XXVI. It's As If We Spend Our Entire Lives Avoiding Jell-O But It Is Always There At The End, Waiting For Us.
"Ducky got the body back yet?" Tony asked as he walked past Ziva's desk, leaning over and kissing her.
"No, still waiting on Abby." She smiled, pulling back.
"You feeling better?" He stroked her cheek.
"A bit. You still smell very strongly of cherry." She breathed heavily through her mouth.
"I'm sorry. That's what comes from being stuck in a room with a swimming pool full of Jell-O all day." he sighed softly, yelping when Gibbs' hand cracked against the back of his head. "What was that for boss?"
"Not getting on with your work."
"I was making sure my fiancée's ok, boss."
"When you should have been working. Is this going to be a problem, DiNozzo?"
"No boss. I was just getting back to work." He nodded.
"Good."
"Petty Officer Ryan Woodson." Ziva said, jumping up and pointing the remote at the plasma screen. "Just got back from a deployment on the USS Sampson."
"No wife or kids, his parents were wealthy." Tim stood up and walking over to his colleagues.
"Hence the big house with the big pool." Tony grinned. Everyone stared at him.
"I wanna know who bought all the Jell-O." Gibbs said.
"Er, yes boss. I'll see if anybody has been buying notably big quantities of Jell-O." Tony nodded, walking to his desk.
"Ziva, you…"
"Check if there have been any robberies involving Jell-O." She finished.
"McGee, see if there is any history of crimes involving large amounts of children's desserts."
"You really think this has been done before?" McGee looked at his boss.
"I think this is a lot of planning for a one time spur of the moment killing."
"Yes boss, of course."
"Jethro." Fornell stood in the centre of the room.
"What has NCIS done to piss the FBI off now?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.
"You've got our Jell-O."
"That a euphemism?" Tony grinned from his desk.
"For what, Tony?" Ziva looked up at him and frowned.
"Don't know. But Abby might, you should ask her." He looked at her as she shook her head.
"Conference room." Gibbs stood up and walked over to the elevator, waiting for the door to shut before hitting the off switch and turning to his civilian counterpart. "What do you want, Tobias?"
"Five months ago a whole load of Jell-O was found in a warehouse, laced with warfarin." Tobias sighed. "One crate had already worked its way into the circulation, we had 40 casualties, twelve fatalities."
"It wasn't publicised?"
"No. We told them it was an outbreak of an undiagnosed virus – now contained. Plot to poison children with warfarin laced Jell-O? It would be a national crisis."
"FBI paid people off to keep quiet? Over Jell-O?" Gibbs snorted.
"No, just persuaded them." The FBI agent looked to the man he considered to be a friend. "We've had the warehouse under observation since we found it, and last month our agents were drugged whilst watching it. The cameras we had focused on it were disabled and the whole building was cleared out. Not a trace left." He looked at Gibbs.
"And you think we've found your Jell-O."
"Yeah."
"Our murder tops your stolen dessert."
"Fine by me. I've worked five months on this case and found no leads. We'll be your back up. I'll call Sacks."
"Hey, there anyway you could have a different agent?" Gibbs asked, knowing what his senior field agent would say if he had to work with Sacks.
"I could see what I can do. Why? You got a problem with one of my men?"
"No, but DiNozzo does. He did accuse him of murder." Gibbs shrugged.
"Since when do you care about how DiNozzo feels?" Tobias laughed.
"He's in a good mood, I don't want to change that."
"You're getting soft in your old age." The agent frowned.
"He and Ziva are having a baby." He shrugged again.
"They getting married?"
"Yep."
"I believe that means you owe me money." Fornell grinned.
"Nope."
"Yeah, I bet you that they would get together after their little under covers operation as assassins."
"I though that was over." Gibbs hit the button and the doors slid open.
"You can't do that. You can't just avoid paying like that."
"Sure I can. I thought that bet was over, you already paid me." They walked into the squad room.
"I hear congratulations are in order." The senior FBI agent smiled at Ziva.
"And why would that be, Agent Fornell?" She asked, not looking away from her monitor screen.
"Well, I heard you and agent DiNozzo are having a baby." He said rather meekly.
"Oh, yes. Thank you." She stood up and smiled. "Two."
"Two what?" He looked between her and Tony.
"Two babies." She frowned. "Did I make a grammatical error?"
"No." Gibbs smiled and shook his head. "Tobias is just shocked."
"Does that mean I owe you?" He walked over and whispered in his friend's ear, groaning when Gibbs nodded.
"Oh, yeah." He laughed.
"I am confused." Ziva said as she raised her hand.
"You're not the only one." Tony blinked and then looked at the yawning woman in front of him. "You're tired."
"I'm fine." She smiled and shook her head, slouching slightly in her chair as her eyes drooped.
"Boss, is it okay if I take Ziva home?" Tony asked quietly.
"Well, no DiNozzo. I want this guy caught." Gibbs glared at him before flicking his eyes to the sleeping woman. "Oh, heck. Go on, take her home. Get some sleep. You too, McGee." He shook his head and sighed.
"Thank you, boss." Tony looked at him and nodded. He woke her up gently, nudging her shoulder "We're going home, come on." He smiled softly and picked her bag up, draping her coat over her shoulders and helping her stand up. "Night."
"Night." Gibbs nodded as they all filed into the elevator.
"You are going soft in your old age." Tobias raised his eyebrows at the spectacle of Gibbs' humaneness. "You were nice!"
"I'm always nice!" He shrugged and stood up, grabbing his bag.
"Gibbs, I don't want to spend the night in your basement drinking bourbon."
"You got a better suggestion?" The silver haired man said to the other. Tobias stopped to think.
"I guess we'll spend the night drinking bourbon in your basement." He tilted his head backwards slightly.
"Yeah, you can help build bedroom furniture for the twins." He flashed a smile as they stepped into the elevator.
"God held you, Jethro, if you even think about handing me a damn spanner."
"We don't got a use for a spanner. Might give you a hand-saw, though."
