Chapter Twenty-one

The rest of the morning passes in a blur of paperwork, computer searches, and coffee. McGee and Gibbs follow the Wheats and take the first watch. At about four, McGee calls to remind Tony and me to relieve them at five. Wearily, we pack our things and I call Sharon.

"Sharon, can you come out and feed Traver? I'm in the middle of a case."

"Do you need me to take him until you're done?" I pause and consider the case.

Sighing, I reply, "Yeah, if you could. I'm going to be at the office during the day and on protection detail until about midnight or one If it's an imposition, I'll call the kennel and have him boarded until I'm done."

"No, Cammy… we'll keep him. I'm trying to talk Steve into the bib "B" word. I figure if I hit him up about getting a puppy first, that'll pave the way into the baby conversation. Maybe Traver will help convince him about the puppy." I can hear her smile down the line.

"He's got a brand new bag of food in the closet off the kitchen, if you want to take that. He's really a good dog, pretty low maintence…"

"Something he obviously didn't get from you." I roll my eyes.

"Thanks, Shar," I say sarcastically and smile before adding sincerely, "I owe you one."

When I hang up, I'm glad that I won't be home tonight. Facing that house without Traver would be so quiet and lonely, I don't think I could sleep without hearing him getting up and turning in circles to get comfortable before flopping down. Looking up at Tony, he motions toward the elevator, and I grab my stuff.

In the car, we cruise in silence, and I really notice for the first time today that Tony's sling is gone, replaced by a simple brace. We pass the time in relative silence, Tony not seeming to be in the mood for music.

Pulling up to the curb outside the Wheat's house Tony flashes the parking lights and down the block, a car starts. Five seconds later, a Charger goes cruising sedately past with Gibbs at the wheel.

Neither of them looks at us, but Tony's gaze watches them in the rearview mirror.

Within the car, there's a familiar smell… one part government issue vehicle, one part stale sweat, and two parts high performance air-conditioning.

We play rock, paper, scissors to see who takes the first watch. I win, and Tony offers to play the best two out of three. I decline, and slouch down in the seat. Closing my eyes, I'm asleep in no time.

It seems like minutes before I hear, "Cam."

Jerking awake, I slur, "What?"

"You're up." He says, slouching down in the driver's seat.

"I bet you're wishing you'd decided to ride bitch for this trip," I say, training my eyes on the house.

"I don't ride bitch for anyone."

"You did for Gibbs the other day." I say, flicking a glance at him, deciding not to remind him about our foray to Quantico.

"So?"

"So you'll ride bitch for Gibbs but no one else?"

"I don't trust McGee, and I didn't have a fantastic time the first time I rode with Ziva… made me never want to do it again."

"I heard it took a week to get the smell of vomit out of the truck." I smirk.

"First of all, I'm gonna kill McGee, and second I felt like crap all day before that. I think I got bad tacos at…"

"Whoa! Don't wanna know." He curls his lip at me and leans his head back against the headrest.

"Who's Jack?" He asks suddenly. I fish for the binoculars and train them on the yard, cutting him off. I pull them away momentarily as they chafe my still tender skin.

"Someone I don't talk about very often," I start to leave it at that, but my curiosity gets the better of me, "How the hell did you know about that?"

"For someone who sleeps so quietly, you do have a tendency to talk while you're out."

"I talk in my sleep, and you still think I sleep quietly? Who are you comparing me to?" I ask.

"Ziva."

"Oh… so you and she…?" I trail off. His head comes off the headrest.

"No." he says firmly.

"Then how…?"

"We were undercover as a married couple. I don't think I slept a wink. Jesus… she snores like a drunken sailor with emphysema. I tried to wake her up once."

"Just once?" I cock an eyebrow.

"She pulled her fucking Sig on me. I decided I could live longer without sleep than I could if she shot me." I chuckle as I picture the look on Tony's face as he stared down the barrel of a gun in the middle of the night.

