Abby sat at her desk in her office. She could hear Tony talking in front of her desk, though she wasn't listening. Tears were streaming down her grief-stricken face, piling on top of one another, but she didn't try to brush them away. Let them fall, she thought to herself, I don't care. I just don't care anymore.

In fact, she couldn't care less if a nuclear bomb came crashing through the roof and landed right on top of her.

The news had hit her like a bolt of lightening.

Gibbs was dead.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Everyone was stunned by the tragic news. When Gibbs hadn't turned up for work that morning, Tony and Ziva had gone to his house to see what was wrong. They'd found the door unlocked, and went straight to his basement. They found him lying next to his boat. They didn't know how he died yet, Ducky hadn't done the autopsy. He'd thought it was just another random body, as no one had wanted to voice it aloud, but when he'd opened the body bag, he put his hand to his mouth, as though to stop himself from yelling out, and just walked out of the room. Jen wouldn't come out of her office. McGee was with Abby and Tony, looking at the floor at the back of the room. Even Ziva, who never showed any feelings, was crying silently at her desk.

Tony was holding it all together. Just. He was trying to stay strong for the team, but all you had to do was look into his eyes, and you could see how much he was hurting. How much he was falling apart inside.

It was effecting everyone.

According to Tony, Tobias Fornell had come to the NCIS headquarters to say how sorry he was that Gibbs was dead. They had been friends. Sort of. When Fornell had been arrested, Gibbs had helped him out of the sticky situation.

Fornell had made it seem like it was his fault that Gibbs was in a body bag.

By the time Abby had been brought out of her reverie, Tony had already disappeared. He had probably gone to go check on Ziva. Even those trained in Mossad needed comforting sometimes.

Abby got out of her chair and went over to McGee. He lifted his head as she got closer. When she was stood right in front of him, he held out his arms and brought her in for a hug. He rested his head on her shoulder as she cried against his.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the elevator, Tony fought to maintain his strength. He couldn't cry. He just couldn't. As the new leader of the team, he needed to stay strong. He needed to keep it together.

He took in a great breath as the elevator doors slid open, and calmly walked out.

When he had reached Ziva's desk, he walked around it and put his arms around her.

"How can you stay so...so c-calm at a time like this?" Her eyes red and sore, she looked up at Tony in wonder.

He couldn't find an answer to that question.

"I don't know," he sighed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jenny sat in her office, her head in her hands as she looked straight down at her desk. Her vision was blurred from tears, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Why him, she thought, why now. They were planning on going out for dinner tonight, and Jenny had thought she was ready to tell Gibbs how she felt towards him. But her courage had come too little too late. She loved him and now he would never know.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Doctor Mallard sat in the corner of Autopsy, staring at the long black bag on the examination table at the other end of the room.

"Oh, poor Jethro," Ducky said aloud. "What am I going to do. You were my best friend. Everyones devastated. You took up a bid part in all our lives Jethro." Ducky got up, and walked towards the coat rack by the sliding doors. He took off his Autopsy apron and cap, and replaced it with his long coat and hat. "You wouldn't have done this to yourself Jethro. You wouldn't have hurt us all too badly on purpose." He looked back at the table. "But that leaves only two possible scenarios. Either it was natural causes, or," he paused, thinking of who could possibly want to harm Jethro, "or someone was out to get, my dear friend. I just hope it wasn't the latter."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Abby walked into her lab to find Ducky waiting anxiously for her, with what seemed to be an evidence plate. Walking over to him, she took the container from his hands as he started talking quickly.

"IfoundthisnJethro'smouth." He said, talking too fast for Abby to hear him properly. She gave him a confused look told him to slow down a little. "It's a Dog Tag, I found it in Jethro's mouth, and it's not his."