I DO NOT OWN ANY NCIS AFFILIATED CHARACTER. THEY BELONG TO CBS.
HOWEVER THE CHARACTERS: BRIDGETT, JOHNNY AND VIOLET BELONG TO ME.
PLEASE READ AS IF YOU WERE ABOUT TO READ A FAIRY TALE, SET IN THE WORLD OF NCIS BUT AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION.
I PLAN TO DO A FEW MORE CHAPTERS, SO RIGHT NOW THIS IS MORE ABOUT BRIDGETT AND JOHNNY.
SET 10 YEARS FROM *NOW*
PLEASE COMMENT AFTER READING, THIS IS MY FIRST STORY WITH MY PURE IMAGINATION.
A Little Tale
By, Shawna Graham
The light of the room was dim, the sun being swallowed up by the outside trees. It was soon to be suppertime when their father arrived home from work; and they had already finished their schoolwork. So, it was their time. Play time. Bridgett was on her side of the room at her desk reading a book about ninjas and their supernatural abilities to become invisible and shape shift. Johnny had been on the other side near the bookcases playing with his G.I. Joe's. Often times Johnny would build a team out of his action figurines. There was always a boss, then the lead of the team, then came second in command, and there was also someone who could work the computer station as well as the ability to work right along side the rest of the team. There were also G.I. Joes that were to play the roles that helped the team: the doctor who always had a way with words, his assistant and also the ones who worked in the laboratories who helped figure out who the bad guys were. Several times a day Johnny would be lost in the world he created on the carpet with his G.I. Joe's.
In the corner of Johnny's eyes he saw something run across the windowsill. Johnny dropped the lead investigator figure and stood up in quickness and backed himself into the corner. Some of the books rumbled on their shelves and made a concerning sound that brought Bridgett's attention out of her book without turning her head.
"Bridgett!" he cried out. "Bridgett, come here," Johnny continued, "come here, I saw one!" pointing to the windowsill. Bridgett turned her nose out of the book to see Johnny's face almost pale white as if he had seen a ghost. Johnny was Bridgett's younger brother by three years. Bridgett was eight years old, making Johnny only five. You would think three years was a big gap, but not for these two. They had a bond like no other sibling.
"What did you see Johnny?" asked Bridgett curiously. She was well known by her family and friends to be the one to ask a lot of questions. Any little bit of information she came across she had to examine it. By asking the right questions the right answers would follow, most of the time. A few silent moments had passed between Johnny and her. "Out with it Johnny!" she demanded playfully, "What was it?" She asked again.
Johnny was in the far right corner of their bedroom by the two towering bookcases that seemed to almost hug each other around him. His little arms clung to either side of him onto the shelves, almost to hold himself up because he had gotten a little weak in the knees.
"It," he began to say, "was right there! In front of my own eyes! Uncle Tim had said they were real, sort of, but I never ever seen one before Bridgett!" Uncle Tim was not really their uncle, but he was their dad's best friend. He knew all sorts of stuff that their father had not known about before. Uncle Tim always brought Nutter-Butter with him whenever he came over for dinner with Aunt Abby, they got married a year before Johnny was born.
Bridgett continued to stare off at her brother in the corner. Almost looking past him, through the walls. Startled by the idea of what he saw she paused for a moment. Gathering her inner ninja she stood up from her desk and proceeded to approach her brother by only taking a few small steps; stepping cautiously not to disturb what it could be and it scurry off in to other areas of the room. She had seen several movies where people snuck and crept around through their homes for whatever their reasons were. In most typical movies that she could remember there was always a squeaky floorboard that would squeal when stepped on, like a little banshee in the night. Bridgett was relieved her floor was carpeted in a plush beige covering. Not a peep was made. Johnny picked himself up, gaining his posture back. For a five-year-old boy he carried himself with pride like his father.
"Johnny, come here… quickly," Bridgett, whispered. Johnny ran as fast as he could without making a sound while feeling his toes gliding through the carpet fibers. "Now," lowering herself to his eye level, " what was it that you had seen just now?"
