Tony DiNozzo walked out of the elevator, coffee in his right hand, straining to hear the conversations that were going on in the squadroom that morning. As he entered the bullpen, he heard a chorus of 'Morning boss' ringing through the bullpen as he made his way towards his desk.

"Lynn," He acknowledged, "It does make you look fat. Sorry." he grinned, and her mouth dropped open, "Grab your gear!" He announced, "We've got a dead one."

He grabbed his SIG and badge out of his desk drawer and then shouted orders as his team geared up, "Garter. Call Dr. Smitts. Get him ready for autopsy, tell him to meet us Coronado. Davis, Lewis, gas the truck." He passed the keys to Lewis, who caught them easily, "You're driving." he said as he made his way out of the bullpen and towards the elevator.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Morning team." McGee called as he walked into the bullpen. It had been at least two months since he had been shot, and he was feeling better than ever. Ziva on the other hand was feeling a thousand times worse. She felt as if she had driven Tony away with all of her peeking into his personal life and all as well as breaking up with him, which, by the way, she still regrets greatly.

"Still not speaking, are we, Ziva?" McGee questioned. Since Tony had left she had barely said anything to anyone, much less Good Morning or any other sort of friendly greeting. Well she had attempted to, at first, putting up her shields so that no one could see her pain, but then she just gradually became quieter, and the team had noticed it, whereas she hadn't. She just looked up at him and gave him a small, half smile. She was about to open her mouth to say good morning back when she was cut off.

"Well she better start speaking." Gibbs said as he walked into the bullpen, coffee in hand, "Grab your gear. We've got a dead one."

McGee and Ziva both got up to gear up, holstering their badges and their guns before Ziva swung her backpack over her shoulder. As she looked up she stared at Tony's empty desk. McGee appeared in front of her, blocking her view. She let her eyes falter to the ground for a moment. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to shudder.

"It's okay, Ziva." He said, and she just nodded.

"I understand." She quietly said as she stared at him before she started out of the bullpen.

McGee sighed as he followed her. He stood next to her, in front of Gibbs in the lift as Gibbs shouted into his ear, "Keating! You coming or what?"

"Sorry boss!" Keating called as he jumped into the elevator. Ziva scoffed and moved over to the side of the wall.

"I expect you to talk today, Ziva." Gibbs whispered into her ear.

"I do talk!" She exclaimed, and Gibbs just stared at her with his famous 'icy stare'. She sighed, defeated. There was no sense arguing, "Yes, Gibbs."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lewis stopped the truck and then got out.

Marilynn, or Lynn Garter got out next. She was a rather pretty woman with blonde hair that was naturally straight but pulled up into a ponytail for this occasion. Over the past couple of months Tony had learned that she had a huge soft sport for gummy worms and strawberry smoothies. Odd combination, he knew, but she loved it.

The person driving the car, Scott Lewis, got out. He was about the same height as Tony, medium build, with jet black hair that was sometimes a little scraggly. Especially right now. Tony didn't think that he'd had a haircut in months. Scott was their techno-geek, just like McGee except there was less of a geeky side of him.

And then the last person to get out was Aaron Davis. Tony's favorite of the bunch. He, like Tony, was a movie obsessed freak who wanted nothing more than to joke around and flirt with hot women. However, unlike Tony, he actually flirted with women, he didn't just stare at them or wish they were his partner (though Tony knew that Aaron had a thing for Lynn, I mean, a person with blind eyes could see that!) He was his drinking buddy. A medium build, similar hair to Tony's, except a little lighter brown, which he didn't apply products to in the morning, and a genuine smile that lit up the room were his attributes. He was also Tony's drinking buddy. But he never got drunk, and he was the only one that was allowed to call him Tony instead of boss…and the only one who knew about Ziva.

"Lynn. Bag and tag." Tony announced, "Lewis. Pictures and sketches. Davis. Witness statements. Over there."

"On it boss!" Lynn called as she went to the back of the van with Lewis to get the equipment out.

Davis approached him as he went over to go and walk to the sheriff, "Hey, Tony, you okay?"

"I've got a crime to deal with, Davis. Get off my tail. Witness statements. We'll talk later." just by using his last name, he knew he had to get lost. Pulling out his notepad and a pen, he started towards the witness, who apparently was a young woman named Julie Lancaster, who was on the jog when she tripped over a stick in the road…which turned out to be part of a leg, which was sticking out of a bush.

Lewis and Garter were walking towards the crime scene, pulling on their gloves as Lewis loaded the camera and got it ready, "Hey, Scott, you notice anything…different about boss?"

"What about him?" he questioned, "He's acting like he has every other day."

"Yeah, that's the problem." She said, laughing a little as if he said something stupid. It was Scott who turned and looked at her like she said something stupid this time.

"Huh? What's wrong with him? He seems like a nice enough guy…when he decides to be."

"That's just the problem!"

