I know that it seems like I have been getting slow at updating recently. And technically I have. However, that does not mean that my writing has slowed down. In fact, my writing has, if anything, increased in speed. However, I have been writing up future chapters of this, chapters long in the future, that are not going to be uploaded for many, many months probably. I have also been working feverishly on another multi-chapter, which, again, will not be uploaded for quite a while. I only have half of the chapters for that one written up, and I want to get it completed, or at least almost completed, by the time that I start uploading it. But I am very excited for that one. I think it is interesting, to say the least. Ooh, maybe I could upload it as my 50th NCIS fiction. I think I can write enough one-shots to fill the block between then and now.
XXXIX. You Know You're In Love When You Can't Fall Asleep Because Reality Is Finally Better Than Your Dreams
"This guy approached me about six months ago."
"What guy?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. He looked younger than he was, like he was only in his late teens when in fact he was 29.
"Where did he approach you?" Tony had stepped out and allowed Ziva to interrogate Isaac, seeing as she had missed out on bringing him in. He watched her now from observation.
"I was at this small burger joint, my dad used to take me there when I was a kid." He rubbed his eyes. "Look, I don't really know much about him. He just said that he needed someone to do some stuff on a computer and that I would get paid."
"How much?"
"Five hundred a month 'til the job was done, then a big sum, depending upon how well I did. I needed the money."
"How much was the big sum?"
"I don't know. I haven't finished the job yet and before you ask I do not know when I will finish the job." He leaned back in his chair and yawned.
"Do you know anything?"
"Not really. He said I had to hack into these bank accounts. Gave me a list and everything. Said they were all criminals anyway when I questioned it. And then he told me that the reason the last guy lost his job, and his life, was because he asked too many questions."
"Why did you not just turn the job down?"
"I didn't know it was going to be anything illegal that I was doing when I said yes. And when he told me, he had also told me that he'd killed the last guy for asking too many questions. Even an idiot wouldn't argue then."
"How do you receive the money?" She was getting bored of his useless answers.
"Cash put into the letterbox."
"You get $500 cash placed into your letterbox every month?"
"Yeah."
"And where do you keep it?"
"Safe under my bed."
"How…original." She sighed. "Why not a bank?"
"I've just told you that I've been hacking into bank account's and you're asking me why I don't keep my money in a bank?" He looked at her like she was stupid.
"Many criminals are not so intelligent." She gave a shrug and stood up, turning towards the door. "Have you got anything that will help us?"
"I have a phone number for him." Ziva groaned and stalked back over to him, placing both palms on the table and leaning forwards.
"That should have been the first thing you told us." She growled, pushing a pen and paper over to him. "Write. Now."
"Why don't we have security footage of Woodson's killer?" Gibbs asked as they all sat in the squad room.
"Er, because he asked for the cameras to be shut off." Tony looked up from the phone records he was trawling through. "Security guy said he would ask for them to be shut off if he was with a girl."
"Well why haven't we found her yet?!" He snapped, storming out in the direction of his favourite coffee shop.
"Right. Find the girlfriend. Any ideas?"
"The Petty Officer that we interviewed, the one who Woodson got into a fight with."
"The one who kept hitting on you." McGee supplied.
"Yes, he said that their fight was over a girl. Maybe he knows who he was with." Tony started grabbing his coat and his bag.
"Hey, Ziva and I went last time, we can go again this time." McGee argued as Ziva too started picking up her gear.
"Na-uh." The senior field agent shook his head. "Ziva's staying here."
"What?! Why?!"
"Because this guy seems infatuated with you."
"You are infatuated with me Tony. He was only flirting. Besides," she walked around her desk, meeting him in the middle of the bullpen, "you can me my handsome knight in shiny armour and fight for my love." She smirked, pecking him on the lips.
"Shining armour. Probie, me and Ziva are gonna go interview the petty officer. You stay here with Cassie and try and trace that number." His eyes didn't leave hers.
"What?! That's not fair! Just because Ziva's willing to kiss you to get her way!"
