As you can probably tell, case-fics are not my specialty. The prompt I was given for this chapter is underlined. Thanks x
When Gibbs came down to Abby's lab he found her waiting for results while studying tire tracks found at the scene. She hadn't noticed him despite the fact that the music was turned down low. He couldn't see Ziva anywhere. He waited at the door for a few moments just watching as her head drooped every few seconds before springing back up.
"What'cha got, Abs?" He said quietly.
She shot up, spinning round. He could tell she was exhausted, as was the rest of his team. Abby reached for the Caf Pow in his hand that was pulled away before her fingers even brushed it. He shook his head and she spun back to the screen. She began spurting off her list beginning with the tracks.
"The tracks came from his own car."
"What?"
"His car was found neatly parked a few blocks away." She paused, a machine beeping. "And...sorry, Gibbs. Bad news."
She continued with her rant. There was little evidence, nothing to even appear that he'd been kidnapped besides from the argument. He could easily have rushed out of his house, leaving the skid marks himself. There was no CCTV footage on his street which meant there was nothing to give them evidence of kidnapping. Still, Abby gave him the address of his car.
"Good work, Abs," He held back the Caf Pow again when she reached for it. "Where's Ziva?"
Abby gestured to the back room, taking the drink off of him before returning to her work. He stayed quiet as he stood at the door. She was playing CCTV through a laptop, following a car bearing no relation to what he could judge the case. Before he left she piped up.
"This car has been following Oaks for a week and a half." She didn't look up. "It belongs to a Petty Officer, Emily Jenkins. They did not get on. You should check it out."
He grinned, passing Abby on the way out. He couldn't decide whether Abby had set Ziva up with CCTV or if Ziva had tricked her into letting her watch. One of them had been played but he was pretty sure neither knew which.
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
Tony and Tim went to investigate the car. Tim spent half the drive wishing he could stick his fingers in his ears and hum out the sound of Tony's inane chatter. He had no idea what he was going on about but from the teasing tone in his voice he knew he didn't want to know. When Dinozzo pulled into park, Tim practically leapt out the car and over to their missing officer's vehicle. Tony scampered after him. Originally the car looked fine, normal, nothing to draw attention to but it was only when they went over the other side they found three bullet holes indenting the clean paint job.
"I think we can call this 'missing' now," Tony sighed, looking around before pointing out a CCTV camera that had obviously been smashed, "they're prepared."
McGee took out his phone. "I'll call Gibbs."
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
They muddled along with the case fine up in the bullpen. Abby had received the bullet fragments to test and now had multiple sets of fingerprints to analyse as well as a car to go over. Finally, they were scraping together useful information on the case. Looking into Jenkins further, they found she had more than a disagreement with their Colonel. In the last month he had called the police for breaking and entering, claiming she had tried to smash up his house before he caught her and she bolted. They had no evidence it had been her and no harm had been done. It seemed a rather tit for tat affair. They had tried to call her in for questioning but she was no-where to be found. As Tony put it she 'dropped off the face of the earth an hour before Oaks did'. She was either their prime suspect or another victim. Gibbs left to check on Abby, expecting to find her analysing the car. He didn't, however, others there claimed she had finished up a half hour ago and was back in her lab. When he entered her music assaulted him at the door, something which didn't surprise him. What did was that she was standing at her computer with her red headphones in to block out the noise of the guns going off when she was needing fresh bullets to compare. He tapped her on the shoulder and she pulled them off. He signed for her to turn down the music and when she did he heard the familiar sound of a gun going off. He shot round, looking in the ballistics lab to see Ziva shooting for her. He gritted his teeth and waited for her to finish, knowing more damage would come from him shouting the odds and spooking her.
"Abby," He warned, his anger evident through his tone.
"What? I needed a second pair of hands and I have some-" He cut her off.
"Do not give a child a gun." He told her, tapping on the plastic door with his eyes still boring into Abby.
Ziva trotted out, the gun safely held in one hand and a container of bullets in the other. She walked absently past Gibbs as if unaware of the current tension and deposited the gun carefully of the desk and placed the container on front of Abby. It was only then she realised what was going on.
"I have been shooting since I was...well, since I was my age," She told him in a matter-of-fact tone that got on his nerves.
"She's fine," Abby stressed.
He wasn't entirely sure what his issue was with the situation, perhaps he was just a little unhinged to see a child with a gun so at ease, furthermore to hear she'd been doing just that twenty five years ago. The word 'trained' rang in his head again. It pained him, it always had. He let out a breath. "What've you got, Abs."
She listed off everything she had managed to collect, filtering in her ballistics evidence brought to her a few minutes ago. He was impressed, he couldn't deny that. Before he turned to leave he added, "and don't have her work."
Abby dropped her gaze down to Ziva apologetically who merely shrugged her shoulders. She had got a good section of work out of it and had got to fire a gun, all in the process of helping. She'd had her fill.
