Title: "Dead Man Talking"
Disclaimer: I do not own any person, place or thing you may recognize. I do, however, own Rhett Bartlett, the Dorsey case, the name Silene Marie Black and astracrabs, though I did not come up with the name on my own.
Rating: T
Warnings: language; case related violence; minor character death; crossdressing; female Harry
Fandoms: NCIS and Harry Potter
Characters: Tony DiNozzo, LJ Gibbs, Silene Black, Kate Todd, Tim McGee, Amanda Reed, Commander Voss and several unnamed bar patrons, with background appearances of an OC Agent, Cassie Yates and Director Morrow; mentions of Chris Pacci, and James and Lily Potter
Spoilers: specific spoilers for the s1 episode, Dead Man Talking, with a minor spoiler for the s2 episode, SWAK
Summary: Almost four years after first receiving the offer, Silene finally takes Gibbs up on the offer to transfer to his team. But first, they have to catch the killer and the reason why.
Word Count: 1,273/5,251
Author's Note: This story is set in the same 'verse as "No Condemnation, and takes place almost four years later, during the episode Dead Man Talking. This is the story of how Silene became a member of Team Gibbs.
Due to various things that happened between the Battle of Hogwarts, and Silene fleeing to the US, she wears various masks at work, much like Tony does. I have decided to have Silene model her mask after Luna, so I imagine her talking in a light, dreamy voice, with a slightly dazed and distant look on her face.
This story is complete at three chapters, and the second chapter will be posted on Friday, with the third chapter being posted on Monday. Let me know what y'all think.
Fae
Chapter 01
It had been a rough day and a half.
Tony loved his job, but he had never regretted getting a call from dispatch more than he did with this case. It wasn't that the scene was the worst that he had ever seen. That dubious honor went to a triple homicide in Philly that was so horrible that no one talked about it.
Ever.
But the fact that the Vic was a friend and fellow agent made this scene all that more gruesome.
They hadn't done much recently, but before Kate joined the team, he and Gibbs had occasionally come across a case that needed more manpower than a two man team. When that happened, they would team up with Pacci and his crew.
Seeing a good friend lying in that elevator, completely gutted, was an unwelcome wakeup call.
True, they all knew that every time they strapped on their Sig and went out into the field could be the last time they ever did so, but NCIS had been pretty lucky. As far as Tony knew, they hadn't lost an agent since he started at the agency back in oh-one. The DC office, at any rate.
The worst part, in Tony's opinion, was standing in MTAC with Gibbs and Director Morrow while they let the rest of Pacci's team know about his death.
Agent Bartlett, out in San Diego, had been easy enough. He had taken the news stoically, which didn't entirely fit with what Tony knew of the man, but he supposed everyone dealt with their grief differently. Agent Yates had been hard. She had collapsed into her chair in shock, tears in her eyes.
However, both Bartlett and Yates had transferred off of Pacci's team almost two years ago, so while they were both close to Pacci, they were far enough removed from the situation that they would be able to move on easily enough.
Pacci's current Senior Field Agent was a different story.
She had been on Pacci's team since she first started with NCIS, almost a full year before Tony himself had started with Gibbs. When the other two agents had transferred out, she had been promoted to SFA, and she had done an amazing job. Together, she and Pacci had been almost as efficient as Tony and Gibbs.
The four of them had been a good team when they needed to work together, even with Gibbs, whose interpersonal relationship skills were notoriously awful up and down the East Coast.
Tony was almost relieved they hadn't been able to reach her yesterday through MTAC. He didn't want to be anywhere near the scene when she found out. He almost pitied whoever got stuck with that job. If Morrow were smart, he'd let Bartlett tell her, since she was his probie.
Still, things were about to get a little better. It was stakeout time. He loved stakeouts. They were so much fun. He loved absolutely everything about them. He was going to have a blast messing with Katie's head, although he could have done without Gibbs' comments.
He wasn't that bad, was he? He didn't think so.
He followed the rest of the team over to the elevators, nearly running into Gibbs when the team lead didn't immediately enter. He looked over Gibbs' shoulder and gave a mental wince when he saw Agent Black standing there.
She ignored everyone, staring at Gibbs with her normally bright green eyes dulled from the pain. Her face was pale and drawn, with shadows under her eyes. She was less put together than normal and he wondered where she had been when she heard the news.
He watched in amusement as Gibbs and Silene carried on a silent conversation. There had always been a connection between the two of them that Tony had been a little jealous of. He wasn't sure what it was, and most of the time, he was able to ignore it. He had his own connection with Gibbs that no one else had.
But watching the other SFA stare down the biggest bastard in the agency drove home just how close the two of them were. A quick glance at the two junior agents showed that both of them were unaware of the subtext flowing between Gibbs and Silene and he mentally shook his head.
For a profiler, Kate could sure be pretty blind when it came to certain people in the agency. He didn't even think that Kate knew Silene as anything other than Agent Black.
Silene maintained eye-contact with Gibbs, not blinking, for several long moments, before Gibbs jerked his head towards Tony and McGee.
"You're with DiNozzo and McGee."
Silene's shoulders relaxed and she nodded, stepping back to allow the team into the elevator.
"Wait, what?" Kate asked as she followed Gibbs and Tony into the elevator.
"Silene's joining the team," Tony explained as he stood next to Silene. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze.
She looked up at him with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Silene Black, Pacci's SFA," Tony said. "Tim McGee, Kate Todd," he finished, jerking his head at each of them in turn.
Kate gasped. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry."
Silene stiffened under his arm and Tony shot a mild glare in Kate's direction. Silene didn't want sympathy, she wanted justice; revenge. He didn't blame her. He'd definitely want the same if Gibbs had been killed.
The ride to stakeout site was silent and tense. With Silene in the car, even Tony wasn't willing to crack jokes and lighten the mood. When they got to the apartment, Silene threw herself into set-up. While she worked, Gibbs held Tony back in the doorway.
They looked at each other and Tony could see the unspoken order in his eyes. Look after her.
Tony just sent him a look. Of course.
"Silene, I need-" Gibbs began, pausing when a file appeared in front of his face. He raised an eyebrow. "Is this-"
She nodded and he grunted, flipping through the first couple of pages.
"Good job. Go get some sleep."
She opened her mouth to argue, but he shot her a look.
"Sleep, Silene. You're no good to me or Chris if you're too exhausted to do your job."
Her shoulders slumped and Tony had to strain his ears to hear what she said. "I don't want to be alone," she whispered in that British accent he loved so much.
"Abby's lab, at least three hours, or you're benched."
She nodded reluctantly and Gibbs jerked his head towards the door.
"Go. At least three hours, then help DiNozzo and McGee with background on the case. The three of you have second shift. I want you well rested and on top of your game."
She turned towards the door.
"Hey," Gibbs called, closing the space between them in two steps and turning her around, his hands on her upper arms. "We'll get this dirtbag. I promise."
She gave him a small smile that looked more like a grimace.
"We'll get him, Silene. He won't get away with this."
Silene nodded, her expression hardening.
"Now get. DiNozzo."
"Yeah, Boss."
"Make sure she gets some sleep."
"You got it." Tony put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her out the door. "We'll be back in eight hours."
As the three of them left the apartment, Tony heard Kate start bombarding Gibbs with questions, and he could tell that McGee was bursting with questions of his own. Fortunately, McGee was still sufficiently cowed by Tony's over-exuberant nature and was holding back.
Hopefully it would stay that way.
