Still do NOT own NCIS.
"But there must be any way to find out who murdered him", she desperatley said.
"Tell me... is Ray having any weapons?"
Annie thought about it, "I don't know, maybe?"
"We should check for that! But since this house is, even though it's little, too big for us two to be the only ones to look for the weapon, I'll call McGee", Tony explained, before he called his co-worker.
Minutes passed, until the nerdy man came in.
"You called me?"
"Yes, Probie, see, this is the house of Petty Officer Ray Sprouse, and we'll be looking for every single weapon he keeps in here now", Tony shortly said.
After nodding and a bit talking, the three scattered in the house, looking for a gun.
"Where are Tony and McGee", Gibbs shouted, when entering the bureau area of NCIS.
"Tony said he had to do some business, and later on McGee said he had to meet Tony", Ziva quickly explained.
"And where do they have to do this business?"
"I don't know, they both were in a hurry."
Gibbs took his phone, calling Tony.
"Yeah, boss?", the federal agent answered.
"Tony, where the hell are you and McGee?"
"We are in the house of Petty Officer Sprouse."
"Why?"
"Because what if, the weapon isn't property of his murderer, but his own?"
Gibbs hung up.
"Ziva, we gotta go."
"Where?"
"Tony had an idea."
"Hey, boss", Tony greeted Gibbs, when he and Ziva entered the house.
"Have you found the gun?"
"Not yet."
Ziva went to look for it, herself, leaving Tony and Gibbs in the hallway.
"But Tony, do you think the Petty Officer went into the forest without a reason with his gun?"
"Some people are super safe. Just remember Kate! She slept with a gun, boss! And maybe the Petty Officer knew something was going to happen, or he just never leaves his house without a weapon", Tony explained his thoughts.
"Tony?", hearing his name, the federal agent turned around, seeing Annie standing in front of him.
"Have you find a weapon?"
"No, but a firearm certificate", she said, holding the piece of paper in his direction.
"Guys", he shouted, so McGee, Gibbs and Ziva joined them.
"Have you two found the gun?", Ziva asked.
"No, but this here", Tony hold the paper in the air so they could see it, "a firearm certificate for a 'Glock 19'."
"Here", Gibbs said, laying the gun on Abby's evidence table.
"Wait", she said, looking at it, "Is this what I think it is?"
"That's what you should find out, Abs."
"Well, I can find out if that's the gun we're looking for, but I might need a drink for that..."
"You'll get it afterwards", Gibbs said, smiling, leaving her with all that.
"So, you guys found the gun", Kate repeated, to assure that she understood it correctly.
"Yep. Whatever, their not going to solve the case anyway", Annie said hopeless.
"Uh!, I've always hated bĂȘte noires. But living in one? Sucks even more."
"But what if they find fingerprints?"
"Do you really think so?"
"Have you read 'The Guardian' by Nicholas Sparks?", Annie asked.
"Uh, no?", Kate said, a bit confused about the sudden change of subject.
"Because, in the book the protagonist has a stalker, and he killed like three or four people, and a dog, and he almost killed another woman. And he had a wrong identity, the police first thought that they would never find out who he really was. But since he was a little boy, he loved photography. And since he kept all the cameras, the police just had to take the serial number, and then they could find out who bought them. And that's when they found out his real name", Annie shortly explained, "And that's how it is, right? Even when you think someone is unconquerable, no one can be invisible. Everyone leaves evidence. There are no perfect criminals in this world."
"Okay, you might have a point. But still, it could take a while. Plus, it's a book we're talking about, of course it would turn out to be good in the end."
"Not every book has a happy ending."
"Oh really? C'mon actually, every book, every movie has a happy ending."
"Duh, c'mon! In Bambi, his mother died. In 50 first dates they might be together in the end, but still, she could never remember him the next day. He can't seriously be 'happy' with her, til they die. And what about the little mermaid, the original by Hans Christian Andersen, I mean? She and the prince do not come together, living happily ever after, no, she turns into some air spirit! I could continue now, but well..."
"Fine, there are a couple of stories that do not turn out well, but still. This has nothing to do with reality."
"I know, I know. But Kate?"
"Yes?"
"They can find him, right?"
"Sure they can", Kate said, even though she wasn't all sure about it.
"I don't think we will ever solve this damn case", Tony complained, sitting at his desk at NCIS office.
"We can't solve it, when you don't work, DiNozzo", Gibbs said, with that calm voice he'd always use when talking in an ironic way.
"There's nothing to do, boss! Abby is checking on the weapon, together with McGee. Ducky and Jimmy are still looking for new evidence on the body, and since we don't have any suspects or other evidence, we can't do anything."
"There's always something to do, Tony", Ziva said.
"Oh really? Then what are you doing, Ziva?", he asked, mad that she had to intervene in a conversation again. And when they fought or discussed something, it wasn't the way it was with Kate.
With Kate, it was always funny, exciting, and he loved it.
But with Ziva it was different. It wasn't as if he didn't like her, because he did. She became a good agent, she could be funny, and she was kind of nice. But still he saw her as some replacement for Kate. And replacement wasn't something positive. It was the way it was, no matter who would've taken the job after Kate, he wouldn't be able to like the person at all, because he missed Kate.
After Vivian Blackadder didn't work for NCIS, she worked in Gibbs team before Kate joined them, he thought Okay, let's have a smaller team. Gibbs, Abby, Ducky, Gerald and him. It would be a bit strange, and maybe boring, without a female agent by his side, but Viv had become a good friend of them, they've already been like some kind of family. And after she stopped working there, it was as if she was his sister, he finished High School, and moved into college or so. That was okay, it was bad at first, but alright. And then Kate came.
At first she was just some annoying Secret Service woman, one of those, who'd do anything, never breaking the rules, not even thinking about it. Lame, boring, and without a great life. With NCIS, she kind of changed. Well, in fact she didn't really changed, she just became a more natural her.
And that was, when Tony felt like they really were a family. And the family grew. Tony got a 'brother', an annoying one, one with whom he'd always fought, just like with Kate. McGee would be some total smart brother. Gibbs was the dad who everybody loved. Kate was the perfect little daughter, with whom Tony had to fight over Gibbs love. Ducky was the crazy uncle, with all those long stories from his life. Gerald was the other uncle, who was more like Tony, more like any other man. After Gerald, Jimmy was the weird, in a good way, but funny cousin. Abby would probably be the youngest sister, not of her age, but because she was the most different, in a good way of course.
And after Kate's death, when Ziva and Jenny came, Jenny had the part of the mother. And Ziva? Ziva didn't fit at all. Maybe like the strange exchange student from Israel, who always made speaking mistakes, which sometimes really annoyed Tony. All in all, she became more an adopted sister, who came after Kate left, just like Vivian.
"I am going through his caller list", the Israeli explained.
"What? Wait, I already did that!"
"Double check is better, isn't it?"
"And have you already found something?"
"No, not yet. He didn't use it so often."
"Have you also checked his cell phone", Tony offered, teasing.
"Yes."
"Also the text messages?"
"No."
"Ha", Tony said laughing, happy that she didn't do everything yet. But that just caused him that she almost threw the cell phone at his head, before realizing, that it wasn't some stupid toy, but a part of the crime scene. So she got up from her chair, and gave it to Tony, who first had to put on gloves, before taking the phone, and looking for text messages.
It wasn't anything interesting to find. Until he found something different. Something, that automatically made him go...
Oh? What did Tony find, huh?
