Mike's Moral quandary.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Julian and Lydia.
Rating: T
Summary: JD AU. Mike saves Jenny in the diner and spirits her away to a foreign hospital. Will she survive the experimental treatment?
A.N.: I know, another AU for JD. They just pop in my mind and I have to write them down, lol. Hopefully by submitting them, I'll be more likely to update them! Got another on the way too, 4 JD AU's, Yikes.
Mike Franks clutched the steering wheel of his car apprehensively and cast a glance in his rear-view mirror. The only other occupant of the car was lying on the back seat, strapped in with every seat belt wrapped around her so she wouldn't slip off, due to his less than sedate driving pace. She was still unconscious. In some ways it made this easier, because she wouldn't ask questions that he didn't want to answer, like 'why are you doing this?', and 'why did you dress a corpse in my clothes?', but in some ways it made it difficult, because he couldn't carry her from the car to an aeroplane without causing an uproar, and his medical knowledge covered... um… mouth to mouth resuscitation and… yeah, that's pretty much it. He thanked God once more that his pension check was enough to cover renting a 'luxury' speed boat for a month. With luck, his friend and his wife would get her to the hospital in Europe so she could be cured, and then all that would be left would be telling Probie that she was alive.
He shook himself angrily from his wishful thinking and gritted his teeth. Hoping for a happy ending wasn't going to give him one, taking action would. He could see the blood beginning to seep through the impromptu 'bandages' he had put on her. She wouldn't last much longer. Who knew the coast in LA was so bloody far away? His phone began to vibrate so he flicked it open and put it to his ear, hoping there was no police nearby that would stop him.
"Franks? Where are you?" the voice of his friend sounded worried and that just made him more nervous. Had someone decided to stop boats from leaving? Had Gibbs figured out what he had done and come to take her back? He shook his head. Focus.
"Nearly there. Get your first aid kit out, Julian; she's been shot up pretty bad." Mike heard a female voice in the background and felt a little bit better; Lydia would take care of her. Lydia was Julian's wife and she was a trained nurse.
"Gotcha, I've got the engine running already for a head-start. Think she'll make it?"
"Just make sure you got a needle and thread in there." Mike grumbled, unwilling to voice his opinion on the off chance that fate decided to have a laugh with him, and snapped his phone shut. He cast another glance behind him and his stomach plummeted, making him push the accelerator further to the floor. She had lost most of the colour in her face and he couldn't see her breathing anymore. Shit.
Finally, after what felt like hours of driving, which was in reality more like ten minutes, he pulled in to the marina and drove at full speed through the car park and over to the pier, where Julian was waving from the boat and came to a sudden stop a foot from the water's edge. He threw open his door and jumped out, gesturing to Julian to come and help, since he was twenty years younger than him. His back wouldn't protest as much as Franks' would. His friend leaped on to the pier and raced over to Mike, who was busy unwrapping Jenny from the mess of seat belts. Once Mike had finished, he moved out of the way and Julian pulled her from the back seat in to his arms and then carried her on to the boat and disappeared below. He watched as Julian reappeared moments later.
"Lydia's with her. We better get going; she says it doesn't look good. Take care, Mike." Mike nodded and waved. If she said it was bad he didn't want to delay them anymore.
"I'll join you as soon as I can."
Julian waved and then raced to the helm to take the boat out of the marina and towards open seas. Mike breathed a small sigh of relief. At least one part of the plan went off easily. He turned back to the blood stained car and groaned. He'd have to burn it. Great, more money down the drain. He knew where he needed to go now. He needed to go meet Gibbs at the gas station, back near the desert and tell him she died. Well at least he'd have time to get his game face on before seeing him. This would be hard. He knew that Jethro had begun a relationship with her not even a month ago, to lose her so fast would be torture. At least if this treatment he'd read about worked, he would be able to reunite them. He shook himself from his oddly soppy thoughts and got back in his car. First things first, get another car so he could get rid of this huge piece of… evidence.
*
The next day Mike set off to the gas station to meet Gibbs in his new, silver rental. He had had to go to a different rental company since the other had blamed him for the 'accidental' fire that had engulfed his last ride, uncompromising gits. He turned in to the station a few seconds after Gibbs did and got out to join him inside. He had practiced what he would say to him all night to make it sound comforting and yet sorrowful, and he could truthfully say he'd failed miserably. He just couldn't keep the hope from uplifting his spirits and he knew Jethro would sense it. He cursed himself and decided to try and say as little as possible so he couldn't give much away. He knew that Gibbs would hate him for a while when he finally told him what he had done, but hopefully she would be alive and able to get him back in the good books soon after.
