Chapter 20-The Plot Thickens
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Sorry it took so long to post. Life and time can be hard to manage. There will be a new chapter possibly tomorrow. Please let me know what you think. Thank you so much!
At the end of the second video Molly took a time out to breathe. She excused herself and sat alone in her and Ziva's shared room. She did not know how much to read into Sherlock's words. He was promising that if they were able to have a child in the future that he would keep it safe. Did he suspect her pregnancy at even two weeks? He would not have purposely gotten her pregnant their first and what was supposed to be their last night together. Would he have? He had assured her that he had not planned on falling in bed with her despite their legal married status.
Molly had to stop the thoughts from tumbling around in her head. Once she had collected herself she returned to the living room. Tim asked if she was doing okay and they discussed how she wanted to proceed with the rest of the files.
They ended up watching each video one by one. Some videos were short and sweet while others were personal messages. Mary and John tried to get clips of Sherlock unaware doing Sherlockian things. There were clips of Sherlock reading to Leroy and playing a new lullaby on his violin. There were clips of Sherlock in his mind palace and playing his violin at 221B. Sherlock would snap at the cameraperson but it often lacked his old bite and she saw that his eyes were sad.
One particular message stood out. Apparently Sherlock had taken it upon himself to secure three German Shepherd Labrador mixed puppies. They were named Hoggle, Ludo, and Didymus to keep Toby company, Sherlock had said. Hoggle was bound for the Watson's, Didymus was to stay at the Holmes' cottage, and Ludo was headed for Baker's Street. Sherlock informed the audience that Mycroft would be footing the bill for their top-notch training to scent out bombs and the like. John piped in that Ludo would have extra training in the narcotics section, which earned him a glare.
Molly smiled at the names taken from her favorite movie but could see through the act of Sherlock preparing for any future dangers. He was frightened. She could understand the fear. She was afraid of any number of things happening to those around her. Sherlock was doing his best to do what he could. He had not had a dog since Red Beard and could see that Sherlock was already bonding with what he claimed was the pick of the litter. Molly was going to have a full house when she went back to England. She smiled at the thought and hoped that that future would come true.
Her message from Mary was both encouraging and aggravating. It included the message to 'not look for her father in heaven because he wasn't there'. Molly easily deciphered the message that her father was alive but not to look for him. There was nothing she could do about the situation but keep her head down and hope nothing disastrous happened, but how often had that worked out well in Molly's life. Molly had little anger to spend on Mary's obstruction of the truth. Molly had never asked Mary if her father was alive and it had not been Mary who told the lie in the first place. With all the secrets Molly was keeping in order to keep her father safe she could hardly blame Mary for hers. So Molly buried her initial outrage somewhere behind a black door. Instead Molly focused on Mary's words of encouragement that Molly was the bravest woman that she knew and if she had survived the blast she would have survived anything else thrown at her. Molly could not figure out why, if Sherlock and Mary knew where she was, that they would leave her in America.
Molly's mind was on information overload as the small party made comments of what they had seen while Tim loaded Molly's smart phone with the messages and music that had been included on the drive. Molly looked forward to the music that was a compilation of music she loved and Sherlock's own compositions. In the meantime she was left fending off awkward questions.
"Leroy, huh? That's a name you don't hear everyday…that is unless you're us working with Gibbs. And even then we don't hear it so often." Tony remarked.
"It's a common English name." The lie rolled off Molly's tongue.
"Leroy is a French name," Ziva countered.
Molly gave a slight frown, "Oh, is it?"
"I am pretty sure that it is."
Molly merely shrugged.
Tim and Abby had been a little disappointed with Sherlock's brusque nature but had bounced back quickly and were talking animatedly with one another. Abby was interested in getting hold of pictures of Sherlock and Molly from the drive so that she could run them through a program and get a look at the possible future Holmes baby. There were many pictures that Molly had not known existed. Some, however, had been retrieved from her computer and cloud systems, which of course Sherlock was able to hack into her systems with ease.
Cake and ice cream were served and conversation was held late into the night when Molly finally excused herself from the "party." Abby and Tim eventually made their way to the door to go home but not before McGee shared his thoughts with Tony.
"You know, Tony, it's odd." Tim started.
"What is probie?" Tony asked in his overbearing big brother swagger.
"Well, you heard what Gibbs' dad said today. Molly looks like Shannon and her birthday is the same day that they died," Tim said regarding Gibbs' family. "And now her friend's baby is named Leroy? Those are an awful lot of coincidences."
Tony looked at Tim in surprise but then shook his head as he thought better of it. Tony smacked Tim in the back of the head. "Get your head out of your novels Mr. Gemcity. This is real life. People don't come back from the dead. And don't go around saying things like that around Boss. You know how he gets about his family. He would skin you alive to hear any of your McConspiracy theories."
Tim listened to his words and deciding that Tony was right decided to put the matter from his mind.
Molly spent Saturday re-watching her cherished videos and clung to them. She was delighted to find Sherlock's part of their duets. She was happy that when she found an available keyboard or piano she could practice along. She was grateful for Tim's idea of loading the files on her phone, as was Ziva when she found Molly slept more peacefully with her headphones in.
