Driven: [part 1]

...

3rd Person POV:

Tony grunted as the lights came back on in the conference room, the video they had been forced to watch turning off. He sat with his chair tilted against Ziva's table just behind him. His tablemate, Claire blinked at the change of lighting while her head remained propped up by her elbow.

"From the video presentation we just watched it is pretty clear that sexual harassment can take many forms in the workplace." The woman presenting spoke up, pacing across the front of the room. Claire watched in amusement as Palmer gawked down at the pamphlet sitting at his desk with an expression of horrified interest.

"A coworker with 'elevator eyes' looking you up and down." The presenter, Ms. Taylor, continued. Tony thunked his chair back down and leaned towards Claire.

"Guilty." He muttered with a chuckle. Claire bit her lip in amusement.

"A coworker shows you a cartoon or a photo of a sexual nature…."

"If you're lucky." He grunted quietly. Claire elbowed him, trying not to snicker.

"Shut up, you're going to get us in trouble." She whispered back. Tony grinned at her.

"I think you are just as much to blame. Between the two of us we have broken a good bit of these." He pointed out. Claire shot him a look.

"Well at that time I wouldn't have considered it harassment." She shot back, her brow shooting up in teasing manner. Tony smiled, pleased as their usual banter began coming back. Finally, they were getting to a more comfortable place if she was willing to make jokes about their relationship. This spurred him on.

"It sure wasn't that." He hummed thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair once more.

"A coworker 'accidentally' brushes their hand against your body." Ms. Taylor continued on, unaware of the conversation at the back.

"Oh, only if you're really lucky." Claire added, this time loud enough that Ziva could hear. Ziva grinned.

"Physical contact can be divided into three categories." The woman up front turned to change the screen on the projector to a visual of a traffic light. Director Shepherd and Gibbs sighed and shared a look from their spots against the wall. Neither of them were thrilled to participate either.

"Green light includes normal behavior. Yellow light includes borderline behavior such as hugging someone who…." Instantly Abby shot up to stand, holding her hand up with a concerned frown. Ms. Taylor paused in surprise.

"Yes?"

"What's wrong with hugging people? I hug people all the time." Abby asked worriedly.

"You may see it as friendly, but your coworkers may find it offensive." The woman informed sternly. Abby's eyes widened in alarm as she held her hands to her chest and stared down at the team around her.

"You guys get offended when I hug you?" she asked, horrified at the idea. She was quickly assured that it was not the case as everyone murmured a 'no' and shook their heads. Abby grinned.

"I'm hugging you all in my mind, right now." Abby closed her eyes with a grin, her hands hugging her chest. Everyone shared a grin as they watched her. Abby hugs were the best hugs. However the moment was ruined by the woman up front.

"DOD policy is very clear about this point, miss. You must first ask permission before making physical contact with a coworker." She told Abby with a harsh scowl. Abby's face scrunched up in bewilderment.

"Like…every time?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes." With that short answer Abby slowly sat back down. Claire turned in her seat to face her friend.

"Abby I give you permission to hug me any time you want." She assured. Abby let out a relieved breath and reached over to squeeze her hand tightly.

"And finally, red light behavior such as deliberate, unwelcomed touching…" Ziva stared down at Tony who was nodding off. With a devious grin she shot forward and licked up the side of his face. Tony's eyes bugged out and he shot out of his seat with a yelp, slapping at the side of his face wildly. Claire had to turn her head and press her hand against her mouth tightly to keep from laughing out loud. His outburst effectively paused the presentation once more.

"Another question?" the woman asked, unamused. Tony cleared his throat while wiping at his ear.

"Yea if you slap someone on the back of the head like this…" Tony reached over and Gibbs slapped a snickering Claire. In return she instantly punched his inner thigh, causing Tony to suck in a breath at how close she had gotten to his jewels.

"….is that considered inappropriate behavior?" Tony finished quietly.

"Absolutely. Are you saying that this has actually happened?" the woman asked sternly. Tony froze, glancing at Gibbs out of the corner of his eye warily. Everyone watched as Gibbs stared the man down during the silence.

"No, I was just wondering that's all." Tony quickly sat back down. This time it was Palmer who shot his hand up.

"Yes?"

"Uh yea…what if part of your job includes….touching naked people and…"

"That would be inappropriate at any time." She quickly cut him off. Palmer blinked, his eyes widening.

"Even if they're dead?" he asked seriously. In the back Claire and Tony shared a wide eyed stare of 'is this really happening?' The presenter shifted and stared down at Palmer warningly.

"Why are you touching dead, naked people?" she asked very seriously. Palmer scratched his head nervously.

