Chapter Three A Lifetime Away
(Two weeks later)
Ziva took pictures of the body as Ducky and Palmer checked for a TOD. As she finished with the body she went onto the rest of the crime scene. The blood on the carpet, the broken lamp, the bullet shell that sat a few feet from the victim, the pillow that had a few burn marks in it from being shot through, and a few other things important to the case. Her mind wasn't there though. No, it was a million miles away. A lifetime away. In Afghanistan, with a very special agent who she was missing and hoping he'd come home safe. She missed that special agent to no end. Her thoughts were with him, praying softly he'd be okay, and return home with nothing more then a few bumps and bruises. She wanted him back so badly. She missed the simple teasing he always had. She missed the McNicknames, the "Probie" and "Probette" nicknames. She missed how he'd try to mess her up on certain things, to get her to mess up on seeing if he was lying or not.
Ever since he had left she didn't get a full night's sleep. She'd be asleep for a while then have a horrible nightmare, that just keep getting worse, even after she woke up. Her fears were slowly becoming real to her in the dreams. What she didn't know, was a few were becoming real, in the lifetime so far away.
McGee glanced at the Israeli woman as Gibbs talked to him. Tony's words came to his mind, "if anything happens to me, take care of the girls. Especially Ziva. I need you to do that for me." How would he be able to take care of them? Tony needed to come home, in one piece, alive to. If he ended up coming home in a coffin, he wouldn't know what to do. He wouldn't be able to handle having just him and Gibbs being the only guys on the team. The team, nothing would be the same without Tony.
As they walked into the squad room over to the bullpen Gibbs watched his two agents. He could visibly see the weight on McGee's shoulders left by Tony's absence. He also knew about Tony telling McGee to help take care of the girls if he never came home. The weight was too much on McGee. It was visible and affected how the young man reacted, and processed everything.
As he glanced at Ziva he saw her longingly glance at Tony's desk. That had become a normality lately. Her symptoms of missing Tony weren't as obvious but they were there. The lines underneath her eyes from lack of sleep was extremely obvious. Her quick peeks never went unnoticed from someone. Either Gibbs caught it, McGee, or Jenny. One of the three caught it. Even Abby, Ducky, and Palmer had seen it. The most evident one was the lack of enthusiasm she had. Oh, it never went unnoticed. When she did interrogations, that was the most obvious where the enthusiasm lacked. The fire wasn't there, the passion, the want to catch the person who had done wrong was gone. Her eyes didn't have an excited shine when they were coming close to catching the person. Nothing had any meaning for her unless Tony was there. There no meaning for anything without him. Tony had impacted the team. More now that he was gone and the chance for him to come back, was small.
Tony sat in the small cramped room that was a version of a hotel room. To him, it was more like his apartment bedroom. He was studying Arabic so he'd fit in easier then he did. He knew enough now to keep him alive but he needed more. It was good his undercover identity was a boss in the terrorist cells. It gave him extra time alone because no one wanted to bother him. If they did, they'd give him warning beforehand.
He read the notebook that Ziva had filled with Arabic things he needed to know to help him. She wanted him to be able to get what he needed, and safely so he could come home. Ziva. Just thinking about her made him homesick. He wanted to go now. Abandon the case and go see her. He wanted to see her gorgeous smile, the beautiful sparkle in her eyes, the fire and passion she had. It was, to him Heaven. He sighed and leaned back closing his eyes. He missed her so much. He missed the whole team as well but Ziva the most. The Israeli exotic woman was gorgeous to him. He loved her. He'd never admit it, but it was true. He loved her so much.
"Come on DiNozzo. Focus." He whispered to himself and began to study some more. He looked at Ziva's sophisticated handwriting. It showed how sophisticated she was and careful. He imagined what she'd be doing now. It was 9:00 P.M there so that meant it was 7:30 A.M back home. Ziva would probably be sitting at her computer working on a case with McGee and whoever was taking his spot until he got home.
He suddenly got a sobering thought. What if he died? That someone had figured out who he really was and he was killed? He wouldn't return home, alive at least. The person that was taking his spot would probably become a permanent team member. It probably was Lee. Or maybe they had gotten a new probie to take it. Someone McGee and Ziva could bug. If they felt up to it. Tony sighed. He wanted to finish quickly and get home fast. He missed the team. They were his family. He needed them more than anything. Which was why he needed to get home.
A/N;Sorry for the delay. Been busy with chores and such. I'm very happy with the reviews and responses I've been getting :) thank you all so much. I love writing this. So until I upload the next one, please review, alert, favorite, or whatever you do. Haha. Thank you all again. I love the response. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving :)