I'm done, done, DONE with finals and halfway through my Bachelor of Arts Music degree! Got in late last night from an end-of-music-theory-and-aural-skills-classes party with two of my friends; it was great fun, so I'm pretty tired today. Had a free day today with little to no commitments or things to do, so I have been enjoying the sunshine and warmth (72 degrees and few clouds!) and am gonna take a nap soon. :) But I thought I should update chapter 7 first.

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Also thanks to new reviewer, angeleyes46, for the feedback. Congrats to Tiffany331 for being my 25th review! YAY, thank you! Hehe. :) And I noticed I got over 150 hits on chapter 6, though I don't normally keep track. That is pretty great, though it would be even better if all of you reviewed! :)

I was re-reading chapter 6 and I realized the details of Emmy's rape needed a bit more clarification, so I went back and changed that a little and expanded on it more, to clear some things up and make for better understanding. Because, if I didn't get it, as the author, there is a possibility you guys would be confused, too, and I don't want that. However, if you don't want to re-read or choose not to, it won't make much difference; I'll just be going back to it a couple times in the next several chapters (you'll see when we get there!) I apologize for adding in and changing things a little, like I have been; I almost never do that, but I felt it was necessary this time.

Here is chapter 7. The case in this story is based on a true event from my own college life, last fall, at least what details I still remembered when this chapter was written and could sort of take liberties to change and alter things like location, event, and such, to make it workable for the chapter and appropriate for the story (for instance, I changed the university name from mine to one in D.C.) It will be short and to the point. There will be more Emmy/Tony, though, so Happy Reading.

Chapter 7— Consolation


After a few moments of stunned silence, Tony picked up his cell phone. He knew he didn't want to talk to Ziva; Ziva wouldn't understand and wouldn't have the right advice or sympathy for his ears. If he talked with McGee about it, as much as he trusted him and considered him his best friend, it would just be awkward. Maybe he could talk to him after he had calmed down. But at this moment, there was only one person he wanted to talk to, who, of all people, would understand the most and have the right words for him and ears to listen.

"Abby," he said, when she answered, "she left."

"What? What are you talking about, Tony?" Abby asked, confused. "Who left?"

"Em, Abby, she left," Tony said. "She told me something big, and then she got really upset and left, crying. I couldn't convince her to stay."

"What did she tell you, Tony?" Abby asked. When he didn't reply, she said, quieter, "Tony, you know you can trust me with anything."

"I know," Tony said. "She told me she was raped in high school."

"Oh, my God," Abby said, shocked. "Who did it? When?"

"She was eighteen," Tony said. "It was her then-boyfriend, Chris Woods, an enlisted Marine on leave. She said he was nineteen, because she said he'd been in the Services a year or so. He was never tried or convicted, because he committed suicide that night. He was to be redeployed to Iraq the next day. They had had a fight about him leaving and he lost it and got violent and..." Tony couldn't finish.

"Oh, my God, Tony," Abby said, alarmed and full of concern. "I'm coming over."

"No, Abby, don't, it's OK," Tony said. "I'm just gonna leave a message at her house, then give her some space."

"OK," Abby said. "Call me if you need me, OK?"

"I will," Tony said, then he pressed End. He called Emmy's cell phone, as she had no land line, but after four rings, he only got voicemail. He figured that was where she had gone, because it was late at night and dark. Therefore, if she was home, she was ignoring his call.

"Emmy, it's Tony. Please call me. I know you're scared and upset, but you did nothing wrong. It was not wrong of you to tell me. Please don't think I'm angry or judging you. I'm not. Please call me. We need to talk."

Tony sighed as he flipped his phone shut again.


"Tony... you look terrible."

"Really, McObvious, I had no idea?" Tony snapped sarcastically.

Tony had barely slept all night. When he had, he had dreamt of a crying Emmy, guilt-ridden over an incident that had been in no way her fault. He couldn't imagine going through something like that. He wanted her to be entirely happy and comfortable, personally and professionally, but it was clear she wasn't. He hoped none of it was his fault, but he felt he had, in some way, triggered painful memories from the past.

