Disclaimer: IN the 6 months of inactivity, I still wasn't able to obtain NCIS. It still belongs to CBS along with all its characters.

I'm really sorry for not updating for ever. I'm really grateful for those who stuck with this story. And the reviews always helped. But really I just found it hard to continue. I was never satisfied with this chapter but I really needed to add it to go on with the story. So please if this chapter sucks, I'm really sorry. But I'm sure you don't want to read excuses so here's chapter 18 (finally):


When Jeanne arrived at school on Monday morning for her history exam, she was felling well, pissed. A lot of things contributed to that anger. The biggest factor being the fight she had with Tony on Friday. She could not believe Tony would just leave her hanging like that. In public. Although not a lot of people actually saw them fight, words gets spread around fast. So by middle of the afternoon basically everybody around the school had heard about it. And the wider the words spread, the more unrealistic stories became. She knew how ridiculous a rumored story could get as it transfers from one person to the other. Everyone would fix the stories a little to make it interesting, or it could be a simple misunderstanding.

Like last week with Marie. She simply asked Jack, the biggest nerd of the school for his homework. She said she wanted to check if her answers were right but really she just wanted to copy them. But the idiot didn't get the hint so he kept harassing her to explain the questions if she got them wrong. A scene like that in middle of the cafeteria spread faster than a disease. By the end of the week, in everybody's eyes, Marie wanted to marry the guy. Deep down, nobody really believed rumors like that, but come on, it was high school, there was nothing like a good rumor to spice up the boring classes. At least that was what Jeanne told herself when she 'accidentally' spilled that Marie once told her that she had a crush on Jack. Of course she also told her that she was in the second grade and she thought it was the stupidest thing she had ever done, but Jeanne left that part out 'cause if she didn't where would the fun be. She regretted it once the rumor got so big, but some part of her still couldn't stop laughing every time she thought of Marie's face when she found of about the story.

Anyway the point was that when she walked down the hallway on Monday, she couldn't stand how everybody who walked by her was whispering and talking behind her back. For the first time in her life, she understood when people said that rumors are not so funny when they're about you. She tried glaring at some of them but it didn't seem to work all that well.

To top things off, Tony didn't even call her once during the weekend. The least he could do was to apologize, but no. Not a single visit, call, or even so much as a text. It was when she noticed that some of the nerds were looking at her judgmentally that she literally couldn't take it anymore. Jeanne decided to take revenge into her own hands. If Tony didn't want to come to Dan's party, fine, she would just have to make sure that nothing goes according to plan at he and his so called 'friends' party.

She didn't have anything personal against Ducky really, he didn't even know him, but it was the only way she could think of to get back at Tony. So when she spotted him walking out of room after the exam, she ran up to him and said "Hey Ducky!"

"Oh, hi Jeanne. I haven't seen you in a while. How did your first exam go?" Ducky asked politely.

"I think pretty good. How did yours go?"

"Well, to tell you the truth…" That was all Jeanne heard as Ducky went on about it and probably continued on to a story this reminded him about. She tried to be polite and at least wait until he was done but he was just not stopping and it was really ticking her off.

"Ducky, while I'd love to hear the end of this lovely story of yours, I really have to go. I just happened to see you when you walked out and I just wanted to say congratulations on your university acceptance and I'll really miss you next year. But unfortunately I'm going to have to miss your party since I already have plans on the 13th. Sorry, I really wanted to go and I didn't even chip in for the present." Jeanne said with a fake sad face.

Ducky was slightly stunned at first to respond but eventually he said, "No worries. Your congratulation is enough" He knew, despite his friends' best efforts, that they were preparing a surprise good bye party for him. He was pretending that he had absolutely no clue but this was unexpected. If they had planned this, he was really impressed because he was surprised that they purposely ruined the 'surprise' of the surprise party. But he had a feeling that this was more of a personal way for Jeanne to get back at Tony for the Friday fight incident. Even he had heard about the rumors going around the school. And his suspicion was confirmed when Jeanne went on to spoil more of his friends' plans.

"And it's going to be a good present too. A historical tea set. They all chipped in to get you a really decent gift. And they decided it to be a movie and pizza kind of thing so that you all get to hang out. It's so well planned. Abby should consider being a party planner when she grows up. To top it off it's going to be a surprise party…oops guess I forgot about that part." Jeanne said with her best innocent face.

