49A/N: Holy Cow. I cannot believe the response I've gotten to this story in such a short time. Wow. Thank you all so much for reviewing and choosing to follow/favorite this story. It really means a lot to me.
I noticed that a lot of you don't like Jeanne… I had quite a few people saying that they wanted her to be the one to die… And it's very obvious that no one wants Ziva and/or Tony to die. I think it's safe to say that you're all TIVA fans for the most part? (;
I'm not saying anything else about who dies, just so you know. (;
Bethesda Naval Hospital-Isolation-1130
"Tony," Ziva seethed, gripping the side of her bed as she sat up from the lounging, relaxed position she'd previously fashioned.
"Yes, Zee-vah?" he asked liltingly and stopped describing in detail the new James Bond movie.
"If you make one more James Bond reference, I will castrate you with your hospital bracelet and force you to eat your -" Ziva's threat was cut off by a relatively tall, middle-aged doctor exiting the airlock chamber and entering the quarantine unit.
"Hello, Agent DiNozzo, Officer David," it was noticeable that he was smiling warmly even with the mask he was wearing.
Tony and Ziva had arrived at Bethesda and (very similarly to when Tony contracted plague) gave a urine sample, took streptomycin as a prophylaxis, and were led to the biohazard room by their nurse, Annie Cabral. Tony and Ziva had only one empty bed in between them, as opposed to the two that Kate and Tony had had. Other than that, not much had happened; they were simply waiting for the doctor (who'd been briefing one of his superiors on the situation) to arrive, which he just had.
"I'm Doctor Christian Montgomery. I'll be attending to you both throughout whatever treatment is deemed necessary," Tony noted that he wasn't informal like Brad and Emma were.
"Thank you, Doctor Montgomery," Tony replied, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice that Ziva did not fail to detect. She rolled her eyes.
"Although it is extremely early for any symptoms to have shown up, are there any that you've noticed? Headache, restlessness, aching?" Dr. Montgomery continued, either not noticing, or not addressing the slight sarcasm.
"Nope," Tony smiled hugely and popped the 'p' in his answer.
"Are you sure?" Dr. Montgomery was a bit weary of the man before him. He seemed high.
"Trust me- he is always like this. To be honest, this is Tony on a good day," Ziva answered, noting how if she looked closely, she could tell that underneath the clothes he wore, Dr. Montgomery was toned.
"Alright. Well if you're sure…" he trailed off and then with a quick nod good-bye, he left.
NCIS-Autopsy-1300
"Abby, when the hell are you going to be able to tell me what was in that envelope?" Gibbs asked, frustrated, for the third time in ten minutes. The video feed was hooked up, connecting autopsy to Abby's lab.
"Gibbs, if I've told you once, I have told you a thousand times. You can't rush science. You can yell at it, and you can threaten it, but you can't rush it." Abby smirked softly to herself and continued working. "You know, Gibbs, technically we should have sent a sample to CDC and have them test it before-"
"We did that last time, and we knew what it was before the sample even landed in Georgia." Gibbs muttered back.
"Yeah, but this time the only thing written on the note is fixed mosquito." Abby explained (for the third time in ten minutes) exasperatedly.
"Who sends a note with just the words fixed mosquito on it and an envelope full of white powder?" McGee wondered incredulously.
"To Tony," Paula added, "You're forgetting that it was sent to Tony, specifically, whereas last time, it just said special agent."
"Yeah, about that…" Abby chimed in, "The return address is a Jeanne Benoit? I don't know it or her, but I can run it,"
"Do it, Abs," Gibbs commanded.
After a few keystrokes and mouse clicks, Abby found what she was looking for.
"Jeanne Benoit is a doctor at Monroe University Hospital in D.C. Her mother is also a doctor, Doctor Helen Berkley, and her father is Rene Benoit. Um, let's see… Jeanne lives alone in an apartment; it's not too much of a commute to her work. She's in a relationship with a Tony DiNardo." Abby read from the computer's illuminated screen, "Oh, wow. Rene Benoit is on Homeland Security's arms dealer watch list as 'La Grenouille'."
"Great," Gibbs deadpanned, not noticing that Jenny stiffened slightly upon hearing The Frog's name.
"I can have my team go to Jeanne's apartment and search for any indication that she sent the letter," Paula jumped into the conversation.
"Good idea, use Ducky's phone to coordinate." Gibbs instructed, "Wait a minute- Abby- how is this Jeanne Benoit connected to our Tony if she's going out with a different Tony?"
"No idea, Gibbs. Maybe her father sent it and made it look like it came from his daughter?" Abby suggested, turning from the computer screen to face the camera full on.
"But why would Tony open a letter from an anonymous woman?" Abby asked but quickly corrected herself, "Scratch that- why wouldn't he? That could be Rene's thinking."
