-1Tony dropped his pen and looked up from his pile of paper work, across the bull pen Ziva was just putting the finishing touches to her own reports and packing up her things. He sighed loudly and put his face in his hands, when this prompted no response he sighed louder and forced a down cast expression onto his face. Ziva spun round in her chair and raised an eyebrow.
"I see your finished your paperwork Agent David"
"Why yes Tony I have, you see I have some organisational skills and a little something known as an attention span, unlike yourself." she shot him a cheeky grin and zipped up her rucksack. Tony pulled a face and leant back in his chair.
"You know Ziva, if I was of a more sensitive disposition I would be offended by that however I am made of sterner stuff . . ."
"Well GOOD Tony, I'm very happy that I did not hurt your feelings, it would have weighed heavily on my mind all evening." Ziva chuckled
"You know I never said my feelings weren't hurt, they are, very much so but don't worry- I have the perfect way for you to make it up to me" He leant forward and waved his hand across his desk "By helping finish these!" He plastered his most genial smile across his face.
"As tempting as that sounds I am going to have to turn you down." Ziva laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she stood up to put on her jacket.
"Hmmmmm I have been observing your recent behaviour agent David, using my razor sharp investigative skills, you know, noticing some. . . Changes in your comings and goings and what not …"
"Tony, do you have a point or are your just going to ramble on indefinitely because if you are I would very much like leave now." Slinging her rucksack over her shoulder she stepped out from behind her desk but was prevented from leaving when Tony shot to his feet and moved in front of her, eyes narrowed as though he were examaning her face.
"Aha you see this is exactly what I was talking about, the impatience, the eagerness to leave bang on time . . ."
"So I have plans so what Tony" she tried to dodge him but he cut her off again.
"All of a sudden you have urgent plans, important plans? To do what I wonder, or perhaps . . . who? You know, we're partners there should be no secrets between us if I had a new friend I would tell you." Ziva stepped back and looked up at him, arms folded across her chest.
"Well actually Tony I seem to remember you keeping a rather large secret about a girlfriend from me, in fact everyone . .." Tony opened his mouth but she quickly raised her hand to prevent him complaining, "HOWEVER I am not interested in arguing about that again so to satisfy your nosiness, a friend is visiting D.C for a while O.K?
"HA I knew I'd break you, a man friend? Oooh a girl friend, you two having cosy little sleepovers?"
"Uh good night Tony, enjoy your paperwork" she smiled and stepped round him.
"Oh come on, just half an hour-many hands make light work! We'll be done in no time huh what do you say?"
"Ha sorry Tony I have to go" She spun round whilst walking towards the lift, "I am late for a sleepover." Tony watched her step into the lift, smiling to himself before he turned back to his desk and the smile disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.
"Well well good morning my traitor partner, how was your sleepover last night, you know the one you abandoned me to go to, I was here for HOURS last night-as though you care!" Tony flung his arm to his forehead with a dramatic flair. McGee and Ziva ignored his display as they walked towards their desks. "Huh well I see we are all in happy chatty moods this morning" He sat up and took a sip of his coffee, "No honestly let me get a word in guys jeez what's wrong with you two this morning? Did your sleepover go wrong? You two have a little falling out? Oooh or a cat catfight, bit of slapping maybe?"
"Sometimes Tony I really wonder what goes on inside that twisted little head of yours, did you just sit there last night imagining me and a friend fighting?"
"huh well y'know. . ." He got a far away look in his eyes and fell silent for a few seconds before spinning round to face McGee,
"I say Probie did you know our secretive colleague here had a friend visiting?" McGee was struggling out of his coat.
"Uh sure, they've been here for what, a week?"
"Wait wait wait-you told HIM?" He shot up and spread his arms wide, gesturing towards McGee indignantly.
"Oh feeling left Out DiNozzo, It's no your fault I just give people a sense of security, it encourages them to open up, share their secrets It's just my air of trustiness . . ."
"Oh for goodness sake-it was not a secret! I am not hiding things from you Tony, you are just so paranoid!"
"Oh yeah that's not the way it seems to me-mysterious secret guests, mysterious secret plans all week, mysterious secret plans last night are you seeing a pattern? I am, a mysterious . . . And secret pattern." He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
"Oh well yes Tony, you are doing an excellent job of proving you are not paranoid! But actually, if you must know I did not meet with them last night-they took a, a, wetcheck no wait that is not right, a raincheck, yes?. . . Well anyway we did not go out last night."
