Abby's Missing Pet
TIVA 'borrow' Abby's office for some after-hours fun and accidentally knock over the enclosure for Abby's new pet.
"Grab your gear!"
"Where we going, Boss?" Tim reached for his pack as did Tony and Ziva.
"Dibbs on driving," Tony called over his shoulder as he bent to grab his backpack.
Gibbs slapped the back of the Senior Field Agent's head, "Did I say we were going in vehicles?"
"Uh… no, Boss."
Ziva made eye contact with her partner, giving him a sympathetic look as he winced.
"Well, then, where are we headed?" she asked.
"Abby's lab." Gibbs left no room for discussion as he strode to the elevator without a backward glance. "Let's go!"
Tony slid into the elevator just as the doors were closing, to Gibbs' scowl, behind Ziva who held the door for him. He shot her a silent 'thank you' with his eyes and avoided looking at the displeasure on the boss-man's face.
"So, um, what's going on in Abby's lab?" Tim broke the silence with his curiosity. "And why do we need our gear?"
"You'll see." Gibbs offered no other information as the team descended to the lower level.
As the door slid open at Abby's lab floor, both Tony and Ziva noticed something unusual; no music was coming from the lab area. NONE. They followed Gibbs to the entry to the lab.
"Abs?" The forensic scientist was nowhere in sight.
A muffled voice was heard from the back corner, "Where are you, Mekarls? Come to Mama, my little furry legs."
"Mekarls?" Tim looked at the other two agents as Gibbs headed in the direction of Abby's voice.
"Don't look at me," Tony shrugged. "I haven't the slightest clue here."
Ziva snickered, "My little furry legs?" and made the mistake of locking eyes with her partner. Both tried not to laugh out loud as Tony mouthed, 'not hairy butt!'
"Come on baby girl, Mama needs you to come out from hiding. My sweet little furry legs, I know you are probably frightened out of your hairy little mind at the moment. Come out, my lil leggy furry, and Mama will make it all okay." Abby was prone by the chemical storage cabinet, trying to see underneath the furniture.
"Abby!" Gibbs tried to get her attention so the woman could explain her actions to his team.
"Watch where you step! Don't step on her!" Abby shot up from the floor and faced the others after making a quick once-over of the floor to make sure no one stepped on her pet.
"Mekarls?"
"Furry legs?"
Tim and Tony spoke almost at the same time, questioning what the four had just overheard.
Abby nodded, "Yep. Mekarls is my new pet. And she is missing!"
"I did not know that you had a pet, Abby," Ziva spoke up as she glanced around the lab. "What type of pet?"
Abby looked over at Gibbs, wondering if he would approve or if she would be in trouble for having a pet in the lab area. Well, technically, not in the lab, since she kept the animal in an enclosure in her office.
"Well, when I came in this morning, the enclosure for Mekarls was on the floor in my office and the lid was dislodged. She was not in her pen, nor in my office that I could see. So… I started looking for her. Gibbs came down to check on the evidence from last night, and saw that I was searching the lab for her…"
Tony rolled his eyes at Ziva, "Just bottom-line it, Abby, please?"
Abby pointed at the SFA, "Maybe you know something about this?" She glared at both Tony and Ziva as she spoke.
Tony pointed at himself, "Who me? Why would I know anything about your pet? Which, need I remind you, I have not a clue as to what it is."
Ziva shrugged; she also did not have any clue as to what Abby meant.
Gibbs glared at the pair, "You two know anything about Abby's spider?"
"Abby has a spider? Wow!" Tony glanced over at Tim, who was suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable.
Abby, now on the floor again, responded, "She's a Peruvian Phidippus Regius, more commonly known as a regal jumping spider. I paid $83 for her and another $115 for the enclosure."
Tim gulped, not really wanting to stay around, "Um, what does this thing look like?"
"She's cute and fuzzy and she has long furry legs," Abby's muffled reply had a slight tone of irritation as if she expected everyone to know the appearance of the spider. "She has brown furry legs with black stripes, a dark orange back with lighter orange and black spots, and cute big black eyes."
