Ziva caught herself on a tree branch to halt her uncontrolled slide down the embankment and into the river. The last thing she needed was another unplanned soaking today. A moment later, McGee crashed into her. "Sorry. I was aiming for the tree, but…"

"It is all right, McGee." She gave him a moment to release the tight grip he had on her waist. "Perhaps we should continue down?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry."

"Stop apologizing, McGraceless." Tony gave McGee a headslap on the way by, throwing off his balance enough to make him grab Ziva for support again. "It's like you two have never walked downhill before."

Ziva left McGee with the tree branch to follow Tony to the wrecked car, illuminated by powerful portable lights. "The way down is dark and damp and steep."

"Yet here I am, standing close enough to make a rough ID on the body without breaking a sweat." He held up their photo of Terry Sutton beside the blank, bloodied face propped against the steering wheel before calling up toward the road, "It's her, Boss. Definitely dead, probably for a while."

"And not from the accident!" Ziva added loudly as she snapped on a pair of gloves.

"What're you…?" Tony grimaced as he tilted his head to look where she was pointing. "Ah. That's a pretty big bullet hole. No trouble establishing cause of death there, then."

"I shall be the judge of that, my boy."

They turned to greet Ducky, but were surprised to see Jimmy Palmer holding up a radio. He looked at the ground. "Dr. Mallard thought I could handle the initial exam."

"You just need to clear the body, Mr. Palmer. If possible, I would suggest leaving it in place until the winch has arrived and allow it to be pulled up still in the car."

A little over an hour later, they were struggling back up the slope along the trail the car had re-gouged, carrying several bags of assorted evidence. Ziva felt a hand on her butt pushing her up over a boulder. "I do not need any help, Tony."

"Hey, just trying to, uh, you looked like you were having a little trouble there, so I…well, hopefully we can get through all this stuff fast so you can get home to CI-Ray."

She was unable to stop herself from muttering, "Assuming he is there."

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Not at all. Ray had to go to Langley to handle some kind of emergency, so our night was not ruined."

"I thought you said he was taking a couple weeks off."

"He is. But it is just Langley and just for a few hours."

It was dark, but she knew Tony was smirking. "So…never any special plans?"

"Perhaps over the weekend. Tonight, we reheated last night's leftovers and I did laundry."

"How domestic. When you get home will you be pressing his shirts and darning his socks?"

Though she wasn't sure why she would be cursing at socks, she didn't ask for clarification. "I was actually just washing my clothes. You know, the ones covered in saltwater from…"

"Yeah, yeah. I caused you to be attacked by bloodthirsty rogue dolphins. I knew I should have sprung for something ritzier than Five Guys to get you to forget about that. What you really should have done is saved up for your muddy, leafy clothes from tonight that are in no way my fault."

She glanced down to see that he was right. "We are all muddy from the scene. It is not something that could have been avoided."

"And yet some of us are looking so much better than others. Need a leg up, McGooey? I can put my gloves back on."

McGee scowled as he clambered up the slope past them. He did look worse for wear after stumbling into a particularly boggy patch of ground near the front of the car. Ziva was about to offer that at least he had found his shoe, but thought better of it. She climbed over the last obstacle and walked toward the truck to deposit her bag of evidence.

Tony was beside her a moment later. "Want me to check you for ticks?"

"Excuse me?"

"Y'know, ticks. The little disease-carrying bloodsuckers? I'll do you, you do me?"

Gibbs interrupted before she had gotten angry enough at the suggestion to resort to physical violence. "DiNozzo! Something was missing when they loaded the car on the flatbed. Where's the front bumper?"

"Is that what that noise was when they were pulling the car up? Because I think it might be all the way at the bottom of the…"

"So go down to the bottom and get it."

"Y'know, McGee was just saying how much he enjoyed climbing down the first time, so it would really be unfair if I…where is McGee?" He paused to take a breath. "Yeah, on my way, Boss."

Ziva could feel Gibbs watching her as she made sure the evidence Tony had brought up was carefully stowed. "Is there something else?"

He leaned against the back door of the truck. "Agent Cruz is working tonight."

"Yes. How did you…?"

"You and DiNozzo are louder than you think."

"Right."

He was quiet again while she finished packing the gear, but held up a hand to help her jump down. "He's not gonna stop doing what he's doing."

"Tony keeps his voice down when the circumstances…"

"Ziva…"

"I know what you meant. What I do not know is why everyone is so interested in my relationship with Ray?"

He shrugged. "We care. It's tough to be with someone you can't be with."

"Thousands of military families manage it."

"Yup. And they'll tell you it's hard."

"Gibbs, I do not mean to pry, but…"

He nodded. "Personal experience."

"And it was worth it."

"For me? Oh yeah. Doesn't make it less hard."

"You think Ray and I…?"

"I don't think anything. I just want to make sure you think about it."

"I…"

"McGee's already gone with the flatbed. I'm goin' for coffee. See you back at NCIS with the bumper. And DiNozzo."

She watched Gibbs walk into the darkness toward his car. "That was odd."

"Tell me about it." Tony suddenly appeared, brushing dead leaves off his filthy jacket and pants. "I'm gonna be pissed if we don't get some awesome evidence off this stupid thing." He tossed the mangled plastic bumper into the back of the truck. "There's, like, a tiger trap halfway down that we somehow missed before."

"Tiger trap?"

"A pit covered over with leaves and stuff so you can't see it? Well, at least now I know which movies you need to see next time CI-Ray is CI-away."

She pulled back the keys to the truck, which she had been about to offer him. "Shut up, Tony."