Attention: Still not corrected by a Beta. (help me?)

Previously:

"No. You stay put," he said more quietly this time as he came to a stop in front of her desk, looking her in the eyes as he said so.

Defeated, Ziva sighed as she sat down and watched how the gray-haired agent disappeared inside of the elevator, joining Tony and McGee.

Thirteen seconds later her cellphone rang.

"David."

"I'll come by shortly before two thirty to pick you up for your appointment," Gibbs told her, and hung up again before she could answer him.

As promised Gibbs interrupted his work and drove Ziva towards the hospital.

"Yeah, Gibbs," answered the agent his cellphone.

'...'

"Damn, alright. I'll be there in 30," he cursed, hanging up.

Curious, Ziva stared at him.

"That was McGee, they found another body."

"Where?"

"Spring Valley."

"You should have taken the other turn to get there," she commented as the agent turned into another street.

"Not yet," an amused Gibbs replied, "First I'll bring you to your appointment."

"Gibbs! You need everyone with two crime scenes," protested the Israeli.

"No chance, Ziver. You're still on desk duty for the time being," smirked Gibbs as he looked over to his passenger.

Frustrated she turned her gaze from him and watched the buildings pass by, mumbling a few curses under her breath, which Gibbs thought must be Hebrew.

With the promise to return and get her in an hour Gibbs let Ziva out at the entrance of Bethesda.

There she waited for nearly forty five minutes till the nurse finally called her on, telling her to wait in examination room eight. Irritated and bored Ziva lied down on the examination couch and counted the ceiling panels.

Another five minutes went by until the doctor from the last time, arrived.

"Hello, Miss David," greeted the smiling doctor.

"Hello," sighed Ziva, sitting upright again.

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long. It has been a busy morning in the ER."

"I understand."

"Alright, let's get started," said the attending physician cheerfully as he took her left hand and gently placed it on a nearby tray.

"Are your eating and drinking habits back to normal? Any problems? Pain?"

"Yes, no and no," huffed Ziva, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Good. Well it looks like you're lucky. The cuts have healed nicely and I can remove the stitches," smiled the doctor brightly at her.

"Fine," she commented absent minded.

(Eleven minutes later)

"There you go," he told her after having removed the stitches, "Please make a fist and hold it," he ordered.

Ziva rolled her eyes but did as told anyway.

"Good," mumbled the doctor, "It's only a bit bleeding from removing the eschar around the stitches. No new deep cuts visible though," he commented, satisfied with his work.

"You finished?" Ziva asked as she wanted to get away from the all too cheery physician.

"Yes, I'm done," he replied, however as his patient jumped of the table he stopped her, "BUT let's do another X-ray on your other hand to see if it's healing correctly."

The Israeli had trouble to suppress a growl when a nurse came in and lead her over to the X-ray section.

Another one and a half hour went by till the X-ray could be taken. Other cases of emergency taken precedence over her checkup.

Huffy and feeling very disgruntled, she needed to resist the urge to throw her knife at the opposite wall of the waiting room - numerous times.

Even thoughts about quietly leaving had crossed her mind, but they were swiftly squashed by her imagination of an angry Gibbs, who first would give her a lecture and then drag her back to wait, where she would be the last in line again.

So far only one other patient was in front of her. A small boy, who had fallen from a tree and had a temporary cast on his arm after the doctors had set it.

When he and his mother came into the room after her, she couldn't stop herself to let them go first. The boy's tear-strained face waking something in the otherwise hard shell exterior of the former Mossad Officer.

Bored to death, Ziva blanked the noises around her out.

Her current situation made her think of her past life style. In Mossad they had just set the bone and bandaged it. No though spent on if it was 'healing correctly' as her doctor had said.

"Miss David?" a small woman yanked her out of her thoughts, "Let's take a look at your wrist."

Finally done with everything, Ziva hurried to the exit. She didn't really expected to find Gibbs outside of the ER. Also the coffee cup in his hand was a very familiar sight.

Ziva gave him a tired smile, "Can we go now, please?"

Gibbs softly chuckled as he made a 'go on' motion towards the car.

"Took ya time, David," he couldn't help but to comment, receiving a low growl from his agent.

(Back in the Bullpen – 5:58 pm)

"Hey Zeevah," smiled Tony, who stood in front of Gibbs' desk.

"Your tale was right," she sighed as she neared his position.

"Aww, so that means I can spoil you longer," he teased lovingly, their faces only millimeters apart now.

"Don't you two got work to do?" Gibbs smugly asked behind them, making them jump apart and run to their desks.

"DiNozzo, McGee, update Ziva," he ordered. "I'll be back."

"Coffee," all three agents thought as they met between McGee's and Tony's desk.

"PO Third Class Lyndsay Tonek, found at Palisades Kent," Tony started his report, calling the crime scene photos and personal file of the first victim onto the screen.

"Ducky estimated her death around 3 am this morning," McGee chirped in.

"Death by multiple stab wounds," inquired Ziva as she cocked her head to look at the crime photos in different angles.

"Yes and no, there's a single gunshot wound, right through her heart," the senior agent pointed at the wound, "Ducky confirmed it as cause of death."

"The stab wounds were done after she was already dead," said McGee.

"Why would someone stab their victim after it is already dead?"

"That's what we need to figure out, Zeevah."

"Oh really, Toneey," Ziva teased back, rolling her eyes at him.

"Maybe the murderer wanted to hide the gunshot?"

"Yea right Probie, as if the person who did this wouldn't know that an autopsy would be done," said the senior agent sarcastically.

"You got a better idea?" shot Tim back.

"I..."

"Stop it," exclaimed Ziva, flashbacks of the crowded and noisy ER making her head spin.

"Do we have any hints yet?" she huffed.

