No Matter What

As the sunshine peaked through the curtains covering her windows, Natalie lazily rolled over and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She smiled, seeing him asleep with one arm under the pillow and the other around her waist.

“Tony,” She whispered. “Wake up.”

He grunted in response.

“C’mon sleepy head,” She cooed, lightly shoving his shoulder. Again, he grunted.

“Fine, but I’m not going to be late,” She muttered, turning back around to slide out from his arms, but much to her dismay, he tightened his grip and pulled her into his chest.

He began to leave a trail of soft, playful kisses on her shoulder, leading up her neck, becoming lustier as he reached the spot right below her ear. She gasped in response as he moved his hand down her chest, heat rushing to her cheeks.

“Tony,” She moaned frustatedly. “As much as I want this, not now.”

She freed herself from his grip and quickly stumbled out of bed, laughing at the pouty look he had on his face. She merely rolled her eyes and went in to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

---

Tony eyed McGee carefully and jealously as he wired his girlfriend up. Or at least she felt like his girlfriend anyway. He got jealous every time McGee would go near her hips or slide his fingers along her skin to press the tape down.

“You know Tony, I’m not going to try anything with you watching,” McGee reassured him, but this still didn’t stop him from watching him like a hawk.

Tony didn’t say a word; he just kept his eyes glued on McGee as he finished up the last microphone that ran right down the middle of her back. As he lightly tapped the tape in to place, Natalie shivered, keeping her eyes connected with Tony. In her mind, it was him who was touching her and they were alone together back at home. She was anywhere but here.

“Done,” McGee said as he had finished.

“We’re ready Boss!” Tony announced and the team was automatically ready to go.

“We’ve got your back,” Ziva said, placing a comforting hand on Natalie’s shoulder. She hinted towards Tony. “And he is staring you down like a leopard. You will be fine.”

“Thanks Zee,” Natalie smiled.

“To the van,” Gibbs ordered and everyone began to head towards the garage, but just as Natalie was about to go follow everyone else, Gibbs stopped her with his hand on her shoulder.

“Wait.”

She spun around on her heel to face him.

“You’re going to need this,” He said handing her his gun. “Keep it on your leg.”

She gulped, hesitantly accepting his offer and taking the firearm from him. Together they caught up with everyone else down in the garage.

After a long series of pep talks and explanations of what was going to happen on the drive over to where the supposed drug drop off was about to take place, Natalie stepped out of the van that was parked behind a few shipping crates and walked over to the empty warehouse.

“Ah, Miss Willows,” A scruffy man greeted as she approached. “We’ve been expecting you. Your shipment has just arrived.”

“Very good,” She nodded and he opened the side door up for her. She stepped through and was bewildered with how many shipping containers were in the building, all full of drugs waiting for be exported out of the country.

“Miss Willows,” A voice called out. She looked around and saw a man dressed a dark washed jeans and a black expensive leather jacket appear from behind one of the containers. “I thought you would’ve never made it,” He said, walking over towards her and greeting her with a peck on each side of the cheek. She made the obvious connection that he was Italian from the behavior and the scent of cologne he was wearing. Cheap.

“How was your flight?” He asked, taking her arm in his and leading her to where she assumed was their ‘headquarters’.

----

Tony and the rest of the team sat in the van and watched from the views of Natalie’s cameras. They were waiting for the right moment to rush in and arrest the Petty officer that was in charge of running this ring.

Tony cringed when he saw the ugly man kiss her cheeks. He knew that she was disgusted by him just from her body language. It was men like him that gave the Italian’s such a bad reputation.

Natalie showed the team where the drugs were going, how they were going to get there, and learned that in total, they were worth over four million dollars. McGee was busy jotting all of the information down and Gibbs seemed to be focusing all of his attention on the screens, searching for that Petty officer.

“You okay?” Ziva asked, pulling Tony out of his daze.

“What? Oh, uhm, yeah.”

“She’s doing fine,” Ziva said.

“I know. I just don’t like them,” He said sneering towards the screens that Natalie was now showing all of the dirty men on.

Ziva smiled coyly. “You love her.”

Tony furrowed his brow together. “Excuse me?”

“In my country, and in this country too, I’ve noticed when a man loves a woman, he’s overprotective and a bit…” She paused. “Jealous?”

“Me?” He laughed. “I’m not jealous!”

Ziva gave him a look that suggested otherwise.

“Okay, maybe I am a little jealous.” She raised her brow at him. “And a little overprotective.”

He sighed and turned his attention back to the screen trying to catch a glimpse of her face somewhere. “Maybe I do love her,” He admitted quietly.

Ziva smiled. “I bet she feels the same way.”

“She’s just beautiful,” Tony began. “And smart, and caring, and she’s not afraid to take a risk. She isn’t like any other girl I’ve met before. She makes me act my age, and she makes me want to go out of my way to impress her. She’s my other half.”

“She’s a cop!”

The entire team’s ears shot up as they didn’t even bother to watch the rest of the story unfold on the screens. The men had knocked Natalie to the ground and began to furiously run around the warehouse trying to lock everything up, but they were no match for Natalie’s rescuers.

All she heard were gunshots being fired from outside of their meeting room. She laid there on the floor, clutching her stomach. The man with the cheap cologne had punched her so hard in the gut that she could barely stand up. They had ripped the one slightly visible camera from her bra strap on her shoulder and smashed it in to pieces by her head.

As Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee took down men outside, Tony ran through the cross fire into the meeting place where Natalie laid. He flung open the door and rushed to her side, placing his drawn gun by his feet and her hand.

“Nat,” He cried. “Baby, come on.”

“I can’t even stand,” She cried, wincing with pain as she tried to move her body a bit.

“Hold on,” He said, reaching his arms out towards her, but was stopped by another pair of arms throwing him off of her.

“Leave her.”

Natalie shot her eyes open, trying to ignore the pain in her abdomen. She saw the Petty officer holding Tony away from her with a gun in his hand.

“Let him go,” She begged.

“Why? So you can just arrest me?” He laughed. “I don’t think so honey.”

“Your wife wouldn’t want this,” She snarled.

He laughed again. “That bitch is the reason I got into this mess! I went away to Iraq and come back to a piece of paper that ended my marriage!”

Next thing Natalie knew, a shot was being fired and his maniacal laughter had ceased.

“Get her out of here,” Gibbs ordered from the doorway. Tony had rolled away from the now lifeless body and was joined by McGee to carry Natalie out of the warehouse where Ziva awaited in the van for them.

“I’m so sorry,” Natalie cried when they had reached the van and the doors were closed. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ziva said. “You did good.”

“You got us what we needed,” McGee added.

“And you’re alive,” Tony finished, wrapping his arms around her and not really caring what the other thought.

“Let’s go home,” Gibbs said, reaching the van and climbing in to the driver’s seat.