A quick update :)

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

Chapter 4

As Ziva arrived in the bullpen again, she saw McGee sitting very concentrated at his desk. Gibbs' presence was still missing. "Is Gibbs still not back?"

Only now did McGee notice that he wasn't alone any more. "Oh, hi. No, he came back around 45 minutes ago. The family of Petty Officer Rast is in the conference room. Any news from Tony?" She could've told him anything, in the end he still knew where she had been.

"No big changes. Dr. Stuart had told me that he should wake up soon. He'll call us when he's awake." She took off her coat and looked at her messages "Two FBI agents are positioned in front of his hospital room. Fornell probably thinks that the shooter could try again." She didn't want to think all that. At the moment Tony was an easy target for the sniper. Even if he'd be awake, he was in no state to defend himself against a professional killer.

"Any hit on the tire tracks?"

"No. It's a normal car, that could drive anyone."

"Did Ducky find anything?"

"Gibbs was just down with Ducky, but after that he went straight to the conference room to speak with the family." That meant there were still no leads. The day had begun slowly and it didn't look like that it was going to get better.

Gibbs poured Mr. and Mrs. Rast a glass of water. The married couple was deeply shaken about the news that her son was murdered and Gibbs understood that. He knew how it was like to lose a child. You'll never completely move on from it. The pain will always be there. He just hoped that their relationship was strong enough. Besides their son Logan, they had a daughter too.

Gibbs looked at Mr. Rast and guessed that Rast had gotten his looks from his father. He looked slightly similar to his son. The only difference was their hair. While Petty Officer Rast had had short, black hair, Mr. Rast's were a little bit longer and instead of black it was white. While father and son looked similar to each other, Mrs. Rast looked completely different. She was one head smaller than her husband, had a delicate body figure and long, brown hair. But he guessed that Rast got his green eyes from his mother.

"Mr. Rast and Mrs. Rast, do you know if your son was in trouble? Had he any problems?"

"No. It was everything alright, just as always." Mr. Rast laid his arm around his wife's shoulder. "Just two days ago, he came home for lunch."

"Was he often at home?" There had to be something. Anything that could give them a lead.

"Logan came over for lunch once a month. Mostly it was always at the end of the month." That was the first time Mrs. Rast looked up from the floor. Tears were in her eyes.

"Yes. Logan had always told us that the best food he was getting, was at home and he was always looking forward to the end of the month." told him Mr. Rast and seemed to remember back to their time with their son.

"However, this month he came earlier than usual. He had some questions about his childhood, when he was still in the orphanage." Gibbs listened up at that. Did they finally have some information that could help them solve the case?

"Does that mean your son was adopted?" asked Gibbs to clarify. He didn't saw that one coming. If they wouldn't have told him, he would have been sure that they were blood-related.

Mrs. Rast smiled. "Yes and we have always watched out for his happiness. We didn't want him feeling like an outsider to our family just because Eva was our biological child and he wasn't. Why? Do you think that his background had something to do with his death?"

"Ma'am, we following every lead we get."

Gibbs escorted the married couple to the elevator and bid his goodbyes. At least they got a direction with the whole adoption thing.

"McGee, Petty Officer Rast was adopted. Search for any information you can get."

"Rast was adopted?" She clearly hadn't expected that.

"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Rast got him at the age of three." Gibbs turned around and walked closer to Ziva's desk. „How is he?" Of course Gibbs knew. He always did.

"According to Dr. Stuart, he is going to be fine. He promised he'd call as soon as Tony wakes up." replied Ziva. She couldn't wait for her phone to ring.

"Well, at least there're some good news today." Gibbs cell started to ring and he looked briefly on the caller ID, before he grabbed his coat. "Getting coffee." The same excuse again. "When I'm back I want to know everything there is about the adoption."

"Does he think that maybe one of the birth parents are behind the murder?"

"I do not think so. But it is the only lead we have so far." answered Ziva. She wanted to add something else when her cell started to ring.

"Agent David"

"Hello, Agent David. It's Dr. Stuart speaking. I promised to call you as soon as Agent DiNozzo woke up. Well, he's awake now."

Relief flooded through Ziva's body. "This is good to hear. Were there any problems?"

"No, no. All checks were positive. He's a little confused and tired, but nothing that wouldn't be normal after what happened to him. We'll giving him a slight dose of morphine for the pain, but it isn't much. Just to get the edge of."

"The team will be happy to hear these good news. Could you tell me what time visiting hours are over?"

"The visiting hours end at 7:00pm."

"Okay. Thanks for the call."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm sure I'll see you around. Goodbye."

"Bye." Ziva put her cell away.

"Is he awake?"

"Yes, McGee. He is awake." replied Ziva gently.

"Will you visit him today?"

"Yes. Do you want to come along?"

McGee was glad to hear that Tony was doing fine, but he still felt a bit guilty that he hadn't reacted faster. „No. I think I'll look into this adoption thing and try to find something that could help us. I'll visit him tomorrow."

Ziva suspected that there was more to the reason he didn't want to accompany her, but she wouldn't force him to tell her anything that he didn't want to. She looked down at the picture of Tony that hung on her monitor. It was the picture of Tony as a little kid. He had thrown her a puzzled look, when he noticed the picture on her monitor. Then she had just smiled briefly at him and had gone back to work. He also didn't further comment it.

She smiled. Whenever she looked at the picture, she had to smile. It always improved her mood on a bad day.

Agent Gibbs was sitting in the park, drinking coffee. Passers would just think that he was sitting n the bank, enjoying the sun, but Agent Fornell knew better. Gibbs just sat there because he had called him and arranged a meeting. He got some news for him. Not much, but if it had been one of his agents he'd want to know every little bit that there was to know, as unimportant as it may be.

"Gibbs." Fornell greeted his friend.

"Fornell."

For a short time they were just sitting next to each other in silence, enjoying the peacefulness of the moment. Even when it was just for a little moment.

"What is it, Fornell?"

"On the opposite side of the building the sniper had shot from is an ATM. We didn't think it could be of used for our investigation. We we're just tracking down every lead there is."

Gibbs became slowly impatient. "Get to the point, Fornell."

"We've checked the footage of the ATM and discovered a suspicious looking person." Only now did Fornell look directly into Gibbs eyes. "Gibbs, we have the face of the man who had shot DiNozzo."

Tony is awake and they have a new lead. Stay tuned :)