NCIS

Monsters And Heroes

Chapter # 10

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When Gibbs and Tony entered the bullpen again, Chris was sitting with Tim at his desk doing something to the computer. Mandy was laying on her stomach in the floor coloring.

Tony walked past the bullpen and Gibbs went to his desk.

"You better not be breaking into the CIA's database or anything like that." Gibbs said in a mock stern voice.

"Actually it's the FBI's." Chris said.

"Well, that's okay." Gibbs smiled. "What did Ducky say?"

"I'm fine." Gibbs raised his eyebrow and she sighed and added, "And that I should take it easy for the rest of the day."

"McGee." Gibbs said. "Go to the security office and help DiNozzo."

"With what, Boss?" Gibbs just looked at him and the younger man said, "I guess I will find out when I get there." And he quickly left.

"Chris, take Mandy back to autopsy. Stay with Ducky and Palmer for a little while."

"Okay." The teen stood up and helped Mandy gather her coloring books and crayons.

"New case?" Ziva asked, after the girls had left.

"No, same case." Gibbs told her what he knew about the gun and change of confession.

"Inhouse job?" she asked.

"It's inside job." Gibbs corrected her. "And it's possible."

"Will we be moving the girls to a safe house?" Ziva wanted to know.

"Yeah, mine."

Kari Wilson sat at her desk with a smile on her face, everything was working out just fine.

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Chris and Mandy walked into autopsy and were greeted by the ME and his assistant. Gibbs had called Ducky and told him everything, wanting him to keep the girls occupied.

"Gather around girls." Ducky smiled. "And I will amaze you with my magic."

"You know magic?" A very excited Mandy asked.

"Yes I do."

Ducky did some simple magic tricks, which the four-year-old was amazed by. Chris pretended to take an interest, but the two adult knew she was just being polite.

"Hey Chris." Palmer said. "How about you and me try this new internet game McGee showed me? "It's a war game where you have to plan out strategies."

"Sounds good."

Palmer and Chris were soon engrossed in the game.

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Gibbs walked into Abby's lab and saw her, Tony, and Tim standing in front of her computer.

"Tell me those tapes showed who stole the gun." Gibbs said.

"I would." Abby said. "But you hate to be lied to."

"The tape was replaced with a blank one, Boss." Tim said.

"How?"

"They have to work here, Boss." Tony said. "They knew how to access the lockup, where the tape was, and they knew where the gun was."

Before Gibbs could respond, Ziva walked into the lab.

"I received the visitors log from the prison." She said. "Last night a man claiming to be Bryant's lawyer visited him, a man named Frank Grams. He used another name when he visited, but I was able to match his picture when I ran it. Grams is a known drug dealer who works with Bryant at times. They were both arrested together twice."

"Good work." Gibbs said. "DiNozzo, you and David go pick him up."

"On it Boss." Tony said and him and Ziva left.

"McGee, I want that evidence locker dusted for prints. Every inch of it., make sure every print you find belongs to someone with legitimate business there."

"On it Boss." He too left the lab.

"Gibbs." Abby said, worry evident in her voice. "If Bryant has someone inside NCIS, then he knows about Chris witnessing the murder."

"I know, Abbs. I won't let anyone hurt her."

"I know." The Goth smiled. "You're like a big protective Grizzly Bear."

"Grizzly Bear, huh?"

"Yup."

"This Grizzly Bear bites, so you'd better get back to work."

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Back in autopsy, Chris had already beat Palmer twice at the war game. The young ME assistant was now doing paperwork, Chris was playing another computer game, and Ducky was still entertaining Mandy with magic tricks.

Chris was getting bored, and restless. She looked up and noticed that neither adult was watching her, so she quickly stood up and left the room. She knew that would notice her being gone very soon and start looking, but she figured she'd have time for a quick look around.

The fourteen-year-old grew frustrated within a minutes, most of the doors were locked. She came to one that was labeled Security and smiled. The door was locked, but she was good at picking them. The young girl went to work trying to open the door, hoping that no one was inside.

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In autopsy, Palmer was going to see what Chris' score was on the game. He stood for a moment looking at the empty chair.

"Doctor Mallard." He said. "We have a problem."

The ME looked over and frowned at the empty chair. "Where did Christina go?"

"No idea."

Ducky sighed and said, "I had better call Jethro and let him know."

"Is Chris in trouble?" Mandy asked softly.

"A bit." Ducky answered. "It is not a good idea for her to be wondering off by herself."

Ducky called Gibbs and reported the missing teen, then hung up. He looked down at the small girl and said "Do not worry, Jethro will find her."

"Is he mad?"

"A little." Ducky admitted.

