Disclaimer: NCIS and all things related are property of CBS and Bellisario.
Thanks to aconline for the beta!
BLOODLINES
Chapter 7
Sitting on the front steps and waiting for Kate to come pick him up, as agreed earlier, Gibbs was trying to think of a place where they could go to talk. So far, he was short on ideas.
Quinn's was absolutely off limits: too loud and too crowded. Not to mention that if they discussed anything private in there, by sundown it probably wouldn't be quite so private anymore.
It would be weird if Kate invited him to Susan's, or if he invited her to Carol's, since they both were guests themselves. Not to mention he wasn't taking a step into Susan's house, especially if the owner was at home. Carol wasn't around, but he was sure Kate'd feel bad at her place none the less, considering her dislike for the redhead.
The double beep of a car horn snapped him out of his contemplation. Lifting his eyes up, his jaw dropped when he saw Kate driving a gorgeous, red and white '67 Mustang.
Coming over, he patted the striped hood. "This baby's Susan's?" he asked.
"Terry's," Kate replied. "He let me drive it until my Volvo's fixed." Noting Gibbs's admiring expression, she commented, "Had no idea you liked vintage cars."
"Once, when I was a kid, I spent all my savings on a wreck of a Dodge Challenger," Gibbs said, a tinge of nostalgia in his voice. "Was planning to rebuild it."
"Did you?" The man could build a boat from scratch, getting an old car back together must've been a piece of cake.
"I never got it running," Gibbs admitted with a sad smile.
"So, what happened to it?" she inquired further.
He shrugged his shoulder. "Don't know."
Kate sensed there was more to the car story, but decided not to dig. With Gibbs it was futile anyways. If he didn't feel like sharing, he wouldn't.
"Wanna drive?" she asked cheerfully, moving the conversation back onto safe ground.
"Really?" Gibbs's face instantly lit up.
"Yeah," she nodded, getting out of the car to take the passenger seat. "I'm sure Terry wouldn't mind. For some reason he seems to like you a lot. He's been driving Sus crazy going all 'Jethro this' and 'Jethro that'."
Gibbs laughed. "I can imagine that." He got into the driver's seat and when Kate put her seatbelt on, he hit the gas.
The car sped down the empty road and Kate immediately regretted letting Gibbs drive, but then she saw the look on his face. The man was grinning happily like a child on a rollercoaster.
Amazed, Kate suddenly forgot about her discomfort. "You really like driving, don't you?" she chuckled.
"Oh yeah," he nodded, his smile growing even wider.
"I know of a place we could go to," she offered.
Having no counterproposal, Gibbs easily agreed. "Okay, lead the way."
Following Kate's directions, he eventually pulled up in front of a large, square building. "High School?" He gave Kate a baffled look.
"I figured that, on a Saturday night, there wouldn't be a soul up here so we could at least have some privacy," she explained, getting out of the car.
The building was obviously locked, so Kate led them to the baseball field in the back.
"Can you play baseball?" Gibbs asked casually, as they sat on the old wooden bleachers.
Kate arched her brow at him. "Afraid of getting hit with a bat again?" she mocked, remembering the story Ducky had once told her, about Gibbs's ex number three's attempt at smashing his skull.
He looked at her warily and she laughed. "Relax, I wouldn't do it."
"Yeah," he snorted, "you'd go straight for the gun."
She grinned, "Exactly."
Chuckling, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in, and she snuck her arms around his waist. Lifting her head a little, she gave him a serious look and he knew the small talk was over. As much as he cringed at the thought, he'd have to spill his guts.
Resting his chin on top of Kate's head, he stared at the empty field for a moment, trying to organize his thoughts, and finally said, "I've been divorced three times but I was actually married four and..." He paused, a knot in his throat, making it difficult for him to speak.
Kate felt her heart sink. He was married?!
"... and I also had a daughter," Gibbs finished the sentence.
A daughter?! Holy Fourth of July! That explained everything! He must've split with the latest wife, but then she came back, pregnant and claiming the child was his, so he decided to take his responability and get back with her, and-
Wait! Did he say 'had', as in past tense?
