Grinning widely, Tony looked around his surroundings and took in a deep breath, exhaling loudly as he wrapped an arm around Ziva's shoulders. "It's even better than I ever dreamed it would be."

Rolling her eyes, Ziva grabbed onto his hand, and tightened her grip on his fingers, holding them in an iron like vice, twisting them slightly as she did so, her lips curling into a smile as she heard his low hiss of pain and saw him drop to his knees. Seeing the odd looks she was getting from passers-by she let go of his fingers and pushed them away. "I did not say you could touch me."

Cradling his hand, Tony got to his feet and experimentally bent his fingers, wincing as he did so, checking she hadn't broken them. "You know it wouldn't kill you to be nicer to people. I mean I take you out on the town, show you the sights and you try to maim me!"

"The sights! We are in a museum! This is not what I had in mind when you said you wanted to show me L.A."

Tony laughed. "A museum! Oh Ziva, Ziva, Ziva. This is not just any museum, this is the Hollywood Heritage museum" He waved his hand around the room, as if to illustrate his point, "This is filled with history from the Golden era of movies."

"I do not care!"

Tony let out a sigh. "Some people just don't appreciate the wonder of the film world." He looked thoughtful for a minute before a slow, easy smile spread across his face, "Tell you what, once we're done here I'll take you out for something to eat at the House of Blues," he grinned at her as though he'd just made her the offer of a lifetime.

Ziva shook her head. "No, you won't. What you will do however, is phone the Los Angeles Police Department, tell them that we are conducting a local investigation and get them to put out a trace on the Director's car so that we can check on her."

Shaking his head in despair, Tony sighed. "Ziva……We've been through this, we even called her, she's fine."

"Gibbs would not have called us if he wasn't worried about her."

"He's jealous! If something was wrong, and I mean really wrong, do you think he would have left us alone for all this time?" He took a second to watch the frown that flittered across Ziva's face before continuing, "No he wouldn't of. It has been over four hours since he called, if something was going on he would have been in touch since then."

"That may be the case, but……" Ziva bit down on her bottom lip and her frown deepened as she sighed. "Tony, something isn't right. Maybe I am over-reacting but I still think we should cover our backs and just check she's still ok."

"Fine but if we do this and we don't find anything then will you please just let this drop."

Pulling out her cell phone, Ziva handed it to Tony. "If everything is well then you have my word that we can go out and enjoy the rest of this trip. I will even let you choose what we do and where we eat, everything can be your choice."

Tony nodded as he took the phone. "Ok then. Let's get this over with."


"Finally!" Mike slammed the brakes on and pulled to an abrupt halt in front of the rundown diner. He dragged himself out of the car and stretched slightly.

Jenny watched in amusement before announcing, "You know we would have been here a lot sooner if you had gotten a car with Sat Nav."

Mike's nose wrinkled and he looked at her in confusion. "Sat what?"

Laughing she replied, "Never mind."

He looked at her, still sitting inside the car, the window rolled down so she could talk to him. He pulled out a pre-rolled cigarrette and lit it, he inhaled once before using it to gesture towards the diner, asking, "You coming in?"

She nodded sharply. "Yeah, I'll catch you up in a minute, just need some air."

"Right." Mike eyed her suspiciously for a moment before deciding to let it lie, and instead headed into the diner.

Jenny sat a moment, waiting until she knew he was safely inside and opened the car door, slowly swinging her legs over the side, grimacing at the shooting pains that traveled up and down her muscles. For the most part she was suffering no ill effects at the moment, but occasionally if she stayed sitting in the one position for too long, things got…..difficult. Her fingers dug into the frame of the car as she hauled herself to her feet, swallowing heavily at the dull pain in her hips. Once she was up she made a point of slamming the door shut. She knew the pain wouldn't last long, that she was just stiff. But her recent limitations still irritated her, however small they might seem. She took a moment to sweep her hair out of her face, before heading towards the diner's entrance.

She stopped in the doorway and turned to look out over the deserted area. The wind had picked up, causing her to shiver slightly; well she told herself it was the wind. Something was clawing at her stomach though, she had a bad feeling about this. Jenny swallowed heavily and told herself she was being foolish, that everything was fine. All she had to do was find this insurance policy, then get the hell out of dodge, and then she could fix this mess and move on. She took one last deep breath of fresh air, knowing the building was likely to be airless and musty, before finally entering the diner.


