It was nearly six by the time Tony opened his eyes again. Everything hurt, from his head right down to his toes. He woke up in a large bed, Abby at his side, fast asleep, mascara smeared across her eyes, pig tails a mess. Tony rubbed his eyes, feeling very out of it. He saw McGee sitting on a chair next to the bed, where he and Abby lay, his mac was on his lap and he too was dead to the world, a line of drool running down his chin.
Tony wanted Gibbs, though. He looked around the room, realized the older man wasn't there, and decided to go and find him. He could barely reach the floor, he was so short, and had to grip at the covers with his tiny fingers to keep from falling over. Once he was on the ground though, he realized how big everything was in comparison to himself. His undeveloped brain not questioning why he was so small all of a sudden, Tony counted himself very lucky that the door to their hotel room was slightly ajar, because there would have been no way he could have reached the handle.
Pushing the door further open, he walked off, wondering where Gibbs could have gone.
A young couple vacationing in the hotel walked the halls, on their way down to the pool when they spotted the toddler walking about. "Oh Johnny, look at that little boy, how old do you think he is?"
Johnny shrugged, "He looks to be my nieces age-can't be older than four. Where do you think his parents are?" he asked, in a disapproving voice.
Jennifer, who hated getting involved in things, pushed her boyfriend along with her. "Who knows." she said, as they walked off.
Tony was starting to get frustrated. Gibbs was no where to be found and he'd been walking for what seemed like hours. He'd thought about going back to Abby and Tim, but had realized with a start that he didn't know where 'back' was. All these halls looked the same and he hadn't bothered looking at the numbers on the door, something he now regretted not doing. "Boss?" he called out, biting his lip and trying to keep the tears at bay. As a child, he couldn't remember ever not being forgotten or left behind at some random hotel. "Boss?"
"T-Tony?" Palmer stuttered when he saw the toddler. He was a lot smaller than when he'd seen him in the crime scene a few hours ago. He'd been small, maybe six or seven, but this was outrageous. He looked to be three or four, at most. He had to be mistaken; but then, he couldn't see any other four year-old calling out for their 'Boss'.
The toddler stumbled a bit as he turned around, round green eyes starting to water. "Jimmy!" he raised his hands almost immediately, wanting badly to be picked up off the ground.
Palmer swooped the little boy into his arms, cradling him for a good minute before sighing in relief. Definitely Tony. They'd all been frantically searching for him for a good hour now, Abby and McGee feeling particularly guilty over falling asleep we they were on shift to watch the boy, and Gibbs feeling doubly guilty for having forgotten to close the door all the way when he'd left the room. He took out his cell phone and dialed for Gibbs number, as the toddler sucked his thumb, head laying against Jimmys' collar bone. As far as kids went, Tony seriously had to be the most adorable thing since Shirley Temple.
"Gibbs, I found him, I'm headed back to the room right now!" He spoke into the phone quickly, trying to keep from stuttering, his feet already making their way to the hotel elevator. He wondered briefly how Tony had climbed all those stairs with his chubby little stub of legs.
Gibbs was the first to get back to the room, relief practically radiating off him, but, seeing as how this was Gibbs, the relief came in the form of anger. "Damn it DiNozzo! What the hell were you thinking? You might look four, but I'll be damned if you start acting it! Running off without telling anyone? You had me worried half to death! What's wrong with you? Didn't you think? No, of course not-"
Both Jimmy and Gibbs were shocked to see tears welling in the large eyes of the toddler. And they certainly hadn't expected the boy to start outright crying. Gibbs couldn't remember the amount of times he'd reprimanded his senior field agent, and couldn't tell why he was reacting in this way. When Gibbs went to comfort the child, he felt his heart sink as Tony shrunk away from his touch, huddling into Jimmys' plaid shirt for protection. Palmer couldn't help but feel protective of the baby boy, and tried to sooth him, rocking him back and forth gently.