"W…will he beat her up?" Mandy asked, fear in her voice.

Ducky knelt in front of the child "Of course not, my Dear. Jethro would never beat up a child, no matter what. Why do you ask?"

"Most men beat her up when they get mad at her." Then she looked to the floor and added. "Or mad at me."

"Oh Amanda." Ducky gently wrapped his arms around the little girl. "I promise you, no one will hurt either of you."

"But Gibbs is mad."

"Gibbs is a good man, he won't hurt Christina. There is nothing a child could ever do that would him beat them up."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

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Back in Abby's lab, Gibbs hung up his phone.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

"Chris played a disappearing act."

"Where.."

A blaring alarm cut Abby's sentence off. She quickly started typing on her keyboard.

"Security!" She shouted to be heard over the alarm.

"Shut it off!" Gibbs shouted back, as he hurried from the room.

He made it to the door, along with four guards. But he did not see Chris, he did see a hair pin laying on the floor in front of the door.

The alarm stopped and Gibbs looked at the guards. "It's okay, go back to your stations."

The guard nodded, then walked off. Gibbs began his search for Chris, which he gave up quickly. He knew where she would go, and why. The why part made his heart ache.

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Chris jumped up when the alarm sounded and dropped the hair pin she had been using to pick the lock. The teen panicked and ran into the first open door she found, which turned out to be a storage closet.

She couldn't believe she set off an alarm, Gibbs was going to be furious with her. Why did she have to be so stupid? She was always getting in trouble because of her curiosity. she was really starting to like the people at NCIS, then she had to pull a stunt like this.

Chris leaned against a wall and sank to the floor. She knew she would have to come out sooner or later, but she wanted to postpone it. She wasn't sure what Gibbs would do, then a thought struck her. What if he punished Mandy for her behavior.

That thought had the teenager up on her feet and running back to autopsy as fast as she could. She burst into the room to find Ducky still entertaining Mandy with magic tricks. Gibbs was standing against the wall.

"Figured you'd come back here." He said. His voice was stern, but not harsh.

"Come on Amanda." Ducky said, holding out his hand for the four-year-old. "Let us go and see what Abby is up too."

"Okay."

They walked out of the room, and left Gibbs and Chris alone.

"I…I set off the alarm." She admitted.

"I know."

Gibbs walked over to her and she closed her eyes and waited for the blow, but none came. She opened her eyes and saw that the man was standing in front of her.

"You knew you were not supposed to go wondering around by yourself." He said, his voice still stern. He wanted to hug her and tell her that she was forgiven, but she had to learn to follow the rules. Especially since her life could be in danger. He would hug her later.

"Yes Sir."

"And I assume you know that doors are locked for a reason, and that you are not allowed in a locked room."

"Yes Sir."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Now she was confused. It was obvious that Gibbs was upset about her actions, but he hadn't hit her or yelled at her.

"Why did you do it?"

Chris looked down at the floor, and Gibbs put a finger under her chin and gently lifted her head back up.

"I got bored." She admitted, now looking in his eyes.

"You know what you did was wrong."

"Yes Sir."

"And you know you have to be punished for it?"

"Yes Sir." Her eyes started tearing up. She hated that she disappointed him, and that was a new feeling to her. She truly cared about what this man thought of her, this man whom she had considered a monster for the past eight years.

Gibbs gently took her arm and led her to a corner.

"Fifteen minutes." He said.

"Huh?" She asked in confusion.

"Fifteen minutes corner time."

"You can't be serous. I'm not a little kid." She couldn't help but argue. She was surprised that he chose corner time instead of beating her, but it was corner time. That was for little kids like Mandy.

"Fifteen minutes." Gibbs repeated.

Chris didn't have much choice, she stepped closer to the corner and stuck her nose in it. She felt foolish. Gibbs walked over to Ducky's desk and sat down.

After a couple of minutes, Chris turned around and looked at Gibbs, "This is not necessary."

Gibbs just motioned for her to turn back around. Chris sighed and stuck her nose in the corner again.

The fifteen minutes gave her time to think. She had messed up, she deserved to be punished. She knew what she was doing was wrong, knew Gibbs was trying to impress that on her. And he did it without hurting her. usually when an adult got mad, she got hit. But Gibbs didn't hit her, and she started to believe that he never would.

She wasn't sure if he'd ever spank her, she really hoped he never would. But she knew that a spanking and a beating were totally different. She was starting to feel bad about thinking that Gibbs would punish Mandy for her behavior, he would never do that. She was sure now, Gibbs was a good man.

"Come here, Chris." Gibbs' gentle voice broke her out of her thoughts. She turned and walked over to the man, who was still sitting in the desk chair.

