LIGHTER THAN LIFE CHAPTER EIGHT

By Sue and Craig

DISCLAIMER: We don't own NCIS or CBS. This is just a fan fiction from our warped minds.

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They arrived in the bullpen not in their usual order. McGee had taken Gibbs' immediate six while Tony hung back alongside Ziva. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone else. Other agents mutter that McGee had Gibbs six instead of Tony who would normally be right beside the man. Tony animatedly talked to Ziva about Waterford Park. Ziva had had enough and quickened her pace to be alongside Gibbs.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked his first order.

"Yes Boss," he replied with the automated response.

"I want a full background on Petty Officer First Class, David Livingston." Gibbs spoke to his senior field agent without a look in Tony's direction. This was a tactic usually employed so there would be no time wasted. "I want to know everything about David Livingston, from the day he was born until he died…"

Instead of the usual on it boss, a snort came from Tony's direction. Gibbs stopped as Tony looked down and gave a small laugh. He coughed a couple of times to rid the smile from his face before eye contact was made with his boss. "On it, Boss," he eventually replied.

"You think there's something funny about this DiNozzo?!" Gibbs used his seriously-angry tone. The tone was usually reserved for Local LEOs or even Fornell at times, but never had been aimed directly at Tony. "Tell me what you find funny about the death of Petty Officer First Class, David Livingston," he asked with the usual no nonsense voice.

Tony lowered his head again and shook it before raising his eyes. "No, nothing funny, boss. Nothing at all," he denied profusely. Yet his mouth betrayed him and he buckled beneath Gibbs glare. "Livingston. Livingston," Tony shrugged his shoulders.

Had everyone lost their sense of humor? He asked himself. "Come on… Livingston, as in Livingston Seagull. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was a 1973 movie. It was directed by Hall Bartlett and based on a book by Richard Bach. Come on, classic." Tony went into the longwinded movie reference. "One of the stars is Kelly Harmon. It was a movie about a seagull being bored with being part of the pack and-…….."

Gibbs cut him off with a hard head slap. It was out of pure impatience and anger with his senior field agent. "Are you bored with being part of a pack DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked him.

"Not at all Boss," Tony looked at Gibbs with quizzical eyes.

"Then I suggest you check your sense of humor at the door and do your job before I fire your ass," Gibbs raised his voice once again. "I want full background information. I want to know of any reason why he turned up dead. I want to know why he was in that park," The team continued to their desks. "David. I want you to pull up his financial statements, bank account actions and anything he bought. I want his financial actions traced from when he was last home to when he left the ship" Gibbs ordered as he walked through the bullpen. "McGee! I want you to go down to Abs and see if she has anything and then pick up the Autopsy report from Ducky. After you've done that, you come back up here. I want his phone records brought up. See who he's being talking to and if there's a connection anywhere," Gibbs said on the way out. "I'm getting coffee," he said as he turned back to go upstairs to the offices.

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NCIS LAB

McGee took the evidence straight down to Abby. He couldn't stop the thoughts about Tony's behavior and how odd his co-worker had been lately. Ziva was sure that Tony had found another girl, only McGee had his doubts. They had heard nothing about any of the latest conquests albeit his demeanor was a bit to carefree and happy. Maybe he should talk to Gibbs about Tony's usual behavior, then again he figured the boss probably had noticed and he didn't want to get yelled at.

"All this lovely evidence just for me?" Abby asked in her overly excited tone. "Oh, McGee you shouldn't have," she joked.

McGee smiled as he thought about how Tony's actions were becoming more like Abby's each day.

"No problem," was all he managed to say. His mind went back to the crime scene and on Tony's odd behavior… Not that it ever left.

"What's wrong McGee?" Abby asked as she put the evidence bags on the counter. Those could wait a few minutes while she probed McGee for what was clearly bugging him.

"What makes you think something's wrong, Abs?" McGee asked.

"You're right in front of me and you're a million miles away," Abby said to him. She knew McGee so well and knew how to get him to talk. "If you don't tell me, I won't let you leave until you do," Abby warned in a very serious tone.

"Gibbs would be pretty mad if I don't get back," McGee warned and hoped that would be his ticket out of the Lab.

"Oh but he won't be mad at me," Abby grinned.

