Fading Away
By SherryGabs
Rated: M (Just to be safe. See Chap. 1 for full details.)
Many, many thanks to STLFAN, Hawkeye, Dreamcatcher, and Moonlight. Your reviews are greatly appreciated.
Chapter 3
What should have been an easy on-scene investigation turned out to be pretty much a fiasco.
When Team Gibbs arrived on the scene, they discovered that an inexperienced local patrolman had inadvertently trampled through the crime scene. Gibbs started ripping into the young officer, who stood shaking and unable to speak, about standard operating procedures and proper protocols.
Meanwhile, Ducky and his young assistant Jimmy Palmer had arrived and began their cursory examination of the body. It was obvious within minutes that the man's death was most likely by his own hand.
Moments later, the captain of the young patrolman arrived and started arguing with Gibbs about mistreating his people. The shouting between the two was enough to draw quite a crowd in the neighborhood park. Not to mention the TV news crew that had shown up.
Kate was searching for possible evidence on the ground while Tony took photos of the area. Tim was questioning the woman who had found the body in a remote area of the park behind some bushes. They shot worried glances over towards Gibbs and the captain while the two argued practically nose-to-nose.
"I have a feeling Gibbs is going to wind up on the 6:00 news tonight if it's a slow news day," Tony said, pointing his camera at Kate and taking a picture of her frown.
"Think we should step in?" she asked.
"Not if you value your safety, Katelyn," Ducky spoke up. "I don't think he would strike an old-timer like me, however."
"Wouldn't be too sure of that, Duck," Tony warned as the ME passed him.
Ducky approached the red-faced pair just as Gibbs shouted at the police captain, "I don't give a flying fuck what you tell my director! You can go to hell, flatfoot!"
"Jethro, that's enough!" Ducky said sternly, taking hold of Gibbs's arm, trying to pull him away.
"Let go, Duck!" Gibbs shot him a warning glare and yanked his arm back.
Ducky bravely got closer and made eye contact with Gibbs, knowing the younger man wouldn't really hurt him. "You are making a spectacle of yourself and NCIS in front of a news camera," he stated quietly for only Gibbs to hear and tilting his head toward the recording camera.
Gibbs looked over and saw the news team and his eyes narrowed. He was about to go over and give them a piece of his mind, but the doctor grabbed his arm again, holding him back.
"Don't make things worse than they are, Jethro!" Ducky warned softly. "You need to calm down."
Gibbs closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. His body felt like molten lava flowing from an erupted volcano and his head was throbbing. He knew he needed to curb his desire to throttle someone and get his mind back on his job.
Ducky gave him a minute, studying Gibbs's face worriedly. "I have a preliminary report if you are ready to hear it."
"All right," Gibbs said, trying to shake off the effects from the argument with the captain. He struggled with this as he stalked over to the dead marine lying on the ground.
Ducky sighed and looked over to the two police officers, hoping to repair the damage. "I am sorry about that. He must be having a bad day."
"Oh, he'll be having a much worse day in a little while!" the captain threatened as he grabbed the young officer and pulled him away.
Ducky shook his head and said to himself. "Jethro, your temper has cost you this time."
The ME noticed Tony and Kate giving Gibbs a wide berth as he approached the body. He quickly made his way over before Gibbs could scare poor Palmer. The boy is nervous enough as it is.
"Well?" Gibbs asked when Ducky caught up with him.
"Yes, well, the young man has been deceased since approximately 0400 this morning." Ducky knelt down and pointed to the head wound. "The bullet entered here in his right temple and exited over here." He pointed to the other side of the head, over the marine's left ear.
"Yeah, Duck, that's kinda obvious by the orange-size hole on the side of his head!" Gibbs said testily.
Ducky patiently ignored him and continued. "From the angle of the shot and an instant GSR test on his right hand, I'd wager he shot himself."
"Gun?"
"9-mil, already bagged."
"Anything else?" Gibbs had been hoping for a more drawn out investigation to keep them busy, but it didn't look promising.
Jimmy handed him a wallet. "His name's Sgt. Brian White, 31 years old. Lived in Norfolk."
Ducky stood back up. "We will do a more thorough examination when we get him back, of course. But that is my finding at the moment. Let's get him bagged, Mr. Palmer."
Gibbs left them to their task and called Kate over, handing her the wallet. "Get a background on him, see if he has family. DiNozzo! Help McGee get witness statements."
