Soulmate in December
NCIS Fan-Fiction
I do not own any copyrights to the show, or characters of NCIS. The only
characters in this story of my making are Ksenia and Julie. I thank my beta-reader for her help; though mistakes are still all my own.
A/N This story is not told from NCIS's prospective; it's told from one of the witness's...which means be prepared for a lot of 'holes'. Also, this could have been expanded only I have some serious music commitments starting up - so a short version is what was done.
2nd A/N I have Gibbs and Abby together because they just seem to fit so well.
Opening scene
A cool morning breeze blew around Ksenia as her brownish hair was kept in place by a blue headband. Julie, her next door neighbor and friend, kept her red hair short with an occasional barrette to kept bangs out of her eyes. Their hair color wasn't the only thing which didn't match; neither did their height or build.
Ksenia was five feet, if that. Her build was slender, but not excessively so. While Julie was at least five foot seven, and well endowed. The two strolled along discussing history...some American, some English and even more on Scotland. Ksenia had never been to that particular country, but she'd had plenty of friends from that part of the world. Julie, on the other hand, knew only what she'd seen in the rows of a movie theatre. So, the facts she began tossing out were only tolerated for a small amount of time before Ksenia could stand it no longer.
"Get a grip will you? William Wallace existed, yes, but for crying out loud quit quoting the movie Braveheart- as if it's historically correct." Ksenia wasn't eager to be the one grading her friends next history test if she kept insisting movies were accurate in their details. The two would have continued talking only as they rounded a corner Ksenia – inspsite of being the smaller of the two, yanked Julie away from the bushes with such force it startled Julie.
"Okay, what's the bright idea." Julie scowled. "We are on a casual stroll before I have a test to take in less than an hour, and you yank my arm as if I was headed into mortal danger. What gives?"
"Unless you wish to see Stephen King come to life, I suggest you call the cops." Ksenia only rolled her eyes when Julie ignored her and began to walk again- only to scream at the top of her lungs a few minutes later and came barreling back as if her heals were on fire.
Freeze frame
"I told her not to go." Ksenia was talking to a fellow with gray hair and a military haircut across a table in an interrogation room; she'd been told his names was Gibbs. "But, nooo, she just had to keep walking." Her eyes rolled just as much as they had when Julie had ignored her warning.
"And, how did you know there was a dead body in the area?" Gibbs asked Ksenia, who had freely admitted she'd called the cops -even before her friend had come screaming back upon seeing a dead sailor. It was a fact that couldn't help but make him wonder if she had anything to do with it, and was just covering her own hide.
"Trust me, darling." Ksenia gave a half-hearted grin and wary chuckle. "I've smelled enough death to know it without having to see the evidence." She then shot Gibb's own stare back at him and then continued on -when asked how that was possible since she was a music teacher, "No idea..." She rolled her eyes yet again. "...maybe, it was the undertaker father, the coroner uncle, medical examiner cousin or wait..." She tapped the side of her mouth. "Maybe, it was the medical student brother who thought it was fun to take me to class when he was supposed to be babysitting me at the house."
"I can't believe she's speaking to Gibbs in that tone of voice." McGee spoke behind the glass to his co-workers when Ksenia made a crack about having the urge to tell Gibbs a few stories.
Ducky -who was also on the other side of the glass where Gibbs was talking to the suspect, couldn't help but chuckle. "I doubt she had a hand in our young sailor's death. However, if she keeps it up; Gibbs might just reach out and slap the back of her head." Ducky laughed some more-especially since his colleague had turned around long enough to shoot a glare all their way; as if being able to hear them. "I think that's my cue to get back to work." Ducky chuckled again when Ksenia made another smart remark involving dead bodies and autotopsy's.
"You can go." Gibbs stood up relatively sure there was no real connection between the lady in front of him and his dead sailor.
"Thank-you." Ksenia stood up and turned serious. "There is something the officer I spoke to seems to have failed to talk to you about."
"And that is?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow when Ksenia told of a red race-car burning rubber out of the area. "There's nothing in our reports about that." His gut told him the lady wasn't lying and asked her for details.