"My first wife, Shannon, and my daugther, Kelly, both died in '91."
"Oh God," Kate whispered, putting a hand over her mouth.
"I was on a tour in Iraq, Operation Desert Storm," Gibbs continued. "Shannon was a witness to the murder of a Marine and identified the killer. An NIS agent was assigned to her for protection. He was driving their van when a sniper shot him. The car went off road and..." his voice broke.
"Gibbs, I'm so sorry," Kate said sincerely. She could only imagine how he must've felt when the tragedy struck him.
"I never told anyone about this, not even Ducky," he confessed, and Kate picked up on the underlying request to keep what she'd just learned to herself.
"Thank you for telling me," she murmured softly. In a way she felt flattered that he'd share something he'd never shared with anyone, not even his closest friend, albeit she had no idea how it had anything to do with their break up.
There was a long moment of silence until Gibbs spoke again, "That day, as we were having lunch, I got a feeling we were being watched. I noticed a motorbike had stopped at the lights and the rider was looking in our direction. When he lifted his visor up I recognized him. It was the terrorist that had broken into NCIS back in March."
Kate felt her insides constrict. She had never come in contact with the man but hated him nevertheless if only for shooting Gibbs.
"For some reason this terrorist had it in for me since the moment we met," Gibbs continued. "When I saw him that day, I realized that, if he knew about us, he might try to use you to get to me, so I put up an act to throw him off track and..." he paused looking for the right words, "and I let you think it was for real because I suspected that, if I'd just asked you to stay away from me for your own safety, you wouldn't have listened."
"Got that one right," Kate acknowledged. If she'd known the truth, she would've stayed and watched over his stubborn ass like a pitbull, ready to bite anyone who dared lay their hands on him
"Kate," Gibbs looked her in the eyes, "if that bastard knew how important you are to me, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you to cause me pain. I'd already lost two people I loved, I couldn't risk losing you too," he finished in a whisper and brushing her cheek with his fingers, he kissed the corner of her mouth.
Kate shifted, sitting astride the wooden plank, and when Gibbs followed her example, she moved closer, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulled him in for a deep, wet kiss.
Gibbs's restless hands roamed all over her body, and in spite of the layer of clothing protecting her from his direct touch, Kate shivered in excitement. Slowly, she ran her trembling fingers down his chest and below his waistline, brushing them over his crotch. He growled, and breaking away from her lips he buried his head in the crook of her neck, lavishing the tender flesh.
Kate sighed in pleasure and set one hand on his head, holding it in place, while the other clawed into his back, her legs closing tighter around him. This wonderful piece of a man was hers, she thought possessively, and no one was taking him away from her, whether it'd be a beautiful redhead or a vengeful terrorist.
Gently biting at his earlobe, she panted, "You do realize, Gibbs, that now that I know everything, I'm not leaving your side," she brushed her fingers over his lower lip, "and if any terrorists come anywhere near you, I'll personally shoot them."
He chuckled. That was so Kate! She may have been his baby girl, but she was a badass one!
"I haven't come across the damn bastard since May," he said, pulling her against his chest and running his fingers through her hair, "and I'm starting to believe he wasn't in DC for me."
"There was some terrorist activity around that time," Kate noted. "He may have been in town to run an op, and the fact that you saw him that day was just-"
"A coincidence?" Gibbs snorted.
"Yeah," Kate nodded. "Think about it, if the guy runs a terrorist cell around DC, before you met him personally, you may have run into him several times and never even realized it."
"You're probably right," he reluctantly agreed. Perhaps he was just being paranoid? Perhaps the bastard took the opportunity to taunt him, when it presented itself, but never really meant to go after him?
"Don't think about it now," Kate said, cupping Gibbs's cheek. "If that terrorist ever comes back, we'll deal with it then."
He gave her a small nod and wrapping his arms tighter around her, he claimed her mouth again.
They didn't know how much time had passed as they just sat on the bleachers, kissing and petting like a couple of teenagers on their first date, but it had gotten dark and the air became chilly.
