Author's notes: Here is a new NCIS fic from me! I haven't written one for awhile. My most recently submitted one was probably "Camping trip" which is actually how this was developed. I last data and such for that one so instead of trying to rewrite it, I wrote this one. This fic has a stronger plot and is all planned out, securely. Anyhow, here it is and I hope you all enjoy, if you've read my camping trip fic or not. Reviews are my motivation and happiness, so please let me know what you think if you read it!
Also, thanks to my best friend Jess for all her advice and support! hugs Oh, and this fic is Tate with some Tibby/mcabby...and it's AU (since has both Ziva and Kate in it) set in no particular time but Ziva has been there about a year so in some sense it's set around season 4ish. ENJOY!
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Summary: The NCIS team are trying to track two men that are linked to some serious crimes, but their promising lead has them going undercover…as a family! They will have to pretend to be related or dating/married to each other at a family holiday park in order to keep their cover a secret. The question is: can they do it?
Chapter One: The last Option
'We've got a lead!' Gibbs said loudly as he ran into the office to grab his gear. McGee, Tony, Kate and Ziva acted quickly and followed him just as quickly.
The entire of NCIS have been trying to put an end to two particular killers. Several months ago they had to reopen a cold case as a young Navy Officer was found dead that matched the case. At first they thought it was a copycat killer but further investigation and several murders later, it was certainly the same killer. Ducky gave them more to be concerned about as he announced it was defiantly two killers instead of just one.
About two weeks ago, they had picked up a trail but the killers were simply too good at covering up their tracks and clearly had a high level of forensic knowledge.
This was their biggest lead yet and will hopefully put an end to the brutal crimes the pair have committed.
--
Kate loaded her shotgun and peaked around the corner. Beside her was Gibbs and opposite them at another wall were Tony and McGee.
Ziva gave them the signal and they moved quickly.
McGee joined Kate in hiding while the others announced their presence and chased the two men. This is the first time anyone had actually seem the killers, even if their faces are well hidden.
'NCIS! Put down your weapon!' Tony yelled loudly.
'Catch us first' one of the men said and they took off down another corner; narrowly missing the bullets aimed their way.
'Ready?' Kate hissed to McGee and he nodded.
'Stop!' Kate yelled and pointed her shotgun at them, which made them skid to a halt.
'You're not going anywhere' Ziva said, blocking the last corner.
Gibbs and Tony were then forced to jump out of the way as a car drove towards them and clearly was not going to stop. Gibbs lay on his side and fired at the driver and tires, but as it turned out…the car was only a distraction.
Kate, Ziva and McGee ran after the killers as they jumped the fence.
McGee gasped for breath as the girls jumped the fence after them. He and Tony then ran down an alley while Gibbs handcuffed the car driver.
--
The killers remerged from an alley with the girls to their left and the boys to their right. The younger one fired his gun at McGee, and he went down fast. Tony skidded to a halt to assist him while the girls continued their chase, determined to get those scumbags once and for all.
'McGee?' Tony tapped Tim's cheek a bit to see if he was conscious.
Tim gasped a bit and coughed up blood. His shoulder was bleeding heavily so Tony called an ambulance quickly.
'Hang in there' Tony told him, supporting Tim's head with one hand. 'Stay awake, come on…stay with me!'
The ambulance had just left with McGee and Tony when the girls reappeared, thoroughly out of breath.
'They…got…away' Kate gasped, leaning on her knees for support.
'I can see that' Gibbs frowned, pulling out his phone to tell Jenny.
Ziva gasped for air as well but then turned and kicked a trashcan angrily, making a lot of noise and mess.
'Ah, at least…at least we know their male' Kate shrugged, but she was so worn out from the chase that she said nothing else.
'Calm down Ziva' Gibbs frowned.
'Don't you dare tell me to calm down!' Ziva snapped and regained her breath now that she was really mad. 'We were so close! How they missed those bullets…Gr!' she kicked another can, resulting in a large dint up it's side.
They got back to the office after visiting Tim in the hospital. It was such a relief that he was fine and was only going to be kept overnight. It took three of them to drag Abby out though, since she had gone into panic overdrive once she'd heard McGee had been shot.
They re-entered the office and Gibbs paused in front of Ziva's desk.
'How come you didn't go see McGee?' Tony asked and removed his jacket.
'He's alive, isn't he?' Ziva replied without taking her eyes off her computer screen. She then realized Gibbs was staring down at her and frowned at him. 'What?'
