Title: Tessellation (6/33)
Author: Emono
Rating: FRAO
Fandom: NCIS/Dark Angel crossover, mixing CSI's
Pairing: Jethro Gibbs/Logan Cale
Series: The Not-So-Dark-Angel Universe
Disclaimer: I do not own either, why? Because I'm poor, that's why.
Summary: Logan meets Abby, and finds something useful to do with his time.
Beta: gil_follower
Warnings: AU, bonding, code-breaking
Prompt: "So many things to do today and not enough time to do them"
Two days after being clammed up in Gibbs' home, Logan decided to tag along with the man to work. Basically, Jethro told him to stay out of trouble and gave him his own personal pass. Jethro informed him that if anyone gave him any trouble, to flash this pass and he would be fine. Logan had hovered around the bullpen for awhile, then the team was called out and he was left alone.
Logan decided to check out the NCIS forensics lab.
The lab was bright and clean, a perfect work environment. "Woah Oh! (Me vs. Everyone)" by Forever the Sickest Kids was pounding out of the stereo system across the lab, and a dark head was bobbing up and down behind a computer. He ventured further inside, ducking behind the desk and machines so as not to be seen. He carefully peered around a large white machine, trying to get a better look at the woman.
She was gorgeous, deep red lips and pure white skin…long black hair put up into two separate braids. She had on a bulky, stark white lab coat that clashed with the rest of her clothes. She had on a deep, blood silk corset with a fishnet shirt beneath…along with a lacy black skirt that brushed her knees. Large, black combat boots were on her feet, chains on her hips. Her eyes were kohl-lined and expressive…
"Who are you?" the woman turned towards him, voice pleasant but curious.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that was rude" Logan fished Gibbs' identity badge out of his pocket, flashing it "I'm Logan, I'm a guest of Jethro Gibbs. Jethro's asked me to hang around, stay out of trouble."
"You're a guest of Gibbs?" her brow creased "That's hinky. Gibbs doesn't get a lot of visitors."
Logan snorted, "I can understand. He ordered me back here, just to keep an eye on me."
Her eyes strayed to his arm, "Whoa. What happened to you?"
On instinct, Logan glanced down at his immobile limb, "I got the hell beat out of me. Jethro saved me from a rather unsatisfying and altogether unsavory fate."
Something lit up in her eyes, "The broken arm…the vocabulary, the mannerisms, the glasses…You're that Logan Cale! You're Eyes-Only! Oh my God!"
She pounced on him, mindful of his arm. Logan grunted as she threw her entire weight into a friendly bear hug, placing a loud kiss on her cheek. He blushed, and when she pulled away she was wearing a 100-watt smile. He gaped at her, completely confused. Did this woman have him confused with someone else? And, damn, she was tall in those chunky boots!
"I'm sorry" Logan cleared his throat "I think you have me confused-"
"No, no!" she assured him, stepping back and gesturing to herself "I'm Abby Scuito. Gibbs has told me all about you, what happened to you at least. He also told me he found you napping under his boat…" Abby's grin turned feral "Naughty boy."
Logan flushed, "It was an accident…I hadn't meant to fall asleep."
Abby slapped his uninjured shoulder playfully, "Gibbs was right, you are cute!"
"Jethro said that?" the brunette felt a warmth bloom in his chest at the idea.
Abby beamed, "And you call him Jethro. That's so precious…"
Logan pursed his lips, "You're very strange, Miss. Scuito."
"No! Bad Logan!" Abby pointed a finger at him accusingly "Don't call me 'Miss. Scuito' and don't call me 'Abigall'. It's Abby…but for my close, personal friends…it's Abs. You, Precious, can call me Abs."
Logan blinked dully at being called 'Precious', but soon found his good arm looped with hers and being walked over to her desk.
"So…where do you come from? And…where are you going?" Abby quoted Alice in Wonderland, then grinned at him "Actually, where are you staying?"
He bit his lower lip, "With…a friend."
Abby pouted, "That was a test. Don't lie to me, Precious. You're staying with Gibbs, I know. But I'll give you a pass, but only because you want to protect him. He doesn't go out on a limb for just anyone, you know. So, did you get a good look at his boat before you fell asleep?"
Logan smiled brilliantly, "It's beautiful."
"Yes, it is" she smiled. The two settled into an easy rhythm, discussing everything from Jethro's strange behaviors to their favorite novels.
They had a heated debate on the 'vampire offspring' theory. Logan siding on the 'they died with living seed means they can have only one child' side, while Abby went all scientific and pointed out that eventually the sperm would die. Logan won the entire thing by cheating, he stated that having sex with a human would be too much of a temptation for a vampire and it would give in and just kill the human (gender unspecified.)
