Chapter I
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The sun had barely risen when a car careened into the NCIS building parking lot. Luckily the parking lot was virtually empty, only parked cars were present, out of the way of the maniac driver. The car finally came to an ungraceful stop, back wheels still spinning as they tried to find some purchase, in the parking spot of one Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
The car door slammed as said Special Agent stalked into the building in search of his much needed second cup of coffee of the day. Woe to anyone who slowed him in his quest.
The elevator doors slid open heralding his arrival in the squad room. As he entered the office area his eyes, as usual, flickered over the entire room, stacking out the place, before coming to rest on his small domain; some habits were just never broken.
He was surprised to find DiNozzo at his desk, asleep. His steps slowed as he studied his Senior Field Agent. Tony's legs were stretched out on his desk, crossed at the ankles; his head was leaning heavily against his television stand, his jacket, placed haphazardly over his chest and arms, was slowly slipping to the ground. He was still in yesterdays, now very rumpled, casual clothes.
Gibbs felt his frustration build. DiNozzo was having car problems and had promised he had a lift home last night. According to him there had been no reason for Gibbs to go out of his way to drive him home like he'd driven him to work the previous morning. In reality it hadn't been all that 'out of his way'. Both he and Tony lived relatively close to the NCIS headquarters and, not that he would say so in any direct way, but he didn't mind spending time with the man. In fact, he rather liked it.
He was about to give the younger man a rude awakening when he saw the Starbucks cup sitting innocently next to DiNozzo's computer. Frowning suspiciously, he picked it up - still mostly warm. He popped the lid. Black, no cream. He sniffed it warily before taking a small sip and he smiled almost against his will.
He looked at his watch. 0605.
The kid wasn't off the hook but he could sleep for another half hour.
He sat down at his own desk, booting up his computer, finding the paperwork he wanted to get out of the way before Kate and McGee arrived. He didn't really expect them for at least another hour, maybe more. The early morning was always the best time to sort out all the extra admin stuff he had to do as Team Leader. No need for it to for it to take up any more time than necessary and he'd already put it off for as long as possible and then a bit longer.
He loved being a Team Leader, really, he did, especially to the team he had now. But it was times like these, when he was squinting at yet another requisition form and blank performance reviews were hiding his desk he wished he'd picked a job that had nothing to do with paperwork: if such a job existed, of course.
Sighing he dropped some form or other on his desk and brushed his hands through his hair.
"Paperwork," he growled quietly.
He looked up past his still sleeping agent and out through the window. It was still dark in that cold autumn, misty morning way, where everything had a dull bluish tint except for the horizon which was illuminated in growing shades of pinks, reds and oranges. The colours were slowly bringing the world out of the shadows, trailing over the roofs and trees that could be seen from their office.
He was snapped away from his reverie as Tony suddenly straightened up, his feet falling to the floor with an audible thud. Gibbs was on his feet and round his desk before he even realised he'd moved.
Tony's head swivelled around frantically only stopping when Gibbs was in his sight. He looked dazed before his eyes cleared and he coughed, clearing his throat.
"Uh, hey Boss?" He smiled lopsidedly. "What're you doin' in my..." He looked around a bit more, "this isn't my room..." He finished slowly.
Gibbs quirked an eyebrow at him, lessening his glare only slightly. "No, it's not."
Tony blinked a few times before nodding.
"Well, okay then."
He twirled around in his chair picking up a few folders that were scattered around the place. Gibbs knew they were cold case files. Tony liked to go through as many as possible in the quiet times between cases. Not that there were many of those quiet times.
He let the silence hang for a moment, watching Tony act busy-like and glancing back at him under his eyelashes as if trying to place his mood. If Gibbs hadn't been looking for it he wouldn't have noticed the way the folders shook in Tony's hands as he shuffled them about his workspace.
"Nightmare?" His voice was unusually soft; there was hardly anyone around this early, he could afford to be a little less gruff than normal.