A little over an hour later hour later Tony and Ziva drove up towards Santa Monica beach. Tony smirked as he looked around the makeshift car park at the pier and saw all the blonde babes in bikini's, he sighed longingly. "I love California"

Shaking her head Ziva mumbled, "You are a pig"

"Yeah well I'm a pig who's about to be proved right. See." Tony pointed up ahead where the Director's rental car was sitting in perfect condition.

Ziva sighed in relief as she spotted it. "Well it looks ok. But what is she doing here?"

"You mean who is she doing here." Tony grinned as Ziva glared back at him and then stepped out of the car. Tony called out after her, "Hey! No get back in here, if she catches us snooping then we are worse than dead. Ziva!"

"I just want to take a look"

Tony slammed his head against the headrest in frustration. "You heard the guy on the phone, she's probably lying on the beach right now, getting him to rub lotion onto her back," at that thought he perked up slightly, "Do you think she's in a bikini?"

Ziva sighed but ignored the lecherous comment, instead she made her way back to their car, realising that there was nothing untowards there. "Fine Tony, you win. We can go now."

"I did tell you Zee-vah!" Tony smirked happily to himself as they pulled away from the Director's car. They had only driven a few yards when they spotted a police car sitting with it's lights flashing.

Shooting Tony a concerned look Ziva muttered, "This cannot be good."

All his earlier joviality gone, Tony looked completely serious, his mouth set in a hard line as he pulled the car into the nearest space, the brakes screeching slightly as he did so. No sooner had he stopped were he and Ziva out of the car, and making their way through the dense crowd that currently surrounded the pier.

As they reached the stone steps that would lead them onto the beach, an officer stepped in front of them. "I'm sorry, authorized personnel only"

Both Tony and Ziva were used to this response and in turn pulled out their badges, Tony smiled at the officer, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Federal Agents, let us through"

The young man shifted nervously on his feet, he had never heard of NCIS and was reluctant to let them through, although at the same time he really didn't want to piss off the feds. Thankfully his problem was solved when a deep voice spoke up from behind him. "I don't remember calling for anyone," the owner of the voice reached out and tilted Tony's badge so he could read it, "And I really don't think Navy cops will be required here"

Ziva sucked in a breath at patronizing his tone and had to restrain herself from reaching out and snapping his neck like a twig. Forcing herself to remain calm she ground out, "We simply want to know what the problem is."

The man sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I think introductions first, Detective Wilson, homicide"

Seeing that Ziva was about to explode, Tony took over the introductions on their part, "Agent Dinozzo and Officer David." He nodded towards the beach. "So what's happened?"

"Dead Caucasian female, looks like she fell over the barriers, no I.D. on the victim, but I very much doubt NCIS need to get involved."

Tony felt his gut constrict as he processed the words that were coming out of the detectives mouth, he also felt, as well as heard, Ziva's hurried intake of breath. He suddenly became aware that the detective was looking at them, his face twisted in a mixture of confusion and interest. Clearing his throat first, Tony forced himself to speak. "We'd like to take a look at the body if you don't mind."

Wilson looked at them, and for a minute they thought he would turn them away, but amazingly he didn't. Instead he nodded and beckoned them to follow him. Tony's heart was in his mouth as he did so, he began to silently curse himself for not tracking down the Director earlier. It just couldn't be a coincidence that her car was parked next to a dead woman and she was nowhere in sight. As they drew closer Tony could make out an elegantly manicured hand and feeling sick to his stomach, he subconsciously shut his eyes. Then he heard Ziva's loud exhale of breath and her whisper of, "Thank God." Tony opened his eyes and let out a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding as he took in the blonde hair, the very different shape and features of the dead woman lying before them. It wasn't Jenny, that being said though she was very familiar.

Just as he was thinking about where he had seen her before Ziva let out a low groan, "Tony we have a problem, that's the girl from the funeral, Decker's girlfriend."

The Detective looked up in interest. "You know her?"

Tony turned to face him. "Yeah, her name's Sasha Gordon, we were at her boyfriend's funeral this morning."

Detective Wilson nodded knowingly. "I get the picture now. Distraught, she either gets drunk and falls, or decides to end it all."

