Cynthia Sumners parked her car in the parking lot outside the NCIS building. She quickly glanced at her watch; it was 08:00, and she was late. Her car had broken down on the side of the road in the middle of the morning downpour and it was hard to jump-start her car in the rain. She turned and saw that she wasn't the only one late that morning.
Jimmy Palmer was running towards the building, still tying his tie. Dr. Mallard was going to have his neck, all because the power went out at Jimmy's house and his alarm clock never went off. Stopping for breath, he leaned against a tree and saw Cynthia staring at him.
"Uh... uh hi, Cynthia." he said.
"Hi Jimmy. Bad morning?" Cynthia asked, coming over to the tree.
"Yeah. The power went off in my apartment and my alarm clock never went off. Is it a bad morning for you to?" Jimmy asked, staring at Cynthia's outfit. She was wearing a NCIS black shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants.
"My car got stuck in the pouring rain this morning, and I tripped and fell into a puddle." the assistant side, tying her hair back into a bun. "It's a good thing I keep spare clothing in my desk. Once I get inside, I think I'll feel better about coming into work in scrubs."
Jimmy nodded. "Yeah. We'd better get going. Dr. Mallard and I have two autopsies to do, and now that I'm late he's going to have my neck."
"Ducky won't kill you, Jimmy. He's a good guy, he'll understand."
"Yeah. Let's get going." Palmer said. Cynthia nodded and they both made their way to the entrance of NCIS. Jimmy pulled on one of the doors and found it locked. "That's odd," he said, looking around on the door. "Is it some kind of unofficial holiday?"
"I don't think so, or we would have been told about it." Cynthia said. She looked around. "And nobody's outside today either. I don't see any of the guards this morning."
"Let's go in around back, through Autopsy," Jimmy considered, and they made their way around the building to the door. Jimmy pulled on the handle; this door was locked, too.
"Doctor Mallard? Hello? It's Jimmy!" Jimmy said, pounding on the door.
"Maybe it is a holiday. No, it couldn't be." Cynthia murmured to herself. "How are we going to get inside?" she asked, looking over at Jimmy.
Jimmy was gazing up at the building. "We could go through a window," he offered.
"You can't be serious. Are you?" Cynthia asked, astonished. She was surprised that Palmer could come up with an idea like that, let alone finish a sentence without shuddering.
"No, I am. I'll hoist you up, and you go through that window," he said, pointing to the window closest to the ground, "and then you can open the door and let me in."
"And why do you think that I would stand on your shoulders?"
Jimmy gulped. "I...uh... don't know."
"I'm just kidding with you, Jimmy, it's a good idea," Cynthia said thoughtfully, staring at the window. "Now that you look at it, it's not that high up." She turned to Jimmy. "Get down on your knees."
"What? Why?" Jimmy asked. He didn't know where Cynthia got her sudden burst of courage. Then again, he didn't really know her that well, but when they passed in the hallway he could have sworn that she was shy. It was almost like Cynthia never left the office.
"So I can stand on your back. It was your idea." Cynthia said, putting her notebook and slipping her PDA into her pocket. For some reason, she wanted to make sure that everything was okay inside the building. When she turned back Jimmy was still standing there, shocked. "Are you going to get down?"
"Oh...yeah," Jimmy said. He went next to the building and got down on his knees, bending over so that Cynthia could climb up. Cynthia went over and stood on his back.
"I need to get higher, Jimmy." she said, her fingertips almost touching the windowpane.
"I can't," Jimmy said from down below, agony in his voice.
"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.
"You forgot to take off your heels and now there digging into my back!" he groaned.
"C'mon, Jimmy, suck it up and lift me higher." Cynthia said. "I'm almost touching the window."
With a groan, Jimmy lifted her up higher and she grasped onto the windowpane. Jimmy watched her disappear out of sight as she crawled through the window.
Cynthia entered the Autopsy room. The room was empty, Dr. Mallard's scalpel was lying on the floor, abandoned, and there was a body out on the table. Cynthia forced herself not to look at it as she went to towards the door to get Jimmy. As she walked over, she noticed that Ducky's medical table was knocked over, spewing human liquids all over the floor.
"Dr. Mallard? Ducky? Hello?" Cynthia called out, but all she got was her voice echoing back against the cold, empty room. She was at the door by now, and she opened it up to find Jimmy outside, pacing back and forth.
"Aw, were you worried about me, Jimmy?" she asked. Jimmy jumped when she spoke and he looked at her as she said, "You look tense."
"No, I'm just thinking about where everyone is," Jimmy said, brushing past her as he went into Autopsy. Cynthia followed and shut the door behind her. Jimmy took in the scene. "Did you see Dr. Mallard?" he asked.
Cynthia shook her head. "No. It looks like no one is here. Well, Ducky started without you, by the looks of the body and the fluids on the floor."
"Then what happened?" Jimmy asked himself as he looked around. The scalpel on the floor, the fluids, the body....
"Maybe the Director knows," Cynthia said. She looked towards the door to the hallway. "Want to go check?" she asked, tense. Her eyes darted back to the doors, where the elevator was. She had a bad feeling about what was going on upstairs. Part of her wanted Jimmy to say, 'Nah, it's probably nothing'.
"Sure." Jimmy said. Dr. Mallard almost never left Autopsy, and if anyone knew, it would be the Director. Special Agent Gibbs always knew where everyone was. If he didn't, he usually found out. And if anything had happened to either one of them, Jimmy wanted to help. Even if it meant running and screaming at the top of his lungs for help. Jimmy kept that on his mind as the two went out to the elevator. Cynthia hit the call button. "Wait, I'll be right back," Jimmy said and scuffled back into the room. Cynthia sighed and when the elevator came Jimmy came back with a baseball bat.
"Jimmy, a baseball bat?" Cynthia asked as Jimmy came into the elevator with her.
"Yeah. You never know," Jimmy said, shrugging his shoulders.
That's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that? I should have brought my pepper spray. But no, it's in the trunk of my car, Cynthia thought, mentally cursing herself as the elevator doors closed.