A/N – Here is another chapter for you. Still have a lot going on!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters.

Chapter 8

Wednesday October 23, 2013

"Wow, Gibbs, your driving is horrible! It is a good thing there was no food in my stomach!" Ziva said, clutching at her stomach as they finally parked in the NCIS parking lot.

Gibbs chuckled. "You okay, Ziva?"

"I think so," she said. "I do not know how this elevator ride is going to go. Those usually make it a little worse."

"Here, have a cracker," Gibbs said and handed her a couple.

Ziva looked appreciatively at Gibbs. She was genuinely grateful for the crackers. She nodded as she crutched toward the elevator and Tony held her crackers for her. They got in and waited while it rose up to the squad room. It was already noon and Tony wondered what had been found, or not, about the case now that there was more evidence to work with.

The doors opened to reveal Jen sitting at a desk with a sling on her shoulder, Abby hopping around and looking at the big screen and sorting through everything they had so far and Jenny sitting at her desk, looking ill and holding her chest (Vance had obviously called her in, even though she had pneumonia).

Gibbs walked out of the elevator with Tony and Ziva. Vance was staring down from the catwalk and shaking his head as he saw Tony and Ziva so close to one another. He could see that Tony obviously cared about Ziva, but he just couldn't see how they had honestly ended up married when they never got along, other than making it so they could not testify against each other.

"DiNozzo and DiNozzo, my office, please," Vance said quietly and walked away from the catwalk.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other and sighed. They went toward the next elevator and got in. When it opened they made their way over Vance's office and went in without knocking.

"I have some paperwork to do for you two," he said. "First thing is first. Ziva, can I call you David?"

"No," she said. "That's not my last name. It is legally changed to DiNozzo."

"Why?"

"Because I'm married, Director, to Anthony DiNozzo," Ziva said narrowing her eyes, knowing exactly what the director already thought.

"Why did you two get married, and don't tell me because you love each other. I have witnessed the way you two act around each other at the office for the last five years. There is no love there. An attraction, yes, but love, no."

"Then, we have nothing to say, Director," Tony replied.

"People are asking questions, Tony," Vance said. "I've got Agent Fornell from the FBI on my case for this. I've got one from the CIA on my case as well. Also there's Parsons from the DoD on my case about it. They all think that it's something that you say it isn't. They think what I think, and I don't know how to defend you when I don't buy it myself."

"Then, have Gibbs defend us," Ziva suggested.

"He was never great with politics. Okay. I'll file the paperwork for you two, since you are married," Vance said. "That's a lot of paperwork. I need an updated address for both of you."

"We both live at the same apartment I was living at before we resigned," Tony said.

"You are both living there?" Vance asked.

"We are married, Director. Of course we are living together," Ziva said, narrowing her eyebrows more. "Excuse me, I need the ladies room, not feeling very well."

Ziva got up and left the office, looking rather pale.

"They discharged her while she was still in shock?" Vance asked.

"She's not in shock, Vance," Tony said. "She was not feeling well before she was shot. But we were both coming in anyway, because we knew you needed the help. You didn't have to call Jenny in while she's sick. McGee and I can handle the field work."

"Jenny's not in the field and I needed hands in the office too. I'm down a lot of agents because of this mess. I'm going to need any list of enemies that either you or Ziva have. I'm making them all give me lists, even if they have not been targeted yet," Vance said. "It feels like only a matter of time before McGee, Gibbs, and Jenny are targets. Perhaps even Ducky. I would hate to see it go this way. Go down, get to work."

Tony left the small office and wandered into the ladies' room. Ziva was at the sink washing her hands and face. Tony walked right to her and pulled her into a hug.

"How are you?"

"A little better than I was a minute ago," she admitted. "Come on, let's get to work so we can get this day over with, then we can get back to what we were doing this morning."

Tony smiled at her and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. "As you wish, my love," he whispered to her and led her out of the bathroom and into the elevator.

Gibbs stood up as soon as Ziva and Tony were back. They went to sit at their desks.

"Where's McGee?"