"I'm sorry I snuck off and tried to pick the lock." She said, looking into his eyes. "It was wrong."

Gibbs nodded and smiled. "All's forgiven."

"It is?"

"Yes. You messed up, you were punished, and now it's over."

He wrapped his arms around the girl and she returned the hug.

"Now." Gibbs said, after they broke apart. "We need to talk about something. I'm guessing you ran back here because you were afraid I would take my anger out on Mandy."

"I had thought that." She admitted. "But not anymore, I know you never would."

Gibbs smiled and asked, "How about we go find Mandy and get some lunch?"

"Okay." Chris smiled.

They left autopsy, both in good moods.

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A couple hours later, Gibbs walked into Abby's lab. He turned off the blaring music and Abby said, "Hey Gibbs." Without turning around.

"What have you got, Abbs?"

"Nothing yet. All the prints are from people who belong there, but I'm still running some more. There were a lot of prints down there."

"Let me know when you find something." Gibbs said as he left, turning the music back on as he left. But not no where as loud as it was when he came in.

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Tony and Ziva walked into the same apartment building that they had arrested Bryant in. Grimes' apartment was one floor above Bryant's. They found the right apartment and Tony knocked.

"Yeah?" The man who answered the door asked.

"Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, Officer Ziva David. NCIS." Tony said as they showed their badges. "We need to speak with Frank Grimes."

"This is him." Ziva said, recognizing him from his picture.

"We need you to come with us." Tony said.

"What for?"

"We have questions about an on going murder case, and we believe you have answers."

Grimes tried to slam the door shut, but Tony quickly stepped in and cuffed the man.

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Tony, Tim, and Ziva were standing in the observation room watching Grimes sitting at a table in the integration room.

Gibbs entered the integration room and sat down across from the man.

"I did nothing wrong." Grimes said angrily.

"You lied about being a lawyer." Gibbs said, calmly.

"I went to see a friend."

"And the evidence against your friend just happened to disappear the morning after your visit." Gibbs said, leaning closer to the man.

"Disappeared?" he asked innocently. "You should really be more careful with evidence."

"You think this is a joke!" Gibbs exploded, slamming his hands on the table.

Grimes smiled and said, "You an not scare me like you did Bryant."

"We will prove you had the gun stolen." Gibbs said, his voice icy. "And then you can bunk with Bryant in prison."

"You have no proof I had anything to do with the missing gun." Grimes said calmly.

Gibbs interrogated him for several minutes, but the man did not break. Gibbs left the room frustrated.

"I can't believe Gibbs didn't break him." Tony said.

"You think he's telling the truth?" Tim asked.

"He's a lowlife scum, Probie." Tony said. "He doesn't know how to tell the truth."

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Gibbs was standing in the hall when his phone rang, it was Abby telling him she found something. Gibbs opened the door to the observation room and told the three inside to follow him, which they did.

They enter Abby's lab to find her standing in front of her computer.

"What have you got, Abbs?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"A print that doesn't belong." Abby said. "Some of the prints I ran was from Kari Wilson."

"The secretary?" Gibbs asked.

"It's Personal Assistant, Gibbs." Abby corrected. "And yes. I pulled up all the work she has done and she had had no business being in the evidence locker in the entire year that she has worked here. And she has never sighed a piece of evidence in or out."

"I told Jenny I didn't need a personal assistant." Gibbs grumbled. "Good work Abbs."

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Kari Wilson was sitting at her desk when Gibbs, Tony, Tim, and Ziva walked in and stood in front of it.

"Can I help you?" She asked a little nervous.

"You can tell us where the gun is." Gibbs said in a growl.

"W…what gun?"

"The gun you stole from the evidence locker." Tony said.

"The one that was used to kill a Marine." Ziva added.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"We have Grimes in an integration room."

The woman's face went pale.

"You are both going to prison." Gibbs said. "For how long depends on you."

"I…I only did it because Frank asked me too." She blurted out.

"He's your boyfriend?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, he is."

"Where's the gun?" Gibbs asked.

"Top drawer."

Tony put on gloves and opened the drawer, pulling out a gun.

"Take her to lock up." Gibbs said, walking off.

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Frank Grimes was still sitting in integration, when the door burst opened and Gibbs walked in.

"You want to change your story?" He asked.

"No."

"Okay, but we have your girlfriend in lockup. And we have the gun."

Grimes cursed under his breath and then said, "I knew she was too stupid to pull this off."

"Does that mean you want to change your story?"

"I want a lawyer."

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I meant to post this a lot earlier, but didn't get time. I will post more soon. Hope you like it.