Here's chapter 11! I had nothing better to do today, so I decided to post it a day ahead of time!
I personally don't remember much about this day, I was a fourth grader (Oh my God I was so young!) on 9/11 and all I remember is that around twoish all the fourth grade classes squished together in my classroom, I somehow managed to snag a seat in between my best friends Amanda B., and Amanda M., and then my teacher dropped the proverbial bomb and I swear to God my heart skipped a few beats. I was afraid to watch the news for two months afterwards because all they kept showing was the planes hitting the Twin Towers over and over again. To a nine year old that stuff is really scary. My sister who's two years younger than me just didn't watch TV with my parents anymore because my parents were glued to the news and it made the two of us want to cry. My brother, who was five didn't understand what was going on, and just wanted to watch Arthur on PBS and go on with his little kindergarten things. This chapter is dedicated in the memory of the victims and their families of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Lest we Forget. I can honestly say this will be one of the hardest chapters for me to write. To me and Kate this is the eye opener that the world isn't perfect and there are people that kill for reasons that don't make sense to anyone other than themselves. So, I'm going to stop this long author's note before I start to ball my eyes out remembering that day and get on with the chapter.
As usual, all I own is Kate and the Taylor family. And Mrs. Monks and Mrs. Harris. So don't sue me.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
Kate and Becky had desks next to each other in Mrs. Monks' fifth grade class at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. The fact that they were best friends in the same class was just "fantasmical" to them.
Today, nine year old Kate was antsy. Her Mom was flying home from Toronto that day after spending the weekend with her sick old Aunt Mellissa. Aunt Missy was 75, sickly, had osteoporosis, and was a cat lady. Kate wasn't a big fan of cat ladies; they made her feel icky because Kate was slightly allergic to cats. Meaning, that Kate didn't like cats, period, and was a fan of canines. It wasn't the fact that Mom had just spent three days with a cat lady that had Kate's gut churning; something didn't feel right about today.
"So when's your Mom coming home?" Becky asked Kate as they got off the school bus and started the treck up the long walkway to their school. As usual, their bus was the last one to arrive in the morning.
"Sometime today." Kate responded. "Dad said she flew out of Toronto last night because her Aunt Missy felt better, and she spent the night in Boston, and she's gonna pick up a flight to Dulles this morning if she can. Do you like my tee shirt?" Kate asked Becky. The shirt in question had the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph emblazoned across it with sparkles and little beads for lights.
"Yeah!" Becky said enthusiastically as they walked past the main office and waved to Mrs. Harris, nee Kelly, at the front desk. "Where'd you get it?"
"Paris." Kate replied and stuck her tongue out at Lily Humphries who had "Harrumphed," Kate's claim. "I got to tag along when Director Morrow sent Mom and Dad to Europe this summer."
"Lucky!" Becky said. "You never said you went all over Europe! All we did was go to Luray Caverns and Dollywood."
"Yeah," Kate said. "But did you get the stuff I sent from Disneyland Paris?"
Becky nodded. "Did I mention you're the best friend I could have asked for?"
The girls dissolved into giggles and hung up their backpacks in their cubbies before sitting at their desks as Mrs. Monks took attendance. As she did this, she asked Jacob Ryan, the class clown, to write the date, Tuesday, September, 11, 2001, on the board for her.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
At nine fifteen Mrs. Monks received a call from the main office to send Kate down to see Mrs. Harris.
"Kate," Mrs. Harris said, "Your Mom's on the phone, Sweetie." She handed Kate the receiver and turned her head to wipe her eyes.
"Hi, Mom!" Kate chirped and she sat down in the empty chair next to the secretary. "Why are you calling me in school?"
"Oh, Katie-Pie." Jenny said sounding relieved to be speaking with her stepdaughter. "I missed my plane to Washington."
"So, you're calling me because you're stuck at Logan Airport?" Kate asked skeptically.
"I missed my flight." Jenny repeated even more strongly. She was glad Kate was oblivious, but that would soon change. The Pentagon loomed over the elementary school, just a mere three miles from the students and the neighborhood the school occupied.
"Okay." Kate said. "Why do you keep saying that Mom? What's wrong? If it's a code for Daddy, I don't know…"
"Katie-Baby." Jenny said cutting off Kate's rant. "I'm fine. You'll find out what's wrong when you get home. Your father is sending Tony to dismiss you from school and he's going to take you to the Navy Yard."
"Okay." Kate quipped. "He's coming in now."
