"This guy better be good, for as long as we're waiting," Tony grumbled to Ziva. "I'm getting bored from doing nothing."
For that, he earned a smack on the back of the head from Gibbs. "Then do something, DiNozzo!"
"On it, Boss." Tony picked up the camera around his neck and started snapping photos of the scene. Almost every picture had an FBI jacket in it, and Gibbs was getting more agitated by the minute.
Director Shepherd had ordered this ridiculous alliance between NCIS and the FBI. The fact that a group of Navy men had found a decomposing corpse washed up by river in the middle of the woods of a Naval base gave NCIS — Naval Criminal Investigation Service —only partial jurisdiction…at least until the victim was identified. Director Shepherd was off conferring with Director Cullen and another agent from the FBI. Jenny gave Gibbs a warning glance that told him he should behave. Gibbs rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee, watching his team try and work around the Bureau's people.
When Gibbs turned back around, Jenny, Cullen, and the unknown agent were headed in his direction. The first things he noticed about the agent were the muscles, flashy tie, and red 'Cocky' belt buckle.
"Director," he nodded at Jenny. "Director," he said to Cullen. He wasn't one for warm welcomes.
"Agent Gibbs, this is who you will be sharing the jurisdiction with until the body is identified; Jethro meet —"
"Booth," the man said, offering his hand.
"Gibbs," the NCIS agent said. "Now when can our medical examiner begin? We've been waiting for your partner since…"
"I just spoke with Dr. Brennan. Ten minutes tops," Booth said.
"While we wait is it at all possible we could take a look at the body?" Gibbs said scathingly.
Agent Booth's expression became reproachful. "I wouldn't. Dr Brennan is very touchy when it comes to the crime scene. You can do whatever as long as you don't touch it."
Gibbs gritted his teeth, and even Jenny bristled a little. "I know we do not have full jurisdiction as it stands now…" Jenny started.
"Look, it's just that…" Booth sighed. "Every time someone touches the body I get my head chewed off for 'letting the remains be compromised.'"
"I'd go with what he said. He's the Squint Man," Director Cullen said to Jenny.
Gibbs was relieved to see a new car pull up to the already crowded scene.
Booth turned around and started walking to the car. "Hey Bones! Where've you been?" he called out, throwing his arms out.
"Sorry! I was in the middle of helping Ange when you called," a husky, but definitely female voice shouted back. Gibbs and Director Shepherd both blinked in surprise. They saw the woman descend the hill quickly while pulling her hair back. She was dressed in a plastic kind of suit and gum boots.
She reached Agent Booth's side and the two strode towards Gibbs and the directors.
Cullen didn't notice when Dr. Brennan and agent Booth were in hearing distance.
"Those squints sure are something. Booth is the only one who's ever been able to stand working with them."
"Actually, Booth is the only person we've been able to stand working with," Dr. Brennan corrected from behind him.
Cullen jumped a little and Gibbs suppressed a smile.
"Dr. Brennan," Cullen greeted her.
"Where are the remains?" she asked impatiently.
"Over here, Bones," Booth ushered her in the right direction.
Once they were out of earshot, Jenny muttered, "You have to be kidding me."
Director Cullen seemed to understand their shock. "Trust me on this one; she's the best."
Gibbs handed his coffee to Jenny. "We'll see."
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Tony and Ziva watched as the burly FBI agent led over a woman. "She's the doctor?" they said at the same time.
McGee looked up from what he was doing and almost fainted. "That's Temperance Brennan!" he whisper-exclaimed to Tony and Ziva. "She's the author of my favorite mystery books!"
"She's that Temperance Brennan?" Ziva said incredulously. McGee nodded furiously.
"Why does that name sound familiar?" Tony said, blocking out everything that was just said. Ziva glared at him. His head was pointing up and he looked like he was thinking. Ziva smacked the back of his head and he started and looked at her. "What was that for?"
Ziva just rolled her eyes and walked towards the approaching trio.
"This is my team," Gibbs said. "Agent Tony DiNozzo," Tony waved with two fingers, "Officer Ziva David, our Mossad liaison; Agent McGee; and our medical examiner, Ducky."
"Ducky?" Booth asked.
"Dr. Mallard," Gibbs said.
"Ah," Booth nodded once.
"Where are the remains?" Dr. Brennan repeated.
"Since we're going to be working together, shouldn't we get to know each other first?" Tony said with a flirtatious smile.
"Haven't you been waiting for me?" she asked, confused.
Tony's smirk disappeared. "Right." He frowned. "Right this way," he said dejectedly, leading the way.
They ducked under the yellow police tape fastened to the surrounding trees. In the middle of a circular hole about six feet deep and eight feet wide there was badly decomposed corpse face down in the dirt and leaves, a fire ax sticking out from its back.
Ducky was waiting to greet them from inside the taped off zone. He peeled off one of his rubber gloves so he could shake hands with the newcomers. "Dr. Brennan, it is an honor to meet you," he said, shaking her hand.
"Dr. Mallard," she said in acknowledgement.
"Please call me Ducky, my dear," he said.
