Again, thank you to all who have read & reviewed.
Usual disclaimer: I only own the character's I've created for this story.
Gibbs studied his two agents when they came back. DiNozzo was wearing a smile as he walked side by side with McGee. Tim still looked pale, but his face and eyes were less haunted. Gibbs allowed himself a small smile. He knew Tony could pull McGee out of the mindset he was starting to get mired in, and back to normal … well, at least normal for Team Gibbs.
McGee walked up to his desk and was unfazed to see Ziva sitting there. He figured that she had started the searches on his computer so that he could easily take over. He gave her an attempt of a smile. "Hey Ziva, what have you found?"
Ziva looked at McGee closely. She had other reasons for wanting to be at his desk. She could see the storm raging behind those clear green eyes, it was the same look she had seen for many months after being rescued from Somalia. She knew, better than anyone, what McGee was going to be going through now that all of this had been stirred up. She wanted to be close to offer her support and advise.
"It is not good McGee." She said as she slid out of his chair, but retreated only to perch on the shelving behind his chair. "There are some deeper connections than we first realized."
"Yeah, I know. Everyone that has been murder has a similarity to the people who helped me out in elementary school."
Everyone stared at him in shock. "When did you know?" Ziva asked.
McGee gave a small shrug. "Pretty much right away. I guess I was too wrapped up in myself. Sorry that I didn't say anything sooner, I could have saved you a lot of time." He was already typing parameters for a new search and didn't noticed the exchanged looks from his team.
"McGee! What have I told you about apologizes?" Gibbs gave in his most authoritative voice.
"Sorry, oh um ... Right Boss." Tim said as his cheeks gained little blush as he continued his set up. "Roger, have you been able to track down your old gang?" He didn't look up at Roger when he spoke.
Roger was uncomfortable about it being call 'his' gang, but didn't remark. "Theodore is in prison, maximum security in Raleigh." Roger then blushed a little. "I couldn't remember the rest of them, Agent McGee."
Agent McGee? Tim smiled. "I thought as much." He continued typing.
Roger had noticed the smile and smiled, ever so slightly, to himself. He looked over to Gibbs, who was also watching his agent. He too was smiling. These people are exactly who Tim has always needed. It's just a shame that it had to take so long. Tim has always deserved so much better. Tim started speaking and interrupted Roger's thoughts.
"There was Mark Sieble." McGee hit a few more keys and a picture came up on the big screen. It was an elementary picture, since Abby had already hacked into that system. Mark had a pudgy face with deep set brown eyes and unruly brown hair.
"Next is Gregory Stokar." The next picture came up, showing a very average looking boy with black hair and blue eyes.
"But my money is on Nathaniel Enedy." The next picture could have been the poster child for bullying. Angry face, blazing red hair, freckled covered face and unnerving amber eyes, giving him the look of a caged wolf.
Roger walked over the screen. "Wow, how could I have forgotten about him?" He took a moment to go through his memories. "Nate idolized Theodore, would do anything he said. He became Theodore's lieutenant."
"Who in the world would have ever looked up to that ... boy?" Ziva asked in frustration.
Roger and Tim shook their heads, but McGee responded. "I heard Nate had a really bad family, not that I really talked to anyone, but even I heard the rumors."
"Yeah, his dad was a tyrant. Physically abusive. I spent the night once, only once." Roger shivered at the memory.
Gibbs was upset. Why did seem that military men were so terrible to their kids? He remembered his little girl. Would I have been different if I had boy instead? Gibbs shook his head. No, children were precious, boy or girl. He couldn't wrap his head around treating any child the way these had been.
McGee looked at Roger while he was looking at the pictures of his past. "Roger, I have some questions."
Roger nodded and turned away from the screen. "What do you need, Agent McGee?"
"Um, just to be thorough, can you ... is there anyone ... can you account for your whereabouts?"
"Yes sir. It is all in the file that was given to your director."
"You won't mind if we verify that information." DiNozzo said, his voice laced with suspicion.
Roger turned to look at him. "No sir. I will be completely cooperative."
Tony huffed, he had his doubts about how 'helpful' Staff Sergeant Roger Ferris was really going to be.
McGee asked his next question. "Roger, you said something about thinking this might have started before Timothy Abbott. What did you mean?"
"Would you pull up the autopsy photos of Mr. Abbott?" Roger had an uneasy feeling about this, but he couldn't put his finger on why.
McGee did so and looked at the pictures with steady eyes. Now that he was focusing on working the case, he could put away his emotions and think objectively.
"Would you focus on the pictures of his back?"
McGee brought up the requested pictures and enlarged them. Roger pointed to several slash marks along the lower back of the victim. "As you can see there are five slash marks on his back. Two on the right and three on the left, with one slash going the opposite direction of the other two."
Gibbs and DiNozzo walked over to the plasma as well. "Why would he start with the letter 'A' but mark this as the fifth victim? It makes no sense." DiNozzo said as he shook his head.
