Chapter 18

"Okay, well maybe Ziva's been to that bar and that's why her finger prints were on the glass, and why they were partially rubbed off. I mean, from the photos it looked like that place wasn't exactly hygienic, maybe they aren't great at cleaning their glasses."

"She hasn't drunk in over 8 months Abs, I don't think that could be the case."

"Well you try to explain it Gibbs." Abby bellowed hysterically. "because I can't."

"I don't know Abbs. I guess we just need to wait for more test results." Gibbs said with concern in his voice. He didn't want to panic Abby but she could tell he was mystified by this development.

"Are we sure this is the same guy we've been after?"

"You tell me Abbs, you matched the slugs found at the crime scene to those found at the other sites?"

"Good thinking Gibbs!" Abby rushed to her computer and started to try and pull up the photos of the slugs, then stopped, she looked at Gibbs, he could see a tear about to escape her right eye. "Even if it's not the same slug, it's still not a good outcome for Ziva is it?" she pondered. She rushed to Gibbs and he wrapped his strong arms around her to comfort her.

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"Tony." Gibbs roared as he walked into his squad room.

"Yeah Boss." Tony replied, unsure of what he'd done now.

"Who have you pissed off lately?"

"No one I can think of Boss. Why?"

"That time of the year again DiNozzo."

"Abby found some evidence that links to Tony Boss?" McGee asked baffled by how this could keep happening to his co-worker.

"No." Gibbs replied leaning over his desk pressing a few keys on his computer screen.

"Well why we pulling out that list of suspects again then?" McGee said as he pulled out a large manila folder from the filing cabinet.

"Yeah boss, wha'd Abby find?" Tony asked, his eyes wide.

"A partial fingerprint."

"Whose?" McGee asked, both agents waited with baited breath for Gibbs's answer.

"Ziva's." He stated.

"Ziva? as in my wife sitting at home growing a baby in her belly Ziva?"

"Yep."

"Well that's crazy Boss, she's hardly left the apartment in over a month. How could she have left have gone on a killing spree and turned into a terrorist, I mean, I know I'm not the most observant husband, I don't always notice when she gets her hair trimmed or her nails done, mainly because she doesn't get her nails done, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if she started slipping out and causing major mayhem with navy information."

"You sure about that DiNozzo?" A familiar voice sounded from behind them. They turned to see Fornell standing behind them. "My intelligence tells me that your wife has been on maternity leave."

"Yeah, she has, so?"

"So all those hours at home alone? You don't know if she really was at home do you?"

"She's on bed rest, she's not going to risk our baby."

"A mossad officer? She's capable of anything."

"You better take that back Fornell." Tony became enraged and defensive he started moving towards him in a threatening manner.

"I can't do that DiNozzo. You know I have to investigate this matter."

"She would never risk the life of our child." Tony Raged forward ready to attack, Gibbs and McGee pulled him back and held him so that he couldn't do something he'd regret. "There's a reasonable explanation for this Fornell, and we're going to find it. She's not a terrorist. She's not a killer."

"She's Mossad, that's what she's been trained to do, kill and deceive."

"That's not her anymore, and you better do what ever you can to prove she's innocent if you know what's good for you."

"I'm going to investigate, and I hope for everyone's sake, especially your child's, that she's innocent."

Gibbs released his grip once he knew Tony wasn't going to lash out again. He'd also seen Abby out of the corner of his eye signalling for him to come talk to him. He moved over to her and started a hushed conversation.

"We'll work to find out the truth DiNozzo, what ever that may be. But we're going to need to question Ms David."

"MRS… David… DiNozzo." Tony correcting him, clearly articulaing every word.

"Sorry. I'm going to have to question Mrs David-DiNozzo."

"you can't do that. She's on bed rest, she's not supposed to leave the apartment."

"You telling me she hasn't left your apartment for a month?"

"Well, apart from to go see the doctor for check ups."

"and you've been with her while she's done that right?"

"well, no, not yesterday but there's no way she could have caused that mess, she can't even tie up her shoes anymore."

"Sounds like a pretty good cover story to me."

"Gibbs, you'd…" Tony turned to look for conformation on his wifes innocence from Gibbs, realising that he wasn't there, he turned further and spied the conversation going on between his boss and the forensic scientist. "Miss Sciuto, I'm sure you've found something that says Ziva's innocent. Right?"

"Arh…" Abby looked concerned, she didn't want to answer that.

"I'll remind you about your responsibility to report exactly what you find and that holding back any information that might hinder our investigation would be a federal offence." Fornell stated.

"well, I matched the slugs to the ones we found at the other crime scene. They were shot from the same gun. I ran the DNA on the glass and the strand of hair. I'm sorry Tony, they both match Ziva. Ducky even found blood on the victim that didn't match the deceased, I ran it. It was Ziva's. All the evidence points to one person. I'm going to keep trying, I'll check everything DiNozzo, she's not going to jail. Forensics will set her free, and tell the real story."

"Looks like it's time to go visit you wife DiNozzo."