"We got the angle on where the sniper should have been when he shot Ziva," Abby said. "We think it's the same one that missed me, Gibbs. There are the same striations on the full metal jacket that were on the two in my apartment, which means that they were fired from the same weapon. And, if his misses on me are any indication, then it is a safe bet to assume that he was after Ziva's life, not her leg. McGee is looking now to see if he policed his brass or left it behind. I'm trying to get a location on where the sniper was in my case, but that's a little more difficult because I don't know the exact direction the bullets came from. I'm working on it."

"Good work, Abs," Gibbs said, kissing her on the cheek and turning to Jenny. "You're sick, why are you here?"

"I'm feeling a little better," Jenny admitted. "Doctor cleared me for desk duty last week anyway, so here I am."

"You need to be careful, Jenny," Gibbs said. "I don't know if someone is just after my girls, or if someone is after my team."

"I realized that," Jenny said, looking at Jen, Ziva, and Abby.

"Do you think they realize that Abby is staying with McGee? Should we all find a place to go that's safe?" Tony asked nervously.

"We're all going to be staying in a safe house," Gibbs said. "I sent Dornegat to grab your go-bags out of your cars. That way we are safe. We're taking two Navy cars over there. It won't be too cramped yet. There's only eight of us."

McGee walked back into the bullpen with a smile on his face.

"Not policing his brass. Looks like he fired two shots from up there. I also found the other bullet. I would like to get a trajectory, but my guess is that he was aiming for Tony. This is not a very good sniper, boss," McGee said, smiling at the girls that were in the squad room now.

"Abs, get down and run it fro prints and DNA," Gibbs said as Abby took the bullets and walked away with them. "McGee, get to work on the trajectory from Abby's place, work with her if you have to. Jen were you shot at close range, or no?"

"It was a 9mm that shot Jen," Tony said. "I'll work on the trajectory from that. Boss, you think this is all related?"

"Has to be," he said. "But, by who?"

"The rest of you, I need a list of enemies and any you might have made recently. Jen, if you could get me a list of Isaac's enemies as well, and we'll call it incomplete until he can come home and tell us it's complete, go ahead."

Everyone got to work on that. It was going to be a long day.

Around three, Gibbs looked up. He noticed that Ziva had her head down on her desk and was sleeping peacefully. He looked over at Tony who was watching her from his computer and smiling slightly at her. He glanced at Jenny who was working diligently and smiled. Then, he looked over at Jen who was rubbing her shoulder. He grabbed some Tylenol from his desk and walked over to her with a bottle of water.

"Here, take this," he whispered to her. "Should help a little with the pain."

"Is Ziva sleeping?" Jen asked her father.

"Appears that way," Gibbs said with a shrug. "Leave it alone. She's had a long day. I'm heading to Abby's lab."

Gibbs left the squad room then. He got down and found that McGee and Abby were glaring at each other from across the room. He shook his head silently, apparently there was trouble in paradise.

"What do you got?"

"A fingerprint that is not in the system. I've checked everything," Abby said. "I keep coming up blank. I wanted to hack into all agencies to double check, but McGee said I needed Vance's approval for that. He also thinks that I must have missed the sniper that I was facing since it came from over here somewhere. He is still working on where over there, since there are multiple locations that can get into my apartment from that angle."

"Are you two fighting?" Gibbs asked with a sigh.

"No, boss," McGee said at the same time that Abby said, "Yes."

"Want to take a moment to get your stories straight?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes," McGee said while Abby said, "No."

"You two might be the death of me," Gibbs said shaking his head.

"Sorry," they both said at the same time.

"Well, at least you agree on one thing. Whatever it is, fix it. Can't have my only two functional people fighting."

"Hey!" McGee said. "Tony is still functional."

"You didn't see him in that waiting room this morning, McGee," Gibbs said honestly. "I would not call that functional."

"He was fine when I arrived at the scene this morning."

"He was not fine while Ziva was in surgery," Gibbs said. "Trust me, you don't want to know. I get it."

"If you get it then it's serious, Gibbs," Abby said.

"Oh, it is serious," Gibbs said with a stern look at his two agents. "I'm hoping Jenny is better soon enough to help with this, to really help with this. But, I'm a little afraid of what it will do to her, considering so far it was only the women who were targeted."

