A/N: Here we go. Another little chapter for you! Review… pwees! It means a lot! How do I know if you like it or not if you don't tell me! LOL!
Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of these Characters. Only the ideas are mine.
Tony walked out of the elevator to see Gibbs silently talking on the phone at his desk. He half expected another tongue lashing in person this time, when Tony had told Gibbs about there being another bullet. Gibbs had been furious! Someone should have heard another shot; a shot gun did have a rather distinct sound when it was shot. But no one could think of an extra shot. There had been a lot of yelling and screaming, so there was a possibility that they had missed it. But Tony did not bring this up for fearing that Gibbs would become even angrier.
Hoping he would miss the risk of getting yelled at Tony went directly to his desk and checked his cell phone for the millionth time. Still nothing from the hospital, really how long did it take to send him an updated? Wouldn't they want to know if their best friend was in the hospital suffering from gunshot wounds?
"DINOZZO!" Tony jumped at the sound of his name being yelled and looked up to see Gibbs standing there apparently waiting for a response. Apparently he had been talking to Tony and he had been completely spaced out. Ooops.
"Sorry Boss. What was that?" He asked almost flinching when Gibbs opened his mouth, but allowed a smile when Gibbs had the twinkle in his eye when he spoke.
"Ziva is out of surgery, their hopeful." Hopeful, that was a good sign. If the doctors were hopeful that she was going to make it out ok, then that was allowing Tony to see some hope at the end of the stupid tunnel. Out of instinct Tony stood up and started to fish around in his desk drawer, looking for his gun. Of course he thought he was going to be allowed to go and see his partner. But one look at Gibbs' face and Tony knew that his boss was thinking otherwise.
Gibbs was looking at him with a mixture of slight confusion and disapproval in his face. He might not know exactly what he was doing, but it was obvious that Gibbs had an idea and he was not in the mood to approve it.
"Where do you think you're going DiNozzo?" Did Gibbs really think that Tony wasn't going to go straight to the hospital and check in on Ziva? And he wanted to know why they hadn't called him. How come Gibbs knew that Ziva was out of surgery and he didn't? They had promised they would call him. It didn't make any sense. Unless something along the way had changed and Gibbs had been the one they were notifying.
"Wait, Boss. How do you know Ziva is out? They never called me." He said all thoughts of packing up and heading to the hospital shoved to the side.
"I'm the next of kin DiNozzo. Now where are you going?" Gibbs was Ziva's next of kin? Why would she have Gibbs? Why not him, why wouldn't she have someone from Israel? And then the answer came to him. Ziva wanted nothing to do with the people she had left in her homeland. They had all abandoned her, and they were the ones who had comet o save her. The team was her family, and then the whole answer was obvious. Gibbs was like a father. Gibbs had cared more about Ziva then Director David.
Since he had answered his own, now he had to answer Gibbs', it was obvious that his boss already knew the answer though. He still had to answer of risk the potential for a swift slap in the back of the head. Not on his to do list of the day.
"Going to go see Ziva." He said with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. That slight hint was not something he let slip in front of Gibbs often. It usually landed him on desk duty when he could be going out to a scene or to catch the bad guys.
And he knew he wasn't going to get away with it this time. In fact he knew he wasn't going anywhere at all. Because McGee still had his butt firmly planted on his chair, typing away furiously on his keyboard. Apparently McGee had thought the same thing he had when he heard the news. And obviously he had been told to stay where he was.
"No you're not. She needs you here." And that was what convinced Tony to stay. Gibbs hadn't said that he needed him here to help. His Boss had said she, as in Ziva needed him here. And he knew that he was right, if they were at the Hospital they wouldn't be able to figure out what happened in the StarBucks'.
Tony merely nodded and started to replace his gun in his drawer and then sat down staring at his computer screen. Just because he was willing to comply and not go see his partner, did not mean he wasn't furious at the fact that he had to stay. He was seething.
Once satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere Gibbs walked back to his desk and put on his glasses typing away on his computer just as McGee was doing. Tony on the other hand just sat there staring at his screen, making no move to do anything. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He didn't have any lead except the bullet, and Abby was doing more work on it. Other than that, they were still in the dark.
Or at least he thought they were.
He wasn't so sure when Gibbs stood up and made his way out of the bullpen and up the stairs towards MTAC and the Director's office.
"Boss?" Tony heard McGee ask, but they received no answer to what he was doing. Gibbs only made a motion for them to stay where they were.
"Now what's going on?" Asked Tony annoyed to McGee, who could do nothing but shrug pitifully.
