Euphonious

Gibbs quickly exited the car as soon as Agent Fornell arrived at NCIS headquarters, leaving Fornell in his dust. He needed an update on the case. Clearly, Tony wasn't safe.

They needed to find him ASAP. Knowing that McGee had no more information than he did and was in the hospital to boot, Gibbs headed for Abby's lab. First, though, he detoured to pick up a Caf-pow for Abby.

Arriving at Abby's lab, Gibbs was surprised to see that Abby wasn't working away at her computer or on any of her babies. Setting the Caf-pow on the table near the computer she usually used in the lab, Gibbs ventured further into the lab a bit scared as to what he might find since even Abby's normal earth breaking music wasn't to be found.

As he approached Abby's office, he heard an euphonious sound coming from within. It was quite soothing to Gibbs’ ears and it surprised him how easily he could get used to a sound like that on a daily basis. He had no idea what was making such an odd noise.

He felt like he'd heard it before, but he couldn't place where or when he might have heard it. Opening the door to Abby's office, he startled to see a black kitten in Abby's lap. “Since when do you have a kitten?”

“Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!” Abby squealed, jumping up. The kitten absolutely forgotten.

Letting out a screech, the black kitten quickly scampered away and returned to its original hiding place. It was only then that Gibbs realized the euphonious sound he'd heard had been the purring of the kitten in Abby's lap.

“Oh, damn it!” Abby cursed. “And he'd only just come out too.”

“What’s it’s name?” Gibbs questioned.

“What?” Abby absentmindedly asked as she stared at the kitten trying to figure out how to get it out of hiding again.

“The kitten’s name. Surely, it has a name.” Gibbs looked askance at Abby.

“Oh, of course it does, but I don’t know it. I just found it today.” Abby explained.

“It’s not yours?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

“No. I was going to take it to a shelter, but it was very unhappy at the suggestion and I needed to get to work. I’d planned to take it to the shelter after work, but it escaped into NCIS before I could make arrangements.” Abby expounded on her original explanation.

Gibbs eyebrows narrowed. “It ran into NCIS?”

“Yep. Straight for Tony’s desk.” Abby agreed.

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs barked.

The kitten meekly poked it’s head out meowing.

“How’d you do that?” Abby gasped.

“Tony’s always responded to me.” Gibbs smirked.

“You really think it’s Tony?” Abby bounced excitedly.

“Of course, why would it respond to DiNozzo’s name or pick you to come to work with otherwise?” Gibbs gestured for Tony to come forward.

“It's really, Tony? I mean I thought it might be, but it's just too crazy to be real, you know?” Abby babbled.

He picked up the kitten when it got close enough and gently scratched its head. “Get back to work, Abby. I’ll take care of DiNozzo.”

“But, Gibbs.” Abby whined. Tony was too adorable. She didn’t want to let him go.

“You heard me.” Gibbs tossed over his shoulder as he left. Fornell had followed Gibbs, albeit much more slowly, arriving at Abby's lab right as Gibbs was leaving.