It was the silence that seemed to surprise Tim the most.
Admittedly, they all weren't extremely chatty. Tony hadn't been too far off when he was describing Gibbs to Saleem as a 'functional mute'. That man seemed to get incredibly far with just a look. Ziva could hold her own in the quiet category, but she would eventually cave in the midst of uncomfortable silence.
But Tony, Tony was the one who had Tim worried.
He and Ziva had been given the all clear from the Seahawk's medical staff and, as Tim had promised, they were on the next plane back to DC. It was going to be a long flight, but he figured they would be landing in DC around lunchtime the next day. It would be the middle of the workday for NCIS, and he knew they'd be getting a hero's welcome when they got back.
But right now, the silence on their plane was worse than anything he had encountered at the hands of Saleem Ulman and his terrorists. Gibbs was doing a good job of looking like he was trying to catch some shut-eye and Ziva still had that thousand yard stare. That wasn't unexpected, as she had just suffered from months at the hands of who-knew what. Even the strongest person would be expected to not be left unaffected.
But Tim was watching Tony carefully. Usually, he couldn't keep quiet. He'd fill up uncomfortable silences with absurd comments, mindless jokes and a string of movie trivia, quotes and references. But now, Tony DiNozzo was the as much of a ghost as his other two partners.
Quite frankly, it was making Tim McGee think of how to change the atmosphere of the plane. "Boss?" It seemed to do the job of waking Gibbs from his not-quite sleep, but the other man acknowledged him, with a stinkeye. However, Tim would not let that deter him. "Vance going to have someone meet us at Andrews?"
Gibbs laid his head back again as he answered, "Yates'll be there when we land."
"Cassie? She's back in DC?" The last time he'd seen Agent Yates was back when Tony had nearly been killed by pneumonic plague. "Wow, I can't wait to see her. You here that, Tony? Cassie Yates is back."
Tim hoped the news would provoke a response from DiNiozzo, who was sitting next to him. And it did, just not much of one, as the Senior Field Agent merely shrugged his shoulders at first. Then he added, "Last time she was around, I was a bit...under the weather. Remember that, Probie? It was the last time I stared death in the face." The last line came out bitterly, bereft of any trademark DiNozzo humor.
Okay, so not what he was hoping for. He thought it over and decided on another tactic. "What's the plan when we get home?" His head swiveled between Tony and Gibbs, waiting an answer.
Gibbs' head straightened. "We head in, debrief Vance. There's probably going to be a lot of questions asked and we'd better have the answers to them." Then he took a deep breath, sparing a glance at Ziva. "I want full reports on my desk-"
"We'll get them to you, Gibbs, ASAP." Tony spoke up, assuring their boss that they knew what he would need.
"Tomorrow morning will be fine, DiNozzo," Gibbs amended, with surprising gentleness.
"Will you need one from me?"
All three mens' heads shot to the side. They had been the first words Tim had heard from her since Saleem had uttered his last. It seemed to take them all by surprise. At last, Gibbs answered her. "No, wouldn't need one from you," was all he said.
After a few minutes, Tim took it as a sign to engage her in conversation. "Ziva, are you...how are you…?"
"I am…" She looked like she was searching for the proper word. At last, she concluded her thought with merely adding, "alive." Then her eyes moved from Tony, to Tim and at last to Gibbs. "Thank you."
Tim just nodded his head, acknowledging her gratitude. Then he looked down, gathering his thoughts. "Is there anything you're going to need? I mean, your apartment…" His mind flashed back a few months, to the explosion set by Mossad to cover up anything about the fight between Tony and Michael Rivkin, the fatal meeting of the two men that had set them on the path that had ended in Somalia.
"I...cannot think that far ahead yet," Ziva said, her voice barely a whisper.
"I understand. But, if you need anything, my door is always open. Any of ours, really." Tim's gaze shifted from Gibbs to Tony and back. Neither man added anything until Tony spoke up.
It was another hour that had passed by then, during which Tim tried to sleep himself. But nothing was coming of the attempt. His eyes were closed, but he was still aware of what was going on around him. That was when he heard a voice.
"He's right, you know. If you need anything…" It was Tony, trying, trying to speak to Ziva at last. It was a relief to Tim to hear his colleague, especially after an extended period of silence.
Tim opened his eyes, and turned to watch Tony. He must have felt the pair of eyes on him, because he returned the stare, before looking back to Ziva. "Hey, Ziva, did you hear me?" DiNozzo tried again.
Tim saw that she wasn't asleep and that she had heard his question, but she wasn't acknowledging it. "Ziva?" Tim attempted to get through to her.
Finally, she turned to the two of them. "Yes, I heard you. I will be fine," she answered finally, before disappearing into herself again.
Tim looked to Tony again, but his friend shook his head. "It'll take time, Tim. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours," Tony reminded him.
Instinctively, Tom knew that. But still, he was concerned for her, then he amended that thought. He was worried for all of them.
