What Mrs. Mallard Said - 37

Author: GataChica

Rating: M

Warnings: sexual situations

Spoilers: Untouchable, Bloodbath

Tony DiNozzo was generally known to be a ladies man, macho but not too aggressive. However, at this moment his hands were clenched and he was thankful for the thick plexiglass separating him from Mikel Mawher. If it had not been there, Tony would have murdered him by now.

"Do you realize how much danger you have put Abby in, again, with your stupid talk?" he raged. "If she gets hurt or killed, I'm coming after you as well as this Mercer person."

"I know, I know. It's my fault." Mawher hung his head, to all appearances very penitent. "I've learned better now. Telling Mercer about NCIS, well, that was a slip. I didn't think he'd actually go after her. I thought he really loved her."

"Like I said, stupid." Tony took a deep breath. "Now, tell me everything you know about Mercer – everything."

"He was totally obsessed with Abby. That's all he ever wanted to talk about. No matter how many times I told him about the straitjacket, the restraining order, all that – it didn't matter. He begged for more information about her. I was glad when he was released, to tell the truth. I was starting to feel crazy myself."

"Again, you mean?" Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Okay, so he was obsessed with Abby. It must have been contagious. So what does he look like?"

"Short blonde hair," Mikel recited almost mechanically, "brown eyes, about 5'6", medium build, big nose, a tattoo of a horse on his upper left arm. Mercer looks tough in spite of his height." He thought a moment. "Oh, and he has a deep voice."

Tony had been taking notes. "Anything else? Where's he from? Does he have an accent?"

"He told me he was from Canada, but I didn't believe it. He sounded more like he came from the south – the southwest." He paused again. "I remember a couple aliases he said he used before."

"And?" Tony urged.

"Uh, Steven Dodgson, and…. Tyler Thomas."

"Is that all?" Mawher nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you think of anything else, call me." He passed his business card through the small hole in the plexiglass and quickly left.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jake Watson was firing a reference weapon in the ballistics room when Abby walked in. He quickly removed his protective earmuffs and went to the outer room to greet her.

"I thought you would be here earlier."

"We stopped upstairs to talk," explained Abby.

"Any news?"

"Just the green blur on the security video. What are you working on?"

"Souther's team caught a case, typical dead Marine. No, I shouldn't say that; there is no typical Marine, living or dead."

She smiled briefly, then her brow furrowed again. "What can I do to help you?"

"Nothing right now."

"Jake, I really need something to take my mind off this mess. Isn't there –"

Ziva interrupted her by walking in carrying several bags of evidence. "Do not touch this evidence, Abby." She handed the chain of custody forms to Jake and he signed them.

"As if!" Abby said hotly. "You know I wouldn't –"

"Yes, Abby." Ziva's voice was gentle and soothing. "I know you wouldn't." She turned to Jake and winked. "If there's no work for Abby, perhaps she could help Dr. Mallard?"

"That would be great," said Jake, trying to conceal his relief. "I'll call you if something comes in, okay?"

Abby nodded, half reluctantly and half happily. She would rather spend her time with Ducky anyway.

"I'll go down with you," Ziva offered.

A few moments later they walked into autopsy where Ducky and Palmer were just beginning the post on the dead Marine.

"Do you know the origins of the word 'marine,' Mr. Palmer?" Ducky was saying as he cut into the body.

"No, Dr. Mallard, I don't," Palmer replied nervously.

"Its root is the Latin 'mare', meaning 'sea.' Just like the seas on the Moon. From Latin it became 'marine' in Old French, then into Middle English 'marin.'"

"And then Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote 'the Rime of the Ancient Mariner,'" added Abby with a smile as she and Ziva walked in.

"Yes." He looked at her curiously. "Why are –"

"There was no work in the lab except for your case, which she cannot work on."

"Yeah, Ziva and Jake thought I would go to pieces if I had nothing to occupy my time." Abby walked over to him and kissed him on his right ear, carefully avoiding the mess that usually surrounds an autopsy.

"Do you think, my dear, that perhaps they could be correct?" He gave her the lopsided smile she loved so dearly.

"Goodbye," called Ziva as she left.

"Bye."

"Can I help?" Abby asked eagerly, putting on a gown and face mask.

"Come over here and we'll see." She saw that they had completed the Y-incision and were removing the organs one by one.

"That's a nasty liver," she commented, with a shudder. "Must have been an alcoholic."

"No, my dear. Try again." He gave Palmer a look to keep him quiet.

Abby took a closer look. "Okay, damage from medications?" Ducky nodded, pleased.

"How could you tell?" Palmer wanted to know. "How did you know it wasn't hepatitis?"

She shrugged. "I don't know that it isn't hepatitis, I'm just guessing that because the hepatic ducts are small and there aren't enough of them. A lot of medications can cause that."

"Vanishing bile duct syndrome," Palmer said, a smile of understanding on his face. "Good catch, Abby."

"Of course, that isn't what killed the boy," Ducky said to Abby, pointing to bullet wounds, one through the heart and one through the forehead.

"Do you think –" Abby's words were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Hello, Abby speaking.

"Hey, Abbs."

"Gibbs! Why are you calling me? You're supposed to be on your honeymoon."

"I called to tell everyone that Jenny had the baby, and I figured that if I told you, the rest would hear about it." She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"She what? It wasn't – it's two months early! Is the baby okay?"

"He's doing as well as can be expected. And Jen is recovering slowly; she had a C-section as well as some other surgery."

"Wow." By now, Ducky had removed his gloves and he took the phone when Abby handed it to him.

Abby found a chair and sat down, feeling weak. She couldn't believe it; why was all this bad stuff happening to them?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Ziva returned to the bullpen from autopsy, McGee was waiting eagerly. "Ziva, I found something on the loading dock camera. Actually, it's what I didn't find. Or I should say –"

"What is it, McGee?"

He found the remote and pointed it at the plasma screen. The first video showed a large truck backing up to the dock in such a way that when the driver got out his face was entirely shadowed. Next McGee moved to a camera in the back hall where the vending machines were. A man in a green jumpsuit was working with the machines, presumably stocking them. They could not be sure because his back was always to them. Finally, McGee showed Ziva the green blur on the video from the lab.

"He was clearly concealing his identity," Ziva mused. "Any eyewitnesses?"

"One, but she didn't look at him very carefully. Short with blonde hair. The main thing is, he wasn't the usual delivery person. She said she's sure of it."

Just then Tony called in to report on his visit to the prison. After they had all shared their findings, he said, "It seems the delivery man could be Mercer. Get fingerprints from every surface he may have touched. Ziva, have you interviewed the two security guys from last night?"

"Not yet, but I will." She went to the computer to pull up their personnel files.