"It's alright. I'm sure you did not mean to do it on purpose. Now I could help them plan this." Ducky said politely even though it was a huge lie just like Jeanne's last party of her ramble but it was the gentleman thing to do.

"Thanks Ducky! I'm really sorry about this"

"Don't worry about it." He reassured her.

"If you are sure…ok I have to go. Bye Ducky!" Jeanne turned around with a huge smirk on her face. Although she had to admit it was an immature thing to do but it did make her feel slightly better as she walked away smugly.

At noon, when Ducky met with the group for lunch, he was lost as to what he should do. He didn't know whether he should tell his friends that he knows or just pretend that he still doesn't know. He should be telling to truth but he had a feeling that Tony was not going to take the news well that his girlfriend spoiled the plan. Although he was really curious as to that tea set but still he knew how much effort Abby and everybody else had put into it and it would be cruel of him to ruin that. He could still pretend that he didn't know anything. Yes, he was going to pretend to the end.

"Hey Ducky!" Abby greeted him excitedly as usual when she saw him join them at their table. "Finally I'm done my first exam. 7 more to go! Wow that seems a lot. I mean. I always-"

"Abby, how many Caf-pows did you have today? You are too hyper even for you." Kate asked

"Not much. Just like four!" Abby replied still not sitting down as she walked back and forth clearly having a lot of extra energy to spare from over drinking caffeine.

"Four! Abby! That is way too much for you to have! It's barely into the afternoon!" Kate exclaimed.

"It's really not that much. Considering how much pressure I've been under lately. It just helps me to keep my head in the game," Abby defended herself. "Anyway where are Tony and Ziva and Gibbs and Jenny?"

"I don't know where Gibb went but I do know that Jenny had some family thing to do so she couldn't come to the mall." Ziva said.

"Oh and Tony called and said he was with Jeanne." Tim added.

"Erg! I really don't like her. It's not that I don't want Tony to be happy or anything. I do! I mean he's my friend and all but still Jeanne! She's so mean to everybody!" Abby ranted.

"Not everyone." Tim tried to defend Tony's girlfriend a little.

"Timmy! Of all the people to say that! Don't you remember how she looked at you at first like you were a freak or something?"

"Well yeah but we shouldn't talk about her beh-"

"Plus she's so mean to Ziva these days. I'm surprised she hadn't killed her with a paper clip yet!" Abby cut Tim off.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away from the school, Tony and Jeanne sat together on a park bench. Jeanne was really surprised Tony had called her. At first she thought he was upset about what she did but he seemed guilty so she concluded that that wasn't it. Now, sitting right beside him in silence for two minutes, she got more and more nervous. She worried that he was actually feeling guilty about Friday and was apologizing to her. She would be happy about that but she was worried about what would happen if he realized what she had done. She concluded that maybe she jumped to conclusions way too fast. Although maybe he had finally decided that his so called friends aren't worth his time, she thought. Then Tony finally spoke.

"Look Jeanne, I'm really sorry about Friday. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." He started.

"No you shouldn't have! But I totally forgive you. I mean I understand that you get confused sometimes with so much going on in your life." Jeanne said and leaned against his shoulder in attempt to finish this conversation quick and maybe avoid the topic about Ducky's party.

"Thanks." Tony said, a little confused that she had accepted his apology so quick. It has never happened before. He was expecting to have to beg for forgiveness, not that he was complaining about the situation he found himself in. But then what Jeanne said had settled in on him. "Wait a minute…confused? What was I confused about? I know I was wrong to have yelled at you like that but…"

Jeanne wanted to stop herself from starting the argument all over again but she couldn't help herself. It was out of her mouth before it registered in her brain. "I was talking about going to Ducky's party instead of Don's."

"What! I should make myself clear, I'm sorry about the fight but not the argument. I'm still going to Ducky's party. You do understand that I'm going to see Don next year but not Ducky right? It's obvious which is more important."

"Not to you apparently! Who cares about your friends' stupid party? Were you really close to Ducky anyways? He's like three years older than us and really let's admit his stories are kind of annoying."

