Tony had been having a nightmare, and thought that McGee had somehow caused the shrieking?
Thankfully, the boss wasn't saying anything at that moment, and was completely focusing on Tony. It was amazing how calm and content his face went when looking at him. Even when Tony was normal, McGee could just make out the care in Gibbs' eyes when he looked at his senior field agent, but now it was almost gooey... so un-Gibbs.
The boss just held Tony (Properly) and shushed him, making small soothing noises, rubbing his back as he'd done every other time he'd needed to soothe him in this state. Both Kate and McGee could see him whispering something, but neither could hear or tell what it was,
"It's ok Tony, it's fine, I'm here now, so it's ok. Shh now kiddo, you're fine." It wasn't long before Tony stopped, and Gibbs had been kind of hoping he'd just fall asleep again, but he didn't, and was looking around him with red eyes and tears still clinging to his eyelashes.
"I'm fine now." He whispered, sniffing hard and wiping his nose on his hand. Gibbs tutted and pulled his hand away, quickly swiping a tissue from the box he had on his desk. He flicked it under his young charge's nose.
"Now," He said, finally having got Tony, more or less, sorted out, "What was that all about?" Tony sniffed miserably and glanced at Kate and McGee, before looking back at Gibbs and answering quietly,
"I had nightmare." he looked down and sounded so dejected Gibbs felt terrible. He knew he should have brought Tony with them, rather than leave him in the not-so-capable hands of McGee. He wouldn't shout at him though, he decided, it really wasn't his fault. Gibbs knew how uncomfortable around children he was. Jumping him up so that he was sat straighter, he said to Tony,
"Well, how about we go and see Abby, see what she's got for us." Tony nodded slightly and buried his face in his boss's shoulder with a small, content sigh. Gibbs hugged him ever so slightly and started down to the lab, which made Kate's heart melt, although she was sure McGee had missed it.
Really, being the only, slightly broody at this point, woman had it's disadvantages.
--
"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed happily, and shrieked even louder when she saw Tony in his arms, "And little Tony!" Tony blushed slightly and struggled to get down on the floor. Gibbs set him down, suddenly experiencing a moment of emptiness in his arms, as if something was severely missing. Tony stumbled at first, but found his feet and toddled over to Abby, beaming as she said,
"Who's been practising?" She kissed his head but frowned as she heard his stomach growl,
"Gibbs!" She yelled again, only she sounded almost... angry? Barely anyone would shout at the boss, but Abby looked as though sparks were coming out of her eyes, "When did you last feed him?" Gibbs looked almost shamefaced, but stared right back at Abby and said,
"We haven't yet Abbs, I don't know when was the last time he ate, but I'm guessing it was probably pizza."
"Pizza would be good." Tony mumbled, before getting a small prod in the stomach that made him squirm and giggle slightly. Abby stopped whatever she was about to say and remarked happily,
"Oh, you're ticklish!" She set about tickling him, completely ravishing him until he could barely breathe. His childish giggles bounced off the walls. She soon stopped, and handed him back to Gibbs, before saying,
"Feed him Gibbs! If he even loses half a tenth of a pound I'll hunt you down, and it won't be pretty." Gibbs didn't doubt the goth girl, and merely grimaced in reply, before turning around and asking,
"What about the case Boss?" She stuck her tongue out at him and replied,
"It'll be at least another half hour Gibbs, that's more than enough time to feed him!" Gibbs rolled his eyes and stalked off, before shouting over his shoulder,
"Kate, make a shopping list! I want a couple of jars of baby food, a high chair, a bib, a spoon, a car seat, a buggy and one of those harness/lead things that you give to ferrets only in his size," Kate give him an odd look as she'd been walking near to him writing this all down. He stopped and raised an eyebrow, "Well what are you waiting for Agent Todd? Go!" She went, chortling as she imagined Tony in a harness, and guessed Tony himself could as well, a she could hear both him and Gibbs arguing all the way down the corridor, back up the lift.
--
However, she never actually found a baby harness in the shop she went in, but bought a few toys to make up for it. She just loved seeing him as a baby, and thought he might as well have fun until they found an antidote. She also knew Tony well enough now to know when he wanted something, and when he was given that stapler the other night, she could tell he wanted something else to keep him occupied.
So she carted everything back to NCIS, and collared a few probies downstairs to help her carry it all up. When they had distributed it all she waved them away, before Tony said something, which he did not a second later,
"I am not sitting in a high chair. Or a buggy. I can walk!" He looked cranky again, but Gibbs simply stuck him in the chair (Which the probies had also set up). It was a simple plastic white one, with a pale blue seat and back, and a picture of a family of ducks on the tray, plodding along quite happily.
"Ok," He began, fishing around in the bags until he found what he was looking for, "Would you rather have carrots and peas, spaghetti bolognaise or... Shepherd's pie? Kate is this honestly baby food?" She flicked her hair back haughtily and replied,
"Of course I'm sure Gibbs, it was under the sign '1 year olds to 1 and a half'. Though I'm pretty sure he should be teething now." They all looked over to him as if he would miraculously start then. He blinked and looked back,
"I haven't eaten normal Shepherd's pie, let alone mushed up pie. This looks disgusting."
