Disclaimer: No surprise here- I don't own NCIS
I cannot even begin to say how sorry I am for taking soo long with this chapter. There's absolutely no excuse for me whatsoever for taking this long. And thank you for those of you who reviewed on last chapter and gave me suggestion on how to improve. Hopefully you haven't given up on this story yet and I hope that this chapter isn't too disappointing for your wait. Again I'm so sorry, I definitely will get better at updating faster.
Ever since planning the basic skeleton of Ducky's surprise good bye party back at Ziva's house, Abby had kept herself busy working on the details of the party. Despite the little obstacles here and there, all in all, things went quite well. However there were still some things that she needed to sort out with rest of the group. But of course with Ducky right in front of them, there was no way Abby could get anything done, so today she had asked Jenny to drag Ducky out of the cafeteria. Abby promised to fill Jenny in on the plan afterwards. It was already half way into the lunch hours so everybody was done eating and was just chitchatting amongst themselves. Abby caught Jenny's eyes and nodded.
"Hey Ducky, could you help me with a science problem? I'm studying for the exam and I don't really get this part." Jenny said as she bent down to open her backpack for her science book. She was just slowly reaching for her books for the first ten seconds and then she started to frantically search for something in her bag. She looked up with a sad face and asked out loud, "Where's my science textbook? You know what Ducky, I probably forgot it in my locker. Do you mind coming up stairs with me? I could just ask you the questions there."
"Not a problem Jenny, I need to move around more. I'm so stressed with the exams and stuff I barely ever leaves my desk! I know that it's..." Everybody could still hear Ducky babbling about something when he and Jenny reached the cafeteria doors. They couldn't make out what he was saying but they got a feeling that he probably was telling another one of his stories.
"Okay guys! We're only few days away from exams. Do you know what that means? It means that we've only got little over a week to prepare for Ducky's party. We have so much that we need to do. We haven't even figured out where the party's going to be. We have absolutely no idea what present to Ducky, which by the way no one has given me the ten dollars they were supposed to chip in. Plus we have to inform everybody on the invite list after we figure it out and everybody's so busy these days..." Abby started to say speedily without stopping at all.
"Hey Abs, we get the point. Take a deep breath." Gibbs took a deep breath and gestured Abby to follow him.
After taking a couple of deep breath in and out with Gibbs, Abby calmed down and continued, "Like I said we have a lot to do and we obviously can't do it in front of Ducky so I asked Jenny to distract him for a while today. That gives us rest of the lunch to plan rest of the things out so we could get everything ready."
Everybody nodded and mumbled few 'okay's and 'sure's but nobody actually started to work. Seeing that nobody was moving Abby looked at them in disbelief and said, "Eh...guys? What are you waiting for? Let's get working!"
The others looked at each other trying to figure out who would have to tell Abby. When nobody seemed to be exactly keen on doing so, Ziva decided to say it herself. "Um Abby, sorry but um... we thought that you planned everything out and um...well the thing is that the rest of us have no idea what is going on."
There was a few seconds of pause before realization hit Abby. She had practically volunteered herself for every task when they decided to split the tasks. She chuckled nervously before admitting, "Yeah, guess it was too much for me to handle all by myself."
"It's alright Abby. What can we do to help?" Kate asked.
"Well, to begin with we have to decide what present to give Ducky. With everybody chipping in we could get him a really decent gift but I can't decide what he'd like the most. And it's Ducky. He's so sweet and I just want to give him the best present ever before he goes away. I think that it'd be the best if we all go shopping and decide as a group so I was wondering if everyone's free this weekend."
"That's a great idea Abby. While we're at it we could get the supplies for everything else too."
Abby looked around and everybody nodded. Well, that's everybody but Tim.
"I'm sort of busy this weekend with studying," Tim answered Abby's unsaid question.