Taking Gibbs's wrist, Kate checked his watch. It was close to nine p.m.
"I need to go now," she said.
"You're on a curfew?" he joked.
"No, I'm not," Kate laughed. "I told Tom I'd meet him at Quinn's around nine."
Gibbs squinted his eyes at her, displeased.
"He's supposed to give me my car back, because I need to leave tomorrow. Fornell will have my head if I don't show up at work on Monday," she explained. "And besides, I need to clear up a few things with him."
"I guess," Gibbs huffed.
"Tom and I are nothing more than friends," Kate made it clear, "but I don't want him to think of me as a liar and a hypocrite."
Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Can I come with you?" he asked.
Kate gave him an annoyed look and he rolled his eyes in defeat.
"Just... be careful, okay?" he requested.
"I will. Promise," she reassured him and kissed him one last time, before heading back to the car.
§§§
When Kate dropped him off at Carol's, Gibbs went to his room and switched the computer on. A minute later there was a small beep and then Abby's agitated voice blared from the speakers:
"Gibbs! I've been trying to call you for like an hour or two, don't know really, because I was getting so worried that it seemed like forever, and I couldn't reach you on your cell either, because there's no reception in that backwater town you're stuck in and-" She stopped her gibberish for a moment. "Is that lipstick on your collar?"
"Huh?" Gibbs pulled at his shirt to check it out, and in fact there was a small smudgy stain near the neckline, undoubtedly from Kate's cherry lip gloss. "Nah," he denied, "must be ketchup or something."
"Yeah right!" Abby didn't buy it by a long shot. "Someone's been naughty!"
"Who's been naughty?" Tony came into the lab. "Oh, hi boss! Is that... lipstick on your collar?"
"It's not lipstick," Gibbs repeated dryly.
Abby gave Tony a suggestive look. "He says it's ketchup."
"Of course," Tony giggled.
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "What have you two got?" he asked in a business-like tone.
"The moment of Dunn's murder got caught on camera," Abby announced. "Well, not exactly his murder because he actually drowned later on but-"
"Abby!"
"Sorry, too much Caf-Pow!" she excused herself and got back on track. "I digitalized the recording, cut out the interesting part and sent it over so you could watch yourself."
Gibbs stared at the monitor expecting the video to just pop up on screen.
"She sent it by email boss," Tony said, noting the older agent's confused face.
"Oh," Gibbs just mumbled and checked his mail box. There were at least a hundred unread emails, containing everything from commercials to work related notices, among them the one from Abby tagged 'W. Dunn video'.
"You know how to open an attachment, right?" Abby asked.
Gibbs gave her a glare. "Don't push it Abs," he warned. He may not have been very good with computers, but he wasn't THAT dumb. Ten years or so ago he even went undercover as a computer technician and he didn't blow it.
Without any trouble he opened the file and a new window appeared on screen, playing the video.
For a few seconds everything was still, then a man came out of the bar back door, dragging along a young woman with long, floating hair. Gibbs couldn't make out their features, due to the low quality of the recording, but he figured they must've been Dunn and most likely Julie Harper.
The two got into a fight and Gibbs regretted there was no audio. He really wished he knew what they were arguing about.
The man seemed to be the accusing party and soon enough he had the woman cornered by the dumpster. He must've told her something nasty because she reacted by punching him in the face and Gibbs noticed that she was left-handed.
The man staggered back and touched his cheek, seemingly surprised. Then he charged at the woman, but she dug a bottle from the dumpster behind her, and hit him hard on the head. The bottle broke on the man's skull and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The woman nervously looked around, and concluding there were no witnesses to the incident, she took off her sweater and fixed it on the man's head like a turban, then dug a plastic bag out of the dumpster and put it over it.
Crafty, Gibbs thought, watching her carefully drag the sailor out of the camera's view. She knew to be careful not to leave a blood trail pointing to her car and that could mean two possible things: she was a huge fan of crime shows, or she already had some experience in getting rid of bodies.
Could there be a side to the sweet little Julie Harper nobody knew about?
