Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! One slightly disturbing insight into Lily's mind coming up, but first...
Chapter 29: Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat next to his lover. She was still awake, and clearly forcing herself to remain that way.
The moment he saw her, he knew exactly what had happened. He also knew that there was no chance of calming her down until Lily showed up. He'd seen this before.
In one sense, he was almost relieved. They desperately needed a lead, and they just might have got one. On the other hand, he'd rather be struggling with the mission than let Jenny go through this again.
Normally when this happened, he gave her bourbon and comforted her until Lily called. This time, he couldn't give her bourbon. Fortunately, Lily was in the area.
She was on stakeout. Supposed to be on stakeout, anyway. It was obvious that she had fallen asleep. With any luck, she would be on her way back by now, leaving Charlie to carry on doing whatever she was meant to be doing.
Jenny was trembling next to him. He ran his fingers softly through her hair, trying to help her relax. She seemed half-asleep, but was in fact consciously attempting not to drop off. So far, it was working.
A soft scratching sound was the only warning they had of Lily's arrival. As usual, she hadn't bothered to find her key and picked the lock instead.
He wasn't expecting to see her partner behind her, looking furious.
"What exactly is going to happen when someone realizes you've blown off a stakeout?" Charlie fumed.
"I don't particularly care," she told him, rushing to Jenny's side.
"I'm dead," Jenny sobbed.
Not good. So not good.
"Will you relax for two minutes?" Lily asked.
"He pulled the trigger."
"He didn't pull it. I was watching, and it wasn't him."
Jenny looked at her for a moment.
"I promise."
Jenny nodded.
"We need to talk. LJ, I'm going to need some bourbon to get through this."
Gibbs got up and let Lily take his previous spot. She kicked her shoes off and settled down.
"Let's start with the obvious," Lily suggested.
"You weren't there."
"Could you see the far wall?"
"No."
"So I might have been there. I didn't see John or Tony."
"The others were all there."
Lily smiled as Gibbs handed her a glass of bourbon.
"You're seriously not going to drink that, are you?" Jenny pleaded.
"Nah. You can't drink it, so I won't. We can smell it though."
They shared a grin.
"Back to business," Lily ordered. "The Lone Wolf was present."
"With a gun to my head."
Lily cocked her head to one side. "We can deal with that," she decided.
"I'll take your word for it."
"We've got some time. You were in labor, after all."
Jenny winced. "It only gives us a few months."
"We've had two days before. We can deal with six weeks."
"Six weeks?" Gibbs interrupted.
"Maybe seven?" Lily suggested.
Gibbs leant against the wall and mused. Six or seven weeks until he was a father again. He wasn't sure whether to panic or be pleased.
"The rest of the team were there," Jenny repeated.
"They'd put their guns down," Lily recalled.
"I can understand why they'd do that –"
"There was someone else in that room."
"Are you sure?"
"The Lone Wolf did not pull the trigger. I'll stake my life on it, Sydney Opera House be damned. Someone else was there and pulled the trigger."
"It ended right there."
"I know, but he didn't do it."
Jenny considered for a minute. "I think it might have been in Bucharest."
"Capital of Romania? Remember that summer we went down the Danube?"
"How could I forget? How you managed to get Dad to agree to that, I'll never know."
"I smiled sweetly. And told him that Steve's family would be there."
Jenny laughed, the tension draining out of her. "You told him that your boyfriend's family was going to be there? How did he fall for that?"
"I haven't got a clue. There we were, two fifteen year old maniacs, with a nice guy –"
"He was not nice!"
"Just because your boyfriend had to work that summer!"
"Enough." Gibbs decided to stop the argument before it started.
Lily stuck her tongue out at him.
"How old was this guy, anyway?" He couldn't believe that she'd managed to scam her father like that.
"Twenty two. Really handsome. Gorgeous brown eyes –"
Tony chose to butt in then. "You dated a twenty two year old when you were fifteen?!"
Lily smiled at him. "I like toyboys right now."
