Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Hurrah! Shades of Darkness has finally been finished and I can return to more cheery stories.

Chapter 10: Ankle Twisting Aid

Lily mulled over the new development. It certainly had not been her smartest move to mention the black eye business, although she was annoyed about it. No one was allowed to hurt her sister in any way.

Except herself, when she was harassing Jenny, but that was sisterly fun.

She had not been happy when Jasper and Arbourne showed up. She liked Arbourne in an odd way; she couldn't imagine anyone else being her boss and she took great pleasure in winding him up. He also had some measure of control over her. Having been her boss for a number of years, he had discovered the best ways to make her work and how to punish her too, proven by the regular time she spent in Archives.

Archives were boring. They had nothing new in them. She couldn't make them into a mind game, although they did give her time to dream up new ones. She couldn't wind anyone up and she couldn't impersonate Jenny. She had to sit in a stuffy basement, which she had nicknamed 'The Dungeon', and read other people's case reports. She had to type some of them up, not easy when you used three fingers to type and got distracted easily, and locate other files for other agents. Sometimes she disappeared into the darkness (someone really needed to light the place better), picked an old file at random, and read it cover to cover. It passed the time better. Once, she had covered the entire place in fake snow, but Arbourne had found out and she had been on toothbrush toilet cleaning duty for a month.

Ex-SEALs. Not particularly imaginative, but why bother when the classics still worked?

Charlie had figured out which way round they were ages ago. She guessed it was the 'clone' comment. Jenny would not have voiced that thought, but she hadn't been utilizing too much effort. Everyone expected to see Jenny, so they saw her. Sure, she'd had to keep a lid on some of her more extreme ideas, but she could behave when she wanted too.

She had been fortunate that LJ hadn't warned anyone. An advantage of him getting shot, she supposed. She liked finding silver linings in everything. You missed catching someone? There was always next time. LJ getting shot? Preserved her cover. Jenny being stuck in MTAC with a homicidal maniac? It kept her away from the other unknown homicidal maniac.

Gilman knowing she had an idea of what was going on inside? She was perfectly capable of lying through her teeth, or telling the truth, whichever fit the situation better.

The truth was the better option this time. It would wind Arbourne up a bit more. Abby would hopefully enjoy it as well. Lily was fond of the Goth, although she had never spent any real time with her as herself.

"I can't see into MTAC," she lied as she swiveled her chair so she could see the screen. Her chair, LJ's chair. He was not going to be happy about that, something she would be pleased to see.

"Then how can you know so much?" Gilman roared, asking the right question.

Hmm. Decisions, decisions. Her main objective was to get the gun away from Jenny's head. "Lil and I are… sort of psychic."

Abby choked on the Caf-Pow she had picked up, courtesy of Charlie. Lily could practically see her mind ticking over. Psychic? Twins?

Gilman clearly didn't believe a word. "Bull. I want to know where the cameras are!"

"I can prove it." Not that she planned to, but he didn't need to know that. "I'm guessing I'm not on speaker?"

"Correct," he growled.

"In my rush to get down the stairs," – lie one – "I twisted my ankle." – lie two. "Jenny will be able to tell you that." –lie two and a half.

She had not twisted her ankle, but Gilman had no way of knowing that. If he did, it would make her life more complicated as it would prove a mole, but she liked complicated. Jenny would be able to guess it though. She had picked that injury because of a running joke between the sisters that Jenny would twist her ankle on the stairs as a result of wearing such high heels.

Lily briefly wondered if there was a bet going around NCIS about when Jenny would finally twist her ankle, and decided to ask Tony later. She could do with some time off, and winning a bet on top of that… even better.

Jenny was not happy to have a gun to her head. The last time this had happened, Lily's fiancé had been the one wielding it and he had been on their side. The time before that, she had been kidnapped by a ruthless drug dealer. Luckily, Gibbs was still a good shot.

This time, she was on her own. Unless Lily managed to talk him out of it.

"Fine," Gilman muttered into the phone. He moved it away from his ear. "You," he addressed her.

She couldn't resist taunting him. She supposed it was her Lily side coming through. "I have a name."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I prefer 'you'. Lily sounds so innocent, and you aren't."

There was a reason Lily used her nickname most of the time instead of her real one. 'Lilith' tended to give the game away.

"When your miserable sister left here, did anything happen to her?"

That had an obvious answer. "She twisted her ankle on the stairs." Old joke. If Lily had picked an injury, it would be that.

Gilman stared at her warily for a few moments, before returning to the cell phone. "I guess you're telling the truth, for once."

Like Lily ever told the truth. She was so used to lying, she could lie through a polygraph without blinking.

Gilman lowered the gun and continued to listen to Lily's voice.

Crisis over, for now.

Tony DiNozzo watched as Lily continued to calm Gilman down. She was acting as though she was speaking to a small child, although she was avoiding being patronizing.

It was a start. Lily was not the best person to hold negotiations, but she was sharper than most and knew how to string someone along. Especially how to string a man along.

He was still having problems believing she had hoodwinked him. It was now becoming clear just how well she could play games. He had watched her in Europe, but not been expecting any games. It was like observing a master.

Jenny had played them too. She had persuaded everyone that she was Lily and Lily was Jenny. Although no one had suspected that game. They had simply assumed and she hadn't corrected them. Jenny's only game had been to get Gibbs out of MTAC and to a hospital.

Whereas Lily's game had been to convince everyone she was really Jenny while simultaneously trying to work out how to get everyone out. Lily had been left with the clean-up operation. She wasn't doing a bad job actually. Only the arrival of her boss and her son had caused problems.

Tony was extremely glad Gibbs was his boss. He didn't think he'd last two minutes under Arbourne. Lily seemed to delight in winding him up though. Then again, Lily seemed to delight in winding everyone up. He wondered if it would be her downfall.

"You know I can't just give you the codes," Lily soothed. "My boss would have a heart attack." She smirked at Arbourne as she said this, and Tony could see the man struggling to control his temper. Gilman didn't need to know he was on speaker yet.

"I don't care about your boss," Gilman snarled. "I will kill everyone in here."

"And then I'll send an assault team in and kill you. We won't reach an agreement that way. We need to come up with something mutually beneficial."

"You give me the codes, I let everyone go."

"How do I know you won't kill everyone the moment I give you the codes?"

"I give you my word."

Lily laughed. "Your word is not good enough for me. I'd need something solid first."

"And you'd give me your word that I'd get the code?" Gilman scorned.

"Exactly. We're evidently not going to come to an agreement easily. I need time to talk to my bosses and clear everything with them. You need time to calm down. How about some humanitarian aid?"

"Do you delight in long words?"

"The dictionary is my bedtime reading," she quipped. "I'm currently through to S. Want me to read some to you?"

"Aid?"

"Food, water, a first aid kit. I'd be satisfied that my people are okay, my bosses would be happy to know everyone is safe, and you get something to eat and drink."

"Who would you send in?"

Lily looked over at Jasper, who had finally settled down with Abby. "I can think of one person you'd feel safe with."