"Oh! Oh! You have a friend all the way over here from Israel, to a strange city and they STILL find something else to do and blow you off? That's harsh!" Tony snorted with laughter as he moved back towards his desk.
"I never said they were from Israel or that they knew no one else in the city Tony . . ." She stopped as her mobile phone began to ring, she raised an eyebrow and answered it. Tony lent against his desk and watched as Ziva's face contorted into various expressions, from confusion to horror to fury; he couldn't tell what was causing this extreme reaction since she was conversing in rapid Hebrew. She abruptly stood up, snatched up her bag and stormed towards the lift still yelling down the phone before disappearing inside the lift.
"What do think that's all about?" McGee looked perplexed.
"Well gee Mctrusty why don't you tell me since apparently you and Ziva are real tight now?" Tony slumped into his chair, staring into space apparently lost in thought.
About an hour later Gibbs appeared from no where and marched past them tossing, "C'mon we got one" over his shoulder. As the two agents scrambled to their feet and rushed to catch up with him he elaborated, an admiral's wife had been found dead in her bed.
"Uh was it murder boss?" Tony asked as they stepped into the lift. Gibbs fixed his eyes on him,
"Well the cut throat and the blood soaked suspect at the scene kinda points that way yeah Dinozzo"
"oh right, well y'know, you could'a said that in the first place boss . . ." Tony's voice petered out as he felt his boss' eyes drilling into him, "but that's fine we wouldn't have been going if it wasn't murder huh, probably I could have worked that out myself cause you know like a heart attack or something not really our jurisdiction eh, well actually I guess that's no ones jurisdiction really being natural . . ." He was cut off when Gibbs smacked the back of his head in his typical fashion. "oh sorry boss, I'm finished"
"Did you say they had a suspect at the scene boss?" McGee interjected before Tony could go off on another tangent.
"Yeah, she was there when the locals answered the call, neighbour noticed some blood on the path, knocked on the door and when no one answered called it in. The suspect was there when the locals arrived and hasn't said a word since.
Half an hour later they drew up outside the house which was surrounded by various police cars and on lookers eager to catch a glimpse of whatever gruesome sight had attracted so much activity onto the quiet road. They climbed out of the van and surveyed the street, on any other day it would have seemed like any other street in a well to do area, big houses set slightly back from the road, pretty gardens with carefully tended flower beds and shrubs. They ducked under the yellow tape and headed towards the front door, they were almost there when a stocky man stepped out pushed his sunglasses onto his head and asked "Agent Gibbs?"
"Yeah and this is agents Dinozzo and McGee"
"Right, I'm Detective Peterson, the vic's upstairs third door on the left-it's real messy up their wheeww clean slice right through throat arterial spray all over the damn place, you know I never think about how much blood is in a person till I see it spattered across the walls." the detective paused briefly but was quickly spurred on by Gibbs' questioning stare, "So anyway a couple of my guys arrived and there's this strange chick just standing in the room, covered in blood, I mean all over her face, clothes everything so y'know they arrest her she makes absolutely no attempt to escape at all and y'know they weren't sneaky about going in-they just figured some nosy-assed neighbour was just being paranoid or something so they were all "Hello Hello police blah blah" so if she'd wanted to run she coulda . . ."
"Where is she?" Gibbs sighed, having lost all patience with the policeman who was clearly taken aback by his bluntness.
"Well we got her in the kitchen just go in and turn to the right, she's not said a damn thing-not a word . . ." Gibbs strode past him and into the house. Tony followed him in turning to Peterson as he went,
"Don't take it personally, he just gets cranky when he gets a murder before coffee number 5"
"Dinozzo!!" Gibbs shouted from ahead,
"Coming boss!" Tony scurried after Gibbs,
"I thought you said she had a dentist's appointment!" Tony cocked his head and looked at his boss with an expression of complete confusion.
"What boss? . . .uh I don't follow" He turned his head to see where Gibbs was looking. Across the room was the detective's suspect, sitting up at the breakfast bar, her face and arms smeared with crimson blood.
"Well I, I, guess I could have been wrong boss . . ." Tony stuttered
"Wrong about what Tony?" McGee finally caught up after being cornered by the Detective who had recounted in great detail everything he had done since arriving at the scene, when neither answered he turned, following their eyes he too turned to face into the kitchen, "Oh boy, that's Ziva"