"I work in autopsy…"

"Can we please try to keep this on topic with what we are currently addressing." She tried to redirect the conversation.

"Gear up." Gibbs cut in. The team eagerly hopped up to follow him and leave the seminar.

"Wait, I can't mark you as attending unless you're here for all of it." The woman quickly countered, watching as a chunk of her class headed for the door.

"Um, Ms. Taylor. I will take excellent notes for them." Director Shepherd gently cut in. Without any more prompting the team quickly shot out the door.

...

Claire's POV:

At the crime scene a Navy Lieutenant was on the concrete floor of a work garage, next to a large Humvee with all kinds of technical equipment inside. Palmer gently reached over and closed the woman's eyes. I was standing behind him, taking photos of the body and crime scene.

"Ducky won't be here. He's got to take his mom to the hospital." Gibbs informed Jimmy, walking over to join him.

"Is Victoria alright?" he questioned worriedly.

"Well, she cut herself shaving and for some reason, he thinks you can handle this, Palmer." Gibbs quipped. I frowned….she cut herself shaving and that warranted a trip to the hospital? I quickly shook it off, that lady was crazy anyways so I shouldn't be too surprised. Palmer shook himself out of his thoughts, returning to the body on the ground.

"Uh, what do you think, Agent Gibbs?"

"Well, I don't know Palmer. You got me a TOD?" Gibbs answered, walking around the vehicle and looking at the multiple hard drives in the back.

"Yes. According to the liver probe she died two hours and eighteen minutes ago." Palmer explained reading the temperature off the probe he pulled out of the body.

"Does it tell you how?"

"Actually, the probe only tells you the difference between ambient temperature and….but you already know all this." Palmer sheepishly trailed off as he realized Gibbs was staring.

"Tentatively I'd say she died from hypoxia, Agent Gibbs." He answered.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning." I summarized.

"Most likely." Jimmy nodded in agreement.

"In 68 percent of cases it's accidental. And uh, the other 29 percent are self-inflicted." He added, sounding a lot like Ducky when he gets going on a topic.

"That still leaves three percent of deliberate murders." I pointed out, snapping a close-up photo of the woman. McGee and Ziva joined our group at this point, having come back from their interviews.

"How'd she get on the floor?" Gibbs asked.

"A co-worker found her in the passenger seat in there. Door still closed and the engine running." Ziva answered.

"He dragged her out, attempted CPR." McGee added.

"Tony's taking a statement now." I pointed to the scientist with Tony. Watching them for a moment I shook my head. Tony was busy poking at the buttons in the control room while the blonde scientist went behind him, angrily readjusting what Tony was messing with.

"What kind of vehicle is this?" Gibbs inquired, wrinkling his nose in confusion as he looked inside the cabin.

"It is a second-generation, fully autonomous AI operated vehicle boss." McGee explained, standing behind him and grinning at the technology.

"Well, yea….I can see that, McGee. I mean other than the obvious." Gibbs countered. McGee, Ziva and I stared at the man as if he had grown a second head and turned purple. Ziva rushed over towards him.

"Wait, you actually understood that? You know what it does then?" she inquired skeptically. Gibbs looked at her offended.

"Yea. Your basic second-generation AI…autonomous…stuff." Gibbs trailed off. The three of us shared a skeptical glance, watching Gibbs keep looking around for something.

"Where the hell does the driver sit?" he asked, looking around the car. That was more like it.

"That's the point. There isn't one. It drives itself." Ziva supplied. Gibbs frowned.

"Boss, AI stands for artificial intelligence." McGee continued, gaining Gibb's attention.

"It's a robot. That robot…in the driver's seat." I reiterated in more simpler terms, pointing to the large robot taking up the space in the front seat. Gibbs turned and shot me a withering glare. I bit my lip and nodded, quickly turning away from his gaze.

...

3rd Person POV:

Over in one of the control rooms Tony was talking with one of the lead scientists, Dr. Torsten.

"All I'm saying Agent DiNozzo, is our entire team is under a tremendous amount of stress. We're competing against dozens of teams. Three and a half years of work, and it all comes down to a single proof of concept test." Torsten explained, watching Tony as he scanned all the screens in the room.

"Robot car race?" Tony surmised, reaching over to tap a few buttons.

"In crude terms, yes." The man frowned, instantly reaching over to correct what he had done.

"What do you get if you win?" Tony asked, leaning down to get a look under the machines.

"Recognition in my field." Torsten answered, scanning his watch tiredly. Tony watched as the man anxiously walked just outside the doorframe to observe the NCIS agents around the car.

