Streets of Gold
Every Boulevard is a Miracle Mile
You'll Take the Town
And You'll Take It With Style
If You Play it Brave and Bold
These are Streets of Gold
They searched until the sun went down, but found no sign of the Wolf. McGee made a smart ass comment as they hovered near exhaustion that made both dog and cat stare at each other in exasperation. Somehow, it'd never occurred to them that animals had urban legends too. They were about to give up when they saw a shaggy black dog fly past them. Intrigued, they followed it through a network of alleys until they found where the black dog had stopped. Tony and McGee had followed its trail to a dead end. Realizing that the black had escaped, they both laid down and tried to rest.
A loud woof woke them. Tony opened his eyes to find himself staring into the fierce yellow eyes of the black dog. It occurred to him, in the split second before it attacked, that the dog was big enough to kill a bear and he didn't have a prayer. McGee jolted awake when the two dogs began to tussle and tried to help Tony by latching onto the black's hind leg but was kicked away. He drew himself up and started to leap back into the fray when something grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back.
Tony had held the black off as long as he could, and when he saw the brute lunge at his jugular, he found himself screaming for his old partner. Then, the black was flying sideways over him with eyes as round as basketballs. A rusty brown wolf let out an unearthly howl and chased the black halfway down the alley before it stopped and turned back toward Tony and McGee. As Tony's fatalistic daze melted away, he noticed that the wolf…or dog…had a slightly broader muzzle than a typical wolf and it's tail had a very distinctive curl. There was no doubt that it had some wolf in its blood, but at least half of it was Husky. Shaking himself, Tony rose to his feet and limped forward with his tail between his legs.
"Hey, thanks," he said.
"You should know better." The Wolf glared.
Tony gawked at the voice. "You're a girl?"
"Yes." The Wolf flicked her tail. "I am."
"Come on, Tony," McGee nosed him. "We should get back to the park."
"Park's closed." Tony commented absently. "We go back, we'll just get busted."
The Wolf adopted a peculiar expression. "You do not have a place to stay?"
"No, but you know what that's like. You're a stray too, aren't you?" Tony shrugged.
"In a way. Come. You can stay with me." The Wolf picked up a lazy trot and led them through the labyrinth to an abandoned shack with an ominous 'condemned' sign hanging on its door. "I don't know how much longer we can stay here, but you are welcome if you want."
"I think we should take it, Probie." Tony whispered. "Who knows? Maybe the Wolf's pack will help us out."
"We'll stay the night at least." McGee agreed. "One night couldn't hurt."
"Thanks again for all this, Miss." Tony said, looking her in the eye.
The fierce chocolate glare that struck him nearly knocked him off balance. She snorted at him as if his gratitude was the last thing she wanted and headed inside. In the shack, Tony was startled to find none other than Gibbs laying on a musty pile of blankets. Gibbs was still human, although his beard and cologne d'whiskey suggested that the man had also fallen on bad times. The Wolf touched her wet nose to his cheek to wake him. Gibbs sat up, rubbing his eyes. Then, ignoring the new dog and cat, looked right at the Wolf.
"Did you find 'em, Ziva?" Gibbs asked.
"Ziva?" Tony and McGee gasped.
Ziva turned to snarl at them. "Yes, it is me! Why did you think I invited you back here? Do not tell me you were expecting something else, DiNozzo."
"Well, I thought it was out of the goodness of your heart." Tony snarled right back. "Why didn't you say it was you?"
"I thought you knew!"
"Guys, guys!" McGee put his tiny orange body between the two. "This should be a happy reunion!"
"You two never could stop your bickering." Gibbs walked over to scratch Tony behind the ears. "How's my senior field agent?"
"You can understand us?" Tony angled his head.
"Well, enough to get by." Gibbs shrugged. "But we don't have time to get into all that. Listen. Now that I've got all three of you here, I need you to do something."
"I'm all ears, Boss." Tony nodded.
"There's this old Victorian mansion uptown. Abby lives there. You have to get her and bring her here." Gibbs gestured as he spoke, as if unsure if his words made sense to the animals. "I think the point to all this is that…well, since the director broke us apart, we've been a mess. If we find each other again, everything will go back to normal."
"There's not a bigger picture?" McGee asked.
"My gut doesn't seem to think so." Gibbs glared. "Now, get some rest. You leave first thing in the morning."
"This is such a bad idea," McGee grumbled. "I mean, I'm all for rescuing Abby, but…this seems awful risky."
"What isn't risky any more, Probie?" Tony sighed. "You got any better ideas?"
"No…but still…" McGee fidgeted.
Ziva lied down beside Gibbs's cot with a yawn. "Just try to get some sleep. We're safe here for now."
"Shouldn't someone keep watch?" McGee protested.
"Gibbs and I have been here for a few months now, and one thing we've learned is that the neighborhood watches out for its own. We don't need a guard." Ziva closed her eyes.
Tony curled up beside her and rested his head on her side. "I'm not being presumptuous, I'm just cold and I thought you would be too."
"Sure you did," she grumbled but made no move to shove him away.
McGee waited until the two dogs were asleep then, ever so carefully, he wedged himself between them and tried his best to ignore their horrendous snoring.