Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! My second Halloween story for this year. Hope you enjoy! And I've just noticed another similarity between this and Identity Crisis, but I honestly wrote them months apart!
Fright Night
Leroy Jethro Gibbs glanced up, and wondered if anyone would mind if he shot someone.
The cause of his irritation had just left the elevator. One redhead wearing a cream shirt, black pants, and black three-inch heels. She had a dark denim jacket over her right shoulder, while her other hand was guiding a young boy towards his desk.
"Director," Tony greeted as he caught sight of her. "When did you pick up the nephew?"
Jasper looked bemused. "Why can no one tell my mom and my aunt apart?" he wondered aloud.
"I think the same thing every day," Gibbs replied, glaring at the redhead. "Still breathing?"
"For the moment," she grinned. "I need a babysitter, LJ, and you've just volunteered."
Gibbs let his eyes drift to the young boy, who was clutching a plastic bucket shaped like a pumpkin. "Not that I'd mind looking after Jasper, but you'd ruin my evening?"
"Oh please," Lily smirked. "What evening? You're going to sit in your basement, drinking bourbon all alone. Jasper wants to go trick or treating."
"I'm going to spend time with Jenny," he corrected.
Lily stared at him briefly. "She didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?" He was starting to become concerned. Anything involving Lily always led to trouble.
"It's Halloween."
"I'm aware of that."
"And what happens on Halloween every year?" Lily looked at him as though he had lost it.
He considered her statement. They were clearly talking at cross-purposes, and he needed to get her to make sense. "People go trick or treating?"
"No, Jasper goes trick or treating. Jenny and I go to a haunted house."
"You have got to be kidding me," he spluttered.
On the other side of him, Tony smiled. "Don't tell Abby," he told Lily. "She'll insist on tagging along."
"Thanks for the tip," she answered. "So, someone has to take Jasper because I'm not having some poltergeist come after my son."
"I'll take care of him," Tony offered.
"You?!" Ziva snorted. "You cannot even look after yourself."
Gibbs rolled his eyes and broke up the argument before it could start. "It's Lily's choice."
"Actually, it's Jasper's choice," she corrected.
Jasper cocked his head to one side. "I don't mind staying with Tony," he decided.
"It's settled," Lily smiled. "Get him to take you trick or treating, and don't do anything you wouldn't do if I was with you."
"Sure," the boy agreed.
Lily kissed her son's head before heading for the stairs. Gibbs decided to go after her; she was incredibly irresponsible most of the time and she needed someone to keep an eye on her.
Abby Scuito practically ran across the squad room at the sight of Jasper. "Yay!" she screamed.
Jasper Thompson was the cutest little boy she had ever run into. The eight-year-old was a well-behaved lad, nothing like his mother. Although they both shared the same glint in their eyes…
Abby had long since presumed that Jasper took after his father in most things. He might have died before his son was born, but Jasper looked nothing like Lily. Except for the eyes, which they shared. Jasper was also very caring and considerate, two words that were not normally associated with a CIA agent who delighted in playing mind games and blowing things up.
"Hello Abby," Jasper smiled sweetly.
She caught him in a hug and proceeded to try to squeeze the life out of him. "It's so good to see you again! And on Halloween of all nights! We can go trick or treating together!"
"Our orders are to take him trick or treating," Tony added. "I thought you might want to join in."
"Thank you Tony!" she squealed, letting go of Jasper and rushing to Tony's side. She pulled him into a hug to show her appreciation.
"I have a costume in my bag," Jasper added helpfully.
"Even better," the Goth decided, releasing Tony and turning back to the boy. "Mine's in my lab. Who else is coming?"
"Mom and Aunt Jenny are going to a… somewhere," Jasper continued. "I think LJ will go with them too."
Abby turned to Ziva. "Will you come?" she questioned.
The Israeli shrugged her shoulders. "I have never been trick or treating," she admitted. "I would like to see what it consists of."
Abby clapped her hands together in glee. "Tony?"