McGee shook his head, knowing that she was right. "It's Tony," he sighed. Abby waited impatiently for an elaboration, "the whole thing's crazy," McGee continued, making sure to tread carefully as he spoke. "We were at the crime scene doing our usual stuff and Tony was actually sketching a couple of birds in a tree instead of the crime scene," McGee summarized the events.

"Are you sure?" Abby asked. Of all the things that could have happened at the scene she was in no way prepared for that revelation.

"Gibbs was pretty mad about it," McGee explained. "He was absolutely livid. He made Tony ride in the back of the van after leaving the scene," he said. Tony always rode the front.

"Ooh," Abby was deep in thought for a moment. "That IS bad. Something's been going on with Tony lately."

"It can't be a girl or else we would have heard about it," McGee told her a bit worried. After all, Tony loved to talk about his latest exploits at great length.

"Not necessarily," Abby said as she walked to the computer before turning around once again. "Unless… Unless it's someone that works in NCIS," she concluded. Her mind started to race, she liked to keep folders in her mind like on a computer. She rearranged them until she got to her Tony folder. She looked through it while she listened to McGee.

"Tony wouldn't do that," McGee's face changed expression to a shocked look. "Would he break rule twelve?" He asked.

Finally she found the part she was looking for," He has done it before, McGee," Abby told him. "Before you came to work here, Tony hit it off with the then Director, Tom Morrow's assistant," Abby explained to him and then continued, "so of course he'd keep this one secret," she told McGee.

"Really?" McGee asked. "The Director's Assistant?"

"That's what I just said McGee," Abby was clearly annoyed. "Are you going to repeat everything I say?" McGee shook his head very quickly. "Good," Abby continued on. "When Tom found out about it, he went straight to Gibbs who went straight to Tony and well let's just say everything exPLODED like Vesuvius. Gibbs and Tony refused to talk for a week… A week! You realize how long that is in NCIS time? That's like forever," she said.

"Well it can't be Jenny's assistant," McGee said. "Cynthia's married," Though not too many women were immune Tony's flirtatious attempts. McGee has never heard Tony flirting with a married woman before… Even he had his rules about women.

Abby punched McGee in the arm. "We have to find it out before Gibbs does," Abby stated matter-of-factly. "We have to put a stop to it before HE does," she quickly rambled. "We have a mission McGee. This is a matter of life and death. This stops before boss-man finds out,"

McGee sighed. "Fine," he conceded. "But first, Gibbs wants those looked at. He wants the whole thing on the leaves and rock, especially," McGee stated.

"Right on it," Abby said. "And remember; find out the name of Tony's new fling." Abby yelled out to McGee as he headed out the lab door on his way to the elevator and up to the bullpen. Abby hoped this would throw McGee off the track if he looked around. She knew they'd never think it was her. Yet Tony never acted this way before when he had a girlfriend, she mused about it as she began to her work.

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NCIS Bullpen

Tony swung his chair around and watched Gibbs double time it up the stairs before turning his attention back to the monitor and began to type away. He placed his fingers around the large and now cold cup of coffee. He then drank some of it before he placed it back on his desk.

Ziva was put on hold as she had called the bank. It was the second time in as many minutes that she was forced to listen to the blasted hold music. She tapped the pencil on the table impatiently as something across the bullpen had caught her eye.

Tony threw a peanut straight in the air, leaned back with his mouth open and waited for the peanut to come down. He chewed with a smile before he swallowed. The two storey roof space meant that he could toss it as high as he could and often wondered how close he could get to hitting the ceiling from where he sat. He threw another peanut up in the air.

"Tony!" Ziva yelled at him.

Tony jumped slightly before he looked across at Ziva. "Ouch," he winced as the peanut hit him on the head. "What's up Zee-Vah?" Tony asked.

Ziva gave him a quizzical look. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked him. "If Gibbs comes back and sees you throwing your nuts up in the air and chomping on them he is going to be pretty plastered," Ziva warned him, and made sure that her voice was only loud enough to carry over to Tony.

"I think you mean pissed, Ziva," Tony lined up another peanut to swallow. "Almost a perfect score," Tony said. He was proud of his efforts.

