A/N: Well this is my second fan fic and my 1st multi chapter fic. i had received requests to continue my first fic 'a night in the desert' but sorry to say i intended it to be a one shot i see no way i can continue it. but i promise this fic will have some elements later on in the story that will have implications to 'a night in the desert' so people who haven't read it already please give it a in my anxiety to publish my 1st fic i had forgotten to include disclaimer. so here goes...

DISCLAIMER : i do not own any of the characters in this story. all these characters belong to CBS and i have no intention to make money from this whatsoever.

chapter 1

"good morning zee vah, good morning mcgoo" greeted tony as he strode swiftly into the bullpen with his 1000 watt grin. Ziva rested her chin on her knuckles and with a raised eyebrow scrutinized tony and commented " well you seem to be in an exceptionally good mood" "well yes David thank you for noticing, as a matter of fact…." "well there he goes did u have to ask?" McGee chastised Ziva. "Whoa did somebody get on the wrong side of the bed McGrumpy" exclaimed Tony annoying Tim even more. In the precise moment Gibbs walked inside and effectively broke off the possible quarrel from erupting. He sat at his desk and threw a glare at DiNozzo " shutting up boss" said tony as he sat at his desk and started his routine.

They worked in silence for about half an hour only their keyboards or pens making noises when a sudden gasp broke the monotone. Tony was the only one who heard it and he looked up and caught Ziva's horrified expression. Ziva suddenly snapped back into reality and arranged her face masking the horrific expression that it adorned. She looked up from the screen to see tony staring at her with a questioning gaze. she shook her head and returned back to the report she was filing. "That was odd" tony thought to himself and shrugged it away. Ziva kept squirming in her seat unable to compose herself distracting everyone including Gibbs. He looked at her sideways and ordered all three to the gym and blow off some steam as they all had started the day off on the wrong note. Ziva bolted up and made a run for the gym. "exactly what I needed, thanks a lot Gibbs" ziva thought to herself as she changed to her workout clothes. She was beating the life out of the punching bag when tony placed a hand on his shoulders " calm down…..oomph" tony was hit with a punch right to his nose. It started bleeding profusely, ziva abandoned her gloves and knelt beside the bleeding tony and screamed at Gibbs to bring an ice pack. "What the hell Ziva?" came the muffled voice of tony." I am so sorry" cried ziva tears falling uncontrollably down her rosy cheeks, "I didn't mean to" she apologized. "hey ninja, it is alright don't cry I know you didn't mean to" tony soothed her brushing off the tears, more than being angry at her he was confused that his usually stoic ninja was openly crying in front of him. Ziva fought for control as Gibbs came by them.

HALF AN HOUR AND A VISIT TO DUCKY LATER

McGee and ziva were busy typing away on their computers. Tony strode in with a frown forming on his forehead. "oh yeah, ducky said I am alright although it might sting a little till tomorrow, thanks for asking guys" tony said sarcastically, still seeing no reaction from his co workers he slumped on his chair looking at both of them simultaneously and exclaiming "what is up with these kids and computers ?" ."yeah something I have been asking for years DiNozzo " came the reply of Gibbs as he strode into the office carrying a cup of coffee in his hands. "glad someone's with me on this boss " came Tony's cheery reply. "Oh yeah DiNozzo, I think I may know someone who may not be with us anymore." he said as he grabbed his gear and strode towards the elevator as Tony and McGee followed him promptly, as they went into the elevator they noticed that ziva hadn't left her desk to join them. Gibbs held the elevator doors open and shouted across the room to ziva "hey David care to join us ". when he got no response Tony peeked out to see Ziva still sitting at her desk staring transfixed at her computer screen. He stepped out of the elevator and assured Gibbs that both of them will be right behind them and saying so he moved boldly towards ziva this time all ready for any sort of reaction from her. He reached her and saw her staring at a blank screen. He rounded the cubicle and squatted down beside her, he called out her name and still received no response. He carefully placed a hand on her knee and shook her while calling her name a little more loudly

" hey zee". She snapped back from her trance and looked directly at him, she tilted her head a little to the left and looked at him disbelievingly fear and hurt glistening in her eyes. "hey zee is everything alright you look like you have seen a ghost". And that was it within a fraction of a second she sucked it up and placed her usual mask of indifference. Tony understood that she didn't want to talk about it and let it slide for now. He stood up and taking her backpack cheerfully said "we better get going or else Gibbs is going to kick our sorry asses into the next century and back." ziva nodded and picked up her id and weapon.

AT THE CRIME SCENE

"Marine gunnery sergeant Liam Hemmingway stationed at Kandahar for the past 6 months, on leave for the past 2 weeks due to personal reasons. Has been in DC for the past 3 days." McGee recited dutifully from his mobile AFIS. Gibbs was grimly looking down at the body of the sergeant that was convoluted impossibly, meanwhile ducky was going on and about the body and palmer was raptly paying attention to the old ME , but he observed that Ziva was abnormally quite and pensive as she was taking photographs of the crime scene, he also noticed that Tony was glancing at her every now and then.

"Jethro, I and Mr palmer here have reached to the conclusion that our gunnery sergeant was tortured immensely before they put an end to the poor man's miseries, he was killed approximately after 11 pm last night, but as for the intricate details of his rather..."ducky discontinued as he looked up in time to see Ziva's eyes lose focus and her upper body sway a little." ziva, my dear are you feeling alright you don't look too well." Gibbs and tony turned in time to see her lose her grip on the camera and fall down herself, both of them strode towards her and caught her before she could hit the ground.

A/N: i would also like to thank and guest reviewer zivatjl12 for your valuable reviews and caria05 for putting my story on favorites.

please let me know how you liked this story so far so that i can upload more. reviews please :)