Tony's head shot up. Gibbs saw a flash of fear in his eyes before he made himself relax, bringing up his defences – he had always found it interesting that Tony built his walls by physically relaxing. His gaze returned to his desk, puttering about with his files, half-shrugging, not talking.
He let it slide. If Tony wanted to talk to him, he would talk to him sooner or later. Instead, he decided to pursue why exactly one of his agents had stayed at work all night. He liked dedication more than the next guy but he liked it in people who could stay awake and actually do their job.
Gibbs continued to make his way over to Tony's desk. He pressed down on both hands, leaning over the younger man menacingly. There weren't many times he had the height advantage. He liked to use it when he could.
"I thought you had a lift home last night." He started quietly. He was very much aware that Tony found that much more intimidating than if he were to raise his voice.
Tony looked up at him blankly before realising his boss was ever so slightly mad. Bringing his hands up in a defensive gesture he began to explain but it came out more as stutters than anything else. "Ah, I, ah, I," he pointed at the folders on his desk, "work to do. Abby didn't mind."
He stifled a yawn, not quite awake yet.
Gibbs' frown deepened. "So not only did you not go home but you gave Abby the chance to stay at work all night, also." He wondered sometimes how either of these people were still alive with the care they took of themselves.
Tony grimaced. "Actually I think she was planning on coming back here after dropping me off. She was all bouncy happy when I told her not to worry, said something 'bout not wasting time. I think she had an experiment going." He looked down and noticed the cup of coffee was gone and his face morphed into that too serious/focused expression that he used when he was seriously trying to hide a smile, more than likely thankful he was talking to a caffeinated Gibbs.
"Did she sleep at all?"
Tony nodded fervently. "Yeah," He pointed at the floor next to his desk, "Wouldn't use her futon. Don't ask, don't know why. She got a full six hours, I swear." It had probably been a fight but one it looked like he'd won.
Gibbs nodded, partially satisfied. However, while Tony was fantastic at looking after Abby it was more than obvious that he hadn't looked after himself; he looked like crap, something which was becoming more and more frequent. Gibbs did not like that, at all.
"Did you get more than an hour's sleep?"
Tony hesitated before answering, "Yes?"
Gibb's eyes narrowed and his hand moved quickly, cuffing Tony on the back of the head. He watched as an indignant yelp rose to the younger man's lips before he just sat back sighing pathetically.
He muttered a quiet, "Uh huh," before returning back to his desk with a small amused smile.
Hopefully it would be a slow day and he could send Tony down to Abby's lab for an hour or so if he started to flag. He was feeling rather generous today.
He sat down again picking up another form and sighed. His relatively good mood was soured. He hated paperwork.
Tony began to rabbit on about something or other, a movie, he thought, and however much it pained him to do so – because the combination of paperwork and Tony's movie-yakking was something close to one of the inner circles of hell – he let him. As he talked, Tony eased from a defensive relaxation to a natural one.
It still got on his last nerve, though.
"Boss?"
"What, DiNozzo?" He asked without raising his head, his frustration evident. He knew he shouldn't take his irritation out on the younger man but Tony constantly made himself an easy target, always talking long after everyone else would have shut up. It would just figure that was what he really liked about the man as well: he wasn't scared to keep talking long after everyone else would have shut up.
"You doin' paperwork?"
"Yeah, DiNozzo," he answered in his growly 'Obviously, now shut the hell up' voice.
"Want some help?"
Gibbs finally raised his head to look at Tony with his wide 'innocent' eyes that sparkled lightly and the small smile that quirked across his lips, his head lolling gently to his left.
He rolled his eyes. "Get over here."
Tony pulled his chair over as Gibbs pushed his stapler, tape, rolodex and phone out of the way and halved the pile of requisition forms, dumping them in front of him. He hesitated for a moment, Kate and Tim's performance reviews in hand, until he decided he didn't want to take the chance. While Tony had, in his own way, taken the Probie under his wing there was still a high chance he would get back something with 'needs to work on his jokes but 8/10 for effort' and 'doesn't pick on Kate enough'. Kate's would definitely be filled with 'hot, but needs to loosen up' or 'has learned the art of revenge disturbingly well – a solid 10'. He thought it better to not even tempt Tony with it. That might be too much.