He had no idea what to do. He wanted to go to her, but he knew she would not want him to be there right now, even though that would have been the right thing for her to do; she needed her space.

He wished he could talk to Jenny. She had helped him out last time, when he needed advice on whether to take the next step in his relationship with Jeanne or not. And he had. And he had screwed up by blowing his cover. Jeanne had left him, then later, Jenny had been killed in the line of duty.

Tony was tired of the people he loved getting hurt or killed, or both.

First his mother, then Kate, then Jenny, then Jeanne. Now Emmy.

Tony wondered who would be next.

He realized he really didn't wanna know.

"Is there something you need to talk about?" McGee asked.

"Not now, McGossip," Tony said firmly, scowling at him.

McGee raised an eyebrow at him, and was about to open his mouth to retort, when Gibbs walked into the bullpen, unexpected as usual.

"Gear up," he said.

"We got a case, Boss?" McGee asked him.

"Three Georgetown University students were just found in a submerged car, dead," Gibbs said. "Several friends were the last to see them, two days ago. LEOs just found the car and the bodies, after a day-and-a-half, 30-mile radius search."

"What do they need us for, Boss?" McGee asked.

"We have jurisdiction," Gibbs said. "Let's go."

Tony, McGee, and Ziva quickly grabbed their backpacks, holstered their guns, and followed Gibbs out of the bullpen.


Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, Ducky, Jimmy, and Tony watched somberly as a crane pulled a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee out of a pond, north of Washington, D.C. Water poured from the grill, air vents, and seams of the car; three bodies floated inside.

For a moment, Tony was uncannily reminded of the time he had to save Gibbs and Maddie Tyler from drowning, when Gibbs had unintentionally driven the NCIS car into the Washington Channel, to avoid him and Maddie getting shot by villains.

"McGee: bag and tag, Ziva: interview witnesses, Tony: photos and sketch," Gibbs barked.

Tony jumped slightly. Brought out of his thoughts, he shook his head to clear the memory. Gibbs was on solid ground now; he was fine. Tony needed to focus on his task at hand.

Once the Jeep was on solid ground, several LEOs took off the doors— windows still rolled up and intact— using the Jaws of Life, then drained out the water. Tony began taking photos of the car, then took photos of the bodies in the car, then the LEOs gently laid them out on plastic sheets on the grass and more photos were taken. A crowd was beginning to gather, including many college students and university faculty.

Ducky and Jimmy arrived a moment later, bickering as usual, in two N.C.I.S. Medical Examiner vans.

"Sorry we're late, Jethro, we got lost, as usual," Ducky said, regretfully.

"We did not get lost, Doctor," Jimmy argued. "I was following you."

"Yes, but it is your fault I got lost, for not putting the map back where it was supposed to be, Mr. Palmer," Ducky fired back.

"And where was that?" Jimmy challenged.

"In the driver's-side door pocket," Ducky said.

"And where was it?" Jimmy asked him, a challenging tone still in his voice.

"On the floor in the back seat; I just found it as we arrived," Ducky said, irritably.

"You're here now. Bodies are over here, Duck," said Gibbs.

The Medical Examiner and his assistant followed Gibbs over to where the three bodies lay on the grass.

"Your first guess, Mr. Palmer?" Ducky asked, after taking a glance; he always gave the up-and-coming Medical Examiner a chance.

Jimmy did not hesitate for a moment. "Drowning, Doctor," Jimmy said, beaming at his mentor.

Ducky groaned slightly and tried not to pull a face. "Oh... yes," he said, slightly disappointed. Jimmy always tried so hard to please him and did not always use his common sense. "But I'm sure we will find more to their stories soon, won't we?" Jimmy nodded. Ducky pulled liver probes out of all three bodies. "Jethro, judging by body temperature, I'd estimate their deaths to have been twenty-four to forty-eight hours ago, forty-eight hours at the most."

Jethro nodded. "Thanks, Duck," he said.

Jimmy helped Ducky transfer the bodies into body bags, onto the gurneys, and the gurneys into the two vans.

"You'll know more when I do, Jethro," Ducky said, before driving off in one of the two vans, Jimmy following, not far behind, in the second van.