Indeed he was. As Kate and Jenny were talking Mrs. Harris had buzzed Tony into the school and he was approaching the front desk/counter to speak with the secretary. "I'm here to dismiss Kate Gibbs." Tony told Mrs. Harris as he smirked at Kate.
"I have to go Katie." Jenny was saying in her ear. "I love you, Sweetie."
"I love you too, Mom." Kate said. "See you when you get home."
"Bye." Jenny said and hung up. Kate sighed as she placed the receiver back in its cradle.
"So, Tony," Kate said. "Why am I being dismissed?"
Tony shrugged as he took off his Aviator's. "The Bossman wills it. I go do his bidding."
Kate giggled and slid out of the wheelie chair she was in. "I'll go grab my backpack."
Once Kate was out of ear shot Tony's shoulders slumped and he looked at Tina Harris and sighed. "They have no idea, do they?"
The secretary shook her head. "We're waiting to tell them this afternoon before they go home for the day. If there are any students with relatives flying today, well then, let's just hope they weren't on those flights."
Tony nodded. "I know. Her father was a wreck up until a half hour ago when Jenny called and said she had overslept and missed her flight. She said her next call was to here once she could get back in line for a payphone. She left her cell on all night and it died this morning. Are you going to be okay?"
Tina nodded. "My older brother works, or should I say worked in the North Tower until yesterday. He quit last night and told his boss to shove it. He's called me twice already to make sure I'm okay and that I know he's alive and just as horrified as he is. He was supposed to go back and clean out his desk today."
"He's a lucky one." Tony commented. "So where do I sign to be given custody of the Squirt?"
"Oh!" Mrs. Harris exclaimed and placed the clipboard on the counter. "I forgot to put this out this morning."
"It's going to be a long day." Tony said.
"Why?" Kate asked from behind Tony.
"Uh...Well," Tony said. "You're Dad's in a bad mood this morning and thought you could cheer him up!"
"Well, why's he in a bad mood?" Kate asked as Tony wrote down the time of dismissal and signed his name.
"Uh, the probie Rimes spilled your Dad's coffee all over the Bull Penn floor this morning and Gibbs was pretty upset." Tony explained as he opened the door for Kate and put his sunglasses back on.
"Oh," Kate said. "Rimes is in for it then!" It was 9:36. "What's that?" Kate asked as she pointed to a large object quickly approaching the Capital City.
"A plane…"Tony trailed off. "SHIT!" He yelled. "Kate run! Now get to the car! Go, Go!" Tony said as he began to run to the NCIS vehicle parked at the curb. He wrenched the driver's side door open and flipped on his radio. "Control! This is NCIS Special Agent DiNozzo! We have a large plane approaching the Penta…" He was too late.
Kate screamed as they watched the plane fly straight into the Pentagon. She ran to Tony and buried her face in his chest and she began to cry. Tony just held her and stared in shock. 'So many people, and their all dead' Tony thought to himself. 'Ducky's going to be really busy this week.´ He added morbidly.
"Tony, why would anybody do that?" Kate asked as she cried.
"I don't know." Tony said. "I honestly don't know." He had more to say but was cut off by his cell phone ringing. "DiNozzo." He answered. "Oh, hey Boss. Gotcha. Take Kate straight home and stay with her." Tony hung up and guided Kate to the back seat of the car. "Come on, change of plans." Tony told her.
"Because of what just happened?" Kate asked.
Tony nodded. "I'm taking you home, you're Dad's coming to get you and you'll go with him somewhere with him. And I'm going back to work."
Kate nodded and buckled herself up as Tony got back in the front and started the car, flipping on the rarely used siren and lights and headed for the Gibbs family home in Arlington.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
When Tony and Kate arrived at the house Gibbs was waiting for them. Kate launched herself out of the backseat and attached herself to her father.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow and looked at Tony.
"We saw the plane hit the Pentagon from the school parking lot." Tony told him. "She's pretty upset about it."
Jethro sighed. "Jenny's stuck in Boston until she can get on a bus or the FBI loans out a vehicle for her to drive home in. Ducky's already been summoned to the Pentagon and so has the rest of the squad room."
"What about us?" Tony asked as Kate got into her Dad's car.
"Us too." Gibbs replied. "She's going to stay with Abby in the lab. She'll be safe there."
Tony nodded. "I guess I'll meet you at the Pentagon. Who has the truck?"
"It's in the garage waiting for you." Gibbs replied. "Rimes went out with Balboa's team. You gas the truck and head over and I'll meet you there. Use the sirens and lights."
