Rock Creek Park
Officer John Morrow of the Metro Washington Police Department was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the crime scene, and the first to corridon it off from the growing crowd of gawkers and onlookers.
It's not every morning you see a male and a female, he thought, garbed in Navy and Marine dress uniforms, interwined in each other's arms lying on the grass in plain view of the most public area of the park...
...both very much dead.
Officer Morrow was here only to make sure no one contaminated the crime scene nor the bodies.
NCIS would handle the case. Once he saw its people arrive and spoke with the lead agent, he was free to go.
A half-hour after he called the crime in, the officer saw two vehicles pull along the side of the nearest road, 60 feet away, both with large NCIS lettering on the side. Having met FBI and NSA agents in the past, Morrow knew whom he expected to meet; staid, no-nonsense types in suits and ties.
This bunch, he later decided, broke the mold.
It started with the very animated man, and his initially bemused female partner, who stepped out of one of the trucks.
"How many times have we been here, Zee-Vah? A hundred? A thousand? A hundred thousand?"
Special Agent Tony DiNozzo had no real idea how many times he had worked a crime scene at Rock Creek Park in his 13 years with NCIS. He didn't really care anyway, and especially now.
What Tony cared about was that his partner, Special Agent Ziva David, was back.
"I do not know, Tony," she said, as they casually walked towards the scene. "I am sure it is in our records, somewhere. Perhaps if you ask McGee."
"Tim's not gonna know and probably cares about as much as I do," Tony replied. "It doesn't matter anyway, Zee-Vah. What matters is...you're back."
"I am only back for a period of time," she said, "as I agreed upon with Director Vance."
Tony stopped - causing Ziva to stop herself - and turned to face her, holding his right hand up and out.
"What does matter is you're back in the game, back in the groove, back on Team Gibbs! High five for Special Agent David!"
He held his hand up, grinning; she smiled and cocked her head.
"I wish I had the camera to take a picture of you," Ziva said. "What I see is the quizzical Tony."
Tony scrunched his eyebrows, then said, "you mean quintessential, Ziva."
She giggled. "If you say so, Tony."
Both walked to the bodies.
"Looks like they were quite, ah, busy when they met their demise," Tony observed. "Hey. Speaking of the cameras. Where are our probies with the gear?"
Ziva looked towards the van she and Tony rode in. "They appear to be in the van, still."
"Which surprises me greatly," heard Tony and Ziva from behind; they turned and saw - and heard - Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, followed by his much younger assistant, James Palmer.
Neither were the men Tony and Ziva had known for years; these men were roughly nine years younger - and were a very small part of a bigger event right out of science fiction.
They were refugees from a parallel universe; they weren't the Ducky and Palmer Tony and Ziva had known, and yet they were.
And along with the 'other' Ducky and Palmer came another Tony, Ziva, Tim McGee, Abby Sciuto, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs...and a host of other doppelgangers, not the least being one for the late Kate Todd, another of Dr. Jeanne Benoit.
Now the doppelgangers, at Director Vance's behest, were working with Tony and Ziva, their teammates, and their boss.
And that meant mixing up the teams to get the "newcomers" up to speed.
Today, Tony and Ziva would work with the younger Ducky and Palmer, work under the younger version of Gibbs, and boss around what Tony called "our Very Special Probies."
As the alternate Ducky and Palmer prepared to position the bodies for a better examination, Tony saw Officer Morrow standing alongside.
"Hold up Ducky, until we get photos and sketches. Officer," Tony said. "Thank you for keeping the scene for us, you can go."
"Are you the ranking agent?" According to Vance, altGibbs was the lead agent on this case, but Tony technically was the ranking agent.
"Yeah," Tony replied, holding up his badge and ID.
"Thanks," the officer said. "I'd like to see the report later, if you don't mind. How Romeo and Juliet got that way."
"Gimme a day, then call my work number," Tony said, handing him a business card.
The officer walked back to his patrol car, deciding to hang back and look on a bit longer.
Ziva looked at Tony quizzically.
"You do realize the director made Gibbs - the other Gibbs - lead on this case," she said.
"Well, yes, Ziva, but I don't see him here and there's no need to keep the officer standing around all day," Tony said. "Besides. What's he gonna do? Head slap me?...where are our Probies?"
