LIGHTER THAN LIFE CHAPTER TEN

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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Tony flipped through another letter. It seemed that Penelope and David Livingston were really into writing letters to each other. He glanced at McGee who was busy with his own pile. What made it worse was that this was only half of them. There were more letters to read. Tony tossed another one aside.

"This is much the same old stuff," Tony said after carefully reading over them. "There's just no variation… Listen to this one. Dear David… I love the look of your bunkmates and can understand why they might get into mischief. But you really mustn't let people lead you astray like that. TSK TSK. Yeah I understand that you need to let off some steam but don't carry it too far. I hope things are going well with you. And Yada yada yada," Tony looked over the piece of paper, disgustedly and tossed it into the pile for those certain letters. They had several piles for different types of letters in order to find the right ones that would hopefully give them a lead, "sounds really exciting," he commented and went on to read another one.

Eventually, Ziva returned to the bullpen later in the afternoon with more letters. Now there were additional letters piled onto the desk. Right now, they were all sitting around Tony's desk with the unread letters stacked in the middle. Each time they finished reading one, they'd put it in the right stack. Then they'd each reach into the heap and pulled out, yet another one to read in their continual search.

Tony read over the letter in his hand a couple of more times. "Probie," Tony called to get McGee's attention. "Hey!" Tony yelled when McGee didn't answer. He knew since he didn't see Gibbs behind him, that he wouldn't get hit on the back of the head for his actions. He again studied the letter and with enthusiasm spoke out to McGee. "Oh right… McGee. What ship did Michelle whatshername serve on?" He let out an excited yell. This time he got the younger man's attention.

"Michelle White?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, Michelle White…" Tony asked. "Well?"

McGee looked through the notes from the Lewis Warren/Michelle White case. "What's this about Tony?" McGee asked. It was asked with impatience, since he had to fish the file out from the cabinet. He skimmed over the papers for the right information. "Michelle White served on the…" McGee's voice trailed off. "The NAVYWINK," he said, surprise in his voice.

"There's a connection," Tony exclaimed, holding the letter in one hand and hitting it again his other as he thought,. "Livingston has mentioned a woman named Michelle in a couple of letters," he passed it around to the others so they could read the connection he saw and had mentioned. "I'm going to go. McGee… File," Tony waited with an outstretched hand so he could retrieve the file. "I'll be back ASAP," Tony made a quick dash for the elevator before anybody could say or ask anything else.

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Gibbs walked into the bullpen and noted everyone hanging around the one desk. That made more sense than trying to spread the papers all over the place. There was one visible problem… Someone was missing and that was his senior field agent. The same field agent he'd just been talking to Ducky about. "Where's DiNozzo?!" Gibbs barked and startled the others with his suddenness.

"He's following up on a connection, um, a lead… I think, boss," McGee added the last bit without thinking.

"Ya think?!" Gibbs snapped.

"B-boss," McGee began. There was some inbuilt mechanism that switched on his stuttering problem when Gibbs intimated him. It did seem ridiculous when McGee took a step back and looked at it objectively. "He said he'd return ASAP. Tony did find out that Michelle White and David Livingston served on the NAVYWINK. David Livingston has mentioned her a few times in his letters," McGee explained. "I think Tony's gone to check with Michelle White's family. I believe he wanted to see if there was any mention of David in her letters to Lewis Warren," McGee continued on. "Tony just leapt up and then told us what he was doing before he ran out of here.

"Yes… Tony was out of here like a flash," Ziva echoed what McGee had said. She was somewhat annoyed with Tony. She didn't care for the way he left them to continue to sift through more letters, while he gallivanted off to follow the trail. It was more and more difficult to keep up with the way his thoughts jumped around. One minute he'd be unfocused and the next he'd brilliantly find a clue, yet he'd just run with it. This wasn't like Tony at all and it not only worried her, but annoyed her as well.

