Title: Dílis Go Bragh
Author: xxCabalinaxx
Fandom: NCIS
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine. Also, this is not beta'd so any mistakes are mine.
Summary: JenGibbs. "I asked you, Jethro, when we were in Paris, if you ever wanted children. You said no. That's why I left."
Author's Note: It hasn't been updated in a very long time, but this story has not been abandoned. I am in the process of slowly reediting all of my stories and working on new chapters. Also, a new link has been added in my profile with pictures that go along with this story. I think it helps to have visual aides, so I like to provide them for readers as well.
After her arrival, and after making sure that Angela was okay, the first thing Jenny wanted was to be filled in. "Ang, take everyone inside and put the Beast back in his stall. Jethro and I are going to talk to Rob and figure out what to do next."
Angela wiped at her eyes and nodded. "C'mon, we can go to the tack room. It's heated and I'm cold." Gibbs and Jenny had already left them, so the remaining people just followed the teenager through the side door of the stable and into the barn aisle. It was only when she stopped in front of Gunny's empty stall that she realized that Tony was still leading the horse. "Umm, the tack room is at the end of the aisle on the left. Door has a sign on it, can't miss it, if you guys wanna go wait in there. I'm gonna put Gunny away and then I'll come wait with you."
"Do you want some help?" Tony asked.
Everyone looked at him in surprise. Angela nodded and flipped the reins up over Gunny's head so he wouldn't step on them while in the aisle. "Yeah, sure."
No one else said anything, so Ziva took charge of their little group and led them off to the heated room. Angela was right, it was brisk outside.
While Angela undid the girth and was pulling the saddle and pads underneath it off Gunny's back, Tony knelt down and started undoing the fleece polo wraps that were on the horse's legs. His hands moved quickly and with an ease that came from only being around horses for significant amounts of time.
Angela watched Tony out of the corner of her eye. Partly because she was impressed with Tony's familiarity, and because Gunny hadn't tried to take a chunk out of the man yet. Her horse was not known for being a social creature. Angela was the only one in the barn that he truly liked. There was a short list of people that he tolerated, like Jenny and Rob, and everyone else knew to steer clear. But Gunny seemed to be just as comfortable with Tony as he was with Angela. Weird creature.
"So, how long have you been riding?" She asked.
Tony stood with the four polo wraps in his hands and started straitening them out so they could be rerolled. "Started when I was a kid. Didn't get serious about it until I was a teenager. Did the equitation and jumper thing for a bit. Then I tried eventing and loved it; talk about a head rush. I tried to keep up with riding when I went to college, but I busted my knee playing basketball and after rehab I never had a chance to get back in the saddle."
Angela tossed Tony a hand towel over Gunny's back and together, each taking a side, they rubbed the horse's coat until the sweat marks had dried and the wrinkles had smoothed out. With the both of them working, it only took a couple of minutes and after Angela had buckled on Gunny's blanket, taken off his bridle, and latched him into his stall before the two of them went down to the tack room.
The tack room was warm and smelled of leather and soap. Ducky was sitting on a step stool. Palmer and McGee were sitting on large wooden tack trunk pressed against the wall, and Ziva was leaning against a row of wooden lockers next to Ducky with her arms crossed. Without missing a beat Angela grabbed thick horse blanket out of one of the lockers and spread it out on the floor across from the doorway. She sat down and made herself as comfortable as she could. She raised an eyebrow at Tony who was still standing in the open doorway. The older man sighed and closed the door behind him before taking a seat next to Angela. It wasn't like McGee or Palmer were going to offer up seats any time soon and he wouldn't make Ducky move. It was Ducky.
"You know, this is quite exciting. Reminds me of a time during my days at medical school. I had the chance to go riding in Ireland on a trip abroad with a schoolmate of mine." Even though, by some miracle, no one had heard this story before, it was hard for the agents not to get bored while sitting in a room with nothing to do.
