Recap: Still Tuesday, 20th October 2009. How did Gibbs' day go? Prank war 2.0.

(I just watched 'Stakeout'... So I blame it on that.)

~ Secrets which aren't secrets anymore ~

Team Gibbs was working on a case when Abby stormed into the bullpen. A cage firmly gripped in her left hand.

"Did you knew?"

"Knew what, Abby?" McGee asked uncertainly, casting a quick glance at his boss, who had stood up and rounded his desk.

"Did you knew?" The Goth repeated herself, murder in her eyes as she looked at the team leader..

Their two Probies rushed unseen to the back elevator. Abby in such a mood was something they didn't wanted to experience. More than once she had told them that she could easily kill them and leave no forensic evidence while doing so. They weren't trying their luck just yet.

"Did you knew?"

"Abby!" Gibbs barked in return, silencing the whole bullpen. He calmly laid a hand on either of her shoulders, finally managing to calm her down.

"Deep breaths and then you tell me what is going on," he held her at arms length, "Slowly."

"I was just at Ziva's apartment and found this," she held the cage up.

"Ziva has white mice?" McGee asked slightly stunned, slowly joining the others in the middle of the team's area.

"Obviously!" Abby nearly shouted again, "And she didn't told me!"

Gibbs smirked and regarded the small animals.

"She really did what I told her," he laughed inwardly.

"DiNozzo put those in her desk a couple of days before the incident with Mexler. He wanted to scare her. But the whole thing backfired and instead of screaming or throwing them back at DiNozzo, she kept them in her desk drawer." Gibbs explained as if it was the most normal thing on earth.

"You knew?" McGee and Abby asked in unison.

"Yeah. I found those buggers when I searched for a glue stick. Thought, since Ziva is the neatest out of you three," he looked pointedly at McGee, "That I would find a stick in her desk the easiest."

"She kept them in her desk?" Abby blinked, still slightly stunned and the team leader's words only catching up with her now.

"Yeah. When I asked, she told me that she first thought about getting back at Tony with them, but then she thought otherwise, fearing that Tony would desert them somewhere or even kill them with a mouse trap."

"He probably would have," muttered McGee, earning himself a punch into the shoulder from Abby.

"Don't say that!"

"Ziva did first!"

"Shush," smiled Abby, sticking one of her fingers inside the cage.

"You could take care of them, Abs. Till Ziva can take them back."

"You not letting Mini have them?" She asked surprised. "Weren't those ideal pets for small kids?"

"In my house? Nah." Gibbs smirked.

"You aren't telling us something!" Abby suddenly realized.

"Might have told Ziva to either get rid of them herself before I do or buy a cage and take them home," the gray-haired agent flashed them a grin before disappearing upstairs.

Abby turned on her heels, "Come on, McGee!"

"Abby?"

"We're going to make a Mice-Utopia out of my office." She linked her arm with his and dragged him to the elevator.

"We?" Tim mumbled irritated, but followed his bubbly friend anyway.

~ Fin ~