Federal Agent Roland Dunn, curious as to why the American agents had not arrived downstairs, had taken the service elevator up to their floor and, following the pointed fingers of his protective detail team, entered DiNozzo's suite to find Gibbs staring down at a sleeping Tony and Ziva, with McGee cringing in the background, clearly expecting a shouting match.
"DiNozzo! David!" Gibbs yelled and the two sleeping beauties woke instantly. Realising the position they were in, they desperately tried to get as far away from each other as possible but it only succeeded in both of them rolling off the couch with Tony landing atop of Ziva in another intimate looking position.
Panic stricken, they both sprang apart as they launched to their feet and tried to find an explanation. "Boss I," Tony started.
"Gibbs, we were just," Ziva tried to explain at the same time.
"Following my instructions, Agent Gibbs." Roland calmly stepped into the chaos. "We discovered late last night that the hotel's copy of Officer David's room key could not be accounted for, and so we moved her into Agent DiNozzo's room for her own protection."
"For her protection, you put her into Tony's room?" McGee couldn't help himself, the slightly sarcastic question popped out of his mouth with no thought behind it.
Everyone in the room turned towards poor Timothy McGee. The threats of pain and violence coming from Tony and Ziva's eyes would have been enough, but never before had the unfortunate Timothy experienced two simultaneous Gibbs glares – one from Gibbs, for interrupting, and one from Dunn also. On their own, each stare was intimidating enough – but four combined was just about enough to put McGee into catatonic shock. He'd already had a bad morning after trapping himself in the closet, even though the door had no lock. He had had to be rescued by one of the Australian protective service team, and dreaded the thought of the story being let slip to his teammates.
"And they just happened to be sleeping on top of each other on your orders again, Federal Agent Dunn?" Gibbs growled out.
"I would anticipate, Agent Gibbs," Dunn replied, "that an investigator such as yourself would realize that a potential security breach like a room key disappearing might indicate that your secret location is no longer so. Since Agent DiNozzo and Officer David's bedrooms have floor to ceiling windows with exposure to a number of other high-rise buildings, one might think it prudent to advise them to stay away from the bedrooms. I can imagine they are trying to sleep as best they can on the only other comfortable thing in the hotel suite."
Gibbs stared at the Australian Federal Agent, his gaze searching for any indication that the man was being untruthful. Gibbs was certain that he was lying, but if he was, there was no sign of it and without a tell-tale flicker in the Australian's facial features, Gibbs' gut refused to churn like it usually did when he was being told lies. Gibbs kept the stare up for nearly a full minute until he finally backed down and left the room muttering something about getting a coffee.
McGee, as the door snapped shut behind Gibbs asked Dunn, "Why didn't you just move the bed into the lounge room and let Ziva sleep on the bed and Tony sleep on the couch?"
Dunn turned around and smiled, "Agent McGee, it is always a pleasure to hear your input on how common sense can come into our daily lives. Just this morning, I recall how common sense would have assisted an American agent who managed to trap himself in a closet with no locked door and how, rather than using common sense to free himself, he just wailed frantically until one of my men rescued him. I suppose in the same way that the couch sufficed, the wailing worked because it got the job done."
McGee, finally closing his mouth after it had dropped as his secret was revealed, left the room without another word.
Dunn turned around to Tony and Ziva who still stared, open-mouthed at the Federal Agent.
"You just lied to Gibbs…" Tony said disbelievingly.
"…and got away with it." Ziva finished.
"How?" the two asked simultaneously of the Aussie.
"I'll tell you," Dunn had lowered his voice to a whisper, and Tony and Ziva tilted their heads forward to hear him. After briefly debating with himself on the politics of attacking armed law enforcement officials from another country here as part of a diplomatic act, Dunn Gibbs-slapped the two and finished his sentence, "after you've gotten yourselves down to the car. I've been waiting 30 minutes for you drongos, we have a meeting to get to."
He swept out of the room leaving Tony and Ziva in astonishment.
After a few seconds, Ziva asked Tony, "What is a drongo?"
"I have absolutely no idea," was Tony's reply as he massaged the back of his head, whimpering.
Author's Notes:
Harmless1: thanks for the kind words, I had had a few beers by the time I settled down to write the first chapter so it's always nice to hear that my drunken ramblings were apparently a very good explanation for the NCIS team going 'down under'.
Thanks also go to god'srider, rupert-tiva, rosie (a big g'day to Canada!), DarkGrayWolf and Tash for the reviews.
M E Wofford - you do a fantastic job without the elves anyway. But if I find a few I'll mail them via Fedex - don't worry, they'll get air holes, I've learnt from last time!
Eternal Luna 21 - thanks for the aussie lingo suggestions, I'll try to write a few in for the chapters to come - it's always best to hear which ones are the most confusing to our friends from other countries anyway, because it'll help to add to the confusion of poor Tony and Ziva.
Milk Does the Body Good - you certainly are hyper, but it's always nice to hear from a fellow Brisbanite, and I'm not sure where I wrote in something about a water feature because the story is set in the Valley. From memory I can only think of the water in the crater from the explosion, and that was residual water from the fire department spraying the scene to extinguish the fires. If I've unintentionally written in a water feature, just take that as poetic license.
Harmless1: hahahahaha, that's brilliant! I might actually try to work that one (or parts from it) into the story. God knows how I'll do it, but I do love a challenge.
Diana_teo: I'm glad you certainly decided to review! It's always lovely to hear from you guys, and it's really great to get new people reading the story and reviewing each chapter because I believe a story can always be improved, and advice is always welcomed.
Kira-Hazel: my condolences (for the fact you live in Melbourne :-P), but at least you get to see beautiful Brisbane every now and then.
Hudson911: glad to hear that my current writer's block didn't affect the last chapter too much, hope it wasn't too prevalent in this one either!
Lyn1410G: I always love your long reviews, even if you spend half of it obsessing over a naked Tony! My god, as a twenty-year old male writer just getting back into the fiction-writing game, I can't determine if I should be pleased or worried that my writing can sometimes have such an effect on females! Good luck with those riot fires though!