MUDSLIDE
By Mele
Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, I don't own NCIS, not making a profit, just having some fun. Hope folks enjoy….
Dr. Mallard stepped from the elevator at the motel, immediately looking toward the small coffee shop just off the lobby. It was early and he'd not had his usual cup of tea yet, and he knew he'd need that to fortify him for the long drive back to DC. His expression lightened as he saw his assistant, Jimmy Palmer, wave to get his attention, a tall covered cup and a plate containing a scone sitting in front of the empty seat at his table. Ducky flashed a smile and hurried to join the young man, who greeted him with his usual effervescent cheer.
"Good morning, Dr. Mallard, did you rest well?" the younger man asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Quite well, lad, quite well. And you?" the Scotsman countered, taking the lid off the cup and sniffing the brew appreciatively.
"Excellent. I'm so glad Director Vance gave his okay for the extra night. It would have been a nightmare trying to drive home last night," Palmer replied. "The storm just ended a couple of hours ago, according to the news. And thank goodness, no snow, just a lot of rain."
"Yes, but wet roads, exhaustion, and darkness are a well-documented recipe for disaster."
"Indeed."
The two men sat back in companionable silence, Ducky tucking into the scone his assistant had so graciously provided, while the younger man enjoyed a breakfast sandwich washed down with black coffee. They rarely mentioned the diabetes that was a lifelong factor in Palmer's life, but both had long since learned to make allowances so he would always have the right kinds of food available when needed.
"Director Vance made an interesting proposition last night," Dr. Mallard said at last.
"Oh?" Jimmy's expression was a bit wary.
"Well, it seems that he sent Team Gibbs home the day before yesterday, just as we were leaving, and told them to not come back for three days," Ducky informed him, with a wistful smile. "I do wish I could have seen Jethro's face at that one. Apparently he threatened suspending any of them who dared to show their face before then."
Jimmy laughed along with his mentor, almost choking on his coffee. "Agent Gibbs hates time off," he noted.
"Yes, yes he does. Anyway, not only was the Director amenable to our staying the extra night, but he suggested we take the scenic route home if we so desired," the older man supplied.
"Scenic route?"
"Not familiar with this area?" Dr. Mallard asked with a smile. "There is a little known highway that meanders through the mountains, impassable during the winter. Busy with tourists, hikers and fishermen during the summer, but perfect for this time of year." He supplied.
"Sounds interesting," Palmer agreed. "It's not like I have to hurry, Breena took the time to visit her folks," the young man smiled. "She'll be home next Monday. And our surrogate isn't due for another four weeks."
"Fatherhood is looming large, my young friend. Are you sure you are ready for it?"
"Is anyone?" Jimmy countered, his expression sobering. "I just don't want to screw this up."
"You won't. I have every faith in you and Breena. This baby is getting the best possible parents," Dr. Mallard assured his assistant. For the hundredth time, it seemed.
"Yeah, you know, the scenic route sounds pretty good. I'm not in that much of a hurry to get back to work again," Jimmy agreed at length.
The past two weeks had been pure hell. The MCRT had been hit with back to back to back cases, actually overlapping. The number of victims for the three cases had numbered eleven, four of which had been particularly gruesome – victims of an acid attack. Two of those had been once-beautiful young women. Two others been bodies that had gone undiscovered for a decade. Another one had been incinerated. Only two of the eleven had been a simple cause of death, the kind where Ducky could basically say "the bullet to the head is the most likely cause of death." Both Ducky and Jimmy had put in fourteen hour days and worked weekends trying to uncover the mysteries the bodies had concealed. They had no sooner finished when the two of them had to leave for a medical conference. They were to represent the Medical Examiner profession as a part of NCIS, giving a day-long lecture and demonstrations to those who might be interested in entering the field. They were a huge hit, the actual presentation going two hours longer than expected, then they had folks lingering to ask questions for yet another two hours. It had been close to 8 p.m. when they finally headed back to their motel rooms, and the welcome knowledge that Director Vance had no problem with them staying until the next day to head home.
"Good call. The scenic route it is."
NCISNCIS
Ducky was taking his turn driving the NCIS Medical Examiner's van, which they'd used to travel in since it was part of the presentation they'd made. With their luggage secured in the back and soft jazz music filling the cab, both men were relaxed and at peace, enjoying the truly magnificent scenery.