"Count me in," he replied. "I'm supposed to be looking after the kid anyway."
"Really?" Abby smirked. "Lily let you look after him? What are you blackmailing her with?!"
Tony stuck his tongue out in response.
The Goth whirled around to face McGee. "Are you coming?" she asked.
"Erm… no. I've got to work on the novel. My publisher wants another three chapters by Monday, and I'm never going to get it done if I don't start now."
Abby looked at him in shock. "But McGee! It's Halloween!"
"I know, but my publisher –"
"I'm sure Lily can visit your publisher and get your deadline extended. Right Jasper?" She turned to the boy, who nodded furiously.
McGee still looked torn, so she made puppy dog eyes at him. Jasper copied her.
"Come on, McLoser," Tony goaded. "A night out on the town. And candy! You'll love it."
"It would be nice to have you with us," Ziva piped up. "I am sure you will enjoy it."
McGee pulled a face. "Fine."
Abby pulled him into a bear hug.
Jenny stared at Gibbs. Did he honestly think she and Lily couldn't handle something alone? Did he not think about the fact that they had protected each other since before they could walk?
They were only going to a haunted house. It was something they did every year; something to relax them and make them giggle. They jumped at every creak in the floorboards, they laughed as the wind howled, and they generally had a great time. They weren't going to run into any ghosts, merely have some fun. This year, Lily had picked the location.
It wasn't as though the man even believed in ghosts! Both of the sisters had a niggling belief in them, but they weren't going to put themselves in harm's way. They would both take their guns, and a small assortment of knives between them. They were perfectly capable of fighting off any living creature that went after them. The undead… well, Lily could always come up with something.
It was just a little bit of sisterly fun they had every year. Or rather when they were in the same country on Halloween. Jenny knew her sister had a knack of being Stateside whenever October 31st rolled round, and had a funny feeling she was blackmailing someone.
Lily was always blackmailing someone though.
"You are not coming," she decided.
Gibbs looked as though he had been slapped with a wet fish. "You need a protection detail with you, Director," he argued.
"Lil's enough of a detail. She'll shoot anything that moves," she retorted.
"Including LJ," Lily muttered.
They both threw her long-suffering glares, before returning to the matter at hand.
"I'm just saying that someone needs to protect you," Gibbs declared.
The sisters looked at each other, before bursting into giggles. Oh, this was good. Seriously, the man thought she needed protection?! Had he ever watched her at the range?
"Just let me tag along," he maintained.
"Tag along?" Lily noted. "Can I stick a lead on you as well?"
Jenny sobered and tossed a paperclip at Lily. "Leave him alone," she ordered. "I suppose… if he's really worried about us…"
Lily giggled.
"… then he can tag along. Right, Lil?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "If he must. Is he counted in the 'things I can shoot' list? Although on second thoughts, shooting LJ would be too nice. I was at a conference last week –"
"You actually attended a conference of your own free will?" Gibbs snorted.
Lily scowled. "Apparently, sending other agency heads photographs of my agency head having a shower is 'inappropriate behavior'."
"Did you have to attend a sexual harassment seminar?" Jenny checked. She hadn't heard of this, which was odd because Lily's boss had a habit of calling her to rant.
"Seeing as I seduced the last sexual harassment 'facilitator', I've been banned permanently," Lily complained. "It was a conference on 'Photographic Digital Enhancement Techniques and Their Acceptance in Court'. I spent most of the time exchanging notes with a really nice NSA agent on advanced torture techniques. He gave me a few ideas and I'd love to test them out."
Gibbs winced; Jenny shook her head. The look on Lily's face suggested she was itching to try out the new thoughts in her head. Lily might normally be able to restrain herself – or at least hold in her wilder ideas – but she looked intrigued. And an intrigued Lily was a dangerous Lily.
"Jethro can come," Jenny decided. "But you can't shoot him, Lil."
Gibbs perked up. "So, where exactly is this haunted house?"
Timothy McGee frowned as he stood in the lab. This was taking too long. Abby had taken Jasper into her office a good hour ago now, and had deliberately locked the door and closed the shutters.
