Hey everyone! I'm new to fanfiction, and this is only my second story. I am currently working on two; Coming Hom and Haunted by the Past. I know it might be crazy to take on two at once being a newbie, but both plots were screaming at me, so I said 'What the hey, might as well.' Please tell me what you think! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, but if I did, I would be one lucky woman. ;)
Chapter One
"Clear!" Kate shouted back as she swiftly moved into the room, gun tracking and back tightly pressed against the wall. She quickly scanned the room, searching for any movement or shadows misplaced, as she stepped further into the room, lowering her Sig, her eyes took in the room before her, more specifically, the walls.
She heard the other shouts of "Clear!" through the house as her team moved quickly and methodically through each room.
Kate stood in the middle of the bedroom she had cleared, staring agape at the hundreds of glossy photographs covering the walls. Her eyes were drawn to a thick cluster of images in the corner of the room. She could faintly hear the footsteps behind her, moving to the room she was in. She took two steps forward, her hand reaching out to touch one of the pictures closest to her, tracing the figures in the image.
She could hear McGee and Tony's bickering coming closer, but she wasn't focused on what they were saying.
"Probie! How could you possibly think Cool Hand Luke was the worst Western of its time?! It's a class –" Tony suddenly stopped, making McGee run into him from behind.
"Tony what's the problem? Could you please stop blocking the door?" McGee said, irritated, stepping around Tony into the room.
"My God," he breathed, seeing for the first time what had made Kate not answer their initial calls and leaving Tony speechless. The latter was what had really gotten his attention.
Tony eyed the area, stunned by the photographs that wall-papered the room. The rest of the house they cleared, had seemed almost cold, sterile, sparse. Minimal furniture, no accessories or decorative pieces. No pictures or knick-knacks on shelves or mantles. The only room that looked remotely touched was this one. He knew his boss was at the front of the house, going through trash cans and systematically searching cabinets and drawers.
Tony's eyes fell on his partner. If Tony was stunned, Kate looked almost catatonic. She was staring at a cluster of pictures in the corner of the room, near the small closet. Her hand was slowly moving over one of the photos. What kind of sick bastard would do this? he thought.
"Kate?" Tony called softly. When she didn't move or give him any indication that she had heard him, he quietly stepped out of the room and called to their boss.
"Gibbs…" he said softly.
Tony instantly got Gibbs' attention. Tony never called him Gibbs unless something was up.
"Yes, DiNozzo? What do you got?" He asked as he slipped a receipt into an evidence bag as he continued going through the trash.
"You need to come see this," he heard Tony whisper from down the hall. Gibbs sighed.
"Can't you guys handle it, Tony?"
"Gibbs," Tony said, his voice inflicting a measure of desperation. "It's Kate."
At that, Gibb's head snapped up as he dropped the trash can, swiftly moved to his feet and met Tony at the end of the hall. He noticed that Tony looked distracted, his eyes staring at something toward the back bedroom, which he assumed both Kate and McGee were in.
His senses were immediately on alert, almost anything to do with Kate had his adrenaline going and his mind working overtime at the various possibilities of situations that she could be in. He took a breath at the fact that he hadn't heard any shouts or noises that could be construed that she was in any physical danger, added to the fact that Tony didn't seem to be in a hurry, but the fact that the usual humor and playfulness DiNozzo exuded was all but squashed under a worried and gentle Tony.
"What's wrong with Kate? Where is she?" Gibbs asked gruffly, wanting a quick answer.
"In there, boss," Tony said, nodding his head toward the back bedroom that Gibbs had assumed Kate was in.
Gibbs watched Tony out of the corners of his eyes as he slid passed him into the room, his gut telling him to move smoothly and quietly. In his peripheral vision, he saw McGee over by the bed, the farthest away from Kate, with latex gloves, removing glossy prints from the wall and putting them in evidence bags.
Gibbs didn't take the time to analyze what McGee or now DiNozzo were doing, or what exactly the prints were of. He simply summed up their actions swiftly in a matter of seconds, then his eyes immediately shot to Kate. His focus was centered on her and only her, her body language screaming out to him that something was wrong.
She was unmoving and deathly still. She was in the corner of the room staring at a portion of the wall in front of her with her shoulders hunched and her arms wrapped around her middle, as if to ward away pain.
Gibbs' heart clenched at how broken she looked, and the only cognizant thought he had screamed for him to protect her from whatever had upset her so.
He moved up behind her, close enough to smell her shampoo; gardenias and honeysuckle.
"Kate," he whispered in her ear. "What's wrong?"
His warm breath on the side of her neck made her shiver, the first reaction she had had since seeing the images in the room.
Gibbs watched her turn around. He noticed how close they were, closer than usual when face to face. The pain in her eyes and their almost glazed look made his breath catch, but what really unsettled him was the fear in her eyes. His normal, vibrant and bold Katie was quivering. Her normal smooth and soft face was tight and taut with tension and worry.
He waited for her to speak. After a few moments of just staring at each other, she turned slightly away from him, back to the picture she had been intently staring at.
"Gibbs," she whispered. "Look."
She raised her hand back to the picture, but this time she gestured, as if to show him the whole wall.
At that, Gibbs finally took the time to really see what the photos were of. When he did, he understood why his team had acted out of character, and why Kate was immobilized by her emotions.
A gut-wrenching chill swept over him as he went from one wall to another, anger and fear rising up on a tidal wave. He now knew what the common denominator was in all of the photographs.
The man whose house this had been, before it was abandoned, was the boyfriend of a naval officer, one who had been viciously slain two weeks ago. The team had reason to believe that the boyfriend was the perpetrator. They had gotten this address and immediately came to investigate.
With this new evidence, Gibbs knew they weren't just dealing with a murderer, but a sick stalker as well. Every picture featured a dark-haired woman; getting dressed, getting in her car, leaving a coffee shop, walking her dog.
As he devoured the sight of every picture, his emotions intensified. A little growl escaped him.
"Tony! McGee!" He barked. "Bag all of these and send them to Abby for analysis!" He turned to Kate and his voice noticeably softened. "Kate," he said. "You're with me."
Her eyes met his and she knew what was coming next, before he even spoke the words.
"You're also under protection detail," he said gently. He looked at her, expecting to see the spark of fire he would have normally met with and an argument bursting from her lips, but instead he only saw a quiet acceptance. She nodded once and moved past him and out of the room.
Tony and McGee got to work, bagging and tagging. Gibbs looked one last time at the photos that had so obviously been painstakingly put on the walls. He looked, as the burning anger he had felt was replaced by an ice cold fear, at the hundreds of pictures depicting this woman's life. Of his Katie's life.