"Ah, nothing like the splendor of nature to soothe the soul after a long period of work, right?" the elder man queried with a smile.
"I have to agree," Jimmy grinned, looking well pleased. "Yesterday was sure good, though, wasn't it?" he countered.
"Oh, yes. I can't believe how receptive our audience was, how interested. So often when I've done these the attendees were more like youngsters being punished. This group was exceptional. And having your assistance was also much appreciated. It's clear the future of the Medical Examiner profession is in good hands," he said warmly.
"Yeah, if even half of those folks yesterday go into the profession it'll be a welcome thing," Palmer agreed with satisfaction.
"Lad, I was not speaking of the attendees of our seminar," Ducky chided gently.
Palmer shot his much admired boss a shocked look, then blushed to the roots of his curly hair. He tried to stammer out a response, only to find the words wouldn't come. He turned his attention to the surrounding forest to hide his discomfiture. Ducky didn't seem to mind in the least, understanding that the younger man wasn't accustomed to praise.
"I can't believe I've never been here," Jimmy commented at last, his attention still on the passing scenery, his expression almost childlike in his delight at the beauty of the area. "I can't wait until I can bring Breena," he added enthusiastically.
"And your little one," Ducky added with a serene smile. "Oh, I so loved our weekend excursions when I was but a lad."
"Yeah, I can't wait to introduce him or her to all the great things in the world. Like this place. And the parks in DC, the memorials. Taking them to a movie for the first time. Meeting a horse. I don't know…all of it, you know? All the amazing things that are there waiting for us to discover," Palmer enthused, giving his boss a slightly loopy grin.
Ducky chuckled indulgently. "You still don't know if it is a girl or boy?" he asked finally.
"No, Breena wants to be surprised, and that's fine with me."
"Just remember lad, in the midst of good there is also the not-so-good," he noted soberly, nodding as they entered an area that had been decimated by a wildfire the summer before. The road meandered along the side of a steep mountain, with a sharp rise above on the right and a deep drop on the left. They were on a downgrade, nearing the bottom of the valley, when disaster struck without warning.
The wildfire had destroyed the underlying brush as well as the trees, laying bare the side of the mountain. A day and a half of steady rain had melted the snow in the higher elevations, adding to the water running off the mountainside. It hit critical mass just as the ME van neared the bottom of the grade, seeing a tour bus coming in the opposite direction. One minute they were traveling along at a fairly leisurely pace, the next a mountain of mud swept both vehicles off the road and down the mercifully short hillside.
NCISNCIS
"Hey, Probie Wan Kenobi, where you heading out to?" Tony asked, approaching his teammate as the younger man headed toward his car, parked just outside his apartment complex.
"Tony, what are you doing here?" Tim asked with some asperity, ignoring the older man's question.
"Dude, it's Wednesday, I have no idea what to do with a Wednesday off. Thought I'd see if you had any suitable suggestions," Tony grinned, draping a companionable arm across McGee's shoulders. "The Duckster and Autopsy Gremlin are out of town, Bishop's back with her hubby and Abby is doing a Bingo marathon. And Gibbs? Well, Bossman is probably building an ark in his garage or something. What brings you out of the Nerd Lair this bright morning?"
Tim sighed, recognizing that it would not be easy to dissuade Tony from dogging him on this rare mid-week day off.
"I need a new modem, and was thinking of adding an external hard drive to my system to allow for saving inactive files off the active hard drive. Wanna come along?" he smirked, knowing his teammate didn't enjoy visits to the computer store.
"How about I make a counter offer?" Tony said. "There's an eight hour Jimmy Stewart marathon at the Starburst Vintage Theatre downtown. Vertigo. Rear Window. Harvey. Ends with It's a Wonderful Life. Come on, McGeek, live a little. There's a buffet between Rear Window and Harvey. Comedy, mystery, intrigue. And pigs in a blanket. Can't tell me that's an offer you can turn down," Tony wheedled, giving Tim the full 'puppy dog eyes' thing that got him more dates than was reasonable.