"What happened, Mike?" Gibbs began the conversation once they were seated at a small bar and Franks took a large swallow of Corona before trying to answer.
"She tried to protect you. Said she made a mistake. Someone turned up to Decker's funeral and asked for a Mr. Oshimaida. An op went wrong in Paris and someone who's supposed to be dead isn't." He nearly choked when he realised what he had just said, but thankfully Jethro overlooked it.
"We got out clean. There were no mistakes."
"Did you check?" He pressed the issue, trying to keep the discussion away from Jenny's death.
"Why were you there?"
"She called me a few days ago and asked for some help."
"Did you help?" Gibbs' voice accused.
"I tried, and I'm not giving up now." He put all of his conviction into that one sentence and hoped that Jethro would allow him to help him. He might think that he had let her die, but he wouldn't turn away assistance. "If you want an apology-"
"I know better." Gibbs cut in bitterly.
"-I'm sorry, Probie." He looked directly at Jethro, so he knew that he meant it. Gibbs nodded minutely and then he straightened in his seat.
"I could use some back up…"
"You got it."
*
Mike watched the fire blazing in Jenny's home, destroying everything within and he mentally cringed. When she was better, she would kill them both for this. He hoped she had insured it; otherwise they would be paying her back until they both died of old age. Gibbs stood next to him, facing the fire and staring in to it, as if it would resurrect Jenny right in front of him. Franks' conscience prickled again as he looked upon the absolute sorrow reflected in Jethro's eyes. The loss of another woman that meant the world to him was breaking him, and Mike was suddenly concerned that Jethro might not survive the trial, never mind her. He turned away from the inferno and grasped Gibbs' arm, pulling him away and down the street, before they were associated with the flames by the neighbours or passersby. He needed to get him home, or at least away from the potentially life threatening situation, not sure what frame of mind he was in. After all, he hadn't had his gun on him, hadn't even made a move for it when Svetlana had been about to shoot him. If he hadn't shown up when he had, he probably would've found him dead.
Mike pulled Jethro towards his house, stopping only to stick his nose up at Vance and let Jethro watch a TV running the news report of the fire, before continuing on. He knew that he was going to disappear down to his basement as soon as he walked through the door, so he let him go on ahead, before following him down. Gibbs was leaning against his boat with a bottle in his hand and he was staring. Just staring at the wood in front of him. Maybe he wasn't really seeing the wood, he was seeing the good times with Jenny. Mike's conscience couldn't take much more of this. He came down the stairs of the basement and watched him take a swig from the bottle.
"You ok, Probie?" He didn't get any response from him so he moved a little closer and repeated the question. Jethro took another swig of Bourbon, but he still received no answer. Mike began to get really worried and he moved over to Gibbs' desk, picked the lock and opened his hidden draw. He looked back at Jethro and took the ammo for his rifle, putting it in his pocket and then closing the drawer again. "Probie?" Still nothing.
Mike walked over to him and reached for his SIG, pausing an inch from the weapon strapped to his side, waiting for a reaction. Receiving none he removed the gun and emptied the bullets in to his hand, pocketing them and replacing the gun. The only reaction Gibbs gave was to take yet another swig of Bourbon. Mike decided enough was enough, his flight was soon and he didn't have the time to deal with Jethro's funk. He knew someone that did though. He flipped his phone open.
"Hello?"
"Dr. Mallard? Mike Franks."
"What can I do for you, Mr. Franks?"
"I got a bit of a problem, Gibbs is just staring into space, and he's not responding to me or anything, just standing and drinking. I've removed the ammo from his weapons, just in case. I have to leave now so I was hoping you could come over tomorrow and check he hasn't done something stupid."
"Oh my, of course I'll keep an eye on him. In fact, I'll come over now. Just to be safe. Thank you for telling me."
"Yep. Bye."
"Goodbye Mr. Franks." Mike snapped his phone shut and then gazed at Gibbs, willing him to turn to him and ask when his flight was, but he didn't even blink, he just raised the bottle to his lips once more and swallowed.
"I've got to go now, Gibbs." He turned to the stairs and climbed them to the top, and then he paused and cast one last glance to his protégé, watching him trying to drown himself in alcohol. "See you later, Probie."