Snail Mail
"Is this really nessecary?" Kate complained as Gibbs drove her, Ziva and Tony to Kate's apartment. Tony and Ziva had already picked up a few things for their stay.
"Yes, Kate, it is nessecary. I'm putting Tony on protection detail over you and Ziva until we catch this guy and your place just happens to be the largest," Gibbs told her sternly.
"Why do I get myself into these things?" Kate muttered in an exasperated voice.
"Gee, I dunno why?" Tony spoke up from the back seat, getting a small laugh from Ziva.
"Shut up," Kate snapped, "I'm really not in the mood."
"That's why I do it," Tony joked good-naturedly.
"Ziva...smack him," Gibbs ordered and was rewarded with a 'mfph' sound behind him, this time it was Kate's turn to chuckle.
Tony slumped in his seat like a sullen child and remained quiet for a total of thirty seconds, "So.... what does your place look like?"
Kate let out a long sigh before reporting, "We're here." They had arrived in front of a large apartment complex and Kate explained, "I have a flat on the top floor," when she heard a loud groan from Tony she added, "but there is an elevator."
"A little exercise going to kill you?" Ziva teased Tony as she got out of the vehicle and grabbed her duffle bag.
"Yep," Tony quipped.
"C'mon children," Gibbs strode towards the door with the others on his heel.
"Yes Dad," Tony muttered under his breath.
"I heard that," Gibbs remarked, now at the door. Kate quickly unlocked the front door of the apartment complex and everyone piled into an elevator. On the top floor Kate gave Gibbs the key and he unlocked it, "Tony, let's clear the place first."
The younger man nodded seriously and unholstered his gun, then the two of them entered the flat, guns raised, "Clear!" Tony bellowed from Kate's bedroom, "and nice underwear, Kate."
Kate ran a hand over her face, "I give up, he is just too childish."
"Some men never grow up," Ziva stated, trying to make a joke, but only got a glare in return. She looked down to the floor for a moment, tears coming in her eyes.
Kate looked at the other agent shocked, this wasn't like Ziva at all, "Ziva, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Guilt came full force and she put an arm around her and gave her a light squeeze, "It's fine, okay?"
Ziva swiped at the tears, red faced in embarassment, "It's not anything," she wiggled away from Kate's arm and stumbled, falling onto the floor hard, "Damn it," she breathed through clenthed teeth as she clutched at her stomach.
"Agent David, is there something you aren't telling us?" Gibbs asked with a serious look as she pulled herself to her feet.
Ziva sighed resigned, "I'm well...I'm with child, as you say, pregnant."
"Shit," Tony muttered angrily under his breath.
Kate's eyes went in a tennis match between Ziva and Tony as she asked with stony eyes, "Who's the father?"
"Jay, my boyfriend, why?" Ziva answered honestly, but with some discomfort and immediatly made Kate feel the guilt all over again.
"I was just wondering..." for some reason the name sounded very familiar.
"Great, this bastard is after you and Kate and you're pregnant. Great timing, Ziva," Tony felt the need to vent his frustrations.
"It's not like I planned it and it's not my fault I'm being threatened," Ziva shot back.
Kate just sighed and slumped in an arm chair.
"If you haven't noticed, the only blame here is on the criminal. Now I'm going to track him down. Please behave," Gibbs told them sternly before leaving and shutting the door loudly behind him.
"Well that was pleasant," Kate observed sarcastically, then changing to a more normal tone, she added, "Make yourselves at home."
"Where's the bathroom?" Ziva asked immediately, her hand over her mouth.
"Down the hall and to the left," Kate told her and watched as the newest agent ran down the hall. Both Tony and Kate heard her leave and the sickening sound of Ziva losing her lunch.
A moment later she returned with a forced grin.
"Agent David, you can have the guest room, it's right across from the bathroom and Tony, the couch is a pull out," Kate informed them just as the phone rang. Carefully she picked it up and answered, "Agent Todd."
"Hi mon-petite-chou," the other person answered and she knew who it was in an instant.
"What do you want?" She answered trying to supress her anger with no success.
"Well Sweetie, I want you to get someone to check your mail, but you can stay in the house. Bye, love you," Click, and then the dial tone. The stalker had hung up abruptly and Kate relayed his message.
"I'll go," Tony told them, "Ziva can't go in case he plans on sniping whoever goes, I'll risk it." He pulled on his bullet proof vest and opened the door tentatively, "Don't open the door for anyone except me, and keep your guns in your hands while I'm gone," and with that he was gone.
