NCIS Headquarters - 0830
McGee hangs up the phone looking confused, "Still no word from Ziva."
"That update brought to you by Hall Monitor McGeek." Tony sends the crumpled paper airborne as he speaks. With no new case to pursue he is making use of his favorite supplies but he too wonders where his partner is this morning. She prides herself on arriving to work early. Last night, Ziva called him but he missed it and his return call went straight to voicemail.
"It's been 90 minutes and, unlike you, Ziva's not usually late to work." McGee is a worrier unable to hide his concern as well as Tony and Ziva by deflecting serious situations with jokes.
"She's been late plenty. Just because she gets here before you doesn't mean she's on-time." Tony leans back, feet on his desk as he tries not to stare at the empty desk across from him.
"Excuse me." McGee is not the least bit amused by what Tony is implying.
"Look, she probably had a late night with Daddy and overslept. When your daddy's the Director of Israeli intelligence you are allowed to be late for work." Ziva didn't strike Tony as the type of person getting favors from her father but today he hopes that is exactly what's going on. He doesn't even want to consider the alternative.
Abby bounces in followed by Ducky, "Who's Ziva having sex with?"
At the mention of sex Tony sits straight up in his chair, "Who said anything about sex Abbs?"
"You did. Everybody knows 'late night with daddy' means sex." Abby is matter of fact in her statement, mildly annoyed that the others are acting as if they don't understand her.
Tony laughs and McGee looks at her strangely before clearing up the confusion, "She was meeting her father last night."
"Oh." Abby's irritation is quickly replaced by embarrassment as she plops herself down in Gibbs' chair.
Tony resumes his earlier position now watching Ducky inspect Ziva's vacant workspace, "What are the two of you doing up here anyway?"
"Director Shepherd asked Abby and I to come up here. Said she had an announcement. Have you called Ziva?" Noticing the absence of a few personal items from the desk, the older gentleman is curious about Ziva's absence as well.
McGee checks his cell phone for the second time in minutes, "Her phone goes straight to voicemail."
Abby's eyes are glued on Tony as he makes a beeline to McGee's desk.
"McGee, you didn't say that. You said Ziva wasn't answering." Tony's fired up. Not answering is one thing, straight to voicemail quite another. Ziva wouldn't break Gibbs' rule by turning her phone off or being careless enough to let it run out of juice. None of them would.
"I thought you weren't worried." McGee can't resist gloating as Tony loses his cool. Abby and Ducky smile at the one-upmanship of the two men.
"After you're done arguing, perhaps one of you could go check on her to make sure she's okay." Ducky can always be counted on to be the voice of reason. He is the wise, grandfather figure to the team.
Exiting the elevator Director Shepherd approaches the team, "That won't be necessary. Where's Gibbs?"
"Right here," Gibbs arrives right on cue as always. This morning he spent two hours in MTAC watching the latest surveillance tapes to avoid the questions that he is sure have been the topic of conversation between his McGee and DiNozzo for the past hour. He left last night aware that there were only two possible outcomes for Ziva. The empty desk when he arrived at 0630 indicated to him what outcome the Israelis had chosen. Even with all of his experience, it is a difficult reality to accept that she would not be returning, that the rest of his team would not be able to say goodbye to her. Not sharing her trust in Israel or Mossad, he hopes that she is alive, that she can take care of herself as well as she believes, that her final act as NCIS liaison officer does not end her life.
Director Shepherd smiles at Gibbs' ability to sneak up on her, "Now that we're all here. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Special Agent Gibbs is no longer a marked man."
"Congratulations Boss," DiNozzo smiling smugly is now standing next to Gibbs and his words are met with a slap to the back of the head which successfully diverts any other well wishers.
Gibbs remains serious, "How?"
Shepherd is surprised by Gibb's seriousness and scans his face for answers, "Not quite sure but reliable sources say that the hit has been cancelled. All a misunderstanding."
Gibbs' response clearly communicates his dissatisfaction with the information, "Since when do misunderstandings come with body counts?"
It did not go unnoticed by anyone that Gibbs was less than thrilled, even for him, at the news that he was no longer the focus of any assassination plot.
The elevator dings and everyone looks to see if it is Ziva. Everyone, that is, except Jethro Gibbs and Jenny Shepherd who stand staring each other down.
With caution in her voice Abby asks the dreaded question, "So what's the bad news?"
"Officer David is not late, she has new orders." Shepherd pauses awaiting the reactions of those around her. She was not looking forward to this conversation with this particular group knowing the strength of their commitment to one another and their stubbornness all too well.
"New orders?" McGee asks innocently. Relieved that Ziva is safe, this is not what he expected to hear.
Abby and Ducky exchange confused glances as they try to decipher the looks on the faces of those around them. Gibbs stands against his desk looking up towards MTAC.
Tony silently stares a hole in the floor as his mind goes into overdrive processing the idea of Ziva's transfer. He knew something was wrong when he saw her number last night. She knew that she wasn't coming back.
"Immediate recall to Israel. I received the orders at my home this morning." To say she was shocked upon receipt of the documents this morning is an understatement. She had been on the phone for the better part of the past three hours trying to find out how the reassignment happened and how she could reverse it. She did not want to lose Ziva anymore than the rest of the team.
"Home delivery? Who knew she was so important?" Tony rolls his eyes.
Jenny takes a deep breath. She predicted that DiNozzo and Gibbs would have the hardest time accepting the news, the least likely to tow the line. "I don't know. They're from the Director of Mossad himself. "
"Daddy dearest strikes again." Shaking his head Tony goes back to sit in his chair, his humor thinly veiling his disgust.
"Where did they send her?"
The stare accompanying Gibbs' question is so intense that Jen swears he's staring right through her. She looks around at the faces of the team then, raising an eyebrow, speaks feeling as if she will choke on a single word, "Iraq."
"I thought my dad was bad. I need to send him some cigars." Tony puts his hands over his face as he leans back once again.
A disgusted Gibbs throws his coffee cup in the trash with a splash then walks out towards the elevator.
"Can we find out why?"
Abby and Ducky share an empathetic look at McGee's comment. He is a man who relies on logic and they all know that this does not make any sense.
Shepherd looks at him and walks away as well.
Abby walks over and slaps McGee, "Did you miss the part where the orders were from the Director himself."
Abby's Lab 1000:
Gibbs comes down the elevator relieved to be alone. He left the morning meeting without a word confident he needed to hear no more of the political spin. He knows he'll have to sit down with Jenny soon enough. He doesn't need to do it twice.
Gibbs marches into the lab like a man on a mission, "Abby have you seen DiNozzo or McGee?"
"Hi Abbs. Isn't that horrible about Ziva? Yeah absolutely, Mossad is stupid."
"Abby," Gibbs is not amused, "McGee and DiNozzo."
Abby looks up thinking, "I think they said something about lunch."
"It's 10:00" Gibbs is suspicious of everything today. He wasn't thrilled to have Ziva join the team but he is even less thrilled to have her stolen away. It's his team and he does not appreciate it being manipulated for politics, revenge or any other reason.
Abby shrugs her shoulders knowing exactly what the two men are up to. As much as she is loyal to Gibbs, some things are better if he doesn't know about it. This is one of them.
Irritated Gibbs walks out rolling his eyes, "They'd better not be doing anything stupid"
As the elevator doors open, Gibbs is greeted by Director Jenny Shepherd.