Tony nodded and got back into his car. It was going to be an incredibly long day.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
Kate sat on the futon in Abby's office with her eyes glued to the TV. Abby was sitting next to her and Bert was passed between the girls and had the stuffing squeezed out of him several times a minute as they flipped channels. Every major network that had a news program was running feed form ZNN or the stations closest to DC and New York were all showing loops of firefighters rushing around and survivors staggering up and down the streets of New York. Kate was crying and Abby was on the verge. From one of the video techs that had come down to see if they wanted lunch, Director Morrow had holed himself up in ATAC and hadn't emerged since going in there around 8 am.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
Jenny put the 'borrowed' FBI SUV in park and entered the NCIS building. It was practically deserted. Since today was her day off, and everybody was over at the Pentagon, Jenny headed straight for Abby's lab, fully knowing that Kate and Abby would be down there with their eyes glued to ZNN.
She was right. It was now four p.m., and they had only moved to eat lunch and use the bathroom.
"Change the channel." Jenny ordered as she entered the office. "Now."
Abby scrambled for the remote and put on Nick. It seemed weird to watch Rugrats after watching the horror in New York and just across town.
"Is Mr. Taylor, alright?" Jenny asked Kate as she sat on the couch on Abby's right.
"He's in Woburn visiting his parents." Kate replied. "Becky said he called their house when Becky got home to let her know that he's okay and not to worry."
Jenny nodded. "It seems like we know a lot of lucky people."
Kate nodded. "I wish Daddy was here."
"I know, Sweetie," Jenny said and Kate climbed over Abby and settled into Jenny's lap. "It's going to be alright."
Kate nodded and let Jenny hold her in a hug for almost an hour.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
Jethro stepped off of the elevator in the squad room exhausted. It was just after 10 p.m., and he wanted to go home, but no, Director Morrow wanted him up in ATAC as soon as he got back.
"Director." Gibbs said once he had scanned into the Antiterrorist Alert Center, the name seemed kinds useless after today, and sat next to Morrow in the front row. The Director was watching a live feed of the Twin Towers someone from the FBI had set up for the Federal Agencies to watch from their ATAC centers.
"Jethro." Morrow said. "I hear that Kate was a witness to the plane hitting the Pentagon."
"Unfortunately." Gibbs replied. "She was worried about her friend's father until she found out he had taken a few days off to visit his parents in Massachusetts and his office is on the other side of the building."
Morrow nodded. "Our psychologist is available for her if Kate has any nightmares or lingering aftereffects."
Gibbs gave the director a curt nod. "Anything else, Sir?"
"How many bodes does Ducky have in Autopsy?" the Director asked sadly.
"Fifteen Marines and Naval personal, Sir." Gibbs said unhappily. "They were wearing uniforms when we found them. DiNozzo called me as I was driving back with Ducky to tell us they had found four more for our morgue. Ducky's running out of room."
Morrow nodded. "It's a devastating issue every morgue in the area will be facing, Jethro. From what I've heard in New York, there's still thousands of people unaccounted for."
Jethro sighed. "I'm going to go home to a nine year old who's going to want to know why this is happening. I have no answers for her. I...I don't know anymore, Tom." Jethro said frustrated. "My wife called me at five and told me that our daughter is afraid to leave the lab. Hell, I think she's going to be afraid to get up and go to school tomorrow and look out the window of her classroom at the big gaping hole in the Pentagon!"
Morrow nodded for the fourth time. "She knows that you'll keep her safe?"
"Hell yes." Jethro responded. "I'm going to try to talk Jenny into transferring Kate to the school Abby's Sisters run in DC."
"No view of the Pentagon?" Morrow asked.
"No view of the Pentagon." Jethro answered. "Plus Sister Rosita loves Kate to begin with."
"If Jenny has any reservations about the money, come talk to me."
Gibbs looked at the Director like he'd grown another head. "Sir?"
"You know that I don't have any children of my own, Jethro."
"I do, Sir." Gibbs replied.
"Well, I like to think that if I had a daughter she'd be like yours. Spunky, young, smart, beautiful, innocent. I'd like to help preserve your daughter's innocence if it means moving her to a private school from public."
"Thank you, Sir." Jethro said. "But that's not necessary."
"It's between old friends, Jethro. Not between Director and Senior Special Agent In Charge." Morrow said. "I want to help."
"We'll think about it, Tom." Jethro said as he stood up. "I need to get home before the girls start to panic on me."
