CHAPTER 13: Even the best fall down
"Call Ducky!" Tony shouts to gibbs
The rest of them all file though the hatch to see the body with its ghastly expression facing towards them.
"Tony come away, it'll be ok we will find Kate" Smith says
"What, when she ends up like this!" Tony says angrily
"Pull yourself together!" smith shouts "Kate needs you to be strong for her" she says trying to get through to Tony.
"Your right!" he says "Lets go find her!" he says with determination evident in his eyes
Smith and Tony stand up and head for the hatch opening, Smith signals to Gibbs and he walks over to the both of them.
"Gibbs i'm taking Tony home, he needs some rest, he is no good to us here in the state he is in" Smith says
"Good idea Agent Smith" Gibbs says turning to Tony "We WILL find that bastard that has Kate, you understand me?" he asks
"I know boss" Tony says and heads towards the hatch
They dissapear through the hole in the ceiling and the rest of the team gets back to work. McGee and the Director are bagging and tagging, Veron is taking
pictures and sketches, Ducky is looking over the body. He walks up to ducky and sees how much the body looks like Kate, it churns his stomach, the last
time he remembers feeling like this was when he had heard the news about Shannon and Kelly, he tried to erase that picture from his mind everyday but it was
no use they were gone and for a moment he had thought Kate had gone.
"What have we got here duck?" Gibbs asks getting back to work
"Jethro be really do have a scare he don't we?" Ducky says solumly
"We sure do Duck" Gibbs responds
"Cause of death?" Gibbs asks
"From the size and deepness of the cut i would have to say that this was the cause of death" Ducky says pointing to the large gash accross the victim's
throat"
"What about time? Gibbs asks
"Well based on the liver temp and the slight early signs of rigor mortis i would estimate between 2000 and 2100" Ducky says
"Thanks duck" Gibbs says
The rest of the team finish their jobs and head back to NCIS building, Abby is busy in her lab, so is Emma and they don't seem to be getting on very well.
"I have managed to find the white van again, it headed towards the bethesda naval hospital about an hour ago" Emma said
"Thats nice, what took you so long?" Abby said coldly not looking at her
"Because of the timeframe and the guess work i had to do to try to find the direction in which the van was going, it was a little longer the i would have
liked" Emma reponded
"Well it didn't take you long to get your claws into McGee now did it!" Abby turned towards Emma and gave her the Abby version of a Gibbs stare
"Whats wrong you jealous?" Emma retorted
"No, me and McGee are just work colleagues, thats all" Abby says turning back towards he computer
"Thats not the impression i got" Emma said
"What gives you the right to come in here and tell me what i feel!" Abby coldly says
"your afraid" Emma said
"of what?" Abby asked back
"commitment" Emma said smugly
"Am not!" Abby snapped
"You so are, i see they way you are together and you think no one notices, that little giggle you do when he says something that really isn't funny and the
look you give him when he walks into the room alone" Emma says
"Ok, Ok you're right!" Abby gives in
"I knew it!" Emma said
McGee walks out of the elevator and Emma spots him and holds her hand up to tell him to wait, he stands outside the lab and waits to be let in, he knows that
Abby and Emma have not got on since she first showed up in the lab that day when him and Abby were, he turns a bright shade of crimson just thinking about it.
"Look don't tell him this but i really like him, he is funny cute and he's got that baby duck type thing gong on" Abby says finally able to let it out
"Really?" McGee says standing by the doors, abby turns around her face has a shocked looking expression and turning red.
Agent Smith drove to the hospital that night to see how Ziva was doing, no-one else was able to make it as they were still running leads and trying to get
Kate back but in the short amount to time they had worked together they had become instantly friends.
"I'm here to see Ziva David" Smith said
"One moment please" The rather large lady at the desk said "Room 169 on floor 6"
"Thank you"Smith said and headed into the elevator
She pressed the button for floor six and waited, the elevator stopped twice on the way there, the first was on floor 1 when and elderly gentleman stepped in
with a walking stick dressed in a hospital gown and dressing gown over the top. The secong was on floor 4 when the elderly gentleman stepped off the elevator
and heading towards the cafeteria.
The elevator finally made a stop on the 6th floor and she stepped out, managing to avoing the rather large pool of urine that had been deposited on the floor
by a three year old with a bladder problem. She turned down a hallway tot he right where the wall plaque read:
Level 6
Private Wing
Rooms 160 - 169
She cam to the end of the hall where she saw two rooms labelled 168 and 169 and peered into the room using the window to the left of the door, she opened the
door and saw Ziva sitting on the bed reading some kind of magazine in arabic.
"Hey Ziva, how are you?" Smith asked
"I'm good thanks Vicky" Ziva replied smiling "What you reading?"
"GQ but it is the arabic edition" Ziva said
"I was wondering what that was" Smith said "So when are they going to let you out?"
"They said a couple of days but i am going to try to get out of here by tomorrow at the latest!" Ziva said trying to ignore the pain in her stomach everytime
she moved or ate or showered or walked, the list was endless.
"How about i get you out of here tonight?" Smith said
"Could you?" Ziav asked
"Yeah sure, ill just go talk to someone, you get changed i'll be back in a few minutes" Smith said and walked out of the room.
Ziva quickly grabbed her clothes and dressed, she put some of the few things she had to call possesions in her bag and waits for Smith to come back. A few
minutes later Smith comes back into the room.
"Lets go!" Smith says
"Definately" Ziva says trying to hide the pain increasing in her stomach.
Smith drove Ziva back to her house, it was a lovelly rented two bedroomed house in the middle of a quite street, it hadn't cost her much as NCIS Director
covered most of her bills while she was working with them and ensured she never went without anything. Gibbs at first disputed it but after what happened
In his basement with her killing her half brother that night he felt that it was the leat NCIS could do in the circumstances.
"This is such a lovelly home" Smith commented looking at the expensive furniture that ensured she was living in luxury
"Yes it is but it is not MY home" Ziva said walking into the kitchen and putting on the kettle.
"Would you like a drink?" Ziva asks
"I would love one you got anything stronger than tes?" Smith asks
"I sure do!" Ziva says smiling and opens a bottle of Vodka and takes out two shot glasses
Ziva and Vicky settle in to the living room and begin to talk about everything, their lives, loves, family, their bosses, working for NCIS and friends.
They finaly fall asleep just as the sun begins to rise to start new day.
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