Thanks to my beta Kristen!
Chapter 2: Communication
"It is clear that communication skills are necessary, not only in our jobs, but also for everyday life. Yes, they require practice, but practice makes perfect! Being an effective communicator takes skill. Your skills need to be developed constantly, and that is why this seminar is being run today. We are going to look at both verbal and non-verbal communication. Now we are all individuals, and therefore we all have a different style of communicating. We can pool our ideas together to improve as a group!"
Leroy Jethro Gibbs tuned out the over-excited 'facilitator' at the front of the conference room and glared at Jenny. Or, more correctly, at the back of her head. She was still ignoring him when she could, and he could not figure out why.
He also couldn't figure out why his team needed to be included in the communication skills seminar. They communicated well enough. Why was he supposed to trust a middle-aged woman in a pink fluffy sweater? Even Lily wouldn't trust her, and would probably shoot the woman.
Lily was someone who really need to work on her communication skills. She could read people fairly well and get her point across, but she needed to learn tact and when to stop.
He knew for a fact that Lily wasn't in the room. It was definitely Jenny in front of him. Telling the sisters apart was virtually impossible, but he was one of the few who could. He could tell them apart at a hundred paces, even without their slightly different personalities. Jenny could communicate well, most of the time, while Lily's idea of negotiations tended to involve weapons and blackmail.
Personally, he hated tact. But Lily really didn't seem to get it. He knew she had it within her somewhere although he had rarely seen it. A communication seminar might help her control her worst impulses. One of these days, she was going to do something so stupid it would get her killed.
His mind wandered as he watched his team. Tony was yawning, Ziva had already fallen asleep across her desk, and McGee had stopped taking notes and was just staring at the woman. Even Abby seemed depressed, glancing around the room. Palmer was listening carefully, as was Jenny. Gibbs guessed she was pretending to listen and was really thinking of her paperwork.
Ducky had managed to get out of the seminar, but most other agents were in attendance. He had a funny feeling it was because Lily had sent out the email. She had threatened to fire anyone who failed to get marked present. He himself had only appeared because Lily had appeared in his basement at 0500 and offered to burn his boat down.
Someone really needed to get a grip on the CIA agent.
A cell phone rang and everyone perked up, looking round to see who is was. Jenny answered her phone rapidly, hissing something he guessed was a threat to Lily. Lily would find it amusing to disturb a seminar. Her expression changed as she continued to listen. Finally, she hung up and addressed the rest of the group.
"Agent Gibbs' team may leave now, as may Mr. Palmer," she announced.
She turned to him. "Dead body in a disused aircraft hangar at Norfolk," she whispered. "Base guards took their time to call it in."
He rolled his eyes and followed his team from the room. At least he didn't have to attend the seminar any more.
Tony DiNozzo looked around the crime scene. There was one dead male body in the middle of the floor, with no obvious cause of death. He didn't appear to have been shot or stabbed, but he was lying on his back so it was possible any marks were hidden.
The floor was of no use. There was no dust on it, and the Petty Officer who had called it in claimed it was used a lot during the day. Beer bottles and fast food wrappers were everywhere. Tony decided to get the Probie to collect them all. One of them could lead to the killer.
He was glad he didn't have to attend the seminar. He had good communication skills. He always managed to get over what he wanted, and he was successful with women. You couldn't be successful with women and be rubbish at communicating. The Probie might have needed that seminar, come to think of it…
Tony chuckled to himself. The facilitator had not said anything he hadn't already known. He had attempted to go to sleep and Gibbs had made no attempt to stop him. Privately he felt that the boss should have been paying attention; he needed to improve his communication skills to work things out with the boss' boss.
Jenny and Gibbs were not talking still. The Director had asked Cynthia to bar him from her office. It had only taken an hour for everyone in the Navy Yard to find out about it and start gossiping. Tony was taking bets.
He suspected that his boss had put his foot in it somewhere, although women were capable of shutting you out for no apparent reason. Jenny needed all the help she could get from him, especially with the twins. Tony wanted to see them again; they were so cute!
Abby had quietly spread the news that Lily knew what was going on between Jenny and Gibbs, but had clammed up when asked to explain. He had managed to persuade Lily to hand over her cell phone number when they were in Europe, and he was trying to call her. Unfortunately, he kept getting her fiancé Alex and wasn't sure how to talk to him. Was it possible to talk to a guy who was engaged to a woman you liked?
Gibbs would probably know if it was, but he had no intention of asking him. Lily would find out if Gibbs knew, mainly because he would tell Jenny and Jenny would tell her sister.
Although with Gibbs and Jenny not talking, now might be the best time.
Tony looked up as Ducky and Palmer walked in, arguing.
"You had the map, Doctor," Palmer protested. "How am I responsible for getting us lost?"
"You should have known that right meant left," Ducky countered.
"But how was I supposed to –"
"Jethro!" Ducky greeted the boss. "Who do we have here?"
"Seaman James Fincher," Tony answered quickly.
Gibbs glared at him.
"Sorry boss."
Ducky knelt down and started examining the body carefully. Palmer knelt down on the other side.
"Hey, Probie!" Tony yelled. "Start bagging and tagging everything."
McGee muttered something under his breath, but did as he was ordered. Tony glanced around to see Ziva talking to the Petty Officer who found the body. He thought he had the easiest job – taking the photos. He snapped a few of Palmer's ear.
At last, Ducky stood up. "Bag him, Mr. Palmer," he ordered.
"What does it look like, Duck?" Gibbs asked, coming over.
"I'll start with the time of death. I would say somewhere between 2100 and midnight last night."
Tony scribbled down the times in his notebook.
"I have a tentative cause of death, but really need to conduct the autopsy first," Ducky continued. "I think he had a heart attack."
Ziva David was finding Petty Officer Hillman easy to talk to. The man wanted to explain how he had stumbled across the body, and she was applying no pressure. It was odd compared to what she was used to, but she did not intent to look a gift cow in the mouth.
Or was it dog?
It was some kind of animal anyway. She made a mental note to ask McGee about it later. Tony would tease her, when all she wanted to do was improve her English. She was a lot better than she used to be, but the occasional idiom still caught her out.
She could see Tony taking pictures but really playing around. McGee was conscientiously bagging and tagging all the wrappers and beer bottles from the floor. That particular task would be very time consuming. She hoped Gibbs would order Tony to help out. It would make Tony annoyed, and he would turn into a little whiny child again. Ducky and Palmer were transferring the body to the gurney, while Gibbs looked on.
She smiled sweetly at Hillman. "So let me recap. You were coming home from the bar."
He nodded.
"You thought someone might be following you so you cut through the hangar."
"I originally cut through the hangar because it was raining," Hillman corrected. "But later, I did think someone was following me."
"Okay. Then you stumbled over Seaman Fincher on the floor."
"I ran back to my place and called base security."
"Why not flag them down?" she asked.
"I've worked on patrol before. I knew it would be a while before they came round my way and it was quicker to go home and call them."
She nodded. "Then you came back here."
"I bought a flashlight and checked the area. I didn't touch anything. I just wanted to see if anyone was really following me."
"Did you know him?"
"Only be reputation. Everyone liked him. He was a daring guy, both in the field and out of it."
Ziva filed away his comments. "You may go, but not too far. We may need to get in touch with you again."
He nodded and walked away. Ziva turned back to the rest of her team. Why was Fincher dead?