Minutes later, Abby ran in, followed by Ziva, Tim, Kate and Duck. "Oh my God, why is he crying, is he hurt? Oh God, did he fall down the stairs?" Abby swooped the boy off Palmer and cradled him tight, inspecting him for any injuries. "We're so sorry we fell asleep on you honey, please don't cry. Why'd you run off like that? You nearly croaked, I was so scared!" she hugged him tight to her bosom.
He sniffled, "Had to find Gibbs." he explained very solemnly. "Missed him."
Later, it was explained to the agents, by the oh so knowledgeable Doctor Mallard, that Anthony was now not only regressing in age physically, but mentally as well. Gibbs thought it explained Tonys' reaction to his outburst, and it gnawed at him; he hadn't been reprimanding his twenty-eight year-old senior field agent. He'd yelled at a four year-old who'd gone off to look for him because he'd 'missed him'. Tony had fallen asleep a while ago, all tuckered out from crying, and each of them were still on edge, and didn't want to even think about losing him again, so they all took turns cradling the little boy in his sleep, while they looked over their case files and discussed topics ranging from their petty officers' death to Tonys' current condition.
"He's so tiny." Abby remarked, playing with his hair, as Tim looked down at the boy in his arms, practically weightless, one very petite hand gently clutching at of his work shirt, making creases McGee didn't mind having to iron out the next morning.
"Yeah." he agreed. "He was bigger in the car, on our way back from the crime scene." he pointed out the obvious. "Like, six or something."
"Correct Timothy." Ducky spoke up. "The chemical is unfortunately quite unpredictable and therefore we have no way of telling whether he will skip four years in one week, and eight the next. This time, however, he morphed twice, and the first time was so incredibly painful he passed out on us, the poor lad."
Ziva wondered, "Since he cannot grasp his adult self mentally anymore, this means he will now be acting like a child, then?"
"Exactly." he replied.
Kate asked the question no one really wanted to ask, even though it had been on all of their minds for a while now. "What'll happen to him when he keeps regressing younger and younger? He's four now, it looks as if the whole regressing thing is speeding up, and I mean...what if it comes to the point where-"
"We won't let it come to that." Gibbs interrupted sternly, and no one dared argue with the conviction in his tone, even if he himself wasn't so sure about it.
Two hours later, it was nearly midnight, and the girls were sent to their rooms, the men to theirs, while Gibbs and Tony shared a room. He'd been expecting to room with a thirteen year-old but plans had clearly changed drastically over the course of the day. Either way, he tucked the boy in and went to his own bed, exhausted after the day they'd had.
Tony woke up around 3am to a dark room, and fright gripped at him instantly. He waited a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and looked around. Seeing a figure on the bed a few feet next to his, a curious four year-old tumbled out of bed and climbed very expertly onto Gibbs. The older man was sound asleep. Tony stifled a sneeze. With all the commotion of the day, he'd nearly ignored his cold, but now that things had more or less settled, he didn't feel all that great.
The toddler shook Gibbs hand slightly, "Boss." he said, sounding very miserable. "I don't feel good. Get Ducky." Still, Gibbs stayed asleep.
It occurred to the adult still semi-conscious inside of Tony that this wasn't normal. He'd made quite a ruckus getting up and out of bed and was practically sat on top of the older man-Gibbs was not the heavy sleeper type.
Tony really didn't feel good. His nose was runny, his head was achy, and his stomach churned. "Boooooss." he half-sobbed, half-whined.
And suddenly, he felt a large rough hand clamp at his mouth, another wrap around his small frame. Just as he started struggling and attempting to scream, a menacing voice whispered into his ear. "Don't bother, little boy, he cannot hear you." And then the toddler felt a sting against his neck and his eyes rolled back into his head, body going completely limp.
"Subject is obtained." the man with the accent spoke into his ear piece, cradling the four year-old as if he were his own, so that downstairs at reception no one would be any the wiser as to the boys abduction.
A.N! Thanks for reading, I'll be updating soon! Review and tell me what you guys thought? Thanks :)