"Agent Gibbs," said a voice.

Gibbs turned around. A LEO was walking toward him.

"Officer Jake Collins," the officer said, shaking Gibbs' hand. "I'm the officer in charge of the case."

"What do you got for me?" Gibbs asked him.

"Pond is approximately twelve feet deep. Search chopper saw a white object in the water, which we later realized was the Jeep. Ground searches involved people on foot, ATVs, and cars. I don't have the exact ground numbers."

"Don't need 'em," Gibbs said, walking toward Ziva to observe the interviews.

"We also found a deceased Lhasa Apse dog in the car with them," Collins said.

"I only care about the human victims, Officer Collins," Gibbs said coolly.

Ziva walked up to a few students, male and female, who were watching the scene, some with saddened, lost looks on their faces, some crying.

"I need to speak with those of you who last saw the girls two nights ago," Ziva said rhetorically.

By the way Ziva noticed everyone looking at each other nervously, it appeared as though the entire group might have seen the women before they disappeared, but everyone was too nervous to come forth with information. After a long moment, someone gave two women a light push and they stepped forward.

"Are we under arrest?" the second woman asked.

"No," Ziva said. "This is not a homicide investigation and this is not an interrogation. It is simply a few questions."

"We saw them at a rave two nights ago," the first woman said, "at about 10:45 that night."

"Were they drunk?" Ziva asked.

"Yes," they said together.

"Why did they not have a designated driver?" Ziva asked.

Neither answered her.

Ziva nodded. "What are your names?" she asked.

"Rachel Schwartz," replied the first woman. She indicated to the second girl. "This is April Black. Laura, Taylor, and Megan were our best friends."

"What were their last names?" Ziva asked.

"Laura Carey, she's 21; Taylor McKinney, she's 22; and Megan Kincaid, she's 20," Rachel said. "Laura was a psychology major, Taylor was a physical education major, and Megan was a math major. Laura is from Canada. Taylor and Megan are from California."

"How did you know they were in trouble?" Ziva asked.

"They called my cell," Rachel said.

"Tell me about the phone call," Ziva said.

"It only lasted about thirty seconds," Rachel said. "It was Taylor. I could hear screaming and something about 'the water's coming in'. Then the line went dead. All three of them have cell phones and I tried all three, but they all went straight to voicemail. It's Taylor's car."

"Perhaps she was driving," Ziva said, "but we probably will never know."

Rachel nodded. "They left the party to go stargazing," she said. "For them, that isn't uncommon."

Ziva nodded and wrote this down on her notepad. "No foul play is suspected so far," she said.

"Good," Rachel said. "No one would hurt them. They were popular. They were good people."

Ziva nodded again. "Did they have any enemies?" she asked.

Rachel and April shook their heads.

"Did you ever notice any suspicious behavior?" Ziva asked.

Again, both girls shook their heads.

"We will let you know if we have any more questions," Ziva said.

"OK," Rachel said, and she and the rest of the group walked away.

Ziva went over to Gibbs, who had finished talking with Officer Collins.

"Gibbs," she said, "two witnesses say they saw the three victims leaving a heavy rage Saturday night, before their disappearance Sunday night."

"A 'rave', Boss," Tony corrected her, coming up on Gibbs' other side.

"What's a rave?" Gibbs asked.

Tony didn't hesitate before launching into explanation. "A rave is a heavy party, and by heavy, I mean, lots of college kids, alcohol, dancing, pretty girls, and loud music. Rather enjoyable—"

Smack.

Tony let out a hiss of pain, as Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head.

"— but there is probably more to the rave and their disappearance than what we know so far, that you'll want to know. on it," Tony finished.

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.

Tony didn't need to fbe told twice. "Photos, on it, Boss," he said loudly, and he walked away.

Tony walked past the car and LEOs, to the pond. Dark tire tracks led from the gravel road to the pond.

"Looks like they just went straight in, Boss," Tony said. He looked over at Gibbs. "You really think this is a homicide? How is it under N.C.I.S. jurisdiction?"

"No foul play suspected," Gibbs said. "It's N.C.I.S. jurisdiction, due to naval involvement."