Gibbs said nothing and returned to his desk. He had been through what Ziva was going through: the obsession to catch a killer that really got under people's skin. Gibbs had gone through it with Ari, and now Ziva was going through it with one of the killers. One was the primary killer while the other did all the covering up, but to Ziva: it was personal. The primary killer had stalked and then murdered one of Ziva's friends. Bethany had been visiting America so she could hang out with Ziva. She wasn't from Israel but had been living there for two years.
Ziva growled and actually shoved her computer right off the table and onto the floor. She then spoke angrily in Israel.
'I don't think we want to know what she's saying' Tony told the others, guessing Ziva knew a lot of nasty words that he'd never even heard of.
'I will find him!' Ziva snapped and picked her computer up again.
'McGee would have a fit if he knew you'd thrown your computer' Tony sighed but then had to duck a stapler.
'You can't let it consume you like this, Ziva' Kate said. She hadn't known Ziva very long but she knew Gibbs's past obsession with Ari and this was exactly like it; although Gibbs hadn't abused any machine or object in his reach.
'Bite me!' Ziva snapped and tapped her keyboard loudly.
'Okay' Kate sighed and decided to keep out of it.
The next few days went past without any luck on the killers, even after McGee returned and did traces on the car. And even after Gibbs interrogated the life out of the driver. Ziva was the first one in every morning and some were beginning to think that she never even left at night.
But at least, her efforts paid off. Just when everyone was on the stage of giving up, she yelled in triumph and brought a picture up on the plasma screen. The entire team was there, including Ducky and Jenny.
Tony looked up at the picture next to him and saw it was of a family fun national park.
'Oh that's…nice, Ziva. But ah-'
'Shut up!' Ziva hissed and Tony instantly went quiet.
'Explain' Gibbs said and got up, along with Kate and McGee so they could see it better.
'I have tracked the killers here. They are currently in disguise at this Family Holiday Park and plan to cause serious damage there before fulfilling their terrorist plan which will kill hundreds…if not more'
'And how do you know this?' Tony gasped.
'Well obviously not through doogle!' Ziva growled.
'Google' McGee, Kate and Abby corrected in unison.
'Whatever' Ziva spat and calmed down. 'This is a very promising lead and I am going there. I am going to kill that-' she then muttered in Israeli again.
Jenny raised an eyebrow since she knew a few of the words Ziva was saying.
'Woah, they've really got her worked up' she sighed. 'But Ziva's right…this is a very promising lead, and if we don't catch them now…' she trailed off.
'Yeah but how do we know who's them?' Kate frowned. 'There are dozens of families there along with hundreds of rangers and miles of camp! Not to mention the surrounding bush, rainforests and rivers…what?' she noticed everyone was staring at her. 'I…I've seen the place' she shrugged.
'We'll have to go under cover' Gibbs realized.
'As what?' Tony asked. 'I mean what could we possibly go under cover as at a family park?'
'A family?' Abby shrugged. 'Ooh!' she then got excited since she knew she'd be making up all the background checks.
'Oh yeah, that's really gonna work…come on, how could we pull that one off?' Kate asked; it seemed rather stupid to her, plus she hated the park.
'There isn't any other option, but I do know how it could work' Jenny nodded.
'Shoot me now' Tony groaned. He had a really bad feeling about this.
'Gladly' Kate smirked at him but didn't move.
'Look' Jenny frowned and they glanced at her. 'It's not going to be easy, but if you all keep to your cover it should work out and we can finally catch those bastards' Everyone was a bit surprised by her cursing, but stayed quiet as she explained their covers. 'Gibbs, you can be the parent taking his daughters for a holiday. Kate and Ziva…that will be-'
'Wait' Abby butted in. 'One of the guys is a forensic genius, I mean I'm not a special agent, but I'm still special!' she pulled an innocent smile but then sighed, seeing the disapproving expressions on everyone's faces. Well, apart from Ziva's.
'I can act as Gibbs's daughter easily' Abby continued, desperate to convince them since she knew she was their best hope at catching one of the killers, if not both.
'It's too dangerous' McGee jumped in, ignoring Abby's betrayed look. 'Sorry Abbs, but I don't want to see you hurt'
'Awe' Abby smiled and then glared. 'Traitor'
'Abby' Kate said and approached her. 'We know you want to help but-'
'No!' Abby snapped; she was going to full on prove her point this time. It was time she did something that wasn't in her lab. 'That guy is the best! Well not better than me but…he knows what he is doing!' Abby crossed her arms. 'How do you detect if a marking or detail has been removed from a surface? How much do you know about volatile hydrocarbons? And if I asked you to-'
'Okay, we get it' Ziva sighed, holding up a hand. 'She has a point' Ziva then told the group.
