Chapter 6:
Down in the lab, Abby and Ducky were lending their creative minds to Gibbs and Tony to create convincing new identities.
"Ok, let's start with something simple. What kind of last name do you guys want?" said Abby, fingers flying over the keyboard.
"A name is a name, Abs. Just pick one," said Gibbs.
"Oh, come on bossman, your no fun. Besides, isn't your name like a way for you to identify with the character you are portraying or something?" inquired Abby.
"She has a point, boss. I mean, you don't want something too plain, cuz that's just boring. But you don't want something too flashy either, or it looks suspicious," said Tony.
"Why not just alter your own last name a bit, Jethro?" suggested Ducky.
"Alter it how?" Gibbs could not see very many ways to alter his name, it was short and to the point.
"How about Gibbson? Cleaver huh?" grinned Abby. "Or we could just sorta switch the letter 'b' into a 'd' and ta-dah! You've got Giddieon!"
"No way. Giddieon sounds way too close to giddy," said Tony.
"Gibbson works for me," said Gibbs, and Tony gave a nod in agreement.
"Alright! Now, for first names…You want to keep your name Tony? Gibbs, doesn't really matter," said Abby, moving along.
"It doesn't matter? How the hell do you figure that?" questioned Gibbs.
"Because all Anthony has to do is remember to call you 'Dad'," supplied Ducky with a chuckle.
The group all got a chuckle out of that remark, true as it was. Deciding it was best to keep their first names, Abby worked quickly to create new driver's licenses for the both of them.
"Now for the fun part," Abby said with a grin. "What do you two do for a living?"
"Well I think it's obvious for Gibbs, I mean, most people we talk to during cases guess right away he's a Marine. Might as well stick with that," suggested Tony.
Agreeing with Tony, Gibbs said, "Sounds good to me. Say I work at a base training new recruits."
"Got it. Not very adventurous are you Gibbs? How about you Tony?" asked Abby as she processed the new information into the computer.
"Why not just put him in the Marines too? Son follows in his father's footsteps. There is still a lot to do, we can't be here all afternoon," Gibbs said impatiently.
Detecting the impatience in Gibbs' tone, Tony just rolled his eyes. "Yea sure, cuz all sons follow in their father's footsteps," Tony said coldly.
Noticing how fast Tony had gone from relaxed to tense, Ducky thought it best to intervene before things got too off topic. "Anthony, what other jobs have you had in the past? Perhaps it would be best if your background consisted of something you are already familiar with?"
Tony turned towards Ducky and sighed. "Yea, used to be a bar tender at a club in college."
"Cool, I can so work with this," Abby jumped in excitedly. "Let me think, oh I got it! How do you feel about being a manager of a club?"
Tony thought about it, then nodded. "I can work with that. It's not like I forgot how to mix drinks or anything."
'Dodged a bullet with that one,' Gibbs thought with a sigh. 'I'm gonna have to watch myself with remarks like that.'
He hadn't meant anything by it, at least not in the way Tony seemed to take it. He just wanted to get things moving along. There was still a lot of information that they needed to get caught up on.
"Well, at least there's one thing between you two that you probably won't need to worry about changing for this assignment," said Ducky in an attempt to break the tension still present in the lab.
"Yea, what's that?" Gibbs asked, taking the bait.
Looking at each other and nodding, Abby and Ducky replied at the same time. "The headslaps!"
Thankfully, Tony just shook his head and started laughing along with Ducky and Abby. The tension gone from the room, but not forgotten, they got back to work.
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