Shocking Revelations   von Nightstalcer
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                             Kapitel 1: chapter 1
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„Grab your gear!“, the bellowed command carried across the bullpen and two
agents sprung into action while grabbing said gear and followed the commanding
voice into the elevator that would bring them to the garage where the NCIS-Van
was parked. 
Their leader didn't need to mention to them that the Truck would have to be
gassed or that they needed to call their medical examiner Dr. Mallard to come to
the scene too. After so many years of working together they just knew how to
proceed when going to a probable crime scene. The only thing that was different
was that all these tasks were not as normally accompanied by endless chatter
from one of the agents. In fact, there was no talking at all except the command
of their leader to grab their gear. They only worked in silence and were finally
ready to head out to Rock Creek Park towards the scene in the agency’s sedan.
The truck would be taken by the MEs assistant. 
At least Ducky can't get lost on the way there as murders happen way too often
there, Senior Field Agent Anthony Dinozzo thought, as he would have normally
commented and probably earned himself a head slap from Gibbs for it.
But today everything was different... In fact, everything just royally changed
when Ziva David, his former partner and love-interest had gone back to Israel to
find herself. Never mind that he just found the courage to actually tell her
that he discovered that she was his salvation and the key for him to finally
have a somewhat happy and content life. But as it was with Jeanne Benoit he
always fell for the wrong women. Or Kate, or Paula Cassidy... well the list was
long enough and you couldn't forget EJ and Wendy. Ziva was just to last of them
to take his heart, toy with it, making him believe that she loved him back and
wanted to be with him and then crushed it under her ninja-assassin-boots like it
was an insect that was bugging her. 
Now you're being unfair Dinozzo, he scolded himself in his thoughts, all the
while missing the intensive gaze that Gibbs gave his second-in-command and
longtime SFA while driving no way near the appropriate speed limit.
Special Agent Timothy McGee also realized that Tony wasn't in the right mind set
but he also was pleased with the absence of Dinozzos chattering and bickering
with him. He wasn't in high school anymore and after almost ten years or working
for Gibbs he was nowhere near a probie but Tony, who worked for Gibbs the
longest still called him that regularly. 
Oblivious to his team partners’ thoughts, Tony returned to the subject of Ziva
in his head. She told him that she loved him too but that it was just not enough
for her. After her father died she didn't have time to really mourn him and she
needed that time and she also realized that she wasn't Ziva David, Mossad agent
extraordinaire anymore. She tried to get a new life when joining NCIS fully and
becoming an American citizen but when she was finally free, having quit her job
she immediately returned to her roots, going back to Israel. Tony shivered, all
his visits to Israel were tainted with something happening that stole the ground
from under his feet. First time Ziva assaulted him, wanted to kill him for
taking her lover Rivkin away. He never got to explain it to her, she never
apologized and he still had forgiven her. That was just the way he was, his
father, Wendy, even Gibbs would attest to that. Maybe he was too used to be
screwed over which was why he didn't even wonder why he was once again the one
that was being used. The second time...
“Something on your mind, Dinozzo?” his boss voice sounded next to him,
impatient as always.
Tony looked up “Nothing on my mind boss.” 
Gibbs just looked at him, aware that that certainly wasn't the truth but they
had a crime scene ahead of them and personal affections had to wait. 
“Then why are you sitting there?” he just inquired, knowing that his senior
field agent would momentarily realize that they were already at their
destination and then spring to action. 
He knew him too well as Dinozzo acted just as he has predicted, also adding the
“I'm sorry boss, coming.”, that he would add, even if apologizing was
against the rules of Gibbs.
He looked towards McGee who was eagerly waiting for him.
“Dinozzo, bag and tag, McGee, take pictures and finger prints from our victim.
I will question the witnesses”.
