Warnings: Spoilers for Season 7
A/N: Got a weekend update for you! Hope you enjoy!
Snoopmary- Although Ziva is a good guess as to who did this... as the writer I can say that she is far, far away from Tony and Natalie at this point lol.
Hmmm- Don't know why you're more interested in the fact that I updated. I try to update all my stories once a week...
amaia- Sorry, didn't mean for it to be confusing. Concussions are tricky injuries and they can have lingering effects for years to come. I have a co-worker whose daughter got a concussion playing soccer and one day she would seem okay but the next she couldn't even tell you what she did five minutes before. When Natalie first sees Tony he has just been given the painkillers but when he wakes up they have fully taken effect and have obviously messed with him. He really is OK, his injuries aren't that serious.
"I tested the fluids found on Natalie's jacket," Abby told them. "It's brake fluid… the same brake fluid that was used in Tony's car."
"That only proves that Tony's brake lines were leaking," Natalie countered, still not wanting to believe that someone had deliberately cut them.
"Metro found fingerprints underneath the car. Try to debunk that," Abby snapped at her.
Gibbs placed a hand on his agent's shoulder. Natalie wasn't subdued that much but she backed down a little bit. "Can you run the prints through AFIS?" he asked, softly. His nerves were on edge, his mind running through every criminal they had ever put away that might have done this.
Abby chewed on her lower lip. "Yes. I have them running now. If the prints are in the system I'll get a hit. And hopefully soon… someone is out there, Gibbs, trying to kill you all! We need to find them and stop them!"
He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Abs. I promise. We're going to get to the bottom of this. Before anyone else gets hurt."
She didn't look convinced. "Timmy is going to be okay, isn't he?"
"I spoke to his doctor just before I left the hospital—he has another round of surgery to repair the break in his leg, but they want to give his body time to heal up from the last operation," Gibbs replied. "But I need you to focus…"
"I'm focused. Completely focused," Abby promised him. "Just keep me supplied with Caf-Pow and I'm good to go."
Gibbs grabbed Natalie's arm and led her out of the lab. If she was getting tired of him jerking her around, she wasn't saying anything. Although, she looked more worried than annoyed at the moment. "What's on your mind?"
Natalie swallowed, nervously. "I've been going over all the cases in my head since I got here… I can't think of anyone who would do this but… Ziva."
He nodded in understanding. When she had been dragged out of NCIS, Ziva had been a jealous, raging mess who would have been perfectly capable of doing something like this to hurt either Tony or Natalie… or even Gibbs… but he had made sure that she was sent off to Israel with no chance of returning for a long time. Unless she had snuck into the United States illegally, Gibbs didn't think this had been Ziva's doing. "We can look into it."
She turned towards him, hair slightly wild and falling into her eyes. "There's still the possibility that Tony just needed new brake lines," Natalie said.
"Rule 39…"
"Eventually something has to be a coincidence, Gibbs."
Gibbs stepped out of the elevator on their floor. "I'm sure you're right… but now isn't that time."
Natalie wondered if her blood pressure had risen at all since joining NCIS because some days it certainly felt higher than normal. She followed her boss out of the elevator and headed back towards her desk. She got back just in time to answer her phone. "Callahan. Really? When? Okay, thanks… we'll be right there." She hung the phone up and grabbed her coat, slipping into it. "Metro. They found a witness to the accident."
"A witness? Why didn't they stop!" Gibbs nearly shouted storming off towards the elevator.
"Because they stole the car they were in," Natalie replied, dashing into the elevator behind him.
Gibbs slammed his finger into the button for the garage. His agents could have died and judging by the look in his eyes, Natalie knew that heads were probably about to roll.
Natalie stood in a dark corner of Metro's dingy interrogation room, watching as Gibbs stared down—literally—their witness. She wasn't sure what he was trying to do, Tony always said that this was part of his intimidation tactic.
So far, it was working.
"Listen, Agent Gibbs, all I know is that your agent lost control of his car… it went flying down that embankment and I got the hell out of Dodge," the young kid sputtered, his brown eyes darting nervously towards Natalie in the corner.
"Why did you come clean about seeing the accident?" Natalie asked, honestly.
He shrugged. "Heard the story on the radio that two federal agents were involved in an accident near the park… knew it had to be the car I was following… well, I wasn't directly behind them… there was another car… black SUV…"
She straightened. "Did you get a plate?"
