The Ant and the Dove: An NCIS Fairytale
Chapter 1
An ant went to the river to get a drink. The water rushed along so fast that he was washed off the bank into the river.
"I shall drown!" he cried. "Help! help! help!" but his voice was so tiny that it could not be heard.
A dove was sitting in a tree that overhung the water. She saw the ant struggling, and quickly nipped off a leaf and let it fall into the water. The ant climbed upon it and floated down the river until the leaf was washed upon the bank of the stream.
The ant called out in its tiny voice, "Thank you, kind dove, you have saved my life;" but of course the dove could not hear him.
Several days after this, the dove was again sitting in a tree. A hunter crept carefully up to the tree. His gun was pointed at the dove and he was about to shoot, when he was bitten in the leg by an ant.
He cried out with pain and dropped his gun. This frightened the dove and she flew away.
"Thank you, kind ant," cooed the dove, and the ant heard and was glad.
(from Fifty Famous Fables , by Lida Brown McMurry)
Tony D'Nozzo was pacing the scene. Whatever had happened there had been terrible. The dead man was a Lt. Colonel in Special Forces. He had been shot execution style on the #2 running track at Quantico. Unfortunately, the man had not been alone and the woman he was running with, originally thought dead at the team's call-out, was in fact alive, but barely. She had already been taken away by paramedics, but it didn't look good for her survival and even if she did survive, the first responders were horrified at what they had seen, and they had seen everything.
And just when he thought things couldn't get worse, the woman was the daughter of the Admiral on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The situation was nearly unbearable for Gibbs as he spoke quietly into the phone to the Admiral. The Admiral and Gibbs had been long time friends, and Gibbs was even Godfather to the daughter. There were close connections on this case, and emotions would run high. Tony knew that despite his personal demons he fought after Jeanne, he would have to step up to support his boss, his mentor, his friend.
The evidence painted a grim picture. A broken beer bottle was smeared with blood, wooden sticks from the surrounding trees were covered in blood and other fluids he could only imagine, an Army issue knife was found covered in blood and hair, blonde. The gun used to kill the Lt. Colonel was also recovered. It was covered in blowback blood, as well as brains and additional fluid that made even a seasoned investigator like Tony D'Nozzo cringe and feel like vomiting. The killer did not even attempt to cover his tracks and would probably be caught quickly with enough damning evidence to send him to Levenworth for a very long time. Even so, it could not be long enough in Tony's opinion. This crime scene, along with what he was sure to see and learn about at the hospital was sure to haunt his dreams, maybe forever. Sometimes he hated his job. Today was one of them.
Gibbs came up behind Tony as he looked at the bagged gun, only imagining what had been done with the gun besides blowing the Lt. Colonel brains out. Gibbs spoke quietly to Tony, grief deep in his already gravelly voice. "Tony, I need you to handle the crime scene and getting the evidence back to Abby and Ducky, please." That 'please' was a sure sign that Gibbs was greatly disturbed. "Ziva and I will go to the hospital. We will find out what we can about her injuries, and when she will be awake enough to answer questions. We will see you back at NCIS, "Gibbs paused, " And Tony, thank you." Tony's mouth almost dropped open, but Gibbs' grief was so deep he honored the seriousness of his boss' sincerity.
Six hours later Dove Whyte was still in surgery. Her parents waited outside the surgical unit waiting for news. What they did know, they shared with Gibbs and Ziva. She had been cut up quite badly, her face a mess as well as her body. A plastic surgeon had been brought in to stitch up those wounds to not mar her beauty any more than necessary. Her body had been badly wounded with knife cuts, some quite deep and injuring internal organs. She had been raped repeatedly by the man and as if that wasn't enough he had also penetrated her with various foreign objects. It was definitely a personal attack, and the Admiral suspected it had been perpetrated by a former boyfriend she had filed a TRO against, as useless as that was. The Admiral had even moved her onto Quantico thinking a military base would be the safest place for her, but that was apparently not the case. Dove had been stalked for more than six months with her stalker becoming more and more aggressive in his tactics. Dove, being the strong woman that she was, refused to hide behind a garrison of soldiers and instead continued her life of teaching at Georgetown and spending time with her friends, which included a unit of Special Forces. That unit was currently on base practicing for a mission but would no doubt appear soon at her bedside.
