Author's Note: I apologize for the descriptions of the characters I made up. I am not good with character imagery, so please excuse my novice descriptions. I'm much more of a 'let your imagination run free' person. I would also like to thank everyone who commented on this story. I am quite surprised at so many people being intrigued by this story and saying positive stuff about it. Also, please excuse any mistakes for this chapter, the chapters before, and the chapters afterwards. I hope to live up to your expectations. Thank you all.
Chapter Four
Leroy Jethro Gibbs had done it. How? Nobody knew. There, held in his hand, were six tickets for the next flight to New Orleans, Louisiana. Jethro had a seat next to Ducky. Ziva had a seat next to Tony, which may have been better than McGee sitting next to him. And of course, McGee sat next to Palmer. All six were on the same side. Unfortunately, Tony sat behind McGee, which McGee knew he would kick his seat once and a while when he gets bored.
"And what are we going to do over at New Orleans, Jethro?" Ducky asked while Gibbs looked out the window.
"Help out New Orleans with some cases. The other cases for D.C. will be filled in by other NCIS agents," Gibbs explained.
"Ah, I see. Does Abby know we're coming?"
"We're going to surprise her," Gibbs said with a smirk on his face. Ducky chuckled and nodded.
"Abigail does like surprises," Ducky admitted.
As predicted, Abby screamed when they stood in front of her. The scream wasn't from fear but Abby's overjoyed emotion. She hugged each person except for Gibbs. She just stared him in the eyes. Gibbs wondered if she would hug him or not. But then again, he was the one who sent her away. So, of course, she wouldn't hug him. When he thought that, she did the total opposite. It was the most powerful hug that Gibbs ever had gotten from her. And of course, he hugged her in return. He wouldn't say this out loud but this hug actually was quite crushing. Abby does become stronger when her emotions are high. But to Gibbs, he didn't mind. The strength in the hug made up for all the times she wasn't able to hug him. A bit hard to breath but he isn't dead yet.
"The hug is kind of long, don't you think?" Jimmy whispered to Tony. Tony gave an unnoticable small smirk with a glint of mischief in his eyes.
"This is Abby were talking about, Jimmy," Tony answered with a shrug as if it wasn't anything to be suspicious about. Jimmy thought for a bit and nodded.
"Guess you're right," Jimmy said before settling with the answer.
"Oh, it's great to see you guys," Abby said before letting Gibbs go. "But why are you guys here?"
"We're teaming up with your team to solve some cases," Gibbs told her with a smile.
"Really?" Abby asked, her eyes glowing brightly before jumping up and down excitedly. Gibbs nodded, which made Abby hug Gibbs again in an impulse.
Soon after, Abby's new team entered and were rather surprised at Abby's old team here. Briggs was the only one who wasn't as shocked since he had just gotten the message from Director Vance that they would come. Gibbs noticed Briggs and started glaring at him for a bit before he looked back at Abby with a smile. Briggs noticed his look but didn't seem to mind his glare.
"Are you picking up Abby? Her time here isn't up yet," said one of Briggs' team. She was short, somewhere around 5'2". She looked a bit chubby yet cute at the same time and her skin was a bit tanned to give her skin some color. Her short dirty blonde hair framed her face well with the bangs hiding her eyes somewhat. She wore baggy clothing and wore rectangle glasses that looked fitting and stylish.
"Oh, we are here to work with your team," McGee answered.
"Really now, and what sort of cases are they," questioned the only male of the other team other than Briggs. He was quite tall around 6'3" and skinny like a model. He also had long slick, black hair, which was quite unusual for a guy to have and gives him a sort of a pretty boy image. And because of it being long, he tied it up. He had asian features and quite handsome enough to be a model, yet he seemed quite stoic to the point that looks like he is observing.
"Is there a suitable place that we could talk?" Tony asked.
"Oh, of course. Please follow me," Briggs answered before showing them the way with his team behind him.
"Wow, Abby, your old boss looks more handsome in person," said the last team member. She is equally beautiful as Ziva and her male team member. She was a little taller than Abby by two inches. Her brunette hair pulled up into a stylish messy bun.
Abby chuckled.
"Well, he is my silver-haired fox," Abby told her proudly.
"Hm, quite so, but the older man next to the younger man with the glasses is my type," the woman told Abby. Abby glanced at who she was looking at before she smiled widely.
"You mean, Ducky? He's the medical examiner in D.C.," Abby told her. The woman replied with an interested look on her face.
"Ducky, huh, I like," she said before Abby and her giggled.