"I might have if Metro is willing to cut me a deal."
Gibbs leaned forward then and grabbed the guy by the collar. "A deal?" he hissed, "You think you deserve a deal after you drove away from a serious accident and left two people to die!"
The kid cowered in his seat. His eyes were as wide as saucers and he was shaking. "Hey man! Settle down! I'll give you the number on the damn plate!"
"Write it down," Gibbs snapped, tossing a small notepad onto the table. "And make it quick. I don't have all day."
Natalie watched as the kid wrote down a plate and tossed the pad back to Gibbs. The lead agent got up, gestured for her to leave with him, and she blindly followed him out into the hall, closing the door behind her. "Gibbs… shouldn't we test his clothes for brake fluid?"
Gibbs shook his head. "He didn't do it. You saw how easily he got spooked."
"He could have been acting."
"Do you think he was acting?"
Natalie bit her lower lip and rocked back on her heels when Gibbs turned to glare at her. "No," she whispered, with a shake of her head. "No I don't think he was acting."
Gibbs gave her his trademark smirk. "Then le's go find our SUV."
Things were still fuzzy when Tony woke, but he didn't have that drugged, floating off the bed feeling anymore—and he had better control of his emotions. "Natalie?"
Gibbs was sitting next to his bed, tapping a finger on a cardboard coffee cup. "She's not here, Tony. She went to get coffee. Think you can answer a question for me?" He waited for Tony to nod his head, then asked, "Where was your car last night?"
"Um… Natalie's apartment… I brought her the painkillers for her knee… and… and ended up staying… for a movie," Tony answered, nervously.
"Did you notice anything? Anything happen out of the ordinary?" Gibbs asked, honestly.
Besides the fact that I kissed her? Tony thought, anxiously. He shifted in the bed and sat up, wincing when his leg throbbed in pain. "No. Why… why are asking me, boss? Someone tamper with my car?"
Gibbs stopped tapping the coffee cup and frowned, the lines in his forehead creasing. "Metro found brake fluid at the crash scene. Abby is testing Natalie's clothes for it since she most likely sat in it when she went to help you—her jacket tested positive for the same fluid that was used in your car."
Tony closed his eyes. He wanted to get out of this bed—needed to get out of this bed—there was someone out there trying to hurt his team, his family—Natalie. He couldn't protect her, protect his team if he was tied to this bed. He shifted again and opened his eyes, trying to get up. Gibbs put a hand on his chest and gently shoved him back down. "Boss," the senior field agent growled low in his throat.
"You were in a car accident, Tony," Gibbs reminded him. "And just because you've walked away with fairly minor injuries, your head is still a little scrambled."
"Boss! You need me on this!"
"Natalie is perfectly capable…"
"It's my job to protect her!"
Gibbs eyed him cautiously. "You can't protect her with a messed up head and a busted leg, DiNozzo."
Tony glared at him. "I protected her with a bullet through my shoulder…"
"Because there was no choice. You had too."
"Swear to God, boss, whoever did this… they go after her…"
Aw hell, Tony, just come out and say it… just admit you love her, Gibbs thought, with a heavy sigh. He gave the younger man a curt nod of his head. "Yeah… I know, Tony," he said softly. "I'm going to get the guy before anything happens to her, okay?"
Tony shook his head, fiercely. "You can't make promises like that, Gibbs."
Gibbs wished that he could. He thought back to that rooftop, the bullet through Kate's skull… he didn't want the same fate for Natalie. Which was why he had her locked up in almost every sense of the word by having her stay here in the hospital, keeping tabs on Tony. It was better than putting her out in the field where anything could happen. At least here he had the disposal of security guards that could be posted outside his agents' doors as well as keep an eye on Natalie. "I can promise to do my best, Tony."
He winced in pain as he shifted in the bed. "Sometimes," Tony ground out between clenched teeth, "Your best isn't good enough, boss." Immediately he regretted the words… he didn't mean to make them sound spiteful, but they did and there was a look of anguish that washed through Gibbs' eyes, "Boss… I…"
"Hey, how come the security guard won't let me leave to get a decent cup of coffee?" Natalie interrupted.
"Stay here," Gibbs growled. "I'll go find you one."
She didn't get to protest as he stalked off quickly. Natalie glanced at Tony and smiled when she saw that he was awake, but his body language told her that he was in pain. "Tony. If you need more painkillers for your headache, tell the nurses."
