Hello. So the two week deadline for my next posting is almost up, and after correcting any mistakes that hadn't been corrected, I am now able to post chapter 1. Enjoy xx
Chapter 1
6 Months Earlier
It was a cold and wet Monday morning in January when all the trouble started. Gibbs had popped out for coffee leaving Tony DiNozzo sitting in the Bull-Pen with one of his best friends (although he would never admit it) Tim McGee, and his wife of 5 and a half years Ziva David-DiNozzo. The team was currently investigating a case where a blind photographer had taken a photograph of a dead petty officer. Since the body was still in autopsy with Ducky and Jimmy, and Abby had yet to have any hits on any of her tests; the team was stuck with the usual boring jobs, like tracking the victim's bank records and phone records, and checking over their current witness statements. Tony was wishing something exciting would happen, when the doors to the elevator opened with a 'Ping!' They opened to reveal the Director's assistant Cynthia leading a young woman into the Bull-Pen.
The woman seemed nervous as she turned her head to look around the room, her eyes finally fixating on one person before she moved onto the next. She soon clocked eyes with Tony. For a moment he was taken aback with just how pale her blue eyes were, but he soon recovered himself and gave her a reassuring smile as she and Cynthia walked past.
About 4 hours and a half hours later the team was all sitting in the Bull-Pen after having checked the victim's apartment, who was now known to be Petty Officer Peter Lynn, spoken to his Commanding Officer Doug Jakobsen, received results from both Abby and the autopsy, and re-interviewed the photographer and his assistant, which had provided another clue in their search; a car.
"Accessing the Virginia DMV." Ziva said tapping away at her keyboard, as Gibbs hovered over her shoulder.
"We only have a partial plate, but we can narrow it down by make and model." Tony added from his desk.
"Really?!" Ziva spoke, her sarcasm obvious to all.
"Sarcasm is not sexy Ziva." Tony flirted. Gibbs threw him a glare, Tony gulped.
"Narrowing the list by make and model." Ziva said with a smile.
"Got it." Tony exclaimed as the computer threw up their match. He read aloud the license plate and owner's details, as Gibbs turned to the big screen.
"Record?" He questioned. Tony tapped away before announcing the guy was "squeaky clean", before noticing that both he and the victim had worked together.
"McGee call this guy and get him in here now." Gibbs said without lifting his head from the screen. Tim punched some numbers into his phone.
"Hi this is Agent Tim McGee from NCIS, can I please speak to David Wong? ...Oh I see, thank you." Tim hung up with a confused look on his face.
"Boss they say he went out for lunch 4 hours ago and hasn't come back." The team looked at one another.
Just then they heard a cough and looked round to see the Director standing by Tony's desk. Next to her was the woman Tony had seen earlier. Gibbs smiled.
"What can we do for you Director?" Jenny smiled back.
"Everyone I wanted to introduce Agent Hanna Knight. She's the agent I told you would be joining your team." Due to their high success rate Jenny had decided to place the newest recruit to the agency within the team. Hanna was a transfer agent and Jenny could think of no other team where the young woman would flourish in her new job.
"I know it is a little late to get much more work done, our conversation and getting Hanna's ID and gun sorted took longer than I expected. Maybe you can fill her in on the case so far, and she can start a fresh tomorrow?" Jenny said with her familiar gaze that simply meant 'don't argue back Jethro'.
"Hanna allow me to introduce everyone." Jenny said turning back to the young woman. Hanna's auburn hair fell to her shoulders and her blue eyes gazed out over the team. She seemed nervous but excited at the same time.
"This is Tony DiNozzo." Tony smiled at Hanna again.
"Hi."
"Timothy McGee." Tim raised a hand.
"Call me Tim."
"Ziva David-DiNozzo."
"Shalom." The Israeli greeted her.
"And this is Jethro Gibbs, your team leader. He may seem a little gruff at first, but deep down he's a little pussy cat, aren't you?" Gibbs grunted and rolled his eyes. The woman seemed to hold her breath as clocked eyes with Gibbs. There was a moment's pause before he spoke.
"Your desk is the one next to McGee's."