Gibbs called Tony for an update. "D'Nozzo."
"Tony, what do we have so far?"
"We have fingerprints all over everything of one David Price, the guy she had a TRO from. Abby is rushing the DNA, but we suspect it will also come back as Price's. It looks like it was a single perpetrator crime, Boss. We haven't found anything else to show that anyone else was there. We also have just gotten a search warrant for Price's home and Ziva and I are on our way over there."
"Good. Call me after you see his place. And tell Abby that I want that DNA in two hours."
"Got it Boss. Do you have any news from the hospital yet?"
"She is still in surgery. Tony, we are coming up on 16 hours. My God, what could this guy have done to her that requires 16 hours of surgery?"
"I think you know Boss. You stay there with the family. We've got it covered from the end."
"Thanks D'Nozzo." Another one of those 'thanks'. Gibbs sounded exhausted and positively numb with grief. He was glad Gibbs was at the hospital, and not out searching for this guy. The scene would end bloody and Gibbs would just end up in jail or the hospital.
After 20 hours of waiting outside surgery, several very tired doctors came out to speak with the family. The Admiral, Dove's mother, and Gibbs stood and listened to the terrible news they already suspected. The new information was that the doctors had put her into a medically induced coma. They expected to leave her in this coma, on a breathing machine and with continual transfusions for at least five days. The family was told that while Dove was in a coma, she very well might be able to hear them if they spoke to her. Familiar voices or stories would help her brain repair her body even faster.
Gibbs' phone rang and he excused himself from the small conference with the doctor's.
"Gibbs."
"Boss, we just got to Price's place. It's been tossed pretty well. We found a wall of infamy covering his bedroom walls. He's been stalking her for months. There were a few pictures of the two of them when they were dating, but after that they clearly become stalking pictures."
"Ok, thanks Tony. Find out where Abby is with the DNA. I'll be back at the office soon. By the way, she is out of surgery. The doctor's are keeping her in a medically induced coma. She's on a breathing machine and transfusions."
"Geez Boss. How long with she be like that?"
"At least five days."
"Can she have visitors? Sometimes I hear it helps to hear people talk to people in these comas."
"That would be really nice of you, D'Nozzo. The family will need some relief."
"Sure. I'll come by tonight. Can you ask the Admiral what her favorite book is?"
The next day an exhausted Gibbs beat an exhausted Tony in to work. They already had another call out to the same place where Dove and the Lt. Colonel were attacked. With heavy hearts they returned to the same place in the woods they had been 24 hours before. This time the body was that of David Price, or at least what was left of him. He was face down in the mud. His face was his only feature still able to be identified. There was a gunshot wound to the back of his head. The rest of his body was nothing less than pulverized into the ground. Judging from the tire treads, Gibbs guessed that the tread matched a hum-vee. His body had been set in a spread eagle position and run over countless time until there was almost nothing left of it except fluids. A sign was stuck on a wood stake through the hole in his head. It read 'Case Closed. Semper Fi.' Gibbs wondered if he had been alive when he had been run over repeatedly, or if the gun shot came first. With the signature of Semper Fi, he imagined the most pain had been inflicted before he had been killed.
Tony carefully asked if they should go check out the Special Forces unit that the Lt. Colonel belonged to and who were friends of Dove Whyte. Gibbs was silent for a moment.
"Check out the scene, look for evidence which I don't think you'll find. Go talk to the Special Forces unit, which will I'm sure have an airtight alibi. Then this case is closed, Tony."
"Understood Boss." There was no need for either of them to say anything else. The case was already closed in their minds.
At 8:00 that night, Tony checked with the nurses about Dove's condition, which had not changed from the night before. He then quietly entered her room, relieving her mother from her vigil for several hours. Then Tony would leave around midnight when her father or Gibbs would come to relieve him.
This happened night after night. Ziva asked him one day why, of all cases and all victims, this was the one he seemed to care the most about. It was unlike him to spend any time at all after a case was closed, and certainly not reading and talking with an unconscious victim. Tony just smiled slightly at Ziva and shrugged his shoulders.
"This time things are different. I can't answer your question because I don't know the answer. I just know this is what I need to do. I don't know if it is helping her at all, but it is helping me a great deal."