"What about one of those cool trophies like they hand out in NASCAR?" Tony suggested.

"I wouldn't know. I'm a scientist, not a redneck." The man droned.

"It is the fastest growing sport in the country." Tony weakly pointed out.

"I rest my case." Torsten deadpanned. Tony snarled quietly at the dig.

"In my opinion it's clear what happened here. When I found Seabrook, she was sitting in Otto with the diagnostic bay doors closed and the engine running. What's that tell you?"

"You think she killed herself?" Tony asked, posing it as more of a statement. He held up a large circular piece of glass and looked through it with one eye.

"I do." Torsten answered, snatching the piece of glass away from him.

"What about an accident or a malfunction?" Tony suggested.

"All she had to do to shut Otto down was to flick the kill switch. It was right in front of her on the dashboard." The man explained, gesturing wildly towards the car in the garage.

"Look, obviously, she couldn't face her own faults and missed deadlines, so she took the coward's way out."

"That's enough Torsten." An older man scolded sternly as he walked in.

"She's dead, Russell. There's no need for you to continue the charade of defending her." Torsten tiredly shot back. The two men stared at one another tensely.

"I'm Dr. Pike, the project leader. Where is Lieutenant Seabrook?" Tony nodded his head towards the black body bag on the cart that was being wheeled past them.

"Could you stop?" Dr. Pike requested, reaching for the bag.

"Can I….Can I see her?" Jimmy looked back at Gibbs who nodded his consent. As the bag was opened Dr. Pike's expression fell as he looked down at the woman on the cart.

"Ronnie. What have you done?" he whispered sadly.

...

Claire's POV:

I was making notes about the vehicle while McGee was lying in the floor of Otto looking up at the wiring under the dashboard.

"Ziva, you have really gotta see this." he called excitedly.

"See what, McGee?" she asked walking over to join him. Ziva walked over and straddled one of his legs so she could lean down to see what he was pointing out better. I watched them intently, surely this was going to lead to some disaster.

"It's an Atlas-Seven CPU. The same one developed for the Martian rovers." He gushed, grinning at the hardware.

"And how does this pertain to the case?" Ziva questioned in confusion.

"It doesn't. I just thought it was cool." he answered lamely.

"If you think about this…" McGee began. However, he shifted his leg and knocked her over. Ziva landed on McGee with a grunt, her legs straddling his. The two shuffled in alarm but all it accomplished was getting their bodies even more entangled and stuck in the small space. My eyes widened in alarm as I watched the train wreck unfold. As if he was summoned Tony swooped in, snatched the camera from my shoulder and began taking up close photos of the two of them.

"That better be your handcuff." Ziva growled down at the man underneath her.

"I believe this is a classic yellow-light situation." Tony snickered, still clicking away. Ziva growled

"Claire do something about him!" she snarled, turning back to frantically untangle herself from McGee.

"Stop moving. My hand's stuck." Ziva warned. McGee shied away and did as she asked. I tilted my head curiously as their bodies became even more entangled. Ziva was practically grinding up against him now.

"That's not the only thing that's stuck. Make that a red-light situation." Tony muttered thoughtfully as he watched the interaction. I looked up and smacked Tony's chest to get his attention. Dr. Torsten was making his way around the Humvee with a scandalized expression. Tony and I quickly righted ourselves while Ziva grunted as she finally became free.

"What are you doing?" Dr. Torsten inquired, quietly seething as he watched us. Ziva's eyes widened in mortification and she quickly ducked out of the line of sight.

"Investigating a dead Naval officer." Tony answered as if it were obvious.

"That's a 22 million dollar piece of equipment, you…." Tony tilted his head forward as the man struggled with his words.

"You people are jeopardizing my entire project." he finally growled out. I rose a brow at the man's choice of words. He made the term 'you people' sound awfully derogatory.

"We are doing our jobs. What did you find?" Tony asked. McGee sat up with his hair splayed all over. I reached over to smooth it down, despite him batting at my hands.

"It's a USB cable. Still attached to the console in the passenger side." McGee panted.

"Also bagged a battery for a laptop in the front seat." Ziva added, having returned to the conversation after composing herself again.

"I removed the laptop." Torsten answered. We stared at him.

"Well we're gonna need that back." I pointed out.

"Absolutely not." My eyebrows shot up in surprise at the quick answer. It was the wrong one.

"You wanna explain why you are holding evidence?" I shot back warningly. Torsten clenched his jaw.

"It contains a backup copy of Otto's AI." He explained.

"Well, whatever that is we'll need that too." Tony told him, blinking in obvious confusion.

