(Tony is hollering in pain. But no one seems to care. In fact, are people actually laughing at his plight?)
"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
Even through the closed doors of the elevator that Jethro Gibbs had stopped so he could been have one of his talks with Tobias Fornell the ear-splitting sound of a man in pain made both older men wince in sympathy. Gibbs hastily hit the "On/Off" switch and the doors opened to a sight that was extremely unusual even to the pair of seasoned law-enforcement agents who often thought they had seen it all.
Tony DiNozzo was dancing wildly around the room, waving his right hand in the air. No, not just waving it but shaking it frantically.
"Get it off, get it off! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
Several things registered all at once for Gibbs. The first was that there was indeed something on Tony's hand. A crab maybe? No, whatever it might be it was locked on his fingers and didn't seem to be alive. This removed the worry that his Senior Field Agent was being attacked by some poisonous creature.
The next thing was the attitude of everyone else in the bullpen. No one was rushing forward to assist DiNozzo. Indeed the agents of the other NCIS teams were simply jostling each other to get a better view. There were more than a few smiles appearing and at least several out-right laughers among the onlookers.
Of his team Tim McGee was carefully and obviously ignoring the whole thing as he calmly worked at his desk. But Gibb's eagle-eye caught the hint of the grin that the young agent was trying to repress with a fair amount of success. And leaning against Tony's desk with her arms folded across her chest Ellie Bishop was regarding her teammate with what could only be described as a "cat that swallowed the canary" expression of satisfaction on her face.
His attention was wrenched back to Tony as the younger man's frantic dance and shake exhibition finally bore fruit and whatever had hold of his hand let go. It crashed on the floor and skittered across the tile almost the Tobias's feet. The FBI agent looked down and the carefully picked up the object.
"A mouse trap?" Fornell marveled aloud.
"No," came a correction from Bishop. "It's booby trap to catch a rat."
By now Tony had stopped yelling and was cradling his fingers with his other hand. He was still moaning. He fixed the newest team member with a glare.
"Bishop that hurt!"
"It was supposed to," the analyst retorted.
Tony sputtered. Gibbs decided that as interesting as the whole situation seemed to the entire NCIS crew he really needed to find out what was going on and settle whatever was going on within ht e confines of his team. He raised his voice slightly. "Everyone back to work." As the onlookers scattered he turned to the threesome before him. He noted that Tim kept typing but he could no longer keep a grin concealed.
"What is going on?"
"It wasn't my fault boss," whined Tony. He tried to point at Bishop but the movement must have hurt because he returned to nursing his bruised fingers. "She did it."
Gibbs looked at Ellie, lifting one eyebrow slightly. She calmly returned his gaze.
"I have been given to understand that Tony seems to be somewhat confused as to his co-workers' privacy. And no Tony, Tim isn't the one who told me about that. So I'm going to ask a question of you. That trap was in my purse which was in the bottom drawer of my desk. So what the heck was your hand doing in there?"
"I needed to, I mean I had to find a, a pen," stammered Tony.
"The ones in the container on top of my desk weren't good enough?" Not giving the increasingly embarrassed Senior Agent a chance to stop sputtering she went on. "You were snooping in my personal belongings." She turned her attention to Gibbs. "I've been told, once again NOT by Tim, that complaining about Tony's inquisitive nature doesn't do any good." It was the team leader's turn to look slightly embarrassed. "So I took action." The analyst looked back at Tony. "So keep this in mind the next time you decide you need to 'borrow a pen' Tony." She held out a hand and Tobias put the trap in her outstretched palm. "Thank you." She sat down at her desk and put the trap in the bottom drawer.
"OW!" Tony exclaimed again as Gibbs administered a head-slap to his young assistant. He didn't ask why. Instead he reeled to his desk, his eyes fixed on Ellie, who had opened her computer and was typing away. Slowly his expression relaxed. Finally he chuckled even as he continued to take care of his hand which obviously had not been seriously injured.
"Point taken Ellie. And Tim?"
"Hmmm? Yes Tony?"
"Go ahead and laugh before you burst something trying to hold it in."
(The End)