WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER
A/N: I KNOW I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY FIRST STORY, MONSTERS IN THE SHADOWS, YET, BUT I'M HAVING A BIT OF A MENTAL BLOCK THERE, SO WHILE I TRY AND WORK THRU THAT, I HAVE TO GET RID OF SOME OF THESE STORY IDEAS ROAMING AROUND IN MY HEAD. I HAD DONE A POLL ABOUT WHICH STORY IDEA Y'ALL WANTED TO SEE, AND I GOT 5 WHOLE VOTES, SO THE MAJORITY RULES, AND THE TEACHER STORY WON OUT.
GRACIE, THE HEROINE OF THE STORY, IS A TEACHER OF SEVERE SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS. I'M BASING MOST OF HER EXPERIENCES ON MY OWN - I'VE WORKED WITH SEVERELY AUTISTIC AND SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS FOR OVER 20 YEARS, AND MY MOTHER TAUGHT THEM FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS. I'M NOT MAKING LIGHT OF ANY DISABILITIES, I'VE JUST FOUND THAT WORKING WITH THIS POPULATION IS A HECK OF A LOT MORE FUN THAN WITH KIDS ON GRADE LEVEL. THESE KIDS ARE SO HAPPY TO BE IN SCHOOL, AND NO DAY IS EVER THE SAME. YES, IT CAN BE EXHAUSTING, BUT THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE. THE WORST OF IT WOULD BE THE PAPERWORK!
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU ALL KNEW THAT I'M NOT MAKING FUN OF ANY POPULATION OF STUDENT. I'M HOPING MY LOVE FOR "MY KIDS" COMES THRU IN MY WRITING, AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU GET A FEEL FOR WHAT HAPPENS IN A SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM.
A/N 2: I OWN NO PART OF NCIS OR CBS, OR OF ANY COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS THAT MAY BE MENTIONED WITHIN THESE CHAPTERS. ALL I OWN OF NCIS IS MY JEALOUSY OF THE ACTUAL WRITERS OF THE SHOW.
CHAPTER ONE
The fire alarm began shrieking just as special needs teacher Gracie Lind pushed the "Close Door" button in the elevator. The three severe special needs children with her all jumped at the sound, which was amplified greatly in the small, metal box. "It's ok, guys," Gracie said confidently. "Just a fire drill." That the custodian should have warned her about, she thought with to herself, slightly peeved. Having a few autistic students that panic at the sound of the alarm, Gracie had worked out with the head custodian that she'd get a heads up about the fire drill as soon as he knew about it. Up until today, it had been working well. She and her assistant had a little extra time to get her students prepared for the noise.
A tug on her sweater made Gracie look down into the cherubic face of Adina, a Down's Syndrome first grader. " 'e tuh?" the young girl asked worriedly.
Gracie smiled. She'd been working with this population for nearly 20 years, since graduating from college, and could full-well understand the child. "No honey, we're not really stuck. Once the fire drill is over, the firemen will start the elevator again. Hey guys, maybe they'll let us look at their truck again, huh? That would be awesome!" Being a teacher, Gracie turned the situation into a teaching moment. "Tell you what, Deeny, see if you can find the number one button and show Kyle where it is, and he can push it."
Her cell phone rang, and Gracie pulled it out to answer. She knew it would be her instructional assistant, Janine. "Hey Miss Janine, " she answered brightly, giving the kids a thumbs-up for finding the right number. "Are you all out at the Meeting Tree?" Her assistant talked so fast and excitedly that Gracie could barely keep up. "Wait, wait, Janine, slow down. I can't understand you….. It's what?" Ohhhh no. This wasn't good. She turned her back to the kids so they wouldn't see her agitation. "What do you mean, 'it's not a drill'? What's going on?" she murmured softly. "A what?" She squinched her eyes shut. "Janine….. Janine, listen to me. You need to go to whomever's in charge and let them know that there's four of us stuck in the elevator….no, it automatically shuts down when the fire alarm goes off. Safety feature. Only the fire department can re-start it…..ok, thanks." Gracie took a quick look back at her students. "And Janine? Tell them to hurry. I think Dante's going to have a seizure."
*NCIS**NCIS**NCIS**NCIS**NCIS**NCIS**NCIS**NCIS*
The black charger squealed to a stop outside the yellow police tape, four agents rushing out. There was always a sense of urgency when children were involved, especially for the team's leader, Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Gibbs stalked up to the SWAT van, flashing his federal ID when the LEOs would have stopped him from crossing the police perimeter. "Who's in charge here?" he ground out with a squinty glare.
