Hoover Building
Internal Affairs audience
Present day
A somber group of senior agents entered the hearing room and all present in the room quiet down and stand up, waiting until they sit down in their respective seats to return to their chairs.
They open the folders before them and shuffle the papers inside, and Assistant Director George Wiltman initiated the proceedings.
"We are reopening the Internal Affairs case #8,346, regarding the investigation on the murders of Special Agents Anita Hernandez, Dimitri Korcevic, Lorraine Johansen, Leonard Parsley and Norman Glascock by their colleague, Special Agent Eric Gomez."
"The purpose of this hearing is to decide if it the new evidence which will be presented during the next meetings is conclusive enough to expurgate the misconduct marks on their records, and to erase the dereliction of duty accusations from their files."
He lifts his eyes from the paper he is reading and looks at the people sitting in this small room. He sees former AD Christopher Klein, sitting along with two other agents from LA; the tight knit Buchanan clan sitting together, Special Agents Faith and Hope Buchanan waiting patiently for their time in the witness stand, and former FBI now NCIS Special Agent Joy Buchanan, sitting with a very interesting group of people. It must be her new team in NCIS, thinks the AD.
There are some other faces, from another time and another place, but everyone would have their chance to speak.
"I would like to call to the stand Special Agent George Thomas, from Los Angeles Office."
A blond man dressed in an impeccable suit walks to the stand, and gets ready to give his testimony.
"State your name and position in the FBI."
"I'm special agent George Thomas, and I work at the Missing Person Investigation team in LA."
"Please tell us how you met the aforementioned agents, and your relationship with them."
"I've met them during the Gabborgini's case. We were…"
He describes how they helped him track down a serial murderer and save the life of a seven year old girl.
Thomas stops and takes a deep breath, and looks down to where Joy is sitting with her team.
"I really admired the work of the LA BAU, and I can attest to their professionalism and dedication to their jobs. We couldn't have had a happy ending to that case if they hadn't helped us then."
"Was there any outward sign that there was something amiss with any of those agents? Any fights, differences of opinion?"
"They would discuss their opinions very loudly, but there was never any outward aggression between the members. All seemed very centered and focused in their jobs."
"We would like to call to the stand Special Agent Marianne Willows…"
"We would like to call to the stand Special Agent Heidy Bruckheimer…"
"We would like to call…"
The afternoon went on and on with a long list of testimonies. They gave a break later after two p.m., and Hope and Faith miraculously started to give out home-made sandwiches, pieces of pies and carafes full of rich smelling coffee, from two freezer bags they had collected from their car as soon as the break had been announced.
Tony starts munching his sandwich, "thank god you Buchanans always bring food wherever you go, I was starving."
Faith smiles and pats his head, handing him a chicken pie slice, carefully wrapped in kitchen paper, "I have a teenage daughter and four year old son, I know how children need something to eat after behaving for hours," he looks at her, cross, "enjoy your pie," he keeps on eating.
Gibbs is watching Joy sitting silently shredding the wrapping of her sandwich, "how many more witnesses are they going to bring?" he sips his coffee.
She looks up at him, "We arranged to have five people to act as witnesses with favorable testimonies to the team, and now after the break they are going to bring the non favorable ones," she looks down at her half eaten sandwich, and throws it in the garbage can.
"Do you have any idea who is going to testifyagainst them?" asks McGee, sitting by her side and finishing his piece of chicken pie. He wipes his mouth and faces her, waiting for an answer.
She grimaces, "they haven't disclosed who would take the stand on the opposite side," she looks around herself, at the NCIS team and says, "you guys probably shouldn't be here, you should be back in the squad room working."
"We are off rotation until this matter is settled," says Ziva, "we can't afford to go back to our everyday life investigating cases if this is still hanging over your head."
"I hope I'm not spoiling any plans you might have for the evening, as it seems it might be a long hearing," says Joy.
"Ah nah… my date cancelled anyway," says Tony.
"I had nothing planned," says Ziva.
McGee shrugs, he would have been with Joy anyway, and all of them look at Gibbs, who is smirking at his coffee.
"What?" he asks, uncomfortable with the stares at him.
"You have somewhere to go, Boss?" DiNozzo is dying with curiosity, it's been a while since he had seen such an enigmatic smile on Gibbs' face.
Gibbs smirks but says nothing. He sips his coffee.
The Buchanans are not satisfied though, and Hope gets close to his side, "anyone we know?"
He keeps on sipping his coffee, he just glances at her and smiles. Hope is not happy with that, and grabs his coffee cup out of his hand, "hey, that's mine," she holds it away from his reach, unafraid of his steely stare at her.
"I'm holding your coffee hostage until you tell us who you are having a date with," he snarls at her, but she is unmoved by it, "so, come on, spill it."
"Don't you ever get tired of nosing around other people's lives?" asks Gibbs, frustrated.