Tim considered his teammate carefully, considering how he'd been there – in inimitable DiNozzo style – when Delilah was injured. How he'd always been there, in his own way, always. And Tim knew that Ziva's departure still hurt. Just as he knew Jeanne's departure still hurt. The man didn't know how to do closure worth a damn. And as it turned out, Delilah was at her parent's for a visit, so he had no viable excuse.
"Fine, you talked me into it. But, on the way let's stop and get some decent snacks. Pigs in a blanket are not going to do it for me," Tim countered, smiling when Tony laughed in agreement.
"Can you get caviar on water crackers at the mini mart?"
NCISNCIS
Gibbs was not building an ark, but a rocking horse. At first he'd pretended it was for his adopted granddaughter, the child of Mike Frank's son, but in reality it was for Palmer's expected offspring. He usually spared no thought to Ducky's assistant, but through the years – and when had it become years, he pondered – the younger man had become as much a part of his team as anyone else. And now that young man was a husband and soon to be a father, and every child deserved a rocking horse, in Gibb's mind.
He was patiently sanding smooth the rockers when his thoughts were suddenly filled with Ducky and his assistant. His gut went into overdrive as he all but dropped the sander in his distress.
Something had happened to Ducky! His gut screamed at him.
With no hesitation at all he snatched up his cell phone and hit the speed dial for DiNozzo, while sprinting up the steps from his garage to his bedroom where he quickly changed out of his well-worn sweatshirt into a button down he tucked into his jeans. DiNozzo's number went to voice mail and Gibbs spoke tersely.
"Something's wrong with Ducky. Meet me at the office."
NCISNCIS
"Dr. Mallard?" Jimmy's voice was faint and slightly strained, but still it penetrated the fog that filled the older man's mind.
"Dr. Mallard, can you hear me?" the disjointed voice insisted.
'I am here, though I am not quite certain where 'here' is," Dr. Palmer replied at length, struggling to open his eyes.
"Don't move," Jimmy instructed him gently, the stress still evident in his voice.
"Oh, my" Ducky commented, looking around the now dim interior of the ME van. "This cannot be good."
Jimmy's responding chuckle was rueful. "It's not. It seems we got caught in a mudslide. I'm somewhat tangled in my seatbelt. I don't want to cut myself loose lest I fall on you. I think we can get out via my window. But again, I don't want to risk that until we are both free. Are you injured?" he asked the last with his heart in his throat.
"Let me see, lad, what my status is," the elder man replied, carefully moving each extremity in turn. Finding no issues, he carefully sought out his seatbelt and unbuckled it. I t appeared the van was on its side, driver's side down, and at least partially immersed in mud.
"I appear to be uninjured and am now free of restraint. I will endeavor to assist you in freeing yourself of your seatbelt, then we can see about exiting the vehicle," Ducky informed his assistant, suiting action to word. There was precious little room to spare in the cab of the ME van, but by standing up Ducky left enough room for Jimmy to rotate his lower body down. Carefully helping his assistant cut through the lap portion of the seatbelt, Ducky helped him maneuver into a standing position and wiggle out of the shoulder portion of the restraint.
"Okay, now for the window," Jimmy noted, reaching up to lower the glass. The glass obediently, if somewhat reluctantly slid back into the door, leaving them a small opening to exit the van.
"I'll boost you up first, Dr. Mallard," Jimmy offered, lowering his hands into a step the older man could utilize to hoist himself out.
Though it went against his instinct to get the younger man to safety first, Ducky had to concede that Jimmy – being younger, slimmer and taller – would have the better ability to exit the van independently. Accepting Palmer's assistance, he soon found himself in an ugly world of mud and debris spread in every direction, as far as he could see.
The stark expanse of brown muck rendered both men speechless for a moment, even as their feet sunk into the soft mud. Ducky looked up at his young assistant with a questioning expression.
"There was an oncoming vehicle, was there not?" he asked with some dismay.
"Yes, Doctor, a bus as I recall. Perhaps fifty feet in front of us when the mountain attacked," Jimmy replied, his voice sounding a bit shocked.
"An interesting, and oddly apt, way of describing it," Ducky commented, scanning the area ahead. "We need to find that bus, there may be injuries."
