Here's the 19th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time… story 3 Second Job… story 4 Daughters… story 5 A Personal Vendetta… story 6 Bless the Children… story 7 Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 Disturbing Affection… story 9 No Man Left Behind (story that introduces Chioke; aka Kid)… story 10 Finger Swap… story 11 Imperfect Heist… story 12 The Color of Skin… story 13 Death to the Jedi… story 14 Brotherly Love… story 15 For the Love of a Child… story 16 Devil's Playground… story 17 Forced Alliance… story 18 Firing up the Screws… story 19 Close to Home (current story). Hope you enjoy it.
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Author's Note: The following story will pretty much be Gibbs-centric for the most part. It will also focus more around Gibbs with personal and family stuff than an actual case. The case will be there, just not as much as in my other stories. I should also say the following story contains mini spoilers for "Requiem" as after seeing that episode and this story idea already in my head since before then, I do plan on bringing in a character from it. And also another aspect of the episode; something mentioned and shown which Gibbs never opened… Lastly, if you've never read any of my stories, I'll have you know in my series Gibbs' daughter is still alive and all grown-up. So sorry if you're thinking the summary refers to his daughter as being dead with the whole "reminiscing about the past" part. The reminiscing is more about Shannon. The story will still be worth reading though. Also, the reason why Gibbs doesn't like being called by his first name 'Leroy' will be explained in this story.
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Saturday
Chapter 1
It's a warm, beautiful Saturday morning. A gentle breeze whisks through the tri-state area. A mother and daughter are picked up at their home just North of Washington, D.C. The man greets them and shows them his badge. The two are rushed to the car. Once inside, the car speeds away.
The mother is in the passenger seat. The daughter is in the back seat. Both have their seat belt on. The mother made sure her daughter fastened the seat belt because she's one of those worrying type mothers who always think about car safety.
"Where are we going, Mommy?" The daughter asked. "Are we going to the park like you promised?"
"We'll go to the park another time, Sweetie." The mother said from the passenger seat as she turns to see the sad expression on her daughter's face.
"But you promised."
"I know I did. And I'm sorry we can't go today. Mommy has something very important to do."
"What can be more important?"
"You are." The mother reaches back and places her hand on her daughter's leg. Her only concern is the safety of her daughter.
A couple minutes pass. They enter into Washington, D.C. The driver continues to glance in the rear view mirror every couple of seconds to check if they're being followed or not. In the distance, he notices a yellow Hummer but thinks nothing of it due to how far back it is.
The driver turns the wheel. They're now on major two-lane road heading in a southern direction. He looks in the rear view mirror. The yellow Hummer also turns onto the street. Now he thinks they're possibly being followed.
Another yellow Hummer quickly turns onto the street. Before the driver can even realize a second Hummer is behind them, it slams into their trunk. The impact is felt inside the car by all three of them. The shockwave really startles the daughter. She begins to cry. The mother worries even more for her daughter.
"Take my hand, Sweetie." The mother reaches for her daughter. The daughter places her hand into her mother's. The mother sees the fear in her daughter's eyes. She looks to the driver. "Get us out of here!"
The driver presses on the gas pedal. Seconds later, he turns the wheel. The two Hummers follow them onto the next street.
Further down the street, Gibbs steps out of his favorite coffee shop. With a newly brewed coffee in hand, he leisurely walks in the direction of his car.
The sound of gunfire immediately draws Gibbs' attention. Even though Gibbs isn't on duty for another hour, he draws his sidearm. His badge and weapon are never left at work. Gibbs always likes to be prepared in case of an emergency. He drops the coffee and runs in the direction of where the gunfire came from.
The car with the mother and daughter is speeding down the street in a reckless manner. The mother is driving the car from the passenger side because the driver is dead. She's unable to reach the brake or even get the dead man's foot off the gas pedal. The daughter remains in the back seat crying. The car is bashing the side of every single parked car on its side of the road. Gunfire continues. Gibbs finally sees what's going on with the two Hummers shooting at the car. He jumps onto the hood of a parked vehicle, places one foot on the roof and takes aim.
A couple shoots are fired at the Hummer.