Hope smirks, "that's what makes me a good investigator, a deep unsatisfied curiosity about everyone and everything," she moves the coffee to within Gibbs' reach, he tries to grab it but she moves it away again, "so, what's her name?"
The other agents are smiling at the young Buchanan's bravery to needle Gibbs. Gibbs sighs, and folds, "I was going out with Dana again, but I can call and cancel it," all the Buchanan women smile, "may I have my coffee back?"
Tony is trying to hold back his laughter, "Is it Dana now? The first date went well then, I guess."
Faith shakes her head, "he succumbed to the charm of one of mom's matchmaking spells."
Hope sees the smile on Joy's face, the first real one since the hearing started, and sits down by her side, and starts babbling, "oh, but I'm sure Joy wouldn't want to spoil your date with Dana," Joy shakes her head, laughing at her sister, who continues, "after all such an event must be celebrated, not postponed."
Hope turns to her sister, "remember when Mark was on leave and we went to New York to see Cats?"
Joy nods, "Dana's date with Gibbs could be like a musical, but now with two foxes: the silver haired one and the red orange one."
Joy is trying to hold back her laughter, but Hope is not done, "two foxes dancing down the road, a red and a silver one, down in the woods."
Joy is snorting and her laughter is feeling the air, and Hope continues, "two foxes foxing around, I wonder how do they get the fur out of the way whenever they…" she wiggles her eyebrows, "you know."
Joy hides her face in her sister's neck and keeps on laughing, hysterically.
Hope looks at Gibbs and blinks at him, asking silently for forgiveness of using him asthe butt of a joke and keeps on trying to keep her sister laughing, feeling her shoulders release the tension of the morning hearing, "I wonder if there is a protocol for such dates, something like the mating of hedgehogs."
Joy is snorting with mirth, and Gibbs has a small smile on his face, and lifts his eyebrow questioningly.
Faith smiles at the two sisters and turn to the other agents who are looking at the sisters as if they lost their minds.
"Haven't you ever heard how hedgehogs make love?"
Tony is looking confused at the sisters, from one to the other, and they are all laughing, "no, how?"
Joy lifts her head from Hope's neck and looks at the other agents, wiping the tears of laughterfrom her face, "that's a very old joke, Tony."
Hope is grinning, and McGee is grinning as well, as he sees some of the gloomy air has lifted from Joy's face.
Hope leans towards Tony and Ziva, who lean over towards her, and whispers:
"They make love very, very carefully."
And she starts laughing hysterically with Joy, who every time she looks at Gibbs starts laughing all over again.
"That really isn't the mental image I wanted from my boss right now," and keeps on laughing.
Ziva is confused, "why?"
"I believe it would be because of the spines, my dear Ziva," says Ducky, who approaches the agents and is relieved to see the happy air around them, as he expected them to be very tense after the hearing. He looks at Gibbs and shows him discretely the folder in his hand. In it he has the results of the new autopsy on Eric Gomez. Gibbs nods to Ducky and turns to the laughing agents.
"I believe they are ready to start again," says Gibbs.
They see the movement of people going inside thehearing room and stand up. Joy tries to stop laughing, and Hope does some breathing exercises with her, which makes her laugh even harder.
"In, out, in, out," she moves her hand up and down, mimicking the breathing activity. Joy closes her eyes and tries to calm down a little.
"Now repeat after me: their balls against the wall, their heads on a spike," Hope says.
"Their balls against the wall, their heads on a spike," Joy laughs a little, but focuses again.
"Ok repeat after me: may they burn in the burning fires of hell," Joy snorts, but repeated after Hope between guffaws of laughter.
They open their eyes, and Hope can see that the fire is back into her sister's eyes, the gloomy air that was around her is gone, "give them hell sis," they hug for a moment.
"Love you sis,"
"Love you too, now go kick their asses."
The agents enter into the audience room, but Gibbs stops Hope before she leaves to take the leftovers to the car.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
She looks at him, outraged, "Moi? Why would I do anything like that?" she smirks and blinks at him, and walks saucily to the parking lot. Gibbs just shakes his head at the blonde.
There is a murmur in the room as they all settle down in their chairs. The prosecution witnesses start being called out.
"We would like to call to take the stand Mrs. Allison Watts."
McGee immediately feels Joy tensing up, and he moves his hand to hold hers in his. Her previously relaxed face loses all cheerfulness, and becomes an unmoving mask, not giving any clue of her inner turmoil. He feels her delicate manicured nails digging into his hand, as a woman in her early forties comes out of the back of the room and takes the stand. After she is sworn in, she turns to thehearing room and he can feel the waves of hatred being directed towards Joy. She had been a beautiful woman back in the day, but now suffering and hatred had changed her face, turning her into a bitter woman.
Ziva leans towards Joy, as she is sitting behind her and whispers, "Who is she?"
Joy takes a while to answer, and then she finally whispers, "One of my worst nightmares."
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