It didn't take long before they entered a meeting room. Briggs closed the door behind him when everyone were inside. He stood in the front. Briggs was quite tall but not as tall his male subordinate. His black hair slicked back, giving him an air of a mature businessman. It looked like he was ten years younger than his real age.
On the left side of the table sat Abby, the pretty asian male, the beautiful brunette woman, the cute chubby young lady, and Jimmy Palmer. On the right side sat Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, Tony, and Ducky.
"I would like to introduce the members of my team to all of you. And likewise, I hope you introduce yourselves to us before we start talking about the cases we have together," started Briggs before he looked at all the people in the room. "Here, in order after Abby, is Mun-Hee (pronounced Maun-He) Takeda (pronounced Tah-kee-dah). He likes to be called "Moon"."
Moon crossed his arms and responded with a curt nod.
"Just to let you guys know, Moon is half-Korean and half-Japanese. He's born here so he speaks all three languages fluently," Abby explained as the Gibbs team nodded. Ziva seemed quite curious about the asian male.
"Next is Lily Gray," Briggs continued.
Lily just smiled and winked at Ducky. It sort of startled Ducky a bit before he just smiled nervously at the woman.
"Ooh la la, I like me some Lily," Tony whispered to McGee, who seemed not to really care. Tony was gazing at Lily now but Lily only had her eyes on Ducky. "Do you think she's looking at me? She did the wink."
"Maybe," McGee whispered back. "She is looking over where you and Ducky are."
"Last but not least is Phoenix Wells," Briggs announced the chubby young woman.
Phoenix just nodded and waved at everyone of the other team.
"You know me by Abby calling me Briggs, but you can call me Jeffrey if you are in a first name basis," Briggs said.
"I go by Gibbs," he started before he continued with, "I will let my team introduce themselves."
Briggs nodded in understanding before the Gibbs' team address their names in order like Briggs introduced his team.
"My name is Ziva David," Ziva presented herself in her usual observing manner.
"I am Tony DiNozzo," Tony said before showing his flirty smile at Lily. Lily completely ignored him as she was still staring at Ducky.
"Hello, I am Tim McGee," Tim greeted waving at the other team.
Ducky stood up and said, "My name is Ducky Mallard, I am the medical examiner of NCIS in D.C." Ducky gave a smile and then gave a short nod before sitting himself down again. Lily smiled over at him. Ducky felt quite awkward at Lily's stare as he nodded slowly her way.
Jimmy stood up nervously and smiled. "My name is Ji-Jimmy P-Palmer, doctor Mallard's assistant." He clumsily sat down, almost narrowly missing his seat.
"Okay, now that introductions are over. Let's start on our cases, shall we?" Gibbs said immediately afterwards.
"Pissy, isn't he?" Lily asked. Gibbs glared at the woman. Lily just winked at him.
"We are doing fine without you guys. Why come now?" Moon asked, his eyes challenging Gibbs. Gibbs smirked in reply, taking the challenge.
"Abby is part of my team. It's part of my duty to protect her, and I trust no one here to do the job," Gibbs said truthfully. "All the while to make sure all goes well over here. You guys don't want to be disbanded, do you?"
Abby was rather surprised at what he said. He had never said that when she worked with NCIS: Los Angeles. But then again, Gibbs did work with the group before. Hence, the trust level with them to protect her.
"So Gibbs does miss me, but he needs to work on his excuses," Abby thought before she felt giddy inside.
Moon stayed silent, giving a silent glare while Gibbs responded with his own. If anything, there was tension between Moon and Gibbs, and they weren't afraid to show it. Lily and Phoenix sighed.
"Men," Lily and Phoenix thought.
Briggs set down a manila folder before he tried to get everyone's attention once more.
"Instead of having arguments amongst us, the cases are more important," Briggs told everyone. "One of our cases involve not only a dead marine but his wife and two other children. The dead marine is named Charles Colts, thirty-five years old. His thirty-three year old wife is Amanda Colts; surname is Wilson. The two children consists of twelve year old daughter, Kylie Colts and five year old son, Darren Colts. There are no surviving members in the house. The marine had a stab wound on his neck while his wife had hers sliced. The two children had been beheaded with a clear cut."
When they heard the mention of two children being killed, Gibbs' team started turning serious. Abby frowned at the case. The Briggs team already knew beforehand about the case, but they were still not used to the thought of a happy family being killed off.
"They killed a five year old? Who could be so heartless to kill a five year old and a twelve year old? And to do it in such a horrible way." Abby asked.