"Alright… He will be pissed at you if he sees you chomping on your nuts," Ziva said, exasperated. When Tony laughed as he put the peanuts away, she was even more furious at his nonprofessional attitude. But there was something else. She realized she hadn't seen him eat too much over the last few days. For someone who devoured lunch in minutes, not to eat was unusual. "Actually, Tony… I think you should go and get something to eat," Ziva said still eyeing him. "Can you hang on a minute?" Ziva asked into the phone.

Tony pulled out his packet of peanuts and shook it so it rattled loudly. He threw another peanut up to catch and then drank the remainder of his coffee before tossing the empty cup into the trash. "I was eating Zee-Vah," he said as he ate some more peanuts.

Ziva put the phone down. "Something more substantial than peanuts," she told him. "Go to the cafeteria and have a big hamburger or a hotpup," she said.

"Hotdog," Tony said as he stood and placed his hands palms down on his desk to balance himself. "Don't you mean hotdog?"

Tony's leaned on the desk for support. This didn't go unnoticed by Ziva's observant eye. "I know what I meant," she snapped. "And yes, you should eat something… I think your blood sugar is low," she pointed out that he needed to lean on his desk, probably because he had trouble with his balance from the low blood sugar.

"I got it," Tony held a finger up before he slowly pointed it at her. "You care for me… Ziva the assassin has feelings for me," he teased in a sing song manor while he walked over to Ziva's desk and placed his hands down on it. "You really do care," he leaned forward a little.

"Yes, I do care," Ziva replied. She defensively tried to escape his gaze that pried into her. Tony moved his head to try and make eye contact. "You are my partner," she finally looked up. "I think your blood sugar is too low and it is causing you to act off. Look at yourself, you can barely stand straight," she said and hoped he understood what she meant. Ziva knew when blood sugar was low that a person might not understand things they were told. Also, she knew that low blood sugar could look like the person was drunk and eventually, not be able to function and pass out. She was very worried about him.

Tony leaned in further and lifted one hand. He began to run it through her hair, lightly. This action made her feel uncomfortable since they were at work. "I didn't realize how much you cared, Zee-Vah," Tony told her as he continued to stroke her long hair.

"Will you stop that?!" Ziva asked and then warned. She immediately grabbed his wrist and pushed it away from her hair. "Gibbs will be back any minute and if you're not going to eat then you better start doing some work or he will kill you," Ziva said and tried to get him away from her desk so she could get back to work.

"Oh, come on," Tony whispered to her quietly. "You like it," he started to stroke her hair again. It felt smooth and there wasn't a hair out of place. It was nice. It felt right.

Ziva grabbed his wrist again and as tightly as she could. "That is it! You really need to eat something now!" She growled, frustrated with his actions. "You have not been eating a lot lately and if you do not stop touching me I will resort to hurting you," Ziva warned with all seriousness.

"I'm not hungry," Tony responded in a childlike but rebellious tone. "And I know you really don't want me to stop. You're enjoying it," Tony laughed as he pulled his arm from her grasp and then he reached over again and actually ruffled her hair.

Ziva had had enough by this time. She'd warned him plenty of times. Now she was forced to take action. Ziva stood to her feet and grabbed his wrist. She moved fast, put him into a hammerlock. She then pushed his chest into the desk and pulled his arm behind his back before she pressed her elbow, hard, between his shoulder blades "Go get something to eat," Ziva said as she whispered into his ear with a deadly tone. "Then come back here and finish your work before I decide to report you," she hissed. "Well?"

Tony's body relaxed with surrendered. "Alright," he said to her before she let him go and left the bullpen to head for the cafeteria. "I'll be back," he added.

Ten minutes later Tony returned with a large coffee and a hotdog. He sat down, pull open his desk draw and then put in sugar and powdered creamer. He took a bite of his hotdog and then sipped his coffee contently. He looked at the half eaten hotdog and threw it into the trash can by his desk.

"Happy now, Zee-Vah?" He asked with a light hearted smile.

"You should have eaten more and should stop drinking so much coffee. I think you are getting worse than Gibbs, yes?" She eyed him.

Tony shrugged, "I ate something like you asked. Am I really drinking as much as Gibbs? Hmm, I just can't help it. This new powdered creamer I found tastes great. I get it down the street, one jar for here and one for home. You should try it. I guarantee you'll love it." He winked at her.

"I do not think so, Tony. I prefer tea, sometimes coffee. Now get back to work, Gibbs will be down soon." She told him adamantly.

