Chapter 29: Damn It, DiNozzo

Disclaimer: I don't own it...so please tell the magic space pixies to stop sending me hate mail about how McGee just isn't "elflord-y" enough. Bad pixies!

Author's Note: Hmmm...what could that title elude to?

This chapter is sort of an exaggerated collage of my own actual experiences. What I've seen.

Just before they came into town, both Gibbs's and McGee's cell phones began to ring.

They both answered.

"Gibbs."

"Jethro, thank goodness. I tried to call all night."

"What's going on, Duck?"

"That is the very question that I have for you. Where at in Arkansas where you last night?"

"Russellville. You've heard about the tornadoes?"

"Of course I have, Jethro, they were all over the news. After they hit Arkansas, a tornado hit the airport in Memphis and nearly blew one of the suburbs off the map."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but what was that town in Arkansas that they were talking about? Oh, yes Ju-"

"Judson Hill. Yeah."

"Jethro, where were Anthony and Ziva at?"

"With luck, they were in their hotel in Searcy."

"What do you mean, 'With luck'? They weren't supposed to be-"

"Yeah, they were supposed to be in Judson Hill yesterday."

"Oh, Jethro...don't tell me that something has happened to them. You have talked to them, right?"

"Tower's down. Phone calls won't go through."

"Oh, dear, Jethro..."

"Yeah, Duck, I know."

"What does the famous Leroy Jethro Gibbs gut have to say?"

"My gut's been out of whack ever since I watched that police officer shoot David."

"David's dead?"

"Yeah, tried to take me with him. There'll be time for this later, Duck. I've gotta go find my agents."

"Good luck, Jethro."

"Thanks, Duck."

"McGee."

"Timmy! Thank god you're okay! You are okay right?! We were so worried when we heard about the tornadoes! You weren't near them were you? What about Tony and Ziva? Are they okay?"

"Abby! Abby, calm down. I'm fine. So is Gibbs. We weren't near where the tornadoes were."

"What about Tony and Ziva?"

Silence.

"Timmy?!"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?! Have you even talked to them?!"

"The tower's down. We can't get any calls through to them."

"They weren't...there...were they?"

More silence.

"Timmy...please tell me that Tony and Ziva weren't in Judson Hill yesterday."

"Abby...they were supposed to be in Judson Hill yesterday." McGee breathed in sharply as he heard Abby gasp and begin to sob.

"McGee! No! They've got to be okay! They've got to live long enough to fall in love and have little baby Tony and Ziva's! They can't be dead!"

"We don't know yet, Abby. They might be fine."

"Might?! I do not like the word might. Might means they might be okay, but they might be dead! THEY CAN'T DIE!!!"

"Abby! Abby, please don't yell into the phone. Now, I've gotta go. We're almost to Judson Hill. The minute we find Tony and Ziva, I'll call you. I'm sure they're fine."

"That's better, McGee."

They saw the city limits sign and both, unwittingly, drew in a sharp breath.

They prepared themselves for anything that could lie ahead...they prepared for the worst.

Upon entering the town, they found it wasn't nearly as bad as they had expected.

Part of the roof of the town grocery store had been torn off, as had the awning of the accompanying gas station. Across the street, similar damage had been done to the feed store and a mobile home had been overturned. They couldn't see any farther than the main street, but the damage didn't appear too bad.

"Not as bad as I was afraid it would be," McGee sighed, relieved, "After seeing Atkins, I just assumed that they were all that bad."

There was an armada of white and yellow Entergy cherry picker trucks working on repairing damaged power lines along with bright orange ASPLUNDH trucks cutting down tree limbs that had fallen and feeding them into a chipper.

On the side of the grocery store parking lot that was not covered in debris, a large tent had been set up with rows of tables underneath. It was clear that the people in the tent hadn't been in town long. They were setting up coffee pots and the other components of an emergency response kitchen. Later in the day they would be providing lunch to the workers and residents who were out working.

Near the tent were the two town police cars along with two county sheriff's department cars and two Arkansas State Trooper cars. Near the cars, a group of men; two in blue police uniforms, four in gray police uniforms, three in blue uniforms with wide brimmed hats, two in yellow firefighter turnouts, and one in brown Carhartt coveralls.

Gibbs swung the car into the parking lot and pulled up near the tent; then he led McGee over to the group of men.

"Hey, who's in charge here?" Gibbs barked.

"Good question," one of the men in the blue uniforms remarked, "I'm Roger Gibson, chief of police."

