A/N Okay, hey there! I just wanted to say,(on top of how grateful I am that you're reading this) is that this is set maybe around season 5-7? Just in case you were wondering or confused or anything:)
"Have I ever told you that I hate seagulls?" Tony said, glaring at the seagulls circling overhead. The pair trudged over the sand, the beach, where tourists and locals usually crowded in, empty.
"And why is that, Tony?" Ziva asked, pulling her NCIS ballcap over her dark brown hair, which was pulled back into a bun. Right on cue, a seagull flew past, leaving Tony a gift on his right shoe.
"Oh, come on! I just shined these!" he moaned, sticking a gleaming black shoe out in front of him, a look of disgust on his face. He glared towards the sky again, and then at Ziva. "Why didn't it happen to you?"
"Because you are you, Tony." She stuck her face in Tony's line of sight, the smile that annoyed him, and made him feel like slapping her hung across her face like a banner. "And because you're a seagull magnet, not a chicken magnet."
"It's 'chick magnet', Ziva. Anyone would have thought that your English would have improved after all this time in the States." Before them, the yellow crime scene tape marked out the crime scene, just within reach of the ocean's waves, the dead body in the middle like a crown jewel.
"My English has improved, Tony." Ziva said. "I just don't want to waste the improvement on you."
"Whatever. Boy, am I glad that I didn't ride with Gibbs." Tony said, as the pair ducked under the crime scene tape. McGee had already started bagging and tagging the evidence, the mustache on his face had not yet been removed. "Damn. It's so sandy." Tony said, shaking a shoe.
"It's the beach, Tony, a beach has sand. So it's sandy." Ziva said, matter-of-factly.
"You guys are early." McGee said, standing up to greet the pair. He glanced at Tony's shoes and smirked, eyes reading 'It's payback time'. "Well, Tony, guess Christmas came a little earlier than you did."
"It usually does, McGeek." Tony said, scowling at McGee.
"Ducky's early." Ziva's remarked, and asked. "You two should stop bitching."
"Bickering." Tony and McGee corrected, in unison. Ziva raised her hands in defeat. Not the best time to mess with those two.
"You should have let Ziva drive." McGee said, obviously not taking any notice of Ziva, and bent down to take a few shots of evidence, and a stray one up at Tony. Ziva chuckled, while Tony scowled.
"Oh, he did. But I made the mistake of letting him map read." She said, looking around. "Where's Gibbs? Didn't he ride with you?" McGee stood again.
"Hey boss." Ziva froze, while Tony smiled for the first time since entering the crime scene. A 'smark', as McGee had once called it.
"Talk to me." Gibbs ordered, taking a sip from his coffee cup.
"Where did he get that from?" Tony murmured. Gibbs stared at him, daring him to go on. "Right boss. Petty officer Charles Petrelli. Worked at Quantico. Found buried in the sand by a whole bunch of teens." He sniggered. "Too bad he couldn't fly away like Nathan." There was a long pause.
"Nathan?" McGee enquired, voicing what Ziva and Gibbs had obviously been thinking. Tony smiled again, nervously.
"Nathan Petrelli? Heroes? You know, the guy who can fly?" More blank stares. "Oh, never mind." Gibbs' expression barely changed, just that his already icy blue eyes became icier, if that was even possible. "Work. On it, boss." Gibbs nodded, and headed over to Ducky.
"Hey Duck." Gibbs said, pulling out a spiral notepad. "Got a time of death?" Ducky waved a dismissive hand at Palmer, who fled to drag the gurney into the scene.
"I can't be too sure." He said. "Seeing that he was buried in the sand, and the irregular temperature changes, and-"
"Duck..." Gibbs said, already looking bored. Ducky stopped.
"Sorry, Jethro." He said, picking off a few maggots of the body. "But my educated guess would be, maybe around a week." He put the maggots into a glass evidence case. "I think Abby can tell us more with these. Cause of death seems to be the gunshot wound to the heart, size of wound says a 9mm."
"Thank you, Duck." Gibbs said, keeping his pen and notepad.
"Hey boss." McGee called. Gibbs turned, and saw the rest of his team apparently standing around doing nothing. "Found something."That was more like what Gibbs wanted to hear, and he went over.
"Shell casing. 9mm." Tony said. Ziva smiled.
"Which would explain the gunshot wound to the heart." She said, trying to look serious, and failing. "Something personal?" Gibbs turned to Tony and Ziva, looking carefully, and stared.
"Did you two exchange bodies today? Because that's not really the Ziva I know." Gibbs demanded, eyes flashing.
"No." the pair said in unison, trying not to feel anything which could very well condemn them, especially when Gibbs was angry.
"Then Ziva, beware of the DiNozzo syndrome." Ziva nearly smirked, but managed to prevent it.
"Boss!" Tony protested. Gibbs nearly pounced on him.
"And you? If you're trying to be Ziva, it's not working. Try to act like the senior field agent you actually are." Gibbs said, sounding really annoyed and impatient. "You three. Ride back together. I want a full presentation later."
The three barely croaked a word, as Gibbs brushed past a smiling Palmer- whose smile completely withered under Gibbs' glare- and could only watch as their boss stormed off. "This is not good. Gibbs has only walked off a crime scene once, and things did not turn out well." Tony said. The other two nodded weakly, remembering the last time it had happened and its aftermath: the fall of a senator.
"Yeah." McGee said, the camera still slung around his neck. "Except that the victims of this could be us. Thanks a lot, Tony."
"You know what, McGee? You really look much more serious with that mustache."
"Shut up, Tony!" McGee yelled. Ziva stepped forward, and smacked the two on the back of their heads, like Gibbs would have done.
"What?!" they demanded, eyes flashing with anger.
"Stop it!" Ziva hollered. "Just stop it! You two are being so immature."
"Well, thank you for pointing that out, Miss David." Tony spat. "Although, oh wait! It was you who made Gibbs angry in the first place!"
"I guess I learned that from you!" Ziva barked, obviously in 'full scene mode', as their forensic specialist, Abby, had once said. Ziva too, flounced off, fuming. Tony and McGee turned to Ducky and Palmer, as Ziva was soon out of sight.
"Don't start on me, gentlemen." Ducky said. "And pardon me for saying this, but I think this particular storm has been brewing for some time." The body had been loaded onto the gurney, and Ducky and Palmer started off.
Tony and McGee returned to the rest of the crime scene in silence. Life had to go on even in the midst of all the unhappiness in the air. "Um… McGee? I think we have a problem." Tony piped up a few moments later.
"What is it now, Tony?" Tony gulped nervously.
"Ziva had the car keys."
A/N: Hi, if you're actually reading this, thank you so much!:) It really means a lot to me! Um, well, comment and follow/favourite/share?(if you want to^^) Hang around for the next instalment !:)
- Eliza:)