Johnny stared at her with his big green eyes excitedly in awe. "The star fairy," he stated with disbelief. Johnny leaned upward into his sister's ear. Even though Bridgett had bent down to his stature Johnny still had to stand on his tippy-toes to reach up to her ear. He was a little on the short side for his age, but not by much. He would later in life grow out of it like his father did. "It was right over there." Johnny pointed to the windowsill that was right next to the left bookcase.
Bridgett stood up, straightened out her shirt and tucked her brown curly hair lock behind her ear. She glanced at the windowsill. The star fairy was something that they heard growing up from their Uncle Tim. The star fairy: was it just one creature or was it one of many? Was it male or female? Was there even a gender to be had? Did they have fangs? Did they have little wands? Maybe horns on top its head?
Bridgett looked closely at the corner of the window. Squinting her eyes because she did not have her glasses on. Yes, her one downfall, glasses. Bridgett was always annoyed that she had to wear glasses, but her mother always assured her that just because she wore glasses did not mean she was any less than any other kid her age or that she did not have to give up on any of her dreams for the future, some ninjas had to wear glasses, right? Even while squinting she did see something there. Kind of looked like a little twig. Must be that, she thought, something had the cat dragged in? Hitching a ride on his fluffy white tail. But what if it was not a twig? Then what?
Bridgett got closer to the window and squinted her eyes some more. "Johnny, its just a twig," Bridgett finally said to her brother letting out a little sigh. Did she sigh because she was relieved to not have seen the star fairy or was it because she really wanted to see one?
Johnny looked back at her with sadness; his big green eyes had gotten washed over with a layer of salty tears that started to pool in the corners. He had seen what he saw; he knew it was real. He was not crazy! He wiped the tears away and looked at his team lying on the floor below him and then down at his belt. His badge shined as brightly as is father's. It was not a real badge like his father's was, but it was a special one. His dad's boss had given it to him on his last birthday, his fifth birthday. Johnny's dad had told him that just because it was not a real badge did not mean he could not be just like him or anyone else he admired. Yes, of course he thought, I am a trained investigator. Trained meaning his dad was a super hero and taught him a thing or two. He will find it Johnny thought and prove it to Bridgett.
It was not that Bridgett did not believe him, but she had seen nothing of what they have heard the star fairy was speculated looked like. Uncle Tim had said it looked like a garden gnome. You know, the type that is in front of trailer homes, except they were not that big. The size of your pinky was the described size, an inch and a half at most. Did Uncle Tim ever see one before? Bridgett thought to herself that she could have seen something that big even with her glasses off. She knew what a twig looks like Bridgett thought, and that on the windowsill was in fact just that, a twig.
Bridgett and Johnny's train of thought was halted for a moment when they heard the front door open. "Bridgett…Johnny… come downstairs, your dad is home and dinner is ready!" they heard their mother say. They heard their mom greet their father at the door. "Welcome home Tony," she said. Their mom had been wearing a sleeveless tank top, purple and form fitting. She was also wearing tight black denim pants. They could almost hear the flirtatious smile beam across her face as he walked through the door. He was wearing blue jeans that were a little faded and a nice white button up shirt. It was Friday, casual day at work.
"Well, thank you," he said while checking her out, "for the nice warm welcoming my little minx," he replied as he kissed her. Yuck! Parents, why can't they get a room already? "Zi, where are the kids?" he asked.
"Upstairs, where else?" she said while walking away towards the kitchen. Tony's favorite past time.
Bridgett and Johnny looked at each other and ran out of the room and closed the door gently behind them. "Wait, I am going to put a towel under the door Bridgett," Johnny said. "I want to make sure that what I saw doesn't get away while we are gone"
"Johnny, it was only a twig, I didn't see anything there that was alive," Bridgett threw her hands in the air with somewhat of annoyance at the situation. "Bubba probably brought it in when he came back from his cat adventures with his cat friends outside." Bridgett shrugged her shoulders but got Johnny and bathroom towel anyways. Just in case.