"I'm worried about this," Tim informed Tony as they walked out of the airport in Addis Ababa.
"Yes, McGee, you've said that about five hundred times since I told you back in DC," Tony grumbled. Tim tried to stifle the whining he'd been doing but he was very nervous. He'd had little experience out in the field until only a few years ago and really no undercover or foreign experience at all during his time with NCIS. He remembered a conversation he'd had when he was being investigated for killing the Metro cop. Listing his colleagues qualifications, he'd recalled Tony had been a cop, Gibbs a Marine sniper and Ziva an assassin. There was nothing in his past like that to prepare him for the undertaking they were about to begin.
Well, there was a first time for everything. He just hoped it didn't get him killed.
"When are we meeting up with Agent Dunham?" was Tim's next question.
"Right now, boys," a voice chimed in. The two DC agents looked up to find Agent Chad Dunham approaching them with a big smile on his face. "Long way from home, eh?"
"Yeah, but, what's the expression, 'join the Navy, see the world'?" Tony asked, shaking the man's hand.
"Pretty remote part of the world," Dunham said as he shook Tim's hand. Then he flipped his thumb over his shoulder. "Car's this way. I've orders to take you to the hotel and then tomorrow, you two set off on your own."
"Any help you can provide will be appreciated," Tony said as he climbed into the passenger's side.
"Don't know how much of what I uncovered will help. Information is scarce, but some of the tribes I talked to said there seems to be a gathering point in Jijiga. It's the largest city closest to the Somali border," Dunham informed them.
"Intel puts the camp in the northern part of Somalia," Tony said. "There's been coveys seen on satellite imaging for a few months now." Then he looked to Dunham. "A few months ago, I came in on the end of a report you were making to Gibbs. You mentioned you'd heard a woman was with them Did you learn anything further?"
Even from just the profile Tim saw of Tony, he caught the look in the older man's eye. There was something of hope in it. "Ah, what report are you talking about?" Tim asked.
Dunham looked to Tony before answering. "Some of my contacts who knew about a camp in the region reported that a woman was with them, but since then, I haven't heard anything else."
"And you think it could be Ziva alive?" Tim asked Tony, though he really didn't classify his words as a question.
After a moment, Tony, never looking in Tim's direction, replied. "Ziva's dead, Probie."
Dunham eventually dropped them at the hotel with the promise of returning and showing them the local cuisine after they rested and took a shower. When they entered the room, Tim crashed on the nearest bed, but Tony sat at the table, opened his laptop and reviewed something on it. Tim watched him, surprised at how diligent he had been the past couple of weeks as they had prepared for this mission.
Tim eyed him wearily, not entirely believing what Tony had said to him in the car. "Tony, we wouldn't be doing all of this is we didn't think she was actually alive. There's enough intel between us and the computer files we gave Mossad to lob a few missiles into the region and take out the camp." Tony didn't respond to him, only continued working at this computer. "Tony…"
That finally shook him out of whatever he'd been in. "My gut…" He leaned back and looked towards the ceiling. "Before we left, Gibbs pulled me aside and confirmed what I was talking about with Dunham on the way here. The odds are long, the chances slim. But I've never questioned the boss' gut. It's never been wrong."
Tim got off the bed and walked over to the table's other chair. As he sat down, he placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say." Then he shifted his eyes to the screen. "I'm guessing you have a plan, or at least one more thought out than what you laid out in DC." Getting captured on purpose wasn't exactly appealing to Tim and he hoped Tony had come up with something else.
"Sorry, Timmy, but it's probably the most believable scenario," Tony said. "Look, all you have to do is play possum. I'm the one taking the brunt of the beating."
"It could get you killed." Tim let that statement hang in the air.
Tony let out a sigh. "If it can save her…"
It was then that Tim noticed something about Tony, something he'd never really seen. Oh, he'd watched Tony banter with Ziva for a few years, tossing sexual innuendos her way just to be batted back at him. He knew Tony probably would have wanted to bed her just for the hell of it. Heck, he still wasn't sure they hadn't been doing anything when they were undercover as married assassins. But now, even with him just saying the word 'her', he saw something in his friend he'd never noticed.
Tony loved Ziva.
Before he could question him on that, though, the default Tony DiNozzo set in, manic grin, wise-ass glint. "To quote an eighties movie ballad, 'Who wants to live forever?'"
Tim's eyes shifted to the side, trying to run through the catalogue of Tony Movie References he'd accumulated over the years. He knew he was entering possibly dangerous territory, but he thought is was best not to pursue his previous musing. "Never heard of that one before."
"'Highlander', 1986, starring Christopher Lambert. High on the cheese scale, but it's become a cult hit over the years." Then Tony launched into a dissertation on the film, complete with cast and soundtrack lists.
Looking back, it had been a wise move, indulging Tony's cinematic knowledge. A relaxing respite before a dangerous mission. Tim decided he'd call Tony on that look he saw, some day.
He just hoped he'd live to be able to.