Morrow chuckled. "I thought I saw Abby leaving with Kate and Jenny when I stepped out to stretch my legs around six."
"Thanks for the heads up." Gibbs said as he got up to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow night. I'm going back to help in the morning."
Morrow nodded. "Until then Jethro."
"Tom." Gibbs left and headed for his desk. He paused and felt a small smile on his face as his gaze fell on Tony; the younger man had fallen asleep at his desk and he was covered in dust and plaster. Tony's face, however, was line free and looked almost ten years younger; twenty years younger than the way he had looked while they were helping shift through the rubble.
"Tony." Jethro whispered and shook his Senior Field Agent's shoulder. "Tony, time to wake up."
"Five more minutes." Tony moaned. "Go away, George."
"George?" Gibbs asked "Who the hell is George, DiNozzo?"
"The butler." Tony replied in his sleep.
Jethro just smiled and turned the light off on Tony's desk before proceeding to his desk and doing the same. As Jethro gathered up his gear, he looked out the window and sighed. He had a clear view of the Pentagon and could still see the smoke and dust billowing up into the night sky; it was illuminated by the spot lights the searchers had brought in around six to set up for the night.
After several minutes, Jethro had gotten Tony awake and convinced to come home with Gibbs. After all, he already had Abby at home with Jen and Kate, one more wouldn't hurt.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
When Gibbs and Tony pulled into the driveway, all the lights were on in the house and Abby's hearse was parked in front of the house.
"Abby's spending the night too, Boss?" Tony asked sleepily.
"Yeah, she is, DiNozzo." Jethro replied. "Got a problem with that?"
"Nope." Tony replied. "I just thought she'd be praying with the Sisters tonight."
Jethro shrugged and opened the front door. "DADDY!"
Kate came running down the stairs and into her father's open arms. She buried her face in his shoulder and clung on to him as tightly as she could. At nine, Kate's bear hug was already rivaling Abby's bone crushing hugs. "Are you okay?" she asked him.
"I'm fine, Kate." Jethro responded as her tried to put Kate back down. Tried being the operative word. Kate had jumped on her father and had her legs wrapped around his torso and her arms locked around his neck. "Can you let go for a sec? I think I'm going to fall over."
Kate relaxed her hold on her father and slid down so she was standing. "Daddy, how come those people crashed the planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon?"
Jethro closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them and took one of Kate's hands and led her into the living room to talk. Tony had wandered into the kitchen with Jenny and Abby.
"Kate, you know that there are other religions besides our own, right?" Jethro started.
Kate nodded. "There's Judaism, and Lutherans, and Protestants, and Hinduism." Kate said listing some of the religions she knew. "Um… The Greek Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Islam."
"What do you know about Islam?" Jethro asked Kate. He was impressed she knew about Islam; when Jethro had been her age, all he knew about were the Catholics, the Christians and the Jews.
"They have a funny name for God and it starts with an 'A'." Kate said. "And Muhammad Ali is their leader." She added seriously.
Jethro had to stop himself from laughing. "Almost, the Muslims had a Prophet named Muhammad centuries ago. Muhammad Ali was a boxer in the 1960s."
"Oh." Kate said. "Oopsy."
"It's alright." Jethro said. "I'm impressed you knew about Islam at your age."
"One of the girls in my class last year was from Lebanon and she was Muslim. That's what they call people that follow Islam." Kate informed her father.
Jethro smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Islam is the major religion in the Middle East. The FBI and CIA seem to be under the impression that the hijackers came from the Middle East and were radical extremists."
"What's that mean?" Kate asked as she drew her legs up under her.
"It means that they would do anything for their religion if they believed that it was God's will." Jethro responded.
"So these people thought that God was telling them to fly big planes full of people into buildings full of more innocent people." Kate said. "I don't think God would tell anybody to do that."
"We can't ask them anymore, Kate." Jethro said. "They died when the planes collided with the building or the ground."
Kate nodded. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow."
"I know, Sweetie." Jethro responded. "Director Morrow gave your Mom the day off tomorrow so she could stay home with you."
Kate nodded. "I don't wanna go to sleep either. I'm scared I'm gonna keep seeing the plane hit the Pentagon."
Jethro pulled her into a hug. "We'll have a sleepover in the living room."
"How?" Kate asked. Jethro smiled.
Ten minutes later every mattress and couch cushion in the house had made its way to the living room with enough bedding and pillows for an army. Tony was waiting his turn to shower, Gibbs was in the Master bathroom and Abby was in the guest bathroom. Kate and Jenny were getting comfortable on the large bed and were swiftly joined by Abby. Tony and Gibbs followed shortly thereafter.