"Take a break," Gibbs told them. Their eyes were looking a bit bloodshot from the continual reading. "Take your phones. I'll call you," he sat down at the desk.

Gibbs didn't look up to see the two leave the area; his thoughts were in a different place. This behavior that Tony was showing was almost akin to a rebellion. Something was definitely seriously wrong with his senior field agent. He tried to think back over the last couple of weeks to see if he could remember anything he'd done to make Tony so angry. Perhaps he'd mistakenly said the wrong thing. Of all his team, Tony understood Gibbs the most. The angry moods and yelled order along with some insults would genuinely roll off the senior field agents back. He'd just nod with a smile and then cut the tension with a joke or movie reference. Yet there were times when Gibbs would say something without thinking and later realize he'd cut his second deeply with what he'd said. Those times he would think while he worked on his boat and drank shots of bourbon that he should talk to DiNozzo about what he had said. A few times he had spoken to the younger man, but most of the times he hadn't. He remembered one incident when he joked that hiring Tony seemed like a good idea at the time. This gave Tony the impression that Gibbs regretted having him on the team. Tony being insecure underneath all that bravado, acted out for the rest of the day.

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AUTOPSY

Ziva walked into Autopsy and immediately got Ducky's attention so that she could voice her concerns with the ME. Palmer quickly excused himself when he was asked to leave so that they could talk privately. "What seems to be the problem?" Ducky asked even though he could already guess.

"I want to talk to you about Tony," she said to him. She surmised that this wasn't his first conversation on the topic by his lack of expression. "I am not the only one who has seen you about this?" She asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Ducky answered.

"He has been acting oddly, even for Tony," Ziva said to him, "at first I thought that maybe he had found a new woman, yet Tony has not mentioned names. I am beginning to think he is maybe sick with low blood sugar. His behavior is somewhat erratic, all over the place and he can not keep his mind on track," she explained her concern.

"I will have a talk with young Anthony when I get the chance," Ducky assured Ziva.

"You can not say anything to the others," Ziva begged Ducky, which she wasn't used to doing. If word got out that she had been talking about Tony this way there could be hell to pay, "please… I know you are obligated to Gibbs, but can you not just give him a physical or a checkup. I am really concerned for him, Ducky," she told him, fret in her voice and in her eyes.

Ducky cursed internally. He valued his word highly and his code of ethics and so did everyone else. This case was one of a few where the ME actually contemplated his code, his word, which made him who he was. Times like this, he just wanted to throw it all out the window. That would be the only way he could tell everybody about what had been said to him. The care of their team mate and the knowledge that had been shared, it was just too sensitive. He sighed and let his conscious take control once again in order for him not to do such a thing. "I'll take your concerns under advisement Ziva and I'll keep an eye on Anthony," he assured her.

Ziva didn't look assured. In fact she felt far from it.. "Normally I would not say anything about Tony, it is just that his behavior is starting to affect his job performance," Ziva explained her reason for coming to the ME with her concerns.

"I understand Ziva," Ducky held up his hand to stop her from worrying. A simple gesture to let her know it was alright to come to him about her concerns for her colleague. "What else have you observed?" He queried.

"Tony seems to be unfocused at times and really can not take things seriously. I know, but it has been worse than usual. That, and again he's been really unfocused and acts like he has a memory problem, but that could be the same as being unfocused, yes?" she explained, and asked only to try and answer herself. "And he has been acting like a… Jill all boxed in," she tried to get the words out.

"Jill all boxed in?" Ducky was used to people correcting Ziva's language mistakes, but this time he couldn't even think of what she was referring to.

Ziva thought for a moment as Ducky raised an eyebrow. "A Jill all boxed in," Ziva restated what she had said. Perhaps she did get it wrong. Too bad Tony wasn't there to correct her on it. "You know… Dada dadada dadadada da," she sung the tune of pop goes the weasel. "POP! AHHH!" She explained dramatically as she mimicked playing with a kid's toy.

"Oh, you mean Jack-in-the-box," Ducky said with a chuckle.

