Okay, so I've been going in chronological order and I still plan on doing that but I just saw a rerun of 'Smoked' today and I decided that I really needed to write some sort of tag to that episode. So once again, this particular chapter is out of order but the rest of the chapters should not be.
Spoilers: 4x10 'Smoked'
The pressurized doors to autopsy swished open and both Ducky and Jimmy looked up to see who their visitor was, neither man was expecting anyone of Gibbs' team since the case had now been solved. Ducky had suspected that Gibbs would be the visitor but to his surprise young Anthony was their visitor this late hour. After a case involving a serial killer or just one that was particularly hard Anthony usually sought out Abigail, never coming to autopsy once the case no longer obligated him to come, this was the first time in Anthony's five years at NCIS that Ducky had seen him voluntarily come to autopsy after a case as hard to fathom as this one. A quick glance told Ducky that that Anthony needed someone to talk to but he also knew that that someone wasn't him. He had not been blind to the blossoming friendship between young Anthony and young Mr. Palmer; it was a friendship that had gotten strong in a surprisingly short amount of time. At one time perhaps Anthony would have sought him out to talk about today's events but now it was no longer his place.
"Hello, Anthony, my boy, you're here quite late," greeted Ducky cordially.
"Um, yeah, I guess I am."
"Yes, well, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I believe that I have some business to attend to with our Abigail," said Ducky as he turned to walk through the doors that Tony had just come through but not before giving Jimmy a look that he, thankfully, was able to decipher.
Once Ducky was gone Jimmy gestured for Tony to have a seat in the seat that the good doctor had recently vacated as he made his way to the cabinet where Ducky kept the some scotch and glasses. Neither man said anything while Jimmy poured two fingers for Tony and himself. Normally Jimmy wasn't much of a scotch drinker, come to think of it neither was Tony, but this case had been particularly hard. Nineteen young women lost their lives for what? Jimmy wasn't sure if they would ever find out what drove Karen Bright to kill all those young women, perhaps Dr. Mallard was right when he said that sometimes there was no mental or physical defect or hard upbringing to explain why a person did such horrible things. Sometimes evil happened and there was no reason behind it.
"Sometimes I really hate this job," Tony said quietly as he stared at the amber liquid as if in it depths he could find some sort of reason behind the brutality of Karen Bright's actions.
"Me too," he agreed just as quietly.
"I asked McGee if he would be okay with not investigating the death of Karen Bright's husband when we thought that he was the serial killer if Sarah was one of the victims."
"Why?" Jimmy asked surprised.
Tony shrugged before running a hand through his short hair. "I don't know. I guess…I guess I was jealous, I can't remember a time when I wouldn't be okay with someone getting to the serial killer before the law did."
Jimmy nodded, he could understand that. While vigilante justice wasn't something that he usually supported but in cases like this he could understand it and perhaps even support it.
"Given the circumstances I think McGee will understand," he reassured Tony.
Tony didn't say anything, just continued to stare at the liquid in his glass. This case was just so screwed up. Finally he stopped staring at the scotch in the glass and downed it all in one gulp.
"You know, Charlotte was my first real friend at Ohio State…"