Disclaimer : I still own nothing. If it's recognizable, it's not mine.
General warnings, there is a bit of description of a body in the story. Nothing worse than we see in the show.
Author's note : I want to thank everyone who has read this story, signed up for alerts, set to favorites and reviewed. I'm trying to respond to all reviews personally and I'm still getting used to the site.
It means a lot that people actually are reading this.
Happy Friday.
Let's get on with it.
-oooooooo-ooooooooo-ooooooooo-
Twisting open the bottle, DiNozzo popped two pills into his mouth. He looked around for liquid to wash them down, only seeing his improperly mixed hangover fix. If it wasn't crafted just right, it was simply a disgusting melange of Tabasco and raw egg. He sighed and dry-swallowed them, flinching as they burnt his esophagus on their way down. He gathered his gear and sprinted to the elevator. Damn... they had left him behind.
Cursing under his breath, he sprinted down the steps to the garage.
When he finally caught up to McGee and Ziva, they were already sitting in the truck. In the driver's seat, Tim grinned triumphantly at Ziva as she buckled into the passenger seat.
"I did not know there was an object that could outrank scissors in rock, paper, scissors. Scissors are a weapon, they should not lose to anything," she said as Tony approached.
"You see, Ziva," McGee explained. "Rocks crush scissors...Nice of you to join us, DiNozzo. Hey! What are you doing?" He looked surprised as Tony opened the driver's side door.
"Out, Probie. I'm driving, you're in the back," Tony ordered.
"But - ."
"Senior field agent trumps rock. Now, out. Unless you can convince the lady to ride in the back."
McGee looked helpless at Ziva, who simply shrugged and shook her head. With an exasperated sight and eye roll, the junior agent climbed out and made his way to the back of the truck. DiNozzo climbed into the driver's seat and settled in.
"Tony, I thought you were flung over. Perhaps you should allow me to drive."
The door to the back of the truck slammed shut, followed by a loud crash. "I'm okay!" McGee called out.
The senior field agent and Mossad officer ignored their teammate. "It's hung over Zee-vah, which I am not. I'd rather get to the crime scene in one piece as opposed to a body bag."
She shot him a dirty look as she pulled out her cellphone and turned it over in her hand. Somehow the action made something as innocuous as a communication tool appear menacing. Tony started up the truck and put it in gear.
"Hang on Probie!" he called as he pulled out of the garage.
Another crash sounded from the back.
-oooooooo-ooooooooo-ooooooooo-
8:12am - Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC -
"Whoa, Palmer and Ducky beat us here this morning!"
Pulling the NCIS truck behind the autopsy van, DiNozzo couldn't help but feel surprised. When the team was last called to the park for a body, Palmer took a wrong turn and managed to take Ducky on a cross-county tour that ended at the Maryland state line.
Ziva climbed out, slamming the passenger door and Tony winced as the headache returned for a split second. Climbing out of the truck's cabin, he wondered when the pills Gibbs gave him were supposed to kick in.
He joined the Mossad liason at the back of the truck and watched his junior field agent climb out. DiNozzo studied the younger man for a few seconds. He was extremely green and several pounds away from being in shape. But what he lacked physically and in common investigative sense, he made up for in raw intellect and ambition. McGee was pulling on the regulation NCIS jacket and hat.
"Tony, are you even listening to me?"
"Of course," Tony muttered as he pulled on his jacket. "You were saying that you need to organize everything back here since it's been a while, right?"
He grabbed the evidence bag and marched off towards a running trail that led deeper into the woods. Behind him, the door slammed and he heard the footsteps of his teammates following him.
"Where's the body, Probie?"
McGee fumbled with his phone. "According to the location Palmer sent me, about a quarter mile up the trail off Beach Road."
"I can't believe the autopsy gremlin is telling us where we're supposed to be," DiNozzo grumbled to himself. So far the only good part of today was that his headache was starting to fade. Maybe whatever Gibbs gave him were working. As the team rounded the bend in the trail, an autopsy gurney sat in the middle of it. "This must be the right place."
"Glad you could make it, DiNozzo!" Gibbs called from the treeline.
Tony followed the voice and took in the crime scene.
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, NCIS' elderly Medical Examiner, was crouched over the body of young blonde woman. Her eyes stared towards the sky, open but unseeing. What was left of her pants and shirt were savagely ripped open, along with her flesh leaving muscle exposed. DiNozzo couldn't help but wonder where her shoes were.
Before the team had time to ready their equipment, Gibbs was already barking orders. "Ziva, bag and tag. DiNozzo, photos. McGee, find me some shoes!"
The team quickly dispersed. Tony grabbed the camera and followed Gibbs just off the trail to where the body lay.
"What have we got, Duck?" he asked the aging medical examiner.
Tony started taking photos of the corpse in its prone position, including the way her arms crossed over her chest like she was praying and the spotless soles of her feet. Careful to avoid Gibbs and Ducky, DiNozzo was captured each stab visible wound in the young woman's chest. Some appeared more shallow than others and the senior field agent had to wonder what brought the victim here.
Pressing the liver probe into the body's abdomen, Dr. Mallard checked his watch and closed his eyes as he made some mental calculations.
"What we have here, Jethro, is a young woman who died between ten pm last night and two am this morning. Stab wounds are the most likely cause of death." He pointed to the abdominal and chest wounds. "But I won't know more until I get her home and run some more tests. Now where did Mr. Palmer get off to?"
"How do we know she's a Marine, boss?" DiNozzo asked.
"Someone from her unit tripped over her this morning."