"Yes. He seems to be all over the place and bursting with too much energy," Ziva wasn't sure how to explain it much better than that. She knew it seemed silly talking so seriously about her partner being, carefree. Uncomfortable, Ziva checked her watch. "I am sorry Ducky but I must really get back to work," she said.

"Yes of course, my dear." Ducky replied. "Um, where is Anthony now?"

"Tony went to pick something up for a case," Ziva answered before leaving through the glass doors.

Ducky sat thinking after Ziva left. He'd now had the whole team come to him at different times over this erratic behavior. Everyone had talked to him about Anthony. The only person that hadn't come in yet was Abby and he knew she'd have noticed since the two young people were so close. He did figure on her coming in soon.

The question still remained. What should he do about young Anthony? And Jethro's asking about if Anthony had an injury he should know about and if the boy was on pain pills. That really bothered the older man. He didn't know why Anthony would hide an injury from him or Jethro. So he called the hospital and talked to the only other doctor that Anthony would allow to take care of him besides the ME, Doctor Pitt. Brad had gone through DiNozzo's file through the computer and saw that the young man hadn't been to another hospital. Brad then assured Ducky that he hadn't seen Tony for an injury or prescribed any pain pills for him.

Now, Ducky too, was curious what this behavior was all about. He could cancel the pain pills out for now. Especially after his investigation had found out there had been no prescriptions for pain medication, for the boy. The doctor knew that Anthony always had a bad reaction to any pain medication. Any would cause some of the symptoms that Jethro, Ziva and Tim had mentioned. So if there weren't any pain pills involved, what could it be? Maybe it was his low blood sugar. After all, Anthony wasn't one to take very good care of himself. He'd have to watch the young agent and see more of what he had been told. Maybe then he'd pull the man down for a full examination.

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Bullpen

Gibbs grunted in frustration. Tony's cell kept bouncing him to voice message. Never be unreachable… Tony's behavior was careless and he'd never broken the rules like this. There'd better be s good explanation and not one of those stories he tried to tell in order to weasel out of a situation he'd screwed up. And if there wasn't, Gibbs knew he'd ring his agent's damn neck when he got back.

His cell rung and he saw the name, "DiNozzo" flash on the tiny screen. "You better have a damn good explanation as to why you saw fit to suddenly leave the bullpen without telling me or bringing back up. And something that shouldn't have taken you this long," Gibbs spoke angrily into his cell.

"Oh, hey boss," Tony replied cheerily.

The tone made Gibbs think of how Tony acted when he was on painkillers. Could he be taking painkillers, perhaps even abusing them? Ducky did say he'd look into his concern this morning. He'd have to check with his friend, "Where are you DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"I'm on my way back Boss," Tony said. "I was just reading over some letters while grabbing a bite to eat. I do have some information," that was followed by silence.

"Care to share, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"The food will be cold before I get back," Tony replied.

Gibbs jumped up from his chair and onto his feet. "DiNozzo!" His voice blew out in an angry tone.

"Boss?" Tony asked, not sure why he was in trouble. Did Gibbs tell him he was in trouble? He couldn't remember and that quickly passed as he dodged a car and smiled at how well he did it. Then he heard Gibbs voice from the speaker in the passenger seat and realized he was still on the cell.

"I'm asking you right now… What are you taking?" Gibbs demanded an answer, "and don't you think about not answering the damn question," there was silence on the other end of the phone. "DiNozzo!" He ordered a response.

"I'm having a hamburger with coffee," Tony answered matter-of-factly. "Do you want to hear what I found out?" He asked.

"No -," Gibbs began to say but was quickly cut off by Tony hanging up the phone on him. Usually Gibbs had that habit, but found himself shocked by Tony's disrespectful behavior.

