Title: A Long Way Home (Chapter Seventeen)
Author: LizzieInk
A/N: This chapter picks up about an hour after the previous one, so it skips out all the boring bathroom routines of getting showered etc. and jumps straight into the fun stuff. I hope you like it. :)
Disclaimer: Enough said. ;)
Tony sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, his gaze travelling from McGee to Abby, and back again. Neither one of them had brought up the fact that Tony and Ziva had shared a room last night. Actually they were going out of their way to avoid the subject, which Tony found extremely amusing.
McGee had volunteered to make them all pancakes, while Abby was making the coffee. They had refused Tony and Ziva's offers of help, due to their recent injuries. McGee claimed teasingly that they would only be in the way.
Abby slowly carried the four coffees over to the breakfast bar, with two mugs balanced carefully in each hand. She slid one each in front of Tony and Ziva, and left hers and McGee's sat on the end of the counter side by side. As Tony and Ziva sipped at their coffees, Abby leant awkwardly against the counter and smiled at them both.
"So how did you guys sleep?" She asked Tony and Ziva hesitantly.
"Better than I have in a long time." Ziva replied, with a smile.
"Yeah, we slept well." Agreed Tony, sharing a private look with Ziva.
"Good." Replied Abby nervously.
After a moments silence McGee turned round, unable to keep quiet any longer.
"Okay I've got to ask. What is going on with you two?" He said.
"I do not understand what you mean." Ziva replied, with the hint of a smile.
"Then the two of you aren't…" McGee hesitated, not sure if he should continue.
"…you know… together… or anything?" Abby asked, completing McGee's sentence for him.
"Oh! That is what you meant, you should have said so McGee." Ziva admonished, "Yes, Tony and I are together now."
Ziva continued to drink her coffee nonchalantly. Tony laughed appreciatively at Ziva's laid back response, while McGee and Abby just stared at the two of their fellow agents in shock.
There was a moments silence, before Tony spoke up.
"McGee the pancakes are burning." He said.
A little later, Abby and McGee were discussing the events of that morning, as they entered the Navy Yard.
"I can't believe it!" She exclaimed in shock, "I mean Tony and Ziva…"
"We all knew their relationship was building up to this for a while though." McGee reasoned, logically. "It's not like we didn't expect this to happen at some point."
"Expect what to happen?" Asked a voice from behind them.
Abby spun around. "Gibbs!" She squealed. "Oh err, McGee and I were just talking about um…Tony and Ziva…"
"What about them?" Replied Gibbs calmly, although he already had a gut feeling about what they had been discussing.
Abby started mumbling about nonsense, and Gibbs didn't mention the abrupt subject change, as he followed Abby and McGee silently into the building.
So it has happened at last, Gibbs thought, astutely.
McGee had only been sat at his desk for about 15 minutes before his phone rang.
Gibbs looked over at his youngest team member, trying to gauge what was being said on the other end of the phone. Unfortunately McGee gave nothing away, and so Gibbs had to wait patiently.
McGee was scrawling something down on a piece of paper as he listened intently to the voice on the other end of the line. Just as he was finishing up with the call, Vance walked into the bullpen, hoping for a new lead.
"Anything?" He asked sharply.
"Actually," said McGee as he hung up the phone, "Ziva's contact just came through with some information for us. He has given me a list of four possible haunts that Renner frequently hides out at. He isn't sure if they're even still in use, as Renner seems to move around a lot, but it's the best lead we've got. I guess that means we have some stake outs to do, boss?" McGee asked, turning to Gibbs for confirmation.
"Too many places to hit at once McGee. Any way to narrow down from those 4 locations to where Renner might actually be hiding?"
"Sorry, boss. I'm afraid this is all we have to go on. Renner isn't the easiest guy to track down. As far as I can tell he never follows the same routine, which makes him hard to predict. We'll just have to check all four locations, and hope he turns up at one of them." McGee replied.
"So the two of you check out the first two locations and I will get two more agents to check out the second two." Vance said authoritatively.
He then proceeded to pull out his cell phone, and dialled a number, ordering another team of competent agents to hit 2 of the locations that he read out from McGee's memo pad.
Gibbs then barked out; "McGee grab your gear!" And the two agents headed quickly for the elevator.
Gibbs wasn't too pleased that new agents were being brought in on the investigation, but it didn't look like there was much choice in the matter. It had already been a couple of days since Tony and Ziva's car accident, and Gibbs knew that with every passing moment, the chance of capturing Bodnar before he disappeared became slimmer and slimmer. A well planned cover took time to create though, so all they could hope for at this point was that Bodnar would still be establishing his own cover before leaving the city. Gibbs refused to accept the fact that they might already be too late.
Meanwhile back at Abby's apartment, Ziva hung up the phone just as Tony joined her in the lounge. All Tony needed was one look at Ziva to know that something had happened.
"Ziva, what is it?" He asked seriously, all playfulness dissipating from his demeanour.
"My contact just called, Tony. He told me that he had just spoken to McGee to tell him that he has found four possible locations where Renner might be… but Tony I think I know which it is!" Said Ziva, a look of determination flashing in her eyes.
"I'm not going to like where you're going with this, am I?" asked Tony, as he used his crutches to walk closer to Ziva.
Ziva placed a hand on his chest, and looked unflinchingly into his eyes, and after taking a deep breath, she asked; "Tony do you remember what you said to me before my father's funeral, and at the hospital 2 days a go?"
"Of course. Aht lo leh-vahd… you are not alone." He said without hesitation.
"Did you mean it, Tony?" Ziva asked.
"Yes." Tony replied. After a beat he asked; "You want to go, don't you? To this place where you are sure Renner will be?"
"I have to Tony… and it is not Renner that I expect to find there." Ziva replied. "It is Ilan Bodnar."
A/N: It's a little sad that this fan-fic is slowly approaching it's end, but at the same time I have a lot of new story ideas that I am extremely excited about writing. All NCIS related of course. So if you guys like my writing style feel free to favourite/follow me as an author, that way you will get to read my new stuff as soon as it comes out.