"I believe it was more the pottery that convinced him." Ziva grinned.
"What pottery?" Her fiancé frowned at her.
"Me telling you that you were my knight in shining armour."
"Er, I think you mean flattery." Cassie smiled.
"Right." She nodded. "That as well."
"No, I really do think it was just the kiss."
"Petty Officer Iain Merston?"
"Who's…oh, hey. You're the pretty NCIS agent who was asking 'bout Ryan." He grinned as he looked up from the boot he was shining. He was sat on his doorstep, taking advantage of the first warm weather of the year.
"Technically Mossad officer." She shrugged.
"Where'd the other guy go?"
"Agent McGee is busy, so you've got me instead." Tony shifted slightly closer to Ziva, narrowing his eyes at the petty officer.
"You get Ryan's killer yet?"
"No. Sorry. But we are still trying." She shook her head. "We are actually here because of something you mentioned last time."
"You were fighting over a girl."
"Oh, right, yeah. Er…Jessica…Jennifer…Julia? I took her out once and received a black eye for it." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Right, well, do you know if she had a relationship with Woodson?" Tony asked, placing a protective hand on Ziva's back.
"Did. Don't know when, or if, it ended. Ryan wasn't the sort of one-night-stand type. Why, you think she's a suspect?"
"We would like to talk to her. There is a possibility she witnessed the murder."
"So you want me to see if I can find her number?" He beamed at Ziva, who nodded.
"That would be very helpful." She felt Tony's hand slip round to her waist and tighten slightly. She rolled her eyes.
"Sure. If you just give me a minute, I'll see if I've still got her number." He smiled, standing up and flicking his eyes over Ziva's body. "So, you really are pregnant? Not just spinning a yarn to get me off your back?"
"Yes." She nodded as they followed him inside.
"Which would make you the fiancé?"
"What gave you that impression?" Tony glared at him.
"Er, the jealousy on your face and your hand protectively around her waist." He laughed. "Not sure I could ever settle down."
"I didn't think I could either. Then I met Ziva."
"Is this just closet love, Tony? Do you want something from me?" Ziva looked up at him, curious.
"Cupboard love. And no. It's true, and you know it is. I love you unconditionally." His hand moved from her hip down to clasp her hand.
"You know, if Gibbs saw this right now…" She held their hands up as they stopped in the living room, waiting for Merston to go through is address book.
"He would probably give us each a good head-slap and tell us to keep it out of the office. Again." Tony laughed and nodded.
"Er, hi. Sorry to interrupt this…whatever it is, but I found the number. Jemima." He scrawled the number on a post-it and handed it to Ziva.
"Jemima." Tony grinned. "I knew a Jemima once. Had this long, strawberry-blonde hair, cute…"
"Tony, if you value your hands I would shut up about Jemima." Ziva growled.
"You wouldn't do anything to my hands. You like them too much." He smirked lasciviously.
She rose up onto her tiptoes to whisper into his ear. "I would do nothing permanent to them." Her breath brushed against his cheek and he shivered as she chuckled lightly. "Does Jemima have a last name, Petty Officer Merston?" She continued to stand perpendicular to Tony, her front pressed up against his side and her warm breath tickling his cheek and neck.
"Surnames weren't really at the forefront of our minds in the short time that we spent conversing. And the rest of the time, well, let's just say that talking wasn't a priority."
"Thank you, Petty Officer Merston. We will be in touch if we need anything else." They walked out of the house.
"Yeah, just…find the guy who did this. Oh, and good luck with the whole marriage and kids thing."
"Thanks." Tony nodded as they climbed into the Dodge and the petty officer sat back down on the doorstep.
"Hey, McGoogle, got a phone number for you to run!" Tony stuck the yellow post-it note to the corner of the desk. He waltzed to the centre of the room, planted a kiss on Ziva's lips and sat down just before Gibbs stepped off the elevator, Fornell trailing closely behind with an expression that suggested that things were not boding well for the FBI. "Problem, Boss?"
