Typical But Unexpected

The dawn of a criminal in bloom...

-Outlaws, Green Day

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When the alarm went off at 0600h, DiNozzo was surprised to see that Ziva wasn't lying next to him.

"Ziva?" He called out, hoping for an answer.

When he didn't get a reply, he grew concerned. He got up out of bed and checked in the living room. She wasn't there. He checked in the kitchen. No. The bathroom was next on his list, and he'd never been so relieved to find it locked.

"Ziva, are you alright?" A few seconds later, the door opened and Ziva appeared. Her complexion was pale and she looked drained. Tony took a few steps closer and hugged her. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm just coming down with something." She mumbled into his chest.

"Have you been you sick?"

"It is fine, it doesn't matter." Ziva tried to brush it off like she did with everything.

"Yes, it does matter. You're having the day off." She pulled back from his embrace and glared at him.

"I'm fine and I'm going to work. End of conversation." She held up her hand and then brushed past him to get ready. DiNozzo shook his head at how stubborn she could be. Truth be told, Ziva was worried. What if this isn't just illness, but something else...

Tony and Ziva arrived at the office, throwing their gear down and turning on their monitors. A few seconds after Ziva sat down, she felt her stomach churn. She got up and raced for the toilets. DiNozzo watched her and followed after her. When he walked in, she was hovering over the toilet, throwing up.

"Ziva, you're not ok. I'm going to call Ducky." DiNozzo informed as he held her hair and rubbed her back.

"There's no need to waste Ducky's time." Ziva tried to protest.

"If you're throwing up, then it's not a waste of time, and it's certainly not nothing." He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and walked her over to her desk, guiding her to sit in her seat. Tony picked up her work phone and called Autopsy.

"Hey Duck, Ziva's been throwing up and doesn't seem too well, could you come and check if she's alright?"

"Of course, my dear boy. I shall be up straight away." DiNozzo hung up, and turned around to find Gibbs' questioning glare, staring him in the face.

"Something wrong?" Gibbs questioned with his coffee in his hand.

"Ziva's not feeling too good."

"Right." Gibbs said plainly, though slightly concerned, as he walked over to his desk.

Just as Tony had finished explaining to Gibbs, McGee came running in, his expression full of fear.

"Where's Abby? Is she here?" His voice panicked, as he looked around for her.

"She's your girlfriend, McGee. You should know where she is." DiNozzo teased but realised the fear in Tim's eyes. "She was with you last night, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she stayed round. I woke up this morning and she wasn't there."

While they were discussing where she was, Gibbs had gone to check her lab and everywhere else he thought she might be, but she was nowhere to be found.

"She's not in her lab either or the rest of the building." Gibbs announced. Tony saw the colour rush out of Tim's face.

"Oh god, what's happened to her?" Tony had never seen McGee so worried before. Just then Ducky turned up to check on Ziva.

"Ziva, my dear-" He stopped when he saw the worry on Tim's face. "Timothy, are you alright?"

"Abby's missing..." McGee trailed off as the fear kicked in even more from hearing those words come out of his mouth. "How come you're here, Ducky?"

"Our Ziva's not feeling too well." Ziva tried to become invisible by keeping as quiet as possible. DiNozzo was knelt next to her chair with his arm wrapped around her. "I'll just take your temperature and check your vitals." Ducky started his examinations.

McGee was sitting at his desk, with his head in his hands, stressing out. Tony realised that now it was his turn to be there for his friend. He walked over to McGee and knelt down in front of him.

"McGee, relax. You worrying about her isn't going to help and it'll just make you feel worse. I completely understand, but you have to stay strong for her. We're going to find out what's happened, and we won't stop until we do." He placed a hand on McGee's shoulder for reassurance.

"I don't know what could've happened to her. You know Abby, she's never late to work, and she never goes anywhere without telling us." McGee's hear rate only continued to rise.

"Right, have you tried tracking her phone yet?" McGee's eyes shot up, and he started typing away to try and get a signal. "It's turned off." Tony could see the last shred of hope McGee had drain out of his eyes. "She's definitely in trouble..."

"Then we go to our next option. Where was she when it was turned off?" DiNozzo was determined to get some kind of lead. McGee put the location on the plasma screen for the team to see.

"Alright, so there's quite a few derelict buildings and warehouses around that area." Tony looked over to Gibbs making phone calls. "We'll send how ever many people we can to search every one of them."

"What if she's not in any of them?" McGee couldn't help but be pessimistic at the moment.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Tony walked over to Gibbs' desk.

"We need as many agents as we can to search that area." He pointed to the map on the plasma TV.

"Already on it. I'll speak with Vance and see what else we can do." Gibbs headed up to Vance's office.

"Hang in there, McAwesome." DiNozzo decided that complimentary McNicknames were his best choice of address right now. McGee smiled briefly.

"All finished." Ducky announced and DiNozzo looked at Ducky for a report. "She has a common case of the flu, my dear boy. Nothing to worry about. I've given her some antibiotics, she should be back to normal in a few days." Ziva breathed a sigh of relief to hear it was the flu and nothing else. "Keep me updated on Abby." Ducky patted Tony's shoulder and walked over to McGee.

"Abby's a brave girl, Timothy. Do call me if you need any help."

"Thanks, Ducky." McGee replied in almost a whisper.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you're all doing well!