GOLDEN CHILD

CHAPTER 5

Sorry about the delay. Real life and all that. Reviews have been much appreciated. Thank you and on with the story! Zan

'I do not understand why some men have to be such pigs,' commented Ziva as she and McGee left the bar that Reed supposedly frequented.

'Well, they were pretty drunk,' said McGee, 'and they clearly found you to be very attractive. Until you started threatening them that is. Not that you're not a beautiful looking woman all the time, but..'

'McGee,' said Ziva. 'You are babbling.'

'Sorry,' muttered McGee.

The pair walked in silence back to the car. They had spent a fruitless morning checking out known and suspected haunts of Reed. McGee would have liked nothing better than reporting to Gibbs that they had found and apprehended the killer. Ziva would have liked nothing better than bringing back a body.

As they neared the car, three gorgeous women walked by. McGee watched them until they were nearly out of sight as Ziva observed him, her face showing amusement.

'You have been taking lessons from Tony,' she stated as she opened the car door.

'Nah,' said McGee. 'Tony would have got a phone number from one of them by now. That's how it is with everything. He does and I watch.'

They both got into the car and McGee held on as Ziva took the car from stationary to the maximum speed limit in an instant.

'You must stop bashing yourself up about what has happened,' Ziva told him. 'It is not your fault that Tony has such a bad injury. You were not the one who crushed his hand. You need to focus on getting the man who did.'

'Yeah,' said McGee, glumly looking out the window. 'But at the end of the day, if it had been you that Tony had taken to the gym, - or Gibbs- it would've turned out differently. Instead, Tony's out of action and Gibbs keeps sending me the death look.'

Ziva was about to say more but held her tongue. She was pretty certain that if it had been her in McGee's place, she would have dealt with Reed without any intervention from Tony. But she was not McGee. And she was not there. All leads exhausted, she headed back to NCIS.

…………………………………..

On the way back to the office, Gibbs was inwardly happy to put up with the chatter coming from the passenger seat. Tony was going on and on about old episodes of Columbo, interspersing his descriptions with imitations of Peter Falk. Gibbs had spent the morning watching Tony in court and wishing that Vance was there to see the senior field agent conduct himself in such a professional manner. Tony had given evidence, charmed the judge and had the jury eating out the palm of his plastered hand. It was the Agent Dinozzo that Vance rarely saw and it pissed Gibbs off no end that Leon always seemed to witness the worst of him. It would have been instructional for McGee to have been watching that morning as well, except that Gibbs hadn't wished he was there. Gibbs was still far too annoyed with him.

'And just when everyone had decided the guy was a nutcase,' Tony was saying as Gibbs swung into the NCIS car park, 'Colombo would deliver the verbal killer blow and close the case.'

'How about closing your mouth for the last few minutes,' said Gibbs, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. 'I'm already low on caffeine and you're giving me a headache.'

'On it Boss,' Tony said cheerily. He'd had a good morning and didn't feel half as useless as he had when he'd woken up. The cases had gone really well, and he knew his own performance had gone up a notch just because Gibbs was there watching. Call him pathetic, but Tony liked nothing better than Gibbs seeing him do a good job.

…………………………….

McGee and Ziva had been at their desks for only ten minutes when Gibbs and Tony arrived.

'You are in a suit,' commented Ziva, eyeing her partner appreciatively and noticing the spring in his step. 'Is it not a little formal for sick leave?'

'Ah, observant but inaccurate one,' returned Tony as he perched on the edge of his desk. 'I am not sick and I am not on leave. I had court appearances today.'

'David. Report,' demanded Gibbs from his desk. He did not acknowledge McGee.

'We visited places Reed has been seen at over the last week,' Ziva told him. 'If anyone knows anything, they are not saying. He is a very slippery criminal.'

'He's disappeared,' offered McGee, instantly regretting his comment when Gibbs turned on him.

'People don't disappear, Agent McGee!' he snapped. 'I want him and I want him before he kills or maims anyone else.'

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room while Gibbs continued to glare at McGee before stalking off muttering that he'd be with Abby.

Tony suddenly felt the adrenalin from the morning's performance drain away and he suppressed a yawn. Bringing his left hand to his face, he rubbed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he started when he saw McGee standing right in front of him.

'Whoa,' Tony said. 'I didn't even hear you move, Mc Stealthy. Ziva teach you some of her Ninja skills?'

'I want to fix things,' McGee blurted out before he could change his mind. 'I messed up yesterday.'

'There's nothing to fix, McGee,' Tony told him with a sigh.

'There is,' McGee insisted. 'Tell me what I should have done and I'll do it next time.'

'It's okay,' said Tony, feeling fatigue creeping into his body. Perhaps he'd go take a nap in Abby's lab. Once McGee stopped talking.'

'It's not okay,' persisted McGee. 'I screwed up and I don't what to screw up again.'

'We all screw up,' Tony told him. 'I screw up, you screw up, Ziva screws up, even Gibbs screws up – but I didn't say that, by the way, if Gibbs asks you if I did. Who says that it wasn't me that screwed up this time?'

'Gibbs is barely talking to me,' protested McGee, his voice rising. 'He obviously agrees that it was me that screwed up.'

'He's pissed at both of us,' said Tony, feeling even more fatigued. Either the events of the previous day or McGee or a combination of both was draining him fast. 'Don't worry about Gibbs. He'll get over it.'

'It's alright for you! Gibbs is acknowledging YOUR presence!' yelled McGee in frustration. Why wouldn't Tony help him fix things?

Ziva saw Tony's demeanor change and she stood up. She had no desire to physically intervene between her co-workers, but she would if it was necessary.

'Oh, so it's okay for me, is it?' bit back Tony, standing up and leaning dangerously into McGee's personal space. 'Vance thinks I'm an imbecile and hates my guts, Gibbs is down one agent because of me, and I can't even put toothpaste on my own damn toothbrush! What's the matter McGee? Is the golden child's crown slipping?'

Abby, sent up by Gibbs to take Tony to lunch, was confronted by a weird kind of Mexican stand-off in the bullpen as she emerged from the elevator. McGee and Tony were standing chest to chest and only centimeters apart. Ziva was also standing and looked ready to draw her weapon. What on Earth was going on?

'Hey guys,' Abby ventured cautiously. 'Doing some kind of role play or re-enactment?'

Tony wrenched his gaze away from McGee and turned to Abby. He attempted a smile but it was poor imitation of the smiles he usually sent her way.

'Gibbs evict you?' he asked, attempting a jovial tone.

'I get to take you to lunch,' Abby said, casting a worried eye over McGee who was returning to his own desk in silence.

'Not hungry,' Tony told her. 'Thought I'd come and take a nap on your futon,' he added, before she started lecturing him about the need to look after himself.

'An excellent idea that Gibbs and Ducky will definitely approve of,' she told him, threading her arm through his as they began walking to the elevator.

'And then you can tell me what the hell just happened' Abby thought.