Special Agent Punishment

Chapter One

It was a normal day at NCIS Headquarters. The walls were still orange, the agents bustling around, phone calls coming in. Tony DiNozzo emerged from the elevator with a smile on his face. He strolled into the bullpen humming Sinatra and snapping to the beat. Ziva was already at her desk, typing away at some cold case files.

"Good morning, everybody." Tony chirped. Ziva made a face, the one she makes when she's not in a good mood.

"Why are you so chipper?" McGee pitched in.

"Good night?"

"Yes, in fact, I did have a good night, McGoo." Ziva quietly scowled, not wanting to hear about her partners late-night voyage in the bedroom. Tony, however, heard her scowl and gave her a look, asking "what's wrong with you?".

"Get your mind out of the gutter, McDirtyMind. I watched all of the Hitchcock films. Number 11 on my bucket list. Feels good." He smiled. Proud of himself for completing something he put on a piece of paper 2 years ago and gave it meaning.

"That is something you have been planning for a while, yes?" Ziva piped in from her desk, chewing on the tip of her pen.

"Yes, I have, Zeevah." He stretched out her name, knowing it would annoy her. To his dismay, and to his privilege she smiled. That smile that would get his stomach in a knot, but in a good way. Every time she would look his way and look at him with those eyes, smiled at him like that, he fell even more in love with her.

"Well, maybe you should think about crossing more things off of it, Tonee." Ziva teased back. About this time, Gibbs strolled into the bullpen with his signature coffee.

"No time for that, got a dead body at Quantico." He said taking a sip from his coffee and heading towards the elevator. The three agents followed him to the elevator to go to the crime scene.

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"DiNozzo bag and tag, McGee get the pictures, Ziver witness statements." Gibbs walked over to the dead body in the kitchen where Ducky and Jimmy were already examining.

"Whaddya got, Duck?"

"It appears to be blunt force trauma to the back of the head. But I'll know more when I get him back to Autopsy." Ducky took out his liver probe and found the time of death to be 8 hours prior.

"Name's Lieutenant Nathan Sanders. Just got back from Afghanistan three weeks ago. Married, 2 kids." McGee chimed.

Meanwhile, Tony was walking behind the house to check for any evidence. He was looking at the window that appeared to be broken when a masked figure came up behind him and injected him in the neck. Tony turned around and punched his attacker in what he assumed was his face. The attacker pulled Tony's arm back behind his back which caused him to yell out. The attacker let go and ran off. Tony fell to the ground, unconscious.

Ziva was talking to the one and only witness for this case when she heard a yell. But not just any yell, Tony's yell. She told the witness to stay where she was and pulled out her sig. She ran to where she believed she heard the scream and found Tony on the ground, not moving. She checked the area and found nothing. She rushed back to Tony.

"Tony!" She yelled, running to him. She called for Gibbs and within the next few seconds, he was right beside her, calling Ducky.

"I heard his yell, Gibbs. I ran straight here, surveyed the area, but there was nothing to indicate there was another person here, other than the looks of Tony." Ziva was concerned, something she normally didn't let show. Afraid emotion was a weakness. But when it came to Tony, she didn't care how she acted, she wanted to protect her partner, even if it killed her.

"He's been stuck with something on the right side of his neck. He's still breathing, faintly. We need to get him to the hospital. Immediately." Ducky said, checking for any other signs of injury.

Ziva knelt down beside him, looking at his face. His handsome face. The face that she could get used to seeing for the rest of her life. The first thing she saw in the morning and the last thing when she went to bed. She never knew feeling could be this strong. But she was wrong. Ever since she met Tony 9 years ago, she knew there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. After Somalia, she realized while in that camp that she had been wrong to ever doubt him. To ever think he would do something like that for any unpure reason. She realized in that camp that the feelings she felt for him were not simply what someone felt for a friend or a partner, but a lover, a soulmate.

She heard McGee call for 911 to take Tony to the hospital. She would not leave his side, there was no other place she would rather be. When the ambulance arrived around 5 minutes later they transferred Tony to the ambulance. Ziva hopped in with him, much to the argument of the paramedics, who didn't like that she was not family, yet still refused to go anywhere else.

'He is not a victim. Tony would not like being called that.' Ziva thought it brought a smile to her face, despite the circumstances. Thinking about how stubborn Tony could be, that would be the kettle black.

'No that is not right, it is the pot calling the kettle black. Tony would have a maze day if he heard my thoughts right now.' She looked at his pained but somewhat peaceful face. Oh, how she wished she could just hold him close and make everything better just by her touch. But she knew that's not how things worked. She rode the rest of the way to the hospital in silence, clutching Tony's bruised hand in hers.

'Please be alright. I need you.'