Before long it had been two hours and Abby hadn't gotten a lick of work done.
"Uh-oh" Abby grabbed an index card, scribbling down a few things before slipping it into the man's back pocket "Take this. It's my address, cell, and e-mail. I want to keep in touch, I'm not going to lose you over a small thing like distance. How long will you be here in DC?"
Logan shrugged, "As long as Jethro wants."
"Good answer, Logan."
Abby and Logan both jumped turning in unison and spotting Gibbs as he walked into the lab. He was carrying a Caff-Pow, and he set it down on the desk. He looked the two over with a critical eye, glaring particularly hard at Abby.
"I believe you are supposed to have news for me, not playing with Logan" Gibbs stated, she pouted under his look "You have one hour to have something for me, that's it."
"Yes sir" she saluted him, noting the possessive look he gave Logan "See me again soon, Precious."
Abby touched his arm briefly, then went back to work. Logan found himself seized by his good arm, then dragged to the elevator. The ride was silent, and before he knew it he was in the bullpen. Gibbs dragged him to his desk, setting him down in the chair. Logan raised a brow at this, but a file was set down in front of him so he shut up.
"We've got a serial killer here, Logan" Jethro stated seriously, leaning close to the younger man "He's killed four young men already, all Petty Officers. There's no connection, but he's broadcasting his kills."
Logan was afraid to ask, "How?"
"Coded. E-mail." Gibbs spat the words, flipping open the case file and exposing cryptic printouts "You're damn smart, Logan, I can already tell. My team and I are going straight out to another body…I want to know if you can break this."
Logan bloomed under the man's confidence, "I can sure as hell try."
Jethro grinned, cupping the side of the brunette's face, "That's my boy. Thanks, Kitten."
Jethro's fingers lingered longer than necessary, the warmth of his palm staining the younger man's cheek and jaw. Calloused fingertips trailed down Logan's cheek, over his chin…a warm thumb tracing the line of his lower lip…Logan wanted nothing more than to kiss and be kissed in that moment, his heart pounding in his chest for nothing else than to taste the man's mouth. The need was strong…too strong, it scared him. But what was life without a little excitement?
A little taste of poison…
And then Gibbs was gone, grabbing his NCIS cap and jacket before heading to the elevators again. This time he was met with Tony, who was looking extremely shocked. When he didn't break out of his shock right away, Gibbs smacked him upside the head before dragging his ass into the elevator. Logan stared after them dumbly, then shook it of and took a look at the emails.
Before he could get a proper look, Jennifer Shepherd appeared in front of him.
"Madame Director" he nodded to her politely.
"Hello, Eyes-Only" she leant forward on the desk (he twitched at the name), smile tight and expression one of annoyance "Not that we don't appreciate what you've done for us, but why are you here?"
"Helping" he replied curtly, glancing down at the coded email "Jethro asked me to look over these, I intend to do so."
"Really? Jethro asked you?" Jen's smile was as sickly as molasses, and her tone was clearly mocking "That's strange. He has a full team, yet he has seemed to have hired you."
Logan was getting short-tempered, "I'm just a consult."
"Your arm still looks weeks away from a full heal" Jen didn't even glance down at his cast "Be careful."
Then she left, leaving him gaping and dumbfounded. Did the Director of NCIS just threaten him?
Why did he keep getting himself into these situations?
»*»
An hour and a half later, Logan was sure he had broke it. He was just about to call Gibbs when the elevator opened, revealing the team (minus Kate for some reason.) Gibbs led them to the bullpen, and the boys went to their respective desks. He got a curious look as they settled in. Gibbs came towards him, holding a large Caff-Pow in his hands.
"Jethro-"
"In a minute, Logan" Jethro shut and locked his gun in his desk "I've got to make a trip to the lab."
And then Gibbs was going back down the elevator. Logan deflated, then decided to prepare a presentation on his computer. As he was entering all the data, he was hyper aware of two sets of eyes on him. Of course, it had been like this all day. Every time someone would pass, they would double-take at him and nearly stumble. One person had even been bold enough to ask if Gibbs had been fired, but he had been dismissed.
Logan was halfway through the code when he had enough, "Can I help you two?"
"You're in Gibbs's chair" Tony pointed out.
"The proper grammar would just be 'Gibbs' chair' " Logan countered, then glanced at him "And yes."
"You can't be in his chair, at his desk, on his computer" Tony spouted, gesturing "And…and he can't be ok with it!"
Logan flashed him a sly smile, "He is."