"But still, I know I saw something. I will find it and I will show you!" he huffed at her. He fitted the towel in the space between the bottom of the door and the carpet. He then got up from his makeshift towel barricade and looked at it with confidence. Johnny did a very good job. Bridgett, even though she did not see anything, she knew Johnny was right. They were a team; they will prove or debunk this!
With that they ran down the stairs and jumped into their father's arms, and both gave him a kiss. Bridgett took his hat of his head and placed it on the hallway table while Johnny grabbed his bag and placed it under the table.
Dinner was filled with buttery rolls; creamy mashed potatoes, homemade of course; baked chicken; and Brussels sprouts, even though neither of the kids ate those little stinking cabbage like orbs. During dinner a lot was said without being said. I suppose they learned to talk to each other without words from their parents. Their parents had a knack for it. You could see the love they gave each other with just one look. Him telling her that he will protect her forever and always, and her telling him she needed and wanted him in her life forever and always. Stories were told how they got together, undercover missions, explosions, their Uncle Tim said it took them a long time to come to terms, but in the end, Bridgett and Johnny were born. Now, between Bridgett and Johnny the conversation was not like that. Bridgett could see the excitement and the anticipations grow in Johnny's eyes. What could be behind their bedroom door after dinner was done with? Did his towel keep anything inside the room? Johnny could see Bridgett's mind start working like a clock, gears shifting, scanning the room in her mind's eye. Both of them enjoyed the silence as they ate, preparing mentally for what could be found upstairs.
Meanwhile, out side their room stood their cat. The closed door distracted the cat because it was never closed. Bubba wanted inside that room. The bathroom towel that lay in front of the door also caught Bubba's attention. Normally Bubba would downstairs making his rounds around the dinner table, hunting and pouncing, as if he was in the wild, for scraps of chicken, potatoes, and even those stinky sprouts, but not tonight.
Inside, behind the door, the creature that was in fact in their room, and Bubba could sense it. Violet was her name. Violet was staring outside resting her little head on the cool windowpane. She was a long way up from the ground and home. How she got in there was unaware at the moment.
It began to rain. Giant sized water like bulbs were smashing into the window with a thunderous force. The winds did not make it any better; leaves were flying through the night sky whirling around the trees. Violet remembered sitting down on a mushroom cap that was next to the big willow tree outside. The rain still pounding on the window but she continued to stare out unaffected. Homesick. How to get home? It had been at least a couple of days since she had come into this room. She continued thinking about the mushroom cap. It was her place to relax. The mushroom was not her home however.
Violet was dazed looking out into the garden at the mushroom cap, when she remembered a white blur that kept dashing across the earth pouncing on butterflies. That's it! The cat creature brought me in here! She thought. Now how to get home?
Violet, her name came from the color of her hat and her hair was a golden yellow. Medium length. She wore a purple colored one-piece cover all, like a farmer. Her under shirt was a dark brown color and her shoes were like sandals. No fangs. But she did have a wand. Violet uses her wand to grant stars to the skies. When one dies the star fairies make more. Making a twinkling star was easy, or even making a few of them, but never a galaxy alone.
Violet turned around scanning the room she was in. From the time she arrived on top the windowsill she stayed hidden behind the teacup that was there. Now, finally awake enough to get an understanding of her surroundings she realized she was in a room as big as a mansion, to her anyways. There were two beds. Two desks. Two bookcases that were near her that were filled with all kinds of books. Several pictures hung on the walls. Violet sat at the end of the windowsill, her feet dangling over the ground below. She sat there several minutes watching the cat's paws reaching in from underneath the door.
After finishing dinner the kids hurried up the stairs. It was like racing to the finish line, of course Johnny beat his sister because he was smaller and was able to get around her legs and slide up to the top step. When Bridgett finally caught up to Johnny at the top they both turned their heads to their bedroom door. "Meow, meow," said the cat Bubba. The star fairy heard their voices and hid.
