AN: Would we be writing F A Nfiction if NCIS belonged to us? 'sides, if it did, quite a few people wouldn't have died. (Shannon, Kelly, Kate, Eli, Jenny...do we need to go on?)

WARNING: revised!

Chapter 1 Bad News

„Boss is late" Tony commented, trying to sound unconcerned while in reality all his instincts were screaming at him that something was terribly wrong. Though Gibbs had, on occasion, been late, he'd never made a habit of it. Plus, he had swung by at the man's home this morning to find his car gone. A gasp made him turn around to look at McGee, who was staring in shock at the often neglected ZNN screen behind Tony, which showed the scene of a car crash a few blocks away from the Navy Yard.
„Oh no!" Ziva gave a strangled sound of distress as a close up of a very familiar face was shown on the screen.
„Boss" Tony's knees felt weak. This couldn't be happening.

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There was no sound except for the hum of the machines hooked to the still form lying in the bed and Abby's soft sniffling as she sat in the chair next to the bed, staring at Gibbs. Tony, McGee and Ziva were worriedly watching, their attention shifting between the door, Abby and Gibbs.
„Where the hell is Ducky?" Tony growled, resuming his agitated pacing.
„He's trying to get some information on Gibbs' condition, Tony" Ziva replied, narrowing her eyes at Tony, „Could you PLEASE stop that!".
„Sorry, it's just..." Tony started to explain, not really knowing what it was he wanted to say exactly.

The door opened, admitting one of the doctors and Ducky, who McGee greeted enthusiastically, bringing Tony up short, who whirled around, grabbing Ducky by the shoulders in desperation.
„Tell me he's not dying."
„Agent DiNozzo!" The man accompanying Ducky exclaimed, raising his hands in a placating gesture. Tony shot him a glare, then refocused on Ducky, who swept his eyes over their group, sighing.
„He'll be fine. He was lucky." The ME finally said.
„You call that..." Tony haphazardly pointed at Gibbs', „lucky?"
„Compared to what could have happened, yes. Extremely lucky. Jethro suffered multiple bruises on his left side where he slammed into the door of his car. He also might have suffered a concussion but we don't know that yet".
„But he's not gonna forget us, right? I mean like the last time. He's not going to run away again.." Abby's voice shook.
„Abby.." McGee said, interrupting her monologue and with a wounded cry, she jumped into his arms. McGee held her close, looking somberly at the others.
„That's not gonna happen." Tony announced, voice shaky.
„I won't let him."

„What about the other driver?" Ziva asked suddenly, her eyes on the doctor, ignoring Tony's incredulous look.
„I shouldn't be telling you this but...She died in surgery a few minutes ago." The doctor who had come in with Ducky shut his phone, looking at them all somberly.
„The child?" Ducky asked.
„What child?" Ziva interrupted, confused.
„She has six-month old son. He's got few bruises, but nothing to worry about." The doctor answered them both.

„Who's going to take care of him now?" Ducky asked.
„We're searching for relatives."
"Good luck." Ducky said.
"Well, since you guys are federal agents, do you know what exactly happened?" The doctor asked then.

Tony, Ziva and McGee exchanged glances.
„He'd want us to find out." Ziva said, hesitantly. Tony clenched his fists, looking at Ducky, who nodded at him.
„I'll call if something changes." Tony nodded, sighing, then clapped his hands, trying to sound cheerful.

"Come on guy's, we've got a case to solve." Abby looked up, tensing.
„Are you serious?" she demanded, eyes red and puffy from crying.
„Abs..."
„No! We can't leave now!"

„Abigail. Jethro's not going anywhere right now. And Ziva is right, he'd want you to find out what exactly happened." Ducky said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
„But..."
„The doctor's right, Miss. There's nothing you can do for Gibbs right now" The other doctor said calmly.
„Special Agent Gibbs. And don't patronize me" Abby hissed, narrowing her eyes at him. Both Tony and McGee winced.

„Abby..." Tony began.
„Okay, fine." Abby conceded finally, huffing. She turned around facing Tony, McGee and Ziva.

„Okay. Abs, we need a reconstruction of the accident. McGee, you help her. See if you can find some video feeds on the accident. Use your special skills if neccessary. Ziva, talk to the witnesses and see what the cops missed." Ziva nodded, immediately leaving.

