Territorial Dispute
072908
Disclaimer: Same as always, own nothing.
Summary: A fight, a gun, skills and some more headslaps.
Reviews: Yes, please. Love the warm fuzzies brought on by the lovely reviews in the inbox. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!
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Chapter 10
Tony looked up as the elevator dinged its arrival. It had been several minutes since Gibbs had recalled McGee and Mars back from the lab, more than long enough for them to return so a team could be sent out to take a statement from the Petty Officer's friend. Since it was a joint investigation Gibbs had to wait until Grant returned to the bullpen to send anyone out. As the two agents left the lift, Tony immediately picked up the off vibrations emanating from them. McGee was glaring at Mars with an expression that was a mixture of bafflement and irritation. Grant, for his part, was ignoring Tim but his face was stony; a visage that Tony was very familiar with. A growl sounded low in his throat. Ziva glanced across the aisle at him in shock. The Italian stood up very slowly, his teeth bared and a thunderous scowl marring his handsome features. He caught a glimpse of Ziva's curious face and almost visibly composed himself, inhaling deeply.
"What's the problem, McGee? What took you guys so long?" Tony's voice was deceptively mild.
"Nothing." Tim answered a little too quickly and with an indefinable look in his gray eyes.
"Nothing?" Tony questioned, his green gaze fixed firmly on Grant. He stalked around his desk to block the FBI agent's path back to McGee's desk. His extra sharp vision focused on Grant's shoulder. He stepped closer, invading the shorter man's personal space. "This" He plucked a long black hair from the luxurious brown material. "does not look like 'nothing'. Taking an extra personal interest in forensics, Mars?"
Grant barely glanced at the strand of inky hair that dangled from Tony's long fingers. "What I'm taking an interest in is none of your business, DiNozzo." He snarled. He shifted to go around Tony but the taller man matched his movement.
"Oh, I think it is." Tony stated ominously. "I won't let you hurt her."
"That's a good one." Grant snorted. "God, your memory is flawed. When have I ever been the one doing the hurting? Huh? Tell me, Tony." He took a step back to keep Tony out of his face but the taller man followed him relentlessly.
"Abby's different." Tony persisted.
Grant smiled unpleasantly. "Got that right, pal." He absentmindedly dropped the lipstick stained tissue into the closest trash can. Unfortunately it was Tony's. Sharp green eyes narrowed on the tissue. He leaned over and plucked it out of the bin.
"Is that lipstick? Abby's lipstick, Grant? You kissed her?" Tony spun around and pinned Tim with his glare. "And just what were you doing, Probie?"
"Well, I had to do a search on one of Abby's computers. Actually, she's the one who…" Tim began but stopped when Tony held a hand up.
"Forget it." He turned back to his ex-partner and help up the red and white tissue. "You explain it to me." He demanded. His voice could have dripped icicles.
"There's nothing to explain." Sapphire eyes glinted dangerously but Tony ignored the warning.
Ziva watched from her desk as the two men faced off. There was something about their posture that set off her Mossad trained senses. Moving slowly and in complete silence, she rose from her chair in preparation of possibly breaking up a fight.
Something deep inside Grant's head clicked, a sense that he'd been without for nearly six years snapped back into place. His back was to Ziva's desk and all of Tony's attention was focused on him to the exclusion of everyone and everything around them. Therefore it was a shock when Grant growled out a warning.
"Lady, I don't know who you are or what you think you're gonna do but my advice is to sit back down. I don't wanna hurt you." There was a subtle but distinct southern cadence to the dangerously snarled words.
At any other time the stunned surprise on Ziva's face would have made Tony grin in pure glee. He made a mental note to use it later to tease her but at the moment his attention needed to be on Grant.
"There is no way you could possibly hurt me." She countered confidently as she took a step to move around her desk and into the aisle.
In a move so smooth and quick it was difficult to see, Grant had his Sig Saur out of his holster and leveled at Ziva's shoulder. "Sit down." He warned again. She returned to her chair and lowered back into it, her eyes widening as the gun unerringly followed her although Grant's attention seemed to still be completely on Tony. She was astounded that anyone had gotten the drop on her, especially this FBI agent that she'd dismissed as unremarkable. The gun disappeared as quickly as it had materialized.