"Tim!" Abby exclaimed, disappointed that Tim wouldn't spare a couple of hours to shop for one of his best friends who's going to go half way across the world. But most of all, she was disappointed that Tony who sat at corner of the desk hadn't said a single word since Ducky had left. They still haven't technically made up from their fight over what she said about Jeanne. The very next day she came to school, she was really worried that Tony would still be mad at her but he just pretended nothing happened in front of everyone and was being himself. But when they were alone, well that was a whole other situation. They used to joke around so much but for the past week or so they had been so awkward and that got Abby worried. Now, she's even more worried because Tony didn't even tease Tim about studying during the weekend. It was not that she wanted Tony to make fun of Tim but it's what he does and he's not doing it!
While Abby was worrying about how to fix her problem with Tony, she looked really angry and that made Tim very nervous. He assumed that she was mad at him so he explained himself nervously, "Abby it's not that I don't want to go it's just that I promised to help Ducky with his final computer project and in turn he promised to help me with my essay. Besides we couldn't leave Ducky out of our weekend plan if everybody was going in the first place. He might get suspicious or worse feel that we didn't want him to come. So I think it's a good idea that I stay with Ducky while you guys go shop."
"Why didn't you just make that clear the first time?" Abby complained
"Well..." He started to say but Abby just waved him off.
"So this Saturday around two at the mall?" Abby asked and the others nodded in agreement.
"Abby, have you decided where we are having the party?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah. I figured that since it's the last time we're all going to be together it would be better to just hang out, watch a movie and order pizza at someone's place rather than to go to a bowling alley. I asked Jenny and she said her father's going away next week so we can have the party at her place."
"Hmm, her father's not going to be home... so no adults?" Tony asked mischievously.
"Don't even think about it Tony!"
"Hey I haven't said anything yet Kate!" Tony defended.
"But you were gonna!" Kate fired back.
"Gonna what Kate? What did you even have in mind? You know maybe it's you who has problems since you're jumping to conclusions so fast!" Tony said pushing his chair back and standing up, leaning closer to Kate who was standing across the table.
"Enough!" Gibbs complained, "Don't you guys ever get tired of bickering so much?"
"Sorry." Both of them apologized and sat back down. Gibbs sighed while Tim, Ziva and Abby couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, whatever you had in mind Tony, you probably shouldn't do it." Tim said once he stopped chuckling.
"What do I have in mind?" Tony asked incredulously.
"I'm sure whatever it was, it either had something to do with girls or alcohol." Ziva commented still chuckling.
"Why would you assume that? I might have been referring to bringing an R-rated movie or something else." Tony defended himself realizing that everybody was against him.
"Well, it obviously had something to do with girls because... well you are you." Ziva stated matter-of-factly and Kate agreed.
"And Tony? Unsupervised house, party, and access to alcohol? Even a 5 year old knows what that adds up to in the DiNozzo mind." Gibbs added.
At that, everybody, including Tony couldn't help but to laugh. "Ok fine, you caught me," Tony joked, "I was just joking. I would never try to make a mess at Ducky's good-bye party."
Everybody laughed and started to get off topic.
"Hey Tony, could you bring in couple of movies?" Abby asked. bring everybody back on topic again..
"Sure thing. That's what I usually do anyways." Tony replied.
"That's usually all you do." Kate teased.
"I am curious though. How big is your movie collection? Clearly, you never ran out of movies to talk about and as far as I know you never showed us the same movie more than once." Ziva asked.
"Oh, his collection is huge." Abby answered for Tony.
Before he could comment on that Kate added, "Beyond huge. I don't think even Tony knows how many he has. Of course, over half of the classics are his dad's, but still, it's a huge pile," Then she turned to Tony, "Movies seems to be the only thing that you enjoy more than stealing the Playboys from your dad."
Tony fake gasped, "Kate! What makes you think that I look at Playboys. I would never-
"Oh please Tony! Jeanne is not here right now. You don't need to pretend." Kate cut him off.
Tony slowly turned his head to check if Kate was telling the truth and when he saw that it was he let out a breath of relief. "I do have other hobbies too. I mean I can't live without basketball, football, or video games. Anyways, after that stunt you pulled on me with my last girlfriend, can you blame me that I would rather be safe than sorry?"
