Hi ^^ Thanks for all the reviews etc etc, let's get down to business :P Sorry it took so long, I thought I'd get more done in the holidays, but obviously not lol ;)
Dedicated to Elton John lol, I was listening to 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', and for some bizarre reason it inspired me :P
Warning: Contains the spanking of children
Gibbs crouched down beside Tony and gently shook the baby's shoulder,
"Tony... come on kiddo, wake up." Tony continued to sleep peacefully, and Gibbs didn't want to disturb him at all. He'd just gotten over his nightmares, and was getting the first decent sleep he'd had in about two days. So, Gibbs just softly picked him up and covered him in the pale blue blanket he'd gotten rather attached to. The dummy threatened to fall out of his mouth, so Gibbs slowly pushed it back in, making his way towards the car.
When they got outside, Tony unconsciously huddled closer to Gibbs, burbling something incomprehensible. Gibbs smiled and sat the baby down in the car seat in the back of the car.
Driving much slower than he would usually, he arrived at the office building just as Ducky pulled up in the van,
"Ah, Jethro, good day?" Gibbs smiled at his old friend and replied, carefully getting Tony from the back of the car,
"If you count having to come into the office on a Sunday with a tired baby who's getting the first decent sleep in a few nights a good day then yeah." Ducky smiled slightly at Tony trying to curl up even more in Gibbs' arms and said,
"Well you better hope he stays asleep until we get our body back home. Lead the way Mr Palmer." Palmer nodded and, taking the gurney, headed to the main doors of the building, where McGee was stood, waiting for Gibbs,
"Er, hi Boss, erm, did I call at a bad time, or...?" He let the question hang there, uncertainty in his voice as he saw the sleeping infant in his boss' arms. Gibbs shook his head impatiently and said,
"He won't be waking up any time soon McGee, tell me what we've got." The young agent nodded and said, as they shot up the building in the elevator,
"Petty Officer Oliver Lacey, was visiting his cousin, Arthur, at his work. Boss claimed that he hadn't seen Lacey all morning, so the Petty Officer said that he'd wait for a few more minutes, just in case. He was sat in Lacey's office when the Boss came in and asked if he wanted a drink, but Petty Officer Lacey was dead." Gibbs nodded, and they stepped out onto the correct floor, where Kate was waiting for them,
"Erm, Gibbs, it's not a nice sight, and er..." She motioned to Tony, who was just starting to wake up, making small noises as he did so,
"You awake now kiddo?" Gibbs whispered to him, and when he got a sleepy nod, he passed him over to Kate and said, "Stay out of trouble while I look at this. McGee shoot and sketch, Kate bag and tag."
"What about Tony?" Kate asked uncertainly as their boss walked away.
"Stick him on a chair or something." Kate rolled her eyes, when she saw something that would keep him amused,
"Look Tony, fishies." She said, in the most patronizing voice she could think of. He wriggled, trying to get out of her grasp and muttered,
"Yeah, I get it. I am still an NCIS special agent here." Kate only hummed and stuck him on a chair next to a huge fish tank, full of various coloured fish and ornaments. Tony was soon engrossed in this, his eyes wide and shining as the fish swum past the front of the tank. He kept back, so he didn't mist up the glass, and didn't put his hands on the tank either,
"Tony," Kate said, looking over with a bag in her hands, "You're going to fall off that chair if you don't rest on something." He blushed and hesitantly rested both hands on the glass, before taking them off guiltily when Gibbs rounded the corner. Giving the baby a curious look, Gibbs asked,
"You got a problem with fish tanks kid?" Tony shook his head, and mumbled,
"If I mess up the aquarium I'll be punished." This was obviously something that had been drummed into him from a young age, and Gibbs shook his head and replied,
"You'll be fine Tony, you mess up the glass all you want, McGee'll clean it." Tony gave McGee a victorious grin, who groaned and turned back to snapping pictures,
"We found the murder weapon yet?" Gibbs asked Kate,
"No, there's the chance he just took it with him," She answered, before asking, "You think it's still here?" He nodded and said,
"I'm going to help Ducky. You two concentrate on the bagging and tagging, Tony!"
"Yeah Boss?" he asked innocently as he dipped his hand in the fish tank,
"Don't touch anything, I mean it, this is a crime scene remember, and we don't have gloves small enough for you." Tony nodded and whipped his hands away from everything, keeping them in his lap as he slowly sat down on the chair.
"Attaboy."
--
Looking around sadly, Tony felt extremely bored. There was nothing he could do at all, he wasn't trusted with any of his opinions on the case and he wasn't allowed to look for the weapon. He bet normal babies didn't get this bored so quickly, but at the moment he was finding it hard to slip into the childlike way of thinking, which he usually wouldn't mind at all, but he was just so bored...
Suddenly, a flash of light caught his eye as he opened and closed the drawers of the desk he was sat at. Like a magpie, he went for it, and pulled some papers off it to reach it. Then, at the worst possible time, just as he was about to yell for Kate and McGee, his baby side took over, and, no matter how much he was screaming at himself inside to not touch it, he picked up the bloodied knife and studied it.
There was just enough of him there for him to not stick it in his mouth, after last time he was shouted at by Gibbs when he tried to eat his knife. So, he did the next sensible thing. He dropped it in the fish tank. It was quite fun to watch the blood flow upwards off the knife and see the weapon itself sink to the bottom. However, his mind snapped back in horror as he gasped,
"I'm so dead..." He whimpered to himself, closing his eyes in horror as he felt someone come up behind him. Knowing it was Gibbs, he hesitantly turned around and looked up into the ex-marine's eyes, to scared to even speak.
