All roads lead to Paris

Part 26

Tony was pacing through the room waiting for his agents to say that they found something, but it didn't happen. He still had no idea where Ziva was and if she was okay. He didn't know who these men are or who they work for. He didn't know anything, except that he wanted Ziva back as fast as possible.

"Okay, thanks. Bye" He put the phone back at its place and said: "Boss, I've called an old friend of mine who works for CIA. He didn't know anything about Agent David or those three men."

Tony sighed and answered: "That's not good, Bambino 1. I need some information. Now!" The other agents sat there and watched him going up and down the bullpen.

A phone rang. Tony searched for his cellphone in all his pockets. He took it in his hand but realized it wasn't his phone ringing as his female coworker answered her phone: "Agent Martin... Yes Director... Yeah, I'll tell him." She hung up and turned to Tony who was already staring at her waiting for an answer. She had a confused look on her face: "Boss, Director wants to see you. He said it's about Agent David's 'mission', but he didn't say anything more."

Tony rushed to the stairs and said while walking: "Thanks, Bambina." As he entered the director's office, he saw something unexpected, but very familiar. She smiled as she saw him and got up to greet him: "Tony! Hi, nice to see you."

She hugged him and as she stepped back Tony said: "Hey Bishop. Didn't expect you to be here."

"I didn't expect to need to come here just to hear from you more often. You could've called."

Tony still stunned by her being in Paris without him knowing and still confused of this situation answered: "Well, I was pretty busy."

He turned to the director and asked: "So, what's Ziva's mission and why is Special Agent Bishop here?"

After they sat down the director finally started talking: "Agent David is assigned to help NSA Agents to close a case which is related to what happened to her in Israel."

Tony asked confused: "You mean the explosion and that she made it look like she was dead?"

"Yes, exactly. We hope Agent David can answer all the questions the Agents have."

"And why is Agent Bishop here?"

Ellie answered herself: "I'm here to get you and your team all information you need to be okay with this. Ziva will be helping them for a few days, and you should be okay with that. And because your team then has one agent missing, I'm here to make her work."

Tony jokingly said: "Two in one, huh?"

As he saw the director's unamused face his smile disappeared quick. He cleared his throat and said: "But we have no case yet, so we won't need your help, Ellie."

The director took the case file, which was laying on his desk and handed it Tony: "Well, now you have one. Good luck for your first case Agent Dinozzo. I'm sure Agent David will be back soon and until that, good luck with Agent Bishop."

"Thanks, Director." Tony got up and went out of the office.

The director said: "I hope your connections to NSA are still strong. I want to know everything Agent David is telling these Agents."

"Okay, Sir. I will refresh my connections. But why do you need the information?"

"I want to know who signed up as my Agents. I know Agent David has an interesting backstory with lots of unknown missions and details missing in it. She just disappeared for years, and no one knows what happened in these years. I just want to make sure she still works for the right side"

"Okay. I can assure you even though I never actually met her in real life, that she would never turn against NCIS or any other agencies."

They stood up and walked to the door. Before shaking her hand, the director said: "Thank you for your opinion, Agent Bishop and good luck for the next few days."

"Thanks." She walked out and closed the door behind her.

Tony was waiting for her in the bullpen. As he saw her coming back, he turned to his team and said: "Team! This is Agent Bishop. She will be with us as long as Ziva isn't here. Treat her right, if you don't, she has the right to hurt you."

Ellie smiled and waved at the three Agents. Tony gave her one last look before saying: "Grab your gear! We have a case!"

As they came back from the crime scene Tony showed Ellie the building first, and then went back to the bullpen: "And this is Ziva's desk, or better: your desk for now."

Ellie smiled: "Looks pretty familiar." She sat down and felt the hard uncomfortable chair she is used to from her own desk in D.C. She laughed. "Wow. It's literally the same as in D.C, that's crazy, don't you think Tony?"

She looked at her computer to find out what she'll be working with waiting for Tony to answer, but he didn't. She leaned to the side to take a look at Tony and asked again: "Don't you think, Tony?"

He didn't answer; he was just staring at his phone with a concerned look on his face. Ellie tried one last time a little louder: "Tony??"

He winced as he finally heard her speaking to him. "What? What did you say?"

"Never mind. What are you thinking about? Ziva?"

He slightly nodded still looking at his phone. Ellie tried to calm him: "Hey! She'll be fine. And she will be right back. Just try not to overthink."

"That's not so easy Bish. What the director told you was right. She disappeared and no one knows where she was or what she did. I'm just worried that what happened traumatized her."

Ellie was confused. Ziva David, traumatized? That wasn't something she expected from the strong independent woman she heard about all the time.

"Tony, we're talking about Ziva. She doesn't get traumatized by anything."

Tony scoffed. "Well, that shows that you never met her before. Even though she seems pretty tough, she is a soft soul with feelings, and I know that her feelings have been hurt before and that didn't end well. I just want her to be happy, you know."

Ellie smiled as she realized how worried he really is and how much he must love her to talk about her like that. "Wow. You really love her, huh? Tim was right."

He looked at her and at the rest of the team who were listening too. He doesn't like people to know what he feels, especially strangers: "Hey! That's out of your business Bambino's and Bambina. Get to work! We have to solve this case!"