She nodded once. "Have the remains been disturbed?" she asked.
"No one touched them," he assured her. She nodded and pulled on her latex gloves. The others were trailing behind, curious to see 'the best' at work.
Brennan sat on the edge of the hole and slid in, being careful not to disrupt the body.
She knelt down and looked at it for a few seconds before stated her analysis. She lifted one side of the pelvic bone at a fifty degree angle so she could determine gender.
"The victim is female," she said. "Pelvic bone suggests she gave birth."
"When?" Booth asked.
"Between three and six years ago." She then lifted up the skull, which was still attached. "The victim was in her mid to late twenties. Brow ridge and nasal cavity suggest Caucasian." She examined the hands next, clearing away some of the remaining flesh. "Her flanges are worn and metacarpals were strained to the point of fractures often, and lighter in color. She was probably kitchen help. The bone is lighter in color than the rest of them from having them in scalding water for long periods of time." She stopped for a moment. Everyone looked on in awe, except for Booth who smirked. Se went on. "Cause of death—"
"Wouldn't that be the ax sticking out of her back?" Ziva asked, since it seemed obvious.
Brennan examined the wound before removing the ax. A member of the FBI forensic team was ready with an evidence bag and she dropped it in. She looked at the wound again. "No, lack of blood pooling suggests the wound was post-mortem." She stood up. "We can determine cause of death and ID the victim once we get to the Jeffersonian. I'll need soil samples for Hodgins and whatever else you can find." She turned her gloves inside out as she pulled them off with a snap. "Here, help me up," she said to Booth. He grabbed her outstretched arms and pulled her up.
"You heard the lady! Pack it all up and send it to the Jeffersonian," Booth shouted.
Suddenly, Tony recognized the name and the face fit perfectly. "Temperance Brennan!" he said and chuckled. "Wow!"
Brennan looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Tony!" he said, gesturing to himself. Her expression didn't change. "Tony…DiNozzo." Still, he got no response. He shifted uncomfortably. " Uh, Tony, uh…" he laughed awkwardly. "Tony 'Tap That' DiNozzo," he spit out shamefacedly.
Recognition dawned on her. "Ah."
Ziva started bursting out laughing
"You, uh, sure have grown up," he said, trying to ignore Ziva.
"Whoa, how do you two know each other?" Booth asked, confused and slightly protective.
"I… stayed at the DiNozzo's for a couple months when I was in the foster system," her voice grew more objective, as it always did when she talked about her painful path. Booth saw the pain in her eyes when she talked about being up to her elbows in scalding water.
Ziva sobered up a little, but couldn't help but comment. "Tony Tap That DiNozzo!? Seriously?" Ziva snorted.
"Alright stop!" Tony said, desperately trying to maintain some dignity. Then he looked around. "Where's Gibbs?"
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Gibbs had gone back to speak to Jenny towards the end of Dr. Brennan's examination. "She's good," he reported.
"How good?" she inquired. That could mean relinquishing jurisdiction.
"She was able to give gender, age, race, occupation, and figure out that she was a mother of a three to six year old," Gibbs was impressed, he couldn't deny it. "I'd say she's damn good."
She cursed under her breath
"They said they could have an ID in twenty-four hours," he said coolly. "This can be our case in twenty-four hours."
"Or theirs, Jethro," she said.
"For now, I want the file of Dr. Brennan," he whispered.
"Why?" she asked, not seeing where he was going with it.
"My gut is telling me something," he said. "And taking a step back won't help," he said huskily.
Jenny was suddenly all too aware of how close they were. Jethro smirked down at her. She couldn't say anything for a moment.
"I'll…I'll see if I can get it," she tried to keep her voice steady. "By tomorrow." As she walked away, Gibbs chuckled to himself.
His team started to approach him. Ducky was the first to speak.
"Absolutely astounding. Dr. Brennan is the best forensic anthropologist in the world, and to get to see her work is incredible. From what I've heard, her partner and she are at the top of the game. Catching murders, that is. I suppose it does quite a bit for book sales as well," he went on admiringly.
"Ducky," Gibbs said reproachfully.
"Oh come now, Jethro. Surely even you were impressed," Ducky amended.
"Not the point, Duck. They're going to have an ID by tomorrow and we need a good case if we want to keep jurisdiction," Gibbs said.
"So what are we gonna do?" Tony asked.
"That's what we're working on, DiNozzo," Gibbs snapped.
"Why don't we search the base for a missing scullery maid?" Ziva suggested.
"Go. And take Mr. Tap That with you," Gibbs said.
Ziva chuckled and pulled an undignified Tony with her to the car.
Alright so not my best work but it will get better. During the time I disappeared of the face of FanFiction, I fell in love with the show Bones (and realized Twilight sucks—hate me if you will). I have seen pretty much all the episodes. I haven't seen all that much NCIS but I know enough to know their personalities and how they interact with each other.
This story is set BEFORE Critic in the Cabinet (Bones) and just after Kate dies )like I said I'm not all up to date on NCIS)
Whatever! Drop a review; tell me how I'm doin'. I swear there will be a whole lot of BB love later.
SuzieQ