Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any money from them. I merely borrow them from time to time.
“Actually I should have known that he would react this way.“, frustrated Ziva only sighed. “Thereby I don’t really get it what we did to him.”
At that moment I didn’t answer I only looked into the direction in which Gibbs had left.
“Where does he go now?”
“Drinking coffe, how I assume.”, Ziva answered quietely and shrugged.
“At least one thing that hasn’t changed.”, I stated sarcastically. “I go and look for him.”
“Take care of yourself!”, Ziva called after me.
And after Gibbs behaviour just now I was convinced that I had to be really carefull about the things I was going to do. I was disapointed to no end when I finally walked through the long hallways of the staircase. What did I actually expect when I came to Washington? That Gibbs would hug me and tell me how much he missed me? No, I knew for sure that it would be different. But it was hard on me that he seemingly never understood why I left the team. If he had understood he would have reacted in a different way. Finally I attained the first floor and stepped outside into the sun. Thereby I shuddered, since I had left my jacket in Abbys lab and in Washington it was cold due to the time of the year. After all we already had december. Irresolutely I walked along the building, always looking for Gibbs. On the big, adjacent parking lot I finally saw him. He sat there, on one of the benches, coffe in his hand and stared into space. Without saying a word I sat down next to him and remained silent.
“Why did you come to Washington?”, Gibbs suddenly asked, however he didn’t look at me.
“Because I need your help Jethro! I’ve got this case which I can’t solve alone with my team! Therefor I need you!”
“Give me one good reason why I sould help you!”
I didn’t know why but that statement made me angry.
“Damnit Jethro! I’ve got five dead marines in two weeks! There is no usable trace at the crime scenes, no further evidence or a hint. The only thing I got is this shitty connection of the victims to a company in Washington. And I want to solve this case before anybody else gets hurt!”
“You can turn on the charm with Jen! Perhaps she is going to help you!”
Shortly after that he stood up and walked away. I only watched him leaving. What had become out of Leroy Jethro Gibbs? He seemed to be acerbated to me but first of all he seemed to be lonely. Because I soon got cold I went back into the building as well. After I calmed down a again I returned to Abbys lab.
“Apparently your meeting with Gibbs doesn’t seem to have been very successful, was it?”
To Tims question I only shook my head. Sure, they were my friends but this was something only between me and Gibbs. Over the next minutes a heavy silence lingered over us. Only the ringing of my cell phone broke it again.
“DiNozzo!”
“Gonzaga!”
In the moment I heared Rauls voice it was clear to me that something had happened.
“What’s up?”
“Would it be possible to do a video conference? We’ve got new informations which I don’t want to tell you over the phone.”
Thoughtfully I scratched my head.
“I’ll see what I can do!”, I replied.
Shortly after that we ended our call, expectant the others watched me.
“Would it be possible to do a video conference?”, I wanted to know from Tim.
He only smiled and nodded then.
“No problem!”
Finally we went to the conference room together. For a brief moment I stopped at Zivas desk to ask her to join us because I wanted her there as well. My hands were shaking when I approached Gibbs desk and looked at him. He sat there and seemed to be busy. But I realized immediately that he only feinged it to put me off.
“Do you have time? It is important.”
“What?”, he asked unkindly.
“Conference room!”, I only answered.
With a sigh Gibbs stood up and followed me. Directly when we entered the conference room I saw Tim working on the big computers. I then handed him the data he needed to build the connection to Madrid and put on the headset.
“Bouenos dias Washington!“, Raul greeted.
“Bouenos dias Raul!“, I replied and smiled. “So what’s up?”
For a few moments I only watched how he typed something in his computer. Shortly after that a photo was visible. It showed an elder man in the uniform of the Marine Corps. Strained I rubbed my eyes.
“Please don’t tell me that it is what I think it is.”, I meant quietly.
But Raul only nodded.
“We’ve got a new victim. Jakob Franklin, worked with the supply battalion of the Marines, 52 years old and was killed in the same way as all our other victims. Salvatore didn’t finish the autopsy until now but after his oppinion it is the same perpetrator.”
“And he had contact to this strange company in Washington, too?”
“Yeah!”
“Damn! Damn! Damn!”, I swore. “Could you make sure that we get all the information?”
“You can count on that!”, Raul replied. “I make sure that everything is sent to you. And Tony?”
“Take care of yourself!”, he wispered and smiled.
“You too!”
“We hear from each other!”
“Te quiero!”
“Ah Agent DiNozzo! We’re on duty!”, he laughed. “Te quiero también.“
Only seconds after that the video wall went dark. With a sigh I removed the headset. When I was honest I didn’t know how these new information helped us. We had a new victim, a thing I wanted to prevent. But everything Raul told me didn’t help us along.
“You got really professional!”, with these words Tim interupted my dark thoughts.
Self-consciously I grinned at him. Shortly after that everybody left the conference room to discuss everything. Only Gibbs stayed behind.
“Gibbs?”, I asked in a low voice and stepped towars him.
“Was it this that you wanted to show me? Your new luck?”, he asked.
I shuddered when I heared his voice. In all the years that I worked with this man his voice never sounded like this. So unutterably sad...
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.