Ziva stepped out onto the street, exiting the sleeping building. There were very few cars and people on the street this time of day, but that was exactly how she liked it.
She stalked over to her red Mini Cooper and slid into it. She put the key into the ignition and turned it until the car hummed to life.
She took off, pressing her foot hard onto the gas pedal. She loved the rush it gave her to speed along the empty streets with no regard for speed limits. She came to a screeching halt in front of her favorite coffee shop, having almost missed it.
She bought herself a hot latte and went back to her car, where she placed it into the cup holder and sped away towards NCIS.
The building was almost empty. The man at the front desk eyed her suspiciously, but she showed him her ID and continued towards the elevators.
She knew the others wouldn't arrive for at least an hour and that she would probably have nothing to do there this early, but she had come anyway.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to the Squad Room. It was empty this early, and the lights were off. She made her way to the bullpen and went to sit at her desk.
"Good morning, Ziva."
It took all she had in her to keep herself from jumping a mile or pulling her gun or knife at the person who had greeted her. She was very irritable these days.
Instead she took a calming breath and turned around to face him. "Good morning, Gibbs," she said.
He stood at the other entrance of the bullpen, a coffee in hand. He had stopped in his tracks when he'd caught sight of Ziva. He hadn't expected her this early, but, it was Ziva, so he probably should've guessed. He continued to his desk and sat down.
Ziva stole a glance at him. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked.
He smirked. "I could ask you the exact same question."
Ziva gave a mental sigh. That man just had to have this ability of wriggling out of just about any question.
"I could not sleep much," she answered. It was partly the truth. Why had she come to the office instead of staying home and waiting for Tony to wake up? She didn't know. "You?" she inquired, feeling that if she had given him the answer, he might as well give her one too.
"Never left last night," he said.
Ziva nodded slightly. He had probably come back upstairs once she had left the parking garage. Had it been anyone else but Gibbs, she would've asked why. But it was Gibbs, so she didn't. Instead she just turned on her computer.
With Gibbs it was always wiser to ask as little questions as possible. Especially questions concerning him. And his personal life and actions. He didn't tend to think well of overly curious people.
Gibbs was a man who did what he wanted and explained himself to very few people. And even then it would've had to be in very dire circumstances.
So Ziva didn't push it, and to be honest, she didn't even care much.
Tony arrived about an hour later, giving a smile to Ziva and a 'good morning' to both Ziva and Gibbs.
Tim came in ten minutes later.
And now, when the whole team was together in the bullpen, they had nothing to do.
The BOLO had gotten no hits and the credit card and phone records still showed nothing. The team was out of clues.
After about an hour of pointless sitting and complaining about the lack of leads, Abby came running into the bullpen. Her pigtails were bouncing back and forth and her breathing was heavy. It seemed like she had taken the stairs, instead of wasting time to wait for the elevator.
"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she yelled as she came to a bit unstable stop in front of his desk. The team had never understood how she managed to walk in that high platforms, much less run up the stairs.
Abby completely ignored the not so friendly looks she was receiving from certain individuals in the bullpen, who didn't seem to appreciate her overly excited mood.
"I've been monitoring the kidnapper's cell phone activity for the whole night, with the help of about eight Caf-POW!'s, or maybe nine, more like eight, I don't quite remember that…"
"Abby!" Gibbs interrupted her rambling. "Calm down."
Abby shut up and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. I'm off topic." It sounded very much like she'd said it only to herself and not Gibbs. "Getting back on topic. Anyways, Sean is making a call now." Abby gave Gibbs a piece of yellow paper with the address. "Not to any one of you," she glanced around the room. The team was already gearing up. "So he probably won't leave this spot right away," she yelled after the team, who were quickly disappearing into the elevator.
When they were gone she smiled to herself. The night up and monitoring cell phone activity had finally paid off. Then a thought hit her and she hurried down to her lab to count the empty Caf-POW! cups scattered around her lab. "It couldn't be nine, could it?" she muttered under her breath wonderingly.
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