Thanks for the reviews! They make me happy. . I really should be revising right now... but I had to make sure I did this before I forgot! I'll update again the day after tomorrow I think.
Enjoy. xx
Chapter Three
Gibbs walked in to the squad room and realised his desk phone was ringing; he took a few sharp steps and picked it up.
"Gibbs" came the automatic response.
"Agent Gibbs, somebody from the CIA just took over the house, the crime scene I mean. They said that it's their case now and I don't know what to do." Gibbs blinked, CIA? He was used to the FBI getting involved but CIA don't operate on American soil it was the problem he had with Trent Kort and his annoying ability to turn up at the worst times.
"Tell them it's our case and to get out of there. Shoot them if you have to Walker!" Gibbs said before slamming his phone down. He turned to Tony who was watching him.
"McGee and Carson are down with Abby… who was that?"
"Central Intelligence Agency, trying to take our case." Gibbs said.
"Not trying Agent Gibbs, trying suggests a chance of failure and failure isn't in the CIA handbook." Nick said as he appeared behind Tony. Ziva was stood to his side, standing unnaturally close to him and feeling incredibly stupid for being here. Tony and Gibbs whipped around to face them. "I'd give you ID but …" Nick glanced at Ziva who rolled her eyes.
"We lost them in Brazil." She finished for him. He nodded and turned to Gibbs.
"Agent Nick Clarke, and I'm guessing by the look on his face you know who my partner is." Nick held out his hand but Gibbs never shook it. "Friendly, so what say we make this really awkward meeting shorter and you hand over the case." Tony seemed to snap back in to himself, Ziva was avoiding eye contact with him anyways.
"No, it's a Navy petty officer which makes it our case, CIA doesn't operate on home soil anyways." Tony said he still hadn't taken his eyes off Ziva. Ziva shuffled her weight between her feet and Nick got the message, he whistled and Tony looked at him funny.
"Now you've taken your eyes off my partner can we talk about this?" Nick said and Tony glared at him. "Don't take it personally, but when I'm talking to somebody I appreciate eye contact. Not gawping at a dress I picked out at a Brazilian airport shop a few hours ago. Even if it is an awesome dress." Nick said and Tony looked like he was going to punch him. Ziva placed her hand in Nick's and dragged him off, towards the window and started talking to him in Arabic.
"Nick, that isn't helping." Ziva chastised him.
"I was lightening the atmosphere. He seemed like a women are toys kind of guy." Ziva smiled and he nodded. "See I was right, obviously he isn't like that when it comes to you. Did you sleep with him?"
"No, but we … we were close, Tony was the one who shot Michael remember?" Nick shook his head for a second before he did remember and he nodded and then shook his head again.
"Damn Zee, I forgot, OK no more crude remarks about you. Although I'm wishing I did go back to mine for a gun or two." He said and Ziva smiled again.
"Let me talk to them. There is a vending machine over there, if you hit it in the right place its free." She smirked recalling Tony's vending machine 'gift'. "At the top… somewhere." He rolled his eyes but walked off anyway. Ziva walked over to Tony and Gibbs who were also conversing, they stopped when she approached.
"Last time we heard you were in Somali, captured." Gibbs said and Ziva nodded.
"I was,' she twisted her arm over to show a long scar on her forearm that ran pretty much all the way up her arm. "Nick got me out, brought me here and signed me up to the CIA, at least I think he did."
"You could have called and told us you were alive!" Gibbs yelled.
"My Father told you." She stated as if it was obvious. "Nick told the CIA who told Mossad who told Vance who passed it on to you."
"What makes you think that?" Gibbs said.
"One, that little chain works both ways; Vance was demanding information from my father who in turn was demanding it off the CIA, who told Nick who told me. Or they told me and I told Nick. Two, you seemed angrier at my arrival then relieved which means you are aware I was alive. Can we have our case now please?"
"I have way more questions for you David." Gibbs said and Ziva saw McGee and a young woman over Gibbs shoulder stop.
"Ziva?" McGee said and she nodded, Tim ran forwards and hugged her, she winced slightly and he pulled back, worry in his eyes. "You're hurt, where are you hurt?" He asked and she smiled and placed a hand against his cheek.
