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Here we go! Chapter 21! Enjoy :-)
If I owned NCIS or Rizzoli & Isle, I wouldn't be writing fanfictions, I'd be writing episodes!
Vance was able to get Gibbs team on priority flights to Boston and New York within the hour. Shuffling through the crowded aisles of the plane Tony, Kate, Jane, Ziva and Skylar searched for their seats.
"Man, this is exciting! Going on assignment!" smiled Skylar.
Jane turned around giving her a funny look. "They don't let you out the office at NCIS much do they?"
"Not really. I call window seat!" shouted Skylar hopping into the seat upon finding their row.
Tony placed his bag in the overhead compartment. "Remember we are on a tight schedule, we have just over forty-eight hours to find this thing. We need to thoroughly search Kate's house and be back by in D.C. by tonight."
"Need I remind you that you are going to my jurisdiction, DiNozzo. I call the shots!" said Jane.
"It's an NCIS investigation, Rizzoli."
"I don't care! Still my show!"
"As much as I would love to see Boston P.D.'s clown and pony show, I don't really have the time!"
Jane rolled her eyes getting ready to sit down next to Kate only for Tony to slip in the seat before her. "Seriously?"
"I'm sorry, we're you going to sit here?" asked Tony with a smirk on his face.
Jane groaned as she took at the seat next to Ziva.
Kate gave Tony a disappointing look.
"What?" questioned Tony.
"Jane wanted to sit there and you took her seat."
"You snooze you, you lose!"
"Tony?"
"I'll switch seats with her later but first I need to ask you something."
"What?"
Tony leaned in close to Kate. "He gave you a diamond?"
"Oh my goodness, Tony!"
"Why would Ari be giving you a diamond?"
"Apparently so he could have me hide his plans."
"Yeah, but a diamond though? Why not a teddy bear? Or a friendship bracelet? He gave you a diamond! A guy doesn't just give a woman a diamond to hold onto it for him, there's usually something else with it."
"It was nothing, Tony."
Tony gave Kate a look that almost mimicked Gibbs'.
"Stop looking at me like that!"
"Hives! I see them forming on your neck! That's one trait of Maura's I'm really starting to appreciate!"
Kate sighed. "Fine, you want to know the truth? Ari wanted me to hold onto the diamond so when he and I reunited he could propose with it."
"I knew it! You were in love with him!"
"I wasn't in love with him! He wanted to propose to me, I didn't ask him to marry me! It was part of his plan!"
"You knew about his plan?"
Kate took a deep breath. "Ari told me about his plan to fake my death awhile before he actually did. He said he was going to set it up so that it looked like he killed me but really it would be someone else. He wanted me to go into hiding until he finished up his work in the United States, and then the two of us would fly to Europe together and start a brand new life as brand new people. You want to know the reason Edinburgh sounds so familiar to Gibbs? It's because Ari went there. He got me a scholarship there because he wanted me to become a doctor in hopes that we would go into practice together once we relocated to Europe."
"And you went along with it?"
"No! I thought it was him talking! He was always talking about how he wished the two of us could be together without fear, I thought it was his way of trying to flatter me, I didn't think he was serious but I guess I was wrong!"
"Would you have gone along with it?"
"Gone along with what?"
"His plan. Run off to Europe, start new lives together, get married?"
"How could I? I lost my memory remember!"
"You lost your memory because Jenny OD'd you a propranolol because she panicked after Ari was killed. If Ari was still alive..."
"I would have killed him myself! It was an operation, Tony. I wasn't in love with Ari. I wanted the bastard died just as much as Gibbs but I had a job to do. So let it go!"
Tony nodded as he sat back in his seat. "I guess that's another reason to be happy that Ari's dead."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that had Ari not been killed you and he would be living in Europe somewhere, practicing medicine with a bunch of little Aries running around right now! I'm really glad that the bastard is dead now because it saved you from having to spend the rest of your life with man like him! You deserve way better than that, Kate!"
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, that's like a fate worse than death! You would rather you end up with a guy like me than with a guy like him! And you can't stand me!"
Kate adjusted herself in her seat. "You're not that bad, Tony."
Tony looked at Kate. "You say that now because you haven't been around me in eight years."
"I said that because it's true."
Silence came between the pair as Kate looked back at Tony. The two of them held each other's gaze as if they were reading each other's inner most thoughts. The captain coming over the speakers to tell everyone to prepare for takeoff pulled them away from gaze.
Tony cleared his throat. "You better buckle you seat belt."
"Yeah, I should," said Kate, searching for the strap.
"Here let me help you," Tony reached his hand towards Kate lap which she quickly slapped away.
"I can do it!"
Tony smiled.
Arriving in Boston, the group piled into Jane's car and headed for Maura's house.
"Okay, here's the game plan. Skylar, you take the living room, Jane and Ziva, the guest room, Kate and I will take the master bedroom. Anything that looks remotely like a diamond, bag it for Abby," said Tony stepping out the car.
"And exactly why do you get to search my bedroom?" asked Kate.
A big smile crossed Tony's face.
Jane rolled her eyes. "Maura and I will search her room, you pig!"
