Author's Note: This is set in 2016
The past several weeks had been quiet by NCIS standards, thankfully. There had been no murders of sailors, no one had attempted a kidnapping or had been kidnapped. No, it had been nice. Almost mundane with simply paperwork to keep up with and annoying co-workers while doing so. Until the week prior when things suddenly got interesting surrounding Christopher LaSalle.
Now, if you would have asked him, he'd much prefer mundane and boring and all those other words that mean 'not interesting'. At least this time when he wasn't the center of a million questions he didn't have the answers to. He'd kept his cool when all sorts of things started popping up at their headquarters. He didn't mind the harassing, untraceable phone calls at all hours of the night. There came a time when LaSalle had reached his limit. It was 8:15a.m. on a Tuesday morning in February.
"Is there a Mr. Christopher LaSalle here?" A local courier asked from the front doorway to the main office space of the NCIS building.
The man in question had been talking with his three other co-workers; Agents Dwayne Pride, Meredith Brody, and Sonja Percy, with his back to the door. Christopher spun his chair towards the man quickly, rising out of it just as quick. What was next?
"That's me," he said, walking towards the courier, who Christopher was sure was a native of New Orleans if the accent was anything to go by. "Can I help you?"
The courier held out a brown 9 x 12 storage envelope. "No signature required. Have a good day, sir," the man said and saw himself out. His job was done.
Chris took the envelope and watched the man leave before turning to face his co-workers who had all gone quiet. Did he really want to open this now? He walked back over to his desk, setting the envelope down.
"Well?" Pride asked, watching LaSalle carefully. Despite the other man's cool demeanor, he knew there was some anxiety there. It was only normal.
LaSalle pursed his lips. He dreaded opening the file. What if there was something that gave them a clue as to the person behind all the latest drama? What if there wasn't? What if someone could get hurt if he didn't? What if the person had given up and wrote him a "Okay. You got me." letter? He let out a small sigh and opened the envelope. Inside were two 8 x 10 photos. One was of a sign that read 'Hancock Medical Center' with a blurry hospital in the background; the other was of a burnt orange Mitsubishi Outlander. Both were taken right before dawn.
He glared at the photos and stood up, snatching his jacket off his chair. LaSalle gave the photos to his boss. "Call the Bay St. Louis PD. Tell them to meet me there. I'll be back shortly," he said curtly, not giving Pride a chance to answer him nor an opportunity for either of the two women to tag along, before he was on the phone and out the door. LaSalle dreaded making this call.
Pride looked to the photos before nodding in answer to someone who wasn't there. He wasn't going to give details to the rest of the team; but it was more evidence for them to scour over. He passed the photos to Percy and Brody. "Bring up what we have," he said, picking up the receiver of his phone.
/
Elizabeth had a long night. She was called in to the hospital at midnight for an emergency gall bladder removal which had gone from bad to worse quickly. 6 hours later, they had closed the patient up and wheeled them into recovery. Two hours after that, Elizabeth was finally free of duties as the patient had been transferred to ICU. Her gut was telling her that the patient wouldn't make it, which broke her heart for the family.
After exchanging "good morning" with several friends as they were coming in, she had gone down to the hospital exercise facility to utilise the showers. She felt gross and didn't want to mess up clean clothes. Elizabeth had just pulled on her t-shirt when her phone started ringing. She looked to the caller ID and couldn't help but roll her eyes. Chris. What did he want this time of morning? She thought about ignoring him but figured he didn't normally call for no apparent reason.
"What do you want?" No sense in being nice; she knew they were still on the outs. They had been this way for a little over a month.
"Are you still at the hospital?" Elizabeth frowned, he sounded... odd. How did he know she was at the hospital? Was he tracking her phone now?
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Stay there until I get there. Please." LaSalle's voice emphasized that last word. She had every right to think he sounded odd.
"Get here? What's going on?" Any annoyance with him could wait a little longer.
"Just wait." He hung up.
Elizabeth stared at her phone a few seconds before shaking her head, putting it back in her bag. She really didn't want to listen to him, but what could it hurt?
45 minutes later, her phone rang again. "Yeah?"
"Meet me in the ER." Click.