Angela was trying to listen to Ducky's story while prolonging the mental breakdown she knew was coming, but it was hard and she was still processing all that had happened in the past hours. Tony caught her eye and laid out his crime scene notepad on the ground between them. There was a tick tack toe board drawn in the center. An 'x' was in the bottom center square. She grinned and rest her chin on her knees and took the pencil from Tony, drawing a tiny 'o' in the center. They played five more games while Ducky was talking and everyone else was either listening or pretending to listen.
The tack room door swung open revealing Jenny, Gibbs, and a man they hadn't seen before. Eyebrows were raised when they saw that Jenny had changed from her business suit into similar attire to Angela's. She wore blue jeans and brown paddock boots, matching dark brown half chaps, and she had a hunter green polo on that was layered with a charcoal grey sweater. Jenny raised an eyebrow in turn at the pair on the floor but Ang just scribbled in an 'x' in the bottom left corner of their latest game and raised and eyebrow right back. Jenny shook her head. She gestured to a man standing behind her. Tall and decently muscled, he had light blonde hair and dark brown eyes. "This is Robert DeLuca, a good friend of mine and the owner of Oak Hill. He's agreed to help in our investigation and is going to lend us a few horses to take out to where the body is."
Palmer looked extremely confused. "How are we going to get the body back?"
"After going over Angela's account to figure out exactly where the body is out on the trails, we mapped out a path for the truck to take to get in there, but it will take longer and you must go out and around and come in through the back of the woods where it's less dense. If you want to get there sooner and start sketching and photographing, you can go straight through on horseback and start working until the truck gets there." Jenny phrased it so it sounded like the team had a choice in the matter. Her tone said otherwise. As in 'you're going to do it my way so suck it up'. When Gibbs said nothing, the others opted not to protest either.
"Any questions?" Jenny asked.
The team shook their heads and those who were sitting stood and Ziva pushed away from the wall. Ang clambered to her feet and looked over at the bridles hanging on the hooks on the wall. She glanced back and forth between the various people in the room and the name tags hanging above each hook. The brunette lifted down two bridles instantly and handed them to Jenny who had an amused smile on her face. She debated between two more and muttered softly to herself. "Got Ducky and Ziva. And McGee can have her. I'm on cranky-pants. Hmm, Tony can ride, no. Not him. How about...yeah, ok. Mom's on the movie star and Gibbs gets, yeah. Ok, all set."
Turning around, Ang had multiple bridles draped over her shoulders and arms and looked like a leather sales man. "Ok, we're ready."
Jenny's eyes glittered. "You sure? I don't think you grabbed enough stuff."
Ang's face scrunched up and the people around her chuckled. "Ha ha, very funny."
Jenny took a another one of the bridles. "Ducky, unfortunately you and Mr. Palmer will not be able to join us on the ride. Rob will ride with you in the truck in order to give you directions. Hopefully, if you leave now we will all arrive close to each other." Jenny added as she gave the ME and his assistant an apologetic smile.
Ducky stood from his perch and nodded agreeably. "Quite all right Director. I'm not sure these bones of mine would hold up to a jaunt through the woods. Come, Mr. Palmer, we best be off." Without a word Rob followed the two men, hiding a smile as Ducky got started on another tangent.
Jen looked down at the bridles in her hand and recognized one of them. She looked over at her daughter questioningly. "For who?"
"Tony."
"Really?"
Ang nodded. "He can do it."
"Alright then. Let's go tack them up."
While Angela and two of the stable hands who worked at Oak Hill went to tack up horses, Jenny helped the MCRT sort through the closet of extra riding clothes to find them riding boots that would fit reasonably well. It was bad enough that they had to ride in their work clothes. Riding in regular shoes would be painful and difficult.
When they got outside Angela and the two grooms were waiting outside with six horses. At the sight of Jenny, one of the horses pricked his ears up and whinnied shrilly. The redhead
went to the dark horse's head, taking his reins from the groom and rubbing the soft nose that pushed against her shoulder. The horse was tall, nearly black, and had a thin stripe running down his long face. "Hey, kid, you have a good few days off?" The gelding nickered lowly at her and shoved at her again. "Ang, would you mind doing the introductions? I don't know who's for who."