"So this is what you meant by a sleepover in the living room." Kate said as she snuggled in between Abby and her dad.
Gibbs smiled. "Yeah, this is what I meant. DiNozzo, turn off the lights while you're up."
"On it, Boss." Tony said and he flicked off the lights in the living room plunging the group into to total darkness. "Oww!" Tony cried. "Who moved the coffee table to the doorway?"
"Oops." Abby said from next to Kate. "I thought you saw it before the light went out."
"I didn't." Tony whined as he hobbled over to the bed and flopped down next to Abby. "Night John Boy."
Kate giggled at the Waltons reference and said, "Night Olivia."
"Goodnight Gibbs!" Abby said.
"Goodnight Tony." Jenny mumbled. "Night Jethro."
"Go to sleep and we're not the Waltons." Jethro said.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
When Kate woke up in the morning she discovered that while she had had no nightmares, she had somehow moved over Abby and woke up with her head on Tony's chest and her feet were down by her dad's head in a slightly awkward position.
"Morning, Squirt." Tony said when he saw that Kate was awake.
"How did I get over here?" Kate asked.
"I don't know." Tony replied. "You're some kind of contortionist extraordinaire."
Kate giggled, and since Abby had already gotten up, she was able to roll into a normal position. "What time is it?" she asked.
"08.00." Tony replied. "I don't think Gibbs is going to be getting up anytime soon."
Kate looked over at her father and giggled. He had gotten his hands on Kate's beloved stuffed dog, Teddy, and her teddy bear, Sandy, and he held them tightly to his chest in his sleep.
"It's cute." Kate replied happily. She looked up in time to see that Jenny was armed with a camera and had come out of the dining room to get pictures.
Jenny had taken almost twenty pictures before Jethro stirred and awoke to a face full of stuffed animals. "What the…" Jethro started and then Kate's giggles registered. He was in the living room on his mattress with Kate, Abby, and Tony. He saw Jenny with the camera and sighed. "How many pictures did you take, Jen?"
"A lot." His wife answered ambiguously. "And all of them are going up on the NCIS Most Wanted wall at work." She said as she sashayed out of the living room.
Jethro was up and after her in a flash, startling the woman and making Kate and Tony laugh.
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
A week later, Jethro had convinced Jenny to transfer Kate to the Church's school, and Becky's parents were also in the process of transferring their daughter as well. Every student at GWC had spent the past week with guidance counselors talking about what they had seen and how they felt. Some students, like Kate and Becky, were being pulled from the school to go to private schools away from government buildings that could be potential targets for another terrorist attack.
Kate's biggest problem with her new school was the uniform. She looked like every other girl in the school in the skirt. Kate hated the skirt with a passion. She was more of a jeans and sneakers kind of girl over skirts and Mary-Jane's. She now had to wear the skirt and Mary Jane's. Kate wasn't too happy about that, but she got to see Sister Rosita every day, and Kate loved Sister Rosita to death. The Sister had taught Kate how to bowl when Abby had invited Kate to bowling practice one day when Kate was seven.
"Kate," Jethro said one evening. "We need to finish our conversation from last week."
"Okay." Kate said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"What happened last week." Jethro replied. "Apparently those men didn't think that God was telling them to fly the planes into the buildings. They believed that He had told a man named Osama bin Laden to send people to fly planes into the Twin Towers and into the Pentagon."
"Why would that guy say that if it wasn't true?" Kate asked as she put her Reading book down; her class was reading The Westing Game.
"I don't know." Jethro lied. He sure knew why bin Laden had done it. Jethro had just decided to let Kate know when she was older and make her think he hadn't been able to find the information after the attacks.
"He's just a big fat liar if he's making people do stuff they think God wants them to do." Kate replied. "I bet Sister Rosita would say he's going to H-E- Double Hockey Sticks."
Jethro had to restrain himself from smiling; this was a serious conversation. "I'm sure bin Laden will be going there."
"Can I finish my homework?" Kate asked. "Callen said he's going to call me after dinner and I want to have my homework done so we can talk until you tell me to hang up."
Jethro nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Alright. Just remember something, Kate."
"What?" she asked as she twisted her head to look up at her father.
"I'm gonna always be here if you need to talk about this, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy." Kate said. "I love you."
"I love you too, Princess."
-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o-
Now that you're down here, click on that little green box and leave a review!