"But Tony said that he recognized the return address," McGee interjected, upon remembering.
"He could've just been saying that," Jenny replied, trying to get off the topic of Tony knowing Jeanne's address.
"Yeah, I guess," McGee responded unconvincingly.
"What else you got?" Gibbs turned his attention back to Abby.
"Not much. All I can tell you right now is that there's no vaccine for it. It's a virus," she shrugged.
"Great," Gibbs muttered, unsmiling.
Bethesda Naval Hospital-Isolation-1540
Tony groaned and punched his pillow before turning onto his left side. His head was killing him and he was burning up. Ziva flicked a glance at her partner but said nothing when she noticed the tiny beads of sweat forming on Tony's forehead. Normally, she would have commented on his discomfort, but her throat hurt, and there was a horrible pain behind her eyes. She closed her eyes in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort. The biohazard unit doors swished open and Dr. Montgomery entered.
"Hi, Doctor Montgomery," Tony greeted, cheerfully cynical.
The Doctor didn't return the greeting and instead placed the back of his hand on Tony's forehead. He was wearing gloves, of course, but even still, he said, "You're burning up. I thought I told you both that if you felt any discomfort that you were to alert either myself or Nurse Cabral," his eyes narrowed.
"Yeah… see we're not too good with the whole 'following orders' thing." Tony smirked, despite the pounding migraine he had.
Dr. Montgomery looked up from Tony to Ziva. "Are you hot too?"
"Well actually-" Tony began but a fit of coughing interrupted him.
Dr. Montgomery walked over to Ziva and felt her forehead. "You seem fine," Tony choked on his laughter for a solid minute. Ziva was quiet.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Montgomery questioned, in a no-nonsense sort of way, "All I'm trying to do is make you better. I'm not an enemy, Officer David."
Ziva hesitated before replying, "My eyes hurt. There is a pain behind them."
Dr. Montgomery nodded and left. He said some things to Nurse Annie who came in a few minutes later and began setting both of them up with IV drips. "They're to help combat the fever and keep you hydrated. There are also painkillers in here." she explained, tapping the bag that hung near Tony.
"Can't our symptoms help tell you what disease we've contracted?" Tony wondered.
"Normally, yes. But right now, they're pretty common symptoms and side effects so it only knocks out a few possibilities." She replied apologetically.
"Thanks Nurse Annie," Tony grinned childishly and nestled himself deeper into his pillow and stared up at the blue lights above him.
NCIS-Autopsy-1600
"Abby-"Gibbs began agitatedly but was cut off by the Goth's shrieking.
"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! You're never going to guess what the powder is!" she was bouncing up and down, her pigtails flying.
"Honey dust," he replied sarcastically. "Just tell me, Abs,"
"Okay, well first of all, you're wrong. Second, there's good news, better news, and bad news then worse news," she listed off, counting each "news" off on her fingers.
"Start with the good," Gibbs sighed. He figured that things were going to be pretty bad, so why not have a little good news first?
"Okay, the good news is that the virus can only be spread through touch. So that means that only Tony and Ziva are candidates," she grinned before continuing, "The better news is that it's curable,"
"Well then what the hell is the bad news?" Gibbs very nearly growled.
"Abby, mind if I interrupt?" Paula cut in. The scientist gave a thumbs up as she sipped her Caf-Pow signaling that it was okay for Paula to continue.
"I have some bad news of my own Gibbs,"
"What?" he practically snarled.
"My team just got back from Jeanne's apartment. You're never going to guess what they found."
Gibbs glared.
"Okay… no guessing. I'll just tell you,"
"Good idea, Agent Cassidy," Gibbs smirked sardonically.
"There are pictures of Tony in her apartment."
"He's her boyfriend. Of course there are,"
"No. Not Tony DiNardo. Our Tony. Tony DiNozzo. They're the same person," she explained in a rush.
"What?" Gibbs demanded.
"They ran background on Tony DiNardo too. DiNozzo's picture shows up. He is Tony DiNardo."
"Are you sure?" Jenny asked. Her tone was more suspicious than curious, a fact that Gibbs quickly picked up.
"Do you know about this?" He demanded, crossing the room to his former partner.
"I don't know a thing about it," she replied with a steel hard tone in her voice.
A/N: So, any guesses on what disease Tony and Ziva have contracted or what Abby's bad and worse news are? Please review- tell me what you liked, disliked, want to see more of, etc.
I try to reply to every review I get, because they make me happy and I want to thank everyone individually (:
I'm going to update every Monday, since they're usually pretty bad days, and (for me at least) fanfic makes everything better. If I get the chance, I'll update at some other time during the week. Like tonight for example. (:
Bravo Yankee Echo! (For now)
Darlin24 (: