Ducky stood behind Jen as she sat at her desk.
"The age correlates. So do the sex, and the place the body was discovered."
"The first body was dumped in D.C., Ducky" Jen corrected.
"I mean the same kind of place, Jenny. The cuttings are exactly the same, and cause of death was trauma to the head."
"And as we've discussed before the killer could have found that information anywhere."
"We'll see .." Ducky said, as he continued to go over his old case notes.
"You really believe this is a copycat killing, don't you?" she asked grimly.
"The second victim turned up twenty-four hours after the first one, Jenny."
Jen looked at her watch.
"The body was found at seven pm last night. It is now six o'clock. So ... you're hanging around to say I told you so if another one turns up?"
Ducky looked at her and smiled.
"Not if, Jenny. When."
Jen shivered and got up from her seat.
"In that case I'd better order some dinner."
"Dinner ..."
"What is it?" Jen asked in concern as she saw the way his face fell.
But Ducky shook his head minutely and pulled out his phone.
"Jordan .." he said as she picked up at the other end.
_____________________________________________
Gibbs walked into the lab feeling as pissed off as he looked.
"Hey, Gibbs. Are you a fan of S-H-C?"
"Is that a band?"
"No. Spontaneous human combustion."
"Don't waste my time, Abs."
"I take it the interrogation did not go well" Abby said as she looked over Gibbs' shoulder to where McGee trailed him.
McGee shook his head.
"Doubt he's our guy" he said.
"If you ever read my Master's thesis, you may become a believer."
"What've we got, Abby?"
"Right. Definitely not spontaneous human combustion.
"You find out what caused the explosion?"
"Why else would you be here?"
"Let's see it, Abs."
She pulled a diagram onto the plasma as she launched into her explanation.
"Based on the condition of the body, the burn patterns, and the debris scatter, I was able to recreate the explosion. Dr. Hampton gave me epidermal scrapings from the victim's upper left torso. And the spectrometer found minute traces of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate on both."
"Matches?"
"Light my fire, McGee!"
"Someone struck a match and ignited the oxygen" Gibbs said.
"Bingo!" Abby said.
"We any closer to finding out who did it?"
"Um ... no. But I'm working on it."
"You do that" Gibbs said. Pausing slightly before adding, "You get me that thing I wanted?"
Abby's eyes snapped to his.
"Yes" she said slowly, bringing something else up on to the screen. "He's at the Naval Medical Center. Portsmouth, Virginia."
"So he's really consulting on a case then" McGee said.
"But if it's for the Navy why wouldn't he say anything to us?" Abby countered.
"Pull up the staff list."
"I've already cross checked ... nobody from Ducky's past. The medical examiner is a Dr. Alex Anderson."
"Does the name mean anything to you, Boss?"
Gibbs shook his head.
"Keep working on the Bryce case" he said irritably as he turned to leave.
He'd got as far as the door when he turned back.
"Abs .." he said slowly. "Pull up records of all the deaths recorded in Portsmouth this week."
"One moment" she said as her fingers flew over the keys. "Here we go. One suicide, one overdose, two murders. The most recent one was last ni- Gibbs?"
But Gibbs was staring at the screen. His eyes taking in the few details available. For a moment he felt his blood ran cold. And then his eyes narrowed.
"What is it?" Abby asked carefully.
"Someone got out of witness protection" was all he said before he left the lab.
The moment he left Abby's fingers flew over the keyboard again.
"Here we are. Alex Anderson. Check this out" she said to McGee when she found what she was looking for.
"Oh boy" he said when he took in the woman on the driver's license that Abby had up on the screen.
"According to everything I can pull on her there should be no connection between her and Ducky. Or her and Gibbs."
"Other than the fact that she works at the Naval Center."
"She's only worked there for a few years."
"Where did she work before that?"
"I have no idea."
____________________________________
"So are you going to tell me about Jordan?" Jen said with a teasing smile.
"Ah ... yes ... well .."
"Are you blushing Ducky?" she said, elbowing him gently before taking his hands into hers. "Have you found someone special?"
"I think so" he replied.
