The junction is complete carnage as the team pull up to the police tape littering the area, officers already milling around the burnt out shell of a car positioned in the middle while others see to those who were nearby and injuried when the explosion occurred.
"Boss, why did the director give us this case if law enforcement is already investigating?" McGee sighs tiredly, already imagining the struggle of getting his unsociable boss and killer ninja to play nice with those outside their own team, a task which he had always left to the previous senior agent.
"If I knew, I would tell you!" Gibbs grunts angrily although it's become common place for him to snap at anything the younger man says since he took over the role of senior agent and he roughly throws the car into park before climbing out to find out who is in charge.
"Something tastes fishy" Ziva frowns, still stumbling over familiar phrases even after almost four years of living in the states but the younger man does not have the energy to correct her once again and he simply nods in agreement, his gaze studying the scene in front of him as he climbs from the car but he barely moves three steps before he bumps into Gibbs' back, the older man stiff and still as he notices something across the crime scene
"DiNozzo" The marine whispers, his voice quiet and weak at the memory of his agent as he watches the man across from him sitting on the front of a police car with his face buried in his hands, his hair sticking up at every angle and his shoulders visibly shaking with tears as a police officer tries to speak to him.
"Tony!" McGee echoes as he catches sight of him, his voice a little louder and the familiarity of it has the man lifting his head and his eyes widen at the sight of two thirds of his former team. Ziva had yet to notice her ex-partner, instead having climbed through the back of the truck in order to gather the equipment but McGee's voice carries through the air and she tenses immediately, the reminder of the man she was once so close to bringing forth of myriad of emotions as she steps down from the truck.
"Tony" Ziva repeats, although her voice is barely more than a whisper and none of the men can hear her as she catches sight of the broken man across the way and it takes her only seconds to connect the reports of a young woman and child dying within the explosion with that of the woman that Tony had fallen in love with and chosen over her and the rest of their team.
"Tony, are you hurt?" She has always been able to focus on the most aspect of a case first and although the sight of her old partner sways her more than she had expected, she refuses to appear weak in front of the man who chose to leave them as she quickly approaches him as she would any other victim to a case, her gaze sweeping over his uninjured body. Tony is silent as he meets the brunette's gaze, his mouth opening and closing at the sight of his former partner stood here in the middle of his life falling apart like an angel from heaven and he crumpled back against the car, sobbing loudly.
"They're gone, Ziva!" He cries loudly, giving up on holding anything together as his body leans he heavily against the bonnet of the police car, his arms barely managing to hold himself up and it breaks the Israeli's heart to see the man she cared about still in so much pain.
"My family's dead!" He gasps as of only just no coming to the realisation and Ziva can't stop herself from stepping forward and resting her hand upon his shoulder, still unsure of wrapping him in a hug as she might have once done and the sound seems to force Gibbs from his statue like position and he surges forward to speak to the officer who was trying to deal with Tony before they arrived to find out what has happened.
"McGee! Photos!" He calls over his shoulder, giving the agent the job which he once had when he was still a probationary agent because it was the easiest and had the least chance of being messed up but the younger man is actually grateful for the escape, overcome by not only his own emotions about the return of the man he once called his brother but also by the silent conversation which seems to be occurring between the two ex-partners and he rushes off towards the truck to collect what Ziva has discarded when she first spotted Tony. Meanwhile, the small brunette woman has stepped closer to the broken man as if to create a protective circle around the two of them in order to keep out the many people moving around the crime scene "I know it hurts, Tony but you must be strong for Jeanne ... for ..." She falters, realising that after two years of silence from the man in front of her, she doesn't even know his child's name as the the other woman was just pregnant with the, when Tony walked away so she settles instead for rubbing her hand up and down his arm in an attempt to provide comfort.
"How can I be strong when they're gone?" He snaps angrily, rubbing his hand fiercely across his face but when she reaches to touch him, he leans back into her familiar touch "She gave me strength to be strong, they made me strong and now they are dead!" He cries, his shoulders still shaking with the force of his tears but they seem to be drying at least as he finally glances up at the woman who always stood strong and steady in the face of disaster but the pain and anguish on his face at the moment seems to even be swaying her as she looks at him with a loss for words. He savours her touch, remembering long nights after cases where they would snuggle up on the couch with one of his favourite movies and he would relax as she ran her fingers through his hair but his memories of the Israeli are marred by the image of Jeanne's face floating into view, her jealously of Ziva having always been evident and she never made a secret of the fact that she was mostly asking him to leave his partner when she asked him to choose between her or the team.