The look of disappointment was evident on Hanna's face for only a second before her well-constructed mask was back, and she gave a smile. She took her seat next to McGee.
"Hanna if you have any problems or questions, don't hesitate to ask." Jenny added.
"Thank you Director, that's very kind." The team was shocked when they heard the clear British accent coming from Hanna. They knew she was coming to NCIS from another agency, but they hadn't expected that agency to be a British one.
"So you're British." Tony began.
"Oh no." Ziva mumbled, knowing exactly where her husband was going with his line of questioning.
"Favourite Bond?" The other's groaned. Hanna simply smiled.
"Well to begin with I would like to point out that if I tried to pull any of the stunts that Mr Bond does, I would have been out of MI5 before I had even got my foot through the door." Tim and Ziva stifled a laugh, as Gibbs and Jenny smiled at the newest recruit's boldness. "But being a fan of the films and books, I would have to say either Sean Connery or Roger Moore, but I wouldn't mind being partnered with any of them." She said with a smirk. Tony smiled.
"She's a keeper Boss." During her speech Ziva had been listening intently to the woman's voice.
"Is there another accent in your voice? I can hear more than a British accent." Her Mossad training kicking in.
"Yes American. I was born in America and lived here for a while with my family before moving to England. However this is the first time I have been state side in a very long time." Hanna admitted.
"Where in America did you live?" Tim piped in.
Hanna was just about to respond when the elevator doors 'pinged' again and out stepped a woman wearing a lab coat and her black hair was pulled into two tight pigtails. She hurried over to the team before stopping dead in her tracks when she spotted Hanna.
"Is that her?" She asked no one in particular. "I heard our newest team member was here." Her smile grew wider as she walked towards Hanna. Hanna stood to greet the clearly energetic scientist.
"Hi I'm Abby, Forensic Scientist extraordinaire." She said.
"Hanna Knight, nice to meet you."
"Is it true you worked for MI5?" Abby asked in a hushed tone. Hanna nodded before adding,
"But if I told you any more than that I would have to kill you." Abby squealed and hugged her tight.
"Oh yeah Boss, we have to keep this one." Tony exclaimed.
It took a further hour to get Hanna extracted from Abby and to then fill her in on the case, during which she was introduced to the remaining two members of the team, Ducky and Jimmy. Around 6:45 Tim stepped out of the office, saying he had some people to collect. When he returned Ducky and Jimmy had come up from autopsy, the latter of the two was currently engaged in a conversation with Hanna, Abby had locked up her lab for the night and was perched on the end of Tim's desk, and Jenny had come down from her office and was chatting to Ziva. By this point Hanna had been informed of the team's relationships with each other, and how Tony and Ziva were married as well as Tim and Abby, and Gibbs and Jenny, and how they all saw Gibbs and Jenny as their second parents, a feat Hanna easily saw in the way they interacted with each other. Just as the clock ticked over, the elevator doors 'pinged' once again and Tim stepped out with 6 children around him; 4 boys and 2 girls.
"Ima! Papa!" Came two of the cries of twin boys. Both had Tony's brown hair and build, yet their eye shades and facial construction screamed Ziva. They picked up a boy each and hugged them. Tim was holding hands with another boy who was the exact 'mini-me' of him, and behind him was a young girl with jet black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and was wearing a smaller version of Abby's dog collar around her neck.
However the two Hanna couldn't stop staring at were the other boy and girl. The older boy had short blondie brown which he had inherited from his father, before his father's hair went grey, and a pair of sparkling green eyes which were from his mother. The little girl however had Jenny's reddish auburn hair and Gibbs's bright blue eyes. Hanna felt her breath stop.
"Daddy!" Came the girls cry. Hanna watched as Gibbs bent down and picked up the girl as she ran into his arms, smiling as he did.
"Hey Chloe, how's my favourite girl?"
Hanna felt her eyes welling up at Gibbs's comment, but she willed the tears back, refusing the let them fall. Having to explain why she was crying on her first day wasn't on her to-do list.
"Who's that mum?" The girl's brother asked. Jenny bent down to her son's level.
"That TJ, is Hanna. She's going to be part of daddy's team from now on." Jenny smiled at Hanna.