Despite being the number one dump-place for corpses in DC the park was very
famous for family gatherings and such. So a whole family with grand-children
included was waiting at his disposal. His two agents began working while he
walked towards the corpse, a petty officer in his late twenties and approached
his medical examiner Ducky and his assistant Jimmy Palmer who was performing his
thingy with measuring the temperature of the liver and then announcing to him
the approximate time of death. Gibbs never paid attention to the procedure and
never would know how to perform this himself but that was what you had MEs for.

“What have you got Ducky?” he asked his old friend, totally aware that
without a thorough autopsy he couldn't say much about their petty officers
untimely demise. But you had to keep up the appearance and it became a friendly
ritual as was his messing with Dinozzo. He sighed, his thoughts turning towards
his longtime agent. Something was troubling the boy that much was obvious. And
while they all were coming to terms that Ziva wouldn't come back to them it
wasn't just that. Tony acted differently when affected by actions of a woman. He
didn't recognize it as odd that he referred to a grown man in his forties as a
boy but that was what Tony would always be for him and Ducky. The age difference
aside but Dinozzo had the tendency to act like a child and he didn't mean his
weekly goof-offs with his teammates or the inappropriate comments about sexual
intercourse with whoever was now on his imaginary girlfriend-list but more the
way he dealt with when he was in trouble or had a problem. Normally kids would
go to their parents for help or advice but Dinozzo, having grown up mostly away
from his family kept things to himself and dealt with them alone. Mostly he
managed and being a well renowned and respected agent throughout the whole
alphabet of agencies the US had to offer he didn't turn out too bad as a person
but in all honesty he was screwed up. Maybe that was why his team worked so well
together and could solve nearly every case they got on their table. Every member
had issues but they were dedicated to their work and didn't stop at the job
description but went way beyond their normal duties to bring a murderer behind
bars. Or six feet under as he preferred. 
“Why Jethro, you must know that I can only say anything conclusive with an
autopsy but I believe that our unfortunate officer here was poisoned.” 
On Cue Jimmy rose and pointed his fingers to the lips of their body. 
“They begin to turn blue which is too early to be a result of the death...”
Gibbs tuned him out, the word blue being a painful reminder of another
“body”. 
He observed Dinozzos work quietly. He expertly bagged and tagged all evidence
and when he finished with that he took over canvassing the surrounded area and
looking for further clues. He knew how to handle a crime scene and how to
command his team members. So he should be okay by having a new agent added to
their team in the near future and having himself more concentrated on the rest
of them right? 
Gibbs wanted to reassure himself that Dinozzo was a grown man and wouldn't think
anything stupid when he turned his attention more on the other members. At least
he hoped so while his famous gut gave him a different vibe. He ignored it for
now. 
He questioned the family, learned that they only discovered the dead petty
officer but didn't see the crime being committed or someone near the crime
scene. After getting their initial statements he gave them his card so that they
could call him if they remembered some important detail. Most of them didn't and
he guessed that most of his given cards were tossed in the trash at home. Most
likely the way he tossed away the card of the FBI-agent that informed him that
they had no idea who murdered his family. Hence why he didn't like the bureau,
Fornell excluded. 
What was with him today getting so distracted at work? He dismissed the thought
being interpreted as worry or something else ridiculous and concluded that he
needed more coffee.
“McGee, when you are finished with processing the scene stop by and get some
coffee. I'm going back with Ducky to the Yard. Do you know who this is yet?”,
he asked. Since they got this new technology with a transportable database of
fingerprints identifying a body didn't take longer than ten minutes. 
“Boss, there is a problem with that. He doesn't seem to belong to the navy as
we have no prints of him in our database. I mailed them to Abby already but so
far there is no result.” Gibbs sighed, so they now had a John Doe at their
hands. All this technology and they still needed some good old police leg work,
he mused. It seemed that Dinozzo would have to shine in this case as he was
familiar with the old ways of gathering information about a suspect or a body. 
“McGee, get Dinozzo and go back to the yard and find out who that guy was,
everything. I want a detailed background. Going for coffee.” He switched the
tasks and without waiting for an answer he got to the sedan and drove away from
the scene. The others would have to squeeze inside the truck to get back.  
