Rapport

Gibbs entered his bedroom first. He hoped that his rapport with the human DiNozzo would allow him to lure the kitten out from hiding. He didn’t like the idea of Abby taking Tony’s blood anymore than Tony did, but his gut was telling him it was going to end up being a key to this case.

It had been a while since he’d had to lure a frightened animal out, but his sniper training came in handy for it. He’d told Abby to wait in the hall. He’d let her know when to come in.

He just hoped she listened. If she came in too soon, Tony would be gone. There would be no hope of establishing any rapport at that point.

Gibbs settled down on the floor next to his bed to wait. The key was to stay still and wait them out. Especially with Tony, whose curiosity would eventually get the better of him.

Tony watched Gibbs suspiciously from under the bed. He wasn’t fooling him. He knew Abby was just waiting somewhere with a needle to get him.

Tony wasn’t about to fall for Gibbs tricks. He was going to stay put. A few hours passed. Tony fell asleep.

Gibbs looked under the bed and saw that the kitten had fallen asleep. He contemplated retrieving the kitten, but before he could he heard Abby and McGee’s voices in the hallway. Gibbs sighed. They were going to wake the kitten.

McGee had gotten bored waiting for Abby and Gibbs to return, so he’d snuck upstairs where he’d quickly spotted Abby waiting in the hallway. He’d initially tried to be quiet and whispered to Abby, “Do you really think Tony is a kitten?”

“Of course, he is.” Abby whispered back. “There are too many coincidences for it to be otherwise and you know what Gibbs thinks about coincidences.”

McGee sighed. He really hoped everyone was wrong about Tony. Then another thought occurred to him. “If it really is Tony, shouldn’t we be out trying to find who’s after him not taking his blood for identification?”

“You have to trust the great white, McGee. He knows what he’s doing.” Abby hushed him. She was sure Gibbs could hear every word they were saying.

“What are we doing here? We should be planning how to get Tony back to normal or looking for clues to who’s after him.” McGee complained, his voice rising.

“I can’t believe you’re losing faith in Gibbs. I’m ashamed of you.” Abby countered, her voice rising as well.

“We’re wasting our time.” McGee yelled.

Sure enough Kitten Tony woke up and yowled. He returned to a defensive position ready to take on whoever came after him.

Gibbs stepped into the hall. “Both of you, shut up. Now we’ll have to wait even longer to get Tony’s DNA.” Gibbs hissed, keeping his voice low though he was sure Tony already knew what was going on.

“But Gibbs.” Abby protested.

McGee similarly started, “But Boss”

“No buts.” Gibbs growled. “McGee go back to the office and find something useful since you don’t want to help Tony. Abby and I will return as soon as we can. You better have something by then.”

The or else was left unsaid, but Tim gulped anyway. He quickly turned tail and ran. He’d forgotten how good the boss’ hearing was. He just hoped that he could find something before Gibbs returned or he’d be screwed.

Gibbs shook his head and turned to Abby. “You be quiet and go back to the living room. I’ll bring Tony to you after we talk.”

Abby opened her mouth, but Gibbs put a finger on it and shook his head, pointing down the stairs. Abby sighed and slunk down the stairs with a pout. She always missed out on the good stuff. Though she wondered how Gibbs was going to talk to Tony.

Once Abby was in the living room, Gibbs turned around and entered the bedroom again. This time he shut the door. He didn’t want any interruptions.

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs snarled. “Front and center.”

Even though kitten Tony had intended to stay in hiding and not come out since he knew Gibbs planned to help Abby get his DNA, he found he was too used to obeying Gibbs orders and his body automatically responded to Gibbs. Shooting Gibbs a betrayed look, he curled up in front of Gibbs. He wasn’t sure what to expect right now.

Gibbs looked at the kitten, he was pretty sure was his wayward agent, Tony DiNozzo, and sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The kitten gave Gibbs a disbelieving look.

Gibbs ignored the look and continued, “We need to get to the bottom of this. I need you to help me out here, Tony.”

Tony shook his head. He trusted Gibbs to have his best interests in mind, but he didn’t trust Gibbs to keep Abby and the needle away from him.

“That’s good Tony. Nod your head for yes and shake your head for no.” Gibbs commanded. “Has this ever happened to you before?”

Tony immediately nodded before looking confused and shaking his head.

Gibbs stared at Tony taking in everything he could about the kitten. He thought he knew what Tony was trying to say, but it was going to take too long this way. “We don’t have time for this. How about you let Abby draw your blood and then we set you up at a computer and you can explain everything? Sound good?” Normally Gibbs would just order Tony, but this was a weird enough situation that he didn’t want to be fighting Tony the whole way.

Kitten Tony stared at Gibbs. He was usually pretty good at reading Gibbs when he was human, but the angle he got from being stuck as a kitten was different than his normal angle and he was struggling to figure out what Gibbs’ endgame was. He really didn’t want Abby to take his DNA, but he also really wanted someone to know the truth. He just wasn’t sure that Gibbs would believe him.