The blue uniforms were the city police, the other one had a name tag that read 'Baker'.

A man in the gray replied, "I'm Miguel Hernandez, county sheriff's department."

The gray uniforms were the county police. The others' names were Ross, Price, Coleman, and Patterson.

"Listen, I'm pulling rank. Lieutenant Jonny Hughes, State Trooper."

The other men in the wide brimmed hats, State Troopers, were named Flores and Washington.

"You know what? I'm pulling rank on all of you," Gibbs growled, angry at the men for arguing rather than giving a straight answer, "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS, federal agent."

The men looked in shock at Gibbs and McGee, who were holding out their badges.

"Now, what's going on here?" Gibbs barked.

"Well, we were just about to send Doug and Dave," Roger motioned to the two firemen, "out toward Jackson Road to see about how it is out there. Then Jay," the man in the coveralls, "was gonna bring the first responder bus around to set up a first aid station here in the parking lot."

"Boss, Jackson Road is wh-"

"Yeah, McGee I know," Gibbs turned back to the men and asked, "Has anyone heard anything out of Jackson Road?"

"Heard that there was a house destroyed. The tornado didn't touch down 'til it got out of town," Roger replied.

"So it did all this," McGee motioned around at the damage, "Before it was even on the ground?"

The men nodded.

"We've got some agents on Jackson Road and we can't get in contact with them," Gibbs said.

"Ya can falla' me 'n' Dave," Doug replied.

Doug and Dave climbed into a big truck with a tall wheelbase and knobby tires.

Gibbs and McGee climbed into their car and followed the truck out of town.

They followed the path of destruction until they got to a spot where a large tree had fallen across the road. There were two vehicles parked on their side of the tree. Dave and Doug got out chainsaws and began cutting the tree up into manageable pieces. Gibbs, McGee, and two other men began clearing the wood off the road. Once the road was cleared; Dave and Doug's truck drove past, followed by the two other cars, then Gibbs and McGee. The other cars got to a house and flew into the driveway. There was another car parked on the side of the road. Trees were down all around the car; but, by some miracle, the the car was undamaged.

Gibbs slammed on the breaks and whipped the car into the driveway.

"Boss?"

"That's their car."

They got out and checked the car; no one was inside the car.

They heard the people from the other cars shouting as they found whoever they had been looking for.

McGee turned around to look and saw two teenagers climbing out of a concrete shelter and hugging their parents. Then McGee noticed that there were two teenagers, part of two separate families, but there were three groups of adults. One of the pairs of adults was behaving awkwardly around all the others. The man had his arm wrapped around the woman's waist and was shaking hands with the other adults. They waved goodbye to the others and started walking toward Gibbs, McGee, and the car.

"Boss! Boss, I think that's Tony and Ziva!" McGee called.

Gibbs looked up and saw the couple walking over, "Yeah, that's them...What's DiNozzo doing with his arm."

"I...I, uh, think he's got it around Ziva's waist...," McGee stammered.

"Damn it, DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted."

Even from that distance, Tony jumped and jerked his arm away from his partner.

Gibbs grinned a little, "Yeah, that's them."

A.N.: Entergy is a power company that serves most of my area and I don't know what ASPLUDH is or what that stands for, but I have vivid memories of in the days after an ice storm or tornado there would be these big, bright orange trucks with 'ASPLUNDH' written on them in block letters. They would be cutting down the loose or precarious branches and limbs.

Okay, I know you're thinking, "Does every little character in this story have to get a name?" Yes. Yes they do.

Why? Because. That's why. I like giving people names. It helps me picture them better.

As a matter of fact, I was not too lazy to write the scene where Syd and Jack have to explain to their parents who Tony and Ziva were. I just didn't feel like writing it. Plus, it would have required me to create two new characters and to decide if I actually wanted to base them off our parents, which could have been weird. So I just didn't go there.

Oh! Look! Dave! That's another David. So, what's the David count thus far (counting all pronunciation)

1. (Ziva) David

2. David (the killer)

3. David (who the killer is based on)

4. David (my future Marine friend that I based...some character on)

5. David (my uncle, whom I mentioned in an author's note a few chapters back)

6. David (Dave, the fireman)

So, there you go; six Davids in one story...actually, if we're counting the ones that only had tiny roles (mentioned, but never seen), there's 8 Davids.

7. (Tali) David

8. David (Letterman)

...I must really like the name David or something...