"Not much, yet. Abby is checking the evidence of both scenes. Could take a while," Tony reported calmer now.

"All we know is that the second crime scene looked like the first. Victim was stabbed after death. Course of death: single gunshot wound right through the heart," continued McGee, "Name is Brenda Conners, Petty Officer Third Class also."

"More to be found out," stated Tony in a deep voice, mimicking some actor as he turned around, going back to work. The others followed his lead.

(Tuesday - Bullpen - 00:56 am)

"DiNozzo," Gibbs broke the silence.

"Yes, boss?"

"Take Ziva home," he said, not looking up from his work.

"Gibbs!"

"DiNozzo," the team leader said anew as he ignored Ziva's protest.

"I am not leaving while you work," stated the Israeli.

She had stood up and was now towering in front of Gibbs' desk. Her back straight and her eyes shooting daggers at her boss, silently daring him to order her otherwise again.

"Don't take your sore mood out on me or any furniture here. No death treats to anyone and no knife throwing at anyone or anything, just because your aching all over. Got it?"

The corner of his mouth were turned upwards, smirking, as she glared at him but nodded anyways and went back to work.

McGee and Tony throw each other a wary look. Their boss had made sure that she wouldn't snap at him, but what about their safety?

(5 hours later)

Gibbs woke around 6 am that morning, due to the foul weather it was still very dark outside.

Sometime during the night he had fallen asleep on his desk. So he hadn't noticed that his team had spent the night in the office too.

As he now looked around the dim lit bullpen, he saw McGee with his head resting on his keyboard, a pen still held in his hand.

Gibbs smirked to himself and then turned to look at the other desks, finding them empty.

"They better went home to sleep. Only," Gibbs growled inwardly as he crossed the dark room. His goal the next Starbucks.

When he came back a few minutes later, dawn had lit the bullpen noticeably.

Now able to finally see better, Gibbs risked a glance behind Ziva's desk as he put a coffee for her on it. Instead of their Israeli he found only her abandoned jacket on the floor.

Confused he looked in the direction of the bathrooms, "So she was here all night, too. But where is she now? Might have taken a break while I was gone," he mused.

However as he then placed another cup of coffee on his senior field agent's desk, he was rewarded with a surprise. The team leader contemplated the situation for a moment, before he decided to ignore it and to give McGee his coffee.

"Hm.. W—What? Boss?" confused and roused by the smell of the coffee in front of him, McGee jerked awake.

"Drink it."

"Oh... sure Boss," answered the still confused agent.

"Where are Tony and Ziva?"

Gibbs didn't answered but nodded towards the senior field agent's desk.

McGee's eyes widened at the sight he saw there.

"Bo-Boss, shouldn't you … wake them up or something?" stuttered Tim.

"Me?" smirked his boss, sipping on his coffee cup.

"Uhm. .."

"Let them sleep, Tim. They'll wake up soon enough," Gibbs answered unimpressed at the sight of his two team members cuddled up to each other.

McGee stared first at his boss who had returned to his paperwork and then at his two friends.

While Tony was lying flat on his back, with only his head pillowed by a couple of old shirts, Ziva was snuggled half on top of him. Her head rested on his chest, safely tugged under his chin, while her hand lay next to it, gripping his shirt with minor force.

One of Tony's hand was placed on her neck, he had obviously combed through Ziva's hair when they fell asleep as some strands of it where still between his fingers.

The senior agent's jacket providing them with a blanket, which Tony held firmly in place as he had his arm draped over it, hugging Ziva close to him in the process.

(Wednesday)

While Tuesday was fairly uneventful, the next day proved to be more challenging for the whole team. Also they had made no real process with their current case, though they were chasing every lead, they found themselves in the office for over 60 hours now.

Sixty very stressful hours.

"Ziva!" exclaimed the senior agent as he backed up against one of the office divider.

"Give it back." The Israeli darkly stated but very calm.

"I don't have it."

"You do," came the still calm answer.

"No," protested Tony, watching his partner's every move.

"Tony..." she all but growled as she took another step into his direction.

"Yes, Sweet cheeks?" he tried to joke in order to lift her sour mood.

"Now..." she ordered, swiftly covering the last few steps to him and capturing one of his hands, which he had held up in a peaceful gesture.

"I swear, I didn't take it," squeaked Tony when Ziva put some pressure onto the back of his hand.

"Then where did it go?" she hissed angrily.

"I don't know," whined Tony - now on his knees.

Ziva kept silently staring down at him, albeit enforcing her grip on him.

"Look, let's stop this. I'll get you a new one," Tony offered soothingly, hoping to be free soon.

As Ziva considered her partner's offer, Gibbs came to stand next to the pair. Silently sipping his coffee.

"You know," Gibbs said calmly, as his two agents looked at each other, "We still need Tony, Ziver."

Hearing the underlying order in her boss' comment, Ziva sighed and released her partner, who promptly fell on his buttocks.

"And McGee has taken your Berry Mango Madness," the gray-haired agent then whispered into her ear.

"McGee!?"
"The Probie stole something again?"

Came it simultaneous from Ziva and Tony.

"Yes," confirmed Gibbs smugly, helping his agent up from the floor, "Come on, DiNozzo. We got a murdered to catch."

Ziva meanwhile had disappeared to find the one person who dared to steal her favorite drink from her...

(Later the same day)

"Ziva, go home!"

"But Gibbs!"

"NO! You've done enough for today. Go HOME!"

Ziva sighed before she quietly replied, "Yes, Gibbs."

As she was near the elevator, Gibbs turned to his senior agent.

"You go and make sure she's alright," he said in a low voice.

He knew that sending her away seemed to be too harsh and unfair in her eyes but he needed everyone to be at the top of their game. It was clear to him that she needed to calm down and collect herself after what had happened earlier with McGee.

TBC...

A/N:

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