A/N: I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah, what you don't recognize is mine. Cheers for the reviews, and hope you enjoy this chapter.
"So… the head whacking thing really is a sign of affection?" Jessica asked Abby a few minutes later after she had reached the lab.
Abby smiled and nodded. "Uh huh. I get a kiss on the cheek, though. Things even out," she replied. "…So what's with you and Tony?"
Jessica opened her mouth, then closed it, seeing a stuffed hippo a few feet away. "What's with the hippo?"
Abby took Bert off the shelf and hugged it, making sure she didn't trigger the farting noise. "I'll tell you, but I asked first. Why did you two draw guns on each other?"
"It's complicated," Jessica muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets.
Abby smirked and threw herself back into the swivel chair behind her, holding Bert closer. "How complicated?"
Jessica sighed. She knew she wasn't getting anywhere. "We dated a while back,"
"Ah," Abby nodded. "You really don't strike me as the person who would date him, though,"
"I was thirty and really young at heart. He was hot and funny. Do I really need to continue?" Jessica asked.
Abby grinned. "Yeah, we all know that. He has a nice butt, too. What's the real reason?"
Jessica laughed at both the second part of the statement and Abby's eagerness to see what went on. "That's the truth, I swear! We knew each other for a while, then he asked me out. Again, he was hot, and I was with my friends. They would have never forgiven me if I didn't,"
Abby laughed. "I wouldn't have, either. So what happened to 'young at heart'? No offense, but it seems like you're really mature with acting so professional… except for that whole thing with pointing a gun at Tony,"
"Yeah, Jessica. What happened to your human side?"
Jessica closed her eyes, hearing Tony. She turned around and glared at him, not giving up her ground when he advanced on her. "I grew up, Tony. You didn't. I grew up enough for the both of us," she smirked and crossed her arms, even if Tony had made it so there was under a foot of space between them. "Now kindly, back off,"
Tony laughed. "I forgot how fun it was to annoy you," he told her without moving.
"Hm," Jessica raised her eyebrows, then brought her knee up hard between his legs.
Tony's smirk suddenly faded and he bit his lip. His eyes teared up as he crossed his legs. "Abs… case," he choked out, putting a file on the table before turning to the door and walking out of the lab very slowly.
Now Abby burst out laughing. "You know, I would've felt bad for him, but he's used to that by now,"
"Why am I not surprised?" Jessica replied.
Abby nodded, then took the file Tony had dropped on the table. "Ah! Fingerprints from our possible suspect. Gimme a minute, will ya?"
Jessica waved her hand. "Take your time," she watched Abby go over to one of the machines in the room, then jumped slightly when her phone started ringing. She silently apologized to Abby, then trotted out the door and picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi Mommy,"
"Sam! Hi, baby. I'm happy that you called, but I can't really talk right now. Is Uncle Trent okay?"
"Yeah. He just wants 'ta know what movie he should get for me from the library,"
Jessica laughed. "I don't know. Do you want "Cars"?"
Sam gasped on the other end. "Yeah!"
Jessica laughed. "Then go tell your uncle,"
" 'Kay. I love you, Mommy,"
"Love you too. Bye," Jessica hung up and went back in the lab. "Sorry. My son," she explained to Abby.
Abby squealed. "Awwww! You have a son?"
"Yeah. His name's Sam," Jessica replied. "I guess I should've told Tony I also had to grow up after having him,"
Abby grinned. "Forget Tony, Daddy must be a good looking guy, huh?"
Jessica sighed. "Yeah, he was. Sam's father and I broke up a while after Sam was born… I raised him on my own, really. How modern of me,"
Abby's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh! I'm so sorry! If I knew, I wouldn't have said that-"
"I trust that. It's fine, really," Jessica waved the statement off. "We're fine on our own, and he hasn't asked about 'Daddy' yet, so we're good,"
Abby smiled. "I guess so,"
Jessica nodded, hating the small awkward silence that followed. "So, Trent wasn't any help. Tell me about the case you're working on if I'm gonna start on it,"
Abby pointed at her. "You got it," she motioned for Jessica to follow her as she went over to one of the computers. She pointed at a picture of a young man around his thirties with red hair and green eyes. "That's our vic, Petty Officer Matt Wright. Died from several stab wounds to the chest, back and shoulders. Looks like he went through Hell and back before he really died. Kinda Julius Caesar, ya know, Jess? Can I call you Jess?"
"Sure," Jessica nodded. "What do we know about Wright other than cause of death,"
The door to the lab swung open. "Not much. That's where you, McGee, DiNozzo and Ziva come in,"
The women turned, seeing Gibbs come into the room, coffee in one hand, Caf-Pow in the other.
"Oh?" Jessica asked.
"You're gonna be working with McGee today, splitting his desk. I figured he's the only one who wouldn't kill you over space,"
"Er… great?" Jessica blinked.
Gibbs smirked and nodded. "Abs, anything new?"
"Nope, not yet," Abby shook her head, taking the Caf-Pow. "I'll let you know,"
Gibbs nodded, then turned, but not before noticing that Jessica was still standing with them. "What're you still doing here?"
Jessica snapped to attention. "Oh, right. I'll just be off, then," she replied, evidence of a British accent in the phrase as she headed out the door and turned left, blushing and turning on her heel when she heard "Wrong way!" come from the lab. She got her bearings right and returned to the main room and walked over to Tim's desk. "Hi. Gibbs told me you and I are sharing a desk today, so, uh… you have an open chair that I can use, please?"
"Yeah, sure," Tim nodded, taking a chair that was in the corner and rolling it towards the second computer at the other side of the desk.
