[From Deception]
...
3rd Person POV:
At Wilkerson's house the three agents stood outside patently. Tony rang the doorbell.
"It's clear she isn't home, what's our plan?" Ziva asked dryly.
"Use good old fashion American ingenuity." Tony answered, digging his hands into the pocket of his letterman jacket that Claire had returned. However, Tony knew that once Ziva was out of their hair she would steal it right back. He swelled with pride knowing that she took comfort in wearing his clothes, not to mention it made her look even hotter to him. Ziva eyed him curiously.
"Good plan….except I'm not American, Tony." She deadpanned.
"Well lucky for you I am. We start looking for the key." He announced, leaning down to lift up the mat before the door. Claire stared at him in amusement.
"Why would there be a key?" Ziva inquired.
"Because they always hide one. It's stupid I know but it's what they do." Tony shrugged. As he moved on to check the nearby plants Claire shot Ziva a look before stealthily pulling out a bobby pin from her hair and went to work on the deadbolt. Ziva grinned in approval. Claire's way was much more her st,Clyle.
"And you're certain there's no alarm?" Ziva inquired, watching Claire work.
"Positive, no sign means no alarm. But there's always a key." Tony flourished the key he had found in her direction.
"You may want to write that down." Tony teased but before he could continue the lock clicked and Claire pushed the door open easily. She grinned at the two of them.
"Ziva why don't you go interview neighbors, see if anyone saw anything." Tony instructed, his eye locked on Claire as she leaned against the doorway in triumph. Ziva rolled her eyes at the two and went off to do as she was told.
"After you." Claire gestured to the open door, looking up at him smugly. Tony stared at her unamused before walking in and pulling out his gun to sweep the house. She quietly shut the door as they split up to search the house. Quickly making their way through the up and down stairs, they checked every room. Once finished Claire met up with him in the living room.
"Clear." She told him.
"Clear." Tony agreed, the two putting their weapons away.
"Very OCD." Tony mused as he glanced around the immaculately organized living room.
"OCD?" Claire asked casually as she pulled on her gloves.
"Yea, our Lieutenant." He elaborated, looking over the decorations.
"Are you saying she's a neat freak?" she mused.
"Yea, nice job with the lock by the way." Tony told her, slipping on his own gloves.
"Thank you, it was a very simple twin tumbler design." She told him with a grin.
"Ao are handcuffs but I bet you couldn't get out of a pair of those." Tony countered teasingly. Claire walked over to join him by the fireplace.
"Are you saying you'd like to handcuff me, Tony?" she asked, lowly, looking over at him coyly. Tony suppressed a shiver that shot up his spine.
"It's not really my thing." he dismissed.
"I see." She mused and slipped over to stare up at him intently.
"You're the one that likes to handcuffed then huh?" Claire grinned wickedly, gazing over his form. Tony eyed her with a dark smirk but didn't contradict her.
"Good to know." She hummed. Tony took in a deep breath to steel himself…..he was working….he wass working…..Tony snapped on his glove dramatically.
"Spread out." he told her trying to get back to seriousness. Claire grinned knowingly as her eyes followed him.
"What are we looking for exactly?" she asked with a light chuckle at his attempt to keep composure. It wasn't often that she got the chance to push his restraint while they were working and she loved every minute of it.
"Anything that looks out of place." He answered, leading her into the office.
"You're going to have to be a little more specific." She pointed out.
"We're looking for reason someone would want to kidnap our naval officer." Tony told her in a 'duh' voice.
"Preferably before Gibbs asks us for it." he added distractedly as he spotted a laptop on the lieutenant's desk. He leaned forward and turned the machine on before plopping down and attempting to crack the password. He frowned in frustration as his attempts were fruitless.
"Houdini?" he called in a pout. Claire hummed in acknowledgement as she riffled through some papers beside him.
"How are you at picking computer locks?" he mused tiredly.
"Having performance issues?" she teased. Tony shot her a glare, earning a giggle from her at how testy he was about the 'innocent' comment.
"Not very good. Why did you find something interesting?" she asked seriously. The soft sound of creaking got Tony's attention and he turned around to see what it was. As he did the man rolled his eyes and slowly raised his hands in surrender. Claire took no notice as she continued her search.
