Potions

"In the next three days he rendered participants in a gang fight speechless, halted a prison riot, and soothed a menagerie of excitable zoo animals. Word of his incomparable power had spread so far that the President of the United States called him personally, as well as leaders of all of the power nations. They begged to enlist his services to thwart opposition or uprisings, and since he was a man of principle, he complied.

The enormity of his power weighed on Gibbs, though, and he began to question whether he wanted the responsibility his talent generated. The final straw came about when he attended a major league baseball game. In the ninth inning the pitcher threw a fast ball and inadvertently looked up and caught his glance. He froze, which caused the rest of his ball team to look up and fall under the spell as well. The opposing team, with no one to hinder them, blew the bases and won the game. That incredible incident troubled the Boss so deeply that from that day forward, he wore sunglasses anytime he ventured outdoors to hide his gifted eyes. Inside, he adopted the habit of never making eye contact with anyone."

Abby and Gibbs looked shocked at that change of events, and Tony concluded. "That, dear family, was all she wrote."

The audience smiled and clapped then, and Tony stood up and bowed deeply.

The two younger ones looked to Gibbs expectantly. He scanned the living room to see what had caught their interest. Finally it dawned on him that they expected him to speak next.

Finally, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and shared, "Well, you have taken care of Ducky and me, so that just leaves the fate of the powers of you two."

"Ooh!" Abby squealed excitedly, "Pick me, Gibbs, pick me!"

Tony waved his hand in the air and contradicted, "You don't want to focus on her, Boss, you want to star your senior field agent!"

Gibbs looked from one to the other and leaned forward again, resting his arms on his legs. "Actually, I plan to pick both of you." He pointed with a forefinger, indicating both of them. "Think you can handle that?"

They exchanged questioning glances with each other, then nodded assent eagerly.

He smirked. "Well all right, let me start. All of NCIS realizes that the great Abby and Tony have extensive knowledge of the entertainment arts, Tony with movies and Abby with music. Therefore, with the addition of a few drops of potion, both find themselves under a voodoo spell of incomparable strength."

Gibbs paused here to gauge their reactions. Both watched him eagerly, with barely restrained excitement, Abby's eyes wide, and Tony grinning.

He continued. "Nothing would have happened to highlight their talent in a noteworthy way had it not been for the fact that the two decided to participate in a trivia night at one of the local clubs. Both topped the leader board in their respective subjects, and the entire club urged them to go ahead and compete in a district competition. They did, and once again both won. What an enviable victory that was for them! After that they spent every available free moment away competing for bragging rights. They turned into local celebrities, then state celebrities, and finally all of the United States could tell you who they were the moment their faces or names appeared in the media."

He glanced at them again, and they most definitely approved of the story. During his narration they had scooted to the middle of the sofa. Snuggled together, they waited wide eyed for his next words.

"Finally the time came that their superiority had nowhere else to go in the United States. They then decided to corner the world market. It didn't take long before they established themselves as the unstoppable champs of global entertainment trivia, and extroverts that they were, they enjoyed all of the limelight and the prestige. However, once they had proved their proficiency in those genres, people began to pressure them to extend their expertise to politics, or physics, or chemistry, or any number of fields. Finding it hard to say no, they found themselves not respected for their attributes, but rather used and manipulated to satisfy the needs of others."

Gibbs paused and regarded them. "Finally one day the two cut off the phones, ignored any summons, and locked themselves into an office to dissect their fame and their future. Suddenly it seemed pretty obvious to them that they had lost their joy, and that they did not want the heavy responsibilities of solving all of the world's problems by themselves under any circumstance. They made a pact that from that time forward no one would ever hear them make anything but general comments about entertainment, except for their NCIS family. It made them realize that no one single person, or pair of people, should ever be the sole purveyors of so much knowledge. At that turning point, they conceded that brilliance did not necessarily signal something great."

With that ending, he looked from one to the other, and they both burst into applause.

A minute or two later Tony spoke up eagerly, anxious to keep the fun going. "Boss, let's lampoon the rest of our colleagues. We could add Fornell, and Slacks…."

Abby interrupted him, speaking just as excitedly, "Oh yes, that would be hysterical! We could spoof Timmy's computer techno talent or takeoff on Ziva's hand to hand combat skills, or…"

She didn't get the chance to finish her list.

Gibbs, shaking his head from side to side, held up his hand as a signal for silence.

Abby popped a hand over her mouth and both she and Tony looked questioningly at him, waiting for his explanation.

He stood and stretched leisurely, then made his way to the sofa to kiss first Abby, then Tony, on their heads.

"Let's take a raincheck on the rest of the parodies, you two. Right now I want to go down to the basement and work for an hour or so, and obviously, this kerosene lamp will join me."

He motioned them to stand also, and they obeyed. Then stooping down to grab the lamp he pointed towards the upper story. "So, that means the three of us will head upstairs. I intend to put you both to bed so I can go work on the boat." He made his way to the stairs.

"Gibbs!" Abby protested, following behind him. "This is so wrong making us go to bed. Let us stay up with you please. It's not our fault that the electricity is out."

Tony chimed in, "Yeah Boss, you know we used voodoo in out satire stories. We'll be afraid to go to sleep, worried about spells, so why are you rushing our bedtime?"

They had reached the landing, and Gibbs pointed to Abby's room, then to Tony's. "No, let me contribute this postscript. I am putting a voodoo spell on both of you right now, turning you into a forensic scientist who wants to sleep, and a senior field agent who desires some night night time. Go, now-"

The two rolled their eyes at each other in the semi darkness but headed into their rooms nonetheless.

As Jethro turned to make his way down the stairs he heard Abby mutter, "When we parody you again…."

Tony finished in a low voice, "you'll find yourself a micro managing dictator!"

Gibbs grinned and headed for the basement.