Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Josh Berman, Deran Sarafian, Carol Mendelsohn and Rich Cataloni, creators of the CSI episode "Turn the screws" s4e21 and to the rest of the CSI cast, especially to William Peterson/Gil Grissom, for Grissom's lame humor which is expressed so amazingly good by Peterson. Makes me laugh everytime.
Chapter 1
When Tony woke up, he wasn't surprised to find the bed empty. Since the summer heat had struck them a few weeks ago, Kate'd always been up before the sun. Yawning, he got out of bed and went to the kitchen. As he expected, he found Kate by the table, fanning herself with a newspaper and with a glass of ice tea before here.
"How long have you been up?" he asked and bent down to kiss her forehead. She shrugged and glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Since…five maybe"
"That's almost two hours, Katie"
"Well, it isn't my fault that the air conditioner isn't working" she muttered.
The power had come back only days before but just as they could relish the cool air, their source of bliss had broken down and Tony's landlord had receiving enough complaints to fill at least two file cabinets. Tony had just laughed and once again reminded her about how ironic it was, just as when her heating broke last winter. When he received a glare he pointed out for her that if it hasn't been for that, they would be here and then Kate would surrender.
"They'll fix it by the end of the week, Kate"
"Yeah, cause melting away on 4th July doesn't seem like an appealing thought"
Tony chuckled. Sometimes her comments were priceless. It made his day sometimes.
"Look on the bright side, Katie. In 45 minutes, we'll sit in the car and you can put the air conditioner on full blast"
"Yeah, whatever. But if your damn landlord doesn't get this fixed soon I'll consider staying at home until he does what he's asked"
Tony just smiled and shook his head. Kate hadn't been home for almost six weeks and even if it wasn't official yet, you could say that he and Kate lived together. It had fallen natural just as their relationship. In the beginning she only stayed on the weekends but as the mountain of her clothes on the chair in the bedroom, she'd begun to stay overnight during the weeks as well.
"Aww, you'd never leave me here all by myself"
"Whatever. Why don't we just live at my place until it's fixed?"
"You want to drag all your stuff back home, fine with me" he said and Kate knew he was right. It would take days to only gather her things and get them back home and by then, the air conditioner would probably be back in business.
"I hate it when you're right. I'm taking a shower" she announced and stood, proceeding to kiss him before waltzing out of the kitchen, leaving an amused Tony behind.
---
By the time they arrived at HQ, Kate was in a much better mood. The cool air in Tony's car had apparently cheered her up. As every other day, they put a few minutes between their arrivals since, to their surprise, Gibbs didn't seem to know about their relationship. Abby knew of course. Tony hadn't been so happy when Kate revealed that Abby knew but when he realised that Abby hadn't told anyone he had just shrugged it off and forgiven her.
Kate went first today and wasn't surprised to find Gibbs by his desk already. The two empty coffee cups in the bin told her that he'd been there for a while. Only second later, McGee came in, not taking notice of any of them since he was busy with his iPod. Kate checked the clock on her computer and true, nine minutes after her, Tony came in, pretending that he hadn't seen her since yesterday, as usual.
Gibbs noticed their greetings but he knew better. He wanted to tell them that they could come in together, he wasn't that stupid. But Jen's words rang in his ears and he really didn't know why he listened to them. Since when did he listen to her? Mentally shaking his head at himself, he turned his attention back to his computer screen. About 20 minutes later, the phone rang and he answered with a simple "Gibbs", as usual.
"New case, let's go" his agents quickly gathered their backpacks and without further questions, followed him to the elevator.
"Boss, where are we going?" Tony dared to ask as they rode down to the garage.
"Doswell, Virginia"
"Never heard of" he replied and Gibbs glare told him not to ask anything else. Down in the garage, they met up with Ducky and Palmer. After short greetings they go into their trucks and left the Navy Yard.
"Gibbs, can you tell us where we are going? What this case is about?"
"Dead body in Virginia. What else do you need to know, agent Todd?" Kate let out a sigh. Gibbs calling her "agent Todd" roughly meant, "please shut up". She exchanged a glance with Tony that only meant one thing. Someone's in a mood today…
---
"An amusement park?" Tony called out as Gibbs parked and quickly got out without answering.
