A/N: I'm sorry it's taken this long to get a new chapter up. I wish I could come up with some lovely excuse that would have you all not hate me but alas, it's only life that's intervened. I promise I haven't forgotten about this story. I'll sincerely try to do better. :-)
Watching Jethro turn around to talk to Agent DiNozzo, I saw my chance to slip out. Moving quietly, I slipped back into the bathroom and quickly changed into the t-shirt and shorts Gibbs had handed me. Both items were rather big and I felt like a child trying clothes on that were ten sizes too big. Hanging the towel up to dry, I exited the bathroom.
"Out with it DiNozzo!"
Not wanting to interrupt when his temper was obviously rising to the fore, I descended the stairs to the living room. I sat down on one end of the couch and pulled my knees to my chest. Resting my chin on my knees, I looked up at the empty mantle that Jethro had been staring at earlier. If you looked closely, you could see that a rather large portrait had once been hung there. I wondered about the scene earlier in the kitchen. Something tragic or traumatic had obviously happened to Jethro at one point or another. Perhaps both. He'd shown classic signs of suppressed memory in the kitchen.
Chewing absentmindedly on my lower lip, I debated on my next course of action. Talk to him about it? No. Suppressed memory was suppressed for a reason. He'd open up eventually, given enough time, I thought. Pretend like it didn't happen? No, he might think I was freaked out by his display and pull away from me. I don't want him pulling away. I want him coming closer. Hmm.....
My musing came to an abrupt end with the man in question's appearance at the foot of the stairs. The look on his face bordered on panic and massive relief intermingled together. Cocking an eyebrow, I held out a hand to him.
He came, slowly, taking my hand and sitting down next to me. After a few minutes sitting in silence, I spoke up.
"So... what's going on? That was Agent DiNozzo on the phone, right?" I glanced over at him.
Jethro took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, they just finished doing a sweep of his house."
Smelling something fishy, I prodded a little further. "Did they find anything that might be helpful? Like where he might be headed or what he's after?"
"Not yet."
His answer bothered me and I couldn't put my finger on the reason why.
"You sure? Did both our teams go over it? Maybe they're not playing nice." I couldn't say why I was pressing the subject except my intuition was telling me to.
"Yeah, they haven't found anything important yet. Why? You think that we may have missed something?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought they would've found something... anything. Finding nothing seems.... wrong." I frowned and started worrying my lower lip again.
Jethro leaned back against the couch and casually placed an arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry. We'll catch this guy. My team's the best at what they do and I'm sure Tobias has his best agents on it too."
My eyes narrowed. "Except me." I sat forward a bit and his arm fell off my shoulders. "Which I guess I have you to thank for that." Bitterness laced my voice. I rather resented the fact that I was excluded from an investigation that was in my field of expertise. I mean I hadn't been learning about Alejandro Rojas for the past six months for the hell of it.
"Hey. If I thought that having you out there would make a difference as to whether or not we catch this guy, I'd have you out of here in less than 10 minutes. But as it is, Tobias and I both know that sometimes having someone who's so close to an investigation like this is actually more of a hindrance than a help." He grasped my right hand again and squeezed it gently.
"And if you're the agent Tobias says you are, you'll realize this for yourself." I sighed. He was right but it still didn't rub me right that they thought I needed to be protected like a damsel in distress. I'd worked my whole life to avoid that pitfall of a cliche and yet here I was, being tossed right in without so much as a question to me if I objected. Which I did. Vehemently.
Wanting to change the subject and also get something on my stomach, I looked up at Jethro. "Can we at least go out and get coffee and a bagel or something? My stomach's going to start screaming in a minute and nobody wants to hear that." I smiled.
He chuckled softly to himself. "On one condition."
"Name it."
"You stay here. I'll go and get it." My lips pursed and I was just about to go off on him when, as if right on cue, my stomach let out a rumble that both of us could hear. Warmth flooded my cheeks and I instantly bit back what I was going to say and just looked down.
"Fine. But you better hurry. As we can both hear, I'm obviously starving." I smiled, rueful at my own hunger.
"There should still be some coffee leftover from this morning in the kitchen. You said you wanted a bagel?" He rose off the couch, pulling me with him.
"Yeah a bagel and cream cheese please. It sounds heavenly right about now."
Placing a quick kiss on my forehead, he smiled. "Be back in a few minutes, tops." Then he was out the door and gone.
I wandered into the kitchen to grab myself a cup of coffee. Taking a mug from the cabinet, I poured myself a decent amount of coffee to sufficiently caffeinate me for a few hours at least.
Thinking about the conversation Jethro and I had just had made me remember my twinge of suspiscion. Something was odd. He had seemed forthright and truthful but I'd learned a long time ago to trust my instincts. Instincts which were, at the moment, telling me that I needed to keep thinking about this more.
I sipped my coffee and decided I'd go to think where the man himself probably went to think things out.