Elizabeth had waited around for this? She rolled her eyes. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep all day. Although, if Chris had drove all the way from New Orleans this early, something was up. She put her backpack over her shoulder and cleaned up the cafeteria dishes; eating was one less thing she had to do once home.
Three minutes later and Elizabeth was walking through the emergency room, past the rooms and into the main foyer. She recognized him from across the room and her heart started fluttering. His style was still the same, she noted. Black t-shirt and jeans. She spotted the gun and badge as he turned from having his back to her to speaking with two police officers. This definitely was not good.
Elizabeth waited until the officers went back outside before she approached him. "So what's going on?"
LaSalle turned, half expecting her. His brow was furrowed, deep in thought about something. "I can't tell you most of it, and I can't tell you here. But I need you to come back to New Orleans with me." He was trying to keep his voice neutral, and any emotions at bay. He was so relieved to see she had listened to him and was in one piece. She was still mad at him, it seemed. He'd deal with that later.
Elizabeth stared at him, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Why, exactly? I've been here 9 hours. I was here all day yesterday. I've only had three hour sleep. I really want to go home. I really, really don't want to go to New Orleans."
He expected this. He was grateful that she didn't tack 'with you' to the end of her last sentence. "I told you, I can't tell you here. For once, please listen to me without questions. I'll answer when I can when we get there."
She put her head down and sighed. "Alright. Can I at least drop my bag off at my car?"
"Sorry, but no," Christopher said, shaking his head, taking the bag off her shoulder and onto his own. He could see all the questions she wanted to ask building up, but she kept them to herself. She simply waved her hand and said "lead the way, Agent LaSalle."
/
Two hours after LaSalle left, Pride, Percy, and Brody had found nothing more than what they already had. No new evidence. They had sent the photos over to Patton Plame to see if he could extract anything from them. When LaSalle walked back in, they were once more re-hashing on how and why this person would single Christopher out.
Percy and Brody were clearly surprised to see a dark haired woman in jeans following LaSalle in; Pride, not so much. He had a feeling this would happen at some point. There were things he knew about his agents that he felt had no bearing on whether or not to be brought up. He'd let Chris handle this, despite the looks he was receiving from his two younger agents.
LaSalle stood between his co-workers desks after setting down Elizabeth's bag, "Percy, Brody, this is Elizabeth. 'Liz'beth, this is Meredith Brody and Sonja Percy. You remember Pride, I'm sure," he said, indicating who was who. Pride was sitting behind his desk, watching the various volleys of conversation. Elizabeth nodded to both of them, "nice to meet you." Chris went over to his desk and pushed his chair Elizabeth's way before getting one of his own.
Brody managed to regain her words first. "Hello." She eyed the hooded sweatshirt Elizabeth was wearing, the crimson coloring and white lettering on it helped her try to make some connections, "You, uh, went to Alabama too?"
Elizabeth hadn't realized what she had grabbed so early that morning. It had been dark and she knew temperatures had dropped. She was going more for warmth than style. Chris tried to surpress a grin as he sat at his desk; he'd been well aware of what she was wearing. Any other time he'd tease her about it. "Oh... no. It... it was dark when I put it on. It was clean and hanging up, so I didn't notice what was on it. I went to a school with much better taste," she said, some teasing in her tone.
Brody and Percy exchanged looks. Wheels were spinning fast in their minds as they slowly connected the dots. When Pride had stepped out of the room, they had looked up the license plate to see just who the car belonged to and why LaSalle would drive out to Mississippi about it. Perhaps it would be a pertinent clue. It really wasn't much of a lead. They found the car belonged to one Elizabeth LaSalle of Waveland, MS. The two women had opted to not dig any deeper and decided between the two that it was Chris's sister. They knew he had one but simply didn't know her name. They also didn't know if she was older or younger. And if they kept speculating based on the woman sitting near to them, they would say younger. However, both Percy and Brody were beginning to think otherwise. Percy was the first to vocalize it. "So how are you connected to that grinning fool over there?" She asked, gesturing to Chris, who was at present hiding his face behind some paperwork, trying to make head way. He had purposely set them all up.
