I own nothing from NCIS and make no money from this story! If I did own them there would be some massive changes! I am simply borrowing them for a bit and returning them happier and in better condition than when I found them.

A huge thanks goes to my most excellent Beta-Amy- without whom this would not be as polished! Kudos to her for her great work and wanting to work with a nut like me! Trust me! There is much love to her! She also feeds the bunnies some massive happy food since they keep appearing.

Come by my facebook page- always a riot! Sometimes great eye candy as well! Facebook./gibbsandtonysbabe Always happy to have you drop by!

******NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS NCIS******

Fornell sat in Tim's room with Achael very relieved that he had been able to give Tony some good news. Thankfully, Tim was going to be all right and considering the story that Achael had relayed it was a damn miracle. He was still having a hard time swallowing the fact that Ziva just left him there…alone…bleeding and to take the blame.

Achael had cleared up any doubts anyone could have about Tim's involvement in Bodnar's murder. There was a great deal of irony here…they were bringing murder charges against an NCIS agent and this time there was irrefutable proof and Tony was the one to find it.

Ziva had no way out of this; she killed Bodnar, an innocent and unarmed man, in cold blood. She let her desire for vengeance take over and ignored when those around her tried to stop her. Anyone could sympathize with Vance and Ziva's desire to make someone pay for their loss, but they both only needed to step back for a moment and look at the facts.

Now Ziva was facing a murder charge and prison time and Vance has been removed from office facing possible charges of misuse of power as well. This whole scenario had gone beyond a cluster fuck and as hard as he had tried to keep Tony away from the madness, it was starting to look like he was going to end up in the thick of it.

They had found no trace or trail of Ziva and his gut was telling him that she had managed to use contacts and made her way back to the states. Since at the moment she believed that she was acting under Vance's order and protection he had no doubt that she would try to contact him first and when that failed she would move on to Gibbs.

His last message from Tony had been that they had found proof of Orli and Shmeil's involvement and had started the process of arrest warrants so that both of them could be picked up. Everything was being triple checked to insure there was no way that either of them would be able to weasel out due to a loophole. It was one hell of a mess that was for sure.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn't relieved that all the pieces were coming together and they would be able to wrap this up sooner than later. This was one they would want to put as far behind them as possible; the after effects would be felt for a long time however.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

Tony looked at Gibbs and hesitated briefly before he decided that it was best to put his cards on the table.

"You need to know that after we find Ziva she will be placed under arrest for murder. Right now we believe that she has made her way here through her contacts and will try to contact Vance." He checked to see if Gibbs was handling this bit of news ok. "If she is unable to reach him, she is going to contact you. She still believes she acted in accordance to Vance's 'implied' order."

"We have kept everything out of the news so that there is no way of her finding out about Vance. I am going to call Abby and ask her here, I need to tell her about Tim but I don't want her caught up in this."

Sighing Tony began pacing. "There is one way for sure to lure Ziva out of hiding but it isn't something that I am comfortable doing." Raising his eyes to meet Gibbs, "We could wait, bide our time and find her contacts. I already know who set her up in the safe house…but I am afraid that if we hesitate there is a real possibility more people will be hurt. This needs to end now and I need to ask for your help."

"Anything Tony."

"No…you need to take a moment to think about what I am asking of you. Can you do this without beating yourself up?"

Gibbs stood up and went to stand in front of Tony without hesitation. "I need to do this. I let things slide. I allowed her more power than she deserved. I let her manipulate me because of one action; an action I later found out to be a tool that she used to gain my trust. I helped cause this whole mess and I need to finish it. I won't deny that there will be a moment of self-flagellation; but I deserve it."

Holding up his hand to stop Tony before he jumped in, "It will pass. It is the right thing to do and I have done more than enough wrong. Let me do this for you…for her…for me."

"Are you sure?" Green eyes bore deeply into the older man searching for any indication that this was too much to ask. Regardless of everything that he had done to Tony, the man still had his six and was not going to let him do something that he would regret.

"I'm sure. Can you trust me?"