Sorry for the delay, I had to revise for my French exam :S I think I probably passed by the skin of my teeth lol ;) So, if there isn't a chapter in a while, please bear in mind that I'm actually starting my GCSE's. Eeep :S
Tony woke up to sun streaming through the windows. He sat up eagerly, feeling happy and hyper for some reason, though he wasn't sure why. As he stood up, curling his fingers around the bars of the crib, he remembered what had happened last night. He cautiously touched his stomach, wondering if he was ill. As there was no nauseous feeling, he guessed it must have been something he ate. He bounced happily on the balls of his feet, saying into the empty room,
"Gibbs?" Knowing the baby monitor was on, he waited patiently for a while until the older man appeared, looking ready to go, but he still only had his socks on, so it was obvious he still wasn't sure about going in to work,
"Mornin' kiddo. How do you feel today?" Tony rubbed at his eyes slightly, getting rid of any sleep, and answered,
"Better! Can we go into work today??" Gibbs looked to be thinking for a moment, and got Tony out of the crib, still not saying a word. He seemed to be checking Tony as he changed him and got him into some clothes. Finally, the stare shifted and his mouth turned upwards somewhat,
"Yeah, I reckon we can go in. But any more nonsense like before, running off, you'll wish you'd never been born." Gibbs' tone was serious, and Tony cowered slightly, before seeing the solution. He just wouldn't stray from Gibbs. It wouldn't be that hard, as he liked being near the older man, and Gibbs was keen to have him stay near him at all times anyway,
"I gotcha Boss." Tony replied cheerily, being put on the floor as they came to the bottom of the stairs.
"I need to get my shoes. If you want, you can bring some stuff, but you better be quick. Soon as I tie the lace we're gone." Tony hastily toddled into the living room, looking around through the mountains of toys. He wasn't even sure why he felt the need to play, to be so childish, but he felt compelled to.
When Gibbs came into the room, both shoes firmly on his feet, he found Tony stood there, holding a pale blue blanket, which had probably become his 'safety blanket' and clutching various beanie babys (Which, Gibbs noted smiling, were all of the investigators from the kid's crime scene).
"Ready?" He asked, and got a nod. He sighed as he saw Tony stumbling over the blanket and trying desperately to keep a solid hold on his collection of animals. Eventually, Gibbs gently took the toddler from off the floor to carry him, making sure the toys were resting securely on him until they got to the car.
--
"Gibbs! We didn't think you'd be in today! I guess Tony feels better?" Gibbs nodded in answer to Kate's question and set Tony down on the floor as they entered the bullpen. The crib they had acquired that first night was still stood in the middle proudly, and before Tony knew, he was plonked down inside it, nearly dropping all his toys and his blanket in the process,
"I was fine on the floor!" He yelled upwards, to whoever it was that had put him back in there,
"Can't have you wandering kid, and we need to concentrate." Tony shot Gibbs a sour look, before it quickly came off his face and he started to play happily, giving them about half an hour of solid, quiet work done, before,
"I'm hungry..." Gibbs rolled his eyes, but he guessed the kid deserved a treat after sitting there for so long without talking.
"Kate, you want to..."
"Oooh, Gibbs, let me! Let me!" He didn't even need to turn around to know who had bounded into the room. He chuckled and scooped Tony up out the pen, letting him hold onto his blanket, and passed him to Abby,
"Make sure he eats something good, not loads of crap." Abby jokingly put her hands around Tony's ears and chided,
"You shouldn't say such things in front of children Gibbs!" Her tone changed as she walked off, saying, "You hungry Baby? What do you want? If you don't tell Gibbs I'll get you a muffin, ok Sweetie?"
Gibbs couldn't be bothered saying anything, and he even laughed slightly, a smile on his face as he bent down, back to his work. Kate and McGee both noticed the change in his behaviour. Before this, he'd have yelled, and stared them down. Well, maybe not Abby, but definitely Tony. But now, he was almost melting more and more every time he looked at the baby.
Gibbs caught Kate staring at him, so she blushed and hastily got back to work.
--
"Ok Honey, do you want a chocolate muffin, a chocolate muffin or, wait for it... a chocolate muffin?" Tony giggled and pointed to a chocolate muffin eagerly, feeling as though he hadn't eaten in days (Which was kind of true, seeing as he'd thrown up last night and Gibbs hadn't wanted to try anything until they got to work). Abby heard his stomach rumbling and added a carton of juice to the tray and she bought herself a sandwich,
"We'll split it." She explained to him, smiling at just how cute he was. He was still trailing the blanket across the floor (And she hoped Gibbs wouldn't get cross because of it) and smiling up at various agents who walked by. By the time they were at the till, he'd started to suck his thumb to try and forget how hungry he was, and Abby had to try and take it out of his mouth, and guide him over to a table while balancing the tray in her hands.
When they were finally seated, she smiled over at him. She'd specially asked for a high chair, and he was sat there, swinging his legs quite happily, waiting for his food.
"How are you with straws?" She asked, almost joking but not quite. Tony grinned and said,
"I love straws! I drank with one the other night, and didn't choke myself."
"Well, if you're sure..."
"Of course I'm sure. Gibbs said I did well." He said, making it sound as though that ended it. Abby smiled and popped the straw in the juice carton, pushing it towards the baby. She still wasn't sure about letting him drink with a straw - but if Gibbs was alright with it, so was she. And Tony would try and impress Gibbs, so he'd try his best not to do anything stupid, like land himself in hospital.