„And what are you going to do?" McGee asked slightly annoyed.

„I'm gonna talk to the police chief, find out what they got by now." Before he could do anything else, his phone rang. He looked at the screen, groaning in annoyance.

"It's Vance." He answered McGee's questioning look. "And what are you still doing here anyway?"

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„It was awe...I mean...horrible- like some movie." A young man was saying excitedly. Ziva grimaced, nodding at him to go on. He was a witness after all- even though he didn't seem to know much. A pity there was a rule against shooting annoying guys who tried to make themselves more important than they really were.

„So what exactly did you see?" She tried to get him back on track.

„I went across the street. Just wanted to get some coffee, like every morning. I work at an office. Two blocks from here. So I always come by the café over there to get some coffee first..." Ziva shot him one of her impassive stares, her hand straying to her weapon, hiding a smirk as he paled. Hurriedly, he went on.
„Then I heard a crash. I turned around and saw that guy's car spinning around straight into the oncoming traffic, hitting that other car. Next thing I know is that the cops arrive".
„So you didn't call them?" She'd been right, the guy had been a waste of her time.
„No, I was too shocked..."

„I called them", a young woman said. She backed up a bit, as Ziva turned her attention to her, eying Ziva's gun. Ziva made an effort to look innocent, giving the woman an encouraging smile with just a hint of impatience behind it. The woman paled.
„I stood by the traffic light when I saw the accident. I called 911 immediately".
„Did you see what happened?" Ziva asked.
„The woman in the blue mini missed the red light, I think".
„You think?" Ziva prompted, eyebrow twitching slightly, acutely aware of one of the younger police officers on scene checking her out.
"I was typing a text to my boyfriend, waiting for the green light. I..., I looked up when I heard the honk and saw the mini crush..., crushing into the other car. At first I was totally like 'Oh my god, what happened'. When I realised...".
„You called the ambulance" Ziva interrupted her. The woman nodded. Ziva shot her a tight smile.
„Thank you. If you remember something else, contact me." Ziva turned around and walked to the ambulance where the third driver was sitting being questioned by the police.

„Honestly, I have no clue what happened. I was just driving.. I heard a honk and then this guy crashed into me!"
„Sir, could you please calm down" The cop placated. He was clearly nervous, obviously a newbie. He turned towards Ziva.
„He didn't see what happened", he said just as Ziva opened her mouth,
„And it doesn't seem like he could give any useful information right now".
„I see" Ziva stated. „Are you going to question him later?"

„Of course. But why are you investigating?"
„Because he was a NCIS agent as well."
„But the woman was a civilian. And it was just an accident. And the chief said you NCIS guys shouldn't be here".
Ziva narrowed her eyes „I..." she started but then her phone rang.

„Yes, Tony?...Yes, I did. … But why can't yo tell me on the ph... Okay, fine!..I'll be there in 10." She snapped, ending the call. Then she made her way back to the Navy Yard.

„What have you got, Abs" Tony called out as he entered the lab. Hopefully, she had gotten something, because the police chief had been most uncooperative.
„A headache and I wanna kill that guy up there!"
„Meaning?"

„From what I could reconstruct, this was merely an accident. Brakes were defective. There's been no sabotage- and the only person who could be blamed had the gall to die before-" He raised his brows at her.
„I'm sorry. Why is it always him, Tony?" Tony hugged her, calling over to McGee, who was in the inner part of Abby's lab, hacking into the files of the traffic authority.

„What have you got Mc-"
„Tony! How dare you call me in the middle of an interrogation?" Ziva had arrived. And she was pissed.
„Vance. We're not allowed to work this case."
„And you're listening to him because...?"
„SecNav's here. In Vance's office. And who says I'm listening to him? McGee!"
„They've updated their security since last time, but I'm in." They all gathered around the computer and McGee started the video.
„Stop there, McHacker." Tony said, pointing at the screen. McGee stopped the feed, zooming in.
The screen showed the woman completely absorbed with the baby, ignoring the traffic around her.
Tony's cell rang.

„It's Ducky. You're on speaker, Duckman" He announced. Everyone gathered around him.
„Jethro's awake."

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~FIN...just kidding :P

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