Tony shook his head. "You saw what they do to me. They make me crazy. I'm fine. Give me some of your Excedrin you keep in your bag."
Natalie fished around in her bag for the pill bottle and took two capsules out when she found it. "I probably should be consulting your doctor before I do this," she told him with a teasing smile. "But I guess if you agree to kiss me… I can give them to you."
He took her hand, pulling her down towards him and crashing his lips to hers. God he needed to get out of this bed, get back into the field… to help Gibbs find who was out to get them before he lost her—just like he had lost Kate, and Ziva. True, Ziva had not been killed in the line of duty like Kate had, but her capture and torture had killed the woman he had known and cared for. Tony didn't want to lose Natalie to the same fate. He pulled back, giving her hand a squeeze even if it did cause him some pain and discomfort.
She slipped the two pills into his palm and went to pour him a glass of water. Propping his pillows up, she helped him into a sitting position. "I did actually speak to your doctor. If you agree to someone staying with you… you can go home in the morning."
"How… how did you manage that?" Tony quipped, between swallowing the pills. "Usually they fight me tooth and nail…"
"Easy. I promised I'd stay with you," Natalie replied, fluffing his pillows. She sat down in the chair that had been occupied by Gibbs moments before.
"Aw. Are you going to take care of me?"
"You take care of me. Why shouldn't I do the same for you?"
Tony smiled at her ever so gently and brought her hand to his lips. "You gave me something stronger than Excedrin, didn't you?" he asked, feeling drowsy, his vision getting fuzzier.
Natalie grinned. "No. I just gave you the PM version."
"Crafty," he quipped as his eyes slipped shut.
"Indeed," she replied, watching him fall asleep.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she got up to take the call outside of his room. "Go ahead Abby."
Abby sounded flustered on the other line. "I tried to get a hold of Gibbs. He isn't answering."
"He went on a coffee run for me."
"Oh. Well… I finished the tests on your clothes. You definitely had brake fluid from Tony's car on them."
"Anything on the BOLO for our SUV?"
"Not yet. It was rented from Dulles, but the ID that was given to them was a fake. Running the photograph through AFIS now to see if I get a hit."
Natalie ran her tongue over her lips and looked into Tony's room. "Ok. Let's hope we get something."
Abby sighed. "How are my boys? Are they going to be okay?"
"Tony is going home tomorrow. He's fine."
"What about Timmy? Gibbs said it was serious…"
"In ICU, heavily sedated. His sister is with him."
"I'll be there as soon as I can! Those lab rats the director insist that I have can sit here and wait for the AFIS results."
Natalie rubbed her temple as an orderly pushed by her. "Abby. I think you should go home and rest…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the orderly enter Tony's room. Abby was arguing in her ear that she had to get to the hospital to be with her boys and that she didn't need sleep. "I'll call you back," Natalie snapped, hanging up. She shoved her phone into her pocket and entered Tony's room as the orderly pulled a needle from his pocket. "Excuse me, what are you giving him?"
The orderly looked up, surprised to see her there, his eyes flashing with panic as he saw her badge. "Just giving him the painkillers that the doctor ordered," he replied, getting ready to shove the needle into Tony's IV.
She reached out and grabbed the man's wrist. "Special Agent DiNozzo requested no painkillers." He jerked against her grip.
"Agent Callahan," a nurse appeared, "ICU just rang… Agent McGee has appeared to have overdoes on… heroin. They… they have him stable now, they thought you should know."
Natalie knew it was no coincidence. She opened her mouth to say something to the orderly but he pushed back on her, sending her crashing into the nurse and into the hall, using their tumbling act as a means for escape. Natalie scrambled to her feet and drew her weapon. "STOP!" His hand reached for a small, silver gun at his ankle, "Don't do it!" she warned, just before his fingers brushed the handle of the gun and jerked the weapon upwards out of the holster. He barely had time to turn it on her before she fired her SIG and put a round through his shoulder. The weapon dropped from his grasp and fell to the floor with a scream.
Gibbs came out of nowhere then, kicking the weapon away and aiming his own at the suspect's head. "Give me one good reason to let you live," he snarled.
"Someone hired me!" the orderly sputtered. "They gave me ten grand to off your agents."
"Who?" Gibbs shouted. When he didn't respond the team leader holstered his weapon, knowing that Natalie still had hers drawn, and shouted, "Who hired you!"
"Her name…her name was Paloma Reynosa."