I know... It's been like months. Please don't kill me. I seriously only have one excuse and that is I had some sort of mid-story crisis and rethought everything that I had planned out for this. Believe me, you don't want to see how I was going to end the story. But it's better now and we're nearing closer to the end. Somewhere around ten chapters? I don't know. Oh, and for those of you who have been asking for a little bit more Tiva- I think you'll enjoy this chapter. Anyways, enough rambling on my part. You're here to read, so enjoy!
"I think I kinda miss them." Agent Sherman voiced, his head resting on his hand. He and his partner had just finished up a case, and they had nothing better to do (considering that their boss was out on a coffee run) so they decided to pass the time with conversation. "Yeah, me too. It's strange. I never really thought I liked DiNozzo but here I'm saying that I miss the dude." Agent Marx agreed, nodding his head and glaring at his non-functioning computer.
Miles Sherman and Josh Marx had been good friends for a few years at this point, and each had talked to the two dead agents multiple times.
"I hear Gibbs isn't accepting any new recruits to his team. It's still just him and that Israeli chick... what's her name?" Josh said. "I think it's Ziva David. Did you hear about the stunt she pulled like three years ago?" Miles asked. "Yeah. Didn't she commit treason?" Josh asked. Miles shook his head and shrugged. "Something like that, I think." he said. Josh sipped his coffee and looked around the building. "Y'know, I wouldn't mind being transferred to Gibbs' team." he thought aloud. "Oh yes you would." Gibbs said as he passed the agents. Josh and Miles exchanged a dreadful look, which grew into a mortified expression as the NCIS legend stopped and back pedaled.
"Sherman and Marx, right?" he asked, his signature coffee cup in his hands. They both shook their heads. "That's us." Miles said. "Porter's team?" he asked again. "Yep." Josh responded. Gibbs entered their bullpen and walked over to Miles, who had talked to the man many times before. Gibbs remembered they called him in for help on a case involving a group of Western European hit-men. He grew up in the area, and Vance had suggested they seek him out. Gibbs probably wouldn't admit it to anyone besides his team, but without Sherman's help, they would not have solved the case or tied the entire group back to the murder of a Petty Officer. He was a good agent.
"Didn't your partner get shot?" Gibbs asked. Miles nodded. "Yeah... Gwen is still in the hospital, but the doctors think it'll be a full recovery." he answered. Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "Tell her I said get well. Oh, and by the way, Marx." Gibbs said. Josh snapped his head up and looked at the man. "Yes?" he asked. "Someone once told me this, 'Always get to know people. They might do you some good one day.'" he quoted, turning to face the agent. "Who said that?" Josh asked.
"Anthony DiNozzo, Jr." Gibbs said, walking off. Marx swallowed the lump in his throat.
~~~xxx~~~
"I know... I miss you too... Yes... Shalom." Ziva said, hanging up the phone. "That your father, Ziva?" Gibbs asked. Ziva nodded. "Yes. He called to tell me that a close friend of mine was in the hospital. She will be ok, but she wanted to let me know." Ziva told her boss. "Gibbs?" she asked. Gibbs snapped his head around to face her. He was snooping around Tony and McGee's desks for some reason. "What?" he responded. Ziva hesitated, then asked her question. "Do you... miss them?" she wondered. Gibbs stopped sorting though Tony's stuff and leaned up against the shelf behind her partner's desk. "I dunno. Guess so. It's a lot quieter without them, that's for sure." Gibbs said, going back to rifling through Tony's stuff. Ziva nodded and watched as Gibbs continued his unusual behavior. "Are you looking for something?" Ziva asked, wanting to be helpful. "Yeah. Where does DiNozzo keep his box of my medals?" Gibbs asked asa if she knew, which he doubted she did.
Ziva's eyebrows flew up and her mouth opened slightly. "He keeps all of your medals? Why don't you?" Ziva said, astonished. Gibbs shrugged as he opened the bottom drawer. "They don't mean anything to me. Don't really... believe in awards and medals when I'm just doing my job. DiNozzo's been trying to hide it from me for years, but I know he keeps them somewhere around here." Gibbs said, pulling out a metal box. He shook the grey container and said, "This must be it." Ziva watched as he picked the lock, brought the box back to his desk, and emptied its contents.
Ziva's jaw dropped even more (if that was possible) when she saw all of the awards Gibbs had received. "Where did you get all of these?" She asked. "Marines, mostly. Some at NCIS." he said, as if they didn't matter to him. Which they obviously didn't, if he gave them to Tony to throw away. "Why are you getting them out now?" Ziva asked her boss. Gibbs shrugged again. "Doin' something for SecNav tonight. Need my uniform." he explained simply as he pulled out his uniform and began pinning them on in the correct order. "Oh." Ziva responded.
