The lights were dim in the squad room. Ellie sat on the floor between Tim and Tony's desks, earbuds in, files and empty bags of chips spread out around her. She bit her lip as she picked up first one, then another, all the while typing furiously on her laptop. She had to find the answer. Gibbs had told them to go home and sleep on it, and Tony and Tim had done so without question. But Ellie couldn't turn off her brain, and her brain said that the answer had to be here, somewhere.
A small part of her was always analyzing herself. She didn't like the current analysis: that she was avoiding going home to her empty apartment again, that she would rather work nonstop for the next week than think about Jake. She knew that overworking herself would only make things worse in the long run. She'd read and even written enough studies to know that. But Ellie couldn't go home, even after months of living alone, and so she was here, working, searching, focusing on something that she could change.
She heard a click, and the lights flicked on. She looked up, startled. Who would be here at – she checked her watch – 2:37 AM? She suspected Gibbs, or Abby, or the director, and was preparing a defense for herself when Tim came around the corner.
"Hey, Bish," he said. "Find anything?"
She shook her head. "The answer's here, though," she told him. "I know it is."
"What are you thinking? Tell me what you know." Tim put his backpack on his desk and settled on the floor next to her.
Ellie cocked her head at him. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I figured you'd still be here, and Delilah's out of town."
"That's not an answer."
He leaned back against the cubicle wall, looking up at the ceiling. "Back when I was a probie, there was a case that consumed me."
"Ari Haswari," Ellie guessed.
"That's the one. You know the story, I assume?" She nodded. "I wanted to get the guy, and I knew Gibbs did, too. So I modified a facial recognition search. Stayed here the whole night in order to finish it."
"And it worked, right?"
"Yeah. The point is, I couldn't have done it if Abby hadn't stayed with me all night. I did the legwork, she gave me ideas and kept me motivated. I figured, tonight, you're doing the legwork. I can be your Abby." He shifted so that he could look over Ellie's shoulder. "So tell me what you know, Bishop. Where do you think Ziva is?"
I'm branching out into a new fandom today. This is my first time writing NCIS fanfiction, so let me know what you think! I am always up for improving my writing, and I welcome constructive criticism.