A tall, husky, older man dressed in typical black SWAT gear stepped up. "That'd be me." He held out a hand to shake Gibbs' hand. "Sgt. Cavanaugh, DCPD SWAT."
"Gibbs, NCIS. Whadda' we got?"
"10:30 AM, fire alarm comes in from James Monroe Elementary School. Fire units get here to no fire, but following protocol, they check the building. Just as they call the All-Clear, a call comes in saying they hope everyone's out of the building, then they said 'tick-tock, tick-tock.' That was the end of the call."
"Bomb?" asked a younger agent.
Gibbs gave his senior agent a glare. "Ya' think, DiNozzo?"
"Sorry, boss."
Agent Gibbs turned back to the SWAT commander. "What do we know about it? Have we found a device yet?"
Just then, there was a commotion back at the police tape. A woman's voice, hysterical, an officer ordering her back. Gibbs turned and frowned at the interruption. "McGee! Go find out what that's all about."
A well-dressed younger agent pulled out his notebook. "On it, boss."
Special agent Timothy McGee strode over to where a cluster of police officers were, by this point, restraining a distraught young woman. He held his badge and ID up for the officers to see. "What's the problem here, officers?"
A beefy looking officer, the one restraining the young lady, grunted, "she's trying to cross the police line."
"PLEASE! It's an emergency! I need to speak…" The woman let out a cry and struggled as the beefy officer squeezed his hands tighter around her arms.
"We've got our own emergency going on here, lady…." Beefy growled.
If there was one thing Agent McGee disliked, it was law enforcement officers that abused their authority. He put on his serious face. "Let her through," he said strongly.
Beefy snarled, "my orders are no one crosses …"
Tim got right up in the officer's face, giving the man his own version of the Gibbs Glare. "Let. Her. Through. Or I'll have you doing crosswalk duty for the rest of your career," he growled.
Beefy stared back at McGee, seeing if the agent would crumble under his own glare. When the officer realized the agent wouldn't give in, he sneered, and all but pushed the young lady under the tape McGee held up for her. McGee caught her before she could fall to the ground.
With another glance at the officer's nametag, Tim made a mental note to himself to make Officer Nelson's life more difficult when this situation was over. He steadied the woman. "You Ok?"
She wiped her eyes and sniffled. "Yes, thank you, detective…?" She read the badge shown to her. "Sorry, Agent McGee."
"You're welcome," Tim smiled. "And don't worry. Officer Nelson won't get away with manhandling you like that." He got a watery smile and a thank you in return. Giving her a reassuring smile, McGee asked, " now, what seems to be the problem, Miss…?"
"Oh! Michaels. Janine Michaels." She wiped her eyes. "Uh, I'm an employee here at Monroe, in the severe life skills classroom. That's kids with developmental and cognitive delays. I'm in the K through second grade class." She stopped to take a breath and wipe her eyes again. "Um, our class was just leaving Music Therapy - that's up on the third floor - when the alarm went off."
"Go on," McGee encouraged gently.
"We have a student in a wheelchair, and one with a walker. They and another student had just gotten into the elevator with the teacher when the alarm went off….." she said with a sniffle.
Tim looked around. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere. Would you like me to help you look for …."
"NO!" Janine yelled. "You don't understand! I got the rest of our class out to our designated "Meeting Tree" - that's where we all meet up if we get split up in emergency situations. Gracie - that's the teacher, Gracie Lind, never came out to meet up with us! I called her cell," Janine said with a sob, "she and the three kids are still inside, on the elevator!" Tears poured down her face. "Please! You've got to help them!"
McGee's face paled. He turned and started back to the SWAT van, ushering Janine along at his side. Gibbs was grilling the commander when McGee interrupted. "Uh, boss….." Gibbs ignored him. "BOSS!" he yelled.
"WHAT, McGee?" Gibbs growled, turning to face his young agent, who should have known better than to interrupt while he was questioning someone.
McGee knew he'd broken one of Gibbs' Rules, but it needed to be done. "Um, uh, sorry, boss. But, uh, well… we've got a problem."
**PHOOF**
Well, I hope y'all enjoyed this first chapter. I've had this story in my head for literally YEARS, originally written for characters not of NCIS. But I think it will fit the show well. I hope! So PLEASE, click that little REVIEW button and let me know what you think! Click REVIEW….
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