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 8: Breaking the News, and Hearts in the Process

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When Gibbs and Ducky returned to the Navy Yard, they were very aware that they were about to break Abby's and McGee's hearts.

They had spent the entire drive home contemplating every aspect of Tony and Ziva's likely situation and what they could do to help them. Unfortunately the answer both of them kept ending up with was: They had to convince everybody at NCIS that their former teammates are dead.

Hopefully that would give Ziva and Tony enough time to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers.

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Upon entering the building, Ducky and Gibbs parted ways, Ducky was to take care of the two, very real, bodies, ensuring that they would be accessible to no one but him before the necessary adjustments to their physical attributes had been made. The most important task was to switch out Tony and Ziva's dental records, because that would be the fastest and also most reliable way to identify the bodies. Other things, like taking care of the agent's DNA on record, would have to be taken care of later.

Gibbs was heading over to the cyber-crimes division to pick up McGee. Then he and McGee would go to Abby's lab where Gibbs planned to break the horrible news to both of them together.

He kept telling himself that he was doing this so they could support each other when they found out, but deep inside he knew the real reason was that he couldn't get through telling both of them separately. He would crack, he would offer them consolation by telling them the truth, that their friends were alive. Only to seriously decrease Tony and Ziva's lead significantly.

He sighed, walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. While riding up the two stories to the cyber-crimes offices, he briefly distracted himself by the thought that this elevator would make a much nicer conference room than the small one they had in the other building. But that image disappeared as soon as the car reached the third floor and the doors slid open, revealing McGee's new office.

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McGee sat at his new desk, he had barely settled into his new working area and was busy with arranging the contents of his new desk to his linking, though he wasn't sure if he'd ever find a new 'work-home', like the one he had enjoyed until the day before. Who would have thought that he'd miss Tony making fun of him all the time?

He was jerked from his day-dream when Gibbs' right hand connected with the back of his head.

"I need you to follow me to Abby's lab."

He was irritated, something seemed off. But he knew better than to ask Gibbs now, he would find out as soon as they were in Abby's lab.

"Sure, boss!", he said, chuckling at his used of the word boss for Gibbs. He'd always be his boss, no matter where he worked.

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Minutes later Gibbs and McGee entered the Lab, only to find Ducky, who was already with Abby. He had already taken care of the bodies and now wanted to be there when Gibbs told them. He didn't just want Gibbs to know that they were in this together, but he also wanted to be there for Tim and Abby when they found out.

Abby jumped to her feet, "Gibbs, what is going on, Ducky won't tell me anything, but from the looks on your faces something terrible must have happened!"

Gibbs looked at both of them, holding eye contact with each of them for a brief second, and took a deep breath before he started to speak.

"Abby, Tim, there has been an accident. This morning local police found a car at the bottom of a cliff in Virginia. … It was Tony's!"

"No!" Abby and McGee shouted at the same time. Abby started to shake, her legs feeling like jelly. Tim moved closer to steady her.

Gibbs continued, "They found two bodies in the car, one male, one female. We think they are Tony and Ziva's, but Ducky will find out soon."

Then Abby surprised all three of them by getting a grip on herself, jumping up and starting to work on her computer. Everybody looked at her, quite shocked she would carry on like that. But then she retrieved two freshly printed pages from her printer and handed them to Ducky, stating, "Let's prove it's not them."

Ducky looked at the pages, they contained the dental records from Tony and Ziva's files. Then he took the pages from Abby's hands, even though he already knew he wouldn't be able to offer her any good news, and left the lab in order to start the autopsy.

McGee stood in the middle of the Lab, motionless, silent, tears flowing down his cheeks. Gibbs laid a hand onto his shoulder which made him flinch before his mind could understand the reassuring gesture. At that point Abby pulled both of them into a group hug and kept stating that this had to be a mistake, over and over again.

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Almost an hour later Ducky reappeared, surprising himself with his calmness, and told them that the dental records of the bodies matches Tony and Ziva's.

Gibbs and Ducky exchanged a quick glance while Abby and McGee processed the information and broke down in front of them. Their look said it all: This better be worth it.

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