"So… you never answered. Who's Jack? Is he a boyfriend?"

"He was my best friend." I correct, "I got him killed six years ago."

"February 2003?" He's quick.

"Yeah. Jack was my partner, we worked a joint case with Gibbs and Langer. We were following a murderer we thought might have ties to terrorism. A man in charge of the ARES program wrecked his car in Arizona. We assumed he was on his way to San Diego from Los Alamos.

"He appeared to have been tortured, we assumed for info on the second generation system. Turns out his ex-wife wanted revenge for him leaving her and taking his two and a half million dollar insurance policy with him," I laugh quietly remembering the case, "Gibbs offered a shared investigation, and then turned around and stole the evidence behind my back." Tony laughs too.

"Sounds about right," he quips.

"Jack and I came to DC and pulled in the widow and the ex. When we started finding evidence that the ex-wife had hired a friend of a friend to have the Commander killed, we set up a sting. The ex-wife crashed it and shot the hired gun…" I trail off.

"No shit?"

"The bastard punched me, and I dropped my gun… so when Patty came out of nowhere, I had no weapon to defend Jack. She shot him in the face from less than ten feet away. And I stood there like a bump on a log. As soon as she pointed the gun at me, I felt more than heard a gun go off about six feet from my right ear."

"Gibbs?" Tony guesses. I turn back to face Tony.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Does he know that he's the cause of your hearing loss?"

"There were a lot of shots fired that day. I don't think one did more damage to my hearing than any other." I admit, raking my hand through my hair.

"How did you handle it?" He asks.

"Not well, I'll tell you that. I was a mess for the better part of two days, drunk for almost forty-eight hours straight. Jack's sister came over to my place, and I was so drunk that I had left my door standing wide open. Nobody wanted anything I had by that point though. I went on a self-loathing rampage and destroyed most of the furniture in my place. By the time Sharon got me cleaned up and sobered up, it was almost time for the funeral. I was hung over and miserable; Sharon had to dress me because I couldn't focus long enough to dress myself.

"At the funeral, I stood on the line with the rest of our team, and as soon as the ceremony was finished I fell out and took off. I made it as far as the nearest tree before I puked up everything I had eaten in hopes of sobering up. I must have knelt there for several minutes… because the next thing I was aware of, someone was offering me a handkerchief to clean up with. When I got some control over myself, I stood up and faced the man. I was very surprised to come face to face with Gibbs…" I trail off.

"Are you in love with him, Hall?" Tony teases gently. I smile.

I laugh softly, "Oh, I don't think so, Tony. The truth is… Gibbs was my hero. He was actually my savior. If he hadn't taken out the ex-wife, I'd have been on a slab at the Yard, just like Jack." I pause and stare up at the ceiling, "He saved my life… and I was… ungrateful. I tried to set it right, but I think I just ended up embarrassing him."

He nods as he processes the information I have just given him, "Well, I was a little concerned when you showed up like you did."

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Your hair."

"Oh, my God, Tony… the man solves how many cases a year and you're gonna bust his chops for his poor choice in women?" Tony and I laugh loudly, trailing off.

We are quiet for a moment, each lost in our own thoughts. Finally I break the silence.

"So… Got any dirt on McGee?"

"All I will say is… watch what you say around him, you may end up in his next novel."

"Next novel implies that there was a first one. What did he write?" I ask.

"You ever heard of the Deep Six novels?" Tony asks.

"You're shitting me! I love those books. I have both of them on my bookshelf right now." Tony rolls his eyes.

"Oh, my God! Not you."

"Holy shit… It totally makes so much sense! LJ Tibbs, Tommy, Lisa, McGregor… and Amy. Did he and Abby have a thing?"

"A long time ago. But Abby's a little like me, she has a lot of exes… and she collects the weird ones."

"Heard you collect the crazy ones."

"Yeah… and the bitchy ones, too."

"Thank God, I'm not one of your exes, Tony."

He snickers, "Yeah, you can say that again."