December 31st: Taking Time - 500 words - Happy New Years! Just as the year is about to roll over, the villains steal center stage. Literally. They take it.

Fandom: NCIS

Warnings: N/A

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

Dropped the Ball

Everyone was out celebrating the new year. Everywhere people were drinking and flirting to find that special someone for a New Year's Eve kiss.

The MCRT team were no different. They had hopped from bar to bar, doing shots as they made their way to Times Square. No one remembered how flying to New York had become their tradition, though rumors flew that Abby and Tony had made some kind of bet and it escalated to the team getting drunk off their ass with Gibbs tagging along, under the guise of keeping a certain wayward agent on the straight and narrow. Tony's already been accused of murder 3 times now, Gibbs really didn't want a 4th.

The party was underway and the team drunk, they were a few minutes away from the main event, this being the last bar planned, but they still had a half hour to go. Gibbs nursed his 5th Scotch of the night, he decided to keep track of how many bars his team visited by the number of drinks he had. It would allow him to enjoy the moment but still keep a clear head.

He sighed as Tony once again snuggled up next to him and groped his leg, growling appreciatively. God Gibbs was tempted to take Tony up on the offer that he was clearly offering, but he squashed it down when he saw the glazed over moss green eyes. No, if they were ever going to do anything, he wanted them both sober. Jethro sent Tony back out to the dance floor watching as he and Abby started to dance and grind against each other.

Gibbs squinted against the flashing lights and spotted Ziva necking some random guy, her hand slipping into his pocket and pulling out the guy's wallet. Apparently, Tony wasn't the only one that he had keep an eye on. He shook his head, debating on letting it go, and he almost did, until he saw her offer to buy poor drunk as a skunk Jimmy another shot using her score. As he went to deal with that problem, his ears caught a distressed squeak from his youngest agent, Tim McGee.

Tony had somehow finally cajoled Tim, who had been refusing to dance all night, to the dance floor. Gibbs watched as poor Tim didn't know what to do as Tony started to dance and move around and on him as he had done with Abby. Seemingly, Tony's dance partner was off ordering another shot, if he understood Abby's slurred speech correctly.

Two-year old's, the whole lot of them.

"So, is the package in place?" A deep voice caught Gibbs ear, pulling him away from his team. He couldn't get a good look at the guy, using a hat to hide his face from the crowd. Gibbs frowned, his gut churning when he heard an equally deep voice reply.

"Yeah Boss, we have about a minute to go. It'll be a blast to see the ball drop." Gibbs finally got a good look at the guy dubbed 'Boss' and he suddenly understood everything.

The guy was well known explosives maker, but every time he went to court, he always somehow made it out, all charges dropped and cleared.

He looked at his watch, 30 seconds left till the ball dropped and his breathing stopped. How big was the bomb?! What was the target? His team could be in the blast radius and they all had no clue!

Gibbs reached for the man, intending to apprehend and interrogate the guy to find out where it was, when cheering reached his ears. He watched as the man stood up and started to leave through the back, when the cheering turned to panicked screams, the ground shaking heavily under his feet. The ball must have been the target! He lost sight of the men as people pushed and shoved to escape the creaking bar. He would catch the two men later, now he had to help secure the scene.

Gibbs looked around the bar, eyes searching desperately for his team, and sighed when he saw them all in one piece. Shock written all over their faces, but all unharmed. As he turned his attention to outside the bar, he couldn't say the same, everyone was in a panic, running, people on the ground, moaning, and buildings destroyed.

There was no time for celebrations anymore, he had a job to do.