"King's Dominion" Kate read from the sign above the entrance. "Someone dumped a corpse here?" She was almost right, in the wooded area just beside the entrance to the amusement park, the local LEO's had roped off with bright yellow tape. They flashed their bags and Ducky easily wandered over branches to reach the body. She was female, in her mid-twenties, laying on her back with dried blood on her face.
"Oh, my dear. What happened to you?" he said and bent down to examine her injuries. Knowing their tasks, Tony, Kate and McGee had scrambled off to begin their work while Gibbs stood behind Ducky, hoping to get a cause of death.
"Not much. Seems like this poor lady suffered major injuries to her head. Is she in the Navy?"
"Yes. Petty officer… Alana Gordon. ID was found in her purse" Gibbs mumbled and read from his notepad. "Got a ToD?"
"Soon, Jethro. Patience…" Ducky said good-naturedly and waved at Palmer to bring the bags. Gibbs stalked off and passed Kate, who just had finished taking pictures.
"When you're done, you and Tony go and talk to the boys over there. They found the body this morning"
"Got it"
A few minutes later, she and Tony left the buzzing scene, ducking under the tape and meeting up with a group of teenage boys, not older than sixteen maybe, who stood by crummy looking car, apparently extremely confused by the whole situation.
"Special agents DiNozzo and Todd, NCIS. Let's make this quick, who found the body?" Tony said, going into professional mode. Kate smiled to herself. There really was a difference between Tony at work and Tony at home. Guess I fell for them both…she mused.
Snapping back to reality, feeling guilty for letting her personal thoughts peek forward. This was exactly what they shouldn't do. Bringing personal emotions into work was exactly what she and Tony had agreed not to do.
"I…had to…well go to the bathroom, but the park wasn't open yet, so… I went over those trees" one of the boys said and pointed towards the scene. "Then I just spotted her lying there" Tony nodded, writing it down in his notepad.
"Then what?" Kate asked.
"As I said, the park hadn't opened yet, but we caught one of the security guards and a few minutes later this place was filled with cops"
"You didn't touch the body?" At this, half of the group looked shocked and the other half, disgusted.
"No way!"
After a few more questions, they thanked them for their co-operation and went to go back to the scene.
"Strange I've never been here" Tony said.
"Let me guess, you're one of those crazy people who get a thrill by riding roller coasters until you puke, and then you go again when your stomach is empty?"
"Pretty much, yeah. I love roller coasters! I've been to Six Flags like a million times!"
"Geez…" Kate deadpanned and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Holy shit! Look at that" he pointed towards a roller coaster and when Kate followed his gaze, her eyes widened. It looked like a regular roller coaster until about half into the ride. First, slowly ascending to the top of a hill just to, seconds later, drop in 90 degrees.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"That's one hell of a ride. When this case is over we have to go here, Kate"
"Thanks, but no thanks" she said sarcastically, lifting the tape. "Come on. Looks like we're finished here" she said when she spotted the black body bag being moved into Ducky's truck.
---
At HQ, Kate was asked, or rather ordered, to pull out the petty officer's file while evidence was delivered to Abby.
"If you're not going with me Kate, Abby is coming" Tony announced as he passed her desk. She just rolled her eyes and kept reading. When Gibbs arrived, coffee in hand and McGee in tow, she put it up on the plasma.
"Petty officer Alana Gordon, stationed in Little Creek. Lives in Hampton since –04. Been in the Navy for five years. Only family on record is a brother. Lucas Gordon. I couldn't track down his address" Kate finished her brief presentation.
"His last address?" Gibbs inquired.
"New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York"
"Let me guess, he's not there anymore?" Tony said and Kate nodded. "Was released two months ago. Our usual luck…"
"Track him down, Kate. Tony and McGee, go and check out her apartment in Hampton" Gibbs ordered. With a discreet sigh and a wink at Kate, Tony left the bullpen, McGee following suit.
---
It was late afternoon when the guys returned from Hampton. Kate had still not been able to track down Lucas Gordon, which made Gibbs even grumpier, if that was now even possible. He walked off now and then. When he'd come back from Abby's with the knowledge that nothing had come up on the evidence, Kate felt it was safest to stay out of his way.
