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You're to Blame

You are to blame for anything that is good in my heart. You are to blame for this change that has taken me by storm. - Mercy Me

Chapter Thirty-six – June 2004

Thursday June 3, 2004

What Tony said the day that Ari took Kate was still bothering Ducky. The young agent spoke of Stephanie as though he knew her well. However, that wasn't possible. The couple had went their separate ways long before he and Jethro had even met.

Ducky knew that the duo would never give him answers... at least not honest ones. Anything he said to them would only cause them to close up even more. If he wanted to figure these things out himself he had to keep his opinions quiet and observe.

Tuesday June 8, 2004

It was only the second day of summer vacation and Kristina was already bored. When was a kid school was year round with the exception of taking the entire holiday season off, about six weeks. Now she had six months and had no idea how to fill all of that free time.

Going to the mall like her friends was out of the question. Even with Russel gone the place made her uncomfortable. Besides, the last thing she needed was new clothes.

She then looked at her bookshelves. Almost all of them had been read more than once. Those that hadn't been were either really bad or she had them for less than three years. While most of he foreign books were bought online, her English ones were from various stores. Making a final decision, she grabbed her purse and headed out.

Getting to the bookstore was taking longer than Kristy thought it would. Usually she could rely on Alice or Bree for a ride ever since they got their licenses. However, they bot had boyfriends. This time she had forced to take the train. It wasn't as though she never been on the subway. She usually was with someone when she did.

She decided after only five minutes that she was going to take a cab home. That was no one would stare at her as though she were a piece of meat.

Starting at the front of the store, Kristy randomly flipped through books. She skipped the sports section knowing that nothing would interest her there. Sports were fun to play but she had no desire to read about them.

One of the dangers of shopping alone is that Kristy had the tendency to get so absorbed with all of the books that she loses focus on everything around her, other people included. Which was why she found herself suddenly on the floor surrounded by half a dozen books.

"I'm so sorry." Kristy gathered the books before looking at the person she knocked over. He found herself to be speechless. The man, he looked to be about college-aged, wasn't jaw dropping gorgeous like Matt Damon was in the Bourne films but he had a certain cuteness to him. "Um... let me get your books. I'm Kristina, by the way."

"Jimmy," he said as he took the books from her. His glasses were hanging by one ear and Kristy couldn't help but giggle, something that she rarely did. "It was my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going. Let me make it up to you."

"That's OK. You don't have to. I was kinda zoned out myself."

"At least let me buy you a coffee." Kristy was torn. She wasn't really allowed to have coffee too often. Sure the rest of her family were addicts but that didn't mean that she was.

"I guess. But if I get into trouble for it with my dad and uncle I'm blaming you."

"Why would you get into trouble?"

"Dad doesn't want to to stunt my growth. He's in denial that I won't be growing past 5'4". It's actually lucky that I'm this tall considering how short my mom was."

"Just how old are you?" He didn't want her to think that he's less than honorable.

"Fifteen. That's not a problem, is it? I'm mean it's just coffee. Besides if it were more than coffee then I would just get my dad and uncle to hunt you down." It was just a joke but Jimmy seemed to pale at her words. "Relax, I was kidding."

"What do your dad and uncle do?" Jimmy asked as they sat down with their drinks

"Well, dad's a psychologist. Uncle Tony is a federal agent. They both work for NCIS." The then realized that he probably didn't know what NCIS was. No one ever did. She also realized that she told a complete stranger about her family. That was something she never did but it was too late now. "That's Naval―"

"Criminal Investigative Service." Taking in Kristy's surprised expression. "I work there as well. I'm the medical examiner's assistant." He showed her is ID.

"No way. You're Palmer. Uncle Tony told me about you." She was increasingly glad that she didn't mention her Grandpa Jethro. That would have caused chaos.

"That wouldn't happen to be Agent DiNozzo." Kristy nodded as she took a sip of her vanilla espresso. "He's going to kill me."

"Why?" She knew that Tony had killed before but Jimmy seemed to be a harmless and cute geek.

"I gave his favorite niece espresso."

"You really need to relax. Uncle Tony is a teddy bear." She cringed internally. "Don't tell him I said that."

They talked for a few more hours... then Kristina saw the time. It was late. Way later than she had planned to stay out. And since she didn't get a call that the team caught a cases, her dad was probably already home. She had no choice but to beg Jimmy for a ride. It was fortunate that he even had his own car.

When Kristy arrived home Jimmy insisted that walk her up to her apartment. She tried to tell him that it was a bad idea.

"Hey, Daddy. I'm home." She deposited her new books on the couch.

The instant Kristina saw Jeremy she knew that he was angry. "Where have you been?"

"Bookstore. I kinda ran into a friend and lost track of time."

"Which friend?" As far as Jeremy knew Kristy only had two friends that she would hang out with during the summer.

"Jimmy. Jimmy Palmer. He is a friend." No one but Kristy noticed that Jimmy was standing behind the door. "Get in here Jimmy!"

"Um... Hi. Uh... I have to get going. Lots of studying to do."

