A/N: My entry for the NFA Sun, Sea and Sand Challenge and the If You've Got a Problem I Can Help Challenge. It's Tim-centered as usual although there is a lot of Gibbs and the rest of the team is there as well. It's set about three months after Caged in season 6 and there are major spoilers for season six, particularly that episode. It kind of feeds off my tag to Caged which is entitled "Answering the Why" but it's not necessary to read that in order to understand what's going on in this one. I hope you enjoy it because I really like how it turned out.
Disclaimer: Seeing as Tim will probably never get this kind of attention on the show, it should be obvious that I don't own NCIS. I'm not making money off it and I don't pretend that any of the characters (besides my OCs) belong to me. Too bad, though. I could use the money.
Causing Effects
by Enthusiastic Fish
Part I: Offenses
Chapter 1
Tony was really getting on his nerves today. In fact, everyone at NCIS was getting on his nerves. Tim wasn't sure why...this time. As they searched for their suspect, one Louisa Grady, he found himself staring at her file and wondering what had driven this former beauty queen to kill a SEAL. Why? How? She didn't seem the type. Tony had been making nonstop comments about her body, her face, why didn't she wear makeup anymore, and on and on. It was...annoying. Louisa was still a person, someone with hopes and dreams, someone who, when receiving the crown as Miss West Virginia, probably had not been thinking that she'd turn into a murderer fifteen years later.
The evidence was incontrovertible, however. Her fingerprints, her DNA...even her car had all been found at the scene. She had no known social connection, but there was no question that she had held the gun which had killed Sgt. Sean Grover. All that remained was to find her. It was necessary. It was just. ...but that didn't mean that Tony had to be so gleeful, so denigrating, so...so mean about it. Tim tried to tune him out, but he couldn't. Instead, he began to chew on his tongue to hold back the comments that he longed to say. ...but he couldn't stop his hands from clenching into tight fists.
Shut up, Tony. Just shut up already.
"Is something wrong, McGee?" Ziva asked.
Tim blinked and looked over toward Ziva's desk.
"No. Why would you think anything is wrong?"
"Because you look constipated, McGee," Tony said, teasingly. "Need some ex-lax? Maybe when we catch up with..."
"Tony, shut up," Tim ground out. "The jokes weren't funny to begin with. Now, they're just stupid and make you sound like an adolescent idiot." He stood up. "Excuse me."
There was a silence behind him that was rather satisfying. Anything to get Tony to shut up. When he returned from the restroom a few minutes later, there was a strained feeling in the air...one that Tim did nothing to dissipate. Instead, he resumed his search, checking the BOLO occasionally and trawling through the information on Grover's computer. It was highly inappropriate, but Tim felt a bubble of laughter inside him when he thought the name Grover. He might be an adult, but that fact did not prevent him from having the blue muppet well up in his mind every time he read the name.
"You have anything yet?" Gibbs asked.
"Still no hits on the BOLO," Tony said quickly.
"No indication of a relationship between them from Sgt. Grover's computer," Tim reported, suppressing a smile.
"Her friends claim that she would not do this...and they have no idea where she might go."
"You believe them?"
"Yes, Gibbs," Ziva said. "They seem to be telling the truth."
Gibbs' phone rang and they could all hear Abby's voice, although her words were unintelligible. She was definitely excited.
"Abby's got something."
"Never would have guessed, Boss," Tony quipped.
Gibbs didn't answer. He just strode toward the elevator, forcing the rest of them to follow close on his heels.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"You guys, I found the smoking gun!" Abby announced as they came into the lab. "Well, okay, not really. For one thing we already have a gun. For another, it's not like–"
"Abby!"
"I found a connection between our SEAL and Miss West Virginia!"
"She has a name, Abby," Tim muttered.
"So does the SEAL, McGee," Gibbs said, looking back at him for a moment.
"Do you want to know what I have or not?" Abby asked.
"Yeah." Gibbs looked at the screen.
"Turns out that they've got some alleles in common," Abby said.
"How many alleles?"
"Closer than kissing cousins."
"Ew," Tony said. "I hope you don't mean that literally."
Gibbs ignored him, although Tim rolled his eyes. "How much closer?"
"Not brother and sister. They have 25 percent of their alleles in common. I'd say half siblings, something like that."
"Adopted?"
"Not in the files."
"Then, the files are either wrong or they didn't know themselves."
"Okay...so what does that give us?"
"Possibly nothing," Tony said, his shoulders slumping. "If they were related and didn't know it, that tells us nothing."
"No such thing as coincidences, Tony," Tim said softly, staring at the monitor. "She was a beauty queen. Have you ever looked further than that?"
"What are you talking about? Of course I have."
"We found her whole history, McGee," Ziva said.
"Obviously not everything. Sean Grover and Louisa Grady are related. At some point, there is someone who crosses both their paths, whether it's their mother or their father. Someone." Tim looked at the screen. "Louisa Grady killed Sean Grover. Two people who we thought had never met crossed paths. She's not just a beauty queen, Tony. Whatever her reasons, she killed him and now we have to figure out why."
"We have to find her is what we have to do."
"Sure, but if we don't know the reasons, then what good is it? Do we just say sayonara, have a nice life in prison? I thought we investigated here."
"McGee, what's up with you?" Tony asked.
"Yes, McGee. You are acting strangely."
"Because I'm not just seeing her breasts or her alleles?" Tim asked sarcastically. "Sorry, if I think there's a whole person, not just parts. I'll go and keep looking through Grover's emails, Boss."
"You do that, McGee."