"Thanks. So what're we running?" Jessica asked.
"Cell phone records for our vic. Did Abby tell you our vic's name?"
"Matt Wright," Jessica nodded. "Tell me where to start,"
Tim brought up a list on her screen, then pointed about halfway down. "See if anything repeats. I take the top half, you take the bottom?"
"Sounds like a plan," Jessica agreed.
"You dirty, dirty people,"
Jessica rolled her eyes, seeing Tony enter the area. The comment had come from him. "Hey Tony, feeling better?"
"Yes, much better, Jessie," Tony replied, using the same tone she did.
"Hm," they both tilted their heads and smirked at each other.
Tim blinked. "O…kay, that was creepy,"
"Deal with it, Probie. Tell us what we need to know," Tony snapped, then looked at Jessica. "Or what I need to know, being that somebody's on desk duty all day,"
Jessica laughed. "Right, tell him, Tim, because clearly his head is so far up his ass that he couldn't hear that we were working on it,"
Tony mirrored her action yet again with the same bitter laugh. "Oh yeah? Well-" the familiar hit to the back of his head and the sudden jerk of Jessica's notified him that Gibbs was behind him, and he had just whacked the back of both of their heads. "Just getting what I needed to know, Boss,"
"Really? Because it just looked like you and Jess were in the middle of a lover's spat," Gibbs replied.
Jessica and Tony growled a bit.
Gibbs smirked, then picked up the phone beside him when it started ringing. "Special Agent Gibbs," he remained silent with a neutral expression for a while, then nodded. "I'll be right there," he looked at Tony. "DiNozzo. Find Ziva. New case,"
"On it, boss," Tony hurried off and came back with her a couple of minutes later.
Gibbs nodded. "McGee, turn on the news. See what the media's picked up from it. Apparently the local news is already reporting," he looked back at Tony and Ziva. "You two, with me, Jessica, your choice. Come or stay this time, because it's big," Gibbs told her as he started walking towards the door.
Tim looked up at her. "You going?"
"Don't know yet. Let's see," Jessica nodded towards the large screen behind them, turning on the news. Sure enough, a picture of an area surrounded by crime scene tape was onscreen with the Subtitle "Marine Found Dead". However, it wasn't what Jessica's main focus was after a while. It was the guy that was rubbing his neck, sitting in the back of the ambulance a few feet away, being spoken to by police and EMTs.
Tim raised an eyebrow when she got her coat. "What…?"
"I have three brothers, Tim," she pointed at the man in the ambulance. "You know one, and that's another," he replied before running out of the room in the same direction the others had moments before.
---
When they got to the scene, Jessica didn't bother getting orders from Gibbs. She went right to the ambulance, where she still found her little brother, so naturally, she was worried. "Blake!" she pushed passed one of the cops and hugged him.
"Jess!" Her brother, Blake, gladly accepted the hug, putting his arms around her waist and head on her shoulder.
"Miss-" the cop began.
"She's his sister!" Gibbs called, looking over at them. Jessica had explained the whole thing on the way.
"Sorry," the cop mumbled.
"It's fine," Jessica told him, then looked back at Blake. "What happened?!"
Blake shook his head. "I honestly barely remember… I was over at Rex's place for a beer or two, next thing I know I hear some crashing in the kitchen, and Rex was in there so I ran in, next thing I see, Rex is on the ground, blood was everywhere, glass was shattered… then outta nowhere, some guy comes up behind me, covers my mouth with some cloth, then everything's black…"
"Chloroform?"
The question had come from Gibbs, who was now standing beside Jessica since Ducky was now examining the body. Palmer had actually made it to a scene on time.
"I guess… probably. You are?" Blake asked.
"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Your sister's temporary boss 'til your brother heals up,"
"Oh," Blake nodded, shaking his hand. "… Rex didn't make it, did 'e?"
Gibbs shook his head. "No. I'm sorry,"
Blake sighed. "Thanks. I hate to say it, but I should've figured with the amount of blood around Rex,"
"Rex?" Gibbs asked.
Blake pointed over at where Ducky was. "Him. Your victim. Name's Rex Paulson,"
Gibbs looked back at the victim. "Well, at least we have an I.D," he looked back at Blake. "Did you get a look at your attacker?"
Blake shook his head. "Like I told Jess here, I wasn't facing him. Arm came around my neck from behind and… that's it,"
Gibbs scribbled something down on a pad. "Thanks for the help. You seem to be okay, but the EMTs may want to hold you overnight or a bit longer to make sure whatever you were drugged with is out of your system,"
Blake chuckled and shrugged. "Fine by me,"
Gibbs smiled weakly. "Alright. If you don't mind, I gotta have your sister back for a bit,"
"Go right ahead," Blake patted Jessica's back.
Jessica smiled at him. "Alright, hang in there, and have the doctors call Trent or me to give us where you're staying, okay?"
"Got it," Blake nodded.
Jessica kissed his cheek, then walked back towards Ziva and Tony.
"Who's that, Jess? An old boyfriend of yours?" Tony smirked.
"My brother, actually, Tony, and if you have any comments involving incest, I'll rip your spleen out through your throat," Jessica replied, waiting for Gibbs to give further instructions.
Ziva raised her eyebrows. "I may grow to like you, Miss. Lennox,"
Jessica grinned. "Please, call me Jessica or Jess, and I'm sure we will," she looked at Tony. "This one, I'm not so sure about," she started walking towards Gibbs when he motioned for them to come over, leaving Tony to stare at her briefly before making a face and joining the girls.