Kristina rolled her eyes. "It's summer. Besides, you're having dinner with us as a thank you for driving me home."

It was that moment that Tony decided to arrive. He had his usual smile on his face. "Hey Kristy. When did you get home?" He didn't see Jimmy standing a few feet away.

"Just now. Jimmy gave me a ride home."

"Jimmy?" He noticed the younger man.

Kristy explained how she met Jimmy and how he was kind enough to give her a ride. All the while Tony was sniffing.

"You had coffee."

"Only one cup." He glared. "It was a grande. I swear." Tony raised an eyebrow. "With an extra shot of espresso." The eyebrow lowered. "I'm grounded, aren't I?"

"Big time," said Jeremy. "So, pizza for dinner OK with you Jimmy."

Thursday June 17, 2004

Kate was bored. The whole team had been assigned cold cases by Director Morrow while they didn't have active cases.

She was also irritated. Tony had constantly been bombarding her with wads of paper. Gibbs was in MTAC so he wasn't around to control him. She learned a while ago that he'll stop if she ignored him... eventually. There was also the chance that her sanity may not be intact by the end of it.

It didn't help that her concentration wasn't on the cold cases. Ari Haswari was on her mind when she couldn't keep busy. Sometimes she even caught herself calling out his name in the middle of the night. The good thing about this dry spell in cases meant that it was less likely that she'd fall asleep at the office. Tony would never let her live in peace if he knew about that. The Senior Agent already believed that she was in love with Ari.

However, they weren't cries of passion but rather agony as she continually watched him kill her or one of her teammates, usually Jeremy or Ducky. Gibbs was also a regular in her dreams. She didn't and wouldn't admit it, but she was afraid of Ari. He was far better protected here in the States than anywhere else.

She knew that it wasn't the last that they saw of him. Kate didn't know whether or not that was a good thing or not. It was likely that if Ari did show up again. When he did she knew that he wouldn't survive for long if he does something to piss off Gibbs.

Shaking her head she went back to her file. It didn't take her long to realize that she had no idea what the case was about. She flipped to the first page hoping that no one noticed.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, Gibbs said those three fated words as soon he arrived in the bullpen.

"Grab your gear!"

Tony silently huffed as he tossed his pack behind his desk. They had to drive six hours to the crime scene just to have Ducky declare that it was a suicide. Sure they had to treat every death as though it was a homicide but it was obvious since the poor recruit (who hadn't even started basic training yet) was hanging from a tree with a chair tipped over a few feet from where she was hanging.

Morrow could have sent out one of the other teams to take care of it. But it seemed as though he was only going to give them easy cases. Tony had to admit that he was thankful for that. The team did need to recuperate after the year they just had.

And if that meant going out in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia then Tony was willing to do it... as long as was only short term.

Saturday June, 26, 2004

It was the last day of Kristy's grounding. In addition of not being allowed to read her new books, she couldn't choose movies when they had family movie night. She also couldn't watch when they showed anything with a rating of anything higher that PG. That limited her to watching kiddie movies. Not something that she particularly enjoyed. Sure she thought that they were cute but so did Tony.

She practically had to beg that Chasing Liberty was the first filmed they watched before being sent to bed. Jeremy still wouldn't let her watch anything rated R unless he had seen it first to make sure there wasn't anything too graphic.

"So," asked Sam after putting the kids to bed, "how does it feel to no longer grounded?"

"Great. I actually leave the house without an ankle bracelet."

Sam and Alex were appalled. "You didn't actually put a GPS monitor on her, did you?"

Jeremy chuckled. "No, I just tracked her phone. She never goes anywhere without out it."

"He also tracked Ali and Bree."

"Hey, I did have their parents' permission."

Kristy huffed. "See how little trust I get from him."

"Well, you did break the rules. As soon as Addison and Antoine are old enough I'll probably ask Tony and Jeremy to the for her. The same with the other kids."

"Consider yourself lucky kiddo," said Tony. "Dad was a whole lot stricter with me than Jeremy is wit you. He always had to know where I went when he was home."

"Don't go putting ideas in my dad's head. I don't need him to go all prison guard on me."

"Keep talking like that and we won't be watching your movie."

"Yes, Dad."

Wednesday June 30, 2004

Tony woke when he suddenly heard a thump. Looking at his clock, which read 11:54, he knew that it wasn't family. They had the sensibility to call that late at night, including Jeremy. Even when they had a case in the middle of the night, he would get a call instead of someone coming over.

Instinct lead him to grabbing his gun. His hallway was declared clear as he sent a 911 to Jeremy. His first priority was to get Kristy out of the building.

His living room was also clear of intruders. He quickly moved to the kitchen. The last person he expected to ever see again was sitting at his table sipping a glass of his favorite orange juice.

"Hello, Tony. I don't suppose you have anything stronger around here."

A/N I know this is a lot shorter to my usual stanard but this chapter has a lot of important information in it.

Also, a brownie to anyone who can guess why I choose Chasing Liberty.