'I don't like it' Tony sighed.
'If we lose these killers again, hundreds of lives will be lost, including everyone at the park' Abby said and faced Gibbs. 'Please, you have to let me do this Gibbs!'
Gibbs glanced at Jenny, leaving the decision in her hands.
'I want a voice feed from MTAC at all times on each of you' Jenny announced and McGee rushed to his phone to follow her request since she'd looked at him when she'd said it. 'You will all have a GPS track on you, on an item you will only remove for water-based activities' she said, glancing at Kate.
Kate went to her desk to use her phone then.
'Abby, I want full background checks on everyone, which we will create later together' Jenny said and then sighed. 'In the meantime, Ziva will teach you to use firearms, and anything else that will help you defend yourself if required'
'Yes!' Abby hugged Jenny and then left with Ziva.
'What do I do?' Tony wondered.
'Research the park, find out everything you can that will help us with the mission' Jenny nodded and turned to Gibbs. 'We need to attend a briefing'
It was just after dinnertime as everyone (except Tony and Ducky) crowded around Abby's desk in her lab.
'Okay, hit me' Abby told Jenny since her computer was ready for the background checks.
'It's risky but we're going to keep the original first names because it's easier to abide by' Jenny sighed and then cleared her throat. 'Okay, Jethro Marshal has three daughters' she said. 'Abigail Marshal is the youngest. Ziva Marshal was adopted at a young age, which is because of your accent Ziva. It's hard to cover something like that up in a family situation'
Ziva nodded in understanding and watched as Abby typed the information into her computer.
'And then there is Kate. You will be Jethro's daughter as well, but you're married to Tony-'
'Woah, what?' Kate snapped into full attention. 'You want me to be married to Tony?' she pulled an utmost disgusted expression.
Jenny continued without responding to that. 'Tony and Kate Michaels have been married for one year, dated for two years before that' Jenny read off her notes. 'Then McGee, you'll be Timothy Jacobs, Abigail's one-year boyfriend'
'Please don't call me Abigail' Abby frowned as she typed. 'Got it, anything else?'
Tony entered the lab and took a deep breath. 'Okay so it's a really big place' he frowned. 'There are over a hundred activities and almost all are outdoor based…rock climbing and stuff. There are different camping quarters set up around the area, several km from each other. Now, Ziva has traced our killers to the 2nd quarter, which has twelve guest cabins and three ranger cabins' he took a breath and continued. 'I called the head office and the 2nd quarter has two cabins free so I told them to book us in and they wanted details. So I said them we'll call them back in the hour' he nodded. Tony really didn't feel like reading out all the details about the park since it was a lot. He noticed the look on Kate's face and the way she glared at him 'What?'
'You and Kate and married' Abby smirked and wolf whistled. The grin disappeared quickly though as Kate glared at her too.
'Ah, it'll take me a bit to get this all set up for tomorrow' Abby said. 'Give me two hours'
'I'll call the park back' Gibbs said. He'd stayed quiet until now; he didn't like his cover at all. He left with Tony following behind. McGee and Jenny went to prepare MTAC while the three girls stayed there.
'I hate this' Kate frowned.
'Tony's not that bad' Abby shrugged.
'I have to be married to him!' Kate said loudly.
'Yeah, I see your point' Abby then nodded and patted her friend's shoulder sympathetically. 'Sorry Kate'
After a long night, the team finally headed home for some much needed rest.
The following morning came around and they were officially under cover as they all boarded the bus that was taking them out to the Nevada Family Fun National Park.
Gibbs stepped out of the bus first; bag over one shoulder with another under his arm. He watched Abby jump down the steps in excitement, holding McGee's hand as she did. Kate and Tony then made their way over and glanced around.
Kate stretched and yawned, shoving Tony a bit angrily.
'What did I do?' Tony asked.
'You let me fall asleep' Kate frowned.
'Those two don't even need to try and act like a married couple' McGee muttered under his breath.
'Let's go' Gibbs said and started walking towards their campsite. 'Let's get this nightmare over with'
Author's Notes: There! That's the first chapter folks. Just one note, in case someone notices it later: the guys they were running from weren't actually the killers which is how the team can go undercover without the killers suspecting them or knowing who they are. This will be explained at a later date, but jsut thought i'd say before anyone noticed. Anyway, If you liked it, hated it, have questions etc...please, I'd love to hear them!!
-Mel
p.s those that read 'camping trip' don't worry, this one is heaps better than that fic and WILL be finished, even up to chpater 10 in writing now :) Hope this makes up for the issue with that fic being unfinished, it was beyond my control. enjoy.