"You're not making any sense, Lynn."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Uh-uh, you're not making any sense."

"He just seems like the kind of person that would be really funny and stuff. You know? He has that dazzling smile…and that beautiful hair…" She sighed as she stared at her boss, who was talking to the sheriff, "And such a cute little round ass…"

Scott's mouth dropped open, "Lynn!" he scolded, "What the hell are you talking about?! That's our boss! Not one of your stupid little playboys you bring home everyday."

"Not everyday, Scott." She said, "Now shut up and take the pictures before Smitty gets here."

"Okay every other day, sorry."

"You done bagging and tagging, Lynn?" Tony asked as he approached the scene. She shook her head as she stared at the empty evidence bags in her hands.

"Uh…I…"

"Well then you better hurry up, then dontcha? Don't speak!" He said dramatically, and the rest of the team turned and looked strangely at him, "What?" he asked, laughing a little bit, "Bullets Over Broadway. Woody Allen? John Cusack, Dianne West?" They all just looked at him before he sighed and then changed the subject, "Where's Smitts?"

"Smitty's not here yet." Lynn chirped up, "Late."

"Again." Scott and Aaron said at the same time.

"Finished witness statements, Tony." Aaron called as he walked up to the boss, "Name's Julie Lancaster. Said she was taking her normal morning run through the park and then she…."

"Tripped over what she thought was a root but ended up being a leg. Yeah, I got it. What else? Any other witness's?"

"No, Tony, sorry." He heard a truck pull up and then stop, "But Smitts and his assistant Bo are here."

"Hey, Bandit, Snowman! Eastbound and down, get over here!" Tony called, "You're late! Again!"

"We're coming!" ME Dr. Cletus Smitts called as he and his assistant, Bo, got out of the truck. Bo got the bag.

"Time of death, Doctor?"

"We're not even over there!"

"I don't care! Hurry up!"

"Look," Cletus rolled his eyes, "Tony, we had to do something before we got here."

"What?" he grinned, "Bring Coors beer over the east Mississippi border?"

Cletus turned on him, angry now, "If I hear one more Smoky and the Bandit quote from you, I will seriously kill you!" Tony laughed and then got serious.

"Shut up and do what you do, Smitts."

Smitts raised an eyebrow and then laughed an angry laugh, "You seem to be full of heat today. What happened? You and your girlfriend break up or something?"

And that got Tony angry. Very angry. He straightened up, "I'll meet you back in HQ. You have fifteen minutes to get back here. All of you. Extra paperwork tonight. And I don't care if the damn case is closed by then! You're all staying late!" He spat before he turned around and walked towards the government issued car he drove here. He sped off, the tires screeching the pavement as Lynn groaned and then promptly punched Smitts in the arm.

"You idiot! What the hell did you do that for?"

"Well…" Scott said, from where he was still kneeling by the ground, looking off in the direction that Tony's car disappeared in, "We know one thing's for sure."

"What?"

"He used to have a girlfriend." He shrugged.

"Well since we have to stay late…" Lynn grinned, "Let's go through his desk, you know, see if he has any pictures of her anywhere!"

"Uh…" Aaron butt in, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why not?" Lynn demanded, "He goes through our desks! He used my deodorant without asking once! I have full permission to go through his desk looking for something. He does it to all of us. I saw him going through Scott's desk once."

"What?" Scott asked, amazed, "When?"

"Two weeks ago." She promptly said.

"Wait." Scott stopped, turning to look up at Aaron, "You knew he had a girlfriend."

"Well…"

"Of course he did!" Lynn exclaimed, "He always goes out to get drinks with the boss after cases."

"So you know." Scott said, more of a question than a statement. He stood up to face Aaron.

"Let's just finish this." Aaron said, "We've already wasted at least 5 minutes talking about this."

"Fine." Lynn said, walking threateningly towards her partner, pointing a finger into Aaron's face. She was close as she nearly whispered, "But don't think this conversation is over, Aaron. We will find out. Don't you worry." She said before she started to bag some more items.

"Come on, Bo, get the gurney, we'll get TOD when we get back to Autopsy."

"Right away, Snowman!" He grinned, and Smitts just glared at him as he bolted back towards the truck.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just a little introductory chapter, showing the people that Tony has been working with. Don't worry. The team from Washington DC's NCIS will be back a lot more in the next chapter. And I know that Ziva may seem...out of character-ish, but I know that when you're going through a really bad time, you tend not to talk as much without even realizing it. That's pretty much what's happening with Ziva. She'll talk. In the next couple of chapters, trust me. She just isn't realizing what she's doing. Make sense? AND you know how in 'Mistakes' Tony got really upset with Ziva reading his medical records? Well you'll find out that it's not the plague that he's worried about her reading...it's something else. Tony's got a deep, dark secret that Gibbs doesn't even know about! Mwahaha! Review and tell me what you think!