"Oh, and her name is Queen Malkah Eulalia Kӧnigin Athena Regenia Louisiana Scuitto; MEKARLS for short." Abby used her flashlight to search in the back corner under the cabinet. "Her initials…"
"And how big is the Peruvian Phippi- whatever spider?" Tim was slowly backing away from the others as he spoke.
Abby sat up, "0.6 to 0.9 inches for the females on average. Mekarls is about three-quarters of an inch long. I had her shipped from home."
Meanwhile, Ziva whispered to Tony "Those are all the word queen in different languages. Malkah is Hebrew…"
Tony snickered quietly, "So the spider is named Queen Queen Queen Queen Queen Queen Louisiana Scuitto?" He tried not to laugh loudly to try to avoid any head slaps from Gibbs or death stares from Abby.
Gibbs' hand met the back of Tony's head for the second time that morning, "Why did Abby say you might know something?" He turned towards Ziva, "Ziva?"
"I… I… do not know, Gibbs."
"Dunno either, Boss," Tony shrugged and held out his hands with palms upward.
Abby glared at the pair, her eyes fiery with accusation, "You two were on the security cam footage… coming into the lab, and going out about twenty minutes later... Do you want the time stamp to refresh your memories?"
The pair moved closer together without thinking; and shared a quick look. How much should they admit to? An after-hours 'borrowing' of Abby's office had indeed happened, but both were sure that no one needed details as to what transpired.
"Um…" Tony tried to think of a way to explain the pair's presence in the lab at around 2130 the night before. "Ziva left a knife in Abby's office, and we were looking for it…"
Ziva continued without missing a beat, "Yes, and we did not want to have to wait until today to look for the knife in case I needed it. We did not turn on the lights in the office, so um…"
"We may have bumped into the enclosure," her partner finished the sentence.
Gibbs looked at Tony, then at Ziva, and back at Tony again, shaking his head, "That your story?"
"Yes, Gibbs."
"Yes, Boss."
Gibbs looked around the lab, "Where's McGee?"
The others glanced about the lab area noticing the absence of the agent. He had backed out of the lab while Tony and Ziva were trying to explain why they were in the lab the night before. He was pretty sure why they had been there, having been an unwilling and unseen witness to their antics prior. He got to the outer doors and made a beeline for the elevator.
"Get your flashlights, and we'll do a quick look-see for the spider and then everyone back to work," Gibbs barked his order to the three remaining. Abby opened her mouth as if to protest and he added, "Everyone back to work, Abs, means you as well. You can look as you have time."
A quick search with four pairs of eyes and flashlights did not turn up the missing spider, so Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva headed back upstairs. Gibbs said nothing, but just before the doors slid open to their floor, his hands slapped the heads of his agents.
"Don't think I don't know." He left the pair giving each other quizzical looks as he exited.
By the end of the workday, Abby's spider was still not found. She reluctantly took Gibbs' advice to leave the open enclosure in the lab with some food for the spider, hoping to lure it back into its home.
The next morning, when she arrived, the enclosure was gone. It was not on the floor where she left it the night before, nor was it on any of the lab tables, in her office, nor in the hallway. Abby called Gibbs in tears.
Tim pulled up footage from the security camera, and the night janitor was spotted exiting the lab with what appeared to be the enclosure in his trash bin. Abby was furious and insisted that Gibbs bring the man in for questioning.
Instead, the team leader assigned Tony and Ziva to wait for the man to come to NCIS for his shift that night and ask about the spider and its cage.
They got the man to admit that he saw the spider in the enclosure and panicked. He killed it by pouring his bottle of ginger ale into the enclosure when the spider jumped at him. The spider drowned in the ginger ale, so the man removed the dead spider and the enclosure, thinking that he had done a good deed.
"We could charge you with animal cruelty, you know," Tony informed the man.
Ziva added, "And petty theft, since you removed the spider and its enclosure without permission."
"I'll reimburse Abby for the cost of the spider and cage; please don't arrest me!"
While Abby was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, she agreed that no charges were okay with her, and she would take reimbursement for the spider.
A few days later, the team got an invitation to a wake for Abby's pet. Tony, Ziva, and Tim were relieved when a new case pulled them away from the building and they could not attend.