"This is where you come in Abby. We need you to work on prints or any evidence that can be useful to capture our murderer or murderers. Our suspicions are lead to two people, thirty year old Stephan Kents and forty year old Wilma Tailors," Briggs continued.
"I'm going to go start the forensics and get those killers. You guys talk amongst yourselves," Abby told them before she walked and stood next to the door. "Play nice, guys. We've got murderers to take down."
Soon after she said this, she left. Briggs smiled at her authoritative voice. Gibbs watched her leave soon after. One of Briggs team then spoke soon after.
"The supposed weapons used is some sort of knife and a thin wiring. We are awaiting for the medical examiner to justify the murder weapons used on them," Phoenix said.
"We are interrogating our suspects as of now. But without evidence, we've got nothing to trace them to the murders. We do know they have some involvement as they were seen the day before the Colts family were killed," Lily said.
"Well, let's show you how the Gibbs team work," Tony said, winking at Lily. Lily rolled her eyes in reply.
"Trust me, we did all threats possible," Moon told him.
"Oh, but Gibbs. Oh ho ho, Gibbs can make anybody confess," Tony said to reassure him.
"Then, we should be glad to have the Gibbs team here then," Briggs said, patting Tony's back lightly. "If it helps us to solve this case, we shouldn't stop them."
"But..." Moon started but shut his mouth, knowing that solving the case is more important than pride. "Fine. I want to see for myself how great they are."
"But of course, Gibbs team doesn't back down," Ziva interjected. "You'll find out soon that our team is better than you think we are."
"Oh really?" Lily now interfered in the conversation. "Then I hope you think the same for us. Because, if I didn't know any better, your tone sounds like you are looking down on us."
The four now are starting to do a stare down at each other.
"Now, let's calm down. We don't want any fights between us," McGee said.
"Yeah, Abby did say play nice," Phoenix said.
"Don't interfere," all four yelled in unison at both McGee and Phoenix.
Briggs sighed as Gibbs did the same. Both the bosses knew that they were taking too much time with this rivalry, so Briggs and Gibbs looked at each other and nodded.
"Tony, Ziva, McGee, stop arguing and start solving this case," Gibbs ordered.
Tony and Ziva glared at Moon and Lily before the Gibbs team yelled, "Yes, boss!"
"Lily, Moon, Phoenix, let's finish this case once and for all," Briggs ordered.
Moon, Lily, and Phoenix did the same like the Gibbs team but yelled more loudly, "Yes, boss!"
All eight people left the meeting room.
"This is going to be a long day, Mr. Palmer. Unlike them, let's have a nice stay here. Would you like to go sightseeing at this new NCIS building," Ducky questioned.
"Sure thing, Doctor Mallard. This is our vacation," Jimmy told him with a smile.
Ducky chuckled.
"And let's make good use of it," Ducky said before leaving with Jimmy.
"Do you have anything for us, Abbs?" Briggs asked with a Caf-Pow at hand before placing it next to her.
Abby looked up at him and frowned.
"I only have the blood of the victims. No traces of fingerprints on any of the clothes, bed sheets, and everything else, so it's more likely they used gloves for this," Abby told him. "It's not right, Briggs. Those kids and the parents. They must've been a happy family. And suddenly, it's taken away by those murderers. You've got to get them, Briggs. You've got to. If only I had enough evidence, we could get them in no time. Why isn't there more evidence?"
Briggs nodded and then gave her a kiss on the head.
"You did a good job. Don't put yourself down, Abbs," Briggs told her.
"But I can't allow those murderers to get away with killing a whole family like that. It's just... not right," Abby told him. Briggs hugged her.
"We'll catch them, Abby. We'll search more at the house again if we find anything we may have missed," Briggs told her. Abby nodded.
"Thanks, Briggs. I'll do my best to find anything, and put those murderers in jail," Abby said.
"Abby?"
"Yeah?"
"You spend too much time with Moon. Just stay being Abby," Briggs said with a smile. Abby nodded and smiled before he left.
Soon after, Gibbs came in with a Caf-Pow at hand but then found Abby had her Caf-Pow!.
"Oh, Gibbs. Why are you here? I just told Briggs what I've got," Abby told him.
"I know. Just saw him," he told her before setting his Caf-Pow! next to Briggs'.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Why are you here? Not that I don't want you here, but you've got a case to solve. Shouldn't you be interrogating the suspects? But then again, you must've already had because your Gibbs, you know," Abby started to trail off. Gibbs shut her mouth by putting his index fingers against her lip.
"Just wanted to talk, Abby," Gibbs told her.
"Talk?"
"Yes, talk."
"Talk about what?"
"Do you like it here?"