"On it, Boss!" Tony called.
Gibbs paced back and forth impatiently. He noticed the reporter from the news crew trying to push her way towards him, but two patrolman were holding her back behind the yellow police tape. He never had a tolerance for news people sticking their noses into his investigations and the mood he was in at the moment would not bode well for the woman at all.
After getting the body into the van, Ducky looked at Gibbs feeling the need to talk to the man. The week had been slow and he hadn't seen Gibbs in a few days. What he was seeing now concerned him. His friend looked ill and shaky.
"Jimmy, wait in the van. I need to speak to Gibbs."
"Yes, Doctor Mallard." Better you than me. Haven't seen Gibbs this irate before.
"Jethro!" Ducky called, getting Gibbs's attention as he approached. "I want to speak with you."
"What is it, Duck?" Gibbs could feel his pulse pounding in his brain and didn't feel like dealing with Ducky's questions right then.
"Don't you think you were a bit hard on that young officer? There really wasn't a crime scene to compromise, now was there?"
"He was careless and incompetent and needs to learn how to approach—" Gibbs started ranting, but Ducky cut him off.
"I'm just saying that you could have been a bit more tactful about it instead of terrifying the lad."
"Ah geez, Ducky, don't start!"
"Has something happened today to make you such an insufferable —"
"Enough, Doctor!"
Patience coming to an end, Ducky stood his full height, which only made it up to Gibbs's shoulders and eyed him carefully. "Jethro, you do not look well. Something is obviously wrong with you and I think it is effecting your performance. I want you down in autopsy before the end of the day so I can give you a check-up."
Gibbs shook his head. "Not gonna happen."
"I can make it an official order. I do have the authority you know." Ducky threatened coolly.
"You just try." Gibbs eyes were ice, staring down at the doctor before he walked away towards the parking lot where their truck was. Deep down he knew Ducky was only wanting to help him. He knew he wasn't all right, maybe even sick, but his stubborn pride wouldn't let him admit he needed help. He hated showing weakness. His parched throat was a constant reminder. Damn, I wish I'd brought water!
Ducky eyes followed Gibbs until the man opened the back of the truck and stepped in. Tim, Kate, and Tony joined the doctor.
"We're worried about him, too, Ducky." Kate told him.
"How long has he been like this, Katelyn?"
"A few days." Kate figured it was time to come through with everything. "He's been more of a grumpy, pain-in-the-ass bastard than usual and not eating much of anything."
"Yeah, and he gets fidgety and can't sit still," Tim added.
"Not to mention losing things and forgetting conversations he's had." Tony thought a moment, remembering his Baltimore police days and his short time in Narcotics. "You know, Doc, these symptoms are starting to sound familiar."
"Yes, Anthony, they are," Ducky said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Tim asked confused.
"They sound like withdrawal symptoms," Ducky said shaking his head, "but Jethro is as anti-drug as they come. Plus a man his age usually doesn't start using drugs just for the heck of it. Has he quit drinking coffee?"
"Oh god, no!" Kate snorted. "That's about all he's getting in, that and a lot of water."
"So, thirsty, too," Ducky rubbed his chin in thought. "Some alcoholics will drink other liquids to compensate the need to drink something when they don't have alcohol available. Has he had slurred speech or acted otherwise tipsy?"
"No. Not at all," Tony said. "I haven't smelled any booze on him."
"Me either." Then Tim remembered Gibbs's behavior the past two mornings. "He seems to be in a better mood in the mornings, then gets worse as the day goes on."
Kate raised her index finger. "That's right. Which is weird since he looks like he's not getting enough sleep. You'd think he'd be grouchier in the morning."
"What do you think we oughtta do, Ducky?" Tony asked.
Ducky looked towards the team's truck, but didn't see Jethro. "Well, you three are going to get back to work before he comes back and sees our little huddle. I'm going back to NCIS and start the autopsy on our dead marine."
"What about Gibbs?" Tim wondered.
"Special Agent Gibbs is going to report to my autopsy today for a thorough examination." Ducky smiled devilishly. "Even if I have to go through Director Morrow to do it."
"I have a feeling that is exactly what it's going to take," Kate sighed.
**************
It didn't take long for the team to finish their on-scene work. The woman who found the body really wasn't of any help, and there were no witnesses to the shooting. None of the residents in the neighborhood had heard a shot in the middle of the night while they slept. There were no other footprints besides the marine's and the young police officer, and no other evidence suggesting there had been anyone else there.