Making my way into the basement, I once again ran a hand over the silky smooth surface of the half finished hull. I sat down on a stool that stood in a corner, hooking my feet through the rungs and began to study the boxes that filled the multiple shelves around the room.
Spying a box that was clearly labeled "Jethro", I let curiosity get the better of me and went to pull it down. It was completely filled with records. Pulling one out, I blew the dust off it and saw Frank Sinatra's name. I smiled. I hadn't expected that but also found I wasn't surprised either. Replacing it, I went to pull another one when I heard the front door open and close.
"That's awfully quick...", I thought. Moving cautiously and quietly, I stood up and backed behind the boat's hull. Seeing a chisel and hammer sitting on his workbench, I grabbed both. If it was an intruder, having some kind of weaponry was better than none. I mentally slapped myself for not grabbing my gun, which was still sitting on the bathroom counter.
"Hello?" A male voice rang out and I heard footsteps circling the living room. It didn't sound like Alejandro's deep bass but he could have an accomplice he was working with. I edged closer to the stairs to see if I could recognize who the voice belonged to. "Jethro? Are you here? Jethro?" The voice came closer and I heard the basement door open.
I was fairly certain that I had nothing to fear but still kept the tools I held clutched in my hands, ready to use if need be. I saw two feet and then legs as a kindly looking older man descended the stairs. I moved away slowly, still alert.
Stopping at the foot of the stairs, he spied me and a warm smile broke out. "Ah! My dear, you must be Catalina. Abigail has told me so many wonderful things about you. "
I gave a half smile, unsure as to who he was and what his motive was. "And you are?...." I trailed off.
"Oh forgive me, my dear. I'm Dr. Donald Mallard, but everyone calls me Ducky."
Ziva sighed. Tony was always cranky after Gibbs hung up on him. You'd think that after it happened a few times that he'd get used to it... She watched him stalk over to the agent who was snapping pictures of the suspect's house.
"You done with that yet!? Geez Probies, pick up the pace!" Growling in frustration, he made his way to stand next to his Mossad partner.
"You ready to go?" He asked her in a much more subdued tone.
"Not quite. We have to wait for them to finish up. You know Gibbs will want the evidence back at Abby's lab as soon as possible. And that's why I'm driving back." She grinned and plucked the sedan's keys from Tony's front pocket.
The grin Ziva shot at him as she whirled around and exited to the car, made DiNozzo's insides clench. Ziva was a lovely woman... as long as you stayed on her good side .... and never rode with shotgun with her.
"Shit.... This was exactly what I needed today." Tony sighed as he grabbed the evidence bin from the agent who was holding it out to him and signed everything in.
Walking back outside, he eased himself into the passenger seat of the sedan, holding the evidence bin on his lap. Maybe with evidence in the car, she'd drive safer... or slower...
Lurching back into his seat as Ziva threw the car into gear, he barely had time to fasten his seat belt and say a quick prayer before she stepped on the gas. Guess not.
Jethro was returning to his house when he spied a rather familiar Morgan PlusFour sitting outside. Unsure of why his medical examiner was there, he entered the house and, hearing voices from the basement, made his way down to them.
Stopping at the foot of the stairs, he couldn't help but smile. Catalina was talking animatedly about her brother, Adrian, and Ducky was punctuating her fluid stream of words with his own. She stopped abruptly when she spied him and the bag he held in his hand.
She shot off the stool so fast he thought she might knock him over but she didn't. She stopped just short of touching him and immediately reached for the bag.
"Uh-uh. I don't even get a hello? Or a thank you?" Jethro held the bag up over his head, dangling it just out of reach of Catalina's outstretched hands.
Settling her hands on her hips, she glared at him. "Hello and thank you. I'm starving and it isn't nice to torture someone who hasn't eaten anything in the last twelve hours."
Seeing Ducky's grin over her shoulder, Gibbs lowered the bag. "Here you go. Bagel and cream cheese. Just what the lady ordered."
Opening the bag, Catalina returned to her vacated stool and began to eat.
Leaving her to her meal, Jethro turned his attention to the good doctor. "What brings you here Duck?"
"Oh, Abigail called me and said you'd absconded with a lovely young woman who was part of a new case we're working on. I gathered she was wanting to make sure you share." Ducky grinned at his old friend.
Abby had told him much more than that. But it wouldn't do to let Jethro know that his Lab Rat was frantically trying to make sure he and Catalina became an item. He'd find out soon enough anyway.
Hearing a buzzing from his pocket, Gibbs pulled out his phone and flipped it open.
"Gibbs."
"Gibbs! It's me! I've got something!" Abby's normally cheerful voice held a note of seriousness to it, making his throat tighten slightly.
"Alright we'll be right in." His voice came out a little rougher than usual. Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he turned to the two pairs of eyes who were watching him, blue and green.
"Abby's got something. Let's go."