"Tony, like I've told you in the every single one of the hundreds of times that I've apologized to you about that, I didn't know she was right behind us!"
"I know, but still, just in case. Besides, one of her friends could have been around too."
"What?" A very confused Ziva asked. Nobody seemed to be eager to answer and when her eyes met Gibbs', his only response was shaking his head while trying to hide a smirk. Ziva decided that he was right. It was probably one of those incidents that she was better off not knowing. So she changed the subject by asking, "Abby, do you have the invite list done? It would help to know how many people are going to be there when we shop."
"That's true,-", before Tim could finish his thought, Tony suddenly stood up in a hurry and everybody, even Gibbs and Ziva jumped slightly.
"What's wrong?" Tim asked.
"The list... of course the list! I totally forgot. Sorry guys, I have to go." Tony said and dashed out of the cafeteria without a further explanation.
Everybody but one person was extremely confused by the exit. Everybody but Abby. She was convinced that it had something to do with her refusing to let Tony bring Jeanne to the party. She had been so focused on the matter that week that she didn't stop to consider if it even made sense or not in this particular situation. All she knew was that Tony ran off as soon as the invite list came up and she felt that he was upset. She had been pushing off dealing with this the whole week and realized that she couldn't push off anymore. So she too, stood up and ran out the cafeteria trying to catch up with Tony.
The four people still at the table was now officially completely shocked. Kate and Tim had their mouths hang wide open and Gibbs and Ziva was frowning at the confusing turning of events.
While outside the cafeteria, Abby finally caught up with Tony. Well, not really. Tony was way faster than Abby and if he had been running the whole time there would have been no way Abby could have caught up. However Tony was currently at his locker flipping for something so Abby was able to find him.
"Tony, I-" Abby started.
"What are you doing here Abby?" Tony turned to her, surprised that she followed him out.
"I'm so sorry-" Abby continued, ignoring Tony's question.
"What are you talking about?" The even more confused Tony asked but Abby just kept rumbling on.
"You know this is why I hate fighting with my friends! It's so awkward and I miss joking with you Tony! I shouldn't have been so mean to you about Jeanne. If you want her to come-"
That was when the pieces fit together in Tony's mind. Abby was apparently still worried about what happened the week before. He grabbed hold of Abby's shoulders and shook her a little until she stopped and looked at him. "Abs, are you talking about what I said to you last week over the phone? I totally forgot about it. It really doesn't matter and the truth is it was me who was being a jerk. Your were right. It's going to be the last time that we're all together and it should be just Ducky's closest friends that actually go. But you were kinda mean about Jeanne so we could say that we're even. Alright? No need to apologize; besides it's a sign of weakness remember?" Tony said while flashing his irresistible grin to try to cheer Abby up.
Abby relaxed realizing that Tony's behaviour really had nothing to do with her. Then a question popped up in her head, "If it wasn't about the invite list, why would you have-"
"Ran off like that?" Tony finished the question for her, "Yeah sorry about that Abs. It's just that it got me thinking and I remembered that I was supposed to get a list to my coach today. And I can't seem to find it and therefore the mess" Tony explained pointing to his locker which was in fact quite messy.
"Oops. Guess I jumped to conclusions huh? You need help?" Abby asked.
"Uh, no thanks. I got it covered." Tony replied.
"Ok, see ya later. I better get back before they get freaked out."
"See ya!" Tony said as Abby left. He turned back to his locker to continue his search. After a minute or two he finally found the piece of paper he was looking for. He put or rather shoved everything back into his locker. He closed his locker and just as he was about to lock it somebody behind him covered his eyes.
"Guess who?"
Tony smiled realizing who it was. He pushed off her hands and turned around to land a light kiss on her cheeks. "Hey Jeanne."
"Hi sweetie." Jeanne said as she hugged Tony.
"Where were you today? I didn't see you in class or at the caf today." Tony asked.
"Dentist appointment." She explained.
"Why didn't you just skip the whole day?" Tony asked.
"That's what you would have done Tony, not me. Besides, I couldn't stand the idea of not seeing you today so I'm willing to do anything even if it involved coming to school."