"No! I need to work! I need to find him and make him pay for what he has done to my family" He grunts, already knowing who is responsible and he wrenches himself away from the worried woman in front of him, pushing off the car and stalking towards Gibbs who has just finished with the terrified police officer who seems happy to hand over any information he can and wipe his hands of this case.
"Bos...Gibbs! I want to work this case" Tony commands as he interrupts the uniform who takes the opportunity to rush off back to his car, no longer afraid of the older man's rules as he stands firm before him but still he can't help the familiar title which falls from his lips. The senior agent refuses to turn towards him at first as he studies the scene in front of him and creates a plan in his head for how to tackle it all while also trying to figure out how to face the victim's partner "Ziver, start interviewing witnesses" He directs the Israeli woman who has tried to follow her ex-partner as if worried how the two men will clash but she sighs at being caught and moves over to the gathered crowd while Gibbs finally turns to the man he once viewed as a son.
"You know I can't let you on this case, you're not even NCIS anymore" Gibbs grunts with a frown although his heart is breaking for his former agent who glares, his hands curling into fists as if he's ready to break down any wall trying to stop him from finding justice for the woman he loves and his daughter.
"We both know I'm going to work the case with or without you" Tony points out with a scowl, remembering back when the older man had gone awol south and Abby had stumbled upon the case of his own wife and daughter being killed in a car accident and the look upon her face when she paused in the middle of her recount as if realising the justice which Jethro Gibbs had provided.
"He murdered my daughter! Not to mention his own daughter" Tony snarls angrily, his body vibrating and Gibbs silently watches him before nodding in defeat, his own past along with the need to still protect those he views as his team overcoming every other worry he might have about allowing him.
"I'll need to talk to the director" He turns away, pulling out his cellphone to call Jenny, the older man hoping the red head will refuse and he can once again use her a scapegoat when face with a furious father while Tony turns back towards the burnt out shell where there is no evidence left of his family, the fire too hot to have salvaged any remains and he turns his tears up to the sky
"I love you" He whispers softly into the air, hoping it will carry to his partner and one year old daughter wherever they were and he takes those quiet five minutes to build a wall around his heart, choosing then and there not to let anyone close enough again in order to avoid this pain.
"Right DiNozzo, she's letting you back as a consult but you still answer to me as senior agent! I'm not putting my team in jeopardy because of your suicide mission" Gibbs grunts angrily, having obviously disagreed with the director about letting him anywhere near the case but she had overuled him, obviously feeling guilty for her part in Tony's relationship with the arms dealer's daughter and having always regretted not doing more to keep him at NCIS when it all broke down because of her own suicide mission.
"Now, get the hell away from that car and take over photos! McGee can collect forensic evidence" He prompts the man who he watches visibly slip back into the once forgotten agent persona at a crime scene in which he can focus on the facts rather than the people as he jogs off towards the younger man near the truck. Ziva glances up from her final faceless interview, not one of them having noticed anything suspicious about the car until it had gone up in flames but one mother being able to provide a photo at least of Jeanne in the driver's seat and a beautiful little girl with brunette curls in a child's seat next to her.
"Do you really think that is a smart thought?" She frowns, her eyebrow arching as she moves towards the man she has come to view as a father over the years with her arms folded while her gaze remains on her ex-partner as exchanges a few stilted words with the younger agent as he takes hold of the camera.
"At least this way, he's close enough we can stop him before he does something completely stupid" Gibbs sighs quietly, watching as the man trudged across the carnage, his shoulder seeming now permanently hunched as he crouched to take pictures of skid marks and pieces of debris which littler the road in which his partner's car exploded.
"Just ... keep an eye on your partner, Ziver" He warns the shorter brunette woman, turning away without another word to finish up with the police officers while the mossad officer sighs in frustration and the whole situation, relieved to see her partner alive and physically well but furious that it took the death of his family to bring him back to her ... to them.