Gibbs watched the events closely from his desk chair. Unlike Ziva he sensed no imminent violence between the old friends. He was very interested to hear Grant's explanation of Abby's lipstick smeared all over that tissue though. He sat forward in his chair to better hear what was being said. Fornell hadn't mentioned the lightening speed of the new guy's gun hand. Jethro blinked as he realized Mars was left-handed. He wondered how Mars had known that Ziva had risen to make a move on him. The expression on the Israeli's face had been immensely entertaining. He'd never seen her so discomfited.
"Are you jealous, DiNozzo? Am I poaching somehow?" Grant questioned in a near whisper. The absolute silence in the team's area was the only reason anyone else heard. "You afraid your girlfriend's gonna prefer me to you?"
Tony sneered. "No, you're not poaching. Abby's my best friend not my girlfriend."
"Yeah? Broken her nose yet?" Grant asked snidely.
"Of course not! You know I don't hit women." Tony denied hotly.
"Hit on them though, right? Still go through girls like Kleenex then?" The shorter man asked contemptuously.
"Still 'want to get to know her first'?" Tony sniffed.
The chuckle that erupted from Grant did not sound amused at all. "If I did, would I have been kissing Abby already?"
"Yeah, about that. Explain. Now." Tony's green eyes bored into Grant's dark blue ones.
"Tony, in Grant's defense…." Tim broke off when their heads turned simultaneously and they fixed laser-like glares at him.
"Stay out of this." They snarled in tandem.
"What part of 'none of your business' did you miss the first time, eh, DiNozzo?" Grant's low voice warned Tony to back off.
For the second time, Tony missed the warning. He leaned closer into Grant's personal space. "I'm making it my business."
"Yeah, you're good at that, huh, Tony. Everything is your business. You feel free to meddle in anything you feel like regardless of anyone else's feelings. Are you sure Gibbs shouldn't rethink your security clearance?" Grant knew he was treading on dangerous ground but at the moment he was too pissed to care.
That was the last straw. Tony began shouting at Grant. Not to be cowed, Grant yelled back. Their voices rose and their words overrode each other until nothing of the argument could be determined by any of the onlookers. Gibbs noticed other agents from different teams beginning to look over partitions to see what the commotion was. Rising swiftly he strode over to the combatants and smacked them both on the back of the head. He smirked when their foreheads banged together from the force of the simultaneous headslaps.
"Ow!" Tony yelped. He didn't know what part of his head hurt worse, the front or the back. He sent a resentful glance at his boss.
"What the hell?" Grant rubbed his forehead and glared at Gibbs.
"Mars and David, go question the witness. Tony, help McGee sort through the property search." He waited. "What part of that did you people think was a suggestion? Move!"
Ziva stood and began collecting her gear, keeping one eye on Grant.
"This isn't over, Mars." Tony growled.
"Give it up, DiNozzo." Grant smirked as he began walking toward the elevator.
In the elevator…
Ziva eyed her companion carefully. "We have not been properly introduced. I am Ziva David. I am the Mossad Liaison Officer attached to NCIS."
Grant turned towards her as she spoke and extended his hand for her to shake. "Grant Mars, FBI, Missing Persons. Sorry about pullin' that gun on you. I didn't want you to get close enough for me to hurt you."
"You cannot hurt me." Her dark eyes gleamed with humor at the thought. She grasped his hand a little tighter than a normal handshake warranted.
Ziva was only an inch or two shorter than Grant so their gazes met evenly. "One of these days we'll have to see now, won't we?" He smiled as he issued the challenge and returned her grip. His eyes sparkled with intelligence and humor. The confrontation with Tony had restored something Grant had thought lost forever and his confidence had returned like a surge of heat through his veins.
Ziva stared into his eyes for several minutes while they rode the elevator down to the garage level. Almost against her will, she was charmed by him. Satisfied, she nodded and released his hand. "I think we will be fine." The elevator doors opened and she led the way to an agency issued Dodge. "I'll drive." She grinned evilly. "How is your stomach?"
"That reminds me…" Grant reached into his pocket a pulled out the Red Bull Abby had given him. He'd slipped it in there during the conversation with Tim in the elevator and had forgotten it during the argument with Tony. He popped the top with a sigh of pleasure. In the time it took for Ziva to unlock the car, he'd drained the can and crumpled it up. He paused with one foot inside the car and gazed around the garage for a moment. Seeing what he needed, he raised the hand holding the crushed can and lofted it towards the trash bin next to the elevator, sitting down in the passenger seat without checking to see if he'd hit his target. Ziva's eyes widened as the lightweight can sailed across the garage to land neatly in the bin.
