"…twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty! Ready or not here I come!" Abby peeled her hands off her eyes and giggled quietly to herself. She couldn't believe they were actually dong this. She'd actually convinced the team to play hide and go seek while Gibbs was away at a conference. Cases had been relatively slow of course and all she had was a random DNA match running for another team. So you know what they say…when the boss is away…
"Stop squirming McGee." Ziva whispered, pressed up comfortably against her teammate in the autopsy drawer.
"It's freezing in here."
"We are in a morgue." She continued her whisper. "Now stop squirming…"
"I cant help it. I'm claustrophobic."
"Then why did you hide in here?"
"Cuz I wanna win." He shot back. "You didn't have to join me."
"Well I got here first." She countered.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"Shhh." He put a finger over her mouth when he heard some commotion.
She had to smile at the touch, and waited impatiently for him to remove it. They remained quiet for a full five minutes before he broke the silence. "Did not!"
Tony figured he had it locked up when he hid in the men's locker room and ran the shower. Abby would be much too sensible to check; especially after all that red light, green light stuff. He was wrong.
"Abby!!!" His hands immediately covered himself. "Red light!!"
She looked him up and down. "Yellow…now get dressed. You have to help me find McGee and Ziva."
He turned off the water and was shocked at her lack of response. He grabbed his towel and called back towards her. "Hey…what did you mean by yellow light?"
"Autopsy." Tony snapped his fingers and imagined a fake light bulb over his head.
Abby reached up and turned off the 'light.' "No way Tim is in there…the only place to hide is in one of the drawers and he is way claustrophobic."
"And how do you know that?"
"When we were 'together' he made me leave my casket open at night. Said he's had it ever since he was a kid…"
"Probably all those lockers he got shoved into at school…" Tony offered, and was soon met with a head slap. "Ow!"
"Don't make fun of Timmy, he's sensitive." She continued to look under people's desk while they were working and ignored the looks she was getting. Tony simply enjoyed the view as she crawled along the floor. "Yellow light Tony!!"
He shrugged. "Wait a minute, if looking at you right now is yellow light…how was me naked in the shower yellow light?"
She sat up on her knees and took his hand to help her stand. "Come on, evidence lock up next."
"Did too." Ziva was almost shouting at this point, and after a straight ten minutes of arguing she pinched him.
"Hey…that hurt."
"Good…now stop fighting with me or next time I will pinch harder."
Tim sighed. "Okay, okay, just no more pinching."
They weren't able to hear the entrance of someone into autopsy over their arguing and gasped to hear the handle of their drawer being opened; with none other than Palmer standing in front of them.
"You guys are not dead…"
Ziva nodded. "No, but you will be if you tell anyone we are in here."
Palmer couldn't stop smiling at McGee, and was suddenly pulled by his collar closer to the drawer. "You will tell no one."
Palmer nodded slowly. "Okay, okay. I swear."
It was then the elevator door was heard opening and before he knew it he was yanked in there with them. Ziva's hand immediately placed over his mouth. "Make a noise and I will pinch you."
Abby stood at the entrance with hands on her hips. "Where are they?"
"I don't know. But I can tell you they're not showering together in the womens locker room." He grinned and waited for Abby to comment; only she didn't. Ducky did.
"Who are not showing together in the womens locker room?" The ME appeared behind the two of them and awaited his reply.
"Hey Ducky!" Abby waved, hoping to distract his line of questioning. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here." He glanced at Tony questionably. "What are you doing here my dear? Womens showers all full?"
Tony stifled a laugh when he was met with the second Abby head slap of the day. "Alright that's it. One more time and I quit…"
Ducky set down the paper work in his hand. "Are you two playing a game?"
"No!" They both replied quickly. Almost too quickly.
"I see," Ducky countered. "Well, if you two don't mind. I do have work to do." He glanced around. "Speaking of which, have you two seen Mister Palmer?"
They shook their heads before sulking back towards the elevator in retreat. Abby whispering to him as they stepped inside. "Maybe they were abducted by aliens?"
"McGee maybe…but if you were an alien, would you abduct Ziva?"
Ducky glanced at his notes and made his way towards the drawers. "Was it 102 or 103?" He said to himself, but decided it would easier to check instead of going back to his desk. He opened drawer 102 to find the three culprits looking back at him. He didn't have much of a reaction. "When you're through Mister Palmer, would you be so kind as to help me with our new arrival?" He watched him nod before clasping it closed and went about his work.
Tony and Abby were both crawling around on the floor in the parking garage when they came face to face with a familiar pair of shoes. "Lose an earring DiNozzo?"
He found his voice after a few seconds and watched Gibbs help Abby to her feet. "Um, no. I was just…we were just…"
"Getting to work." Gibbs stated and gestured towards the elevator.
"Yes sir." Abby saluted and moved in front of both of them; cringing slightly when Gibbs cell phone rang. He ushered them off the elevator at the bull pen and remained inside. Tony couldn't reach for his phone fast enough. "Probie, red alert…papa is home early. I repeat, papa is home early. Retreat."
"Jethro, home early I see."
"Vance called me about the new arrival…what do we got?"
The ME had to smile. "Actually, this body is from another case. Your body is in drawer 102."
Gibbs looked at him questionably before moving towards the back of the room and opening the door. He cocked his head sideways at the image.
"Boss, I'm sorry we…"
"Gibbs, this is not what it looks like…"
"She pulled me in here, I swear."
Gibbs put his hand up to silence them. "Not a bad hiding place…but next time, bring a sheet."