Kaleidoscope
A/N: Tuesday! You get a triple-dosing of your favorite NCIS today! NCIS, NCIS LA, and ME!
Enjoy my pensiveness… Oh, and I may not care for Vance, but he is SO fun to write.
Ch10. Captive Audience
Tony glared at McGee as Abby recounted his proposal, something akin to murder lighting the invalid's eyes.
Why did McGee get his happy ending?
Why did McGee get his happy ending, when Tony's was half a world away and believed he was dead?
Tony did not like his thoughts taking that path- after all, Tim was a good partner. Tim had really helped him out, and deserved to be happy, too.
Tony just wished it could have been him…
Sitting under the stars- real stars, not a planetarium.
Holding her close, one hand tangled in her brown hair, listening to her beautiful laugh…
"Tony? TONY!" Abby's voice snapped him out of his reverie, back to the hospital room, staring at the elated forensic scientist and her very own Special Agent Fiancé.
"What?" he asked. "Sorry, I was out of it. Must be the morphine." Tony glared at the IV angrily. He wanted out of here so badly.
"Would you be my best man?" Tim repeated, peering at Tony with a tinge of concern in his face.
Tony almost managed a smile. "Sure, McHusband."
"McAlmost Husband," Tim corrected with a grin.
Tony chuckled. "McProposer."
Tim smiled, shaking his head. "Well, we'll be off. Don't do anything stupid," he added quickly.
It's not stupid if you know what you are doing, Tony thought.
**** The Basement (You know the one.)
Gibbs pushed the sandpaper up ad down the rib of his boat, his mind in a different place than his hands currently were.
It hurt him, to treat his agent like he was. Tony did not deserve the harsh words Gibbs seemed always in a position to give- after all, Gibbs knew too well what it was like to love a woman you should not love. However, sometimes DiNozzo just needed some tough love, and Gibbs would give it to him.
Really, how stupid could the man get?
Jethro could not even put into words the concern that had pulsed through his veins at the sight of DiNozzo unconscious on the tarmac, lying in a pool of his own blood. He was not sure how to describe the pain he had experienced with the sound of the EMTs shouting to each other as they checked Tony's vitals, or the relief that had swept through him when DiNozzo was alive. Gibbs tried to tell himself he was just glad he had not lost an agent, but that excuse was feeble even to his own ears. He knew it was love that kept him watching Tony through the younger man's surgery; not as a man to a woman, obviously, but as a father to a son. DiNozzo reminded Gibbs of himself, and Gibbs voiced that on many occasions.
"There seems to be a lot going on with Team Gibbs."
Gibbs sighed at the familiar drawl and looked up at the Director. "What do you want, Leon? An apology?"
"Just some answers." Vance continued halfway down the steps and stopped, leaning against the railing. A toothpick was rolling thoughtfully between his teeth.
"It would help if I knew the questions."
Vance smiled oh-so-slightly at the familiar bad ass banter. "Agent DiNozzo."
"That's a statement, Leon."
"Okay, here's a question. Why did you let Agent DiNozzo pull that stunt?"
Jethro narrowed his eyes. "I didn't. Satisfied?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Eli's mad."
"Do I care?" Gibbs approached Leon, his eyes shooting daggers. "Do I care about the man who sent his own daughter to kill my agent? The man who then sent the brother of her dead boyfriend to take out my agent? Tony is lying in an ICU because of Eli David."
Vance's eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he responded. "Eli didn't send Samuel Rivkin to the United States."
Gibbs was taken aback. "What?"
"Rivkin was not authorized to come here by Director David. In addition to that, Eli hasn't been in contact with Ziva since you picked her up. That's too long."
"What about her control officer?" Gibbs' gut had been churning al day. Now he knew it was not just for Tony's safety that the twinges came.
It was for Ziva, too.
"Amit Hadar has also been out of contact. Something's wrong, and Eli wants our help."
"Why does he think I would help him? Even if he did not send Rivkin, he's still the one who sent Ziva."
"Eli was testing her. Wanted to see if she was loyal to Mossad. He told me about it, so I could discreetly make sure DiNozzo stayed safe. He knew Ziva would not be able to kill DiNozzo, though; he just wanted to check her honesty. He wanted her to stand up to him."
Gibbs' mouth set itself into a hard line. "This isn't for Mossad or international relations, Leon. This is for my agent." Tony or Ziva? Gibbs was not entirely sure, but right now, he did not care, either.
"Glad to have you on board." Vance extended a hand, but Gibbs ignored it and went back to his boat.
After a few minutes of Gibbs trying to ignore Vance, the silver haired agent gave in. "Are you quite through, Leon?"
"No."
"What now?" Gibbs asked, exasperated.
"Agent McGee and Ms. Scuito."
"What about them?"
"Don't you have a rule about coworkers dating? And a general rule for marriage? You gave them the day off so that McGee could propose to Scuito."
"Abby doesn't work for me. And the marriage rule is a suggestion, not a guideline."