"Hey," Tony said as he entered the bullpen and did his best to avoid Gibbs' glare with him, "just as I thought," he said walking over to stand in front of Gibbs desk, "both Michelle White and David Livingston wrote to their perspective partners about their relationship on board the Navywink," Tony explained as he placed the letters in front of Gibbs. "Michelle had written to Lewis Warren on a couple of occasions that she was breaking off their engagement as soon as she got to shore," Tony continued, "and now David Livingston is dead. Connected? I think so," Tony concluded, happy with himself. He then started to leave the bullpen, yet again, without saying where he was going.

"Where are you going, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, annoyed. He was still livid about the phone call earlier. When there was some free time after the case or anywhere in between he'd be pulling Tony's ass aside and have a talk with him. Have a real serious talk.

"I'm going to bring Lewis Warren into interrogation," Tony answered with a sigh, "you'd want to question him about this right?"

"Right," Gibbs replied. "You, McGee and Ziva bring Warren to interrogation room one, but do not say anything," Gibbs commanded. It was obvious that Tony would've been able to handle Warren by himself. He knew at the moment that at time Tony was unreliable and all over the place. So, he figured sending Ziva and McGee would get the job done right. Again, Gibbs found it was difficult to keep up with DiNozzo's trail of thought. But the agent did get the connection they needed. No matter how off Tony was he still had, as Abby would say, mad investigative skills.

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LEWIS WARREN INTERROGATION

Lewis Warren sat down nervously in front of Gibbs. Tony had pleaded to take the lead but a glare soon put an end to that. He explained everything from the letters to his boss. Gibbs even had skimmed through a couple of them to get the feel of what they were about.

"We found the body of a dead Petty Officer," Gibbs said after clearing his throat. He showed Lewis a picture. From their previous interrogation, Gibbs knew that photographs would tug at those heart strings. It had worked before and there was no reason why it wouldn't work a second time. Gibbs pushed the picture closer to Warren of David Livingston, "do you know him?" He asked.

"No," Came the flat answer. Warren's eyes betrayed him, showing that he was lying.

"Not personally," Gibbs stated. "You heard a lot about him though, didn't you?" He asked.

"No," Warren's voice was even less convincing.

"Come on," Gibbs said quietly. "Your fiancée takes the time to write you some letters and you don't read them?" Gibbs scoffed. "I thought you said you loved Michelle," he added to deliberately push those buttons.

"Well I did… I do," Warren stammered slightly. The barrier was beginning to crack.

"So are you going to sit there and tell me you have no idea who this man is?" Gibbs asked flatly. He saw no reason to raise the level of his voice or to change the tone. "I didn't become an agent yesterday," he added. "We've already read through a few of Michelle's letters and David Livingston's letters as well. Michelle mentions David and David mentions Michelle. Ring any bells yet?"

"Alright, so Michelle did mention him a few times," Lewis tried to play down the betrayal he felt.

"Let me guess. You felt that she betrayed your vows and she wanted to end it with you. Did Michelle ever say why?" Gibbs almost sounded caring.

"She said she couldn't get from me what she got from this David guy," Lewis said. "Michelle wanted something more and I guess she got it all from David Livingston," he concluded.

"That make you angry?" Gibbs asked.

"She was cheating on me… Engagement is a commitment and I hear that she's found another guy on the ship, it got to me, right in the heart, alright," Lewis answered.

"Oh she wasn't cheating on you," Gibbs corrected him. "Michelle and David were two family orientated people who found comfort with each other. It was a companionship that got them through their homesickness. You know, just picking each other up when they're feeling down," he said.

Warren's eyes told Gibbs exactly what he was thinking. "Yeah, that's right," Gibbs said coldly. "Did you call up David and arrange to talk?" Gibbs continued on without stopping. "Then you met him in the park and hit him over the head with the rock, right? In a jealous rage, isn't that it?" Gibbs asked.

"I didn't kill the guy," Lewis replied quickly.

"You led David into a quiet part of the park, waited till his back was turned and hit him over the head with a rock," Gibbs explained the scenario that had been played out during the recreation. "Then you buried him… You killed him and buried him!" Gibbs' voice was now elevated.