"I can't tell you much more than what I've already stated. I smelled death, warned my friend not to continue down the path and then heard an engine start up. It wasn't all that much time later that a red sports car burnt rubber leaving the area. Julie, and the cop, seemed to brush it off as an innocent bystander freaking out. Personally?" Ksenia picked up her coat and hat as she swung her purse over her shoulder, "I think there's more to it than that." She then asked if he minded if she went and talked to the medical examiner. "My cousin passed away last year. Guess I'd like to see where the one I heard people calling Ducky works more for the sake of a memory than anything else."
Gibbs smiled, nodded and told her to go ahead.
Freeze Frame
"I hope you know, dear boy..." Ducky started speaking to corpse he'd just finished stitching up when he heard unfamiliar foosteps walk into the room. Therefore he stopped speaking and looked up. "May I help you?"
"Not really." She gave a lopsided small. "I came down here out of nostalgia more than anything else. Hope you don't mind Doctor Mallard." Ksenia smiled awarkadly and explained about her cousin. Ducky grinned, told her she could call him Donald, or Ducky if she wished; "Plenty of people around here do. And you're free to stay for as long as you like." He then asked about her cousin.
"Not much to tell really. I mean, he didn't talk to many people; only the ones laying on his tables." She grinned and shook her head. "Used to think he was half mad,"
"Sounds familiar, I'm pretty sure upstairs they say the same about me." The good doctor's grin spread even wider when Ksenia confessed if that was the case; she'd have been in the same boat as her cousin if the truth had been told.
"Course, it's not the departed's body I spoke to, closed my eyes the majority of the time my cousin was examining those brought to him. I was speaking to their spirits. Still do. So I guess I never departed the ship." She talked a little more about her life, but as it was in the present not the past. "However, ever since this whole dead sailor bit got started, my mind has turned back to my cousin and other relatives." Ksenia asked if they'd gotten in more leads on the case, other than dragging her in for questioning.
"A few, I think, but last I heard no real break." Ducky went to say more except Palmer came with another corpse.
"You need to run these samples up to Abigal." Ducky told Palmer. "The sooner the better, Gibbs was down here earlier biting at the bit for the results."
"My cue to leave I think." Ksenia grinned. "I've smelled enough death for the week I think." She then slapped her forehead. "Ugh, this whole mess has me so messed up. I forgot to mention I saw a pair of dice and a horrid looking mask." She then scratched her head and said, maybe, it wasn't a big deal. The lady was honestly shocked when Donald got all excited and insisted she tell Gibbs.
" Are you sure? I mean it's just an over-sized pair of ugly dice and some stupid looking plactic halloween mask." When she was assured nothing was to minor; Ksenia smiled. "In that case; I'll go up and tell your Gibbs agent about them."
Freeze Frame
"Don't ask me." Ksenia spoke as she lay propped up on a rose-colored couch Julie had only recently bought while she was reading up on Scotland's history. "I'm not the one trying to solve the case, and it is not on my to-do list either. According to this source Scotland's history, recorded that is, began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in the first century. It claims Britannia was a province which reached north to the line be fourth and fifths of Clyde, guess people in that area were known as Picit, or the painted ones."
"Is that an accurate source?" Julie only asked because Ksenia seemed to be a stickler when it came to what sources she believed, and which ones she ignored.
"I don't know. Donald and I have talked plenty. So, I'll probably be asking him the next time we see each other. Did you know he spent his youth in Scotland?" Ksenia missed Julie's raised eyebrow due to the fact her own were still on the book. Hence, the lady did not drill her friend about the look on her friend's eyes, or ask if the look was simply because Ksenia been seeing the doctor on their off hours, or that she'd used the doctor's legal name. Ksenia calling anyone by their given name -if Julie would have paid attention to- was not out of the ordinary. The young woman really did prefer not to use nicknames. Just as Julie went back to cooking and Ksenia to reading a knock came on the door; it was McGee, Alex and ….Donald? Ksenia was surprised at the last only because she's been under the impression he had other obligations, but nonetheless smiled and invited them in.
"Ignore the smell." Ksenia sat on the couch and invited the others to join her. "Julie's convinced Chitlins are fit for consumption." She actually liked the food item, but it was so fun to get Julie riled up and it worked.
"Chitlins are very fit to eat." Julie began a rant only to stop when she saw Ksenia's eyes start to sparkle and Doctor Mallard biting his lips. "Ugh, I should have known better than to react." She then went back to work as Ksenia asked what was up.
"The pair of dice and plastic mask." McGee looked straight at her, "We were wondering, well..." He liked Ksenia and hated the idea of accusing her of any involvment, but the quesiton had to be asked, so, he went to finish the sentence only she had already caught on and replied without him having to do so.
"If the car was burning rubber, how did I manage to see the items?" Ksenia took no offense and shrugged her shoulders. "Darling, I've seen so many of those ugly items growing up, not to mention the shop downtown near where I work sells them all the time I kind of wish they'd move their establishment." When asked why, Ksenia's grin grew even wider. "Cause, then Justin wouldn't have a reason to pester me so much." She shook her head and did not flinch as she'd quit walking that way to work because of it. "Got so sick of seeing him; not to mention those annoying items. I figured another route was in order. Phewy, Julie has more than one of things in her room. Praise be, she packed them all up."
"Only because you wouldn't stop harassing me about having them out in the front room." That set off a razzing round that would have continued only Donald cleared his throat, as did the agents Gibbs had sent over.
"Sorry, but I really do not like those...items. I've not ever, willingly, let those ...things ...into my car." Ksenia went to say more only she saw a blue car drive up and loudly groaned. "Justin, what a creep. Man thinks he's the world's gift to women. Won't stop trying to get me to go out on a date with him." As if on clue, Justin walked in -without knocking -using the excuse the door was slighly ajar and didn't see a need to knock.
"I just came over to see if you'd go to dinner with me tonight. We could go to the Theatre afterwards." Justin's words , or rather his tone, rubbed Donald wrong and he-without having to debate the issue- turned to Ksenia and smiled with a slight twinkle in his eye.
"Didn't we already have plans? Ones which included doubling with Gibbs and Abigail? Or are you backing out of them?" It was all Ksenia could do not to laugh at the look of horror which jumped onto Justin's face. She didn't have to ask why. The age thing alone would creep a man like Justin out, even though she was definitely way above legal, as was Abigail. However, with her mind going back to Justin's invite and the good doctor's excape route being offered, Ksenia smiled and looked back at Donald.
"No, I'm not. Just wasn't going to bring the subject up until McGee and Alex were finsihed." She'd already been givent their names and didn't need to be reminded of them. Ksenia than stood up and suggested she and Donald head out now. "Unless, there is more you two need to ask?" It was only when the agents-who looked just as stunned as Justin- had said no and made their departure, did she and Donald go to his car.
"Thank-you for giving me a way out." Ksenia then asked if he minded going back to NCIS before dinner.
"No, but why? Did you think of something else?" Donald asked wondeirng about Ksenia biting her lip.
"Maybe, and it's not one I relish." She fell silent as the car was started and they headed back to where Donald worked.
Freeze Frame.
"I can't say for sure. And I'm not eager to throw suspicion onto what very well may be an innocent person." Ksenia would have paced back and forth between the agents computers only Donald kept his hand on her lower back as she looked at Gibbs, and those with him. "All I know for sure is Julie has been acting really ...weird. I figured it was because of seeing a dead body without thinking one would be there. However, ever since you all have been coming around she's been on edge. At the very least, she knows more than is being let on; at worst..." She rubbed the back of neck hating the idea which had set firmly into her brain.
"Is the guilty party." Gibbs finished for her.
"Yes." Ksenia let her shoulders drop and did not resist Donald turning her around and suggesting they proceed to their dinner date; after telling Gibbs his own date said she'd be ready by 7.
"Ducky really likes her." McGee spoke as the two walked away and step onto the elvator.
"Hope they know what they are doing. She's a lot younger than he is. And I heard how his last two romances ended up." Alex bit her lip, leaving off the other failed romance of Ducky's due to age.
"Focus on the case, not on a grown man capable of running his own affairs." Truth be told, Gibbs was just as concerned, but knew it would do no good for them to dwell on the doctor's private life.
Freeze Frame
The noise in the bowling alley was atrocious. And Dr. Mallard would have normally preferred a quieter night. However, Ksenia had been so accomodating on all their dates he'd seen no harm in granting her time at the one sport she'd enjoyed as a youth, but had been too busy since getting her doctorate to enjoy.
"Strike!" Ksenia bent her elbow and thrust down her arm. "I won, Donald."