"You're coming too, Ziver." he said after a second of silence. Ziva's head snapped up. "What?" she asked, confused. "DiNozzo and McGee are getting their last wishes tonight. SecNav is awarding them medals for their sacrifice to their country." Gibbs informed her. Ziva looked at him quizzically. "Gibbs, they are dead. They do not care if they get medals." Ziva said. Gibbs gave her a cold stare. "I care." he said as he walked off to change into his uniform to go and meet up with Admiral McGee, Director Vance, and the Secretary himself.
Ziva sighed and picked up the phone. If it was eight now, then she might be able to catch Tony before he ate dinner... Making her mind up, Ziva found her cell phone under a pile of case reports and called the number she now knew by heart.
"Hello my beautiful co-worker." Tony said as he picked up his phone. Ziva smiled and a small giggle escaped from her lips. Tony started yelling to someone where ever he was. "Hey, can you hold on a second?" he asked. "Sure. Who is that?" Ziva questioned him. "Tell you in a second. First, I have to beat McGee senseless." Tony said, causing Ziva to laugh again. "Who's that?" Dorneget asked as he walked into the squadroom. Ziva looked up at him, puzzled on how to respond. She hesitated for a second.
"My- It's my boyfriend." she told him, almost with a sense of pride. Ned smiled. "I didn't know you were dating someone." he stated, making it sound like he wanted more information. "Yeah... he just told me that he was ready for a relationship." Ziva blushed. Tony, who over heard the statement, stopped play fighting with McGee and grabbed his phone. "Wait, I did?" he asked. Ziva ignored him as the sounds of one of the two men yelling 'Stop!' and 'in the background started to become louder. Ned nodded. "Well, good luck. See you at the ceremony tonight." he said, walking off. "See you then." Ziva smiled as he left her all alone in the bull pen again.
"I am back." she stated, as a breathless Tony picked up his cell. "So am I. Did you know McGee is crazy good at defending himself?" Tony asked, wheezing a bit. "Yes. I am teaching him at the gym after work three times a week. Well, I was, at least. Lately he has not been showing up for his sessions." Ziva joked. "Haha. Solve this and we can get back to that." Tim spoke before Tony shoved him away from the phone. He got up and walked out onto the balcony of their tiny apartment and leaned up against the rail. "Ok. We are finally alone." Tony breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." Ziva smiled. Many high ranking officials were starting to gather outside the director's office on the catwalk and near the window. "Jack, they're getting their medals tonight." she said. Tony straightened up. "What? Who? Who died?" he asked, not realizing who she was talking about.
"Tony and McGee. They are getting their Medals of Freedom tonight. I wish you were here." Ziva told him. Tony grinned. "Well, It would be pretty funny to burst in through the window with McGee and proclaim that we aren't dead, but I can't catch a flight that fast." Tony said, cheering Ziva up quite a bit. There was a pause where nobody knew what to say.
"I miss you, Jack. You and Max both. Abby hasn't come out of her lab in a week. She sleeps there a lot now. They moved the second Caf-Pow machine from the lobby to outside her lab so she doesn't have to walk far to get it. Even though we know you're still here, everybody is pretty shaken up. I want you to come home." Ziva said, a little tear forming in the corner of her eye.
"I want to be home, Ziva. I can only live with crazy Timmy McGee for so long. You know I've started to talk like him? And he's becoming more sarcastic by the day. Los Angeles is so hot too, you wouldn't believe it. I wanna come home. I miss you, Ziva." Tony said as he gazed out over the LA skyline as the sun began its descent and the moon plotted to take over the night. The screen door opened and Tim stepped out with a smile on his face. "What?" Tony asked. "What? Wait, what what?" Ziva asked Tony. "No, hold on Zi. McGee. What?" Tony stated, clearing up the confusion.
"Eric and I got a hit. We've narrowed down the list." McGee said, excited. "What list? To- er, Jack, put me on speaker." Ziva said. It was better to receive information as it came, so why should they share it now? "Ok, Ziva's on speaker. Tim, explain." Tony said. Tim nodded and took a deep breath. The two of them could tell this was going to be a lengthy speech, but for some reason, Ziva didn't want to tell him to skip the technical mombo jumbo. Or was it mumbo?
Either way, Ziva wanted to hear his voice, both of their voices, as much as she could. They really made a difference around the building. With Tony and Tim gone, no one had really been themselves, even after all this time. It was always so gloomy now, like nobody was really truly getting over it. She couldn't imagine what it was like for them, living together in a city they'd both only been to once. Ziva was pulled from her thoughts as Tim began to speak.
"Ok. Eric and Nell compiled a list of the twenty most important cities to the government in the country, as well as the twenty most populated and well known cities. I created a program that went through the past three years of communication between Liberdad Nueva and Conquistador members that sorted out all the American cities mentioned. It's finished and Nell is going organizing the data now. We just might have our city."
So... yeah. Things are speeding up a bit. How'd you like the Tiva? What did you think of the newest installment? Let me know your thoughts because not only do i love reviews, but I also love to see what you guys think! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Until the next chapter (which will be sooner than four months from now), Owl.