"Sorry I got you into this," Kate was the first to speak.
"Funny how it takes a situation like this for us to be civil with eachother," Ziva gave her a small smile.
"I guess it was just hard to come back after so long and find myself replaced," Kate confessed, "It wasn't you to be precise, it was the fact you were taking my place."
"I could never take your place, Tony adores you, in fact everyone seems to adore you. They wouldn't even let me use your desk at first. It's difficult to make friends when everyone treats you with hostility," Ziva told her the difficulties that came with her reason for joining the team.
"I never thought about it that way-" but she was interupted by Tony calling from the other side of the door.
"Let me in," they both noticed the strained tone, "There was nothing there."
Kate gave Ziva a look that clearly said 'hide now' and unholstered her gun, she hadn't thought it nessecary to heed Tony's advice, clearly she was wrong. When Ziva was safely stowed in the closet of Kate's bedroom, Kate swung open the door.
A slightly familiar man was holding Tony at gunpoint and pushed her co-worker into the room, "I thought I'd bring up the letter myself," he said waving an envelope and threw it onto the coffee table.
"Where's Ziva?" The man asked.
"Not here," Kate answered almost too quickly, the letter was now forgotten.
"I doubt that, sweetheart. It's not nice to lie," He told her condensendingly as he jabbed the gun harder into Tony's skull.
"She really isn't here," Tony followed Kate's lead and winced as the man pulled back on the hammer, making a clicking sound.
"Where is she, NOW!" His eyes looked as though they were on fire and neither agent spoke. A small bang came from the silenced gun and Tony fell to the ground.
"No!" Tears dripped from Kate's eyes as she dropped to her knees beside Tony and was relieved to find he'd be struck in the vest. The bullet had hit where his lungs should have been, knocking the breath out of him, causing his loss of consciousness.
Grabbing her hair in one hand he pulled her away from Tony and threw her to the floor a couple feet away. He confiscated her gun and turned back to the fallen man. He pulled a long length of rope from his small duffel bag and tied Tony's wrists and ankles together tightly. He finished off by tying a rag securely around his mouth.
He patted Tony's cheek lightly and returned to where Kate lay, tears streaking down her face, "Aww, don't cry sweetheart, I'm here," he pulled her into a hug, "I didn't mean to hurt you."
Kate tried to pull away from his touch and it was obviously the wrong thing to do. He smacked her brutally across the face, pulled her to her feet and bound her wrists behind her, "Why don't we find your new friend? It's funny how you get along now, isn't it?" He basically repeated the same phrase Ziva had mentioned earlier as he pushed her forward.
Slowly, he searched the entire flat, saving Kate's bedroom for last as he pushed open the door, he called tauntingly, "Ziva?! Oh Ziva, come out come out where ever you are!"
With a smile, he looked under the bed and then swung open the closet door. Ziva was crouched at the bottom and his smile broadened at Ziva's scared look, "Jay? No, no no no. Not you, not again."
"Your not still mad about what happened three weeks ago are you?" He grinned evilly at her as he dragged her out of the closet after pushing Kate onto the bed.
"Ziva? What is he talking about?" Kate asked as she put two and two together and gasped, "He didn't..."
"We'd been seeing eachother for a couple months and I wouldn't let him...you know. He seemed okay about it and offered to make me dinner, it was drugged. He
r-r-r-aped me," again her face was filled with tears.
"I got you and now I want Kate. I always get what I want, as a matter of fact, I want both of you now," Jay quickly bound Ziva and pushed the two of them back into the living room.
Tony groaned through the gag from his spot of the floor, "Tony?" Ziva asked concerned, "Are you alright?"
He nodded difficultly and could do nothing as the man, Kate and Ziva now knew as Jay, forced the two women out the door and away from the safety it was supposed to provide.
Just as they left, the phone rang and Tony pulled himself over to where the phone lay, having been knocked over by Kate during the slight struggle. He used his nose to hit the talk button and heard Gibbs ask, "Kate? Are you there?"
On Gibbs side, all he heard was Tony's muffled yells.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Kate's got a letter, but who is it from and what does he want? Ziva is what? You'll never believe Ziva's own dirty little secret.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks to Kate and The Mythical Pen for there help in the brainstorming process. This is dedicated to them.