McGee shook his surprise off, "Uh…Mr. Cale, do you need help typing that up?"
"No, I'm pretty good one-handed" Logan shrugged, his smile was more sincere when he turned it on the man "But thank you, Tim."
McGee smiled back shyly, and the brunette was sure they would get along just fine.
"Bet you are" Tony muttered darkly.
"There" Logan finished up the slides for the large screen between the other two men's desks. He saved it, then stood and stretched. "Damn…I shouldn't have sat like that for so long."
Gibbs appeared out of the elevator, looking pleased.
"You're not scowling, Jethro" Logan smiled at the man "Abby must've had something interesting."
"DNA" Gibbs replied curtly, but not wholly unpleasant "We just need someone to compare it too. Tell me you can top her, Logan."
"I don't know, she is quite the Dom" Logan teased, but ducked out of the man's way before he could be slapped "I've cracked the code, Jethro. I'm lucky, I've done this before. Tony, the remote if you please?"
Tony clutched the remote tighter, glaring.
Logan glared, "Hand it over."
Tony just pursed his lips, "No way. I'm the Special Agent here. You're just-"
"If you finish that sentence DiNozzo, it'll be your last for a while" Gibbs growled, cutting the younger man off. Tony handed over the remote, and Logan didn't bother to even look at him. The brunette clicked on the screen, showing the document he had typed up:
R F S * 4 ~ O A 9 $ D + X 7 1 2 6 E J Q 5 ^ 3 T
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
"This is the code?" McGee sounded awed, but unsure.
"It was a homemade code" Logan tried to sound sympathetic "It's why your computer couldn't crack it…it's never been used before. This man isn't a professional, but he knows what he's doing. He made everything completely random, no rhythm or rhyme…I had to go by the dates, and eliminate from there. I mean, there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, after all. Ours, America's, not anyone else's."
Logan cut off his ramble when Gibbs glared at him, he clicked the remote and the next slide came up.
"It clearly states here" Logan gestured towards the screen "You can see I translated it below. *October 2, Aaron Burkley looks really good right now. He's so clueless, it's pathetic really. They don't suspect a thing, even if they can read this. Three days from now, I'll corner him just behind the library and gut him. Poor boy…I can't wait.* Basically he was telling the who and where of his next kill, which was your last Petty Officer I'm afraid. Now, with this new e-mail, the one we've been anticipating…"
Logan clicked the screen, it came up.
"*November 3, I've found the next one. A young man, by the name of Adam Phillips, is stuck in a lab in WC. He's perfect, he looks a little like Aaron. Even the shade of his hair reminds me of Hannah…and she was so nice at the end. I'm going to get him, he has this weekend off. I'll pose as lawyer delivering a subpoena, even if he doesn't believe me his curiosity will get the better of him. He's mine*" Logan looked over at the grinning older man "Send a team after this 'Adam Phillips', and you'll catch your man. Of course, the kill states it won't be for-"
"Three days, we heard you" Tony bit off "I could've figured out that code, Boss."
"Maybe not, DiNozzo" Gibbs eyes never left the younger man, who flushed under the appraisal in those icy blue orbs "Maybe Logan's just that good."
"Food's here!" Kate emerged from the elevator, carrying a large bag of Chinese food. She smiled at them all, giving a wink at Logan, before setting the food down on her desk and eyeing the screen. "So, Logan, this is it? You cracked it?"
Logan merely nodded, smiling slightly at her.
Kate came over and punched him on the good arm, "Good job! Three days, we'll have him."
"The waiting game isn't really a favorite of Jethro's" Logan teased as the older man rifled through the containers of food "I'm sure you'll get him before then, if he has anything to say about it."
Logan merely sat down at Jethro's desk again, wondering what he was supposed to do. He threw the remote at Tony, who caught it gracelessly and glared. As the team got their food, Tony and McGee started filling Gibbs in on the background of the body they had just picked up, a rather gruesome past. Logan took off his glasses, setting them on the desk and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Eat."
The command was simple, Logan looked up to see Jethro sitting on his desk. He was paying full attention to Tony as he was speaking, but he set a carton of sweat and sour shrimp right in front of the other man. Logan drooled, silently begging with his eyes that it was his to eat. Gibbs laid the chopsticks down on the container, then subtly scooted it towards him.
"Thanks Jethro" Logan whispered softly, accepting the gift. He ripped into the container, devouring it with a fury and trying not to moan. He missed Gibbs' smug look, and Tony's glare. He also missed Kate's sly smile, and the way she was texting Abby subtly by her side on her Blackberry.
Yeah, he was oblivious and happy…for now.
TBC