"What naval involvement?" Tony asked, looking around at the crowd gathering. "These people are all friends."

"Parents of the girls are Senior Master Chiefs," Gibbs said. "They've been notified and are on their way."

"Ah," Tony said.

Ziva turned to Gibbs. "They are telling the truth," she said. "This was an accident."

Gibbs nodded. "Ducky will be able to tell us the rest. We need to go back and see if he knows more and we need to talk to the parents, once they get here."

Ziva nodded again and she, McGee, and Tony followed Gibbs away.


When lunch break came, Tony pulled out his phone and dialed Emmy's cell, as he went down to the cafeteria to get coffee and food. This time, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"So, are you on lunch break, too?" Tony asked.

"Yes, why?" Emmy asked, sounding like she really did not want to talk at the moment. Tony wondered if she had been crying again, away from her work.

"Em, we need to talk," Tony said. "This whole avoiding me thing won't solve anything. I know you're still feeling incredibly guilty for what happened, even though none of it was ever your fault and you did nothing wrong. You can talk to me about it. I'm not judging you and I'm not angry. You need to get help, even though they can't be tried for it again."

"Talking won't change anything, Tony," Emmy said.

"But it can help," Tony said. "Please, Em, talk to me or a counselor or somebody."

"There's nothing more to say, Tony," Emmy said. "I told you everything."

"All right, fine," Tony gave in, "but at least let me see you and talk to you. You don't have to hide from me, love. You know that."

There was a pause, then Emmy said, "OK."

"Really?" Tony asked, surprised.

"Yes," Emmy said, though she still sounded awkward and upset. "Let's, um, have dinner or something."

"OK," Tony said. "I'll pick you up. Then we can go dancing or something. You liked dancing at Abby's dinner party, right?"

"Yes, I did. OK. Sounds fun," Emmy said. "When do you want to have dinner?"

"How about tonight?" Tony asked. "I haven't seen you in days."

"OK," Emmy said. "See you at five."

"All right," Tony said. "See you then."

Tony hung up his cell phone, feeling slightly more optimistic. Five o'clock couldn't come fast enough.


The autopsy doors hissed open, as Gibbs walked in. Ducky turned around.

"Ah, Jethro, good timing," he said. "I have just completed the autopsy on Laura Carey."

"And?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, I don't have a lot to tell you," Ducky said. "It's quite clear her suffering was brief, that she quickly drowned. But her toxicology screens came up clean."

"So?" Gibbs asked.

"Well," Ducky said, "it means the alcohol must have filtered out of their bodies before they died, possibly even before they left and went missing. For women, it takes an hour per drink, for men, 45 minutes. It's safe to say Taylor and Megan's autopsies will turn out similar or identical, so until I'm finished with them, I can also assume they were also not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they died. They likely got lost and couldn't see the road and their car went straight into the water. Their tragic deaths were all an unfortunate accident."

"Thanks, Duck. When you're done with those autopsies, you and Palmer take a break," Gibbs said, turning to walk out of Autopsy.

Later, Ducky had finished with the autopsies. His speculation had been right: all three girls, while not intoxicated or on any drugs at the time of the accident, had drowned within a few minutes of the Jeep going into the water. With consoling the families and friends of the victims being all that was left, the case was closed.


I couldn't resist putting in the head-slap (finally, my first one, YAY!) Or where typical Tony launches into explanation about what a rave is. Or the instant Jimmy response to Ducky's "what happened here?" question, LOL.

My uncle is in the Navy, as a Master Senior Chief, who goes all over the world, taking care of the electrical systems on planes. There's a more official title to it, but I'm not sure what it is. But as I was able to get a little information about the rank and duties from my grandmother, I thought it best to use that rank for the girls' parents, to make it legit and workable.

I start my summer job Monday, working 10-hour days Monday through Thursday, so I'm not sure when I will be updating next. However, as I usually will have Fridays off, I think the usual chapter-a-week/Friday night deadline will still be possible, so expect chapter 8 to be updated around May 21. If it isn't updated right away that night, please forgive me, I will be just getting into the swing of things summer job and my story won't be the first thing on my to-do list and such.

As always, please review!