Golden Child

Chapter Three

Ziva had been quite enjoying the quiet of the bullpen. She had decided to catch up on paperwork while the rest of the team took the day off. So she was very surprised when the elevator doors opened and McGee, followed by Gibbs and Tony, emerged. All three were dressed very casually, she observed, and Gibbs had his hand firmly under one of Tony's armpits. McGee went straight to his desk and switched on his P.C. with a little more force than was necessary. Ziva watched Gibbs steer Tony towards his desk and onto his chair.

'See if you can stay out of trouble while I go see Abby,' Gibbs told Tony, his tone quite harsh. Tony saluted Gibbs before sending Ziva a cheery wave. Her eyebrows shot upwards at the sight of his plastered hand. Gibbs shook his head and left. Ziva put down her pen, stood up and moved over to McGee's desk.

'Why are you here on your day off?' she asked. 'And what has happened to Tony?'

'Why don't you ask him?' muttered McGee without turning away from his emails. Ziva looked over at Tony who was grinning happily – too happily. She had seen that expression once before – when he had been given painkillers for a broken nose.

'Tony,' she ventured. 'What happened to your hand?'

'We went to the gym,' Tony told her. 'McGee and I went to do Avril's class. Avril's amazing.'

'And you broke your hand in the class doing some kind of exercise,' said Ziva. 'That is very careless of her and of you.'

'No, no!' laughed Tony. 'We never got to the class. Some guy pulled a gun on McGoogle. I grabbed the gun and he squished my hand.'

'Why did he direct his weapon at McGoog- I mean McGee?' asked Ziva, her curiosity piqued.

'Wanted his car keys,' whispered Tony, as though it was a secret. 'It's a really, really nice car.'

'Why did you grab the gun?' asked Ziva. 'Why did you not just let McGee give him the keys if that is what the thief wanted? It is just a car.'

'I don't know,' admitted Tony, wrinkling his brow. 'I think I had a feeling, but I'm not really sure 'cause I wasn't really thinking.'

'Yeah, you said it Tony!' snapped McGee from his desk. 'You never think! You just jump in and think about it when it's too late.'

Ziva was surprised by McGee's outburst, particularly given the serious nature of Tony's injury, but she chose not to comment. If Tony was going to say anything in reply, he had no opportunity because Gibbs returned at that moment with Abby close behind him. The lab queen's eyes grew wide when she caught sight of Tony's hand.

'Gibbs!' she exclaimed. 'You didn't say it was this bad, unless McGee and Dinozzo tangled with some guy is some kind of euphemism for some bad-ass broke Tony's hand! Next time, and there better not be a next time, you'd better give me the full story.'

It was peculiar, mused Ziva, that only Abby could get away with scolding Gibbs. Abby rushed over to where Tony was sitting and enveloped him in an intense hug. Uncharacteristically, Tony snuggled against her and shut his eyes.

'You smell beautiful, Ab's,' he sighed contentedly.

'Painkillers?' asked Abby.

'Oh, yeah,' said Gibbs.

McGee rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest. It was painfully obvious to him that he hadn't been given a hug, and he'd been the one who had the gun pulled on him after all. If Tony had just kept the hell out of it, he wouldn't be nursing a broken hand and Abby would be helping McGee track down his stolen car.

'Stop cuddling and start telling us what you found on the gun!' Gibbs snapped, his patience wearing thinner. Abby gave a blissed-out Tony one more squeeze and began her report.

'Well, it was really hard to get any prints,' she began, 'because unlike in the movies when prints are regularly retrieved from weapons and the perp is caught, it is actually really hard to get clear prints from gun, largely because of the metal surface and..'

'Abby!' shouted Gibbs. Some days he was sure Abby must be related to Ducky. She seemed to digress more and more by the day, particularly in front of an audience.

'I managed to get a print,' said Abby, narrowing her eyes at him. 'and I got a match on the system. The print belongs to a man called Marcus Reed. He's wanted for murder and theft in three states.'

She paused for effect. Ziva noted the colour drain from McGee's face. Even Gibbs' mouth appeared to drop open slightly at the revelation. Tony seemed to be putting a lot of effort into listening to what Abby was saying.

'It gets worse – kind of,' said Abby. 'Reed's MO is to demand keys to luxury cars from the owners then shoot them through the forehead. The cars he sells for cash to shonky operators. The killings he seems to do for the thrill. He kills whether the victim gives up the keys or puts up a fight. Timmy, if Tony hadn't jumped in, you'd be dead. Tony saved your life!'

Silence descended over the group. Gibbs' whole attitude towards his number one agent softened in an instant. McGee suddenly felt physically sick at the thought that he had narrowly missed being slain, all because of his Saab. Ziva's hackles rose at the thought of this vicious killer being on the loose. She looked forward to capturing him, perhaps 'accidentally' breaking a few of his fingers during his apprehension.

The ringing of Tony's desk phone broke the silence. Without thinking, Tony tried to pick it up with his injured hand, smashing it and knocking it off the desk in the process.

'Sorry Boss,' he mumbled, clearly coming down from the happy pills.

'Rest day is cancelled officially,' Gibbs announced. 'We need to catch this bastard. McGee, Ziva, find out all you can about Reed. I want known haunts, addresses, relatives, contacts, criminal history – everything. I want him nailed. Abby, take Dinozzo down to the lab for the afternoon while you work and then take him home. Make sure he takes it easy, stays out of trouble and doesn't smash anything else.'

Abby clapped her hands delightedly and held out her hand for Tony to grab. As Tony carefully stood up, Gibbs moved to stand in front of him. Placing his hand on Tony's shoulder he looked his agent square in the eye.

'I don't always like your methods,' he told him, 'but you did good, Tony.'

Tony saw the sincerity in Gibbs' face, as well as the concern, and felt warmed by it. Praise was rare from Gibbs – even rarer when Tony felt he'd totally screwed the situation up by leaving the team one short.

'Thanks Boss,' he said before letting Abby lead him away.