"That is Otto." Torsten ground out, pointing to the car.

"Already got it covered, Tony." Ziva informed.

"Tow truck should be here any minute now." She added, staring at the scientist, daring him to argue with her.

"This is our only prototype. You people….you people are…you're…." Torsten huffed angrily.

"We're cops. Federal Agents. Police officers." Tony suggested.

"Uh maybe if you sound it out, it's easier. You know English as a third language is always the trickiest one." Tony added, taking a dig at the man's accent.

"I'll take the laptop now please." I requested, grinning wickedly at the man. The man took in a sharp breath before grumbling under his breath as he led the way. I smirked, following closely behind.

...

3rd Person POV:

"Lieutenant Seabrook's Naval career was most unusual. No deployments, and as far as I can tell she never set foot on a ship." Ziva summarized, staring at the woman's file on the big screen.

"Well, she was an egghead. They don't recruit them to fight wars." Tony pointed out as he worked at his computer.

"No, just to build machines for fighting them." Claire added.

"Maybe she had enough?" Ziva suggested thoughtfully.

"Enough of what?" Tony asked distracted.

"You'd be surprised how many weapon designers take their own lives."

"I may have a better motive." McGee cut in.

"Azeon had everything leveraged on Otto. It fails the drive-off the company goes bankrupt." He explained, looking at the team for their input.

"Sabotage." Claire hummed thoughtfully, leaning back in her desk chair.

"Someone wanted them to fail." McGee nodded.

"Not bad McGee. It's a good theory." Claire grinned in approval.

"I got one better than that. Curious to know what follows red-light behavior, Claire?" Tony asked with a grin. Claire frowned at him.

"Um…pregnancy." She shot off.

"That's a good guess, but not in this case. Check this out." Tony switched the feed to show old security footage from the garage up on the big screen.

"I ran the security footage taken from the lab. 0115. Last two people present were our lieutenant and this guy." The team watched as a man came up behind Lt. Seabrook and groped her. She jerked in surprise and began yelling at him.

"Azeon's chief mechanic, Jamie Jones." Tony introduced as they continued watching.

"Hold onto your socks. It gets a little steamy." he warned. As the video progressed Jamie yanked Lt. Seabrook back and pinned her up against Otto, kissing her forcefully. She eventually got out of the hold and smacked him hard across the face before storming off.

"What about the video from this morning when she died?" McGee inquired.

"Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of that?" Tony asked sarcastically. He reached over and smacked McGee on the back of his head.

"Someone erased it." He deadpanned.

"The last image taken from any camera stops at 0537 this morning. And then nothing but snow."

"She was murdered." Ziva hummed thoughtfully.

...

An hour later the team continued to dig for motives now that they knew she had been murdered. Claire currently had the floor as she took the path involving Jamie Jones.

"Alright kiddies, Jamie Jones was arrested in 1998 for assault and battery on his girlfriend, and she dropped the charges and married him six months later." Claire summarized. Ziva shot her a bewildered frown.

"I don't get it either." Claire shrugged, answering the unspoken question.

"Well, there's no accounting for taste. Look at Britney and K-Fed." Tony pointed out.

"At least she was smart enough to ask for a divorce." Claire added.

"So was Jones' wife. Divorced three years ago." McGee chimed in, having helped her dig up information.

"Oh, and there's a restraining order." he added as an afterthought.

"Shocking." Ziva deadpanned.

"Not on him. He got it against his ex-wife." Ziva shook her head, even more baffled by the turn of events.

"Lieutenant Seabrook wasn't alone at Azeon last night boss." Tony shot up out of his seat as he spotted Gibbs making his way into the room. Everyone followed his lead and turned to face their boss.

"She was with a mechanic." Gibbs nodded, setting his coffee on his desk.

"Yea. The Azeon security cameras caught it." Tony answered, deflating as he realized Gibbs was already ahead of them again.

"And there was evidence she was…." Claire started but was cut off.

"Sexually assaulted?" Gibbs answered again.

"Ducky thinks she was raped." He added.

"Yeah, check this out." Tony pulled up the video feed, letting Gibbs watch it. Gibbs slowly stood and watched the scene quietly.

"You get a warrant yet?" he asked from behind them.

"Yeah right here. Name's Jamie Jones. Ziva, Claire and I were gonna pick him up." Tony informed, holding up the paperwork.

"Not anymore. You're processing the lieutenant's apartment." Gibbs corrected.

"Boss, what about me?" McGee inquired.

