AN: Wow! This story is approaching 600 reviews, which completely blows my mind. Thanks, guys! I'm behind on responses - real life has been a bit hellish this week - but I'm on vacation starting at midnight, so I'm going to try and get caught up tomorrow. As always, huge thanks to Kyrie for editing. This story would not be nearly as good without her.


Chapter 50

Friday, May 13, 2010

Jimmy sorted through stacks of paperwork, looking for a logical way to "mis-file" the autopsy findings for Hernandez. Gibbs might have told them to stay out of it, but he and Dr. Mallard figured this was something they could easily claim had happened by accident.

He was halfway done when the doors hissed open and he looked up to see Tony walk into the room.

"Anthony, I do not have any additional information on Agent Macy for you," Ducky said.

"Not why I'm here, Ducky," he said. "Need some advice, and you've usually got words of wisdom."

"Thank you, my dear boy, but I'm afraid it is only that I have been around rather long that gives my words the patina of age. Not their content, which I'm afraid is rather pedestrian." Ducky straightened up from Macy's body. "Still, I could do with a spot of tea. Mr. Palmer-"

"He can stay, Ducky," Tony said. "He knows about this. Knew about it before we did." Jimmy looked up and at the frustrated expression on Tony's face realized the other secret must be out. He bent back over the paperwork, deciding he was better off staying out of this one.

"So, how might I be of assistance?" Ducky stripped off his gloves and started tea water to heating.

Tony hoisted himself up on one of the steel tables. "Families," he said. "What do you think about field agents who have children?"

"Why, I never really thought about it," Ducky said. "As with any other profession, some agents do and some do not. Our director was an agent for many years before assuming his present position, and we have met his children. Agent Wilson is another example. There are many others. Your team, I must admit is rather the exception in that none of you have living children."

"And Gibbs didn't join NCIS until after Kelly died."

"No, he did not." Ducky looked over at the body on the table. "Anthony, I'm rather confused by this line of questioning. Agent Macy, as far as I am aware, did not have children. And her body shows no sign of having borne any in the past."

"It's not case-related," Tony said. He hopped off the table and started pacing. "If I tell you this, do you promise not to tell Gibbs or the McGees?"

"Are you including Timothy in your definition of McGees?" Ducky asked.

"No, I just meant Mom and Dad," Tony said. "Tim knows."

"And young Sarah?"

Tony growled. "Oh, Sarah knows." His footsteps were quick across the floor. "Sarah's pregnant, and Josh the Jerk is the father."

"Oh, dear." Ducky was silent for a minute. "I take it from your line of questioning, then, that the question has come up as to whether you and Timothy should adopt her child?"

"Yeah, she dropped that on us last night, right after she told us he knocked her up." Tony slammed a hand down on the table, and the sound echoed. "Dammit, Ducky, how does stuff like this all happen at once? After Macy turned up dead, I was all for not having a family, because I didn't want us to have kids when we might leave them without a parent — or two parents. Before we had a chance to really talk about it, this lands in our laps."

Jimmy listened to Tony vent and tried to stay focused on his work. Tony didn't know about Abby, and he didn't realize that he was thinking about turning away the very thing Jimmy and Abby were grieving for. Jimmy couldn't think of a better word to describe it. It wasn't like when he lost his dad, at least not what he could remember of that. But it reminded him of when Kate died, even though he wasn't really part of the family then. He wasn't sure how that worked; he hadn't know he had something to miss until it was gone. But last night he and Abby had fallen asleep in silence as he held her close after she told him all about how she'd felt the past couple of days as she realized she was pregnant. Jimmy was kicking himself for not having noticed and made her promise to tell him the next time, so they could go through it together. That at least had gotten a giggle as she told him she would remind him of that when he had to sit with her in the bathroom through morning sickness.

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The next morning, the guys headed in early, and Tim headed straight for the lab. Abby was there, working away on some evidence.

"Hey, McGee," she said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" He hadn't meant to start right in on her, but he was so frustrated at the whole situation, he couldn't stop the words.