Elizabeth turned to glare at him. He still hadn't explained why she had to come all the way out to New Orleans, without her vehicle (and sleep), especially when she had to get back to work the next morning. "Well, when I was young and dumb I went on a date with him and it snowballed from there, ending up in marriage," well, that was one way to describe it. Had she been in any other mood, she'd have laughed at the expressions on the two women's faces. Ever since Chris had been in the sheriff's department, they had always made sure there was a line between work and personal lives. It wasn't until now they had to break that line. Elizabeth wasn't sure she liked that very much.
Pride decided to interject, "Now that we're caught up, can we get you anything?" he asked Elizabeth.
She saw her opportunity now, "I'd like to go home, to sleep."
/
Elizabeth didn't get exactly as she wished. She wasn't able to go home - to either the one in Waveland or the one here in New Orleans; but she was able to sleep. Pride directed LaSalle to take her up to the room that he used. A bed was a bed. Chris still hadn't shared with her the point of her being there, but she hoped to corner him shortly.
She checked the time on her phone - 4:23p.m. It wasn't as long as she would have liked but she certainly felt better. After re-doing her ponytail, Elizabeth made her way down to the offices, careful not to get lost. When she walked in the room, she could see Percy and Brody, but neither Pride nor Chris; she was a bit apprehensive to be with the two women. She trusted them as Chris' partners, but she was sure they had a million questions for her. She had several herself. "Could y'all explain why exactly I'm here?"
It was evident they weren't expecting her by the way the women jumped. It was Brody who spoke first. "I'm not sure what LaSalle has told you, but as to why you're here - we don't know. He received an envelope which had a couple photos and then he was gone," Brody wasn't able to break protocol by telling her much more. "Next thing we know, the two of you were here. He hasn't said much else."
Chris hadn't said anything to her on their way over aside from "Have you ate?" and once she answered with the affirmative, he got quiet again. "He hasn't told me anything. He said he would. I'm not sure when he will. Where is he?" Elizabeth said, sitting in the chair he had moved for her earlier.
Percy spoke this time. "He and Pride went to go look into something for our case. You're really married to him?" There was no sense beating around the bush. Percy meant it more as a statement than a question. Her name reflected the union. Elizabeth simply nodded. "How long?" Perhaps it was prying, perhaps it could help with the case.
"It was 8 years in December," Elizabeth said, a bit nostalgic. "It wasn't anything fancy. We eloped."
"How'd you even meet him?" Brody asked. This was simply curiosity. It wasn't everyday that someone who portrays themself as a non-commital flirts-with-everything sometimes-braggart comes out as married.
Elizabeth knew the questions would come, one reason she was okay with not being associated with his job. Her questions were still unanswered. "We had mutual friends from high school. I may have even run into him every now and then, but I can't remember. The summer before our Junior year in college, I think it was, we both happened to be home and invited to a party of one of our friends. We got along." There were more details to that than she would be willing to share. "We kept in contact some. Over the next year we'd see each other here and there as schedules allowed. We were in two different states, afterall. I went to college in Austin, Texas; my graduation was before his and he randomly shows up for it. Few weeks later I randomly showed up at his. I'm a nurse and had accepted a job in Mississippi right before I graduated. This was two months before Katrina. I think I saw him once or twice during that span, he was trying to get on with the Sherriff's department at the time. Katrina comes and goes, everything is a total loss over on my end, for the most part. The smaller towns did not do as well as New Orleans. Two years go by. It's now June, I think, of 2007 and I get a knock at my door. Imagine my surprise when I see it's Chris. The rest is history." Elizabeth left out a lot of even more personal details, but she figured that would answer a lot of questions, she hoped.
Her two listeners seemed to soak it in, "And you two have been living in two different places the entire time?" Brody again.
Elizabeth nodded again. "It's not conventional, but it works. I wouldn't know what to do living with him full time. We see each other regularly. We alternate weekends and if I get time off during the week, I show up." That hadn't been true for the last month or more. They had both made excuses.
Percy turned to Brody, "And you had no idea?"
Brody couldn't help but laugh, "I never would have guessed."
Elizabeth spoke up, "No one knew, until now. Well, Pride knew. Pride knew about us since Chris' days at the Sheriff's department."