"Or!" Ziva snapped, "It could be murder!"

At this the other man's eyes narrowed. "Now why would you think that?"

Before Ziva could reply, Tony butted in, laughing awkwardly. "She doesn't think that, she just gets a little....tetchy in the heat. Well it's obvious we aren't needed here so we'll let you guys get on now," he hooked his arm under Ziva's and dragged her away, now he knew it wasn't the Director he wanted to get as far away from here as quickly as possible before she did spot them. "Come on."

Confused, Ziva snapped, "Tony! What are you doing?"

"We're leaving."

Ziva snorted. "Yes I can see that, but what I don't understand is why? She knew the Director, she spoke to her this morning and now we find her dead, a few hundred yards away from the Director's car! That is not nothing, and if the car is here, then where is the Director?"

Tony shrugged and looked unconcerned. "I don't know, but we've already spoken to the Director and she said she was fine."

"That was hours ago!"

"What does it matter? This is a coincidence! She'll be in a nearby hotel chowing down on some over-priced cashew nuts. Now come on."

"And if she isn't? Too many things don't make sense here. Why can't you see that", Ziva's eyes flittered over his face and as she took in his almost petulant expression, realisation dawned on her. "You do see it! You just don't want to get involved!"

Rubbing irritably at his forehead Tony snapped, "She doesn't want us involved! She's a big girl Ziva, she can take care of herself."

"And if she can't?"

"If there is one thing I've learned Ziva it's that when it comes to the Director's private wars it's best to stay away. For her; and for us."

Any reply she could have made was cut off by Tony's cell phone blaring into life. He dug it out of his pocket and looked grimly at the screen as he read over the caller I.D. Ziva looked up at him hopefully. "Is that the Director?"

"No." Tony shook his head, "It's Gibbs."


Luckily for McGee the flight didn't take the full five hours - they caught a good tail wind and landed in Los Angeles International airport half an hour earlier than planned. As the younger Agent had predicted, Gibbs was up and shoving him towards the exit the moment the seatbelt signs went off. They didn't have any luggage so they were first to security and got through with no issues. The process of renting a car also went relatively smoothly and as a result they exited the airport less than an hour after arriving.

The minute Gibbs was in the car he had his cell phone out of his pocket and was dialing Tony's number, his fingers drumming insistently on the steering wheel as he waited for him to answer, and hopefully tell him that Jenny was there with them.

Eventually Tony did pick up, his voice wary. "Hi Boss."

"You track down the Director yet?"

"No."

"Why the hell not!"

"We did try to, but......to be honest we may have a bit of a problem here."

Gibbs felt his heart sink as he asked "What kind of problem Dinozzo?"

"Ziva and I traced the Director's car to Santa Monica beach, there isn't any sign of her. We did however find Decker's girlfriend"

"What did she say?"

"Not a lot; she's dead Boss."

His head fell back against the headrest and Gibbs rubbed at his forehead as he tried to figure out what this meant for Jenny, and whether or not this was tied to Nikolai. It had to be he decided grimly. Out loud he asked. "How'd she die?"

"Looks like she fell."

"Looks like?"

"Well it's a bit early to know for sure, it could have been suicide."

"Or murder."

Tony obviously decided to pretend he hadn't heard that comment as he continued on regardless, "The Los Angeles Police are planning to do an Autopsy and if everything checks out then the case will be closed as an accidental death. This doesn't involve us. And anyway," Dinozzo continued his tone growing defensive, "We spoke to the Director earlier and she said she was fine."

Gibbs felt the rage build up in his stomach, he understood that his senior Agent was still pissed about the whole Frog debacle, he was too, but he thought in these circumstances he would rise above it. He took a deep breath, telling himself that it was just because Dinozzo didn't have all the information, that he didn't know just how much trouble Jenny was in. He practically growled at him. "Like hell this doesn't involve us. Just stay where you are Dinozzo until I speak to you again."

His tone a bit bewildered Tony replied. "Um ok, will do Boss."

With that Gibbs ended the call and turned to McGee. "How long to get to Santa Monica beach?"

McGee typed it into the Sat Nav and answered. "Bout twenty minutes"

"We'll be there in ten." At this declaration McGee braced himself and prayed he wouldn't be bringing up his dinner.


xxxx