Rain ran down the outside of the NCIS building as McGee pulled into the parking lot. Why had Gibbs called in the middle of the night? If there was a new case, couldn't it wait until morning? McGee turned off his car and got out into the rain, his new coat now ruined. He strode up to the building and ran straight into the doors. They didn't budge. ‘What the hell?' McGee thought, and then remembered they were pull doors. ‘Damn it, every time.' The new doors had confused everyone since they'd been put in, and had resulted in several broken noses and black eyes. McGee had had neither yet, but it was only a matter of time. He pulled the doors open and rushed inside, shaking himself dry. Bill, the night man, was there and asked for I.D.
"Almost got you that time. You should be careful with those doors. You have no idea how many collisions I see every day." He laughed and looked at McGee's I.D. "That's fine. You just missed Officer David. "She's upstairs repairing the damage." McGee looked confused and sensing his bewilderment, Bill continued. "She had a fight with the doors, too. She was running to get out of the rain just like you, and smashed head on into the glass." Bill was laughing at this and McGee thought it was best to laugh along. He retrieved hid ID, walked over to the elevator, and got in.
"I hope Ziva's all right," McGee said to himself. He'd recently seen a side to Ziva that he thought he'd never see, ever since the explosion last month, when Ziva had pushed him aside and jumped on top of him, shielding him from the blast. McGee thought he'd seen something in her eyes when she was lying on top of him. Just a glimmer of something, but maybe he was wrong. The doors to the elevator opened and he stared out onto the floor. It was dark and there was no one about apart from Ziva at her desk. Her head was tilted backwards and as he walked towards her, he could see that her eyes were closed. She had one hand up against her nose and there was a dribble of blood on her top. He walked silently over to her desk and rested his hand on the front of it.
SLAM. Quick as a bullet, her hand had come smashing down and grabbed McGee's wrist. She raised it and twisted it in such a way that McGee had to spin round and was stuck beside her desk, his arm pushed halfway up his back. "Zi..Ziva! It's me, McGee!" Ziva immediately let go of his arm and rushed round the side of the desk to where McGee had crumpled on the floor.
"McGee! I'm so sorry . . . I didn't know."
"Its alright," McGee said, massaging his wrist. "I'm only grateful you didn't kill me." He smiled.
"I could have, you know," Ziva replied, smiling back.
"I know. That's what scares me." Ziva helped McGee to his feet and walked him over to his desk.
‘It's funny,' she thought. Over the past month, she'd seen a different side to McGee. Not the wimpy kid side that she was used to, but a gentle, compassionate side. ‘A side,' she thought, ‘that I could care about.' McGee winced as he sat down in his chair.
"Oh, come on, McGee, it isn't that bad." Ziva smiled
"Maybe not for a Mossad agent, but for us lower mortals, it's pretty painful."
"Aww, let me help," she said and walked behind him. McGee tensed, ready for more pain. Ziva laughed. "I'm not going to hurt you." She placed her hands on the back of his neck and played with his muscles. He immediately relaxed, and she felt his body loosen at the touch of her hands. She smiled. ‘Men are so weak,' she thought.
McGee couldn't even feel his wrist anymore, whereas two minutes ago, all he could think about was the searing pain he had felt. At that moment, the doors to the elevator opened and Gibbs and Abby walked out. Abby's jaw dropped at the sight of Ziva massaging McGee. She hastily snapped it back up again and followed Gibbs into the bullpen. Ziva had already let go of McGee and was now sitting on the other side of the bullpen at her desk. McGee looked lost, like he'd been interrupted in the middle of sleeping. Gibbs sat down at his desk, and Abby perched on the front of Tony's.
"So, why are we here at this time in the morning?" McGee asked sleepily.
"To work on the case," Gibbs said, stating the obvious.
"Umm, at the risk of sounding stupid, what case?" McGee asked.
"The Underhill case," Abby replied.
"Abby is correct," Gibbs said, smiling at her. "As I was telling her on the way here, we still haven't cracked this case and it's been open for two weeks now. I want this case solved by lunch time. That's 1200 hours."
"Any particular reason?" Ziva asked and Gibbs stared at her. "Because you want it to be? That's a good enough reason for me." She began looking through her desk for her notes. McGee followed suit. At that moment, they were interrupted by a crashing sound from the stairs. McGee and Ziva stood up to see what had happened and Abby ran over to where Tony was lying on the floor. He'd come tumbling out of the doors to the stairs and was now sprawled out on the floor. Abby knelt beside him.
"Tony? Are you all right?" Abby asked, worried.
"I'm fine," he said, embarrassed. "I was rushing because Gibbs said it was urgent and the elevator is out. I ran up those stairs and tripped as I came to the door. And well, you know the rest . . ."
"Tony, the elevator isn't out," Abby said slowly.
"But Bill said . . . I'm going to kill him. This is the third time this week he's pulled a prank on me"
"Well, it's your own fault for falling for it three times," Ziva said.
"Ha ha," Tony replied sarcastically. "Anyway, what was so urgent?" Abby helped him to his feet.
"Gibbs wants us to go over the Underhill case again."
"What? I thought someone had died!" Tony said, shocked.
"And someone will die if this case isn't solved by 1200 hours today," Gibbs said sharply. "It's two o'clock now, which leaves you all ten hours to do this. I want you in pairs going over every piece of information we've got."
Abby looked at McGee the moment Gibbs had said pairs and was expecting McGee to be looking straight back. Instead, she found him looking at Ziva and her looking straight back. Abby's blood boiled. ‘He's my McGeek, bitch,' she thought angrily.
"I'll go with Ziva," McGee said and Ziva nodded. McGee looked over to Abby and received a look of pure venom. He swallowed hard.
"That means you're with me, Abbs," Tony said, smiling, and Abby turned to look at him, her face free from any hatred.
"Okay then," she said cheerfully, "let's go down to my lab." Tony turned and headed for the stairs. "Er, Tony . . ."
"Oh, right," he replied and changed his path so that he was now headed for the elevator. They both stepped inside and the doors closed. McGee pulled his chair over to Ziva's desk and sat in front of it, ready to work. McGee smiled and Ziva just looked at him, but he could swear he saw just the faintest trace of a smile back. This just made McGee smile harder and Gibbs smacked him round the back of the head.
"9 hours and 57 minutes, McGee. Get working." Gibbs headed for the stairs up to MTAC and the director's office.
***
Story Notes:
I wrote this in answer to a challenge set by iheartGibbs on NFA
Author's Chapter Notes:
McGee and Ziva discover feelings that they didn't think they would ever have.
Chapter End Notes:
I wrote this in answer to a challenge set by iheartGibbs on NFA