Where the hell are DiNozzo and David?
The damn case we're working on is all over the map, quite literally. We know who we're looking for, but he could be in any one of four states by now and the only thing that's going to find him before he does something stupid is him making a mistake or good police work by my team. McGee can't help us now with his fancy computers and algorithms. It's all legwork and paperwork.
The last time I saw the two I'm looking for they were attempting to pour over the personal records of our perp along with blown up copies of Maryland, the Virginias and Pennsylvania. There hadn't been room on either of their desks, so the natural assumption is they are somewhere with more surface area. Striking out in search, first I check the break room; given it has a table that's good for this kind of thing. My agents are nowhere to be seen, however. Three stops later and I'm just as empty-handed, so I reach for my phone only to stop mid-stride.
There they sit, cross-legged on the ground like four-year-olds, nestled in one of the exterior corridors next to a stairwell. DiNozzo's wrinkling a thousand dollar suit and Ziva's leaning forward, pointing to a spot on the map. When it's obvious he's at the wrong angle, Ziva slides over next to him and turns the giant jigsaw. Leaning on him for balance, she shows DiNozzo again. He looks up at her with a grin so wide it's probably painful, and then says something that makes her laugh.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised McGee didn't join in on whatever the hell it is that they're doing, but knowing Tim, he's down in Abby's lab trying every computer trick he can think of to come up with an answer. Knowing Abby, she'll help him find it. McGee's a bit of an outcast with these two, though. Oh, they love him, but he's different, and in being different they're never really sure what to do with him in times where his expertise is of no value to them.
Tony and Ziva have been partners too long. Typically a long-term partnership is one that lasts two years, three at the most. You're put together to lessen the workload and increase the efficiency that only one agent would have been able to accomplish. Partners don't work out sometimes, but generally they develop a camaraderie that allows them to accomplish what needs doing. They learn all the things that make the other tick, along with what drives them absolutely insane.
Occasionally, and quite rarely, a partnership will stay together so long that they reach a point of no return. If you separate them they may be useless to the next person to whom they are assigned, or the old partnership simply continues to operate independently of their new partners. If separated with finality, geographically for example, you run the risk of agents becoming despondent. I've heard it compared to losing a spouse.
That's the point to which Tony and Ziva have found themselves. They do everything together unless I specifically instruct otherwise. If they weren't so damn effective it would be annoying. What I'm worried about is if they screw up this thing they have between them then there's no fixing it. You can't work together after you've been through what they've been through, then wake up one day and decide you "need space." Rule twelve exists for a reason, but now they've reached the point of no return.
I step forward until they look away from each other to see me. It's time to go catch us a bad guy.