"Yes, Sir." Suiting action to words, Jimmy struggled forward, sinking nearly knee deep in the viscous mud. Ducky followed his example, both of them rapidly becoming winded by the exertion and the higher elevation. Fortunately they spotted the bus tires not far ahead, the only part of the large vehicle they could see. Two were clearly above the 'mud line' as Ducky had begun to think of it, the other two slightly lower and partially encompassed. It appeared the mud had rolled the vehicle, as it had their van, but it had rolled further, coming to rest at a slight angle on its roof. Ducky and Jimmy struggled to reach where the door would be, on the far side, and were relieved to see it was accessible.
Using main force to open the doors, Ducky stepped inside to a world of scattered luggage and people, most of whom were either in shock or groaning in pain from their injuries. The driver was hanging upside down from his seat, still buckled in, and clearly had been killed immediately, a shard of the broken windshield or side window still protruding from his neck. Jimmy joined him inside; using a tiny penlight he kept on his keychain to illuminate the area.
"Oh, my, we do have our work cut out for us," Ducky muttered as the tiny light touched on each person, few of whom it appeared had escaped injury. "We are going to need supplies," he added as his mind busily started determining who most needed help first.
"I'll get them, Doctor, no problem. I can crawl back in the window, then into the back. I'll be back as soon as I can," Jimmy assured him, already making a mental list of what may be needed.
"Be careful, Mr. Palmer, it won't help if you get injured or trapped," the Medical Examiner noted, giving a calming pat to his assistant's shoulder.
"I will be. And I'll be back as soon as I can," the younger man replied, reluctantly leaving his mentor in that hellish bus. He pressed the small flashlight into Dr. Mallard's hand, and then headed back to the van with what speed he could muster.
NCISNCIS
Vertigo had just started when Tony checked his phone's display for messages. Just one missed call, but it was a doozy: the Boss. Showing it to Tim, both men crouched down and hurried to the stairway and into the lobby where they could check the message.
"Something's wrong with Ducky. Meet me at the office," was the typically brief message, and neither younger man hesitated to obey. What kind of trouble, and how the boss would know of it didn't concern either of them; such was their faith in the Boss's "Spidey Sense", aka "Gibbs Gut".
Gibbs was at his desk waiting for them when they hurried in still snacking on the large popcorn they'd ordered for the movie. Pointing to Tim the MCRT leader simply barked, "Trace Ducky's cell." Looking at Tony he quirked an eyebrow, almost daring the younger man to not know what was needed.
"Calling the motel and convention center to see if anything happened of any concern," Tony reported, picking up his phone.
A few minutes of quiet work ended when Tim stood up, bringing up on the plasma a map of the general area Ducky and Jimmy had been visiting. There was one lone blinking red light. At the same time Tony hung up his phone with an exasperated sigh.
"Status!" Gibbs demanded, walking over to look at the displayed map. "What am I seeing here?" he asked impatiently.
"Palmer's cell phone," McGee supplied, clicking to a topographical map. "Looks like they decided to take a detour for some reason. That's hardly the quickest route back," he added with a frown.
"Told him to take the scenic route when I spoke to him last night." The three men turned at the sound of the director's voice. "And I thought I told you I'd suspend you if I saw you before tomorrow?"
"Got a bad feeling about Ducky, Leon. Can't explain it, but it feels like he needs our help. What did you find out?" he asked, turning to Tony.
"No problems or issues at the convention, their presentation was well received, actually ran a bit over time. Ducky and Palmer checked out of the hotel at a few minutes after nine this morning," he reported.
"So why is Palmer's cell not moving and where is Ducky?" Gibbs wondered.
"Well, that area is very likely to have poor or no cell reception, and Ducky's cell isn't the type that sends a good trace. Jimmy's is stronger. But not strong enough to get a call through, I tried both again a moment ago," Tim replied.
"They had a lot of storm activity in that area, they may have had an accident, or gotten stuck somehow. I'm going to go ahead and drive up that way. Probably will find them having a picnic and taking pictures of bears," Gibbs decided, grabbing up his keys. "Sorry to bring you boys in for nothing," he added.
"Uh, Boss, if I go along I can monitor Palmer's cell phone on my tablet," McGee noted, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.
"And if I go along I can ride shotgun and watch for them," Tony added. "Plus, will give you someone to talk to who's not going to be all technical."
Tim shot Tony a dirty look, but his heart wasn't in it. Both younger men had the same uneasy feeling about the Medical Examiner and his trusty assistant.
TBC