How long did it take to change into a costume?
He knew it would be great, whatever it was. He still had visions of her Marilyn Monroe outfit from a few years ago. It had somehow suited her, and been very Abby-esque at the same time. But surely that outfit hadn't taken too long to change into. What was taking so long this time?
Perhaps Jasper was causing the delay. Perhaps Abby was making sure he looked perfect before unveiling him? That made sense; Abby was a perfectionist in her work. She, like Gibbs, believed a job should be done well, or not at all.
Tony was busy bouncing round the lab, tapping all the machines inquisitively and generally causing mayhem. Earlier, they had taken the opportunity to dress down a little; Tony had changed his shirt for a T-shirt, while McGee himself had removed his jacket. They were technically off the clock, Gibbs having dismissed them when he had briefly reappeared with two redheaded sisters before leaving the building.
McGee could not understand why Gibbs dared to go out somewhere with the sisters. The Director was fine, but Lily had a few screws loose in her head. Nevertheless, the Director had some control over her errant sister, but not nearly enough to stop her from doing what she liked most of the time.
At long last, the door to Abby's office opened, and McGee felt his jaw drop. Beside him, Tony stopped bouncing around and Ziva froze.
Jasper was dressed as a vampire. He wore a proper three-piece suit, with fangs in his mouth and a good dollop of fake blood around his chin. Abby had slicked his brown hair back so he looked incredibly smart.
And Abby…
The Goth was dressed as a fluffy bunny rabbit. She was wearing a white costume, with bunny ears resting on top of her head. She had painted her nose black. As they stared at her, she turned around to show off a little black tail.
Ziva broke the silence. "Is he supposed to have blood on him?"
"It's fake," Tony managed to say. "You look really cute as a bunny, Abby."
Abby beamed. "Thanks! I spent ages coming up with this costume because I didn't want to be too predictable, and yet I didn't want to be something really obscure that no one would get either, and then I got to thinking about things I like and I like lots of things so that didn't really help, and then my friend –"
"Can we go now?" Jasper asked, his face a mask of innocence.
"Sure," McGee shrugged.
"Don't bite anyone's neck," Abby solemnly told the boy.
"Mom already told me not to," Jasper replied, a slight grin on his face.
Lily pushed open the door to the old house.
She had found this place by chance. She had been searching for an out-of-the-way place to rent; her neighbors didn't seem to like the decaying flesh smell that lingered while she stored decomposing pigs in her apartment. Not wanting to rent freezer space, she had decided a house in the suburbs would be nice.
The estate agent had been an old chain-smoking lady. Under various threats from the redhead, she had mentioned that the place was rumored to be haunted which was why the rent was so low. Lily had made an offer on the house on the spot, and even managed to buy it outright. Still, LJ and Jenny didn't need to know about that. They would start asking about what the pigs were for, and Lily had no intentions of clueing them in to the current war with her boss.
Sticking a dead pig on his desk every time he was about to go into a meeting was great fun, although it was time consuming.
Lily walked into the hallway, and turned on her flashlight. "No electricity," she explained.
LJ rolled his eyes, but produced his flashlight. Jenny, having done this on far more than one occasion, had turned her flashlight on the moment she had stepped out of the car.
The hallway was bare; the wooden floorboards creaked as they walked through. A faint smell of decomposing flesh hung in the air.
"Ignore the smell," Lily ordered. "That's my fault."
"I really don't want to know why you've been storing pigs here," LJ murmured behind her.
She stopped suddenly, letting him bump into the back of her. "Correct, you don't want to know," she sniped. "If you are supposed to be protecting us, do you want to take the lead?"
"You've been here before," he countered. "You should lead on."
Behind them, Jenny smothered a giggle.
"But how can you protect us if you're in the middle?" Lily pointed out. "As far as I see it, we're protecting you."
She didn't need to see his face to know he was getting frustrated with her. She loved winding him up, and so far Jenny wasn't stopping her. She hoped it would stay that way for a good bit longer.