Tim walked away. As soon as he was out of the lab, he stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment. He had been two seconds away from punching Tony's lights out...and Tony wasn't even being much more annoying than usual...less actually. He took a deep breath and went back to the bullpen.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim had found nothing to explain it when the BOLO finally paid off. They grabbed their gear and headed out...to Clarksburg, WV.
It took four hours to get there...but for whatever reason, Louisa Grady was still in the same place. The police had been watching her and she had shown no inclination to move...from the middle of the stage where she had won her crown fifteen years ago. She had a gun, but hadn't threatened anyone with it as yet.
The NCIS team went cautiously into the auditorium.
"Louisa Grady?" Gibbs called.
She had her sash on, ripped and faded after so long.
"Miss Grady, can you put the gun down?"
They came closer. Tim and Ziva were taking the wings, Tony and Gibbs the aisles.
Louisa didn't even seem to hear them.
"Louisa," Tim said, softly. "You look beautiful."
Ziva, from across the stage, gave him a startled glance. Louisa turned to Tim.
"I froze when I got to the Miss USA pageant. It was so much bigger there."
"I'm sure. I get nervous in front of big crowds, too."
She took a step toward Tim.
"I loved it, though."
"I'll bet you did. Why don't you put down the gun?"
Louisa stepped closer to him.
"I spent so long trying to make sure I looked just right."
"You're beautiful. You probably always look just right."
"McGee!" Tony hissed at him.
Neither of them paid any attention to Tony. Tim took a step toward her.
Louisa laughed and for a moment looked like the beauty queen she had been...as opposed to the faded, deranged woman standing on the stage now.
"Louisa, can I ask you a question?"
"If you tell me your name."
"My name is Tim. Did you know Sean Grover?"
Her face darkened. "That lowlife. He's like all of them."
"All of who?"
"All that devil's spawn."
"Who? Your father?"
Her hand tightened on the gun. "Saw me on the news. Said he wanted to...catch up. As if he hadn't thrown me out, as if he hadn't abandoned me for someone else's children."
"He saw you win the pageant?" Tim asked.
Her countenance changed almost immediately.
"I loved coming out on the stage for the first time. They all cheered me. Every one of them. It was like having a whole new family. They wanted me to win...and I did."
"I saw the newspaper articles. Very impressive."
Louisa took another step toward Tim. She was now perhaps ten feet from him. Tim's gun was no longer pointing at her. It was down and to the side.
"Louisa, will you put down the gun?"
"They all pretended to be happy but Sean kept coming around, kept pushing me. Showing off how much better his life was."
"I understand, Louisa. It must have been hard."
"That's what Sean said, you know. How hard it must have been. He didn't have a clue!"
"Why don't you tell me, Louisa?" Tim asked. "Put down the gun and we can talk."
"You won't get it. You won't understand! I'm tired of people not understanding!" She was so close that Tim could have easily grabbed the gun. He didn't. He didn't move...not even when she lifted her gun towards his face.
...not even when Gibbs, Tony and Ziva shot her. He stood there, staring at her as she fell slowly to the stage. She looked at him.
"I tried to understand, Louisa," he whispered. "I really tried. You are beautiful."
Louisa suddenly smiled and her eyes closed, the gun finally falling from her limp fingers.
Tim's gun slowly dropped until it was pointing straight down at the stage. He stared at Louisa's body, at the blood staining the pinewood flooring. That would never come out. Ever. Even when Gibbs stormed up onto the stage and started shouting at him, he stared only at her.
"McGee! Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking?"
"She was beautiful, Boss," Tim said. "She gave way more service than was expected of her from her win. She was so beautiful."
"She's dead, Boss," Tony said, standing after checking her pulse. "Congratulations, Probie. This is just how I wanted to end my day: shooting a lunatic."
Tim suddenly snapped. He threw his gun to the ground and rushed at Tony.
"She wasn't a lunatic!" he shouted and drew back his fist. With no hesitation, he swung, catching Tony on the side of the face with a hard left hook, knocking him to the stage. "You hear me? She wasn't! You treated her like she was one of your centerfolds, like all she was was...was someone for you to ogle!"
"McGee!" Gibbs shouted and grabbed him from behind, holding him back. He'd never had to physically-restrain Tim before and it was a harder job than he expected.
Tim pulled against Gibbs arms, trying to get at Tony who was standing up, rubbing his face and looking a bit concerned. "You belittled her! No wonder she was driven to murder! People looked at her like you did! Like she was nothing! ...and now she is! Now, she's dead!"
"McGee!" Gibbs pulled back and had to gesture for Ziva to come and help because Tim was on the verge of getting away from him and from the look in his eyes, he was ready to attack Tony again.
"McGee! Stop!" Ziva said, grabbing Tim's arm, holding him securely.
"All you see is a body, Tony! That's all you ever see! Alive or dead!" Tim spat.
Tony was actually speechless. A near miracle. His hands were out in a futile posture of defense.
"McGee! Stand down!" Gibbs shouted.
Finally, Tim stopped fighting against Gibbs' hands. He was breathing heavily and he looked at Tony with nothing less than malice in his eyes.
"They're more than that, Tony. They're more," he hissed.
"McGee. Outside!" Gibbs ordered. "Ziva, you go with him. Call Ducky. Tony, you stay here. Help me process."
Tim turned abruptly and walked off the stage, never looking back. Ziva followed him, but she did look back, her expression saying more than words could about her reaction to Tim's explosion.
"What was that, Boss?" Tony asked, shaken. He looked toward the door through which Tim had disappeared.
"I have no idea, Tony. We'll find out. Later. Right now, we have a crime scene to process."
He was right, but it was questionable whether either of the men were really as focused on the crime scene as they were on the events which had just transpired.
