Authors Note: Sorry for the LONG delay. My lap top has decided to be extremely STUPID. So here ya go. Disclaimer: The Usual.
"Gibbs!" he barked sleepily into his cell phone the next morning.
Gibbs sat upright at the information he was given. After a brisk goodbye, Gibbs snapped his phone shut, opening it once more to dial.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs said at the mumbled greeting, "Get your ass up, another woman was killed."
"What 'bout McGee and Ziva, Boss?" Tony asked, stumbling into his bathroom.
"They are staying at the house for today. Move." Gibbs barked, hanging up.
Gibbs hurried to get ready. He was so frustrated that the killer seemed to keep moving ahead. He went to the basement stairs, finding its three inhabitants still snoring. So he left a not on the kitchen counter.
He needed a break in the case. Or he might just self-destruct.
McGee shuffled around Gibbs' kitchen for something to eat when he saw the note. He went white just as Ziva set foot into the kitchen.
"McGee!" she said, hurrying to his side, thinking that he had gotten what Chelsea had.
"The note, Zee." McGee said handing her the paper.
"Ziver and McGee," Ziva read aloud, leaning into McGee, "You two STAY here for today. DiNozzo and I have another body to go to. I will call you. STAY HERE. That's an order. Gibbs."
Ziva sighed.
"Let us just spend the day with Chelsea." Ziva said, setting the note back on the counter.
"We might as well." McGee said, nodding, "We have nothing else to do."
They both stood in silence, thinking.
"I've got it!" McGee exclaimed, snapping his fingers, "An indoor picnic!"
"Indoor what?" Ziva asked.
McGee had forgotten that Ziva had never really had a childhood.
"We have a regular picnic inside." he explained, beginning to dig around the kitchen, "Sarah and I used to have them in the winter or when it was raining."
Ziva was still not too clear on the concept, but seeing McGee's enthusiasm and smile, she was willing to go along.
"I will go and dress Chelsea." Ziva said.
Ziva smiled as McGee rummaged through the fridge, then headed downstairs.
Chelsea was still asleep, lightly snoring. Ziva almost hated to wake her.
"Chelsea." Ziva murmured, shaking her tiny body softly.
"Whu?" Chelsea asked, one eye open, her short blond curls all awry.
"It is time to wake up Tetelah." Ziva said, brushing some loose curls away from her face.
"Morning?" Chelsea asked, sitting up, rubbing her eyes sleepily with curled hands.
"Yes Tetelah," Ziva said, hoisting Chelsea into her arms, "It is morning."
"Daddy?" Chelsea said, her eyes wide with alarm.
"He is upstairs." Ziva assured her, walking them over to Chelsea's bag of clothes.
Ziva dressed Chelsea in a white t-shirt with a red and white checkered jumper over it. She thought the little watermelon embroidered on the front of it looked adorable
"You girls ready?" McGee asked popping his head in the doorway.
"Yes." Ziva said, taking Chelsea back into her arms and heading up the stairs, "Let us have our indoor picnic."
McGee and Ziva shared a smile at the top of the stairs.
Meanwhile, Gibbs was angrily romping around a crime scene. Their latest victim had been killed under an underpass.
"Her name is Laurie Wendell, Boss." Tony said, his tired eyes mirroring Gibbs', "She was 7 months pregnant."
Tony cringed as Gibbs let out a string of curses.
"She is a Petty Officer who went on early maternity leave at her doctor's orders." Tony continued, "She recently became engaged to one Corporal Thomas Grey."
Gibbs looked up. That was different. The usual M.O. had changed. All the women killed so far were single. This was something new. He turned his attention to Ducky who was just removing the liver probe.
"Not even 24 hours Jethro." Ducky said solemnly.
"The same way as the others?" Gibbs asked, avoiding elaboration.
"Through the stomach." Ducky confirmed
"Boss?"
"What is it DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled.
"The Petty Officer's car had been located." Tony said, glancing at his notepad, "It's across the street."
"Let's go." Gibbs said, leading the way.
Then Gibbs did something he hadn't done very often since Shannon and Kelly's deaths. He prayed. He prayed for a break in the case. He prayed that not another soon-to-be mother would be slain by the Gifter.
Back at Gibbs' house, Ziva and McGee were have a good time at their indoor picnic with Chelsea. McGee had managed to make hamburgers, had found coleslaw and Jell-O in Gibbs' fridge and some cookies. They had settled on an old blanket in the living room by setting the coffee table aside.
"Ello?" Chelsea said, pointing to a bowl that had red gelatin.
"You want more?" McGee asked her with a smile.
Chelsea nodded furiously, her neatened curls flying about.
Ziva laughed. She was having a good time. Chelsea was having a blast too. Ziva and McGee had talked and talked. Ziva had decided to share a little more about her childhood because he had shared with her. And it was alright. He didn't judge or become indifferent to some of the horrors she had been through or what she had done.
McGee's cell phone interrupted her thoughts. The mood suddenly darkened as they both recalled what was going on beyond this happy scene.
"McGee."
McGee listened to Tony, thanked him for the update, hung up and promptly cursed, startling Chelsea.
"I'm sorry honey." he said, pulling her into his lap.
"What did Tony say?" Ziva asked reluctantly.
"The woman that was killed was 7 months pregnant." McGee said grimly, "They have found her car, but Tony said that it didn't make Gibbs any better.
"Surely he thought of that as progress?" Ziva asked.
"It is never good when a suspects M.O. changes." McGee said, rocking a sleepy looking Chelsea in his arms.
"Changes how?"
"All of our victims have been single mothers." McGee told her, "This victim was engaged to be married."
McGee was right. A change in a suspects M.O. usually meant that he has become agitated, even more dangerous.
McGee gently laid a sleeping Chelsea on the blanket and began checking all the doors and windows. Ziva knew Gibbs had locked them in safely, but she decided it didn't hurt if they double checked.
Tony and Gibbs examined the Petty Officer's four-door Saturn. Tony was rummaging through the glove box.
"The glove box is full of receipts." Tony said, grasping a handful, "This one here is from a year and a half ago."
"Bag 'em, Tag 'em, and get 'em to Abby." Gibbs barked, slamming the trunk shut.
So far, the receipts and some finger prints, which probably belonged to the Petty Officer anyway, were all they had. He hoped Abby could get something off of the receipts. And tomorrow McGee and Ziva would return to work. They needed everyone on this. He just wouldn't send them out together.