ONE | my family

7K 125 13
                                    

"So, I assume you two are back together? After all, the only thing that led to your breakup was the undercover assignment."

"I don't think we can pick up where we left off, Ziva."

She and I step off the elevator, happy to be back in a somewhat normal space after the conclusion of Jenny's rage against La Grenouille.

"You two danced together in your apartment."

"But we didn't kiss or anything."

Our quiet conversation is disrupted by Gibbs' booming voice and a new case.

"Grab your gear, we got a petty officer in a hit-and-run."

At the crime scene, Tony takes lead with the photos, Gibbs assesses the body with Ducky, McGee draws out a sketch, Ziva sorts through the totaled vehicle, and I search the surrounding area.

It proves well when I find another body.

"What do you see, Ducky?"

"She has a smashed cranium, lacerations, and possibly multiple fractures." He points to the discolored bruises. "I think we've found our human cannonball."

"Whoever was driving the car just left her here to die." My head shakes in mere disbelief.

"Who would do that?" McGee questions under his breath.

Ducky sighs. "Clearly, someone in a terrible rush."

"In a rush to where?"

Back at the headquarters, the four of us sit at our respective desks to go over what we've found after making calls and accessing databases.

"Well, we know where Petty Officer Munoz was in a rush to." Tony's the first to walk off the elevator.

"We spoke to his roommate." Ziva drops her bag at her desk. "Munoz was throwing a surprise party for one of his friends who just arrived from Iraq."

I grab the remote off of Gibbs' desk. "And the reason he was late is because. . .he was at the Chelsea Girls School's 50th reunion for the class of '57. And we have visual proof."

Pictures of the half-naked man appear on the screen as he dances with older women.

"I wonder if Ducky has dreams like this." The senior agent snickers lightly. "Gibbs probably isn't too far behind."

A familiar awkward silence fills the atmosphere.

"He's standing right behind me, isn't he — sorry about that, boss."

"Going to be your dreams one day, too, DiNozzo."

McGee folds his hands. "Maybe Petty Officer Munoz danced with the wrong woman and was run off the road by a jealous husband."

"In his motorized wheelchair?" Tony turns around abruptly. "Come on, guys, it's simple: we're looking for a bad guy who got into an accident and then carjacked Munoz 'cause he wanted to get the hell out of Dodge."

"I'll put a B.O.L.O. out on the truck."

"My gut tells me that Munoz had a terminal case of wrong place, wrong time."

McGee informs us of the woman we found by the crime scene, a con artist who dropped off the radar less than three years ago.

The car found at the crime scene is registered to a Nicholas Barnes, to whom Gibbs and Tony pay a visit.

In the meantime, Ducky figures out that Heidi had been beaten to death long before she was put in the car. And right before she was murdered. . .she had given birth.

𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 ━━ 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐨Where stories live. Discover now