"Jethro must be stuck in traffic," Ducky interjected, as he looked over the female. "He decided to give the younger Abigail a ride to the crime scene. She said she wanted to lose her crime scene virginity and he agreed."
"Abby's coming here?" Ziva asked.
"The younger, Nancy Wilson-slash-Joan Jett-slash-Chrissie Hynde-esque Abby, not our favorite pigtailed gothic scientist," Tony said. "She told me she was looking forward to this, that 'other Gibbs' finally felt comfortable enough to go along with it. He didn't feel that way where they were from."
"Not with Russians shooting at us," Palmer interjected. "Or potentially shooting at us. Usually they didn't shoot at us. Usually they weren't around. When they were they usually looked-"
"Mister Palmer!" Ducky said, firmly. "Please. We can discuss past unpleasant experiences another day...Tony, I don't see any exit wounds so far, no blood. I will be able to tell you much more once Mr. Palmer and I get these unfortunate people to the morgue...if our friends back there stop bickering."
"I'll take care of that; I don't want to be here all day either," Tony said. "But...I can't do this without the help of Very Special Agent Ziva David."
"Do what without my help, Agent DiNozzo?" Ziva asked, as Palmer looked on and began to grin.
"You know what I mean, Ziva."
"Tony, I will go over there and bring them here myself-"
"Ah, Ziva, but it's more fun my way...see? Even Autopsy Gremlin Jr. here agrees with me. Just like I told you Tim and I did with Bishop...on three. One, two, three-"
"PROBIES!" yelled Tony and Ziva in unison - though Tony by far was the louder and more enthusiastic of the two.
Finally, the last two members of their team appeared out of the back of the truck.
Tony's younger counterpart had a box in one arm and holding a bag in the other.
The 'alternate' Kate Todd walked alongside him, carrying a box.
Both were a little grumpy, and completely silent, which encouraged the older Tony to prod.
"I heard you both bickering like cats and dogs from the Navy Yard until we pulled into the park, and all the way from here," older Tony said. "The tape should've been set up, DiNozzo you should've taken pictures, Kate you should've sketched, and we all should be back at work by now."
Older Tony, smiling, walked to his younger counterpart and got in his face, then started to do the same with Kate - and, seeing her expression, thought better of it.
"What do you Probies have to say for yourselves? Huh?"
A few moments later, Kate and younger Tony talked over one another.
Ziva threw up her hands and shouted at both of them-
"STOP! STOP! You. Caitlin. You first."
"Tony hid the boxes-"
"I didn't hide anything, Kate. They were in the wrong place-"
"The camera was in the wrong place, DiNozzo. I found it where my sketch pads were supposed to be."
"Because they're not your sketch pads, Kate. They're Bishop's."
"And the gloves were in the wrong drawer. Nothing is where I organized it-"
"Because it's not our truck, Kate, it's theirs."
Tony and Ziva saw a rental car - not Gibbs' pickup - pull up behind the NCIS vehicles. While Kate and young Tony bickered, the other Gibbs and Abby got out and were followed by a man and woman who looked vaguely familiar.
"I organized it last night, DiNozzo. Me and McGee. Where were you?"
"Cold cases, Kate. Picking up the slack for you and for Probie."
"Excuse me?! You're accusing me of slacking off?"
"No. I'm accusing you of forgetting you organized the wrong truck-"
SLAP! SLAP!
"Sorry Boss." "Sorry Gibbs."
"Ouch," older Tony whispered to Ziva; "Ooh," she whispered back.
Gibbs started towards Ducky and the bodies, then stopped when she saw Abby's repeated head nods towards their guests.
"Director Vance's idea," he said. "Found out about it before I left. SecNav's idea. Guy's doing research on a book...Kate. DiNozzo. What'ya standin' around for? Duck. What we got?"
"Yes, Gibbs." "Right Boss." "Well, Jethro..."
Tony and Ziva looked at the couple, curiously and sympathetically, introducing themselves.
"Well, I'm Kate Beckett, Detective, New York Police Department," said the woman. "And this is my fiance, Mr. Richard Castle."
Tony and Ziva looked at them, then at Gibbs, then at each other.
"This oughta be fun," Tony deadpanned.
"My thoughts exactly," Castle interjected, full of enthusiasm. "Navy cops? Doppelgangers? Alternate universes like Fringe? Totally unbelievable, and yet all too real. I have so, so many questions."
I bet you do, Tony thought.