"Move," LJ demanded.
The front door slammed shut behind them. They all whirled round to look at it.
"The wind?" LJ suggested, not sounding very convinced.
"Could well be," Lily replied, hiding her concern.
"It wasn't very windy when we were outside a few minutes ago," Jenny piped up. "It certainly wasn't strong enough to shut the door."
"Little Miss Rational strikes again," Lily quipped.
"So you're happy with it being the wind?" Jenny checked.
"Yes. For the record, I've been here before. The wind howls through here like no tomorrow. It could easily shut that door."
"It hasn't been very windy at all today."
"And you'd know this how? You've been stuck in your office with the nice view all day, pushing paper around."
"Whereas you've been blowing things up?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Can we move this conversation along? I'd like to go upstairs in a minute."
Right on cue, a loud crash sounded over their heads.
Tony DiNozzo smiled as he strolled down the street. Things couldn't be better.
Being the practical one, the Probie had figured out a short route that would take them past a lot of houses. Jasper and Abby had knocked at every door, and come away with a very large collection of candy, chocolate, and other assorted goodies. Everyone had cooed over Jasper's outfit, and the boy tended to collect a few extra candies for it.
Not that the boy wasn't stealing a few more anyway. His mother had taught him sleight of hand well.
The Probie had slowly warmed to the idea of walking around in the cold air. He had been given the task of carrying the loot around, but was also encouraging Jasper to knock on every door. The boy was enjoying his evening, although he was a little nervous about it at the same time. The Probie was filling him with confidence.
Ziva on the other hand… She had already tackled a zombie, claiming he reminded her of someone. Tony had found himself apologizing profusely to the guy, while trying to drag his little ninja chick away and point out that she really shouldn't just attack someone in the street. That had led to a full-blown argument, which Jasper had giggled throughout. After many questions from Abby, he had remarked that the argument reminded him of his mom and LJ when they fought.
Tony had then mentioned the practice of ringing doorbells and running away. Ziva had used the idea to improve on her already creepy skills, and had been lurking around on the other side of the street, melting into the shadows every time someone opened their front door and looked around in confusion.
Tony made a mental note to never cross his Mossad partner, before wondering if Gibbs could do the same thing with his Marine training. He probably could…
He jumped as Ziva materialized out of nowhere by his side. "Could you give me a warning or something?" he pleaded.
"Then you would not learn anything," she replied, gazing ahead at Abby and Jasper. "I thought rabbits went with Easter?"
"The term you're looking for is 'bunnies', and they normally do, but this is our Abby we're talking about."
Ziva gazed up the street thoughtfully. "If it is customary to dress up on Halloween, why are we not dressed up?"
"Because children dress up."
"Are you saying that Abby is a child?"
Tony winced, hoping the Goth wasn't able to hear the conversation. "Abby's just… Abby. As long as she's enjoying herself, what's the harm? Maybe you should dress up next year."
She elbowed him. "I wonder how Jenny and Gibbs are doing."
"Don't forget Lily," he added.
"Lily can take care of herself," she shot back. "Perhaps I should have gone with them."
"Jasper says they go every year," Tony sighed. "You could ask to tag along next time."
She considered this for a few moments. "Perhaps I will."
Gibbs wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab Jenny's arm. He was suddenly very glad he had come with them.
Lily had tried to rationalize the crash as a piece of furniture falling down, until he had asked whether there actually was any furniture upstairs. The look on her face had given the game away. A series of knocks had then emanated from the next floor, leading the trio to place their hands on their guns.
Thankfully, Lily had drawn hers first, leaving him looking like a blindly following sheep rather than a coward. He had not failed to notice the slight tremors in both sisters' hands, but had chosen to remain silent. Both of them would shoot him if he voiced his thoughts.
They had allowed him to take the lead, while Lily decided to take up the rear, thus keeping Jenny in between them. Luckily, she hadn't argued. He really didn't want to have to referee another fight between the sisters over Jenny's safety, especially as he would be on Lily's side. He might not normally see eye to eye with the CIA agent, but sometimes she had the right idea.