"Back on topic," Jenny tried.
"Right. Romania. I'll book us tickets for tomorrow morning; we can be there by noon."
"Are you sure?"
Lily looked her sister in the eyes. "If I honestly thought I'd be putting you in any danger, I'd stick you on the first flight back to DC."
Tony DiNozzo was confused.
It wasn't entirely due to all the alcohol he had consumed. Jenny's appearance and then the sister's strange conversation would have puzzled him if he were sober.
He tried to work it out. When Jenny had first shown up, he thought that she'd had a nightmare. She'd clearly been asleep, and seemed a little confused as well as scared. Her refusal to go back to sleep had cemented the idea.
The discussion though had been more baffling. It sounded to his drunken mind as if they were talking about the same dream, which couldn't be right. How could two people share a dream?
They were also acting as though it told them something. As though it was going to come true. Dreams never came true.
What he did understand was that they were going to Romania.
And the sisters seemed to have a thing for older men.
Jenny was dating Gibbs, who was older than her. Lily's husband had been older than her. Lily's former boyfriend who she'd spent a summer with in Europe had been older than her.
So why did Lily now claim to like toyboys? What had happened to change her preference?
He made a mental note to bug her about it when he was sober.
He watched as Jenny finally settled down. Lily had shifted so that they were sharing the same position, although Jenny was under the covers. The party had definitely wound down.
The sisters mimicked each other without looking. Each one lay on their back, with their hands on their abdomens. The obvious difference was that Jenny's were on her bump.
"I think it's time for a story," Lily decided.
Jenny grimaced. "I think I'm a little old for a story. I'm fairly sure that I haven't turned into your son overnight."
Lily giggled. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'The Continuing Terrors of Mara Davies'."
Jenny chuckled. "You've got to be kidding."
"Nope. We could do with it."
"We haven't done that in years. Whose turn is it?"
"Mine," Lily told her firmly. "Got any requests?"
"Nothing involving guns."
"Okay. Close your eyes and I'll think."
The room stayed quiet for a few minutes. The only sound was Gibbs pouring himself another drink. Tony suspected that Gibbs might have heard 'The Continuing Terrors of Mara Davies' before.
"It was a time of dark, dark despair," Lily intoned, her voice low. She sounded like a wildlife presenter. "American soldiers were dying at an ungodly rate in a war-torn Europe while at home, a deadly strain of the flu virus attacked young and old alike. Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep while a creeping hopelessness set in with every man, woman and child. It was a time of dark, dark despair."
"I think you mentioned that bit," Jenny murmured. "And I'm sure I've heard that someone else before..."
"So I might have nicked it from somewhere," Lily replied, her voice back to normal. "May I continue?"
"Go on."
"Mara Davies found herself in the jungle," Lily continued, back to her lower voice. "She was horrifically scarred from a previous accident involving a vat of boiling tar."
"Isn't she missing a hand?" Jenny queried.
"You lopped her head off once, and she's still crawling around! I'm taking artistic license."
"Get on with it," Gibbs ordered, sipping his bourbon.
"Right," Lily offered. "As she stumbled through the jungle, she noticed a python wrapping itself around her leg. She screamed for help, her frail voice carrying for miles. The python took one look at her and slithered away in fear."
Lily's voice was becoming softer.
"Shortly afterwards, she found herself surrounded by locals. They had never seen a creature like this before, and they prodded and poked her with their arrows. Mara was terrified. The locals were talking in a language that made no sense. They seemed to come to a decision."
Lily was almost asleep, as was Jenny. She carried on with her tale.
"They decided to spit-roast her and see what she tasted like. They bound her, but didn't bother to use a gag. After all, there was no one around to hear her screams…"
They were both asleep. Gibbs motioned that they should all leave and let them be.
Outside the room, Tony turned to Charlie.
"Who's Mara Davies?" he inquired.
"Mara Davies was married to Jasper Shepard," the CIA agent told him. "She's their stepmother."