"I'm glad" she responded with genuine happiness for him. "Because you deserve it."
"And young Godfrey?"
"Young being the operative word" she said with a smile as she rose from her seat.
"Should I ask how you two met?"
"I helped him solve a case a few years ago. When he was still a rookie."
"And he's since risen in the ranks and remained in your debt?"
Jenny smiled at his subtle request for information.
"It's complica-" she had just started to say when her desk phone rang.
Her eyes cut to Ducky's as she listened to what the other person had to say.
"Body on its way down" she said.
Ducky looked at his watch.
"Twenty-four hours" he said after he'd let out a long breath.
A short while later they were bent over the new arrival, classifying injuries and cross-referencing them to the ones in the original cases.
The air between them was tense, and it was a while before Ducky risked a look at his companion. As focused as she was on their mutual task, and as efficient as she was, he knew what was wrong. He reached across the body and placed his hand on hers.
"Jenny ..." he began slowly.
But he never got to finish his sentence, because Godfrey Parker let himself into autopsy, unannounced.
"Private First Class Patty MacNamara" he said as he came round to Jen's side. "Nobody had even realised she was missing yet."
"That was fast" Jen said as she removed her gloves and took the packet from him. "I thought your tech friend was on graveyard shift tonight."
"Leaned on someone who owed me a bigger favour and .. wow ... " Godfrey replied as he circled the table and looked at the victim. "Wow. You were right. This is identical to the old cases isn't it?"
Ducky cleared his throat and looked at Jenny.
"Almost" he said, when she didn't say anything.
_________________________________________________
Gibbs sat in his car, his gut churning, his thoughts spiralling. There was only one possible person Ducky would stick his neck out like this for.
His hand rested on the steering wheel, his mind on the past.
"Jen" he said, touching her gently. Drawing her back from wherever her thoughts had taken her.
She'd said very little in the past hour or so, and he couldn't say he blamed her. He had no idea what to say either.
Jen turned her face away from the window of the little coffee shop, and her eyes fell on a woman she assumed was her case handler.
"It's time" the woman said, her eyes kind."Do you have any questions?"
Jen shook her head.
"You understand that under no circumstances can you divu-.."
Jen cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"I know."
"Then we need to get going."
"I need a few minutes."
"We'll be waiting in the car. Agent Gibbs ..." the woman acknowledged as she moved away.
"Walk with me?" Jen asked as she stood from her chair and slipped into her coat.
"Jen ..." he said as they stepped into the frigid air together.
"Don't" she said, reaching up to press a finger to his lips.
But he pulled her finger away.
"I will get him."
His eyes closed as she walked into his arms and he inhaled her scent.
"I know you will" she whispered. But it was a hoarse whisper and he knew she was barely holding herself together. "But until then I just have to look at the reality in front of me and accept it. And so do you."
He tightened his grip on her. Being stripped from everyone and everything she held dear had never been part of the plan. And yet this was where it had landed her. Almost as though she could read his thoughts she raised a hand to his face.
"We both know you can't always control the outcome, Jethro."
She silenced anything he might have said by brushing her lips against his. And that's when reality asserted it with grim finality. This was likely the last time he'd be seeing the woman in his arms. He'd known too much loss not to know what it would feel like once she was gone from his life and he had no way of contacting her. All the other loss in his life had been permanent, but Jenny would be alive. Out there somewhere .. but lost to him anyway. The fingers of one hand wound into her hair as he pulled her impossibly closer and poured all he felt for her into his kiss. When she pulled away he looked at her as his thumb swiped a solitary tear from her cheek. But the words still wouldn't come.
"We need to go, Jenny" a voice behind her said.
Jen gave a tight nod, and leaned forward once more. She pressed one last hard kiss to his mouth and stepped away from him.
"This is for you to read when I'm gone" she said, stuffing something into his coat pocket.
"Jenny .." he called after her.
As she turned round he was sure that the broken look in her eyes would be with him for years to come.
"Fair wind and following seas."
He watched as she stepped into the car and the US Marshall closed the door. When she was gone he pulled out the envelope she'd placed in his pocket. The words were few – but he had no doubt what she'd meant by them.
