Golden Child

Chapter 7

More than an hour had passed since Gibbs had returned to his desk, and still there had been no sign of Tony. His gut wasn't telling him that there was anything seriously wrong, but nor was it telling him why he wasn't seeing his number one field agent sitting at his desk. Lunch at NCIS was half an hour – 45 minutes absolute tops. 'With Abby' had been Ziva's answer to Gibbs' unspoken question twenty minutes ago. McGee had not taken his eyes from his screen for a second. After another fifteen minutes had gone by, Gibbs finally headed off to the lab, admitting to himself that while he wasn't worried, he needed his curiosity satisfied.

………………………………………

It was a fully functional forensic laboratory, and it served NCIS exceptionally well, but it was hardly conventional. Abby' scientific skills were incredibly developed, but her attire and behaviour suggested otherwise. Even now, as she peered into her microscope, she was listening to heavy metal music courtesy of her earplugs. Gibbs could discern the tune (if that was the right word for it) from where he stood in the doorway. He noticed that Abby glanced from time to time to the far corner of the lab. Following the direction of her eyes, Gibbs realized why. Smiling slightly, he entered the lab and tapped her on the shoulder. Abby turned and placed her finger to her lips. Gibbs pulled her ear plugs out in response.

'Don't you dare wake him,' hissed Abby, placing her hands on her hips.

'Not planning to,' said Gibbs, slightly bemused by her critical, protective tone.

'We have to fix things,' continued Abby, her face stern and worried.

'Such as?' enquired Gibbs.

'Things,' repeated Abby. 'We didn't go to lunch because Tony wasn't hungry, and Tony wasn't hungry because he and McGee had some kind of argument, and Tony was really angry with McGee, but then he was sad about losing it with him, and McGee's probably sad too, but he doesn't know what to say to fix things, and McGee's got Tony all wrong, and I hate how Vance is still splitting up this team, even though he's doing it metaphorically rather than physically, and I just don't get how Vance doesn't know what a great agent Tony is, and we have to fix it, Gibbs. Tell me everything's going to be okay, and that things will go back to how they were before all of this.'

'It's gonna be okay,' said Gibbs, quietly as Abby dropped her assertive stance and allowed herself to be drawn into a hug. It really would be okay, but Gibbs doubted if things would go back to how they were before. He couldn't undo the whole U.S.S. Reagan fiasco and the effect that it had had on Tony. And, once again, Gibbs found himself wondering about Abby and Tony. He doubted whether Abby would be quite so fired up over McGee or Ziva as she'd just been about Tony.

The beeping of one of Abby's 'babies' interrupted their hug as she hastily silenced it.

'If he wakes up soon,' said Gibbs, 'send him back to the bullpen. If not, I'll stop by on my way out to drive him home.'

'No need', said Abby as she began tapping expertly away on her keypad. 'I'm staying over again. He needs me.'

'Okay,' said Gibbs,' just don't keep him up all night on Caffpow and DVDS.'

Gibbs' words were strict but he found himself oddly glad that Abby would have Tony's six again that night.

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The next two days went by smoothly enough, but without a single new lead as to the whereabouts of Marcus Reed, the ruthless carjacker./killer. Tony continued to come into to work to compete 'light duties' He only normally used to fingers to type anyways, so his injury hardly affected his typing speed. The tension between McGee and Tony remained. Gibbs was well aware of it– it was hard to ignore – but he didn't try to address it. How could he, besides giving both of them a headslap? McGee wasn't a child, and neither was Tony. Gibbs wasn't going to insult either of them by delivering a lecture. He chose to have faith that the two agents would work things out before Tony returned to field work.

McGee had continued to feel unnerved about the 'incident'. Tony's presence and obvious incapacitation were constant reminders of it. He also hated the fact that Abby seemed to have taken Tony's side. He felt irked and annoyed but chose not to say anything in case he was accused of petulance. Damn it, he felt petulant! But then he also felt guilty at begrudging Tony some attention from Abby. The poor guy couldn't drive his car or button his own shirt! Gibbs had stopped snapping at McGee, but Gibbs' words to him were more direct than usual, if that were even possible.

Tony had actually started to see the upside of the whole situation, which would have really irritated McGee had the younger agent known this. Tony hated not being out in the field, but at least he was still at work. And having Abby at his apartment each night was an absolute bonus. They shared conversation, breakfast, dinner and movies. It was just about as close to domestic bliss that Tony had ever experienced. Just having someone there was really nice, he had to admit. Of course she was also right there to undo jars, tie laces and put his watch on. Having someone so willing to attend to his needs like that was new for Tony and he'd decided he actually liked it, despite his independence that had been cultivated over many years of having to look after himself. But maybe that was because she was Abby. Anyway, he'd stopped telling her that she didn't have to stay and look after him. He was both scared and hopeful when he considered that she might actually stay over for six weeks!

On the third day, the morning quiet of the bullpen was disturbed by the opening of the elevator, the thud of heavy boots and an admonishing Abby. Gibbs looked up from his desk to see Tony heads straight to his chair and Abby heading straight for Gibbs.

'Tony won't say,' she began, her eyes flashing, 'but he needs to go to the hospital to get his fingers checked out again.'

'Abby, it's fine', Tony interrupted, but he was silenced by the glare she sent his way.

'No, mister, it is NOT fine. You shouldn't feel any pain in a plastered hand. You said it hurt last might, and I can tell it's still hurting.'

'That is true,' said Ziva from her chair. 'You should not be feeling pain. It could perhaps be a blood clot.'

'Well, I'm frankly surprised,' said Tony. 'I had no idea the pair of you had medical degrees, did you Boss?'

'No I didn't, but you'll be getting it checked out,' Gibbs told him, just before he was cut short by the ringing of his phone.

'Gibbs!' he barked in his characteristic manner.

'Satisfied?' whispered Tony accusingly in Ziva's direction.

'I merely agreed with Abby,' retorted Ziva. 'And Gibbs is wise to tell you to get it checked out.'

'He needs to go to the hospital that originally did the X-rays,' said Abby. 'Once I get the word from the Bossman, I'll take him.'

'Hey, I am here you know,' protested Tony, sulkily.

Gibbs put down his phone, pulled out his drawer and holstered his gun.

'Gibbs, permission to take Tony to hospital?' asked Abby, expectantly as Tony rolled his eyes.

'Permission denied,' Gibbs told her, to Tony's delight. 'There's been a murder – FBI agent on a naval base. Evidence is about to arrive at your lab any second, Abs. Number one priority. Ziva, I want you to got to the scene and observe until I get there.' Seeing McGee stand up, Gibbs shook his head. 'Not you MGee,' he told him. Strict instructions to send two agents only. Fornell's taking the lead on this one.'

'What do you want me to do?' asked McGee, trying not to show the rejection he felt.

Gibbs' eyes traveled to Tony and caught sight of a grimace of pain as his Number One Agent tried to rotate his injured hand.

'Take Dinozzo to the hospital,' said Gibbs, decisively. 'And neither of you leaves until a doctor examines that hand.'

And there was real irony in how McGee felt at that point because he really did believe that Ziva had been given the task that Gibbs regarded as being of greatest importance.