"You'll eat what I put in front of you." Gibbs muttered, and opened the jar, tipping it into the bowl Kate had bought. Tying the bib around Tony's neck, he stood back and stuck the bowl on the tray,
"Open wide." He said, and stuck the spoon in, getting a reasonable amount on it before putting the spoon gently into Tony's mouth. The baby froze. He had never been so embarrassed. What did he do? He obviously needed to eat it, but it was Gibbs. Gibbsof all people was stood here feeding him and now he was sat like a lemon. Eventually he swallowed, and hesitantly opened his mouth, wondering if it would be rude to assume that his boss would happily keep going until all the food was gone. However, he did, and soon Tony forgot all about it, happy to have food in his tummy. Eventually, Gibbs was scraping the bowl and looked up to where Kate was pretending not to look,
"Is that it? Surely he won't be full after that?" Tony shrugged and said,
"I am pretty hungry still..." Kate grinned, she'd been hoping this would happen,
"I thought maybe that might be the case, so I bought a cup for him. I didn't think I should go so far as the whole bottle and formula thing." Gibbs nodded and watched as Kate started to pour juice into a sippy-cup. He looked back and found that the food had gotten all the way down Tony's bib and over his face. Rolling his eyes, Gibbs leant forward and started to get the stuff off his face with a tissue, mumbling,
"Mucky pup." Just as Kate leant forward with the cup,
"The stuff in it has nutrients and things in it as well, so it might make him more full." Tony took it from her almost greedily, and was about to raise it to his mouth before pointing to a bag and asking,
"What's that?" Leering out from inside the carrier, a soft toy was staring out at them all, "Is it for me?" He asked, not holding back the enthusiasm. Kate nodded and picked it out. It was a honey coloured teddy bear, with a patchwork patch on it's stomach, looking worn but was clearly brand new. It's ear looked quite raggedy, but apart from that he looked like a perfect teddy. Kate passed him over, and he touched it experimentally first, and looked thrilled at how soft it was,
"Don't forget to give it a name DiNozzo." Gibbs murmured, to which Tony thought hard for a second before answering,
"George." He looked pleased with his choice, but his face soon turned to one of anguish as Gibbs took it off him.
"Hey!" He yelled, looking appalled,
"Drink first. Bear later." He promised, so at once Tony grabbed the cup, sucking as though his life depended on it. He soon slowed though, and Gibbs had the good sense to pick him up out of the high chair before he fell asleep in it. However, he couldn't just stand up whilst holding a drinking baby, so he sat down on his chair. Tony soon stopped drinking altogether, it was as if his arms couldn't manage now he was so comfortable. Sighing, Gibbs picked the cup up off Tony's chest and started feeding him, much like a proper baby.
The cup was soon empty, and he wasn't really aware of anything anymore. However, one word he heard from Gibbs made him extremely awake again.
"Change." He'd muttered this word to himself, knowing Tony needed one half way through the whole drinking thing, but hadn't wanted to do it until Tony was completely asleep. However, he started fussing as soon as he heard it, trying to struggle away,
"It's fine," He hissed, trying to make sure no one else heard, "I don't need it changing." Gibbs watched him, a small amused smirk coming up at one of the corners of his mouth,
"Yeah? You gonna sit in that the entirety of this? 'Cause I'd find that pretty uncomfortable kiddo." Tony sighed, knowing he was beaten. He decided to just stay quiet, and maybe the boss would just get embarrassed as well, and decide not to do it. However, he announced, to the whole room,
"Anyone seen the kid's diaper bag?" Tony cringed and promised to whoever was watching up there all of his DVDs if he could somehow miraculously disappear. Both Kate and McGee glanced over, seeing how bright, fire-truck red Tony had gone. Gibbs stayed cool as a cucumber, and rummaged around for a while longer until he found it. Oh dear god don't let him do it here Tony prayed, but the boss simply stuck him down on the floor and started to change him.
Tony had never known what real embarrassment was until he'd endured that. He knew it would have happened eventually, but he honestly hadn't thought about it. The only good thing was he was getting more tired, so wasn't really thinking apart from, Wonder when he'll be done so I can go to bed. The process seemed to take forever, Gibbs was extremely meticulous, wiping, spraying, doing god knows what down there. Then, finally - finally, the man was done and pulling Tony's dungarees back up him.
"Here, I promised you it when you'd finished that drink." Gibbs said, as if nothing had happened, and handed him George. Tony didn't even realise he did it, but hugged the bear, and was set down in the pen,
"Go to sleep kiddo, I'll wake you in about two hours, then we'll go home." Tony nodded, sleep washing over him, already forgetting the whole incident. He was soon out completely, and rolled over slightly, tightening his hold on George.
That embarrassing enough for you? Lol, maybe not, but whatever :P Wow, I've done myself proud on length this time :D Btw, I have no idea about baby food, so if an 18 month about to start teething doesn't eat baby food like that (I asked my mum and she said there are foods like spag bol in baby jars lol) please correct me! Review? xxx