Of course I don't own any of the original characters, stories, concepts etc. of NCIS or otherwise, they belong to their respective owners. However, any characters and/or storylines that I created for this story are mine.
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Making Up for Lost Time
Chapter 7: Lost Friends
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Washington DC, the day after Vance broke up the team.
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After a long night of worrying and weighting his options, Gibbs had resigned to the fact that, at least right now, there was nothing he could do to get his team back together. All that was left right now was seeing Tony and Ziva off to their new destinations in the afternoon.
He'd been trying all morning to reach either of them on their cells, but hadn't had any luck with that. Were they just gonna leave without saying goodbye? He couldn't believe that, something must be wrong. His thoughts were interrupted when he realized that Ducky was standing at his desk.
"Jethro, ...," he started, visibly struggling to find the words for what he had to tell him.
"Ducky, have you been in contact with Ziva or Tony since yesterday?" Gibbs asked, not waiting for Ducky to find the words.
"Jethro, ..., there has been an accident, ..., they found Tony's car at the bottom of a cliff in Virginia this morning!" Ducky stated, struggling with his composition.
"Tony?" Gibbs asked, dreading to hear the expected answer.
"Yes," Ducky stood next to Gibbs, putting his hand on his shoulder, not just as a sign of empathy for his friend but also to steady himself as he felt his own legs wavering, "and a female body. The local coroner couldn't tell me much about her yet, because the bodies have been crushed and burned badly."
After getting through all that Ducky felt lightheaded. Gibbs realized that his old friend was about to collapse and supported him, sitting him down in the now unoccupied chair at McGee's old desk.
"Are you going to be alright, Duck?" Gibbs gave him a concerned look.
But Ducky wasn't even close to have an answer to that question.
"Jethro, just go, please find out if it's them!"
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Gibbs blasted off NCIS's parking lot, driving to the Virginia crash site, while putting Ziva's usually unmatched skills for insanely reckless driving to shame. After about 50 minutes he arrived at his destination, having cut the usually hour and a half long trip almost in half.
He approached the police band, flashed his badge and quickly located the detective in charge of the investigation. After a brief exchange he'd managed to convince him that there was sufficient reason to believe that the two charred bodies were NCIS agents and to turn the scene over to them.
Gibbs decided to take a quick look at the wreckage before he would call NCIS to deliver the horrible news. The car unmistakably was the same type as Tony had bought after he had lost his old Mustang to a failed bombing attempt against 'La Grenoullie's' daughter. The car was crushed and burned almost beyond any recognition, but after a while Gibbs found one of the license plates which identified the wreckage as Tony's car.
He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the forthcoming phone call to Ducky. For the second time within just a few days, he would lay upon him the responsibility to inform their colleagues at NCIS about the death of a coworker, actually, this time of two coworkers.
How could this have happened? What had they been doing all the way out here?
He sighed and flipped open his phone, dialing Ducky's number, who answered his phone just after the first ring.
"Jethro?"
"Yes, Ducky, I'm sorry, but it definitively is Tony's car. It fell off a ledge and exploded on impact. It's probably best if you bring Tony's and Ziva's dental records with you, when you come out. Ok?"
"I'm so sorry, Jethro! We will be there as soon as possible"
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Two hours later Gibbs and Ducky were talking to each other, standing safely out of earshot of all other LEOs at the crime scene, visibly relaxed.
Dr. Mallard had just informed Gibbs hat the female body definitely wasn't Ziva's. A quick study of her dental work had ruled that out. As for the male body, there weren't any telltale signs, like gold crowns, that would have helped to make an identification, but Ducky had found that he probably had been built too small to be Tony. Together with the negative identification on Ziva that was enough for them to hope that they were alright.
"Thank god, Ducky!" Gibbs exclaimed.
"Just remember, for now I have only done a best guess analysis, even though I am quite hopeful that the autopsy will verify these preliminary findings," Ducky explained.
"I think Ziva realized that she wouldn't be that welcome back at Mossad, that they even might think of her as a security risk!"
"So, they would have fired her?"
"Not the way Mossad deals with people they deem not to be trustworthy anymore, Ducky!"
"Oh, I see! But why has she taken Tony with her? Or do you think these two finally got their act together?"
"It certainly looks that way, Ducky! Not to play down the gravity of their situation, but there is nothing more efficient that a crisis to motivate people to get their act together."
"I was thinking, maybe it would be best ..." Ducky started to explain.
"... be best if they, at least officially, had died in that car wreck?" Gibbs finished Ducky's thought.
"What about Abby and McGee? We should at least tell them that they are alright."
"No, I'm sorry Ducky, but if Tony and Ziva really are on the run, the less people know about this, the better. We will tell them eventually, but for now Ziva's and Tony's safety is more important. Ever hour we can help them gain on Mossad will help them to disappear."
"You probably are right," Ducky sighed.
They organized the processing of the crime scene by the backup team Ducky had brought with him and also took care that the car and the two bodies would be transported to NCIS as soon as possible, so that Ducky would be able to fake their friends death.
The trip back to the Navy Yard was dominated by silence, both thinking about what they were about to do to Abby and McGee, only to be consoled by the knowledge that it would help Tony and Ziva.
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