Kate led the way, searching her purse for her keys as she approached the front door. Opening the door, her breathe hitched in her throat as she looked at her living room, it was in shambles. Furniture was turned every which way and artifacts were broken all over the place.
"Someone's been in here," said Skylar.
"You think?" replied Jane, pulling out her phone. "I'm calling in back up!"
"Ziva, Williams, check out the rest of the house," said Tony as Ziva and Skylar dispersed.
"Who could have done this?" asked Kate making her way inside her house, stepping over broken pieces of glass and furniture.
"Careful," said Tony following behind her, his hands extended to make sure she didn't fall. A rustling coming from under a displaced pile of books caused him to grab ahold of her arm as he pulled out his gun.
Kate looked at the pile for a moment and gasped, pulling away from Tony as she rushed to towards the pile. "Oh my gosh!" Falling to the floor, she threw books aside revealing the shelled underbelly of her beloved tortoise, Bass, lying on his back. "Tony, help me!"
"What is it?"
"It's, my African Sulcata Tortoise, Bass," spat Kate, uncovering Bass. "He's on his back!"
"You have a pet turtle?"
"Tortoise! Help me!"
Tony put his gun away, going to her side to help her undercover the animal.
"Hold on, Bass!" said Kate, trying with all her might to roll him back on his feet.
"I got him," said Tony, standing over the large tortoise, gently holding both sides of his shell to roll him right side up, not realizing just how heavy he was.
Kate immediately started to examine tortoise for any injuries.
"Is he okay?"
Kate breathed a sigh of relief to see he was okay. "He's fine. I need to get him out of here, he could hurt himself on all this broken stuff."
"Okay, I got him," Tony steadied himself as he lifted the tortoise to carry him away from the debris.
Jane walked in. "Frost, Korsak and Frankie are on their way. Apparently there has been a string of break-ins the area."
"I don't think this was just an ordinary break in," said Ziva walking in carrying a cut out newspaper article. "This was laying on the kitchen counter."
Tony took the paper. The headline read: NCIS Agent Killed with a picture of Kate in the corner. ""It's been him all along!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Kate
Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out another newspaper article handing it to Kate. "The day you were nearly hit by that car, I found this on the room service tray in you room."
Kate examined the paper with the same headline written on it along with a photo.
"It's the newspaper article reporting when Ari killed Kate eight years ago. He's been working right in front of our face the whole time."
"This one is dated for today," said Kate.
"Why am I all of a sudden getting the feeling that us coming here was a set up?" asked Jane.
A loud yell came from the back of the house as Tony, Ziva and Jane, who had went back into full blown cop mood upon returning to Boston, pulled their guns.
"Stay here!" ordered Tony to Kate as he, Jane and Ziva ran towards Maura's bedroom where they found Skylar laying on the ground with blood dripping from a handle in her shoulder. Tony removed his jacket, going to Skylar's side to apply pressure to her wound.
"Someone was in the closet! He stabbed me and then jumped out the window,' groaned Skylar.
A loud crash filled the room. Jane and Ziva rushed out the room and out the front do to see Kate being dragged down the walkway by a masked man. A hand placed over her mouth to muffle her screams.
"Maura!" shouted Jane.
The man shoved Maura into the van and it took off down the street.
"Jane, give me your keys!" shouted Ziva.
Jane tossed Ziva her keys and the two women jumped into Jane's car with Ziva behind the wheel as they took off after the car.
In the back of the van, Kate fought to release herself from the man's clutches.
"Stop fighting you, bitch!" shouted the man, wrapping his arm around her neck, choking her. He reached into a bag sitting on the floor next to them, pulling out a needle preparing to shoot her with the substance inside.
The sight of the needle sent Kate into a panic. Shifting her weight, she elbowed the man hard in the chest, causing him to release her and dropping the needle in the process. The backhand to the face had her tasting blood, as she fell against the side door, clasping her hand over her mouth. The man reached for the needled but the heel to side stopped him, Kate kicking him with all her might.
His fist made connect with the side of her face, finally allowing him to pick up the needle kneeling over her with a grin on his face as she laid on the floor of van.
Barreling down the street, Ziva gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were white as she chased after the van.
"There they are right there!" pointed out Jane, seeing the van ahead of them.
Ziva put her foot on the gas accelerating until they were right on top of the van.
"Ziva, you got to get in front of them!"
"I'm trying!" Ziva increased her speed pulling alongside the van to make her way in front of it and putting some distance between the two vehicles.
"What are you doing? You passed them!"
"Hold on!" Ziva turned the wheel turning the car sideways in the middle of the street forcing the van to slam the brakes just inches away from hitting them.
The driver's side door of the van flew open as a man jumped out and took off running down the street. Ziva jumped out the car running him down, tackling him in the middle of the street. Meanwhile, the van began to jostle as Jane heard a scream come from the back of the van. Jumping over the hood of her car, she ran to the back of the van flinging the door open to see Kate breathing heavily with blood coming from the side of her mouth, straddling the man as he laid knocked out on the floor with the needle sticking out his chest.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, NCIS!"
Exciting isn't it? What do you think? Reviews and comments are welcomed and an update is coming soon :-)