Chapter Text
It'll Be Alright
by Prinzessin
(Gibbs POV)
Gibbs walked toward the bullpen, coffee in hand. He was late, and not of his own doing. But he knew he wouldn't need to explain it to anyone. The first thing he noticed was the silence. He could hear low voices, fingers on keyboards. But he didn't hear Tony and Kate bickering.
He strode in, observing the two agents on his team. Kate was at her desk, looking quite proud of herself. Tony, on the other hand, looked defeated. Gibbs chalked the round up to Kate, although he had no idea of what happened. But as the longer the silence loomed, the more worried he found himself becoming. Tony was never this quiet for this long. Gibbs sat at his desk, opened the first file he got his hands on and began reading. He'd glance at Tony every so often, Kate even less.
Gibbs could be a patient man when he wanted to be, but the silence was getting to him. But before he could say something, his head snapped up when he heard something loud. Tony's chair was flung back and the younger man was quickly walking away. He turned and glared at Kate, who responded with a 'who me?' expression. He shook his head, standing. He was in no mood for their childish antics.
But whatever anger he felt was replaced by a sense of panic when he couldn't find Tony. The first place he looked was a spot outside, somewhere up high. He'd seen Tony sitting up there, and although he wondered how Tony made it up and down without getting hurt, he never said anything. But that spot was empty, so he tried the breakroom, Abby's lab...nothing. While he was outside, he did notice that Tony's car hadn't moved, so he couldn't have gone far. As a last resort, he went to ask Ducky. And he was glad he did.
He entered the path lab, seeing Ducky in his scrubs. But when Ducky's eyes met Gibbs', the agent knew something was wrong. The ME brought a finger to his lips, then motioned for the other man to follow. Gibbs was silent as Ducky led him to the nearby office, then pointed to the couch. Gibbs peered over Ducky's shoulder, seeing Tony curled up on the couch, his eyes shut and his face flushed. Was DiNozzo sick and he hadn't noticed?
Anger flared when he thought the second question. Was Kate teasing him because he was sick? But a gentle hand to the shoulder snapped him from his thoughts. Ducky again motioned for Gibbs to follow, who did so with some reluctance.
"What did I miss?" Gibbs asked when they were a safe distance away.
"The stress of trauma manifests itself differently in everyone," Ducky answered.
Ducky understood what the confused look on Gibbs' face meant, so he continued.
"I found poor Anthony in the mens' room, retching. I knew he'd been...off...lately, but didn't realize how off until that moment."
"Did he say anything?"
"All I could understand was your name and something about Kate's comments. Everything else was, to me, gibberish."
Gibbs' lips turned downward into a decisive frown.
"I know something happened upstairs before I came in. I'm going to find out from Kate exactly what that was," Gibbs stated.
"I'll keep an eye on Anthony."
Gibbs nodded, then headed upstairs. But when he reached Kate's desk, she wasn't there. And he wasn't about to go looking for her, too. But then he realized she was either in the breakroom or with Abby.
And so help her if she was with Abby.
TBC