"Yes, he will. Ok, what was I doing again?" He asked thoughtfully.

"Tony, you did not eat enough, you are not thinking clearly. Gibbs told you to do a Background check on David Livingston. Now I must finish my work." She shook her head, there was nothing else she could do at the moment and hoped that her partner would not pass out. She reached for the phone and quickly eyed Tony to make sure he was at work before she dialed.

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Jenny Shepard's Office

Gibbs entered Jenny's office in a sedate way. He had waited until Cynthia told him he could go into the Director's office. This was something that surprised Jenny more than anything. Jethro usually just seemed to barge in whenever he felt like it. There had to be something wrong for him to act so differently.

Jenny gave him her undivided attention. "What can I do for you Jethro?" she asked.

Gibbs thought for a moment before he answered. This wasn't something that he'd normally talked to the director about. He would usually handle his team the way he saw fit. Tony's erratic behavior was a situation that he thought would be better to involve Jenny. Maybe he could get some information from the NCIS Director. Tony's strange behavior had been going on for about a week now. He'd seen the affect on his senior field agent and the disruption with the rest of the team

"It must be serious," Jenny prodded him to continue.

"Has DiNozzo been doing some extracurricular work for you? An undercover op?" Gibbs knew on occasion that Tony had done some surveillance and undercover work for the hierarchy when needed. Maybe Tony was stressed about something and that's why he'd been so strange in the way he acted.

"I couldn't tell you if he was… But he isn't," Jenny said. Gibbs' gaze met hers to try and see if she was hiding something.

"What is this about Jethro?" She asked with concern. "Is there something I should know?"

Gibbs shifted in the chair. He felt like telling Jenny was a betrayal of his senior field agent, only his behavior had to be brought to the attention of the superior. "I think there's something going on with DiNozzo," Gibbs relayed what he thought.

"And you thought you'd come and accuse me," there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"Not at all Madam Director," Gibbs responded. "I am exploring the avenues and I thought that I'd do the right thing and report that my senior field agent is behaving erratically," he explained to her.

"Shall I suspend him or perhaps force him on leave?" Jenny asked Gibbs.

Gibbs moved his head from one side to the other. "I don't think that'd be a great idea. He's been able to perform his duties," with some persuasion.

"And you are bringing me this because?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs stood up. "In case anything out of the ordinary happens. This way you'll know that I haven't been holding out any important information. And, you'd also be able to deal with it if the need be," Gibbs told her. He hoped to god that it wouldn't come to that, perhaps this was just a phase Tony was going through.

"What has he done?" Jenny asked for him to elaborate.

"Nothing major," it was a lie. He feared that if he was totally honest with her, that that could spell the end of Tony's career. There's no way in Hell he was going to let that happen. "Just some little things… He's having trouble concentrating since his mind keeps drifting off to God knows where," Gibbs said.

"He could be having personal problems… You know what his personal life is like," Jenny commented before Gibbs left.

"That I do," Gibbs said.

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention and keep me in the loop," Jenny said but received no reply before the door closed behind Gibbs.

The day had been a long one. The team had come up with some of the things that Gibbs wanted but had to wait for others. Gibbs looked at his watch, he knew they had a murder to solve but also knew the team was running ragged. They had case after case lately only having one day of paperwork and cold cases before the Warren case had come in. Now it was the Livingston case, his team needed sleep, needed the weekend off. Though he'd rather work through the weekend himself, he knew that the team had been on call three weekends in a row. He'd have to put this case on hold until Monday. On Monday, hopefully they'd look at it with fresh eyes and find something.

"Pack your things and go home, get some sleep and a good meal. Oh and take the weekend off." He ordered going back to finishing what he was doing.

Three faces looked up in shock expecting to spend the whole night at the office.

"Boss, you sure?" Tony asked cautiously.

"Yes, DiNozzo, I'm sure." Gibbs grunted.

"But this is not like……" Ziva's was cut off before she finished her thought.

"Ziva, all of you, out! I gave an order and I expected you to listen. Monday, 6:30 A.M. and no one be late. Fresh eyes can make this case come together. Now Get!" Gibbs growled and then waved his hand.

McGee didn't say a word not wanting to be yelled at. He packed up along with his team mates. They all headed quickly to the elevator and a well deserved rest.