"Not hurt, Tim, just a bit sore. I am working for the CIA, now." McGee stepped back immediately and she raised her eyebrows relatively amused. She guessed CIA meant she was diseased or something, she tried to suppress a smile and leaned against the partition near her old desk. She glanced down at it and then at the woman hovering near Gibbs.
"Hey there, I'm Ziva David, and you?" She asked of the woman. She took a shaky step forward as Ziva held out her hand. The woman took it and Ziva smiled warmly.
"I'm Lucy Carson, I guess I'm your replacement. It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you." Ziva raised an eyebrow.
"Let me guess, Ziva David traitor to NCIS and America?" The woman shook her head.
"No, it's obvious they miss you because they…"
"Carson scram." DiNozzo said and Carson ducked out of the way and McGee took her arm and dragged her off to the elevator at the back. Ziva looked to her right to see Nick leaning against a wall and mouthing at her and gesticulating wildly. She raised an eyebrow at him and then nodded. He vanished again.
"Look, they sent me here on purpose to piss you guys off and it's obviously worked. I don't know what you think of me right now and so if you want to shoot me or something then go ahead, I'm not even armed right now, not even a knife." She stood forwards and opened her arms out and glared at them both. Gibbs glared back but Tony's eyes softened as he looked at her. He did something she totally did not expect. He hugged her.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. She froze for a second and wasn't sure how to react, she caught Gibbs blinking at Tony. He was obviously as confused by the behaviour as she was. She eventually relaxed a bit and wrapped her arms around his neck as he let his head drop in to her neck. He took in several deep breaths and whispered in her ear that he missed her like crazy and he shouldn't have let her go. She didn't really know what to say so she pulled back from him. She held him at arms length and was about to open her mouth to speak when she heard an almighty squeal.
"Ziva!" Abby yelled as she came peeling around the corner, Tony leapt out the way as Abby practically jumped on the Mossad slash CIA assassin. She wrapped her arms around Ziva who winced a lot more this time than with McGee's hug.
"Abby, your hurting me." Ziva said and Abby let go and apologised and grinned at her.
"Sorry my hugs get a little over enthusiastic and you would have remembered that if you'd been here the last 98 days!" She chastised her and Ziva swallowed heavily and dropped eye contact. This was the reason she didn't want to be here. She regretted her decision to return to Israel the second she called Gibbs name out on the tarmac. It had grown watching the plane leave, it was the last chance of freedom she thought she would ever have.
"It is not that, got a little shot up in Canada." She shrugged and Abby's eyes went wide and started shooting questions at her a mile a minute. Gibbs frowned at her and Tony pulled Abby back from Ziva. Tony covered Abby's mouth and Gibbs stepped forward.
"What do you mean shot up?" He asked genuinely worried, Ziva however was getting more irritated, she wanted to go to bed with a gun and sleep until she was sent off again to Australia or somewhere.
"Look, I came here for your case, not to discuss what may or may not have happened in the past fourteen weeks since I last saw you. It would take a long time to explain it and I don't have a long time. I haven't slept in or in fact seen a bed in two weeks and I haven't slept for more than an hour in the past forty hours. I really want to go to bed and I can't do that arguing with you here and now." She yelled and Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her.
"I'll have Vance contact your superiors and we'll let them work this out shall we?" Ziva looked incredibly relieved and let her shoulders droop. They could see she looked genuinely tired and Abby went to go and hug her again. Ziva let the Goth hug her gently before she broke away. "I'm sorry for leaving, really I am." She said before walking to the elevator. She pushed the button to call the cart and glanced around. "Nick?" She snapped and he ran across the squad room apologising to Gibbs and Abby as he did so. He ran over to Ziva and Tony heard him answering her call in a mocking tone.
"Yes M'lady!" He said as he reached her, she glared at him. "Oh yeah right no lady jokes, no Ma'am jokes, no sir jokes, no trying to ask for information on your fam-" Ziva placed a hand over his mouth as he continued to list the things she had told him off for doing in the past few months.
"Nick, either shut up or I'll shut you up. Permanently."
"No listing the rules of our partnership aloud?" He questioned and she nodded before stepping in to the elevator. "I'm knackered, how are you still standing, at least I slept on the train." He mumbled and she chuckled.
Abby was still standing with Tony's arms wrapped around her. McGee and Carson were hovering in the background and Gibbs was watching the elevator doors shut. The second they did he walked steadily and slowly up the stairs to Vance's office. Tony let go of Abby when Gibbs passed him and she stepped away from him only to turn around and hug him tightly.
