A siren blared into the distance and Tony prayed that it was the ambulance. The siren grew closer and Tony breathed a huge sigh of relief. The ambulance could not have been less than a block away when it happened. The incident that would definitely fall into the top ten worst experiences of his life. Jimmy's body trembled violently and then he was gone. In all his years of being a cop Tony had never experienced another person dying in his arms. The closest he had come was when his commissioner had a heart attack in front of him. He was a rookie then and he just froze up. Though a senior officer, the paramedics, and the medical examiner assured him there was nothing that he could have done. Nothing that anyone could have done. After that it was when Kate died on the roof-top and Jason's sister probably counted for something. There were probably others he was suppressing but this was by far the worst. Jimmy didn't even look dead. He just looked like he was in a really deep sleep. He laid Jimmy on side walk and frantically began preforming CPR.
"Come on, Palmer! Please. Not like this. Please not like this. Please." Tony begged.
The next few moments were a total blur for Tony. He blacked out around the time he started CPR and did not come to until he was sitting a cubicle in the ER of whatever hospital Jimmy and him had been taken to. He wanted to protest being brought to the hospital but he could do little more than pull himself into a sitting position. After some struggle he managed to grab a hold of the bed remote. He fumbled around until he managed to press the call button.
"May I help you?"
"This is Tony DiNozzo I am not sure what room I am in. Can somebody come in here. I have a few questions." Tony explained.
"Somebody will be right there."
Tony managed to fight his way back to total awareness. He did not find any IV's or wires. So he drug himself out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He relieved himself and by the time he was done a nurse was waiting for him.
"Are you alright, Mr. DiNozzo?" The nurse asked.
"My friend Jimmy Palmer. How is he?" Tony asked.
"Normally I do not release information like this but the next of kin has already been informed and Mr. Gibbs requested that I inform you if you asked." The nurse explained
"Next of kin. That means that Jimmy is dead. What happened?" Tony demanded.
"Mr. Palmer was murdered. That is all I can say but his family will know more soon. I am sorry for your loss." The nurse explained.
Gibbs picked Tony up from the hospital after he was discharged. Tony knew from the retired Marine's face was enough for Tony to know that Jimmy's death was somehow even worse than he could have ever imagined. The drive to Gibbs' home was made in total silence. Both men had shed many tears and many more were shed on the drive but the tears were silent and not a word was spoken. The silence lasted until the men were seated in the basement of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, each with a glass of expensive bourbon in their hands. Tony and Gibbs were not alone; Abby, McGee, Bishop, Anders, and even director Vance were present. All holding full glasses. The only member missing besides the obvious was Ducky.
"For Tony's sake I am saying this but Ducky will not be joining us tonight. He chose to spend the evening along but Leon will be checking him on the way home." Gibbs explained.
"What happened to Jimmy? Why would somebody kill Jimmy?" Tony questioned.
"I think it may be my fault." Gibbs confessed.
"We don't know that yet Jethro. It could just be a coincidence." Vance offered.
"There is no such thing as a coincidence and the sure as hell is no such thing as a coincidence when a kid I know is murdered by the Reynosa Cartel. Right around the anniversaries of Alejandro and Paloma's deaths." Gibbs argued.
"The dealers busted were connected to the cartel but not enough to be in the inner circle. The one who confessed isn't much older than Jared. He was just a boy when Paloma went down and still too young when Alejandro crossed you for the last time." Vance explained.
"Well why else would Jimmy Palmer be murdered by a drug dealer?!" Gibbs demanded.
The dark room perfectly reflected Breena's mood. She could not believe her husband was really dead. What was worse was knowing that it was entirely her fault. The addiction had started not long after Tori was born. She was tired like all new mothers and one of the mom's in her group gave her some pills. She never meant to be a junkie, she was going to follow the rules. To only take the medication when she was too tired to function and that's how it started. Then it would be when she just wanted to stay up to watch a guest on Colbert or if she had to stay late.
Soon the pills ran out but getting her own prescription was easy. Unfortunately the doctor ended up cutting her off after a while. She was desperate and contacted the mom who had first helped her. Even though she had been banned from the group and it was public knowledge that drugs were the reason. The other mom gave her the number of "The doctor who never cuts off." The doctor turned out to be a dealer and soon he had Breena on all kinds of things.
It started with cocaine and then she tried heroine. Jimmy noticed fairly quickly but she passed it off as continued post postpartum depression. Eventually Jimmy got her to a psychiatrist who fairly easily convinced to write a prescription. Getting money was easy enough. Jimmy told Ed about the depression and she managed to convince her father that their insurance did not cover the doctor she really got on with. He was writing her checks every week and when the checks didn't cover she would tell Jimmy that she needed stuff for Tori. She never imagined that she would use her child to get her fix.
She got along just fine. Until the day she used up Ed and Jimmy's money but still needed a fix. She started a GoFundMe claiming Tori needed emergency surgery. She used a picture from when Tori was hospitalized for the stomach flu and touched it up a bit to make her look critical. She was careful enough to use a fake name and only share it on her drug Facebook page. Somehow Jimmy found out he tried to get her help but she was so fucked up.
They had a huge fight and she headed straight for her dealer. She was extremely strung out and didn't even remember her name. What she did remember was telling the dealer Jimmy had the money she owed. She gave him the picture and the dealer was soon targeting Jimmy. Even with his life in danger Jimmy kept the addiction a secret. Why? Because he thought she was getting help. Except she wasn't getting help. She was getting her fix and running up a tab in Jimmy's name. She never imagined that anything would happen. The dealer had promised her would never hurt a father. He had lied and now Jimmy was dead.
A/N: How long until the team learns Breena's secret? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.