"Abby," he said, "can you clear up the tape enough to get facial recognition?"
"I'll try but I wouldn't count on it much," the lab rat replied, a little downcast. "The original video is analogue and very poor quality, and I'm not even sure if I can get a clean shot of the woman's face."
"I believe in your skills Abs," Gibbs encouraged her. "DiNozzo!" he called for the agent's attention.
"Yes boss?"
"Did you run that check on Carol Dunn?"
"Credit card records show that she must've left town very early in the morning on the 5th," Tony said. "She used her card at a gas station right past DC around 9 a.m., then paid for some lunch at a bar in Norfolk around noon. There's no activity until the 9th when she filled up with some more gas on her way back home."
"What about the cellphone?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a couple of calls to her brother and one to Quinn's."
Gibbs shook his head in resignation. Tony did his job well, but the information was hardly useful.
"Abby," he addressed the goth again, "anything interesting in the rest of the evidence Tony found?"
"The piece of cloth is cotton with a minor percentage of synthetic fiber and it matches to Dunn's pants. There's no doubt it's him in that video," Abby told him. "The hairs from the crime scene match the one that was under Dunn's shoe. Same color and structure. Definitely belongs to one person. The glass matches too. Well, as much as glass can match, because it's not so distinctive like hair or blood, and a certain type of glass is used to make gazillions of bottles and other thi-"
"Abs!" Gibbs stopped the lab rat, who was beginning to babble again. How many cups of Caf-Pow! did she have?
"Sorry," she apologized and continued, "I found two distinct blood traces on the shards. One belongs to Dunn, the other probably to the killer. I also lifted a couple of partials and ran them through AFIS. No hits yet."
"I sent McGee back with some samples for comparison," Gibbs said checking his watch. The younger agent should've gotten back to DC by now, unless he got lost and ended up somewhere in Canada. "Call me back as soon as you get a positive match Abs." With that he cut off the connection.
Ten minutes later McGee strode into the lab, bearing a small evidence box. "Hi guys," he greeted.
"McGee!" Abby exclaimed, trapping him in one of her famous hugs. "I missed you."
"Missed you too."
"Welcome back Probie," Tony said, patting him on the back.
"Abby," McGee pulled out the various evidence bags on the table, "Gibbs wants you to compare these. There's hair, blood and prints."
Checking out the new evidence, Abby asked, "When is he coming back?" She was glad Tony and McGee were there, keeping her company and feeding her caffeine and candy, but she still missed her silver fox.
"Tomorrow," McGee told her. "He said Kate'd drive him back."
"Oooh!"
"They made up?" Tony mumbled curiously, chewing on a candy bar he'd stolen from the vending machines down the hall.
"Oh yes, they did," McGee replied and Tony couldn't help but notice the devious smirk playing around the younger agent's lips.
"You know something!" he exclaimed. "Spill the beans McSpy!"
McGee fidgeted, as if he wasn't sure what to do, and finally he said, "When we went to ask Tom Wells for a blood sample, we came across Kate again. She looked pissed and at some point she asked Gibbs to have a word in private and they walked outside. I talked Wells into giving me the sample and when I left I saw the car was still in place but Gibbs and Kate were nowhere around. So I went looking for them and..."
"And what?"
McGee looked nervously around as if he feared Gibbs would teleport from Pennsylvania to stand behind him at the worst possible moment. Lowering his voice he said, "I found them in a small barn nearby, screwing like crazy in the hay."
Tony choked on his candy bar. He began spurting and coughing and McGee went to pat him on the back.
"Wow!" Abby grinned. "You watched the whole thing McGee?"
"Nah, just took a quick sneak peek."
"Why didn't you take a picture McVoyeur?!" Tony croaked, regaining some composure.
"How was I supposed to take a picture through a crack in the wall?!" McGee huffed.
Tony was clearly disappointed at his lack of creativity. "At least tell us what it looked like," he requested. "Can the boss still make it?"
McGee snorted. "Why wouldn't he?"