"She said shot up." Abby whimpered. "She's changed Tony." Tony rubbed his hand up and down her back and kissed the side of her head out of habit. In the past few three and a half months he and Abby had grown close, a lot closer than they had been before. McGee took a step forward and was going to try to help comfort Abby but when he saw Tony pecking her head lightly he froze. He loved Abby, he really did but he hadn't realised how close her and Tony had gotten.
"Abby, look at me, she's alive we know that now right?" Tony said and she pulled back from the hug and nodded at him. "Come on, I'll take you back to your lab." He said and she nodded and walked off. Tony patted McGee on the shoulder as he passed by but the younger man barely noticed. He was wondering when he lost his best friend to Tony, and why.
"Tim?" Carson asked from her desk, she frowned up at him and he blinked at her. "Are you alright, you haven't moved in like five minutes." He shook his head and looked at her, really looked at her. Her light red hair was cut short, Tony had dubbed her a strawberry blonde it was that light. She was slight build but she worked out a lot and was probably stronger than Tony or Tim, something they had never tried to test out. She wore make-up, although it was often subtle much like Ziva's had been. She was tall, yet still the shortest on the team.
"I'm fine Lucy." He said automatically and turned to sit down, and then it hit him, really hit him. He had been neglecting Abby for Lucy, for Agent Carson. He mentally slapped himself and collapsed in to his chair. He didn't remember when it happened but he was vaguely aware that he and Abby had stopped going out for drinks once or twice a week and to a movie on a Sunday night. He vaguely wondered if she was going to cinema with Tony now and he glanced at Tony's desk and sighed. He supposed that since Ziva had left Tony had lost his best friend, and he had gone out of his way to make Carson feel at home amongst them.
"I'm going to see Abby." He announced and stood up. He headed to the back elevator and hit the button. He climbed in and rode the elevator down to Abby's lab. He stepped out and saw Tony waiting for the elevator back up to the squad room. "Hey Tony."
"Something wrong McGee? Why are you down here?" He asked as they swapped places, McGee getting out of the elevator and Tony getting in.
"Nope, wanted a quick word with Abby." He said and Tony nodded and hit the button for the squad room. Tim turned and walked back in to the squad room to see Abby wandering around putting things in jars and adding a mix of chemicals to them. He coughed and she glanced up at him and smiled.
"Hey McGee, what can I do you for?" She said, he could tell she was trying to hide her sadness and his eyes fell to the wall behind her. It was still covered in pictures of Ziva.
"I'm sorry, Abby." He said and she frowned at him, obviously confused. She placed her glass far and pipette on to the desk and walked towards him. He sighed and looked up at her from the floor. "I neglected you when you needed me, and I've only just realised how much I screwed up our friendship. You go to Tony for comfort, and it used to be me. I practically ignored you these past few months."
"Hey, its ok I understand you have Lucy to deal with." Abby snapped she was actually mad at him for ignoring her, more for apologising for doing so. People have different ways to deal with these things.
"Abby, that's just it, I know Tony lost his best friend and I ignored mine for a new agent. I was an idiot but can't we try to rectify this?" He waved his hands between him and her. She snapped off her plastic gloves and threw them in her trash can. He watched her actions with caution, and was relatively surprised when she threw her arms around him tightly.
"I missed you too Timmy and I'm not mad. I just miss Ziva loads and so does Tony, he didn't want to go to you about his emotions and stuff so he came to me because I was really sad too. We talked a lot, and you ended up lumbered with Carson and it's not your fault because you were being who you are, you were being nice. You were being what I love you for Timmy." Abby squeezed him again before letting go of him. She smiled at him and he grinned back. "We should all go out for drinks… but not until we know what is going on with this case." She said happily, glad she had her best friend back.
"Need any help with this stuff?" Tim asked waving his hand around. Abby pointed to a laptop and Tim pulled on a pair of gloves and examined it carefully. Abby watching out of the corner of her eye, she smiled before pulling on some gloves herself and digging back in to her evidence.
Okay, I see that this was the random chpater that made no sense to me. I kind of got a bit side tracked and rambled on about McGee and Abby... I was just trying to show how much everything changed after Ziva left and how it altered the team dynamic.
Anyway, that was my random chapter!
Review? xx
