Gibbs was talking to Ducky when his phone buzzed. He opened it up to see that he had a text message from his daughter. I'm a civilian now.
"What is it, Jethro?" Ducky asked.
"Charity just texted me." He answered. "She retired from the Corps."
"I thought she had another tour to go."
"I did, too." Gibbs replied. He hated texting so he dialed his daughter's number.
After three rings, she picked up. "Hey, Daddy."
"You retired from the Corps?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"I thought you had some time left."
"I did, but they gave me the option to retire early…as a reward for my service." Charity answered. "I gotta go, Daddy. I have to go to work."
"Hey, while you're there will you let me know if anyone comes in with a GSW to their right side?"
"Sure thing, Daddy." Charity replied. "I love you."
"Love you, too." He then hung up the phone.
"So, what's going on?" Ducky asked.
"They're letting her retire early as a reward for her service." Gibbs answered.
"That's wonderful." Ducky replied.
Gibbs nodded and then headed up to the bull pen. He told Tony and Ziva to start calling the hospitals to check on gunshot wounds. After about ten minutes, Charity called. "What's up?" Gibbs asked.
"We've got a man with a GSW to his right side." She answered.
"Caliber?" Gibbs asked.
"Fourty-five." She answered.
"Alright, I'll send Ziva. Thanks."
"No prob." Charity replied, hanging up.
Gibbs hung up the phone and looked at Ziva and told her to go.
"What about me, Boss?" Tony asked.
"You're coming with me." Gibbs answered. "We have a lead to check on."
"Got it." Tony replied.
Charity…
Charity had just finished up checking on some of her patients and walked over to the nurse's station. There was a bouquet of orange lilies sitting there. "Who got the flowers?" She asked.
"You did." One of the other nurses answered with a grin. "So, whose Snuggle Buns?"
"You read the card?" Charity asked.
The other woman smiled. "Hey, you know me. I'm nosey, Angel Eyes."
"Angel Eyes?" asked the familiar accented voice.
Charity looked up to see Ziva. "Oh hey."
"Whose Angel Eyes?" She asked.
"That would be Charity." The other nurse answered. "She got flowers from a man we only know as Snuggle Buns."
Charity glared at her coworker. She was about to open her mouth to say something when Ziva spoke up.
"Snuggle buns?" She asked, her tone suspicious.
Charity just shrugged. "Just my pet name for him." She replied.
"What's his name?" Ziva asked.
Charity was put on the spot. Oh shit. She thought. "His name is, Tommy." She answered, coming up with the first name that she could think of.
Ziva worked to hide her smile. That's the name of the character in McGee's book whose based off of Tony. She thought. And he had the card say Angel Eyes and Snuggle buns. He's dating Charity! She was about to say something to Charity, when she spoke.
"You're here about the guy with the GSW, right?" Charity asked.
"Yes." Ziva answered.
"This way." Charity said, leading her down the hall.
Ziva collected the evidence that she needed from the victim, including the bullet fragments, the hospital had saved for them. Charity hadn't given her the chance to say anything more about the flowers. She headed back to NCIS and delivered the evidence to Abby. "I love it when you bring me presents." Abby told her.
Ziva smiled. "Have you seen Tony?" She asked.
"He and Gibbs came back a little bit ago. They're in interrogation." Abby answered. "Why?"
"I need to talk to him about something." Ziva answered and headed out the door.
"Alright, have fun." Abby called, sarcasm in her voice. "No one ever comes down here just to say hi."
Ziva opened the door to the observation room and found Tony standing there, watching Gibbs grill their suspect. "What did you find out at the hospital?" He asked.
"Not much." Ziva answered. "The guy claimed to be innocent and volunteered to let me take any evidence off of him I could find. I just took it to Abby."
Tony nodded.
"I however found out something else." Ziva said.
"Really?" Tony asked, intrigued. "What did you find?"
"Your mystery woman." Ziva answered. "I got there and saw that Charity had just received a bouquet of orange lilies. The card said that they were to Angel Eyes and from Snuggle Buns."
"Anyone can use those pet names." Tony countered.
"Oh please, Tony. You're dating Gibbs' daughter." She accused.
"Shh." Tony said.
"So, you're not denying it, Snuggle Buns?" She asked.
"No, I'm not." Tony answered. "But you can't tell anyone…especially Gibbs."
"And why not?" Ziva asked.
"We are waiting for the right time to tell him." Tony answered.
Ziva was about to agree when an evil thought crossed her mind. "What's in it for me?" She asked.
Tony sighed. "What do you want?" He asked.
Ziva smiled devilishly. "You to do all of my paper work and whenever I get a probie job, for you to do it."
"Fine." Tony replied. "You have yourself a deal, Miss David."