Chapter 1: Discovery
Not sure where this is going, there is something at the end of this chapter that will help make a few things you read earlier make sense... (May need to read twice if you don't know). Please R&R!
"Hey Zi?" Tony asks, not looking up from under his desk.
"Yes, Tony?" Ziva answers as she scribbles the last of her note down on a pad of paper.
"Can you come here, I need an extra set of hands."
"Why can you not get McGee to help?" Ziva asks, still writing. McGee looks up from his desk beside Tony's as soon as he's heard his name.
"Uh, Tony… what are you doing?" He finally interjects.
"Unravelling the wires. There's too many of them! Two for the phone, one for the mouse, Internet connection—like, seriously I think it's about time we get wireless Internet in here, right?" Tony digresses. "They're all wrapped up together and I need help getting them apart."
"Oh, that's easy. I'll ju—" McGee starts as he stands from his chair.
"No!" Tony yells milliseconds before he hits his head off the underside of his desk. He tries to recover. "I mean, no. You're too big to have the both of us under here. Ziva's tiny, she'll fit better." It wasn't much of a save, and Tony knew how it sounded but he hoped Ziva didn't and would come to help anyway. Ziva and McGee share a look and Ziva slowly rises.
"Okay, Tony. What do you need me to do?" The Israeli turns and crouches beside Tony.
"Alright. Slide in here and take these two blue ones. Be careful not to unplug this one." Tony holds up two wires and thumbs the one closer to Ziva. Ziva takes in a breath and crawls in beside the Italian. She moves into a plank pose and lowers herself down until she's flat on the floor.
Tony watches the muscles in Ziva's back contort and flex as she moves to lie down beside his sideways form. Ziva reaches to take the two wires, but Tony won't let go. She thinks he's preoccupied with a few wires beside him until she looks up. She catches DiNozzo staring at her. She tries to play it off.
"See something you like, Tony?" Suddenly Tony lets go of the wires
"Huh? What? Oh, no. I mean yes, but…" Ziva smiles and looks over at the stammering agent. Tony realises that she was joking and tries to laugh.
They argue lightly for a few more minutes as they try to place the wires correctly when they hear Gibbs' voice coming towards them.
"Gear up. Dead marine in a pool." The two agents both go to move at the same time and end up smacking into each other.
"Ow, Tony! That is my hand!" Ziva tries to whisper but fails.
"Well, it's not my fault it was so close to my feet!" Tony replies as they both try to get out a second time. The muscles that Tony had been mesmerized by before were out to play again and he couldn't help but touch them. He tries to play it off, and helps the Israeli out from under the desk by wrapping his hands around her waist. Her black blouse lifts slightly and Tony is able to feel the smooth skin beneath it with the pads of his pinkies. Ziva doesn't seem to catch this as anything more then him helping her out and thanks the Italian as she helps him. The two agents turn, adjust themselves and find the older agent staring at them, a coffee in hand. "Um, it's not what it looks like" Tony tries.
"Not at all… sir." Ziva looks away and scratches the back of her neck in embarrassment. Gibbs nods and turns to leave.
"Gear up." He repeats, McGee on his heels. The two other agents quickly make for their Go bags and chase after the men already in the elevator.
It was late March and the air was still slightly cool.
The team of agents exit their cars and make for the backyard of a woman named Alice Bernard. McGee breaks off from the group and walks over to the owner of the pool.
"Hi there. I'm Agent McGee, with NCIS I'm going to ask you a few questions if that's alright." Alice was in her late thirties and had short, dark hair. She held a ball of tissue tightly in her right hand, and the corner of a blanket that was covering her shaking frame in the other. She nodded and adjusted the quilt around her.
"My kids were wondering when I'd open the pool again, because it was staring to warm up a bit." She sniffs and wipes her nose with the tissue. "I went outside to remove the cover and as soon as I started rolling it in, I could smell it. It for sure smelled dead, but I just thought a raccoon or a cat fell in…" Again, Alice wiped the tissue across her nose. "I kept rolling and… I saw a hand! It was all puffed up and pale. Then I saw the rest." Alice finished and sniffed again. McGee nodded, trying to sympathize.
"Did you know the man?" McGee asked, looking for connections.
"I don't know any one in the army personally." More writing in the notebook. "Oh, wait, my husband had a friend I think. He was over here about a year ago for a poker game. I can't remember his name, but if you ask my husband, Walter, he might be able to tell you."
"Okay, where can I find your husband Mrs. Bernard?"
"I called him but I got his voicemail. He's probably in a meeting. Walter's working until five but he should be back here by six, I think."
McGee quickly wrote down everything the woman said and thanked her for her time.
Ziva snapped pictures of the body, the sides of the pool and everything in between. Ducky had two techs fish the marine out of the water before starting his own work, as Tony was closer to the house, taking statements from neighbours.
"I don't see haemorrhaging with in the eyes, no froth around the mouth…" Ducky starts as he works with the body. He moves around the dead marine for a few more minutes before unbuttoning the marine's vest. A large slit could bee seen on the right side of the abdomen. "Oh, that's why. This poor man was stabbed. Death was caused by blood loss if I'm correct." Gibbs nods and asks,
"Time of death, Doctor?" The older medical examiner does the math in his head, looks over the body again and replies.
"The skin hasn't started to slough off, which happens in about a week, so... five days?"
Tony has come over to the rest of the team and puts in his part.
"Best guess is that this is petty officer Joshua Mills. Went missing a little over a week ago. Left for work, never came home. Neighbours say he was a nice guy, but might have been getting into drugs and whatnot." Ducky begins packing up the body for transport and Gibbs walks back to his car as usual.
Ziva is still taking snapshots of the crime scene when Tony walks up beside her. She's trying to get a close up of a few drops of blood found on the edge of the pool when DiNozzo lightly hip checks her. Ziva stumbles and her left foot slips into the pool. Her arms go up and Tony catches her around the waist, just before she falls into the pool altogether. Ziva wraps her arms around Tony, scared to let go in fear of falling in again.
Tony chuckles lightly and Ziva turns in his arms to look up at his smiling face. She lets go if him with her right arm and smacks him on the chest playfully.
"That is not funny, Tony." Ziva recovers and finally lets go of the Italian.
"What? You scared of a little water?" Tony asks as he starts walking back to his SUV.
"Of course not. It's just the fact that there was a dead body in it for about five days that grosses me out." Ziva fixes the camera hanging around her neck and jogs up to walk beside Tony. She looks up at his side profile, and then looks away quickly when Tony looks down at her. "You can not be doing things like that."
"What? I can't poke fun at my partner?"
"In what sense do you mean 'partner'?" Ziva retorts. "You keep acting like this at work, they'll think you mean 'partner' differently then you do." The two agents pass a few cops and their conversation turns to a whisper.
"Who said I meant a 'work' partner?" Again, Ziva looks up, but Tony catches her eye.
"You make it too obvious, Tony. They find out, I will have to leave."
"I don't think Gibbs will allow that. He won't let Vance take away my girlfriend."