They settled down quickly with Tony breaking the silence with a question every now and then or starting asinine conversations that had them both smirking or laughing quietly. It was something that happened every so often, not so much since the team had expanded with first Kate then McGee, more so when it had just been Tony and him (and Blackadder, but then...). Tony liked to help out the admin sometimes, at first Gibbs had fought against it – seeing it as his responsibility – but Tony had been insistent and, like in many areas, he had worn him down till he relented. Now even his token protests had disappeared.
During these quiet times between them where the companionship was incredibly easy he would find himself missing, slightly, when it was just them; a two-man team. They worked well together; they had since they'd met in Baltimore and they still did.
Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he had never hired Kate and had fought off the Director on the need for more people on his team. But, then, he liked the way his team was now. He wouldn't change it for the world, not that he would ever tell them that. They knew it anyway, he was sure.
Tony broke into his thoughts with some inane observation and he chuckled, happy for the moment.
--
At 0730 on the dot the elevator doors slid open and both Kate and McGee rushed into the squad room. Technically they weren't late but Gibbs liked for his team to start early. They stopped short at the sight of both Gibbs and Tony sitting at the former's desk laughing as they swapped files around. Tony muttered something and Gibbs opened one of his drawers which he scrounged through before picking up a pen and handing it to Tony who nodded his thanks.
Kate and Tim shared a puzzled glance. This was an unusual happenstance, for them anyway.
Tony spun his chair round to face them with a smile. "Hey, guys! I was wonderin' if you were ever gonna get in." He twisted his head towards Gibbs. "Did you think they were ever gonna get in?"
"Nope."
Gibbs kept his head down, finishing the requisition form for more requisition forms; paperwork was a strange, idiotic and not quite logical thing. He was certain this was one issue the rest of the world could actually agree on with him.
"Should I give them the rest of the paperwork?"
Gibbs looked at the now tiny not-even-worthy-of-the-name-pile of forms and whatnot. It would take them about fifteen minute's tops to finish it. Compared to the hour they had taken to make such a dent it was nothing. But he really needed a break now and he was sure Tony did too.
"Sure."
He dropped his pen on the finished form, waved a hand in invitation and stretched through a yawn. He watched as Tony pushed his chair towards his desk with one hand and with the other picked up the left over forms placing half on Tim's desk and the other half on Kate's. They wisely kept their mouths shut and just sat down to finish off the last of the paperwork, sharing one more puzzled glance over their desks.
"Tony." His agent looked up from pushing his chair back behind his desk, questioningly. "Coffee."
Tony smiled again. "Sure thing, Boss."
He was proving to Gibbs, once again, that Anthony DiNozzo was a strange being; who on Earth was in a good mood after filling in forms for one minute let alone close to ninety?
The strange being grabbed his jacket from his desk, slinging it over his shoulder, also picking up his piece and badge - never go anywhere without them. He swung round walking to the elevator backwards. "While I'm at it, should I get Abby a Caf-Pow!?"
Gibbs thought about it seriously for a moment. The problem with Abby and Caf-Pow! was that too much and she became a jittery caffeinated ball of energy, too little and that was when her second B came into play; it was really quite terrifying. A meticulous balance was needed and even after working with her so long he could still get it wrong.
"We should wait a couple of hours." He nodded, satisfied with his decision.
Tony was about to reply but Gibbs' phone rang. He raised a hand telling him to not leave just yet just in case it was a case.
He picked it up, answering with the usual brusque, "Gibbs." It was as polite as he was ever going to be. As the person on the other end spoke his heart sank. No hope of coffee in the near future.
"Right, we'll be there soon." He slammed the phone down and quickly picked up everything he needed, barking out a redundant, "Gear up!" Kate and Tim were already doing so and Tony was waiting by the elevator.
"A Staff Sergeant's wife was tortured and murdered in Annandale, Virginia. He's deployed in Iraq. The only witness was their six year old daughter." He explained as they entered the elevator.
