"McGee, you Ok?" Asked Gibbs.
They were on their way to West street parking lot where last night's crime scene had been sealed off and guarded by a few rather digruntled police officers who had been made to stay there all night.
"Fine boss, my mind was on another planet, you know?"
"Well bring it back to earth, Elflord, I need my senior field agent on the ball"
"Boss?" Said McGee.
"Do you see anyone else who's been here longer than you?"
"You...you mean apart from you?"
Gibbs glared at him.
"Oh, Ok, I get the point" He said nervously "I won't let you down"
"Good" Said Gibbs sensing the young agent's self esteem plummet. "I know you won't"
The confidence Gibbs appeared to have in him simply served to make him feel more pressured than he already was, but he realised that could have been Gibbs' intention. After all the years of wanting Tony's job it never occured to him that once he got it he wouldn't want it.
McGee came to the sloped part of the car park where Gibbs had been shot at and walked past that taped off area straight up to the second sealed off area. Gibbs walked beside him and gave nothing away that could suggest to the unknowing eye that this was anything but just any other crime scene. McGee took a deep breath in when he saw the blood that had pooled on the floor.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this"
"Get used to what, McGee?" Asked Gibbs "Blood?"
"Knowing that the blood belongs to someone you know" He replied.
He saw the blank look in on Gibbs face as if he had no idea what he meant.
"Doesn't matter, Boss" He said and took the NCIS issued camera from his bag.
"I understand, McGee, I felt the same way when Chris Pacci was murdered" Said Gibbs.
Gibbs phone rang and he answered.
"McGee head back to the car, we got a lead"
"What? Boss, I only just started?" Said McGee frantically packing his things back into his bag and trying to catch up to Gibbs on his way to their car.
Ziva and McGee stood watching Gibbs question Davis through the one-way glass. McGee was glad for Carl Davis' sake that there was a wall between him and Ziva, she had a fixed gaze on her face but something else was on her mind and he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"Why did you turn yourself in?" Asked Gibbs "It doesn't exactly happen very often"
"I wanted to do the right thing"
"Spare me the self righteous crap" Shouted Gibbs suddenly.
Carl Davis was quiet for a minute.
"But, I mean it. I wanted to do the right thing!" He said after a while.
"You wanted to correct your mistake you mean" Said Gibbs.
"Hey, I wasn't the one who stabbed your partner!" Said Davis defensivly.
"Then why did you have this on you?" Enquired Gibbs
He placed a kitchen knife on the table in front of him.
"Now I'm guessing that if I tested the blood on this knife, I'm sure I'd find out that it belongs Special Agent Dinozzo"
"Yeah, but the prints on it aren't mine, why do you think I wrapped it in a cloth first?" Said Davis.
"Then tell me what happened last night" Said Gibbs.
Carl Davis told him everything that happened from his perspective, from how Thorn had saved him from being arrested to how he'd knocked him out in his apartment and come here.
Ziva and McGee stood listening in silence, both pretending that the victim of the knife attack was just one more routine investigation.
They stood in Abby's lab as she told them what they already knew, that the knife was the one that had almost killed Tony and that it indeed belonged to Ray Thorn.
"That means we've got him" Said McGee, with a grin on his face.
"How's that McGee?" Asked Gibbs
"Well we've got his prints on the knife and Davis' statement" He replied.
"And do you think Thorn is just going to come walking in here, McGee?" said Gibbs
"We've got nothing until we find him" Added Ziva.
"I'll try to run a trace on his cell," Said Abby "But he's clever, it'll probably be switched off."
"Well now what?" Said McGee
Gibbs knew that now would be the time Tony would beg him to go undercover, but he wasn't there.
"You're going to buy some drugs, Tim"
"Boss, are you serious?" Said Tim.
"Yeah, Gibbs, McGee doesn't exactly scream out drug addict" Said Abby starting to worry.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Barked Gibbs. "Work with Abby, get a background sorted out, take some acting classes if you need to. This happens tonight"
"Isn't Gibbs being a little wreckless?" Said Ziva to Ducky.
They stood in the autopsy room alone. Ziva was still wondering what had made her open up to Ducky in particular about the pregnancy.
"Gibbs, knows what he's doing" He said "He won't let the same thing happen"
Ziva didn't look convinced.
"And besides you'll be there"
"Good point" She sighed "I never thought I'd ever see the day when I didn't trust Gibbs"
"Ziva promise you'll be careful"
"Why?"
"A blow to the abdomen can cause miscarriage especially in the early stages of pregnancy" He said.
"I will be careful, I could still lose this baby's father, will not lose my child too" She said
She had given her baby a lot of thought in a short space of time and come to the conclusion that though the pregnancy had come at an awful time, it had still come and she was still it's mother.