"No!" Lewis argued.

"Then how'd it go?" Gibbs asked. "It was you who was in the park with David Livingston. Did you two fight?" This question was answered with silence. "Is that what happened? You know you're not helping things by continuously lying to me…"Gibbs said.

"We had a fight, yes," Lewis blurted out. "I blamed him for taking Michelle away from me. If he was so damned family orientated then he should've kept himself away from Michelle. We had a struggle. I just wanted to scare him so I grabbed him by the jacket and he fought back," his gaze was lowered and he swallowed. "I tossed him to the ground and that's where he laid. He had blood coming out of the back of his head and I dug the hole and buried him," Lewis said with his head in his hands.

"But something interrupted you… You had to do what you could, quickly," Gibbs maintained his cold mask.

"People were coming into the park. I didn't mean to kill him," Lewis said. "That wasn't my intention," he tried to explain.

"According to our ME… The scenario was that David Livingston fell backwards on a rock causing the damage," Gibbs stood up. "You didn't kill him but you did cover up David's body. You covered it up and that's going to add to your troubles… Even more than you're already in," Gibbs made sure that Lewis knew that.

Silence followed as Lewis Warren was led out of interrogation. Gibbs knew that it was really out of his hands now and in the hands of competitive lawyers. But right now they had to get all they had together for the prosecution. The sooner that was put out of the way, the sooner he could deal with his other problem, DiNozzo.

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Bullpen

Tony knew that Gibbs would get the guy to talk. So, while his Boss was doing that, he took it upon himself to sort the letters out into their appropriate piles and then to the ones that had mentioned Michelle White or David Livingston to their respective partners. With coffee in hand he was ready to get it all done. Initiative was the sign of any good worker and he knew that getting the file together would be the next move.

"Hey Tony," Ziva said as she walked over to his desk. "You missed Gibbs interrogating Lewis Warren again," she told him. It was somewhat of a surprise since Tony rarely missed one of Gibbs' interrogations.

"I knew what was going to happen," Tony said. Of course it was obvious. Gibbs always got the truth out. "I know I've been getting on your nerves the last couple of weeks," he stated out of the blue.

"Yes Tony, just a little," she sat down at the desk. Tony gathered the crime scene photos together. That would have to go into the file for the case.

"I know that this isn't going to make up for too much but I got you a coffee," Tony said placing the cup on Ziva's desk. It didn't make up for anything, but it was a nice gesture, he thought.

"Thank you Tony," Ziva said, but she handed it back. "As I said once before I'm more of a tea drinker," she explained her reason for handing the cup back. "Why not hand it to some other person that you have driven crazy?"

Tony nodded. "I think I will do that. You're so smart, but unfortunately the coffee would be cold and crappy before they get back. So, more for me," Tony sat back down at his desk and fixed both coffees.

"What are you doing?" Ziva asked curiously.

"I'm getting my report out of the way," Tony answered. Frankly, he was just trying to get back into everyone's good graces. "Gibbs is going to be asking us to do this the minute he comes back. And we have to get the files all together which will probably take until tomorrow. So why not get started on it now?" Tony asked. He moved the coffee out of the way in a reachable place. He moved around awkwardly in his chair until he was comfortable and then paused before resuming his work.

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Thirty minutes later Gibbs walked back into the bullpen. With finally breaking Warren and the case coming to a close, he forgot about the talk with Ducky over the pain pill issue with DiNozzo. He came back and saw his agents busy getting the case together for the lawyers and knew they'd then do their reports. Gibbs left to get coffee from Starbucks and relax a little before doing his own reports. He'd also have to check what his team put together in the file and then all their reports. The day was far from over, and he knew that closing out the case could take the team more than a day, maybe a few depending on what was needed. This was harder since they had to put two cases into one. He sighed at the paperwork ahead of him, ahead of them. He hated the thought of all that closing a case entailed.