"You know, he's not exactly a youngster," Tony pointed out
"Gibbs isn't that old," McGee took the Senior Agent's defense. "And you'd be surprised how good he still does in that department." Spotting a perfect opportunity to cut the Navy Yard's resident gigolo down to size he added, "I bet you couldn't do better."
"Come on Probie!" Tony laughed. "He can't be THAT good!"
McGee quirked his brow. "No? Go ask Kate about it!"
"She'll just tell me that Gibbs's the best ever, as she always does."
"Ever wondered why that is?"
"She's just messing with me."
"You sure?"
While Tony and McGee kept on bickering, Abby began processing the evidence, trying her best not to think too much about Gibbs's naked butt. She set everything in order on the table, and decided to start by comparing the hair. Then she moved on to blood and eventually prints.
The results got her rather perplexed. "Something's hinky here," she said.
Tony and McGee stopped their banter and both gave Abby a questioning look.
"Neither of the hairs match the ones Tony and I found. Those were long, wavy, light red virgin hair. Julie's have similar structure but the color is slightly different, ginger rather than strawberry blonde. Carol's are short and straight. The color's right but she's not a natural redhead, most likely a blonde."
"Are you saying it wasn't either of them?" McGee asked, baffled.
"It definitely wasn't Julie. Her blood is a different type and her prints don't match either."
"What about Carol?"
"I don't have a sample of her blood or her fingerprints but some of the hair you brought me had the root tip so I can extrapolate DNA. That will take hours though."
The conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Abby went to pick up but the call was actually for Tony.
"Officer Ward from Norfolk PD," Abby said, passing him the phone.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS," he said into the speaker. "Uh-huh. Do you have an ID yet? Are you sure? Yes, thank you."
"What is it?" Abby asked worriedly.
"They found another body down in Lake Whitehurst."
"Julie Harper?" McGee hazarded a guess.
Tony shook his head. "Carol Dunn. The REAL Carol Dunn."
§§§
Having nothing better to do, Gibbs went downstairs and switched the TV on. He began surfing channels but nothing really caught his interest, so he left it on some late night show and getting up, he began nosing around the room.
Strolling along the shelves, he read the titles of the books, until he came across a fat, unmarked volume. Discovering it was a photo album, he took it with him, and sitting down on the couch, he peeked inside.
The first picture was of a couple of fair-haired kids, holding each other and smiling happily to the camera. Gibbs figured they must've been William and Carol when they were little.
More photos of the siblings followed. In most of them they were posing together and in a few they were with their now deceased parents. Several of the most recent ones showed William in his Navy uniform, and Carol in the company of Tom Wells.
Eventually, Gibbs got to the last photo in the album. It was a group snapshot of William, Carol and Julie, him standing in the middle with both girls snuggling into his sides.
Studying the picture, Gibbs couldn't help but notice how alike the two females were. Their facial features were obviously different, but they were of similar build and height and both had long, red, wavy hair.
Earlier he'd assumed the woman in the surveillance video was Julie because of the hair, but now he realized it could just as well have been Carol. She was currently sporting a short haircut, but back in the day she could've still been wearing her hair long.
Getting up from the couch, he went to put the album back in place. He'd just managed to slide in onto the shelf when suddenly a voice spoke up behind his back, "Looking for something Agent Gibbs?"
He felt his insides coil and turning around, he saw Carol walk into the room. "Just a book to read," he told her, putting on the most charming smile he could muster. "I was getting bored, sitting here all by myself."
"By yourself?" Carol quirked her brow. "Where's Agent McGee?"
"He had to go back to DC to get us a search warrant," Gibbs half-lied.
"For what?" she asked, and the agent noticed a small quiver in her voice.
"Tom Wells's house and garage," he now fully lied. "We believe he's our man."
Carol dropped her eyes to the floor, letting out a defeated sigh. "I've always suspected he was behind this," she said. "That's why I broke our engagement."
Suddenly Gibbs felt as if a light bulb lit up above his head.
Back in March, Carol was still engaged to Wells, meaning that on her left hand she was wearing an engagement ring. When she punched her brother in the face, the small, sharp object on her finger must've cut his flesh, leaving the mark Ducky had such trouble figuring out. He bet that if they ever found that ring, there would still be organic material with Dunn's DNA on it.