McGee nodded and walked to the left further into the park where Tony went before
looking for more clues and evidence. He found his partner searching the
trashcans next to the jogging track that was momentarily devoid of people. 
“Did you find anything? We got a John Doe!” he informed the senior field
agent of his findings and joined him. 
“Other than dog poop which was not in some bag? Nope, nothing helpful.
Thankfully we have enough gloves in our truck or the next one that shakes my
hand would be in for a nice surprise.”, he grinned and stood next to Tim. The
younger agent looked disgusted by the telling of his teammate and he had had his
fair share of dog crap already. Why did he agree to take in that damned German
Shepard? He had shit into his home way too often. Still he had grown on the
animal and were it not for his work hours he would've kept the dog. He found a
nice place for him in the country at one of his cousins and visited him when he
had a weekend that they were not on call. 
“Very mature, Tony.”, he instead said and rolled his eyes. Most of the time
Tony was damn funny and his jokes always released the tension that arose when
having a very difficult and/or gruesome case. But he would never tell him that
or he would find himself even more at the receiving end of his antics. Not gonna
happen in this lifetime. 
His partner smiled and then turned serious. 
“Tim I want to tell you...” he stopped abruptly and clenched his teeth. 
“Sonofa...” he hissed and when Tim wanted to inquire what happened he
quickly smiled again. 
“Oh I just discovered that I still have some dog poop on my gloves. I will
just wash it off then come to the truck.” he said and left a confused Tim
there standing while he ventured towards the exit of the park that was
conveniently furthest away from the crime scene and therefore his team members.
He spotted a public toilet and went into one of the stalls, having no intention
of using it. 
“Damn!”, he cursed and rubbed his left arm. The same one that was broken
during his fight for life with Rivkin and re-injured one day later, courtesy of
Ziva David. Right now that wasn't what bothered him but the sharp pain that went
through him while talking to McGee. His phone vibrated in his pocket. 
“You know I only wanted to ask him how it was going with his girlfriend.”,
he said to no-one in particular. The screen of his phone informed him that he
indeed had a message.
“You know what will happen.” He read and sighed once more. All these years
everyone he worked with had thought about some way to get him to shut up and now
it seemed that someone found one quite effective. Safest option for him was to
say nothing at all. With that in mind he turned and wanted to exit his stall as
a really intense pain coming from his left arm brought him to his knees. 
“Argh...” he bit his lips to muffle a scream. Gasping he grabbed the toilet
seat and exhaled long breaths. His lungs ached; they didn't like this kind of
exercise nowadays. He tasted blood in his mouth from his bloody lips. He exited
the stall once the pain was gone and washed his face at the sink, scrubbing away
the remnants of blood from his mouth. He didn't try to think what kind of germs
colonized in this public bathroom and how just too much exposure could end
deadly for him with his kind of lung issues. Another vibrate came from his pants
and he looked at his phone once more.
“Just a warning...less Dinozzo will make them suspicious.” The urge to throw
his damn phone against the wall was quenched by the thought that then he
wouldn't even know where he stood. And knowing he screwed up was better than
being unprepared. But now he had to talk, had to act like everything was just
peachy and avoids certain series of words stringed together. Well, the first he
could do in his sleep, he always did. The second was more difficult as he needed
some of these words to perform his work. Phrasing them differently should work
though.
Deciding that he already spent way too much time for just washing his hands
clean from dog poop he exited the bathroom and jogged back towards the truck
where McGee, Ducky and Palmer stood waiting for him. 
You can do it, Dinozzo. He told himself and smiled once again. 
“Sorry McImpatient but there was this really cute student who needed help
and...” For once he was glad everyone tuned him out anyway so the leery gaze
he opted for finishing the sentence with wasn't necessary. He got into the car
letting McGee drive back to the yard and stayed subdued for the car drive. Jimmy
glanced at him but didn't comment on it while Ducky told some fascinating story
about his times as a youth.

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