Warnings: Spoilers for "Jet Lag".
A/N: Hello everyone! This is a shorter chapter but it made sense ending it where I did. Hope you enjoy!
Guest- Always happy to hear from Tiva shippers that like my story. I could never picture them together romantically, but I don't go around telling people who do that it's wrong or bully them like some others. And I'm with you, if the story is well written, I can look past things that I might not like in the show. There are some really good Tiva stories that I've read set before Season 6 that I liked. I'll admit that I shipped them until Shane Brennan took over as producer. If he had kept up what was established in Season 5, instead of giving us that awful season 6 ending with Ziva basically accusing Tony of murder and assaulting him, I probably would have been okay with it. But that's my opinion and I don't expect everyone to share it. And honestly, no matter who you ship, who doesn't love Tony as a daddy? ;)
He shifted in his seat and glanced at Erin's empty chair. She had gotten up to go use the bathroom, leaving her book behind. Tony was very surprised to learn that his partner liked to read thriller novels. Didn't they get enough thrills on the job? Yeah, Tony thought, we get plenty of thrills on the job. But much like movies were his escape it appeared that books were Erin's.
It had been quiet on their flight so far. Tony was confident at this point now that they were in the air for three hours that they were going to be okay.
"Is it hard, balancing your job and your daughter?" Norah asked, sleepily.
"Certainly a delicate balance," Tony replied. "Why do you ask?"
"My fiancée and I want to have kids someday. But I worry I won't be able to balance both a career and kids," Norah replied.
Tony stretched and shook his head. She sounded like Amanda the only difference was that Norah wasn't pregnant and she wanted kids someday. "You learn to manage. It's not at easy at times. And I wouldn't say I'm that good at it."
Norah straightened in her seat. "Why not?"
"For one thing, I'm away from her far too much."
"It sounded like she misses you."
"She doesn't do well when I'm away. Breaks my heart each time."
Norah pulled the blanket she was using up and around her shoulders. "I think you are being too hard on yourself. Obviously your daughter loves you and misses you when you aren't there. And you hate to be away from her. That's not a sign of a horrible parent to me.
Tony smiled, slightly. "You barely know me. How do you know if I would make a good father?"
"I try to believe in the best of people."
"Ok, Pollyanna."
"Tony," Erin caught his attention. "We have a problem."
He immediately could sense the mood change. "What's going on?"
She looked over her shoulder back towards the restroom. "The U.S. Marshal is dead. He was murdered."
"What?"
"I noticed he wasn't in his seat and realized he went to the bathroom a long time ago."
Tony felt the urge to jump from his seat and start questioning everyone on this plane right then and there, but he held back. It wasn't going to get them anywhere. Frowning, he got up from his seat and instructed Erin to sit with Norah. He grabbed Erin's laptop and sneakily stepped into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Before he got to work he paused, looking at the knitting needle sticking out of the guy's neck. It was going to be a long two hours left in their flight. Especially now that the had a killer on the loose and one that had the Marshall's gun.
Okay, Tony, he told himself as he tried to connect with Ducky via video chat. You can solve this. You have to solve this or Norah, Erin, and yourself could end up dead and let's face it... that just isn't an option. Tony steadied himself as Ducky answered and buckled down to his job. NCIS had another killer to stop.
Kaitlin would not go to sleep the night before unless Gibbs was holding her. So, while she had slept comfortably in the team leaders arms, Gibbs had slept uncomfortably in her rocking chair.
When he woke up and found the baby looking at him, he frowned,"Do you think you'll be a little bit more cooperative today?"
She smiled a little but then fussed—giving Gibbs his answer. The team leader sighed and got her ready for daycare. He knew this was going to go over like a ton of bricks when he dropped her off but he had to get to work to figure out who had put the hit out on their witness. Gibbs had a guesses but so far they hadn't been able to get any concrete evidence to nail the person. And Kaitlin's terrible separation anxiety from her father was not helping Gibbs in any sense. He'd brought it on himself when he sent Tony with Erin, he knew it was coming and he just had to take it in stride. Kaitlin was too little to understand his reasonings.