"You get with Abby. The CO levels in that vehicle were off the chart. You find out how he did it." Gibbs ordered, taking the warrant from Tony's hands. Once he was free of the paper Tony reached into his desk and tossed a set of keys to Ziva who caught them easily.

"Letting me drive?" Ziva asked with a grin. Claire's eyes widened in alarm.

"No, I'm meeting you there. I need to drop something off at the hospital." Tony corrected, reaching into his desk. The two girls stared at him in confusion.

"What?" Claire asked. The mild alarm in her voice caused him to look up at her sharply. He swallowed, feeling guilty about what must have been running through her head.

"Why are you going to a hospital? Did something happen?" she inquired, taking a step closer towards him. Tony waved her off and held up a paper bag.

"Just dropping off a stool sample. Would you like to see it?" he teased. Claire leaned back and eyed him skeptically.

"You want me to stab you in the eye with my knife?" Ziva shot back shying away from the package. With that Tony nodded at them and headed towards the elevator.

"Just a minute. I'll meet you downstairs." Claire muttered to Ziva before taking off after him. She jogged, grabbing his elbow as they entered.

"Hey, you sure you're alright?" she inquired quietly. Tony shrugged leaning back against the back wall.

"Yea, of course. Just some routine checkups." He assured. Claire narrowed her eyes.

"You've had a lot of those lately. I'm getting a little worried about you." she admitted. Tony smiled gently and reached out to squeeze her shoulder.

"I know. But I promise I'm fine. They're just going a bit overboard with all this." he hummed. Claire nodded, not completely nullified but it would do for now.

"You would tell me if something was wrong right?" she asked hesitantly. Tony stared at her, realizing that she was genuinely worried. His heart clenched, thinking through how he was going to handle this. She wouldn't buy that he was perfectly healthy if he constantly had to go to the hospital. This mess was getting trickier and trickier.

"Of course I will. But I promise, I'm perfectly fine." he quietly told her. The elevator reached the basement and the two headed off in different directions. Claire turned to watch Tony walk towards his car. She watched as he opened the car door and roughly tossed in his bag. His face scrunched up in a deep frown as he ran a hand through his hair before getting in and speeding out of the lot.

...

Ziva and Claire rode quietly in the car. Claire refraining from staring out the side window as Ziva whipped in and out of traffic. Thankfully she had mostly acclimated to the Israeli's driving style, but she still played it safe to prevent her stomach from rolling violently. Ziva frowned as she drove, looking over at the other woman out of the corner of her eye.

"So, what is wrong with Tony?" she asked. Claire blinked, jolted out of her musings as she turned to face Ziva.

"As far as I know, nothing is wrong with him." she answered, wondering what this was all about. Ziva looked at her in confusion.

"Then why the doctor visits? I do not believe he is as well as he claims." She pointed out. Claire bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't deny that she had similar thoughts. But it wasn't her place to pry.

"Well I will trust him. If something is truly wrong, he would tell me. He's entitled to some privacy." Claire insisted, turning her head to end the conversation. Ziva however was not as satisfied with ending there. Her eyes flitted to the passenger seat multiple times before she spoke up again.

"I looked into Tony's medical file." Ziva admitted. Claire startled and stared at her incredulously.

"Wh…why?! Ziva that is an extreme invasion of privacy." She scolded. Ziva ignored it.

"Did you know he had Y. Pestis. A very nasty illness." she continued on, staring at the road as she sped along. Claire clenched her jaw.

"Yea I know that. I was in the room with him the whole time." Ziva looked over at her sharply. That she wasn't aware of. Frowning thoughtfully, Ziva continued on.

"It can cause permanent damage to the heart, lungs and kidneys….and in some cases patients can relapse..."

"…Months or years after recovery. I know. What is your point." Claire cut her off sharply.

"You did your own research." Ziva stated.

"Right after it happened. I wanted to make sure I knew the risks just in case Tony was too stupid to admit he was sick again. It was hard enough getting him to lay off the field work when he returned." Ziva nodded quietly.

"My point is that he has been having tests done. And has made many trips to the hospital." Claire sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm aware. He says it's fine." she insisted.

"What if he is lying and just doesn't want to tell you." Ziva suggested. Her partner frowned at the sting that followed that statement. It was a legitimate question but the implication that Tony would blatantly lie to her hurt more than she cared to admit. First the missions for Director Shepherd and now this? Surely, he wouldn't cut her out more than he already was, right? Claire shook off the thoughts, leaving them for another time.

"If he is then I trust he's got a good reason. I suggest you leave it be." She told Ziva, shooting her a look that left no room for argument. Ziva pursed her lip and returned her gaze to the road, wisely choosing to let the subject drop for now.