"Well, I feel comfortable here but not as much as in D.C." Gibbs smiled at the comment. "Don't we have a case to solve?" Abby looked over at Gibbs confused.
"Already solved it. The criminals cracked way too easily. Tailors admitted beheading the children. As for the parents, they were killed by her lover, Patrick Hawthorne. Found one of the murder weapons in the garbage, and the other was inside a drawer," Gibbs said. "We just need blood confirmation on the weapons."
"Well, you are Gibbs. You can crack almost any criminal possible," Abby complimented him. Gibbs just smiled. A small silence started to brew between them. Abby rolled her chair to get her drink and started drinking her Caf-Pow that Briggs gave her. Gibbs noticed.
"You seem really close to Briggs, Abbs," he suddenly said.
Abby turned to him and smiled.
"Of course. He's the most nicest gentleman you'll ever meet," Abby told him before rolling her chair towards Gibbs.
"I see," Gibbs only uttered, now silence filled the air between them even though music was blaring on inside Abby's lab. The awkwardness suddenly filled Gibbs.
"So... Gibbs... what was the reason for those murderers to kill the family," Abby finally asked after a minute of silence with him.
"Misplaced vengeance. Tailors and Hawthorne's daughter died on battle five years ago and used that anger to kill Colts' family when they realized Colts is a marine. They planned for the murder for months and tried to get close to them by faking neighborly kindness," Gibbs explained. Abby nodded sadly.
"The mindset of humans is a complicated manner," Ducky said before he entered with Jimmy Palmer. "When one loses someone close, actions and/or words are revealed in many different ways. Tailors' and Hawthorne's are one of them."
"Ducky, why are you and Jimmy here?" Abby asked.
"Well, we are here by chance. I heard your conversation and decided to interrupt. I do apologize if it is important between the two of you," Ducky said as Gibbs just smiled.
"You don't mind us interfering as well, do you?" Briggs suddenly asked as everyone from Gibbs and Briggs team entered.
"We've got the results for the blood confirmation on the weapons," Moon said.
"And?" Abby asked.
"Confirmed to belong to Colts' family," answered Phoenix.
"Wow, so just like that we finished the case? Wasn't hard," Tony said.
"So who cracked the criminals?" Abby asked. Gibbs smirked rather proudly.
"Sadly to say, it is your old boss, Gibbs," Moon said, crossing his arms with a look of frustration.
"I told you, Moon. Gibbs always has his way. Well, most of the time," Abby told him.
"I see why you are very fond of your old team, Abbs. They work very efficiently as a team," Briggs said.
"Briggs!" Moon and Lily yelled.
"We work well as a team too, you know," Lily said.
"All of you are still new to this workforce. What you lack, they have," Briggs told them truthfully.
"And what do they have that we lack?" Phoenix asked, not at all offended by the comment but more curious.
"You need to find out yourself. That, my team, is the way of the world," Briggs said. He then clasped his hands together and said brightly, "Well, now that we solved the case. What does everyone like to do?"
"Well, we have to check into a hotel," Ducky said. Briggs smiled.
"Would you guys like to stay over at my house for free? My house is big enough," Briggs said.
"For all six of us?" Jimmy asked.
"Yes, I do live in a very large house," Briggs answered. "Even my team members other than Abby, live with me."
"He lives in a mansion," Phoenix explained.
"Really? Is there even a mansion in New Orleans?" Tony asked. Briggs chuckled.
"Not many people know where I live other than Abby, her mom and brother, and my team," Briggs said.
"And how does Abby know where you live?" Ziva asked.
"Well, first off, Briggs is now my boss. And secondly, Briggs and I know each other far before I knew Gibbs and everyone else here," Abby answered instead.
"So tell me, how do you guys know each other?" Tony asked, now curious at Abby's relationship with Briggs.
Abby and Briggs smiled mischievously.
"Not telling," they both said in unison.
"What? Why not," Tony whined.
Gibbs didn't like their answer and looked rather serious. The way both of them spoke to each other so fondly and Briggs knew her before him, made Gibbs even more distressed. Does that mean Abby once dated Briggs? She became McGee's friend after she dated him, maybe it was the same for Briggs. Gibbs head was in utter chaos, almost nearing him in having a headache. And a headache is the last thing Gibbs needed right now.
"Gibbs?" Abby called out. Gibbs looked up to see Abby's look of concern. Everyone was staring at him as well.
"Yeah?" He asked in his usual nonchalant tone.
"Are you all right? You were spacing out," Abby told him.
"I was just thinking about something. That's all."