"Boss?" McGee called from downstairs.
"Up here!" Gibbs called back.
Kaitlin's eyes turned towards the sound of someone entering her bedroom. She didn't look happy to see Uncle Tim because she definitely looking for Daddy.
McGee cocked an eyebrow. "Wow. Abby was right. She's extra cranky."
Gibbs silently agreed and lifted the baby off the changing table. "Why are you here McGee? I'll be in the office once I get Kaitlin settled at daycare."
"Tony called. The U.S Marshall is dead."
"How?"
"Knitting needle through his neck in the bathroom."
"Norah?"
"Tony says she isn't leaving their sight."
Gibbs sighed and looked at Kaitlin. She frowned at him. "Come on," he said to her. "You can come with us. Daycare was going to be a nightmare anyways."
Tony could sense that optimistic Norah was now getting worried. They still had an hour to go before landing and no clue who had murdered the U.S Marshall.
Erin had hooked her laptop up to the on-board WiFi and was doing a background check on every single passenger. It was starting to take too much time. But they didn't have very many options. They'd needed to find their killer before the plane landed, and they needed to make sure that the killer didn't get to Norah.
He calmed his nerves by looking at pictures of Kaitlin on his phone. As Erin worked furiously on her computer, Tony kept the look out. He wasn't sure what or who he was looking out for yet, hopefully Erin's searches would yield something before all hell broke loose.
By the time the flight attendants were making their final pass, Tony was beginning to get worried that Erin wasn't going to find anything. The blonde that had been giving him evil looks since he sat down offered both him and Norah a pillow. His witness was about to accept one but he stopped her. When the attendant walked away he explained, "We just don't know if the killer has laced them with anything, okay?"
"Fine. We're landing soon anyways," Norah replied. "I can hopefully get a clean pillow at my fiancée's apartment."
"Oh no. You're going to a safe house until we figure this out."
"Safe house? I don't think I'll be in any danger at Daniel's."
Tony informed her that she didn't have much a choice, because quite frankly they didn't know if Daniel was involved or not. Immediately when he said it, he regretted it because Norah turned on him and glared. "Sorry... we just don't know who put the hit out on you... it's always a possibility that it was Daniel."
Norah shook her head. "No. He wouldn't do that. He loves me."
"You'd be surprised what some people do to the ones they love."
"Not Daniel. He's a good man."
Erin cleared her throat to get Tony's attention. "Tony. I… I got something."
Tony looked at her, relieved and intrigued all at the same time. "You did?"
"Yeah. You, um, you might want to call Gibbs."
Jimmy did his best to entertain the baby. Kaitlin was having no part of it. "When does Tony get back?"
Abby glanced up from her work. "Thirty minutes. But if we didn't find out who Norah's fiancée was paying to kill her—we might not be getting him back."
"How does a hit man get on a plane?" Jimmy asked, picking Kaitlin up off the floor.
"Probably used an alias."
"Great. It could take hours to figure this out."
"No! I got something!" Abby shouted, joyfully. She reached for her cell just as it rang and Gibbs number popped up on the screen. "Gibbs! I was just going to call you! I found out who was hired to kill Norah!"
Gibbs let out a painful breath. "Yeah. She's posing as a flight attendant right now. Don't worry we've already called Tony."
Abby looked at Jimmy and the baby. "You sound like you're in pain, Gibbs. What happened?"
"Nothing. Just send a car to pick DiNozzo up from the airport."
With that he hung up, leaving Abby wondering what the heck was going on. Kaitlin whined and Jimmy suggested perhaps the baby should go to the airport with the car and agents. Abby frowned. "I doubt they're going to want to listen to her fuss."
Jimmy glanced at Kaitlin. "Yeah. But Tony's got to be missing her, too."
Abby didn't respond. Tony had bigger problems on that plane right now.