Vance sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but Gibbs stopped him. "Go away, Leon."
"Fine." Vance, somewhat surlier now, left Gibbs alone with his boat at last.
**** Dulles Take Two
Tony adjusted the bag slung over his shoulder, sticking his right hand in a pocket while he watched the screen flip through the flights. Ben Gurion… Ben Gurion… There.
His jaw set, Tony headed to the El Al flight. Screw Gibbs and his rules… Tony pshed the niggling feeling of doubt in his gut away, telling himself, The only thing not right here is that Ziva thinks I'm dead.
A buzz by his hand alerted him to a call, and the NCIS flipped the phone open against his ear. "Boss," Tony greeted cautiously.
"DiNozzo! What the hell? I told you not to do anything stupid!"
"It's not stupid if you know what you're doing."
"Samuel Riv…"
Tony flipped the phone shut, not wanting to hear Gibbs tell him why the woman he loved had to think he was dead.
He continued slowly again towards the flight, not noticing the dark complexioned man who watched him, nodding once he passed to another figure in the uniform of a flight attendant.
Samuel Rivkin smiled. His revenge would soon be exacted, this time for good.
****
Gibbs cursed as he hung up on the dead line. He looked up to meet Abby and McGee's eyes. The two held each other unconsciously, unaware of the matching expressions of dread on their faces. "Dulles, McGee. Try and hold the flight to Ben Gurion."
Tim nodded quickly, having been made aware of part of the situation once the group had arrived at the hospital to discover Tony MIA, again. He dialed the airport quickly, beginning the harrying task of saving Tony and verbally sparring with airport security. The silver haired agent himself called one Leon Vance, Director of NCIS.
"Vance."
"Remember that little chat we had last night?"
"Yes, Gibbs…"
"How much weight do you pull at Mossad, exactly?"
"Get to your point"
"DiNozzo is currently boarding an El Al flight to Ben Gurion airport. We're trying to stop him at our end, but if we can't I need Mossad to pick him up at their end."
"Will do. I'll also ask Eli if he's got any new leads on Ziva."
"Took the words out of my mouth, Leon."
Click.
**** TELEPORT
Vance smiled grimly as he hung up then dialed Eli David.
"Shalom, old friend."
:Leon! I assume your call is not social?"
"You assumed correctly. Agent Gibbs would like your help, and I would like an update on Ziva David."
"No news from her. What would Agent Gibbs like my assistance with?"
"Agent DiNozzo's en route to Tel Aviv as we speak. Can your men pick him up?"
"He is recently out of a coma, yes?"
"Correct."
"We will take good care of our agent, Leon."
Click.
**** TELEPORT
McGee shook his head at Gibbs, angrily hanging up with the El Al flight attendant who spoke such careful English. "They won't hold the flight."
Gibbs cursed again. He stormed off, headsmacking himself as soon as he hran to his car. There was no way he would make it in time. Gibbs knew that. But he had to try… His gut churned- Rivkin had been released. There was nothing concrete to hold him on. Abby and the other scientists could only work so fast and turn up so much evidence, and so far there was not a scrap to incriminate the Israeli past a conjunctive gut feeling. Damn.
Damn, damn, damn.
A symphony of blaring car hors and screeching tires later, Gibbs was bypassing airport security, waving his badge frantically through the air as he wove his way through the busy, tightly packed crowds. "DiNozzo!" he bellowed, nearing the boarding deck for the Ben Gurion flight, but too late. The plane was already disappearing into the sky.
Damn!
**** Somewhere over the rainbow…
She tried to fight. She tried to move… To fight… To win. But, as the first two men went down, so did Ziva. The water must have been drugged, she mused vaguely as her hands and feet were roughly tied and her mouth taped over. She had not really paid attention as she sipped from the bottle; her mind had been too engrossed in other things.
Ziva bgan to squirm again, but thw world swam and faded, and her body felt as though it were filled with lead.
Sometime later… she was not sure when… she groggily woke. Ziva heard quick Hebrew words, and cold water slapped her face. Spluttering and drenched, Ziva woke up fully, raising her head to see Officer Hadar grinning down at her. Bashan stood behind him, in the door of a familiar tiny room.
Wait… it was not the same cell. Close in dimension and aesthetic, but not the same.
So where was she?
And why was she bound, with Bashan and Hadar here? Should they not be untying her? Were they…
No!
The pieces fell into place.
Why Samuel was in the US.
Why her father would not speak with her.
Why Hadar had seemed overeager to get her "home".
Why Bashan, equally excited, had laughed…
They were responsible. For her, for Tony…
Tony.
Gibbs had told her…
Samuel- had he done it? Was it him?
No, Tony had been alive when Gibbs spoke of having Samuel in custody. Tony had been stable then, though…
A freak medical accident while in a coma did not seem… Tonyish. He was too much a fighter to go like that. Was he alive, then? Had Gibbs lied?
Hadar's cold voice interrupted the tangent her thoughts had taken. "No one can save you from this, Ziva David."
"I know."