Tony drank happily, grinning as Abby cautiously passed him small bites of her sandwich, making sure he wasn't going to throw up again. When he'd eaten them all and tried to sneak some more, earning him a slap on the wrist, she'd passed him the muffin, and watched with amusement as he got it all over his face, and the blanket he insisted on dragging around with him.
"Tony," She started hesitantly, knowing how children could be with their 'blankies', "Are you sure you don't want to put that down while you eat?" At once, he glowered at her, the mood changing completely and he muttered,
"I want to go back to Gibbs."
"Aw c'mon Tony, we haven't hung out in ages, and I want to hear more about this crime scene you investigated the other day." Tony looked confused for a moment, before his eyes lit up,
"My crime scene! We were all there! If you want, Gibbs can show you the pictures he took." Abby grinned, seeing Gibbs was going with his photo album idea,
"That sounds fun Tony," She said, completely honest, "But should we go back down there, tidy you up a bit? Then you can show me your crime scene. Though you'll have to improvise with the toys you brought with you." He gasped in delight,
"My NCIS toys! There's one for each of us, even Fornell, though that was 'cause he stole our investigation..." She let him gabble on at an enormous rate, picking him up and heading back down to the squad room.
--
"We should really wait until we know for sure, we can't just storm in, and expect to see them..."
"Will you relax, Harley? I know what I'm doing. Beside, you want your old man out, don't you?" The younger man called Harley bit his lip,
"But he's in prison, not here..."
The older man beside him scowled, saying, "But if we could get the evidence and destroy it, then we could get him out!"
"But... but there wasn't any evidence Arthur. Just that kid. He was the one Dad gave the drugs to..."
Arthur grinned manically, "I spotted them in the swimming pool a couple of days ago. They keep putting a meet off, so I'm gonna 'reason' with them."
"How'd you know they were NCIS agents?"
"They were snooping round the office where poor old Oliver got it. They still got the kid with them. I know that Gibbs fella cares about him, he'd do anything to let your old man out if the kid was in danger..."
--
Abby received a stern telling off in the bullpen as she brought Tony back, covered in chocolate. A stern telling off that didn't quite meet Gibbs' ice blue eyes as he saw Tony pulling impatiently at Abby's hand, trying to get her to come and see his new crime scene.
When Gibbs finally let her go, she was pulled over to the pen, and admired the toys, laughing at the hamster and shi-zu, and smiling as he introduced the two German shepherds. Gibbs shook his head fondly, and started to type at his computer, until McGee yelped out,
"Someone's trying to hack me Boss!" Abby at once ran over to his computer, helping him to type as they talked in geek speak. Gibbs went over as well, as Abby gave him the normal run down,
"This is really powerful technology Gibbs. It's like the CIA, only with a better hacker. They're trying to download our files." Gibbs' eyebrows knotted together, a sign that Tony took to mean 'Stay out of my way or I will kill you'. Nevertheless, he toddled over, not confined to his net pen, and tugged at the older man's trouser leg - albeit very softly,
"Hey Gibbs?" Gibbs glared down, immediately changing his expression, hoping the kid hadn't taken that to mean he was angry with him.
"What is it Tony? 'Cause we're really busy right now." Tony bit his lip,
"I'm bored." Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and said, through gritted teeth,
"Kate, take DiNozzo for a walk around the block. McGee, update!"
Tony looked over at Kate with a sad look in his eyes. He was being pushed away by Gibbs, and when he meekly said,
"Bye Boss." He didn't get a reply.
--
"Do you think Gibbs hates me?" He asked Kate, a forlorn expression on his face. Her heart broke, feeling sorry for the baby, and bounced him slightly on her hip - she'd have loved to be a mother,
"No Tony, he's just busy, and stressed. If McGee and Abby can't handle this hacker, they might have all our files." Tony didn't say anything, and let Kate begin to walk slowly back from where they had been sat, on a bench outside the building,
"We'll go for a quick walk round the block, then go back inside, ok?" Tony nodded, not noticing the black van parked close to the kerb they were walking past, shielded by trees and bushes, not to mention the sound of traffic.
--
"I told you that if Gibbs got stressed enough he'd send the kid outside."
"Yeah Arthur, you were right, as always." A weary Harley sounded, from where he sat in the van, wringing his hands nervously as they came closer.
--
"McGee, where's Kate?" McGee looked up from his desk, a harried look about himself,
"Boss, she's not answering her cell, and security said she only walked round the corner about ten minutes ago." Gibbs growled, a terrifying sound that made the whole squad room go silent.
"But er, we stopped the hacker. They went offline, but I think I'll probably be able to trace it." Just as he said this, Gibbs' phone rang. Picking it up, he barked,
"Gibbs." Into it.
"Aah, Agent Gibbs, what a pleasure to hear your... dulcet tones."
"Arthur Lacey," Gibbs guessed, clicking his fingers at McGee and pointing down to the phone to tell him to trace the call, "What do you want?"
"Actually," Lacey drawled into the phone, "It's more what you want." The phone was shifted slightly and he heard Kate yelling,
"Gibbs? Gibbs!"
Then, his blood ran cold as he heard a baby wail,
"Daddy!"
Lol, gotta love cliffhanger ;p Review? Sorry it's not so long, for some reason I assumed it would be longer :S xxx