"Rub it in why don't you." Donald pretended to be upset but his smile was a mile wide. Truth was it bothered him very little to have his date outscoring him in bowling; all he cared about was how his name sounded rolling off her lips.
"if you want, I can call you Ducky; you were right in saying most of your co-workers do." Ksenia had spoken as they'd stood outside his old home after Takumi and invited them over for dinner. One which had come after more than one breakfast, luncheon or dinner date. Sometimes they'd even gone dancing afterwards.
"No, it's all right for them, but..." He'd whispered low. "...I prefer to hear Donald out of your mouth." He'd then kissed Ksenia before watching her drive off.
"Great, just what we don't need." Ksenia groaned as she sat down. "We've had weeks of total peace, should have known those two would show back up."
Gibbs, Abby, and Ducky all turned their heads to see who had elicited such a reaction out of Ksenia. "Oh. I see." Ducky, and the others, stood up. "Let's count it a blessing our game has just finished, shall we?" Kseni face lit up and picked up her purse and coat before taking her date's arm.
"Your group leaving already?" Julie begged for a game. "Us against you. What do you say."
"No, thank-you, we already have a prior commitment." Ksenia ignored a dark look in Justin's eye and Julie's eyes darting back and forth between her friend and the group-especially Gibbs. It was a look no one missed; and one which gave Ksenia the urge to hand Juile a carrot to nibble on.
"I suggest we leave now, before we miss our dinner." Gibbs gave a politee good-bye and lead his date, along with the doctor and Ksenia out the door leaving behind two very disappointed people. The two couples then went their seperate ways.
"They're up to something." Ksenia spoke as Donald opened her door; she never could think of him as Ducky. "I just know it."
"Probably, but I suggest we not focus on them." Dr. Mallard shut the door and about jerked when he saw a red car with a pair of ugly dice hanging from its mirror in the parking lot. Saying nothing as he got in the car did little good as Ksenia had spotted the same thing. It surprised her that Gibbs and Abby had failed to spot it.
"We need to go have a talk with Gibbs." Ksenia got no argument out of her date.
Freeze frame
"She's got nothing to do with this, and you know it." Ducky as fuming as he faced Gibbs -who was sitting at his desk. Talk floating around saying Ksenia should be looked at again had been overheard as he'd come upstairs just that morning.
"Relax, Donald. Gibbs is just doing his job." Abby walked up to Gibb's side, who listed other evidence which had begun pointing to Ksenia. He'd just finished as the Dr's girlfriend walked up to the group, sighing as she did so.
Facing Gibbs she admitted the circumstantial evidence they'd collected did indeed point to her, and even seemed to be piling up. However, before saying the idea which had come to her mind she, skillfully, got the good doctor to consent to go back to work examining the evidence he'd looked at earlier.
"I know what you're doing." Donald tapped her nose, but sighed as he looked at Gibbs. "I'll go, for her sake and her sake alone." He then suggested he and Abigail get back to work, and then left still somewhat in a foul mood.
"Go, get back to work, Abby." Gibbs would have kissed the side of her forehead only too many people were watching. It was only after the two were out of earshot did Ksenia begin to speak.
"Clearly someone wants eyes off of them, and figures I'm a good puppet to stick things onto so..." Ksenia held nothing back as to who she thought was the guilty party, and how they were getting their information. Then Ducky's lady explained how, and why, she thought they could get the real culprit to lower their guard.
"I like your style." Gibbs leaned back and grinned, but then shook his head. "Ducky would have our hides if he heard what you're suggesting."
"That's a given." Ksenia lifted her hands and shrugged her shoulders. "But I can think of no other way to set a trap for one very large rat." Such a comment placed large smiles on everyone's face who were listening in.
"She's right, boss." Nick walked over to Gibb's desk. "It would put the odds in our favor." Gibbs tapped his pencil on the desk and sighed, especially when Ksenia insisted on Dr. Mallard not being told.
"Why not?" Alex leaned forward from where she at at her desk.
'Ya, why not?" Ellie asked from where she stood near Alex's computer monitor.
"Because..." Ksenia rubbed her forward, hating the idea of keeping him in the dark. "I can read Donald like a book. And if I am right, I dare say the guilty party can to."