He heard Kate's gasp behind him and McGee's quietly uttered, "God..." Next to him he could feel Tony practically brimming with a fury that matched his own.
He hated these kinds of cases.
As the elevator doors slid shut it suddenly hit Gibbs what today was, understanding of what Tony's nightmare was most probably about. He felt like even more of a bastard than usual when his first thought was maybe this could be used to form some trust between them and the victim's daughter.
He would only do it if he had too.
He had never pretended to be a nice guy.
--
"Damn."
He surveyed the blood soaked bed. Jamelia Mona Laney lay broken upon what were once blue and white polka dot sheets. Her pants lay in a pile on the floor at the bottom of the bed, her t-shirt ripped to shreds next to it. Coagulating blood still dripped onto them from the bed sheets. What used to be creamy unblemished skin was now a painting of cuts and bruises and burns and so much more. One leg was twisted almost back to front. An arm was bent in the wrong direction at the elbow. The fingers of both hands were obviously broken. Her head, haloed by red matted hair, rolled unnaturally to the right. Only her face remained untouched and yet it showed the pain and horror of every injury
There had been nothing peaceful about her death.
Beside him Dr. Mallard paused, taking in the horror that one person could inflict on another.
"I need a TOD, Duck." Gibbs whispered hoarsely. It was more than likely he was going to be seeing this scene in his dreams when he next slept.
Ducky gave his head a little shake. He didn't reply with his usual 'Patience, Jethro'. Humour, of any sort, did not belong in this room. He just got to work.
Gibbs looked over to his team in the doorway, shocked was one word that could be used to describe them, angry was another, sick could also be used. McGee was turning greener by the second; he was only a probie after all, though Kate looked to be not far behind. He took pity on them.
"Kate, talk to the girl. McGee, interview the neighbours." They sent him grateful nods and hurried away as fast as possible. He still felt the need to tell Tony, "You Sketch, I'll shoot," even though his senior field agent was already passing him the camera and getting his pad out of his bag with a grim but determined face.
"Whoever finishes first takes measurements." Tony finished for him quietly.
Gibbs answered him with a tight smile.
--
"I don't know how they do it," whispered Kate.
Tim looked her, still nauseous but pretty sure he wasn't going to lose his breakfast. "Practice?"
They were standing in the front doorway, taking a breather, before splitting up for their assigned tasks.
Kate looked vaguely disgusted. "I thought I'd seen some bad things but obviously not. But getting used to that! It's like turning to stone."
Tim shook his head. She hadn't been watching them at all; she'd misunderstood their need to get on with the job. "It's not like that." He started and she turned to him curiously. "Didn't you see them? They were just as affected as we were, they just hid it better. That's what I meant by practice. They've learnt to shove their emotions aside and deal with them later."
She stared at him, barely hiding her shock. "Wow, McGee, that's really insightful..."
Shrugging, he smiled at the sort-of praise. "I have my moments."
Kate shook her head distractedly and mumbled to herself, "Why didn't I see that. I'm meant to be the profiler."
His smile fell. One day he was going to get a real compliment. "I'm just, I'm just going to talk to the neighbours." He turned and made his way towards the growing gaggle of onlookers.
Kate watched him walk away for a few moments and then giving herself a mental kick up the backside approached the ambulance, its back doors open wide. Emma Laney was sitting on the edge of the ambulance floor with her legs dangling over the edge and smothered in a massive bright red blanket. It did nothing to stop her shaking. Next to her sat a cooling mug of tea and an unpeeled, bruised banana.
An EMT caught her elbow as she inched closer to the silent six year old. He looked worried. She expected him to bar her from speaking to the girl but he instead he asked, "Can you try to get her to eat something? We might have to take her to the hospital if she doesn't."
She nodded. "I'll do my best."
Slowly she crouched down in front of the little girl, catching her attention and smiling. Emma just stared at her. Her long auburn hair hung limp over her eyes, hiding the sharp green beneath. She was dry-eyed, just staring.
