So, while reading a bunch of Tiva fan-fictions, I got my own idea. My goal? To write one that is more than just fluff and which keeps to Ziva's character as well as I can. Of course, sticking completely to Ziva's character would be difficult, but I tried to do the best I could.
This is from 3rd person but is basically Tony's perspective, and I tried to stick to his character too, but giving him a softer side necessary for this story. This is all written at this point- it's five chapters long, each chapter about 1500 words. I really hope you guys like it. If I make any errors in details that someone can catch, please let me know- also, I've been known to make careless typos which I fail to notice when proofreading, so don't hesitate to call me out on something like that. This has been set somewhere during season 7.
For anyone who remembers my unreliability when it comes to updating, well, I'm trying to fix it. Hopefully this will all be up in reasonable time.
Please bear with me, this first chapter has a lot of case information and not much tiva. But read it anyways, it's important and... there's a certain four-legged someone back in Abby's lab! :)
*One quick note- A few hours after I initially posted this, a reviewer kindly pointed out to me that I was referring to Ziva with the title 'officer' when it should be 'Agent'. Trouble is, I can't find where I did it. So, readers if anyone sees exactly where I called her 'Officer', can you point it out? Fortunately this edit called to my attention the fact that when I typed this on my computer I put breaks between the scenes, but here, they have been deleted. They're back, for readability's sake. Thanks!*
Ding.
Tony heard the elevator doors beep and open. Mondays. His least favorite day of the week. Today was particularly unfavorable because he had stayed up until three A.M the night before watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie marathon. I should never stay up past one AM on Sunday nights.
"Tired, Tony?" Ziva asked from her desk across the bull pen. She wore brown cargo pants and a green v-neck shirt and had her hair tied back in her traditional ponytail. Her NCIS hat sat on the corner of her desk.
Tony never had a chance to reply to that. He was interrupted by McGee's arrival. Interestingly enough, he carried a bicycle helmet along with his usual stuff. "Morning, Tony. Ziva."
"What's with the helmet, McArmstrong?" Tony asked him, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you rode the bus."
"Decided to change my routine."
"Sounds like there's a girl involved," Ziva interjected, the sound of a smile in her voice.
"Is she a cyclist, or does creepily following her happen to take you down a bike trail?"
McGee turned to face Tony. "There's no reason. I just thought getting some exercise while shrinking my carbon footprint would be a good idea."
"Whatever you say. Where'd you park it? Does NCIS have a bike rack, or did you have to leave it at the local middle school?" the senior agent continued.
"I put it in the evidence garage."
"Put what in the evidence garage?" Gibbs asked as he approached the bull pen out of nowhere, catching only the last line of the conversation. "Grab your gear. We've got two dead hikers on a trail in Norfolk."
"Petty Officers?" Ziva inquired.
"Nope, civilians."
The sound of camera shutters filled the air at the crime scene. One man, roughly five feet seven and wearing lousy sneakers, laid on his side at the edge of the trail. Two gashes across his chest were the source of the dried blood over the leaves in front of him. The other man, nearly six and a half feet and at least three hundred pounds, was slumped up against a tree with a similar gash in his head. Skull could be seen above his eyes. His shirt was stained red.
"So boss, what are we doing here if these aren't enlisted men?" Tony asked.
"When park rangers arrived on the scene, they saw who they believe to be the killer escaping. He was wearing a navy uniform. This is five minutes away from a navy base. We're the logical people to call."
"Right. This looks like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie- lots of blood, deserted surroundings- when were they killed? Probably at night."
Gibbs looked at him. "DiNozzo. Bag and tag. McGee. Follow west- that's the way the suspect ran off. David. Head back on the trail and see if Ducky and Palmer need any help with the gurney."
Tony looked around at the surroundings. Three water bottles lay near the larger man's body. There was a backpack near the smaller man. And there was some sort of wooden thing hanging out of a bush. He went closer with a glove on to pull it out and inspect it. When he pulled, he discovered he was holding a large, blood-covered axe.
"Boss? I think I found the weapon," he called.
Gibbs walked over. "Bag and tag it. Looks like it could have made these gashes. Won't know for sure until Ducky shows up. Where is he?"
At that point, Dr. Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, and Ziva approached with the gurney. "Sorry it took so long, Jimmy here got chased by a chipmunk," the medical examiner said with a smile.