/
Pride noticed how sullen LaSalle seemed to be since his return that morning. It was almost fortune that they had a small lead now; if it could be called that. When they left, they didn't know that Elizabeth would be awake just twenty minutes and be almost interrogated. However, questions were rolling through Pride's mind. He wasn't sure if he should bring up anything. LaSalle seemed content with just staring straight at the road before him.
"Have you told Elizabeth what's going on?"
"Nope. I'm putting that off long as I can."
He was not one to pry into other's relationships. That was there business. However, he hated to see anyone go through a divorce like his at the same time. "Are you two, uh... better?" Chris had mentioned quickly, once, that they were at odds but never said anything else. He wasn't sure if it was a vent or fishing for advice.
LaSalle turned his head to give his boss a look - one that some would say wasn't very nice.
Pride stared out at the road before, one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on his door. He could feel LaSalle's look. "This won't help matters any, I'm sure."
Chris went back to staring at the road.
He went to open his mouth when LaSalle cut him off, "King! Come on! We don't do this." Pride couldn't help but chuckle, but also couldn't help his next sentence, "I just don't want to see you go through pain and misery opening up a bar."
LaSalle furrowed his brow and didn't respond; he just went back to staring.
/
5:30 found Pride and LaSalle back at their building with more frustrations than answers. They could tell they were getting close to getting this case solved, but without more evidence, nothing would budge. This didn't bode well for Chris.
Brody had directed him towards the garden as to where he could find Elizabeth before it seemed everyone disappeared for home. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation. "Hey," he said, pulling a chair out that was nearest hers.
Elizabeth looked up from her Kindle before shutting it off and placing it on the table before her. She hadn't been able to focus on reading much anyways. "Am I free to go now?" She purposely made it sound like she was being imprisoned. Perhaps she should dial back the attitude.
LaSalle had knew this wasn't going to be easy, but didn't think she was going to be this stubborn. Who was he kidding? "Not quite," he said, a bit uneasily. "It'll make sense when I tell you what's going on... to some extent." He looked up to her to see if she was listening; she was. "Last week, perhaps even into the week before that, I start getting these phone calls where the line would be empty when I answer and then the person would hang up. The calls started getting verbal; nothing that bothered me. Stuff started showing up here. Again, didn't bother me. Concerned Pride some. No evidence though. Then the tires on the truck got slashed while I was working late here. It went on. We've been looking into it and nothing so far. It's driving us nuts."
Elizabeth held up a hand to halt his rambling. "Where do I come in to play?"
Chris nodded, "I'm getting to that. You come into play this morning. A courier brought an envelope by this morning that held two photos," Brody had mentioned that, Elizabeth recalled, "One was a picture of the hospital where you worked and the other was your car. They were from this morning. Someone, we don't know who, found out who you were and knew where you worked." He wasn't going to provide all the details. "I brought you here to keep you safe. They ended up finding things with your car that cause both King and I to agree with the decision to bring you here. We didn't find that out until earlier this afternoon."
Elizabeth didn't know whether to be touched or horrified. So this had been him being over-protective. She would have been a liar if she thought she wouldn't have done the same thing had the roles been reversed. "Why couldn't I go home and hide out there? Why come here?"
He hesitated in his response, "I wasn't there. I'm here." Chris was not about to tell her about the footprints outside of the apartment in Waveland. He wasn't about to tell her that there were people currently scouring every inch of the interior to find *something*. "We're fairly certain that whoever this is doesn't know where I live here. It's a bit... alarming, that they found you. But I can work better knowing you're here. Which brings me to what I have to say next..." he started fidgeting in his seat.
She watched him, wondering where this could possibly lead. She couldn't help but feel more and more irritated towards him right now. Elizabeth knew this was outside of his control, but the annoyance and change in schedules and all the facts he didn't tell her was infuriating. She loved him a lot. She couldn't fathom ever leaving him permanently; she couldn't even describe how much she loved him, but right now she wanted to leave him. Her jaw twitched a time or two as she refrained, letting him speak.