Bridgett looked at him curiously. Bubba had been pawing at the door trying to reach his little paws underneath as if he was trying to catch a mouse. Johnny got on his hands and knees to check out his barricade that he had set up before dinner. "Dang it, Bubba you moved the towel, what if it escaped?" he asked annoying at the cat. The fluffy white cat was off to the side weaving in and out of Bridgett's legs while purring. Johnny sensed that Bubba seemed confident that he had caught something under the door.
They entered the threshold, Bridgett following after Johnny, and found nothing. Bubba was just happy to see them I guess. No creature mauled by the cat's paws was found under or behind the door.
"Johnny, see I told you, it was a twig. Did you really expect to find something in our room waiting for us?" Bridgett hissed. Bridgett did however expect to find something, even though she was being realistic.
"It was there I swear," Johnny said as he walked to the desk drawer. "I will show you, I just have to get my tools," he said proudly. Tools. Every agent had a set of tools. Note pad complete with a pen; gloves, even though they were way to big for Johnny; magnifying glass to look at small things; and a camera to take pictures of the evidence. However Johnny's camera wasn't a real camera, so he would have to draw pictures in his note pad of the things he had seen, clues! "Come on Bridgett, grab your gear too!"
Reluctantly Bridgett went to help her sidekick. Johnny had taken control of the case, Lead Investigator. Bridgett went to her desk and got her gear. Her stuff was pink, it was not frilly like other things intended for girls: such as pink ruffles and fluffy feathery fringes, it was just pink, and it was a cool pink. Johnny's was blue.
First thing was first. They both had to start looking for clues. The twig. Johnny went to the windowsill where the twig still stood untouched. Suppose there was cat hair there, proving that Bubba had brought it in. Maybe, there were little tiny footprints somewhere around the twig. The room had not been dusted in a few days, so if there were to be some footprints they could see it with their magnifying glass.
Beside the twig there was some odds and ends that ended up on the windowsill throughout the days and weeks as they play in their room. There stood a 'Gone Fishing' aquarium decoration that Johnny had placed there; he could not get rid of it after his gold fish had died. Plus it reminded him of the several times him and his dad, and sometimes Grandpa DiNozzo, had gone fishing. One time Johnny had fallen overboard into the lake because he thought he saw a mermaid, but that story is for another time. There was also a teacup that Bridgett placed there after having a tea party with her mom and Aunt Abby one afternoon. The cup was not a fancy teacup, but a simple one: white with a gold trim on the top. Their tea parties were not like a typical young girl's tea party. It involved some Wissotzky, which is a tea in Israel. Her mom would also show her how to throw knives, but only when Bridgett begged. Bridgett also learned how to cook from her mother during tea parties. Aunt Abby would also bring her music. Bridgett loved when Aunt Abby came to visit. Aunt Abby liked to teach Bridgett whatever she wanted to learn. Of course, after tea, they would all drink a caf-pow. The saucer that the teacup is supposed to rest on is on Bridgett's desk holding all of her change that she finds throughout the house. There were also a few paper clips on the windowsill, some slightly bent out of shape because Bridgett liked to use them as poking devices.
They did not see the one star fairy anywhere. They did however find a cat hair, which Johnny drew in his note pad, then placed in an evidence bag. They also found what they believed to be some little footprints. However, it was hard to tell in the dim light.
The star fairy was no longer on the windowsill. Violet had used one of the paper clips as a tight rope to get over to the bookcase standing next to it. The paperclip then fell to the ground when she reached the other side. She had climbed the ridges and dimples on a spine of a book as if it were a ladder. She remained quiet as she lay on top of the book on it's pages. Since it was a hard cover book, it acted as a hiding spot. She was able to lay low behind the cover. Every once in a while the she would peek over her surrounding cover and watch Bridgett and Johnny inspecting the windowsill for clues. With the sun already gone to sleep and the rain and thunder making the lights flicker, Johnny decided to continue the investigation tomorrow. For tomorrow was Saturday. No school. Bridgett helped Johnny place yellow caution tape over the window that he borrowed from his dad's workbag. Soon they feel asleep in their beds and the star fairy fell asleep too in her hideout with the cat still outside the door.