Gibbs jumps off the hood of the vehicle and onto the sidewalk. The speeding car bashes and scrapes against the car Gibbs was just on. He takes a quick look inside the car as it speeds by. Gibbs knows the lady is driving from the passenger side. His first reaction to seeing a man and a woman is to look at the back seat. The back seat is empty. Though, from his angle he's unable to see the daughter who is crouching down.
Both of the Hummers turn onto the nearby street and speed away. Gibbs runs out into the street and takes aim at the Hummers. He looks at the car still moving down the street. He holsters his sidearm and runs in the direction of the car.
The car continues scraping against all the parked cars on its side of the road. An unaware trucker driving a big Mack truck is coming up the street in the opposite direction.
The Mack truck and the car get closer and closer as they move in each other's direction. As the car approaches, a vehicle with the driver on her cell-phone tries to pull out because she's not paying attention. The car bashes into the front end of the pulling out vehicle, is jolted upward and veers to the left while on two wheels. The tilt isn't too great; just enough so that the other two wheels are off the ground.
The driver in the Mack truck slams on the breaks. But it's too late. Right when the car's passenger side wheels are back onto the ground, the two collide.
The Mack truck hits the passenger side door directly. Due to the high speed collision, the back end of the car is forced to move toward the Mack truck. The back end of the passenger side slams against the Mack truck.
Gibbs continues running in the direction of the crash.
After hitting the side of the Mack truck, the car is launched to the other side of the road like a rocket. The front end rams into a parked vehicle. The impact is so great that the car actually bounces backward to the point of the back end of the car being on the other side of the street. The screech of breaks is heard. Seconds later, a vehicle slams into the back end of the car. The force causes the front end of the car to move toward the vehicle. The driver's side rams against the vehicle.
Eventually, the car manages to crash into a parked car and remains lodged there.
Gibbs approaches the passenger side. The door is so busted it can't even be opened. Gibbs notices a rather large piece of steel from the passenger door is lodged in the woman's side. The amount of blood is abundant. The woman is dead. He glances at the driver. He's dead too. Gibbs starts having flashbacks of the crime-scene photos of his family's crash a long time ago. He recalls examining the car firsthand; when he was allowed to see the damaged car. The crash was horrific from what he saw. This crash is also horrific.
"Daddy, help me…" Gibbs heard a faint, familiar voice. He looks to the back seat where he sees a young girl.
Gibbs runs to the other side of the car. He quickly opens the door. He realizes his mind played a trick on him as he looks at the young girl's body sitting with the seat belt on. The girl isn't even conscious. Sadness quickly sets in as he looks at the young victim. But Gibbs doesn't check her vital signs because he's frozen in the sight of the young victim as it reminds him too much of the past. There's no way this girl survived what he witnessed.
A faint moan is heard. Gibbs' ears perk up. The girl is alive.
"Kelly!" Gibbs exclaimed as his mind continues playing tricks on him with how much this crash resembles the one from long ago. He tries to get the girl released from the seat belt. While doing so, he notices the girl stops breathing. "Kelly! Don't you give up on me!" The seat belt loosens. Gibbs carefully takes the girl from the car and places her on the ground. He starts to perform CPR on the young girl.
The trucker approaches.
"Oh my God…" The man said in shock as he looks at the destroyed car with two dead bodies inside.
"Call 9-1-1!" Gibbs yelled to the man standing there in shock. He looks back to the girl and continues to perform CPR on her.
The trucker takes out his cell-phone and makes the call.
The girl finally starts breathing on her own. The breathing is shallow. But she's alive. With the girl breathing, Gibbs tries to stop the bleeding from the major wound she acquired in the crash.
Eventually, an ambulance arrives. The paramedics approach and try to stabilize the young girl as best they can so they can transport her to the hospital. Gibbs remains standing nearby.
For Gibbs, flashbacks of scenes with his daughter Kelly run through his head. As he watches the paramedics work on the girl, her face morphs. Gibbs' heart rate increases as what he sees is Kelly lying on the ground. He shakes it off. The girl's face morphs back to her own.
Almost two minutes later, the paramedics have the girl on the stretcher and place her into the ambulance. Gibbs flashes his badge and climbs into the back with the girl. The door is shut.
The siren blares. The ambulance speeds away.