A/N: Idea from losingmymind2
A/N2: I know this is horrifically late, but I've been ill and forgetting to post...
Idea Twenty Four: Exsanguination
Leon Vance observed the squad room from the catwalk. He didn't have much else to do at this exact moment in time and he wanted to see what his agents were doing.
He stuck a toothpick in his mouth as his attention turned to Gibbs' team. The great man himself was absent, which meant Tony and Ziva were not working. McGee however was hard at work, tapping away at his computer. That wasn't a surprise.
Tony and Ziva were gathered around his desk. It looked as though Tony had said something stupid, leading Ziva to sneak up behind him and push him into his desk. Although Vance couldn't see Tony's face, he knew the agent was wincing in pain and struggling to breathe.
It was amusing in a way. Tony never seemed to learn that annoying an assassin was a spectacularly bad idea. He was lucky to be alive after aggravating her constantly over the last four years. Vance still expected to come in one day to find Tony's lifeless body splayed across his desk, torture marks everywhere and a paperclip next to him.
He had even talked to Director David about what to do when Ziva finally killed her partner. Eli promised he had warned Ziva against killing her co-workers but he could not be held responsible for her actions. And he suggested that Ziva would cover her back if she did murder anyone. He was not worried.
His attention was brought back to the present by the arrival of Gibbs. Coffee in one hand, he headslapped Ziva first and then Tony, glaring at his errant agents. They got back to work without needing to be told.
It made Vance smile that Gibbs could control his agents without saying a word. It didn't even matter if the agent had never met Gibbs before; probies cowered before him and even senior agents tried not to cross him.
Somehow the team settled back into their normal working pattern. McGee continued to type, having missed the little drama earlier. Tony and Ziva began their work again, shooting glares across the squad room. Gibbs sipped his coffee, checked his team were working to his satisfaction and began reading a case report.
Without his reading glasses.
Vance smirked as Gibbs continued to pretend he could read the file in front of him. Holding it further and further away, much to Tony's amusement. Eventually he gave in and reached for his reading glasses.
The Director sighed, knowing he needed to go back to his work but strangely reluctant to leave. Watching other agents hard at work reminded him how far he had come. Back to the paperwork now.
He gave Cynthia a brief smile as he walked back into his office, asking not to be disturbed for a while. The omnipresent paperwork sat on his desk. He sat down, found a pen and set to work.
A copper taste in his mouth drew his attention, not to mention to sudden pain. He reached for his toothpick but only managed to remove half of it from his mouth.
Feeling around, a difficult task with the sheer amount of blood pouring out of his mouth now, he realized the other half of the toothpick had punctured his tongue. Not just punctured – gone through and come out the other side.
The blood was now everywhere. He briefly wondered if he'd hit an artery or a serious vein before he passed out on his desk, never to regain consciousness.