Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I've already given up hope for as much as 10 reviews, but if anywhere out there is even single person reading, the next chapter is for her.
The autopsy room was unusually crowded. Ziva came down with Abby who was over-caffeinated. She was jumping up and down with joy and entered the room like a hurricane.
"I can't believe I finally meet you personally, Dr. Brennan, it's such a pleasure. I was at your lecture about carbon-dating the bones that were exposed to extreme meteorological condition. You rocked! And your books, they are even better then McGee's...Sorry, Timmy" Abby finished as she noticed her coworker in the room and she gave him her sweet apologizing smile.
"Well, I didn't suppose to meet here anyone with such a knowledge, it's pleasure to meet you, doctor..."
"I'm no doctor, I'm just Abby, Abby Sciuto" the forensic scientist introduced herself and before Dr Brennan had time to start wondering about Abby's lack of PhD-s an unexpected person barged into the autopsy room. The only thing Ziva noticed at first about him was, that he was too-well-looking. She tried to memorize as much as possible. Stranger like that always make a good over-wine story. Too bad he destroyed his grand entrance with something as lame as:
"I'm looking for Agent Gibbs. I was told he'd be able to explain what the hell is going on."
Before Gibbs had the opportunity to introduce himself, Dr. Brennan reacted to the stranger.
"Booth, what are you doing here. Is the FBI involved?" she asked.
"Hi there, Bones, you didn't seriously think I'd left you here alone with the dead guy" the stranger flashed his best cute-boy smile and winked towards the scientist.
'FBI' Ziva thought. 'Nice' and she made a mental note to ask JJ about agent Booth, but immediately turned her attention back to what was going in the room.
"I'm Agent Gibbs." the person in question said sharply "and you are?"
"I'm Agent Seeley Booth, FBI" he flashed his credential. "And you have stolen my bones-person. Dr. Brennan works for the FBI"
"Ducky?" Gibbs put the question in this one word. The ME just crouched his shoulder in I-had-no-idea way.
"I'm not exactly working for the FBI, I'm just consulting and I can give my expert opinion to anyone I want" Dr. Brennan didn't care about the ego-fight that was going in this room. She couldn't care less about the agencies or the jurisdiction. She was just scared the bones would be taken from her and from what she had heard from Cam and Dr. Mallard she was fairly intrigued.
"Then it was nice meeting you, Agent Booth" Gibbs dismissed the stranger quickly and Ziva was disappointed he was going to leave. But he made the most unexpected thing. He stood up to Gibbs.
"Sorry, but Dr. Brennan safety is my concern. I can't leave her to work on case and not knowing what's going on or what risks are involved" Booth was not going to left Bones alone with the room full of hostile looking people.
Ziva smiled, she started to like this FBI-guy more and more.
"I'm sure nothing is going to hurt your doctor here in the autopsy" Gibbs stood his ground.
"I wouldn't be so sure about it..." Dr. Brennan started to think out loud while she was curiously checking the X-rays. "It's very interesting. Anyway, I need to get this body to the Jeffersonian and get rid of the meat and see the broken ribs in real to make final conclusions"
"See, bones. I'm the FBI-bones-go-to-guy. Where are bones involved, I'm involved" Booth proudly announced.
"He meant Bones" Cam suddenly stood behind Ziva and like nothing happened whispered to her ear and nodded slightly towards the scientist lost in the conversation with the NCIS ME. Ziva then realized all that hotness was taken from her fantasies.
"Too bad, he's hot" Ziva whispered back.
"Tell me about it" Cam continued the conversation and neither of them noticed that Tony was observing them.
"Do you two know each other?" he asked not really expecting any answer. Cam was caught off guard.
"No" she exhaled quickly and even she realized how lamely it sounded.
Ziva on the other hand stayed completely calm.
"Dr...I'm sorry I don't remember the name" she smiled at Cam "she just asked me about the ladies room. And as I see there's already pretty full house down here, I'm going to show her personally" and she took off motioning for Cam to follow her.
"How do you do that?" Cam asked when they were already safe in the elevator.
"Years of practice...and it was sloppy of us, we must be more careful"
"I will, trust me, I have no intention to find myself in this situation again.
.oOo.
To maintain the cover, Ziva led Cam to the bathroom. Then she walked to her table and dialed number she had memorized.
"MacKenzie" the person on the other side answered,
"Mac, Hi there, it's Ziva."
"Hi, Zi, how's your day going?"
"Like hell, but now I have the favor to ask"
"The court recessed in eleven minutes and thirty one seconds, but shoot"
"Lt. Commander Michael Summers, any court records, everything you have in your databases" Ziva knew the value of time and wasted none"
"You can sent in an official request" Mac teased.
"Gee, thanks, but I need it in this century, if possible" Ziva answered, she was going to continue the conversation, but the sound of the elevator disturbed her. Shy didn't look who was entering the room, but switched the language to Russian. She was glad Mac was so combat ready as herself and changed language as well, just as precaution.
"I'll see what I can do" Mac promised in foreign language.
"That'd be very helpful of you" Ziva had tried to make it seem official. Gibbs was back as well and he could definitely understand some phrases.
"Have a nice day, then" Ziva cut the phone call short.
"What's new in Moscow?" Gibbs asked assuming she was talking to some of her contacts in Russia.
"Freezing cold" she avoided answer.
"Great, now you are done chit-chatting you can go back to work"
Damn, she should have known she is not getting of so easy. She might have been talking to President of the Russia, but while it wasn't case-related Gibbs would have considered it a waste of time. She turned her attention to her computer and immediately noticed she had a new mail. With silent thanks to Mac she opened the case file. She loved how her Marine friend worked. It was one of the reasons she liked her so much. They were both quick, effective and had no time for weakness. It was match made in heaven.
"Six years ago, then Lieutenant Summers was court-martialed for conduct unbecoming. He was found fighting with his then superior officer, Commander Carter. They were both found guilty and had a letter of reprimand added to their files." she shared the information with winning grin all over her face.
"I see your source at the JAG still works" Gibbs observed, not in disapproving mode.
"All my sources work well" Ziva answered, not feeling exactly modest.
.oOo.
But this case turned out to be more complicated then anyone expected. Even all combines Ziva's sources weren't able to help them solve the case. To prove how they were desperate, Gibbs agreed to move the body to the Jeffersonian. The team there did they usual highly-above-average job. Dr. Brennan spent hours examining the broken ribs, finally concluding, that the injuries really weren't caused by some physical attack, but the marks pointed towards fractures due to violent coughing. She explained that it rarely occurs in some kinds of infections. It was then when Abby for the first time saw the modern laboratories in Jeffersonian. She had to pinch herself couple of times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
But as the trail went cold, the labs results were less and less sought out, so all they bothered to establish was that the infection was bacterial and they managed to determine the genus as Legionella. As the time flew further the death was ruled accidental, the Lt. Commander probably got sick and fainted somewhere near the river, not being able to call for help, he died and the water brought him where he was found. With sadness in her heart Abby left her asylum in the dreamy labs in Jeffersonian and returned to her small, but comfortable lab in NCIS HQ basement to work on more pressing cases.
The Summer's file ended seemingly forgotten in the bottomless archives of the NCIS. Well, at least for next three months.
Next: Three months after.