"Hanna, meet Thomas Jethro, also known as TJ, and Chloe Gibbs." She beckoned to her children as she spoke. "Elijah and Isaiah David-DiNozzo." She pointed to the twins. "And Jodie and Connor McGee." She point to the last of the six children.
"Kids, this is Hanna Knight, she's come to work with your parents." The children all chorused a 'Hello', as Hanna smiled at them. She knew that she desperately needed to get out of the Bull-Pen quickly before she did start crying.
"Daddy?" Chloe spoke. "She looks like me." She pointed at Hanna. Hanna held her breath, could this be her moment? Chloe did look like Hanna. Although Chloe's hair was darker, a trait of Jenny's, and her eyes were slightly bluer, there was a resemblance between the two females. Hanna held her breath.
"Yes sweetie of course." Gibbs shrugged it off. Hanna knew she had to get out of there. Now.
"Well, it's lovely to meet you all, but I need to get home. My parents said they would call me tonight so I need to be in for that." Hanna smiled and hurried to the elevator.
"Isn't England like 5 hours ahead of us?" Tony asked as the elevator shut and Hanna disappeared from view.
Once Hanna had arrived home she couldn't stop the tears from falling. She hadn't expected her father to recognise her instantly, it had after all been 15 years since they had seen each other, and she had been 8 at the time, but everything that had happened in the Bull-Pen only reinforced to her just how long she had been away. She slipped into her bedroom and picked up the picture frame she kept on her bedside table. It was the only image of her old life she had managed to save. She had slipped it into her ballet bag on that faithful day in February when her life changed. She didn't know why she'd done it, but considering that bag was all she had of her old life, she was incredibly grateful she had done. Stroking the image as she often did Hanna let out a deep sigh.
"Why mum, why is nothing ever simple?" Hanna collapsed onto the bed. "I just wanted him to notice me. Just something in his head to click, and to let me know everything was going to be ok." She had by now released her tears and they were streaming down her face, ruining her make up. "And then there's his relationship with Jenny. I didn't want him to be alone still, I had wished he had moved on, re-married, found someone who made him happy, and wasn't just moping around living from day to day stuck in the past. But little Chloe…" She sniffed. "She reminded me of me. Of everything I lost, of everything I could have had. Her and TJ. That could have been me that could have been us, I could have had a brother, and I could have had a sister. He called her his favourite girl mum." She sobbed. "Then Chloe said we looked alike and he brushed it off like it didn't matter. That broke me mum, I had to get out of there." Hanna turned her watery gaze to the picture of Gibbs in the photo. A tear dripped from her chin on the picture, rolled down the glass and off the frame onto her bed.
She placed the photograph back onto her bedside table, and quickly changed into her pyjamas, deciding to shower in the morning. As she changed her fingers caught some of the scars littering her arms. They must have been from the crash and her subsequent escape from the car, the doctors had told her. Truth was Hanna had no recollection of the crash which killed her mother. She remembered snippets of the day such as getting ready for her ballet lesson, and setting out on the journey, but then her mind drew a blank, and she knew nothing else till she awoke in hospital about a week after the crash. 'Thank God for small mercies' she thought, as she tugged down the long sleeves of her pyjama top; she never wore short sleeves, not since the accident. She knew the scars were there from about her elbows upward but just knowing that they were there was enough, she didn't want to see them every day or for others to see them, meaning she needed to explain where they came from. Her cover was that she had been a car accident when she was a child, but it still drew back bad feelings whenever she spoke about them. Having them hidden simply helped. She snuggled down in the bed pulling the covers over her petite body and reaching out to kiss the occupants of her photo as she did every night.
"Love you mum, love you dad." Closing her eyes, Hanna was soon fast asleep with good memories of her childhood filling her sub consciousness.
Ta-da. This is so far my favourite chapter that I have written of any of my stories so far. I love the character of Kelly Gibbs, and I really hope that one day NCIS will bring Kelly back with some sort of story about how she survived, maybe a certain red head too? Hint hint. Until then however I will simply have to do with my own imagination.
So please read and review per the norm, and I will post again within the next 2 weeks.
Happy reading
Beth xxx
