Tobias Fornell showed up in the bullpen at about seven a.m. the following morning. Naturally Gibbs and Ziva were already milling around the office doing things of general disinterest, like paperwork or sending messages around the building and Tony was still sound asleep, snoring like a drunken sailor under his desk.
When Fornell came in Ziva smirked and raised a finger to her lips, gesturing to the heavily snoring Dinozzo. He smirked back and went even closer to Tony's desk, until he was standing almost directly in front of it.
"DINUTZO!" He shouted, causing Tony to suddenly propel to life, with such speed that when his head hit the underneath of his desk the impact was so loud and strong that the phone and all the paperwork bounced at least an inch in the air.
He groaned in pain, lying back down on the floor in an attempt to stop the office spinning. "What was that for?" He moaned. Slowly he pulled himself up into a sitting position before finally he ended up standing.
"Why are you here Tobias?" Gibbs barked.
Fornell sighed, meeting Gibbs' stare before the pair of them turned round and went to the elevator, leaving Tony and Ziva standing in their wake. "What do you think Fornell wants?" Ziva asked.
"No idea, the room is still spinning." He answered slowly.
Seeing her partner subconsciously swaying on his feet, Ziva reached out and wrapped her hand round his shoulders. "Sit down Tony. You look like you're about to drop like a rock."
"Drop like a stone, Zee." He corrected, but he didn't refuse. He let her guide him into the chair. She pulled her chair from behind her own desk so that she could sit opposite him so that their knees were touching.
"Did Fornell wake you up?" She taunted.
"No, I think it was the impact between my head and the solid wood desk that woke me up from my beauty sleep."
"And everyone knows you need it." She laughed.
He feigned a pout. "That hurts Zee. Really hurts."
She stood up, a small smile on her lips. She crouched down in front of him and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. The look on his face was so shocked that she thought his eyes were about to drop out of his head. "Does that make it better?" She whispered in his ear as she stood up again.
It was a few minutes after that that Gibbs and Fornell came out of the elevator and marched over to them. The look on Gibbs's face was enough to tell them that something was wrong. "What is it Gibbs?" Ziva asked, glancing between the pair of agents.
"MTAC. Now." Was all he told them. The duo set out to head up there, before Gibbs put a hand on Ziva's shoulder. "Go get McGee, Abby and Ducky and Palmer."
When the whole of the team were in MTAC, Fornell stood in front of the big screen. "Gibbs has signed on this mission for me to help you catch the idiot that's decided to target all of you." Everyone nodded in understanding so far. "It took a little of convincing, but I want McGee and Dinutzo with Gibbs in here, running the op from HQ. I want Scuito, Palmer and Ducky ready and waiting." He explained, pausing for a moment to let his explanation sink in.
"But what about Ziva?" Tony asked him, even though the rest of the room already had a sinking feeling what he was going to say.
"David will be in the field. Hopefully catching the eye of your stalker."
Oh. Can you see this ending well for our favourite team? xxx