"It stands within good reason that you shouldn't go back to Waveland for the next day or so, at least until we find whoever is doing this." Chris knew this wouldn't bode well. He certainly was surprised when she simply got up and left the area he was in. He preferred it when everything was out in the open. Her being quiet unnerved him. He opted to give her a few minutes by herself before following her inside, scooping her tablet off the table to take with him. LaSalle set it on his desk, before leaning against the desk, watching Elizabeth pace. He didn't even know if Pride was still there or not.
Elizabeth definitely needed to leave the area he was in. She wanted to get so angry with him but knew he was basing decisions on what Pride was saying too. He was the boss. She left the garden and found her phone, sending a text to her boss saying she'd be calling shortly to explain what she could, but most likely would not be in for the next day or so due to a family emergency. That was one way to describe it. She put her phone in her pocket, and turned to him, trying her best not to yell. They hadn't been the best problem solvers in the past. "So I'm to just stay here then? Until... whenever?"
"Not here, as in the office. You can go to the apartment with me. Or if you don't want that, you could stay here with Pride. Or I could get you a hotel room." Chris suggested, carefully phrasing things. He didn't tell her that if she chose a hotel he'd be watching her room all night. He wasn't taking chances with her.
She sighed. "Could I stay with someone else, so long as I stay in New Orleans?" Elizabeth really didn't want to confront the root of the problem right now. Not with so much other chaos going on. She knew what would ultimately happen if she stayed with him.
LaSalle couldn't deny that her words hurt a lot. "I can call Pride and ask him. It's his decision in the end." He wasn't too thrilled with the idea of her traipsing all over New Orleans. He normally was not this protective. He just hated not knowing the end game of this other person. He wanted her close by, knowing he was the one looking out for her. Not someone else.
Elizabeth shook her head, "No." She didn't want Pride involved anymore than he had to be. "I'll just stay at the apartment." It was a two bedroom apartment that she loved. He had it before they had gotten together and she couldn't have picked a better one herself. It was in the heart of the French Quarter; parade routes went down their street and it was so lively all the time. She loved to people watch during Mardi Gras, out of their way. She was able to watch the world going by from the balcony at any time. It was probably among her favorite places in the world.
/
Elizabeth and Chris hadn't spoke outside of deciding what to eat for dinner, and both, at various times, started to say something before stopping themselves. They were choosing to ignore the other for time being. Elizabeth unlocked their gate while he balanced the food and drinks up the flight of stairs as she locked the gate back. She squeezed by him on the platform to unlock the door and then stepped out of his way.
The apartment was always tidy, and today proved no different. Whether it was because he was fastidious about keeping it clean or the fact he was almost never there, she could never really tell. She promptly crossed through the kitchen and living room and out onto the balcony. She was truly home out here, even if it was 65 degrees; which was cold by her standards. She had missed Mardi Gras this year. It fell early and she had Chris hadn't been speaking much at the time.
Elizabeth heard him set the box down and mess around in the cupboards. A few minutes later he showed up with a plate in his hand for her. She just shook her head, "Not hungry." This caused him to roll his eyes and set the plate on the table next to her. Much to her displeasure (or so it seemed), he joined her moments later with his own plate.
Chris sat in the chair on the other side of the small table, and took a bite of his pizza. "We need to talk, you know this right?" He asked, once he had swallowed.
"Tomorrow. I'm too tired right now," it was a lame excuse, and Elizabeth knew it.
"No, I think now is a good time. We're both here. We need to figure out what's going on with us."
Elizabeth stared straight ahead, wondering what he was going to say that was different than all the other times. "We both know what's going on. I know I'm right and you know you're right. There's no reaching an even ground."
"What if something happens again..."
She cut him off, "Nothing is going to happen again. There hasn't been anything between us for something to happen."
Chris tightened his jaw. This happened every single time they tried to talk. "That's because you cut me off from your world. You won't talk to me."
She turned to glare at him. "We've been like this since the beginning. I haven't spoke to you because you're asking something you wouldn't do yourself. Remember, you left Waveland to come back here. I'm going to bed. I'm staying in the second bedroom." With that, she stood up and walked inside. It was only 6:40 in the evening. She didn't care. At least they didn't start yelling again.
Author's note: I promise, she's not normally such a brat.