Tony scoffed. "What, did it unleash its furry wrath on you? Or did it break into song? It's always the little animals that turn out to be evil." He laughed.
"It wasn't a chipmunk, it was a squirrel. And it could have been rabid," Palmer said to defended himself. "I wasn't chased, either- I just tripped over a tree root and fell down a hill when I backed away from it."
Tony went back to rounding up evidence and putting it into sterile bags, still laughing at Palmer in his head.
"Ah, my friend. What have they done to you?" Ducky asked, addressing the deceased. "Looks like someone got on the wrong side of an axe. Reminds me of one time I was driving through the English countryside and I had just passed this little pub called the Coach and Horses…" Tony didn't listen after that.
"So you found the murder weapon?" Ziva said as she approached him.
"Wasn't that hard to find. Its handle was sticking out of that bush over there."
"Isn't there some colloquialism about that? A handle in a bush is worth… something like that," Ziva asked.
Tony chuckled at the familiarity- Ziva messing up English expressions is almost a weekly occurrence around the office. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, Ziva."
"Right," she said, picking up something brown with her gloves and putting it into a bag.
"What's that you have there?" Tony asked.
"Looks like dried meat."
"Don't bother, this is a hiking trail. I'm sure ten people with jerky walked through here yesterday. What are the chances it could have anything to do with our case?"
Just then, Gibbs appeared behind the two. "I said bag and tag, not half-ass your evidence collection, Tony. Good work, Ziva."
She smiled a coy smile in Tony's direction before continuing to bag the dried meat. Tony, not wanting to be upstaged by the Probette, kept looking for more evidence. He found some bottle caps, a twenty-dollar note, and something that looked like a ripped piece of a negative.
"Time of death for this big fellow was around seven fifteen this morning. As for the smaller one, at least five minutes beforehand," Ducky announced. "The axe we have here probably made these gashes on the victims, but I won't know for sure until I get them back to autopsy."
"Think we could be looking at a murder-suicide?" McGee asked, coming back down the trail. "Oh, and I found a disposable camera."
"I can't see anyone being able to inflict such a wound upon themselves, but I wouldn't rule it out- stranger things have happened," Dr. Mallard said.
"DiNozzo, bag and tag the camera. Then I want everyone to hurry up and gather the rest of the evidence. This crime scene is right in the gray area between our jurisdiction and Metro's. I don't feel like dealing with them. I'll interview the rangers who found the bodies."
"Got it, Boss," Tony said.
Tony could hear the crashing of Abby's heavy-metal music before he even got off the elevator. He was bringing the last of the evidence down to her, finding an ID for the victims, and going back upstairs to find out if they had records. Neither one had a driver's license on their person.
"You got anything, Abs?"
"I ran fingerprints on the dead guys. Came back to a Mr. Carl Shavers and a Mr. Norman DeWitt, Jr. I sent it up to your email. Something about all this just doesn't seem right to me, though. A guy in the Navy hacking two civilians to death on a hiking trail, leaving behind the murder weapon, and letting himself be spotted fleeing the scene? Sounds hinky, if you ask me."
"You're right. But we don't even know yet if that was the murder weapon, or if one of our stiffs killed the other," Tony commented.
"I'll see what the evidence tells me. Oh, and by the way, have you see any costume shops around here that sell realistic-looking skeleton masks? I need one for a friend's wedding, but all I can find are those cheesy ones that spurt fake blood- you know, the kind kids wear on Halloween. I need something a little more sophisticated," Abby inquired.
"No idea," Tony answered, leaving her lab, wondering what kind of wedding she was intending to go to. But before he could get to the door, he was ambushed by a tiny set of puppy teeth digging into his shoes.
"Mortimer! Aww, come on, those were Italian!" Tony exclaimed. "I thought he left for puppy school."
Abby rushed over and picked up her dog. "Actually, Mortimer is staying with me for awhile longer. He missed the cut-off age limit for joining the puppy school by a couple of weeks, so he's staying here until next year! Isn't that great?"
Tony made a mental note to wear less expensive shoes to work in the future.
I just had to include Mortimer, I completely fell in love with him when I saw him on the show!
So... like it? hate it? questions? want to yell at me for messing some details up? please review!!!