Tony grinned. Then Jeanne asked, "What are you doing here anyways?" referring to the empty hallway.
"Oh, I was just getting some stuff for my basketball coach." Tony answered.
"Ok, hey Tony you know about the party on the 13th? I was wondering whether we would meet up and go together or just meet at the house."
"Oh yeah, about Ducky's party. I'm sorry but we sort of want to keep it to close friend only since it's Ducky's last week and we really want to make good use of the time so we can't bring guests." Tony lied to Jeanne. He didn't really need to lie but he also didn't really want to say it to her face that his friends don't want her there either. So he lied about the no guests part.
"Ducky? What are you talking about? I was talking about Dan's party on the 13th." Jeanne said confused.
"Oh! Well I didn't really look closely on the invitation. Ducky's party's on the 13th too." Tony said worriedly.
"Yeah, but you're still going to go to Dan's party with me right?" Jeanne asked slowly.
Tony frowned. "What? Jeanne, Ducky's been one of my best friends since elementary school. He's been a real good big brother to us all and he's leaving now. I can't just not go to his going away party."
"But Tony! It's going to be the party of the year. You can't just pass up that opportunity either. Do you know what some people are doing just to get an invitation? Besides, Dan's one of your buddies he'll want you to be there." Jeanne complained, not believing that her boyfriend would even consider not going to the party of the year just for one of his pathetic friend's so called 'party'. Of course she would never say that to him out loud because he's for some reason very protective of them.
"Dan is one of my buddies but Ducky's my best friend. Sorry but I can't go."
Jeanne gave a fake laugh as she shook her head. "Are you really not going to Dan's party for-" She cut her self off and took a deep breath and continued sweetly. "Tony, I don't think you get the big picture here. All the kids who matter are gonna be there. You can get together with your friends any time you want and besides it's not as if you're not going to see Ducky for the rest of your life."
"Look Jeanne, I don't care about all that okay? I have to, no, I want to go to Ducky's party." Tony explained after taking one of his own deep breaths to try and calm himself down.
"Tony, why are you so stubborn! I'm think of who's gonna be there. All the sports teams, cheerleaders, and the rich kids are going to Dan's party. Compared that your 'party'. I bet only the gang's going. I mean you'd really rather spend more time with Ziva and what's his name McGeek than me and your buddies?" Jeanne said, no longer so sweetly.
"It's McGee" Tony said through his clenched teeth. Even though he was the one that came up with McNicknames, he really didn't like it when people outside the group used it, especially the offensive ones.
"Whatever! They're all fricking geeky los-" Jeanne caught herself saying what she really thought about his friends without processing it through her brains first. Although the particular word 'losers' didn't come out of her mouth, she could see clearly on Tony's face that he knew what she meant. And he was mad.
Tony slammed his lock on his locker. He took several deep breaths but it wasn't helping much. "Look Jeanne, I think it would be a good idea for both of us to calm down a little, okay? We all said things that we probably didn't mean and let's just cool off for a while think about it."
"So you're going to consider Dan's invitation?" Jeanne asked inconsiderately.
"No! It doesn't matter what you say Jeanne. You can't convince me to not go to Ducky's party." Tony said no longer able to contain his voice at a normal level.
"So you're going to make me go to the party alone!?" Jeanne yelled back.
Realizing that yelling in a public hallway is a bad idea Tony tried to calm his girlfriend down. "Look I'm sorry alright? You have your best friends going too."
"What's it going to look like if my boyfriend's not there? You're choosing more than a party. It's not just Dan's party or Ducky's party. It's your friends at Dan's party or your friends at Ducky's party."
Tony back away, not believing at all that Jeanne was actually suggesting this. "This isn't about choosing between friends. It is just a party. Now I have to get this paper-" Tony said holding out his paper "-to Coach Johnson. In the meantime think about whether you really want to make it about choosing between you or my friends. And trust me when I say this, you don't want me to choose."
And with that Tony left for the gym, leaving Jeanne in the hallway with her mouth wide open in disbelief.
TBC and review is much appreciated.
