Apocalypse NCIS: Ben's Journal

Disclaimer: I own neither NCIS or Apocalypse Now.

Summary: What if Ben kept a journal through the events of the NCIS series since his arrival in the 21st Century? What if Kate, by the current season his wife of eight years, found that journal? This is a further exploration of the Alternate Universe I created with the Apocalypse NCIS stories.

Jacksonville, Florida
Present Day

"Those damn movers." Kate grumbled as she noticed several items fall out of a cardboard box that hadn't been taped properly when they had moved from their house in Maryland to their new one in Jacksonville.

The box had been labeled Ben's Study. And among the items that had fallen to the floor was a gray field notes style notebook.

The notebook had fallen open to a random page, and on it's grid ruled pages Kate recognized her husband's handwriting.

Curiosity had Kate sitting crosslegged on the floor of the room reading the notebook's pages, having lost track of time.

"Angel?" Ben's voice sounded from down the hallway, "Are you alright?"

"I'm in the study." Kate replied.

Ben walked into the study, carrying another box and setting it down, noticing Kate sitting on the floor. He recognized the notebook Kate was currently reading.

"You kept a journal?" Kate asked.

Ben walked over to Kate sitting beside his wife on the floor, "Since I arrived in this century I've been keeping journals."

Kate smiled, looking up at him, "And that's something I didn't know about, even after eight years of marriage."

"Glad to see that even after eight years I can still surprise you." Ben replied, sitting down sliding his left arm around his wife's waist, "So where are you in the journal?"

"I just finished the entries from when you first arrived in our time." Kate replied, "These are just unreal, like I'm seeing all those events from your perspective."

Ben smiled as Kate snuggled closer to him, before turning her head to face him, "Ben, the kids..."

"The two legged and four legged ones are all asleep on the sofa, I guess lunch must've filled them up." Ben replied, "This was as of about five minutes ago."

There was a slight creak of the ajar door and both of them turned to see a large dog, part Alaskan Malamute, part German Shepherd, and part Arctic Wolf according to his former owner's pedigree come into the room. The dog with the tan and black fur with the slight graying at the muzzle and tips of his paws slinked into the room.

"Hi Diefenbaker." Kate said, rubbing the large dog behind the ears and getting a barrage of licks to the face in return.

"Ok, one of the four legged kids is awake," Ben replied.

"Talk about good timing, I just got to your entry about how we came across Diefenbaker to begin with." Kate replied as the large dog lay across their laps.

"Cuddlebug." Ben commented, scratching the dog behind the ears as he held his wife close to him as she read the notebook.

19 December 2003

Today is the day. The day I quit smoking, cold turkey.

Got a call to a double homicide and suicide today. In Norfolk a Navy lieutenant discovered his girlfriend was having an affair and shot her and her lover before turning the gun on himself.

He was survived by his parents and a dog and it was the second thing that got everyone's attention.

You see this dog that was maybe a year old was growling and barking at the uniforms. It was a while before they managed to get a muzzle on the dog, and McGee, God bless him, was able to get the Norfolk PD to turn the dog over to us...

"Ben, for the record, we all thought you were insane to remove the muzzle from that dog." Kate commented, as she rubbed Diefenbaker's tummy as the large dog rolled over on his back, kicking his rear paw.

Kate continued, "So what prompted you to do that? Remove Diefebaker's muzzle I mean?"

"I think I explained myself pretty well in the entry itself." Ben replied.

Kate turned the page and continued reading the entry.

I found a note around the dog's neck. Nestled in the collar to the right of the stamped metal tags that read 'Diefenbaker'.

It was a suicide note written by Lieutenant Walter J. Pierce having caught his girlfriend, Ensign Marla Finn in bed with Lieutenant Daniel Marks.

He confessed to the murders and his note requested that whoever found Diefenbaker take care of him.

In that moment I felt like I was in the presence of a kindred spirit. Diefenbaker was abandoned by his owner and I am in a time I am only beginning to understand. So I asked to look after the dog…

"I had no idea you saw such a kindred spirit in Diefenbaker." Kate smiled, "A nice look at that softer side of you."

"Like you don't see my so called 'softer side'?" Ben joked back.

"You can be such a teddy bear sometimes." Kate replied, putting her arms around Ben's neck as he leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips.

"I love you, I can't say that enough times." Ben replied.

"I see so many things in this book," Kate replied, "To include things that make me feel so much closer to you. I almost cried when I read some entries."

"Oh?" Ben said, holding her close.

"Everything you went through in Vietnam. All of those things you saw…" Kate began.

"Kate," Ben replied, looking into her eyes, his voice slightly quivering, "There's a reason why I call you angel. In a lot of ways that first year, even before I realized I was in love with you, that's exactly what you were to me. And what you still are to me."

"Ben…" Kate began, a slight tear forming at the corner of her left eye.

Ben gently brushed it away and held her close to him. Nestled in his arms Kate continued, "Ben, I know that this must be something private and…"

"Kate," Ben replied, "If I can't share something like this with you, my wife, then I've got issues. If you want to read it, then by all means."

"Thank you." Kate replied, before closing the notebook, "But I think I need to take a break from reading for now."

"I understand." Ben replied, "Some of my thoughts from those early days weren't the brightest and most optimistic."

"There's so much raw emotion on these pages." Kate exclaimed, "But because of that I feel like I understand you even better."

Ben stood up, before helping Kate to stand up before Kate set the notebook onto the desk. Shortly afterward Diefenbaker trotted back to the living room.

It was as they walked over that Kate's cell phone chimed. Kate checked the phone and glanced at the screen.

"It's Ziva," Kate replied, "She and Tony are going to be in town tomorrow and she's wondering if we've got any plans."

"Well, the house isn't in any state to have guests." Ben commented, "But we can always take them out to dinner. I'm sure we can find a place friendly to kids."

"Speaking of kids…" Kate remarked, as they entered the living room, where their three year old daughter, Brenda, and one year old son, David, were sleeping soundly on the sofa with the other dog, Toni, curled up on the other cushion.

Diefenbaker trotted over and then hopped onto the sofa, curled up beside Toni. Kate raised her cell phone and snapped a photograph.

"I had to catch that moment for my sketchpad." Kate replied, with a smile, "It's been an interesting few years."

"That it has been." Ben replied.

To Be Continued...