"Oh, I don't know, DiNozzo. We've got a dead petty officer, a scam, a load of poisoned Jell-O, no suspects and you seem to think we have time for you to kiss your fiancée! Yeah, I think we have a problem!"
"Well, she's my fiancée."
"I know that, DiNozzo! What have we got so far?"
"We have just gotten back from interviewing Petty Officer Iain Merston again. He gave us the phone number of the girl that he and Woodson fought over."
"Running it down now." McGee said, mirroring his screen onto the plasma. "Registered to a Jemima Browne. I'll run the name." He started tapping away on his keyboard and within minutes a DMV photo popped up, showing a young, redheaded woman with the hints of a sly smile. "Born in Pasadena, Texas, 27 years old. Oh, er, hey, Boss, um…"
"Spit it out, McGee."
"Erm, well, she's been put on a terrorist watch alert."
"Affiliated with?"
"Uh…a group called 'Civilisation'." McGee bit his lip.
"We have a bank account registered to a 'Civilisation' and a terror group with the same name and you didn't join the dots?" Gibbs barked at him.
"What dots?" Ziva whispered in Tony's ear and he shook his head.
"Later." He smiled at her, turning back to McGee.
"FBI have them on their watch list."
"You got anything to say to me, Fornell?" Gibbs snapped.
"Uh…we'll get our guys out there to bring them in? Get everyone we can shipped over here?" He hazarded.
"Damn right you will. How could you not tell me that you were watching this group?"
"Well, it's not me personally watching it!" They argued as they headed out of the squad room in the direction of the elevators.
"What dots, Tony?" Ziva turned to him.
"Ah, well, there's this thing that children do where they're given a piece of paper with dots drawn on it and then they join them up to form a picture, then they colour it in. I'm sure Elsie will have a dot-to-dot book, and if not I think we'll have to buy her one because every kid should have a dot-to-dot book at one point in their life. I had one with dinosaurs." He wore a big smile at the memory. "We're really gonna have to educate you on children's games before the babies come. We'll get Elsie and Mina to help." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before walking back to his desk.
"I had a robot colouring book when I was a child." McGee said, smiling.
"Of course you did, McNerd."
"Ziva! What brings you down here?" Abby grinned as her friend walked into her lab.
"A question." Ziva smiled mysteriously, holding her hands clasped behind her back.
"Ooh, what question?" She bounced up and down, excitement emanating from her pores. Ziva held her hand forwards, her fingers holding three roses, one red, one black and one white, fastened together with a mint green bow.
"Will you be one of my bridesmaids?"
"Eee!" She squealed, engulfing Ziva in the biggest Abby-hug she had ever given. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Yes! Eee!"
"Abby, you are hurting me."
"Oh, sorry." She leapt back immediately, a grin still covering her face. "What colour are you thinking for the dresses?"
"The colour of the ribbon." She pointed and smiled as Abby grinned. "I was unsure if you would agree, not being able to wear black, but I was thinking maybe you could have black roses in your hair. And you can change into something black for the reception if you want."
"Eeeee! Thank you thank you thank you!"
"You are like a sister to me Abby. The day would not be the same without you and Jenny there with me."
"We wouldn't miss it for the world. Ahhhhh! I'm so excited! What date is the wedding?"
"March 21st."
"It's so close! It's so exciting too. Where are you and Tony going on your honeymoon?"
"We have not discussed it yet. We spent last night writing invites." Ziva smiled and Abby started bouncing up and down again, flinging her arms around Ziva's neck and kissing her cheek.
"I'm so happy for you!"
"I would never have guessed that, Abby." She laughed, for the first time properly reciprocating the hug.
I have been in a very grumpy-Gibbs mood lately. I cannot seem to get him as a nice guy, which, around this time, he almost was. I think I have been watching too many of the later seasons where he was not such a nice guy.
My brother actually used to believe that flattery was making plates like pottery was making pots. I know. It would probably surprise you to know that he has always been the top of his class in maths and science. However, English is not his best subject, so that might be where the issue lies.
