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. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 7
“Hey Doc! What are you doing around here?” Tony asked drawing attention back to Dr. Atwood. Gibbs internally cheered Tony’s irrepressible curiosity, there were no doubts about the young man on bed was a good investigator.
“I went to your house to invite you for breakfast and take you on your offer.” The blond man said a little amused.
“Huh. Things didn’t work out the way I planned. Really sorry.” Tony replied.
“That’s because you are prone to accidents, DiNozzo!” Ziva said from the room’s door with a smug smile on her face.
“What can I say, Zi-va! I’m irresistible.” Tony quipped back. “Where is the rest of the gang?”
“McGee is at the office following some leads and Abby…”
“ Abby is working on the lab; will come by later.” Gibbs stopped Ziva unofficial report and made her a signal to leave the room with him.
A little annoyed from being excluded from the conversation, Tony shrugged his shoulder and turned to resume his conversation with Dr. Atwood.
“Are you seeing each other?” Atwood asked him.
“Ah? NO! We just work together.” Tony answered a little disturbed on the intimate question. Ignoring the sound that came from Ducky’s bed that sound suspiciously like a snigger. ‘Ducky doesn’t snigger, right?’ He pondered.
Atwood chuckled understanding the situation perfectly. “Right... Me and my wife, Antonia, use to act like that.” At seeing the young man was about to protest, Atwood changed the subject. “I’ll tell you what, since I need to get back to work and you won’t be staying longer in hospital, why don’t I stop by at your apartment tomorrow to check on you?
“It is not necessary…” Said Tony.
Atwood’s hand move to the top of Tony’s head and rested there for a few seconds, while the man looked intensely to Tony’s eyes. The action and the stare got him unnerved, but whatever thoughts were forming inside Tony’s head were effectively stopped by Atwood’s next words.
“I know son.” That made a tinge of red spread on Tony’s face, no one had ever said that word to him with such an affection. ‘Not that Gibbs needed to say, but…’ Atwood’s voice made him return to the real world “I know you don’t need, but I want to. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” The man said while leaving the room.
“Ok.” Tony said to him, watching the door close. Turning to his roommate, “What do you think Ducky?” Getting only a sound snore from him, Tony shook his head amused.
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Following Gibbs to the hospital elevator, Ziva wondered what was going on to him. She could swear that the man walking in front of her was completely pissed, but she didn’t think it was the lack of leads on their case. Whatever was happening, she was almost convinced that she should have stayed at the office and let McGee visit Tony’s first.
“Talk to me.”
“Director Shepard told us to treat Ducky and Tony’s cases as one and the same, so McGee is trying to ID the body and Abby is watching the 36 hours of video that we managed to get from the Department of Motor Vehicles. She says she needs more time to process the rest of the fingerprints and that the ones she had ID belonged to Tony’s friends.”
They ended up inside an unoccupied room, facing the elevator door. “She knows that why?” Gibbs questioned her while waiting for something to happen.
“She met them. What are we doing in here?” Ziva asked him impatiently.
“Waiting.” She opened her mouth to say something, but Gibbs cell’s rang that moment. “Gibbs. Keep digging. McGee! Find me whatever you can get on Dr. Robert Atwood as well.”
Seeing him closing his cell with no sign of telling her what just happened, she decided to take a stand “So? What did he tell you?”
Debating the possible outcomes of an idea, Gibbs pondered his chances before answering her. “McGee ID the body we found. It belongs to an Andrew Smith, PE teacher, works on a local private school, reported missing for 2 days.”
“How come he showed up dressed like a sailor on the State Park?”
“Someone one lured us in.” Gibbs saw his target move to the elevator “And I want to know who. Ziva, I want you to follow the good Dr. Atwood. Whatever you do, don’t approach him.”
“Why??” Ziva inquired a little infuriated by the man’s lack of explanations.
“Check in every hour!” Gibbs ordered over his shoulder on his way to the doctor lounge.
Moments later, Gibbs barged on the doctors’ lounge and, having located Tony’s doctor, asked to have a private conversation with him by staring the other doctor around hard enough to throw them out of the said room. Seeing that they ere alone, Gibbs set his plan in action “Tell me Doctor, how is Tony?”
Already used to the man’s blunt questions, Dr. Petrov only told him “He’s fine. The last blood tests we ran told us that drug has left his system. I’ll probably discharge him by the end of the day.”
Concealing his annoyance over the fact, Gibbs considered the doctor standing in front of him. Dr. Petrov seemed to be a hard but fair man, one that wouldn’t easily pushed in doing something he wasn’t comfortable doing. He had to risk.
“Could you find a reason to keep him here?” Gibbs asked the man looking straight at his eyes.
“Why I’ll do such a thing?” Petrov stared back demanding a reason.
“I believe he is being target by a stalker. If he remains in the hospital, keeping Ducky company, I know whoever did this won’t dare to came here and try again.” What Gibbs didn’t said was that having his injured people staying in the hospital " a.k.a. Tony away from trouble " he would be free to personally investigate the leads they already have.
“That is highly irregular.” Petrov offered back. He considered the last time he visited the young man’s room and the sheer concern emanating from Gibbs. He gave in with a heavy sign “Fine. I’ll do it, as long as you give him the bad news.”
“Trust me! I have absolute no problem in doing that” Gibbs told him evilly.
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Unable to gauge Gibbs reasons, Ziva moved fast through the stairs in the direction of the hospital parking area, losing a few minutes to locate the man opening his very distinguished black pickup. She smiled after concluding that she wouldn’t have any problems in finding the car in traffic and went for her vehicle to tail her target.
Driving around the town following his car, she couldn’t help but wondered aloud “What could possibly be the reason for Gibbs sudden interest in you?”
The man drove to the other side of the town and entered an unnamed salvage yard, puzzling Ziva with his behavior. She debated over step down the car and look around in hopes of finding something useful or stay in the car and come back later with back up. The choice was taking away from her hands and Dr. Atwood drove out of the salvage yard area after spending no more then 15 minutes inside it.
After that, the Doctor drove to Uni Hospital and spent his whole day in there, providing Ziva with one of the longest and frustrating days of her life. She called every hour to report to Gibbs, informing him about Atwood’s visit at the salvage yard and the man’s current location.
She was about to fall asleep and someone knocked on her window, scaring the lights out of her. She yelled an undignified ‘eep’ at the noise, getting more and more embarrassed after realizing that it was no one but Gibbs standing at the car’s door.
“I brought coffee” He stated after getting in the drivers seat.
“Thanks” She said happily as her hands move to the cup of coffee Gibbs had in his hands. A quick slap on her hands made he retreat back to the passengers seat, unable to gather what she had done wrong.
“For me. You, I brought sandwiches.” He explained, eyes lighting in amusement at the sight of Ziva’s annoyance. “Anything happened?”
“No. He is working in there since 10 am, must have took lunch in the cafeteria since he never left the building. He should probably leave work in a couple minutes. Why are you so interested in him?” She said between large bites on the sandwiches he had brought her.
“I got a good look on Mr. Andrew Smith’s face. As it turned out, I’ve met him before.” Gibbs offered her calmly.
“When?”
“5 days ago. He was the man who attacked Dr. Atwood and got caught by Tony. What an odd coincidence.” Gibbs concluded sarcastically.
“You don’t believe in them.” Ziva prodded.
“No, I don’t.”
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.