You have a life ahead of you. Live it.
___________________________________________
Ducky waited until Godfrey had left the morgue with a new set of fingerprints in his possession. As he placed his hat on his head, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
"Speed dial one" he said gently. "I believe you have a promise to keep. I'll go and find us some dinner. It really is going to be a long night."
As the door clicked shut behind him, Jen took a deep breath and took a few steps towards the phone. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to hear his voice at the other end of the line, or to actually be near him again. But Ducky was right. She'd given her word. And copycat killing or not, the incontrovertible fact that yesterday's victim had been a Marine dropped matters into the lap of NCIS. And the case would go to Jethro. It was useless putting off the inevitable.
Unbidden, memories rose. Memories she'd worked long and hard to suppress.
She wished they were anywhere but this small, silent, out of the way coffee shop. She wished they'd chosen somewhere vibrant and full of colour instead of this drab place with faded upholstery. Somewhere in her head it felt like it was a portent. A symbol of her future. She could have done without it. She'd wanted him to stay behind too. To let her go at her residence once she'd closed it up and given away the keys. But he hadn't shown any inclination to let her go alone, and she hadn't had the heart to suggest it. She wondered how much longer she'd be able to keep up the facade that she was strong and unafraid.
"Jen" he said, touching her gently.
Drawing her back to reality. She knew she'd said very little in the past hour or so – but then neither had he. What was there to say, really? She turned her face away from the window of the little coffee shop, and her eyes fell on a woman she assumed was her case handler.
"It's time" the woman said, her eyes kind. "Do you have any questions?"
Jen shook her head.
"You understand that under no circumstances can you divu-.."
Jen cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"I know."
"Then we need to get going."
"I need a few minutes."
She needed a lifetime, but a few minutes were all she was going to get.
"We'll be waiting in the car. Agent Gibbs ..." the woman acknowledged as she moved away.
"Walk with me?" she asked as she stood from her chair and slipped into her coat.
"Jen ..." he said as they stepped into the frigid air together.
"Don't" she said, reaching up to press a finger to his lips. She didn't think she could bear to hear whatever it was he had to say.
But he pulled her finger away.
"I will get him."
She felt him tremble as she walked into his arms, and the only thing she knew to do was to hold him close.
"I know you will" she whispered, fighting for control. "But until then I just have to look at the reality in front of me and accept it. And so do you."
She felt him tightenen his grip on her. Knew that this hurt him as much as it hurt her. Perhaps more. Because he was the one being left behind. Again. She raised a hand to his face.
"We both know you can't always control the outcome, Jethro" she said as she brushed her lips against his.
Letting him draw her into a real kiss, even though she'd promised herself after the intensity of being with him the night before that she wouldn't allow it to happen. She didn't try to hold back the tear that escaped her. When she pulled away he looked at her as his thumb swiped a solitary tear from her cheek. She could see him struggling for words that wouldn't come, but she didn't help him out. Certain things were better left unsaid when there was no foreseeable future.
"We need to go, Jenny" a voice behind her said.
Jen gave a tight nod, and leaned forward once more. She pressed one last hard kiss to his mouth and stepped away from him.
"This is for you to read when I'm gone" she said, stuffing something into his coat pocket.
"Jenny .." he called after her. "Fair wind and following seas."
She felt her heart break.
She looked back as the US Marshall drove her away from him and from life as she knew it. And as she did she wondered about the few words she'd left for him to read, and whether he'd read between the lines and understand that she meant for him to let her go.
As she pressed a finger to the number she faltered. But there was no going back. She waited a few seconds and then depressed the button with a lot more conviction than she felt.
"Yeah ... Ducky .."
"Jethro ..."
The silence that fell chilled her to the bone.
"It's Jenny."
"Where are you, Jen?"
"I .. I'm at work" she said, responding to the worry in his tone.
"In your morgue?"
"How do you know where I work?"
"If you open the door I'll tell you."
The idea that after nine long years only a swathe of plywood separated them seemed ridiculous to her. But as she swung the door open to find him standing there, the only thing that made her way past her lips was "Hello Jethro."
