"God bless it…da…ugh!" Tony muttered and punched his desk. Gibbs was in a meeting in MTAC with the director, and McGee was probably off flirting with Abby down in her lab. I really should just go grab McGee and make him deal with all this bull crap of a case, I mean he is the Probie! Ziva is more Probie than even Probie, but I could not put her through that…I love her…what was that thought Dinozzo? Rule twelve! Rule twelve! Here comes the head slap from Gibbs because we all know that he knows what I just thought. Huh…he thought because that slap never did quite come, even though he hoped just maybe it would, and he would get some sense knocked into him.
"Cool out, Tony!" Ziva responded, her head whipping out from behind her computer to investigate what his issue was.
"First off, it is chill out, and second off, no fricken way Ziva! This dang case is unbearable, I am running on no sleep for the past week, and my computer is broken beyond repair!"
"Whatever." She waved his remark off; it doesn't even faze her anymore. "We are all exhausted, frustrated, and want to go home and sleep. Do you see the rest of us complaining? Just deal with it!" He really is so cute when he gets fed up with a case. David, what are you talking about? It is Tony for God's sake! Tony! There's no way you could go there! I mean those undercover missions are mighty…stop!
"No! I am out of here! I need a break, do not follow me, you will not find me." Tony stormed out of the squad room, sped down the stairs and out of the building. But, all he was really thinking was that, if anyone could find him, it would be Ziva, and she will no matter the risks and complications. Ziva watched him run to his car, get in and peel out of the Navy Yard, and only then did she pick up her phone and attempt to call him. Tony was going off the grid, and he got there awfully fast.
Tony, why do you do this to me? You know that I cannot just sit here and watch you leave everything behind: your team, life, me. If one of us leaves, the other chases them, that is how we work, you know that. Just like when you rescued me in Somalia, in Somalia of all places you still came. Now what do you what me to do? You said not to follow, but you know I will, so which do you want? Do you want everyone to know? Just me? You know sometimes there's no way for me to just pick up and leave, but you know that I will do it just for you, you do right? Do you want me to wait for, or fight for you, I guess I will see. Maybe you will fight back and everything can go back to normal, or maybe you will just keep running, running farther from home. From me.
"California? No. Florida? Maybe. Texas? Possibly. Where can I go that Ziva will not follow me? She probably already knows my every move. Get a hold of yourself Tony; you are already talking to yourself. You are going to drive yourself nutto, and look at that, you are not using contractions. Just like a certain someone." He sped out of D.C. just trying to get out of that place. That case. Those people. His mind was racing, with memories from his childhood to past times at Baltimore PD, but mostly about her.
"I was just…"
"Having phone sex?" The very first words she ever said to him. He will never forget that moment, not for the rest of his life. She stood there, three feet from his desk, confidence just pouring out of her body, stern as a rock. That's when the lies started.
"Charades, Dinozzo? Really? You could not have come up with anything better than that? Now look at yourself, speeding down the highway talking to yourself." McGee's going to track my car, I know it. I have to get out of this thing as soon as possible. Ziva will somehow find me with her crazy ninja skills. God, how I love her ninja skills. Snap out of it Tony!
He drove for what felt like hours beyond hours then pulled off to a car rental station. Tony took out a couple hundred dollars, and his newest, personal, fake ID that read Matthew D. Longlow, knowing this was the only way of not being traced. At this point he knew that the best thing he could do was get away. For the team. He was no help in the office. Not in his state.
That case. Ziva. His mind flipped between only those two things. How many times have I broken rule ten now…God…Gibbs is going to kill me. Rule ten, eleven and ya know probably twelve here real soon, just add it to the pile! Get a hold of yourself, Tony! You are a Dinozzo, and Dinozzos don't do this!
His mind fell back to the memory of Ziva coming back from Miami as it does every day and that was the last thing he saw before sleep came over him.
Gibbs walked into the bullpen expecting to see his team working diligently, but it was completely empty. Ding! The elevator slid open and out stepped Ziva, a troubled look on her face. "Zivers, what's wrong?"
"It's Tony, Gibbs. He is gone."
"What the hell do you mean he's gone?" Gibbs said this, not yelling but making sure that Ziva knew it was the big leagues now.
"He left about fifteen minutes ago after complaining about the case. He does not seem to be coming back anytime in the foreseeable future either. I think he has finally gone nuts."
"Call him, now! And get McGee and Abby on it too!"
"What makes you that think I have not already called him?" Gibbs shot her a look that even her Mossad training did not cover, a look that he had never given her before. "I will try again."
McGee sauntered into the room, with his goofy nerd flirty look on his face as always when coming from the lab. "Do not even start with the Abby story, Tim. Tony is gone. He stormed out of here like a bath sheet."
"I think you mean banshee, Ziva. But never mind, that's not important." Tim whipped around to go to his desk and Gibbs had gone to see the director.
"Be quiet, McGee! Tony is missing and there is nothing I can do about it!" Her voice was quivering and he turned around to see that she was devastated and was ready to bawl her eyes out, more emotion than McGee had even seen in her before. She started to suck it up and toughen her look and stormed towards the elevator.