Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. If I did, my life would be fricking amazing!
The day was like any other, with a single exception, it was Veteran's Day. Every news channel was honoring the war veterans all over America and every other channel was celebrating it in a specially made episode or random commercials saying thanks.
For NCIS, most of their workers are civilian so other than phone calls being made out to relatives or friends to honor them for serving in the military, it was a normal day, with the exception of the forensics lab. Forensic Specialist Abigail, Abby, Scuito had her lab door closed and locked so no one could unexpectedly walk in. Inside the lab, only the middle lab was lit up. Two people sat in that lab, both female, both frantic about something apparently pretty important.
"So tonight or this afternoon? At whose house? Or is it here?" A flurry of questions came flying out of Abby's mouth.
Ziva David sighed deeply, getting slightly annoyed about going over this for the fifth time. "Tony agreed he would host it at his apartment at seven o'clock tonight." She said slowly, making sure her close friend understood her; repeating that same sentence over and over gets annoying sometimes. "Now remember, I'm going over there early to help Tony cook the dinner, McGee will supply the dinner, and Tony is luring Gibbs over his house by saying he needs help with his computer."
"But he doesn't know how to use a computer!" Abby exclaimed, extremely confused.
"Yes, we know. What we are hoping to happen is that Gibbs will think Tony needs some help and come over." Ziva explained.
Abby stayed silent in thought for a moment then nodded. "Oh, that's better."
"And if that does not work, Ducky is going to ask him if he can go over to Tony's with him and help with some problem he is having." Ziva shrugged.
"So what time should I come over with the decorations?" Abby asked.
"Six-thirty so you have time to set it all up."
"Alright. This should be awesome!" Abby said excitedly.
~~3 Hours Later~~
The rest of the day carried on as normal until about five o'clock in the afternoon. DiNozzo, McGee, and David were sitting at their desks doing paperwork, or in Tony's case, just fooling around on the computer out of pure boredom. All of a sudden, Gibbs, who hadn't been seen all day, walked into the bullpen and called out, "Grab your gear!"
All three agents shot their head up and their eyes got wide, all just thinking one thing: The party.
"Anytime now!" Gibbs called back with a bit of anger when he got to the elevator and none of his team had moved from their desks.
In a scramble, DiNozzo, McGee, and David got their gear together and jogged over to the elevator to join their boss. McGee's curiosity got the best of him and he asked, "What do we got Boss?"
Gibbs barely stiffened for a moment. "Dead marine veteran. Killed after the parade." He let out a deep breath.
McGee frowned a bit and looked down, now feeling guilty for asking.
Tony and Ziva shared a quiet, understanding look then went on with staring at the inside of the metal (death trap) box like nothing happened.
The whole case went down pretty quickly. The team got to the crime scene and checked it out for about half an hour. The dead veteran's name was Sergeant Bill Reeley. From what it looked like, the veteran was stabbed once in the gut and died. At one point, Gibbs had walked away for one of his own reasons. A group of five World War II veterans approached him. Four of them had a hold on a man around the age of thirty and one led the way. The captive could probably get away easily if he tried hard enough, as he looked very fit, but there was a look of shame upon the man's face that said he deserved to be in the position that he was.
The leader of the veteran's spoke to Gibbs firmly and directly. "Sir, I am Lieutenant Hal Jurllet. This man here," He motioned his hand behind him to show that he was speaking of the captive man, "is Petty Officer Joseph Reeley, the great-nephew of Sergeant Bill Reeley. Witnesses reported that he was the one to stab Sergeant Reeley in the stomach."
"Lieutenant, may I speak?" Joseph Reeley asked. Jurllet stepped to the side and let the petty officer speak to Gibbs. Reeley nodded gratefully. "Sir, I did stab my great-uncle, but not just to kill. You see, during the war, the Sergeant has gotten shot near the spinal cord. He healed, but doctors never got the bullet out because of the danger. Within the past year, his back got messed up a bit and the bullet dug into a nerve near his spine and it hurt so bad." He sighed heavily. "He just wanted the pain to stop. Going to the hospital meant the doctors would try to save him and he didn't want that. So when he saw me after the parade, he put a knife in my hand and plunged it into his gut, telling me to continue on with being a marine and to do my best."
Gibbs, who hadn't reacted to any of this, nodded to the five veterans. "Thank you for your service during the war and now. I'll take it from here." He motioned for Reeley to come over to him.
After a cautious look from Reeley to the veterans, the petty officer stepped over to Gibbs.
"You'll be alright Reeley, I believe you." The team leader said calmly.
Tears welled at the edges of Reeley's eyes. "My great-uncle was a good man, sir. He didn't deserve that pain."
"No veterans or their families do." Gibbs said simply.
~~2 Hours Later~~
With the case wrapped up, the case reports were simple once Reeley's story held up. Ducky confirmed that Sergeant Reeley was in immense pain from a bullet digging into his spine. Much to the relief of the team, they were free to go home by six, which gave the team enough time to set up the party for Gibbs.
Tony persuaded Gibbs to come over with the computer problems thing; he guessed Gibbs just didn't want to be alone today.
The whole team sat in preparation for Gibbs to show up. The last preparations were made. Tony put out the food, Ziva cleaned up a few last things, McGee and Abby put up a few decorations, and Jimmy and Ducky did what they could to help out. At last, at seven-thirty, Gibbs showed up. He opened the door on his own and was greeted with all of his team waiting for him with smiles on their faces.
Abby can running up and hugged him. "Thank you for serving the country." She told him happily.
Tony came up and pried Abby from Gibbs then gave him a firm handshake, saying his thanks at the same time.
Gibbs was shocked at first but then he smiled at widely. "Thank you, all, for this."
"No, we are the ones thanking you." Ziva said with a gentle smile.
"Now why are we all standing here? Tony and Ziva made some lovely food for us all to enjoy on this wonderful day." Ducky said cheerfully and made everyone nod in agreement.
That night was full of laughs, food, drinks, and great memories. Gibbs was glad to have his team with him. Some days like these are full of memories of the fallen and it's sad, and makes people feel lonely, but he knew that if he ever felt that way, all of his family would help him get through it and to keep going; that the fallen had died for a reason. And the reason was a damn good one.
Remember to thank past, present, future, alive, or dead veterans. They do great things for our country.