"Where's Gibbs?" Tony asked when he arrived back, looking extremely tired.
"Probably spreading his joy and happiness in some coffee shop. Any success in Hampton?"
"Lotsa photographs. And I mean a lot" McGee butted in. He held up several evidence bags containing both framed photos and albums. "Maybe we can get some information from her acquaintances"
"Good idea" Kate agreed and kept typing. Since the brother left New York there was nothing on him.
"Shouldn't the hospital keep track of their patients? I mean, even if they're improving they should stay in contact with the hospital, right?" Kate questioned and the guys agreed.
Half an hour later, Gibbs came back as Kate just hung up the phone. "I think I've made almost forty phone calls within an hour. Seriously"
"Then make another forty until you find him" Gibbs said firmly. "Got anything from the apartment?"
"Photos" McGee quickly replied. "I brought them to Abby for fingerprints"
"Kate, go down and try and to identify some of them. Maybe get some names from them" Nodding, Kate left.
"Hey, Kate. You still here?" Glancing at her clock, Kate groaned. It was almost six thirty.
"Gibbs is in a very bad mood today"
"I noticed. I wonder why…Anyway, I'm done with the prints. No prints except the vic's"
"Didn't expect anything else…So, wanna help me go through them?" Abby just shrugged and brought the albums over to the table.
"Oh God, she had a lot of spare time" Abby commented as they opened the first one. The photos were neatly organized in chronological order, all of them having a pretty witty line written in neat cursive beneath them.
"Indeed" Kate said. They flipped through the pages. This first three mostly contained old photos from the 90's. Most of them were from family gatherings, school plays and birthday parties. The following one was more interesting. It held photos from college and a few recent ones as well.
"I have one interesting name so far" Kate said and glanced down at her notepad. "Shawn. Shouldn't an organized person like her write more than just Shawn. Maybe…a little hint about who he is!" Kate said sarcastically. "Anyway, thanks Abs. I'll see if we can get out of here now"
"Still staying at Tony's?" Abby asked with a knowing grin. Kate just made a dismissive gesture with her hand and left. "Bye Abs"
---
Up in the bullpen, Tony was packing his stuff and McGee was already gone. "We get to leave?" Kate wondered, surprised.
"Yep. Come on, I'm hungry. By the way, did you and Abby find something?"
"One name. Shawn. The albums were extremely organized with comments and dates but she only happened to write nothing but Shawn"
"Ironic"
"Very. Hey, could you give me a ride home first? I need to get some more stuff"
"Geez, Kate. I need to buy you a wardrobe"
"No protest here"
They laughed as they walked for the elevator. A while later, she was dropped off after telling him she would take her car over to his place with the argument; "We may need them".
When she entered her apartment it immediately felt empty. She walked into the bedroom and her neatly made bed that hadn't been touched in weeks. She wouldn't be surprised if most of her stuff were covered in a layer of dust. Opening her closet she realised there wasn't much left in there. Grabbing the two last work suits, two pairs of jeans and several shirts, she quickly emptied it. She wandered through her apartment, amazed by how impersonal it was. There was gaps in her bookcase, empty drawers and even the walls was empty since she'd brought a few framed photos to Tony's place. No, this wasn't home anymore. Throwing it all down in a bag, she was out the door within ten minutes. It even felt strange to drive. Tony'd driven to work every day. She was shocked by how quickly the two of them had fallen into a domestic routine that didn't seem unfamiliar at all. Geez, Kate. You've got it bad.
Fifteen minutes later she dragged her bag up the stairs to the third floor in Tony's building. She couldn't wait until she got to just collapse on his couch, it had been a long day. She kicked on the door since her hands were full. But she was completely shocked as she was met by a woman's face. She had long, dark hair and sparkling eyes. She was in her mid-twenties and casually wore a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.
"Um…hi" Kate managed to get out. The woman eyed her for a moment before her face split up in a huge, warm smile. "You're Kate, aren't you?" And for once, Kate was speechless. Who the hell was this?
First chapter done. Was it good? Does it seem boring? Want to know who the mysterious woman is? Press the cute little button down there, and maybe you'll find out. Thanks for reading:)