"I agree. Also, all of the victims have the same markings. You would think it would go up, five, six, seven … but it's the same five marks every time."
"Those aren't counting marks. Well, they are, but not how you're thinking." McGee paused to look at Roger. "Did you really forget?"
The light came on in Roger's eyes. Now he knew where that feeling of dread was coming from when he looked at these markings. He breathed out, "Accomplishment marks."
McGee nodded at him, "Yeah." His voice was turning back into sounding far away. That objective control was giving way to emotions again.
Gibbs looked at Tim. "Accomplishment marks? What do you mean?"
McGee closed his eyes. Might as well show them. He stood, turned his back to them, and hunched over a little. He lifted his shirt tails and pull the waist of his pants down just a little. On the right side of his back were two scars in straight lines, on the left there were three, but one was slanted differently. The marks were an exact match to the marks on all of the victims.
Ziva couldn't help herself. She reached out and, with her index finger, lightly traced the odd slanted scar. "McGee what is this?" She breathed out.
"Every time Theodore would successfully pull off one of his 'master plans', he would place an accomplishment mark." McGee was starting to feel overly exposed, so he straightened and covered the scars again.
His team was appalled. Ziva spoke first. "Why is the one different."
"That one, Nate gave me."
Gibbs opened his mouth to say something, but Roger's reminiscing stopped him. "I remember that now. Theodore almost killed him for doing that."
"What?" DiNozzo was confused.
McGee picked up the narration. "Nate had destroyed one of my reports before school that day. The teacher, Mrs. Moorer, said in front of the whole class how disappointed she was that her best student couldn't turn his assignments in on time. I was so embarrassed, but I knew better than to say thing. I just stood there. After school, I was trying to make my way home as quickly as I could, but Nate was waiting for me. He was alone, which was odd. You guys never went anywhere without the others."
Roger nodded. "Yeah, Theodore was already furious that Nate had destroyed your report, he didn't approve. I think Theodore was actually looking forward to hearing it."
Tim's team stared at him in shock. "Remember, completely obsessed. Any way, when Theodore couldn't find Nate at our usual meeting spot, he went looking for him. When we found him, he was still on top of Tim, he had just finished 'marking' him. He looked at Theodore with such a satisfied look. Theodore, on the other hand ..." Roger took a moment to shudder. "... it was the first time that I saw true uncontrolled rage. He walked up to Nate and punched him in the chest so hard that he flew off of Tim and landed several feet away. He ordered us to take Nate and wait for him at the playground."
Gibbs glared at Roger using Tim's first name, but let it pass. Since he was talking about Tim in the past, it would be odd to refer to him as 'Agent McGee'. However, Gibbs wouldn't let him get away with it again. He was just about to remind Roger of their arrangement when McGee continued the narration.
"Theodore helped me up off the ground." Everyone could tell that McGee was completely lost in his memories by the tone of his voice. "He dusted me off, put his arm around me and started walking. He started talking about that day's assignments and what he thought of having to play dodge ball for gym. Just like we were best friends sharing the day. I was still hurting from what Nate had done and was so completely in shock about what Theodore was doing, that I just walked with him."
"When we reached his house, he took me to his bedroom and actually patched me up. You know, he could have been a doctor, he had a really gentle touch. He just kept talking about regular stuff, stuff that any kids our age would talk about. When he was done, he stood in front of me and lifted his shirt to show me the 'accomplishment' marks he had given himself. His were on the front, while mine were on the back. He explained that every time I came back and aced a test or completed a report or gave a presentation the day after something he had done to me, he would give himself a mark because it was my accomplishment over him. Easier to cut yourself on the front, that's why mine are always on my back." Tim was starting to shake.
"Then he got a knife out of his dresser. I was so scared of what he was going to do to me, but he placed the knife in my hand and told me to make the next mark on him. I was reeling. As much as wanted to get back at him for everything he had done up to that point, I didn't want to cut into him. I refused and threw the knife onto the bed. Theodore gabbed it ... placed it back into my hand ... wrapped his hands around mine and made me ... I didn't want to, but he made me ... it was slanted, unlike the other marks ... it had to match mine ... said that we are mirror images of each other ... we always were going to be the same but different ... always."
Everyone stared in silence, unsure what to say about this new information.
A silent tear slipped down Tim's face. Ziva reached out and placed her hand on his arm. McGee looked down at her and saw silent understanding. They locked eyes for a moment. Ziva giving support and Tim soaking it up. He then wiped the tear away and nodded. "Right, back to work."
McGee silently sat down and began going through the information his searches had come up with. Ziva took up her vigil on his shelf. Gibbs and DiNozzo stood for a moment more, working on getting their emotions under control, then went back to their respective desks.
Roger also returned to his position at Ziva's desk. He had always wondered what had happened to Tim that day. Roger was willing to tell them what had happened to Nate, but he could tell by the mood of the room, they weren't interested. He let himself remember events long buried.