As one, they crept into the first room upstairs. Lily had described the place as 'devoid of everything', and she was right. The wallpaper hung off the walls, the floorboards felt as though they might break at any moment, and the rooms were bare. The wind howled through the cracks in the walls, simultaneously freezing them and scaring them. More doors downstairs had slammed shut, making everyone jump.
Gibbs wanted nothing more than to pull Jenny out the house and never come back. This was creepy. The sisters might normally have fun doing this, but something odd was going on and it was his self-appointed job to keep one of them safe. Lily could look after herself. In fact, she could probably outwit a ghost if she wanted to.
A ghostly moan occurred right behind them, and Jenny jumped right into his arms. He could feel her shaking, although she was still trying to hide it.
"It's okay," he soothed quietly as Lily moved towards where she guessed the sound had come from. "We can walk out of here if you want to."
The stubborn redhead shook her head. "We're staying," she decided.
"I'm just saying –"
The sound arose again, and both sisters jumped. Gibbs tightened his grip on the one, while keeping an eye on the other. Lily looked to be on the verge of shooting something and he really hoped she kept her head.
"We're leaving," he announced, his voice louder so that Lily could hear.
The rattle of chains reached his ears; Jenny pressed further back into him.
"Have you ever heard the term 'cliché'?" Lily answered, peering around the doorframe with her gun. "It's all a little too contrived –"
"Jennifer," came a broken voice. Both the sister tensed; they both used the same name. "Come here."
"We're leaving," Gibbs proclaimed again, dragging Jenny towards the stairs. "Stay if you want."
Lily looked spooked and obediently followed. They almost ran out of the house.
"Want to make a guess as to who that could have been?" Gibbs queried as Lily fumbled with the car keys.
"Father, grandfather, someone I killed, someone Jenny killed… the list is endless," Lily responded breathlessly. "Don't know, don't care."
They practically jumped in the car in their haste to leave, and Lily broke every traffic law possible on their way back.
Ziva David looked around the squad room the next day.
First stop, her partner. Tony was coming down from a sugar high, not helped by being yelled at by Abby the night before. He had managed to steal half the candies from Jasper without the boy noticing, and had eaten them all in one go. When Abby had done a quick count of their collection, she had figured it out and gone after Tony.
McGee was sitting at the next desk, tapping away at his computer. Although it was the weekend, a double homicide had been thrown their way and everyone had been called in. McGee had actually taken it quite well, especially as Lily had left a note on his desk saying that she would deal with his publisher. A phone call had come in an hour ago, and McGee had been beaming ever since.
Although he had warned them that he would be completely unavailable next weekend, short of a terrorist attack.
Gibbs was… on edge. He had jumped whenever the phone rang. A door had slammed shut earlier, and Gibbs had been half out of his chair. None of the team had dared to bring this up with their boss, but Ziva had a sneaking suspicion that they had run into something the previous night.
Ziva looked up as the Director walked into the squad room. She too seemed tense.
"How's it going, Agent Gibbs?" she asked.
Definitely Jenny then. Lily would have used the name 'LJ' and not been polite.
"Our main suspect has a CIA file on him," he replied without looking up. "McGee can't get into it."
"Yet," McGee interjected. "I'll get in."
"I need answers quicker," Gibbs told Jenny pointedly.
She rolled her eyes but withdrew her cell phone. "I'll call Lil."
Lily groaned as her cell phone rang again. She had no intention of answering it, even if it was her sister. If it were anything urgent, her boss would have called. Called, demanded, and slammed the phone down before she could aggravate him further.
Finally, the apartment door in front of her opened. "What?" growled her CIA partner.
"Nice job last night," she greeted him. "I think I said 500?"
"Sounds about right," Charlie agreed.
She dug into her pocket and handed over a roll of bills. "See you Monday," she smiled, before walking away.
Now all she had to do was develop the photographs of LJ panicking…
THE END