"His reaction has to be guenine." Gibbs stood up with a no nonsense approach. "Okay, everyone come with me." He had to talk to the whole group, but- if Ksenia was correct in her guess, than it meant there was only one place to talk -without Ducky around. Which is why the whole team, along with Ksenia were soon in a closed -unmoving- elevator.
Freeze Frame
"Relax, Donald." Ksenia sat on the raised cement block in front of her home as she put her arms around his neck. "You've been uptight all week. What gives?"
"What gives?" The good doctor snorted and then sighed. "I know something is up, but none of you are talking. That's a tad more than insulting."
"I got them to consent to look closer at others, but..." Ksenia kissed his nose and then looked at him straight in the eye. "...I'm not convinced more evidence won't be planted against me. Maybe, someone even thinks I know more than I do." Her shoulders slumped. How she wished Donald could be told what was soon going to go down, but Gibbs and she were correct….his reaction had to be guenine.
"I'm going to talk..." Dr. Mallard got caught off in mid sentence when Gibbs and Alex drove up and got out of the car. He was shocked when they handcuffed Ksenia for the murder of the dead sailor.
He also wondered why McGee and Alex took Ksenia away from Gibbs and headed towards another vehicle, one of which had been parked further down the street. There had been many scenerios which had run through his mind, but none of them involved Gibbs actually believing Ducky's soul-mate was capable of murder.
"She's innocent and you know it." Ducky was furious as Alex lead Ksenia towards the car; Gibbs blocked his way.
"Ducky, I'm just doing my job and you know it." Gibbs was just as frustrated over the whole case as his friend, but he couldn't afford to show it. "Get in your car and go home."
"Are you insane? I'm supposed to go to my house when McGee has Ksenia in handcuffs?" Ducky went to ask about the second car, and why they hadn't simply put her in the one Gibbs had driven up in, only a shot rang out, Ksenia dropped to the ground and her name was heard coming out of Ducky's mouth- at the top of his lungs.
Freeze Frame
A few nurses talked quietly between themselves and faint sounds of doctors walking back and forth could be heard. However; overall, sounds silence ruled in the hospitl corridors except the sounds of keyboards being tapped. That is, except in the waiting room where Ducky was alternating between wringing his hands and chewing Gibbs, McGee, and anyone else out who happened to be unlucky enough to be in the room with him.
"Couldn't you have at least waited til she came to NCIS?!" Ducky was trying not to yell, but wasn't succeeding very well. "Good heavens, at least the maniac who shot her wouldn't have had access to her." He quit yelling and slumped back into his seat. "I finally find my soulmate and now, thanks to you she's at death's door."
"Ducky, Gibbs didn't want this anymore than you." Tony, who was visiting sat down next ot his old friend. "It's not his fault." Truth was the ex-agent was just as much in the dark as his old friend. That being the case, Tony found himself blaming Gibbs just as much as the doctor, something his eyes showed it even though his mouth did not.
"I'm going to check on McGee; they're supposed to let him know when Ksenia is in a room." Gibbs saw Julie walke into the waiting room shortly after he'd exited.
"Think she's in on it boss? I mean, Julie. I just saw her pass by this room a few minutes ago." McGee whispered once Gibbs where Ksenia lay in the hospital bed.
"The lady is definitely hiding something, but she's been a hard nut to crack. Sure hope this helps," He looked at Ksenia who had the standard iv and tubes one would expect after surgery for a gun shot wound. She'd also been given a drug to make her drowsy; they'd all figured it would help cover up the fact she'd not really been shot.
No sound, other than Gibb's voice, filled the room as he told his senior field agent he was going to go get Ducky. He also hoped Julie would stick around long enough to be convinced her friend was truly in mortal danger. With those two things in set firmly in his mind, Gibbs went to get his friend.
McGee looked between the door and Ksenia. He hoped the guilty party would take the bite. And he hoped Tony, out of old habit if nothing else, could break Julie's silence. Well, that or Nick would succeed. McGee liked Ksenia, or more he liked the way Ducky's face shone when the lady was around. He really didn't want another girlfriend of Doctor Mallard's to end up to be a killer. Gibb's senior field agent had just turned back to face the door when Ducky walked in ahead of Gibbs.
"Ksenia." He picked up her hand then looked at Gibb's. "Have you located her shooter?"
"We found a nine millimeter bullet…." He got no further when Ksenia's voice, unsteady from the dugs spoke up, causing Ducky to snap his head back towards her.