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
Closing to eight at night they had evidence the Colonel had been kidnapped and held in an abandoned house on the edge of town. They were all sleep deprived but they had no time to waste. Gibbs, Tony and McGee were ready to head out, the three of them going to the elevator when Ziva rushed in. He hesitated, sending the other two ahead to start the car. It would only take a second.
"What is it?" He spoke quickly, kneeling down on front of her while securing his gun to his side.
"Please don't go," She whispered. He paused but quickly she added, "I know it isn't right to ask you to stay but you could get hurt. Please, Gibbs stay."
He read on her face, the childishness, all traces of her adult demeanor were gone. "Ziva, you know I have to."-He also cut her off before she could continue-"You know I have to."
She repeated in a desperate whisper, "Please don't go."
He cupped her face with both hands, locking their eyes tightly so she couldn't bear to look away. "I know you don't like it, and it isn't ideal, but I promise you it will be ok." He told her, hoping, pleading, that she would accept it.
Her eyes still watered but she nodded. Kissing her forehead, he turned away with a few glances back at the painful little girl staring straight back at him. It killed him to leave her there, vulnerable, desperate but there may be an actual death if he stayed. Gibbs stepped in the elevator and allowed the doors to close, his eyes shutting as he let out a long breath.
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
She knew it had been selfish to ask, to hope but she hadn't been able to help it. There was only one conclusion her young brain to come to-he is going to die. Ziva could remember countless times she had feared the same about almost all members of her team but never had it come so close to the surface as it was now. When she was a child she had always been scared Eli would not come home, those fears lasted for a large portion of her childhood. She had begged him to stay too. She hadn't really known what Mossad was like, just descriptions and vague images but she knew NCIS. She had been there.
Abby trotted along and up to the bullpen where she found Ziva standing staring into oblivion. She came around and on front of her where she knelt down to look at her.
"Ziva? Sweetie, are you ok?" The woman had never called her sweetie before but it was a gut reaction.
She was breathing in deeply, her eyes still fixed onto nothingness. "What if he doesn't come back?"
"What?"
"What if he dies?"
"Who? Gibbs?"
"I can't. I cannot lose anymore…" When speech became difficult she fell into Abby who fumbled about to grasp her. When she did she wrapped her arms tightly around her, rocking back and forth almost unnoticably. Abby herself was close to tears just from watching her but she couldn't lose anything now. She wasn't used to this. She wasn't used to her.
"Ziva, it's just another case. They'll be back," She pulled away so she could look at her tear stained face. "They'll be fine."
Ziva just cast her a hard stare. "Do I look fine, Abby?"
And she didn't have an answer to that.
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
Gibbs and the team were ready to head back. Oaks had been retrieved in near-mint condition. He would have a minor concussion and a few scrapes but besides from that, he would be fine. The ambulance had arrived and were examining him while his wife sat glued to the spot beside him, her hand tightly clenched around his. Jenkins was in the back of a police car, her accomplice laying dead waiting to be fully attended to. Deciding he had done all he could, he stepped away and took out his phone- 21:53. His first bet was to dial Abby. She picked up on the first ring.
He felt her energy immediately. "Gibbs, are you ok? What about Tim and Tony?"
"Fine, Abs. How's Ziva?"
"Asleep now." Pausing, she added, "but she was really shaken up. She fell asleep crying, Gibbs."
"Where is she now?"
"We're still at the office. Right now her head's on my lap. I'm worried about her."
"Yeah, I know." He let out a long, difficult breath. "Take her back to mine, try not to wake her. I'll be back in less than an hour."
"Ok. Stay safe."
He hung up, looking at his phone before flipping it over. If she stayed like this he wasn't sure how he'd handle it. Obviously she was welcome but in practice he wasn't sure. Could he continue working in NCIS? He wasn't sure he could put her through that everyday. First things first, finish the case and go home. Then deal with the aftermath.
NCIS-NCIS-NCIS
Gibbs stepped in the door silently, locking it behind him. Listening for any sound that indicated the girls, he stopped but heard nothing. This was suspect. With a hand on his gun, he poked his head round the side of the room to find Abby sleeping on his couch, a blanket draped over her. He went up the stairs to Ziva's room and looked in. She was still in the same clothes, obviously just placed on the bed and tucked in. He came in, kissed her on the forehead and then left again. While changing in his own room he stopped to really think about the consequences of keeping Ziva young. Sure, she would go to a preschool during the day, perhaps a childminder later but what about when the hours passed five because he had a case? What about when he didn't get home until two in the morning because that lead just couldn't wait? Anyone he would trust with her would be working with him. She'd get better at hiding it but she would still be scared he wouldn't come home again. She didn't have a mother to fill the void. It wouldn't be right to put that on her.
For the first time in a long time, he texted McGee and Tony to make sure they returned home safely. Both his daughters were in the house with him but he couldn't rest the nagging feeling his boys may not be. He could be a father to adults but a father to a little girl was another matter altogether.
I decided to alter this chapter a little bit which is why it took longer than I said it would. REVIEW and thanks for reading.