"Just exactly what did I say before I left DiNozzo? I said, 'Don't touch anything'. And what do you do? This is a crime scene!" His voice upped in volume, causing anyone from the office or NCIS to quickly scuttle round the corner to find somewhere to hide. Tony shuddered,
"I know, I'm sorry." He croaked. Gibbs just gave him a steely glare and said,
"That knife might have helped us catch this lunatic, but what d you do? You go and drop it in a fish tank! After I told you not to touch anything!" Tony sat with his head bowed down, trying not to sniffle. He hadn't been able to stop himself, but he couldn't say this to Gibbs, who had suddenly picked him up from the chair and sat there himself,
"What are you doing?" He managed to squeak out, knowing the glare on Gibbs' face had yet to vanish,
"Do you know what people tend to do to children who do something they know to be wrong?" Tony nodded slowly, really not liking where this was going. All at once, Gibbs laid him over his knee like blanket and started to give him sharp, hard swats to his backside. Tony tried to stay calm. He knew they wouldn't hurt, not with the cushioning by his backside, but the shock if it sparked his tear ducts, and he started to sob weakly onto Gibbs' lap, who hadn't finished administering the punishment.
It brought back all kinds of memories from his first childhood, and coupled with the spanking, Tony howled miserably, not stopping when Gibbs finally sat him up, his backside stinging slightly, not even when Kate edged into the room asking if he wanted the knife bagged. Tony couldn't hear Gibbs' reply, and maybe he didn't want to, but he continued to cry, ignoring the looks they were getting off people as they exited the office and into the main building.
--
Gibbs felt horrible. He knew he'd have had to do it at some point, DiNozzo was a walking time bomb in that respect, and he'd had to give him enough headslaps as an adult, it was just a wonder that it had taken this long for him to have done something so bad. Knowing Tony had learnt his lesson, he relented on the policy he'd tried to keep of not giving him comfort, but he felt he had to offer some sort, it was killing him listening to Tony's heartbroken sobs.
Wordlessly, he took the blue blanket Tony had arrived in and wrapped it around him, cradling him slightly and bouncing him up and down, hoping to calm him completely before they got to the elevator. McGee and Kate were walking behind them uncomfortably, glancing at each other every so often, wondering what Gibbs had done, or said, although both had a pretty shrewd idea.
Thankfully, he had calmed by the time they reached the elevator, and Tony fell into an exhausted sleep, snuffling miserably. However, everyone noticed how little snuggling he was doing, and he'd become a 'total snuggle bug' as Abby had called him, since he'd became smaller. Kate could just imagine how Gibbs was feeling. Guilty, horrified at himself and sad, that Tony seemed to have lost his trust in the older man.
--
They had to go back to NCIS after this, rather than going home, and Gibbs started barking out orders to Kate and McGee, telling them to find Lacey and either bring him in or arrange to meet him somehow. They both went to get their guns and Gibbs went to walk down to Abby's lab, hoping to leave Tony there for an hour or two,
"Gibbs!" Said agent turned to see he had been shouted by the Director. He stopped, allowing Morrow to catch up with him and say, "Why did you requisition new computers for all your team? Surely you knew that this would be a waste of money as I haven't heard you or anyone in your team complaining." Gibbs squared up to him and replied,
"Special Agent McGee said he thought there was a virus on them and he said there was nothing we could do for it, so we have to..."
"Gibbs, I'm well aware that at least one person on your team is a computer nerd, but buying three new computers seems a bit steep."
"Director, in all fairness..." Tony yawned slightly, letting them slug it out. He was getting quite bored, and felt rather unstable swinging from Gibbs' arms as his grip loosened ever so slightly as he argued with Morrow. And it sounded like he was loosing the argument. Not knowing why, Tony put his arms out to the Director and said, brightly,
"Ganpa!" Gibbs looked down at him in surprise as Morrow did a double take,
"Isn't that...?"
"Special Agent DiNozzo yes. Unfortunately due to his state right now, he sometimes has small relapses and can't fight the baby side of his mind." Morrow nodded and bent down so he was looking into Tony's eyes,
"Although I am old enough to be your Grandpa son, I'm not." Tony sensed they would be able to get away soon, and perhaps Gibbs did as well, as he coughed slightly, urging Tony to step it up slightly. He did so, and stuck his thumb in his mouth, yawning slightly. Gibbs grabbed at this chance and said,
"Well Sir, Tony's getting really tired, and I wanted to get him down to Abby's lab, she has a bed, of sorts, for him down there." Morrow nodded and said,
"Of course, of course. Goodbye my boy, my nephew's wife is working hard for you." Gibbs grinned at him and quickly walked off so that Morrow couldn't remember why he'd called Gibbs over.
"Ok Kid, truce. Does this mean I owe you?" Tony nodded, and grinned wickedly. However, his face soon drooped and he whispered,
"Sorry about before Boss... I really didn't mean to, it was like the spaghetti thing all over again. I could see what I was doing but I couldn't help it, I..." He was stopped in his babbling by a finger pressing against his lips.
"I'm sorry Tony, but you have to understand I can't just let you get away with things like that." Tony nodded morosely, but snuggled against Gibbs, still tired, and fell asleep before the elevator reached lab level.
I know this chapter isn't that long, sorry :( Ah well, Review?? xxx