It was nearing late afternoon when the Team arrived back to the naval yard. Kate sat down and immediately began background research on Brian White. Tony would download and log the photos while Tim would find financial and phone records of the dead man. Even if it was an apparent suicide, they still needed to be thorough as if it was a homicide.
Gibbs had stopped for a long drink of water on his way in and had just sat down when his phone rang. Expecting it to be Ducky with his report he was a little surprised to hear Morrow's voice.
"Turn on channel 5 news, Jethro," the director told him and hung up.
"Now what?" Gibbs muttered, going to the plasma television and using the remote to tune in the right channel.
The news station thought waiting till 6:00 wasn't good enough and had decided to interrupt the regular programming with a news alert.
Gibbs groaned when he saw the footage of the park, at first only of the legs of the dead marine and the crowd of people. He had tuned out what the reporter was saying until the camera did a close up of him in a heated argument with the police captain. The microphone had picked up every word, bleeping out several of the words being tossed back and forth. The footage ended with Ducky pulling Gibbs away. He turned the TV off before the reporter could continue with her commentary.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders, knowing he was in trouble.
"You gave it to him good, Boss!" Tony was suddenly beside him smiling. The smile faded slowly at Gibbs glare.
"Agent Gibbs!"
Gibbs looked up to see a not happy Director Morrow standing on the balcony and gesturing for the agent to come up.
"Goddammit! I knew I should have chased that crew away," he muttered walking towards the stairs. He felt the director's glare on him the entire way up the stairs, then boring into his back as he passed him going towards the man's office.
Director Morrow was never one to yell. He'd rather use quiet intimidation to get his point across. And Gibbs got the message loud and clear. He stood at attention as the director stood only inches from him and pointed out things like relations between federal agencies and local police authorities. How his behavior would be a black eye to NCIS and public relations. And this was not the way a senior agent should behave in front of junior agents; he should be setting a better example.
"That same captain called a short time ago and it was all I could do to talk him out of filing a formal complaint! Thanks to you, I have to buy ten tickets to the policeman's ball off of him!"
"Well, you are a good dancer," Gibbs muttered sarcastically under his breath.
"What did you just say?!" Morrow's angry voice rose a couple of octaves.
"Look—" Gibbs couldn't stand still there any longer. He turned and started pacing quickly back and forth, waving his arms in frustration. "That captain came there looking for a fight. That damn news crew shouldn't have been allowed there in the first place—"
"Ever hear of 'freedom of the press'?" Morrow pointed out.
"I don't care!" Gibbs yelled, then growled when he couldn't think of anything to defend his actions. I need to get out of here.
"I'll pay for the damn tickets. All right?"
"No. I'll just turn in an expenditure and say it's for interagency relations." There was new mirth in the director's eyes. "I have something else in mind as punishment."
"What? Suspension?" Gibbs couldn't believe it. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"No, not suspension." Director Morrow went around his desk and sat down. "I had another phone call this afternoon. From Dr. Mallard."
Gibbs frowned at him sharply. Ducky wouldn't have?
Oh yes, he would, Jethro. Morrow could see the question burning in Gibbs's eyes. "He expressed his concerns about your health and well-being as of late and your refusal to have him examine you. From what I see in front of me and from your attitude and behavior the past couple of days, I have to agree with him."
"I am fine! I don't need him to—"
"Agent Gibbs!" Morrow's inflection stopped Gibbs's dead. "I have had enough of your insubordination for one day. You will report to Dr. Mallard right now. If I find out you didn't, you will be suspended—without pay—until you do."
Gibbs was about to protest again, but the director raised his hand to silence him.
"Now."
Jethro knew he had lost this fight. Shaking his head, he stormed out the door and let it slam shut behind him. His fast, angry pace took him across the floor to the elevator where he slammed the down button. When it didn't open right away he kicked the door hard.
"Come on you piece of metal crap!"
The three agents down below all looked up when they heard the noise, just in time to see him kick it again. The doors seemed to get the message and opened finally.
"Whoa! Glad I'm not that door," Tony winced.
"Guess Boss got the message from Ducky," Tim looked apprehensive. "I feel sorry for the doctor."
Kate fingered the cross hanging from her neck. "Let's just hope Ducky can find out what's wrong. I really hate seeing Gibbs like this."
TBC