The six horses that were lined up in front of the NCIS team were a mish-mosh of different breeds, shapes, and sizes. Attitudes as well, but they would figure that out for themselves. "Agent Gibbs is riding Captain. That's the grey tank next to Mom and Clark." The groom led the dappled horse forward and handed the reins to Gibbs. The horse flicked his ears a few times, but let out a large sigh and stood patiently, one of his back feet cocked in relaxation. Gibbs said nothing, but proceeded to shove his foot in the left stirrup, grab a handful of mane at the base of the horse's neck, and haul himself up into the saddle. Captain grunted and sidestepped a few paces, but Gibbs was settled in the saddle and wasn't phased.
Angela glared at the senior field agent. "And now that agent Gibbs has demonstrated what the rest of us will not be doing." She looked exactly like Jenny when she did that. "There is a mounting block next to the barn. We use that to mount. Mounting from the ground is usually an emergencies only thing or if there is nothing at all to stand on. It puts unneeded pressure on their backs."
Gibbs had to decency to look away first and started to adjust the stirrups so they were a more suitable length for his legs.
Angela's lips quirked up at the corners. "McGee is on Talia. She's the paint mare with the big belly." McGee held his hand out hesitantly for the mare to sniff, smiling nervously as her whiskers brushed over his palm. She licked his hand a few times and tried to sniff around his pockets for treats. McGee pushed her head away awkwardly. "What's she doing?"
Jenny smiled. "She's convinced she's starving and is looking for anything edible you might have. Don't believe her. She's big as a house and it's not because she's pregnant."
McGee nodded and smiled at the mare as he got used to her large presence. He followed the groom over to the mounting block that Angela had mentioned and let himself be assisted onto the horse. He'd ridden before, but it had been a very long time since then.
"Ziva, you're riding Zane. He's the skinny brown that was next to Talia. Just to warn you, he's a standardbred that's off the harness track. He paces instead of trots. It feels a little odd, but it's easy to get used to." Ziva nodded and led the horse over to the block to mount up.
Angela held the reins of the last unnamed horse. Since he was the only one without a ride, Tony assumed that this horse was for him. The horse was very tall, well over seventeen hands, and the only one who was similar in height was Gunny. The horse was solid brown color that stood out sharply against his black mane and tail and his black lower legs. While the other horses had stood lazily with their ears flopped and one hind leg at ease, this one stood square and alert. His ears were pricked up and swiveled around at random intervals, taking it all in around him.
Tony held his hands out for the reins. "This is Connor. He's an Irish Sport Horse. Eventer, too, right up your alley," She added with a smile.
Tony let the horse inhale his scent and ran his hands over Connor's neck and shoulder. The muscles under the shiny coat were taut and shivered under Tony's palm. Tony led the horse forward. Connor stayed at Tony's shoulder, but he danced and skittered around, refusing to walk calmly like his comrades. Tony set Connor up at the mounting block and happened to glance down briefly as he swung into the saddle.
Tony's eyebrows shot up. He looked at Angela who was waiting to use the block next. "Stallion? You put me on a freaking stallion?"
Angela stared at him. "Yeah, so?"
Tony gaped at the teen. "Do you want me dead or something?"
Angela laughed and mounted her horse for yet another time that day. "No, you'll be fine. He's got a lot of energy, but he's not nasty. Don't stress about it so much."
"I still think you're trying to kill me."
Angela rolled her eyes and nudged Gunny into a trot, heading off towards the woods, Jenny on Clark right next to her. "You guys coming or what? We're loosing daylight here."
Tony was the first to get with the program and with a light press of his calves, Connor was trotting as well and starting to catch up to the two Sheppard women. Zane and Talia followed the herd without much prompting from their riders.
Gibbs, though, he needed a moment to collect himself. The former sniper prided himself on being professional and not letting his personal feelings get in the way of the job. But his heart had stopped nearly the moment he and the team had stepped out of the truck and his brain was having trouble catching up with current events. He only had one thought in his mind as he finally clucked at his horse and started to go after the others. She's just like Kelly.