"Oh, okay. So are you staying over at Briggs? Living at Briggs' mansion is much more comfortable than a hotel. I know because I slept over there sometimes before I met you, Gibbs," Abby told him with a smile. That comment obviously rear-ended Gibbs in such a painful way that he became so shocked his eyes widened.
"What?" Everyone yelled.
"Oops," Abby uttered. "I wasn't supposed to say that, was I, Briggs?"
Briggs sighed but shrugged it off.
"It's too late for that, Abby, but they will know sooner or later," Briggs said.
Abby chuckled nervously.
"Know what sooner or later," McGee questioned with a curious look.
"We'll let you find out. And if you do, please keep it a secret," Briggs told them with a concerned smile. "There's a reason I haven't told anyone."
"Do you guys know?" Tony asked Phoenix, Moon, and Lily.
"Not at all. If it's a secret they want to keep, there's no reason to invade their privacy," Phoenix answered, knowing full well her two team members would be reluctant to answer.
"Hm... hey, McGee, you going to check on it?" Tony whispered, elbowing McGee to get his attention.
"I might. Doubt it," McGee said.
"And why not?" Ziva asked, raising one of her eyebrows while crossing her arms.
"Like they said, it's invading their privacy," McGee said.
"Um... guys, I don't want to interfere your chit-chat, but are you guys going to stay over at Briggs?" Abby asked.
"What do you say, boss?" Tony asked, looking over at his boss to make a confirmation.
"Sure," Gibbs replied. "I could keep an eye on him like this."
"Um... okay. I'll get the van, then?" McGee asked.
"You think," Gibbs said. McGee nodded, looking rather nervous.
"Right on it, boss," McGee said before he left.
"I'll get the rented car," Palmer said before he ran to McGee.
"Abbs, I'm going to take you with me. Is that all right with you," Briggs asked as Abby nodded.
"Sure! It's time I caught up with the great Gibbs team," Abby said excitedly.
"They're not the only ones that are great," Moon muttered. Lily just patted his back.
"Not good to be jealous, my friend," Lily told him.
"I'm not jealous. All Abby talks about is Gibbs this and Gibbs that," Moon whispered angrily.
"What's wrong with that? From what I saw from the interrogation, Gibbs has exceptional skills. He not only threaten the suspects but used the right type of method on them," Phoenix explained. "Unlike you, Moon, he didn't use the violence card over and over again."
"You are on our team. Why are you on their side," Moon said in a quiet yet fierce tone.
"I'm not taking sides. I'm answering truthfully. You can't deny, Gibbs has this sort of authority that not many people have. Not only that, he is quite perceptive," Phoenix said nonchalantly.
Moon said nothing more, which Lily silently smiled at. She knew Phoenix is right. The way Gibbs ran about his interrogation was quite extraordinary. He used threats that don't involve breaking arms or legs nor did he use the good cop, bad cop. Observative while being straightforward and a bit manipulative in his words, Lily would describe Gibbs' interrogation.
Everyone started walking outside towards the vehicles. Abby rode with Briggs; Lily and Phoenix rode in one car; Moon rode by himself; Ziva, Tony, McGee, and Gibbs rode in their van; and Ducky and Palmer rode in their rented car.
"Abby, what do you want to eat for dinner tonight?" Briggs asked her. Abby looked out at the rearview mirror to see the black van with the Gibbs team in it.
"Abby?" Briggs asked. Abby snapped out of her staring and looked over at Briggs.
"What?" Abby asked. Briggs chuckled heartily, knowing her well that she must be thinking about Gibbs.
"I asked you what you want to eat for dinner?" He asked her once more.
"Sorry, Briggs. Mom wants me to eat her homecooked meal. Why don't you come over?" She asked.
"Hm... sure. You don't mind me taking someone with me, would you?" Briggs asked.
"Sure. I'll tell mom," Abby said with a nod but then she smiled mischievously. "So who is this someone? Is it a lady friend?"
Briggs just smiled.
"You'll know," he told her with gentle expression. "So, Abbs. You aren't going to tell them our relationship?"
"Like you said, you don't want anybody to know just yet. And of course, I wouldn't let it slip out," Abby told him.
"Like when you wouldn't say about you staying over at my house," Briggs teased.
"Hey! It was just one slip up. And anyways, this secret is more important than me staying over at your house," Abby told him in a matter-of-factly tone.
"Oh? But your team, doesn't think so, especially one in particular," Briggs said.
"Huh?" Abby questioned. Briggs just chuckled before turning up Abby's favorite genre of music.
A/N: Before you ask, I am not Korean or Japanese.