"You know what," Tony started as he pushed Jeanne away from his shoulder, "Maybe you don't understand this but I love my friends. They may have their flaws but they're my friends and I don't appreciate it when people make fun of them. It's called loyalty. You should try it sometime. Maybe then you'll see what real friendship is all about and that it's not all about popularity or money!"

"How could you accuse me of…?" Jeanned drifted off, " You know what? I don't regret it at all. It serves you right, you bastard!"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how I ruined your 'party'" Jeanne mocked. It only made her smugger as Tony stood there all confused. It probably wasn't the smartest move but Jeanne was too outraged to care as she told Tony about the morning incident word by word.

By the end, Tony was…, he couldn't even find a word for what he was feeling. He was way beyond just angry. "How could you do that? That is just so…" He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. "Do you know how hard we planned for the good bye party! And you just spoiled every single bit of it. All because of what? Just because you're angry at me? I can't believe you would do that. I put up a lot with you especially when you talk about my friends in that tone of yours but you really crossed the line this time. You want me to choose between you and my friends? Fine! I don't even have to stop for a second to decide."

"Tony, honey, I'm so-"Jeanne tried as it finally sank into what she had done as Tony yelled at her. But Tony just put his hand up and cut her off.

"Don't. We're done here. I really believed it when you said you changed. That's why we got back together after what you did the last time. But I was clearly wrong to trust you again because you didn't become better. You've gotten worse. Just don't expect me to make the same mistakes again." Tony realized that it was a little cruel for him to say this to Jeanne especially while her friends were still hung up on the rumors that started up about them on Friday but he just couldn't take it anymore. He didn't even know how he was going to make it up to his friends.

He didn't look back as he left her there alone and headed for the mall where his friends were. He wanted to repair the damages but he didn't even know where to begin.

When he made it to the mall food court where his friends were just finishing their lunch, he suddenly lost his courage to go up to them especially as he spotted Ducky sitting with them. But it was too late as an overly hyper Abby called him."Tony! You've made it!"

"Hey guys" Tony said somewhat sheepishly which made them narrow their eyes. Tony was never sheepish. Even after he had realized that what he had done was immature.

"What's going on?" Kate asked for everybody at the table except for Ducky who had a pretty clear idea what was going on.

"I'm really sorry."

"What are you talking about?" Tim asked, absolutely confused.

"Especially you Ducky. It was supposed to be special and all because I was so stupid it's all ruined."

"No, Tony. It's alright, I do not mind."

"It's not! It was supposed to be a 'surprise' go away party where we could hang out for the last time. You were supposed to only enjoy the party, not worry about some stupid thing."

"What?" Abby asked even though she was afraid of what the answer would be.

"I'm sorry to everybody too. I know you've all worked hard to plan this and keep it a secret."

"Are you talking about…" Abby asked slowly, trying to convince herself that she wasn't hearing right and Tony was talking about something else. However that hope didn't last long as Tony nodded. "How could you!" Abby said as she launched herself against him punching his arm.

It was then that Ducky stood up and tried to stop Abby. "It's not his fault, Abby."

Abby glared at Tony and asked "How could it not be?"

"It really wasn't." Ducky said and started to tell them about what had happened with Jeanne even though he guessed that the look Tony gave him was begging him not to tell the story.

When he was done, everybody was shocked. They all knew that Jeanne was slightly mean but they didn`t think that she`ll go that far.

"It's really fine Tony. Don't blame yourself." Ducky tried to make Tony let go of the guilt.

"It's not!"

"Look at the bright side. Now I could get to plan the rest of the party with you. I could look at the guest list and who I want there and who I don't want there." Ducky suggested, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"But-"

"I don't mind it. Really. Actually I'm a little planner myself. I like to plan parties. I used to do it all the time for my mother for holiday dinners and such."

Not everybody was so convinced immediately but by the end of when they all finished desert, they were even able to joke about it a little.

"So Abby, is it really true that you're giving me a tea set?"

"Ducky! Do you really think I'm going to spoil the last surprise of my original 'surprise party'? No way. You're going to have to wait for that one." Abby told him and everybody laughed.

Yep it wasn't going to end up in too much of a disaster and that made Tony feel a little better. Not that he wasn't an idiot anymore for not seeing Jeanne for who she was, but still, she didn't ruin everything.


Please review and tell me what you think. Reviews always inspire me and suggestions always help me make this story better. TBC