The evening after the doctor's removed the breathing tube and took her off the medications that kept her in a coma, she woke. She had shown signs of waking all day, barely moving her body and crying out in pain. But when Tony started to read to her from Paradise Lost she quieted as if she was listening. Tony had read portions of Paradise Lost in high school and in college of course, but reading it from beginning to end was really pulling the story together for him. He really enjoyed these reading sessions. They were already on Book II with the debates between Satan and the Fallen Angels. As he read, he heard a whispered echo, "…rather than be less cared not to be at all; with that care lost went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse."
Tony stopped immediately sure that he had heard Dove speak. He looked up and into her eyes. They were a deep cornflower blue and showed a great deal of intelligence. He knew then there was no brain damage. Certainly no one with as much intelligence that gleemed in her tear filled eyes could have brain damage.
"Who are you?" the voice asked softly, raw from the breathing tube and lack of water. Tony quickly answered her by getting her ice chips and feeding her some with a plastic spoon.
He answered just a softly, tears irrationally in his eyes as well. "My name is Tony. Special Agent Tony D'Nozzo with NCIS."
"Mom? Dad?"
"Your mom just left about an hour ago to go home and rest. She stays with you almost all day until I get here. Your father will be here in a few hours, but I'll call them both as well as Gibbs. They will all come now that you are awake. They'll want to see you. Are you in a lot of pain?"
"My whole body hurts, really bad. What happened to me?"
"I'll get the nurse to give you some medicine for the pain." Tony buzzed the nurse.
"Thank you. But are you going to tell me what happened?" Her voice was weakening.
"Someone will tell you all of it when you are stronger than you are now."
"So it was very bad…" Her voice held resignation and deep sadness.
Tony would not lie to this amazingly strong woman in front of him. "You are very strong and have a great will to live, otherwise you would have died. It was very bad, but having you awake, even barely, will make everyone very happy, Dove."
"Why would a Special Agent from NCIS be here? Are you guarding me from someone? Is he still out there?"
Tony didn't quite know how to answer her. She had been traumatized in the most vicious attack he had ever seen. He didn't want to scare her anymore than necessary. "Dove, I'm here for reasons even I don't understand. I just wanted to help you. There isn't much I can do except read to you, so that is what I do. The person who did this to you is dead. You no longer have anything to fear from him."
"It was David, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"And Michael?" Tony remembered that was the Lt. Colonel's name.
"He's dead. I'm sorry for your loss," and he meant it.
The nurse had given her the medicine through her IV drip and it was acting fast. "Tony, there is no reason to call my folks yet. I'll be long asleep by the time they get here. But maybe you can stay and read to me. I remember hearing your voice through all the haze of everything else. It soothes me."
"I will read to you until late into the night. And then I will be back tomorrow night and read to you some more. Ok?"
"'K…" and she drifted off to sleep.
Tony did make those phone calls and then picked up where he left off with the fallen angels arguing about fighting God. Looking at the horribly abused, once beautiful woman covered in bandages and black and blue on what wasn't covered, he was reminded of the song by Big and Rich—'Holy Water.' He started humming the song and then added the words. His voice was beautiful and had a warm timbre to it.
Somewhere there's a stolen halo
I used to watch her wear it well.
Everything would shine wherever she would go
But lookin' at her now you'd never tell.
Someone ran away with her innocence;
A memory she can't get out of her head.
And I can only imagin' what she's feelin' when she's pray'n
Kneeling at the edge of her bed.
And she says...take me away,
And take me farther
Surround me now,
And hold...hold...hold me like holy water holy water
She wants someone to call her angel,
Someone to put the light back in her eyes,
She's looking through the faces and unfamiliar places
She needs somone to hear her when she cries.
And she says...take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now,
And hold...hold...hold me like holy water.
She just needs a little help to wash away the pain she's felt
She wants to feel the healing hands of someone who understands
And she says - take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now,
And hold...hold...hold me
She says
Take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now,
And hold...hold...hold me like holy water
Like holy water, like holy water, like holy water.
Tony's soft voice fell off as he watched this fallen angel breathe comfortably after the meds eased her pain. He picked up Paradise Lost and started reading aloud to her again. He never knew several of the nurses were listening to his singing, tears streaming down their faces.
TBC