Suddenly, a scream sounded down the trail and DiNozzo sprang into action. Pulling his gun from its holster, he ran down the trail behind Gibbs. As the agents rounded the bend, autopsy assistant Jimmy Palmer came into full view. He was sitting on the ground by the side of the trail. The team leader approached him, looking around intently. Letting out a nervous laugh, Jimmy grinned at Gibbs sheepishly.
"I just slipped on something."
Gibbs rolled his eyes, holstered his gun and stalked back down the path towards the body.
"Good job Palmer," Tony said flatly, pulling the assistant to his feet.
"So it was nothing then?" Both Tony and Palmer visibly jumped as Ziva appeared by Tony's arm.
Shaking his head, Tony motioned for Palmer to return to the crime scene.
"Jimmy, wait!" Ziva called out and pointed at the ground. "Someone appears to have chucked their cookies."
Jimmy looked at Tony with raised eyebrows. "It's tossed their cookies...but it works. Palmer, you're covered in evidence..."
Revulsion covered the autopsy assistant's face as he began to dry-heave. DiNozzo stepped away, snapped a picture of the existing pile of "evidence" and walked quickly in the direction Gibbs headed.
"Don't forget to bag and tag, Ziva!"
-oooooooo-ooooooooo-ooooooooo-
3:28pm - NCIS Headquarters, Washington, DC -
By the time the team returned back to NCIS headquarters, it was well into the afternoon. The hours had passed quickly while they searched for a murder weapon, fibers, anything to relate to the body of the young Marine. She was safely in the morgue with Dr. Mallard and his assistant, who should be readying for the autopsy.
As soon as they had returned, Tony had sent Ziva to drop off the evidence box with the gothic forensic powerhouse, Abby Scuito. Tony could almost picture her leaping around her lab, like a kid on Christmas morning, as she dug through her newest assignment. Odds were she would make her way through the crime scene photos, fibers, molds of tire tracks and the "evidence" Palmer fell in, while regaling Ziva with some inane story about her bowling nuns or beer-swigging, gun toting uncle Jim-Bob or Billy-Bob for whatever. The senior agent accepted it would be a while before he'd see the Israeli glide back into the bullpen.
Sitting at his desk, DiNozzo decided to take a break from his work. He began to watch his junior agent intently as the younger man typed and clicked furiously on his desktop. Stopping suddenly, McGee glared back.
"Tony, stop staring at me! I'm trying to work." He gestured toward his monitor.
"As the senior field agent, I need to make sure all of my subordinates are performing to the best of their abilities. You understand, McGoo."
The other man sighed and turned back to his computer. Grinning to himself, Tony reached into the pizza box that sat on the edge of his desk. On the way back to the office, the three had taken a vote on lunch. Ziva had lost so pepperoni pizza had accompanied them back to the bullpen. Tony held the piece under his nose and inhaled deeply. His mouth watered...
"Ya think you earned that yet, DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled as he strode into the bullpen. "Got any info on our dead Marine?"
Tony dropped the pizza on the top of the box. As he opened his mouth to speak, McGee interrupted. "Uhhh...Boss?"Gibbs pointed to the plasma and McGee made a few click of his mouse before standing, remote in hand. A standard military picture of their young victim appeared. Clad in her dress uniform, the woman's unsmiling face stared back at them. "Leah Wilkowski. Twenty-six. Enlisted at the age of 22 after ROTC at Waverly State. Graduated with honors with a degree in political science. Saw two tours in Iraq. Got home from the most recent one in July. Never got promoted past the rank of Corporal." McGee made a few more click of his mouse and a picture of the smiling woman appeared in desert camos with three other male Marines by a Humvee and a picture of her smiling with a beach background, shoulder length blonde hair framing her face.
Gibbs approached Tony's desk, picked up the pizza box and held it in front of McGee. "You earned lunch."
Looking back to DiNozzo expectantly, he held the box tight.
"Boss," Tony offered. "I don't think pizza goes with coffee..."
If looks could kill, DiNozzo knew that'd be long gone. Right now, he wasn't wishing for death. The headache had cleared, thanks to Gibbs' magic pills. They were still stashed in his desk and he only hoped that their disappearance would not be noted since he seemed to feel the side effects of drinking seemed more often than before. Standing, Tony smoothed his suit jacket and watched McGee scarf his piece of pizza.
"I searched, but couldn't manage to find an address or phone number for Leah. So I called the three Marines who found the body since the report from Metro stated that one of them knew her. Privates First Class Jonas White and Rohan Maher did not know her, though White is pretty sure he threw up somewhere near the body. The third, Lance Corporal Richard Reiben, said they served together. They were in the same unit. Though I still find it funny that Richard Reiben is a lance corporal and not a private first class..." McGee shot him a quizzical look while he chewed his pizza and Gibbs' eyes narrowed again. "Just Ed Burns' character in Saving Private Ryan....anyway, he said they ran into each other a few weeks ago and she was staying with a friend, Emma Watson, until she got her own place. I think it's great, I'd love to live with Hermoine!"
Tony felt satisfied with only a half-chuckle from McGee.
"Go interview the roommate," Gibbs ordered as he handed Tony the pizza box. "Take McGee with you."
"On it, Boss." Tony and McGee said in unison. Both agents retrieved their gear and headed towards the elevator. Gibbs watched Tony walk out, inhaling his slice on the way with McGee in tow. As the doors closed, he let out a sigh and took a swig of his coffee. The day was waning and he knew his team still had a lot of work to do. His stomach growled, suddenly reminding him of his need for sustenance. When was the last time he had eaten? Perhaps breakfast eight or nine hours ago?
Standing, he retrieved the pizza box from Tony's desk and pulled out a piece. He took a large bite and washed it down with coffee. His senior agent was right about a lot of things, although Gibbs would never freely admit that even with a gun to his head, but he was dead wrong about this.
Pizza paired great with coffee.