"Jus...tin...gun..bullet...nine.." Ugh, she hated any kind of medicine that made it impossible to speak without effort. "Ask..Julie..."She tried to say more, even attemptd to sit up, only she found Donald telling her to take it easy.
"Gibbs will take care of it. You stay put." He, gently but firmly, made her lay back down. He turned his head towards his friend, but he was already out the door.
Freeze Frame.
"Was Justin apprehended?" Ksenia bit her lip.
"Oh, ya, sang like a bird when he found out all the information Julie spilled." He explained Ksenia's friend had only kept quiet because it appeared she'd had a niece Justin was threatening to harm if Julie didn't keep her mouth shut. "That and I guess she's had a bit of gambling problem in the past. He's been the one to save her financial hide on may occasions."
"So, where's Donald?" Ksenia asked as she walked up to McGee's desk. "And does he know I'm here?"
"Ducky's downstairs, and I'm sure word will get to him fast enough." Gibbs replied as he sat down at his desk.
"Do you tihnk I may need to find a deep hole to hide in?" Donald had only left her room when Ellie convinced him Ksenia would not want him to neglect his responsibilities. And that the love of his life was in no danger of dying.
"Oh,ya." Gibbs's mouth turned slightly upward.
"Was he mad at you too?" Ksenia asked sheepishly.
"What do you think?" Gibbs gave her a what-a-stupid-question type of look.
"Do you think he'll be able to forgive me?" Ksenia asked once she'd been informed Donald had already been told of the vest she'd been wearing, of her falling to the ground being all an act, and of the hospital medical staff helping to make it appear as if an operation had gone on, when one had never been performed in the first place.
"I'm not the one to ask." He lifted an eyebrow and grinned, as did the other agents.
"He's behind me, isn't he?" Ksenia flinched just a little.
"Oh, ya." Gibbs leaned back and let a full-fledged grin appear as Ksenia slowly turned around.
"So..." Ksenia bit her lip again. "...forgive me?"
"I ought to tan your hide for scaring the living daylights out of me." He snorted, but couldn't keep his own grin from appearing. "However, I'll find it in myself to forgive you..., " His eyes danced and there was a hint of laughter in his voice that refused to stay hidden. "...on one condtion."
"And what's that?" Ksenia's own grin appeared as Donald held up his hand revealing a simple diamond ring on his pinky.
"Marry me." All faces kept their grins firmly in place as they watched Ducky put the ring onto Ksenia's finger and then promptly gave her a kiss.
"That's it, everyone to the bat room!" Abby shouted. "We're going to celebrate!"
"Here, here." Gibbs stood up, walked over to his good friend, slapped him on the back and then followed Abby, and the rest down to the lab.
Freeze Frame. (final scene – a year later)
"Are you going to let her get away with saying that to me, Ducky?" Senior laughed even as he asked the question.
"Since it involves her cooking, you bet I am." Ducky chuckled himself where he was talking to Senior - who sat on a plain colored love seat, while NCIS's medical examiner sat on a newly purchased leather couch. He glanced over at Ksenia who was helping two of their adopted children with their homework.
"Thank-you for helping to push the adoption through for these sisters, and their brother. Ksenia really wanted to be a mother, but the idea of an infant in this house at my age made me cringe. As it was, the adoption agency was giving us fits without actually admitting it was the same thing that was bothering them." Ducky spoke to McGee who was sitting next to Senior.
"No problem, glad to help."McGee then stood up and went to help Deliah who was waving him towards the kitchen.
"And Jethro?" Ducky gave a warm smile to his old friend. "Thank-you for allowing us to use your late wife's and daughter's names when the girls said they wanted new ones." He figured it' been a way to mentally seperate themselves from an old life they wanted nothing to do with. Hence the names of Victoria Shannon, and Kelly D. Their brother had felt no such need and kept his name of Andrew.
"Sure thing, Ducky." Gibbs got comfortable in his own chair. "Hope you have many good years together, even if it means living to a hundred to do it." Everyone in the room smiled; especially Ducky who, as Gibbs was talking, had looked over at Ksenia. She glanced over Victoria's head and looked straight at her husband with a shine on her face that matched his own.
I found my soul mate in December the doctor thought as he turned back to Gibbs who had pulled senior into their talk.