"Tony, did you find something interesting?" she asked again when he didn't answer. Again Claire rolled her eyes.
"Tony?..." she droned in annoyance.
"Hands over your heads!" a nervous but stern voice shouted from behind her. Claire turned around curiously.
"Now! You too lady." The large security cop insisted, holding up a gun towards them with shaky hands. Tony glanced towards her tiredly, clearly used to this mix up. Claire sighed and threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Make any sudden moves and I shoot. Do we understand each other?" the man asked pointedly. Tony snickered.
"Ok, relax quickdraw we're feds." Tony told the man easily.
"Yea? What agency." The cop inquired snappishly, obviously not believing them. Tony opened his mouth to answer.
"NCIS." Claire answered, cutting Tony off.
"Never heard of it." The man dismissed. Claire rolled her eyes.
"Its Naval Criminal Investigative Service." she answered tiredly, once more cutting Tony off.
"Never. Heard. Of. It." the man pressed. Tony tilted his head to look up at Claire in amusement.
"You never actually get used to it. You think you will, but you never do." he told her with a shrug.
"Ok, I have a badge…" Tony began to stand up but the man quickly stuttered out protest.
"Sit down." He ordered. He pulled out some handcuffs before tossing them to Claire.
"Cuff yourself to him." he instructed. Claire scoffed while Tony laughed.
"I'd rather you shoot me first." She deadpanned.
"Cuff yourself dirt bag." The man insisted with a growl. Tony grinned as Claire's mouth dropped in shock. Reluctantly did as he asked, fuming silently the whole time. Claire snapped the cuffs tightly around Tony's wrist, earning a whine of pain. The guard tossed another pair to Tony who caught it easily with his free hand.
"Now, you cuff yourself the chair." The guard instructed. Tony chuckled in disbelief at what he was hearing and looked to Claire. She shrugged with a grin and gestured for him to continue. Tony leaned over and cuffed himself to the leg of the chair. This left him in a hunched over position.
"You're making a big mistake." Tony warned in a sing song voice.
"Yea, like you did setting off the alarm?" the man quipped. Claire let out a 'ha' in triumph.
"There's supposed to be a sign outside. There's supposed to be a sign outside!" Tony huffed in annoyance as he tried to justify himself. Claire nudged him.
"Kid probably stole it." The guard shrugged. Tony tried to straighten up in the chair but he man shouted at him to remain still.
"This is so umcomfortable." He pouted. Claire smirked.
"Your fault for cuffing it to the leg dummy." She quipped. Tony huffed but sat down anyway, pouting at his uncomfortable position. With one hand the guard reached down for his walkie while keeping his gun trained on them. He took a few shuffled steps towards them as he called in.
"Central, we got two suspects claiming to be feds." He spoke into the device. They paused in silence when he realized there was no feedback or noise. The man glanced down at it in embarrassment.
"No little red light on the radio means the radio not working." Tony explained with a baby voice. Claire snickered under her breath. The man huffed and fiddled with the controls and buttons, taking his eyes off the agents as he did. Claire took the opportunity and began unlocking the cuffs. Tony felt her jerking on their conjoined hands but couldn't see what she was doing exactly.
"Will you please calm down; this guy is a little jumpy and aggressive so just relax." Tony told her calmly. Claire nodded easily.
"So, no sudden moves alright?" Tony insisted, looking up at her. She hummed in agreement before swinging her leg up to knock the gun out of the guard's hands. In one swift motion she had him pinned to the floor with her gun pressed against his chest while the man blubbered like a baby for her not to shoot. Tony held up his cuffed hand with wide eyes, wondering when and how she managed to escape the cuffs.
"Don't shoot." The man pleaded.
"Nobody's going to shoot anyone. Right Claire?" Tony rested his elbow on his knee and leaned his head against his hand in the chair, shooting Claire a pointed look.
"He called me a dirt bag." She argued, glaring at the man.
"I'm sorry ma'am." The guard sniffled.
"Ma'am?" Claire shouted in offence. Tony groaned and facepalmed at the guard's blunder. Now he was in for it.