"No, they went for Tony, too," McGee said. "Here's the analysis on the trajectory. It passed within inches of where his head was. If he had not looked down to see Ziva bleeding, then he would be dead with his brains on the sidewalk."

Gibbs swallowed hard. "Someone's after my team and I want to know who!"

He left the lab, without giving either of them praise after working so hard. He stormed back into the squad room and made his way up the catwalk, seeing that Agent Fornell was up there.

"Tobias," Gibbs said.

"Don't Tobias me, Gibbs," he said angrily. "I need a word with you! What the hell happened in Israel and how the hell can you condone those two getting married! You realize they only did it to save their own asses, right?"

"Tobias?" Gibbs asked.

"Agent Kort from CIA was shot this morning. They got his hip. He's at Bethesda," Fornell said. "All we know is that he was with you. We took the case."

"Any leads?" Gibbs asked.

"It's not your case, Gibbs," Fornell said. "I'm here about Tony and Ziva DiNozzo."

"Marriage is real," Gibbs said with a shrug. "Reason I ask is, if you hadn't noticed, I have one in a sling and one on crutches. Tony's brains should be all over a sidewalk by his apartment and Abby's should be all over her apartment. What the hell is going on and do you know anything about it?"

Fornell walked toward the elevator and both men stepped in. Fornell was the one who shut it off this time.

"Okay, here's what I know for sure. The DoD investigator, Parsons, has been fishing at both the FBI and CIA lately, as well as here. He is digging and looking for something to use against anyone. He is digging deeper and deeper. A lot of his questions have to do with you and your team. There's another CIA agent that are missing at the moment and we're not sure where she is. CIA Ray Cruz was let off and is also missing at the moment. I think there is more going on here than we are seeing. And we have also noticed strange activity from our cyber decision at the DoD."

"Who's the missing agent?" Gibbs asked.

"She's new and you aren't going to like it," Fornell said. "EJ Berrett. The DoD agent we're having issues with is also something you aren't going to like. It's Delilah. But that's all we can get on her. Only her first name. No last name, no DNA, medical records, or fingerprints. It's strange."

"Not good, got to talk to McGee," Gibbs said, turning the elevator back on.

He entered the squad room to find McGee at the big screen with Abby and the others pouring over the evidence one more time.

"McGee!" Gibbs said. "I need to know everything you can tell me about Delilah. Tony, I need to know everything you can tell me about EJ Berrett."

Both men looked at Gibbs and noticed Fornell standing there.

"It's a joint investigation now," Gibbs told them. "Fornell's got a case involving Trent Kort, who was shot this morning and is still at Bethesda."

"Boss, that was years ago, I don't know as I would consider her an enemy," Tony said, not looking at Ziva.

"I wasn't dating her that long!" McGee argued at the same time.

"And, Ziva needs to tell us all she can about Ray Cruz," Fornell said at the same time.

All three men looked at each other and then turned to Ziva.

"He's free?" she asked, looking pale and swaying a little in place.

Tony walked to her side just as her eyes slipped closed and she went to fall over. Tony caught her and lowered her slowly to the ground. He caressed her face as her eyes fluttered back open.

"You okay, Zi?" he asked.

"I... I think so," she said. "Just got really lightheaded. I think I need some lunch."

"Well, you've hardly kept anything down. How about some soup, if we can find some in this building," Tony said.

"I will go get some!" Palmer offered. "What kind of soup?"

"Chicken," Ziva said, sitting up and shaking her head a little, still feeling a little feint.

"Do you want to go back to Bethesda and get it looked at?"

She shook her head. "No. Not unless it continues. But, I do need to call… that place."

"Ah, yes, that place," Tony said quietly. "We can do that while you eat something. Is that one of the symptoms?"

"Yes," Ziva said.

"We'll continue this tomorrow, Gibbs," Fornell said. "I can see your team needs a little rest. Also, I need to discuss those two further tomorrow. I have some evidence that points toward it being falsified. I'd also like to question them myself tomorrow."

"Whatever you need to do, Fornell," Gibbs said.