"I'm gonna go make some coffee," Carol offered, heading to the kitchen.
Gibbs followed behind her, and taking a seat at the table, he watched the woman prepare the brew.
He had no more doubts that she was their culprit. He only wished he knew what her motive was.
Coffee ready, Carol passed one steamy mug to Gibbs and took a seat across the table.
"What are you thinking about?" she purred.
"You," he replied in a tone that should suggest to her that he was trying to imagine how she looked like naked, rather than why she killed her brother. It was better, if she didn't suspect he knew it had been her until he could legally get her into cuffs.
Carol seemed to buy his flirt. "I like that," she said with a lustful smile and took a sip of her coffee.
Gibbs drank some as well, studying the woman with attention.
She was so different, he realized, from the Carol he saw staring back at him from the old photos, and it wasn't just a matter of hairstyle. There was something about her posture, her smile, the look in her eyes that wasn't quite the same.
Taking another gulp of his coffee, he remembered how Terry and then Wells told him that, after coming back from Norfolk, Carol wasn't the same person anymore, and a strange thought hit him. What if, he wondered, she wasn't the same person in the very literal sense of the word?
All of a sudden he felt a bit dizzy. The room spun around him and dark circles began to appear in front of his eyes.
"Everything all right Agent Gibbs?" Carol asked, sounding amused rather than worried.
"You spiked my coffee," he accused, peeking into his cup.
"I did," she admitted with a laugh and Gibbs cursed himself for being such an idiot and falling into her trap. Didn't he know better, to check his food and drink? Damn! He was even going to make that into a rule!
Desperate, he tried standing up but his limbs felt as if they were made of wax and he slipped back into his chair.
How embarrassing, he thought, gradually losing awareness of his surroundings. He'd survived terrorists, mercenaries, serial killers and a horde of other psychos just to be taken down by some small town bimbo!
Somewhere in the house the phone rang, and the violent sound was the last thing his brain registered before everything faded into darkness.
§§§
A/N: Phew! Another chap's finally up! Tell me whatcha think! Please, please, pretty please? *make puppy dog eyes* I've been having some trouble at home and could really use a cheer up :-(
Dear Guest that commented on the prev. chap, U hit it close.
And GallaudetLurker, you were right about McGee :-D
btw. If anyone feels confused about Gibbs's explanation, yes, he is speaking of Ari and the motorbike scene he mentions takes place at the time of the original episode 'Reveille?.
The series' only AU aspect is that Kate's with the FBI, all the cases and other things that happen in the show, presumably happen here as well just (McGee mention's him and Gibbs talking to Melissa Dorn (01x12) and in Heartkill Gibbs remembers seeing Fornell on the 'seadog' case (01x03)), so 'Bete Noir' did happen just that Kate wasn't obviously ivolved, thus Ari did not get to know her and get obsessed with her. For this reason he did not kidnap her in 'Reveille', just carried out whatever operation he was in DC for. (somewhere in the show I think Ziva mentions that he kidnapped her to give his terrorist buds sthg to do so they wouldn't engage in another op.) Also because it all went a bit differently McGee never came up with the idea of the aging program so they still don't know that Ari is indeed Ari. Say, I'm saving something for book #3 (yes, there is going to be a book #3, last and final one, but I dunno when, cause I still need to figure the story out for good, cause I'm not doing a 'Twilight' rewrite cause that had been done waaaay to many times already.)
Edit 20/03/2015: Don't worry dear readers, I shall not keep you hanging. The next, and last, chapter is in the writing but some personal issues have arised so it make take me some time to finish, a week or even two. But the chapter will come eventually so stay tuned and please bear with me.
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Disclaimer: NCIS and all things related belong to CBS and Bellisario.
The song mentioned later on is 'Sweet Child O'Mine' by Guns'n Roses. The fragment of lyrics used belongs to its legitimate owner.
I will never thank aconline enough for doing the beta read. Sweetheart, UR the best!