Sunday rolled around and found both Molly and Tony back at the church. The Rev attempted conversation with Molly again and let the "siblings" know that he was happy to see them there. He invited Molly to attend the women's group while Tony went to the men's but Molly stated firmly that she was not interested in what the church had to offer while gazing at the piano longingly. Picking up on it the pastor offered a counter invitation to play the piano while Tony was in the group as no one used the sanctuary on Thursday night. Molly made to protest but changed her mind and said that she would think about it and gave a small thank you.
Monday came again all too soon and they were off to a seemingly normal week for those who worked at the NCIS headquarters. By Wednesday morning the team was once again investigating the murder of a petty officer.
Gibbs was currently in the room interrogating a young woman in her early twenties who had carried off the attack. The woman had a baby face and her head was crowned with brown curls giving her the look of a doll or tween Disney actress. She claimed that she had thought the liquid she had thrown at the petty officer was oil instead of the acid that had led to his demise.
Molly did not get to see Gibbs in action very often but was grateful for the few times she had managed to sneak away to witness it. Tony would always give her a heads up because he believed Gibbs was a sight to behold when facing down criminals during interrogation. Currently Leroy Jethro Gibbs was having nothing from the guilty party who was claiming she was working for the "good guys" and that she had been trying to infiltrate a terrorist cell in order to shut them down. At the same time Gibbs' team watched from the other side of a reflective window.
Molly hoped she would not have to be on the receiving end of Gibbs interrogation ever again. Once, as a child, Kelly had lost her father's knife after carving her initials in a kitchen cabinet door. She was forced to face the interrogation by her father and had cracked almost as soon as he had sat her down. There was something about the way Gibbs would look at a person that was hard to fight.
The young woman was living that reality at the moment as she squirmed in front of the seasoned agent.
"I'm telling you the truth! I didn't know that it was acid or that it could kill him. I thought it was oil and that I was just doing a demonstration. I wasn't even aiming for him!" the woman persisted though she looked frightened.
"Well then who were you aiming for, Sarah?" questioned Gibbs.
"It doesn't matter. I was just following orders and my commander will clear this up."
Gibbs gave a slight side nod with his head. "Not likely. Who do you work for?"
"The government."
"Which government?" a twinge of impatience could be heard in Gibbs' voice.
"This one," the woman, Sarah, insisted.
"All right. What agency then?" Gibbs asked leaning back in his chair.
The woman looked away. "It's… need to know."
"You're telling me that you are an agent for United States government." Gibbs demanded confirmation.
The girl crumpled at his words. "I know I'm not a very good one. I screwed up my first mission."
"Well someone is lying. Either you're lying about believing it to be oil or your employer lied to you. Which is it?" Gibbs pressed on.
Sarah's eyes got big and she shook her head from side to side. She straightened up her back as she got sudden strength from within herself as she spoke with resolve. "I don't have to speak to you. Someone will come and clear up this misunderstanding."
Gibbs stood and slammed his hands down on the table. "You don't get it do you? This is not just some failed mission. An innocent man is dead because of you and your agency. The work you are doing is the work of terrorists. Now, you seem to genuinely not understand the repercussions of your actions so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not lying to me. If that is the case then I can help you but you have to tell me who you work for."
Sarah paled and could not hold up to Gibbs' fury as tears filled her eyes. "I…" she gulped and held her head down low. "Division. I work for division."
On the other side of the mirror Molly gave a gasp as her blood ran cold. The woman on the other side of the divider did not fit the profile of a Division agent perfectly but her story did, except for getting caught. Tim automatically asked if Molly was okay and she brushed off her gasp as morning sickness pain and rushed out of the room.
She was looking down as she rushed down the hallway to get to the restrooms when she ran headlong into someone's chest. The arms belonging to the chest reached out to grab her and steadied her so she did not fall over. Molly mumbled a quick apology and thanks before looking up and getting a look of the face from her nightmares.
The man was older than when she had last seen him and was quite unremarkable in looks but he was definitely the same man who had held her hostage. Percy. He was here to collect his errant agent who she had no doubt would be dead by the night.
"You all right Dr. Dinozzo?" Director Vance asked from beside Molly.
"Just still sick to my stomach director," Molly managed to squeak out as she met his eyes.
"You really should be getting to a doctor."
"You're right. Perhaps I can go after work today or maybe tomorrow…if you could excuse me?" Molly slipped by the two men and made her way to the elevator in the next room.
Molly pounded on the button knowing that it would not really help but could not refrain from the action. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure that no one was coming from the direction of the interrogation rooms. The doors opened with a ding and she rushed forward once again bumping into someone else because she was unaware of her surroundings.
Molly looked up into the face of an Asian looking woman and thoughts flew through her mind. Before her stood a rogue Division agent. If the information in her head was to be believed the woman before her was dangerous, but the information that stood out to Molly was the rogue Division agent bit. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' was her last thought as she grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her back into the elevator, which she froze once the doors had shut.