Disheveled

Tony shook his head at Ziva’s ultimatum, following her into the apartment to make sure she didn't disrupt the crime scene. He knew there was no point in even passing the ultimatum onto Gibbs. Gibbs had already made his position clear.

Brushing futilely at his disheveled clothes and hair in an attempt to bring them back to order, he commented. “You know I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but there’s no way you’re innocent in this even if you are the victim of this particular fire.”

“You don’t have anything on me. Now go. I’m sure you started this fight and that you are at the wrong here and I’ll prove it.” Ziva pontificated as she glanced around her apartment in dismay. She had hoped to be able to salvage something, but there really wasn’t much that could be salvaged now.

Tony shook his head at Ziva’s obstinance. There was nothing more to be done here. They were only waiting for the NCIS and FBI teams to arrive, so they could catalog whatever was at the apartment and log it into their evidence. Tony decided not to engage her further in words, it would not accomplish anything. Giving up on being presentable given the fight he’d just been in, he leaned against the wall and waited for Ziva’s filibuster to run out of steam. There was literally nothing she could say or do to change what would happen now.

As he noticed Ziva trickling down, Tony pulled himself up from the wall and walked over to her. Reaching for his cuffs which mercifully had not gotten lost in the fight, he turned Ziva around and cuffed her. “I know you think you’re better than all of us, but we do have evidence on you and your misdeeds.” Tony started before reading her her rights.

Seeing Balboa and Fornell appearing on the scene, Tony walked Ziva over to Fornell. “I believe this one is yours.”

As Fornell reached to take Ziva, so he could hand her off to one of his agents, Tony leaned down to whisper in her ear. “And you want to know the best part, McGee, the one you think is the least threatening, is the one who found you out first.” With that parting shot, he walked away to give Balboa a quick run down of the scene and the reason for his prints all over the place.

Ziva’s jaw dropped open and she stared after Tony her whole body frozen. “McGee had been the one to figure out her treachery, first? They knew about her betrayal for how long?” Ziva thought to herself completely shocked.

Fornell didn’t feel any sympathy for Ziva and simply jabbed her to get her moving before thrusting her into the hands of one of his underlings. “See to it that she is given a solitary holding cell for now.”

Fornell then left to work the scene with Balboa. Nodding to DiNozzo, he watched as Tony moved off to stand with Gibbs. Fornell wasn’t sure when Gibbs arrived, but he knew the man could be sneaky like that when he needed to be.

“Let’s get out of here.” Gibbs motioned with his head towards his car.

Tony nodded. He could deal with retrieving his car later. Actually, one of Balboa’s agents could drive it back to NCIS Headquarters for him. Signalling to Gibbs to give him one minute, he walked back to Balboa and dropped his keys in the man’s hand explaining what he wanted to happen. When Balboa nodded, he made his way back to Gibbs.

This may have been what needed to happen, but that didn’t mean that he was handling it well at all. It was true he didn’t appreciate the way Ziva and to a lesser extent McGee treated him, but that didn’t mean that he wanted Ziva to be a traitor. In his own way, he had trusted her. He hoped a night in Gibbs' basement would make everything seem clear again. Though he knew he still had a long day ahead of him before he could even relax and think about it, as they’d have to go back to the office and write up reports first.