He smirked as she slowly lowered herself into the driver's seat, buckled the belt and started the engine in shocked silence. "What? You think Tony's the only one who got athletic scholarships?"
"I do not believe I have ever met anyone quite like you, Agent Mars." Ziva stated as she guided the car out of the building. What Tony had said during lunch came back to her, 'He's got skills you couldn't even begin to comprehend.' She was beginning to understand the truth of that statement.
Abby's lab……
"Do I need to know why you're kissing some guy a few hours after you meet him?" Gibbs slid a fresh Caff-Pow onto the table next to the Goth's elbow.
She spun around in her chair and grinned up at him in delight. "He's got this voice…" She closed her eyes and shivered.
"Next time keep it out of the lab. Okay, Abs? DiNozzo damn near went ballistic on his ass." Jethro tugged on one of her ponytails. "Any results on that trace evidence?"
She shook her head and chewed on her straw. "No more than we already knew. This guy is really good. Not good in the good and not guilty sort of way but good in covering his tracks and not getting caught way. It's no wonder Grant's been chasing him for three years. If this is the kind of crime scene he always leaves…" She stopped and shook her head again.
"If there's anything, you'll find it." Gibbs kissed the top of her head and left to find coffee.
Abby turned to her machines. "You hear that, men? Bossman says we'll find it so let's get to it and get the goods on the dirtbag." At the end of her pep talk she went back over to the stereo and increased the volume to test tube jangling levels.
In the bullpen right after Ziva and Grant's departure….
"So, tell me, Probie. What were you doing while Mars was molesting Abby?" Tony's voice was casually menacing. He stood behind Tim's chair pretending to be helping with the computer search.
"I tried to tell you." Tim stated defensively, punching at his keyboard with unaccustomed violence. "Abby's the one who kissed him."
"I'm sensing some discord here, McGeek." Tony observed. "When you guys left you were best pals. When you came back the hostility was all but tangible. What's up with that?"
"I don't mind if Abby dates other guys. I really don't. We've been over for a long time. We're friends but Mars… he… it was like he cast a spell on her. She was speechless, Tony. I've never seen her like that. Then she grabbed him by the tie, pulled him in and kissed him." Tim shook his head and frowned.
"What happened before that? She didn't just kiss him, what did he do first?" Tony questioned. He listened closely as the younger agent related everything he'd seen prior to 'the kiss'. By the time Gibbs returned with fresh coffee both of his remaining team members were in front of their individual computers and, by all appearances, hard at work. A narrow-eyed glare from Jethro kept the peace in the office during the two and a half hours that elapsed before Ziva and Grant returned.
Later….
Gibbs suppressed the urge to laugh as Tony's and McGee's head shot up in tandem when the elevator signaled its arrival. The two younger men gaped openly while Jethro pretended to be fascinated by his email. With a bow that would have made Rhett Butler proud, Grant ushered Ziva out of the lift. She smiled at him and waited for him to exit as well. With their heads close together they continued their conversation. The three seated men strained to listen.
"You are lying to me. That is not possible." Ziva accused as she giggled.
'Giggle?' Tony thought. 'Ziva does not giggle.'
"It is, I swear. I'll show you sometime. If you want, I can teach it to you one day after work." Grant grinned at her before leaning closer and whispering in her ear. "Tony never could do it."
"Really?" She asked as she sent an assessing look at the glowering Italian, who suddenly found the file on his desk very interesting. "It's a date."
'What did he say to her? Why is she looking at me like that? When did Marvin turn into such a shameless flirt?' Tony's thoughts were as dark as his eyes as he covertly watched his ex-partner act completely out of character.
Complete silence reigned in the team area as Gibbs, DiNozzo and McGee watched their partner, a trained assassin, flirt with Mars.
"Report!" Gibbs barked out the order.
"Oh, there was nothing she could tell us that we could use." Ziva stifled her snickers and gave a not quite solemn summary to her boss.
"Ziva's right. I showed the witness a photo of Romar that I have on my PDA and she didn't recognize him. The description she gave us of Parker's new boyfriend was completely different." Grant added as he hopped up to sit on the edge of Ziva's desk. They continued the conversation they'd been having on the drive back and in the elevator but kept their voices lowered so the other three couldn't hear.
Gibbs watched them for a few minutes before picking up the phone and placing a call to a well known number. "Fornell. We need to talk."
TBC