Disclaimer: Do not own N.C.I.S nor do I claim to. I am not making a profit off this either.
A Twist in the Timeline
Night fell on the Washington Naval Yard and the people both civilian and military were heading home to rest for the night, Abby Sciuto was no exception. She arrived at her apartment and began to get ready for a relaxing evening when she heard her door being kicked open.
"Oh shit…" She whispered running towards the back of the apartment locking doors as she went. This was in effort to try to protect herself until help arrived.
She had already called 911 out of reflex and was on the phone with the dispatcher.
"My name is Abigail Sciuto I work for N.C.I.S and a man just broke into my apartment. He kicked down my door I have barricaded myself in my bedroom." She told the dispatcher then gave her address.
"Miss Sciuto, help is on the way right now…" the dispatcher got cut off by Abby screaming "Miss Sciuto… are you there…"
The cops arrived to find an N.C.I.S id card sitting in a wallet the bedroom floor by a coffin that had them quite confused because it was empty.
"Call N.C.I.S" the detective groaned, "We'll probably get Gibbs"
The N.C.I.S agents arrived and Gibbs stopped cold.
"Um… Boss what's wrong?" Tony asked
"You mean besides the fact that this is Abby's apartment?" McGee asked
"Wait, Abby lives here?" Tony asked looking at the building.
Gibbs presented his ID and the officer by the door let him in.
"Oh crap, I should have known it would be you Gibbs" the detective said, "I've been warned about you"
"That's not surprising," Tony said
"What is surprising is the fact that this is the home of my forensic scientist not one of my agents" Gibbs said
"Why would anyone break in and kidnap Abby?" Tony wondered
"Random attack" the detective said
"If it was random, why did they take the time to remove her N.C.I.S id from her person before taking her out of the apartment?" Gibbs wondered "and her driver's license"
"Who knows maybe they didn't want her to be identified…"
"Oh no, Abigail Sciuto is easy to identify… she's a Goth" Tony said
"Yes, that she is" Ziva said taking pictures
"My men were wondering about the coffin in the bedroom."
"She sleeps in it…" Tony smirked
"He isn't kidding, is he?" the detective said
"No, he is not… I stayed with her while my apartment was being fumigated for termites… she has a regular bed for guests, but she prefers the coffin herself." Ziva said, "I have no idea why, I figured it wasn't my place to ask. After all, I was a guest in her home; I was only trying to be polite to her."
"Good policy, it is always a good idea to be polite to your host." Detective Marks stated
Ziva shook her head it was apparent that Abby had taken every step to try and defend herself all the way to calling 911, but that hadn't been enough. It made Ziva a little uneasy; she lived alone, just as Abby did. It meant that she too could be in danger.
"Gibbs what do you think the chances are that they will try to attack me?" Ziva asked
"Try, the odds are pretty good that they'll try; succeed; now that is a different story."
"Yeah, are you forgetting the fact that you sleep with a gun under your pillow… because I haven't" Tony said
"Okay, how does he know that?"
"Under cover assignment, they posed as married assassins meaning they slept in the same bed and unfortunately learned a lot about each other they probably wish they didn't know." McGee explained
Detective Marks left and they finished their investigation; they had found very little in the way of evidence.
They got back to headquarters with the evidence and then the confusion set in. They had no forensic scientist.
Then one of the agents from upstairs came down.
"Excuse me; I am Special Agent Natalie Wu… I was recently transferred from another base, and I have a degree in forensic science and chemistry, along with a lot of hacking skills."
"Wait, you have a forensic science degree and you're working as a field agent?" Gibbs said in confusion.
"I prefer field work to lab work, but I can do both… I used to work in the San Francisco Crime Lab before joining N.C.I.S; I can work field or lab… day shift, night shift I don't really specify"
"Okay Agent Wu, get your butt in here and start cataloging evidence" Gibbs said
"Yes sir,"
"Don't call me sir, call me boss" Gibbs said
"Yes, Boss" she said and then saw what she needed to work on "Oh no… I'm going to need some caffeine to get through this… I've been here since around 05:00"
"I'll be down in an hour to check up, and I'll bring a Caf-Pow for you"
"Sounds good to me, is that a deal you worked out with Abby?"
"Yes, deal extends to you, if you can do a good job"
"Um, Agent Wu, you wouldn't happen to speak Chinese would you?" McGee asked
"I speak two dialects fluently, and I'm working on a third why do you ask?" Natalie replied
"No reason, just wondering."
The team started to leave, but Ziva stayed behind
"Is there something you need, Agent David," Natalie asked
"Actually I was wondering if you needed help photographing and cataloging this evidence"
"I'm not going to turn away help, you probably know your way around this lab a little better than I do."
"Actually, Abby typically works alone." Ziva replied
"That's what I've heard, Agent David…"
"You can call me Ziva"
"I will call you Ziva only if you agree to call me Natalie"
"Okay, I can do that"
An hour later and Ziva had gone back up to the squad room and Natalie was getting some of the evidence truly processed. Then as promised Gibbs walked in and put a Caf-Pow in front of her.
"Thank you, Boss, and Boss I have found something interesting. The cloth that I believe Agent David found was soaked in chloroform. The cell phone had only one set of fingerprints, and they were Abby's so that doesn't help us any… but fortunately Abby managed to get a piece of her attacker. The blood found at the scene wasn't hers, it was a man's DNA, I'm still trying to find a match, currently; I have nothing from that." Natalie explained
"Is that all you have?"
"Agent Gibbs this is a new lab, I'm still trying to get used to the layout… though I have to admit whoever created this layout was a genius because it is very efficient, even if I am not used to it." Natalie said
"Has anyone told you that you ramble?"
"Yes, I get told that often." Natalie replied "and I'll try to remember that you like it when people just get to the point."
"Okay, keep working, Natalie, you'll figure this stuff out"
"Thanks for the encouragement, Boss" Natalie replied taking a sip of Caf-Pow before returning to work. She then accidentally hit a button and noticed an older man working in what she could only assume was autopsy.
"Excuse me…," she said
"Oh hello, it's good to see a new face, might I ask what you are doing in Abigail's laboratory?"
"Oh, I'm filling in for Abby until she is found; my name is Natalie Wu… I am actually a special agent, I just happened to work in a crime lab before coming to N.C.I.S"
"I am Dr. Mallard, but you may feel free to call me Ducky, as the rest of associates do" he paused "Abigail is missing?"
"She was abducted from her apartment"
"Oh dear" Ducky said in the back of his mind praying that Abby's body didn't come onto his autopsy table.
"It's good to meet you, Ducky, I accidentally hit the button for I guess this is a live video feed, so I thought that I would say hello." Natalie explained, "Um, you might want to check on your assistant, he looks like he's about to drop something expensive."
Ducky looked back
"Mr. Palmer put that down immediately!" Ducky ordered then turned to Natalie "Thank you for the warning Natalie, take care"
He cut the feed and Natalie assumed he was going to have a chat with this 'Mr. Palmer'.
'Okay Natalie, back to work' she thought and went back to what she was doing before her little accident.
To Be Continued…