"Hi there, Emma, I'm Kate." She laid her hand on the girl's leg squeezing it in some reassurance. She didn't utter a word. "Sweetie, I know this is hard, but I need you to say something." Nothing. "Okay, will you eat something, then?" She picked up the banana, peeling it, it wasn't so bruised underneath. Breaking a small bit off the top she held it up in easy reach of her mouth. "Come on, Sweetie, I'm sure you don't want to go to hospital."
Emma did nothing.
The banana piece smushed a little in Kate's grip.
"Alright, okay." She put down the banana, her other hand resting on the girls head smoothing her hair in a soothing gesture, "It's all right. I'll be back soon, okay?"
Emma stared at her silently.
"Okay," Kate whispered sadly as she walked back to the house.
She saw Gibbs and Tony come out through the front door. They had done what they needed to do quickly so Ducky could get on with his part of the job. Though she wasn't fooling herself, there was still a lot to do. They could just finish it without the body present. She shuddered as Palmer came out of the house pushing the gurney holding the body bag. Her stomach churned and for one horrifying second she thought she really was going to throw up but luckily she settled. She tried to tell herself this wasn't the worst crime scene she had seen in her life but adding the obvious trauma suffered by the victims six year old daughter perhaps it actually was.
Both of her colleagues had moved to the side to let the gurney pass, tracking it to the truck with similarly grim expressions. McGee was right; they were just as affected as them. How could she miss that? She needed to watch them more closely, needed to understand them.
Gibbs nodded to her and McGee as they made it to the porch at the same time.
"None of them heard or saw anything, Boss." He shrugged in apology, for once remembering not to say it out loud.
"How does no one hear someone being slowly tortured and killed?" Tony asked softly, solemn. Kate found it almost unbearable. Tony was never so serious.
"It's what they're saying," McGee added helplessly.
"Fine." Gibbs stated already giving the neighbours up for useless idiots. "Kate?"
Kate sighed. "Emma Laney; She's obviously traumatised, Gibbs, shocky. She's probably not going to be speaking for a while. She won't eat anything and the EMT's say if she doesn't they'll have to take her to the hospital."
Gibbs dragged a hand through his hair in frustration and barely concealed anger. He stared up at the sky as if the growing clouds would guide him in his next step.
"Tony?" he said softly.
The ex-cop practically snapped to attention. "Yeah, Boss?"
"See what you can do." He tilted his head towards the ambulance.
Tony blinked at him for a few moments before jerking in realisation and stuttered his protests. "No, no, I, no! Me and kids," He meshed his hands together, entwining his fingers, shaking his head, a look of panic settling on his face. "I'll make her cry!" He finished plaintively.
In a rare show of patience Gibbs let him complain before telling him lightly, "You'll do fine." He followed up with a light glare, wouldn't do to show too much kindness now.
"Or, of course, I could do fine." Tony scowled, replying with sarcasm, but his shoulders slumped in resignation. He looked past where Gibbs stood, past the open front door and he took in a sudden breathe as he had an idea. Mumbling, "Just a second," he rushed back into the house.
Kate leaned around Gibbs to see where he was going and she watched him pop in and out of the living room returning to them with something extra. In his hand was a small, bright orange and red stuffed giraffe.
"I saw it when we came in," he explained. At the dubious looks sent his way by both Kate and McGee he added, "It can't hurt," with a tentative shrug.
"No, it can't." Gibbs reassured while fighting the urge to head-slap his other two agents. "Now, go."
"On it, Boss." The words were nowhere near as enthusiastic as they usually were.
Kate turned her back to his retreating form, rounding on Gibbs. "Are you sure he's the right person for this? I mean, he is Tony. He's right, he and kids..."
She was cut off by Gibbs' firm, "Don't worry."
"But..."
Gibbs' shut her up with a glare. "They will both be fine."
He slipped his sight from her to the ambulance where Tony had crouched down in front of the young girl, talking softly. A small smile graced his face, untempered by the crime scene behind him.
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