"Tell you?"

"About Sarah." He looked at her. "She said you were the one who gave her the idea that Tony and I might adopt, and she came over yesterday — she was there when we got home before we'd even had a chance to talk about Tony's suggestion yesterday that we not have kids because one of us might end up like Macy." He turned away and paced across the lab to the plasma, where Abby had the case information from Macy's file posted. "We weren't talking about kids now anyway, we'd decided to wait. And then Sarah drops this in our lap and when we tried telling her we weren't sure, she burst into tears."

"Well I'm sorry her life isn't fitting into your nice, neat plan," Abby said. "It doesn't work like that McGee. Life is messy, and it happens, and sometimes it sucks."

"Abs, that's not news," he said. "Life has pretty much sucked since we went to Mexico, and this is not helping. Gibbs won't let us help him, and Sarah's asking for something I'm not sure we can give her. Ziva's stuck in the middle, and you could have warned us and didn't."

"News flash, McGee, not everything revolves around you."

Tim looked over at Abby to see her standing, hands on hips, glaring at him.

"I know she's your sister and you're my best friend, but I've had a little too much to worry about this week to think about that." She crossed her arms.

"I tried helping you with the Mexico case the other day, and you chased me out of the lab." He could feel his frustration at everything morphing into anger as he walked around the table until he was facing Abby. "You wouldn't tell me anything in Mexico, you didn't tell me when we got back, and you won't let me help now. So I'm sorry you're feeling overwhelmed because you can't figure out a way to get Gibbs out of this mess, but if you're not going to let me help-"

"McGee." A head-slap sent him stumbling forward. "Apologize to Abby."

Tim looked over at Gibbs. "Boss-"

Gibbs glared at him. "Abby doesn't have to explain herself to you."

McGee walked into Gibbs' space, knowing he was going to get head-slapped and not caring. "Boss, you don't know what we were talking about, and with all due respect-"

"I don't know what I'm talking about?" Gibbs stared him in the eyes. "McGee. You have no right to yell at Abby. Not-"

"Gibbs, Bossman, wait!" Abby started twisting her hands.

"No. He doesn't get to talk to you like that."

Tim opened his mouth to protest, but Abby beat him to it.

"Gibbs, don't yell at him," Abby said. "He doesn't-"

"Boss, you don't even know why I'm mad at her," Tim said. He stood his ground. "She should have told us-"

"McGee, that was none of your business." Gibbs stepped closer until he was nose to nose with Tim. "There is no reason Abby had to tell you she and Jimmy lost the baby, just because you think you should have known."

Tim just blinked at Gibbs, trying to process what the team leader had just said.

"Gibbs, that's not what he was yelling at me about," Abby said.

Tim looked over at her, standing there with her arms wrapped around her. "Oh, hell." He realized what he'd said. "Abs, I didn't know..."

He'd forgotten he still had a furious Gibbs in his face. "You didn't realize?" His glare got even sterner. "You two have known all week something was up, and I told you to leave it. And you come down here and yell at Abby?"

"Gibbs, don't yell at him," Abby said. She tugged on Gibbs' shoulder and tried to separate them. "He was right to yell at me, because I shouldn't have said what I said and I should have told him." She took a breath, and Tim could hear the hitch. "I just... I told Jimmy to tell about me if he had to, and..." Tears spilled down her cheeks, and Gibbs turned to pull her in for a hug.

"McGee, go get Palmer," he said. "And stay out of the lab until I tell you otherwise."

Tim nodded, but had to say it. "Abby, I'm sorry. Between this and Sarah... No wonder you didn't say anything."

"Sarah?" Gibbs pulled away from Abby a bit to look at him. "What the hell does Sarah have to do with this."

"That's why Timmy was mad, Gibbs," Abby said, pulling away from him. "Ziva just realized Saturday that Sarah's pregnant, and it's Josh's, and they told me because we were trying to figure out why my test didn't catch it, and I told Jimmy when you guys realized something was going on to tell about me before giving up Sarah's secret because she asked us not to tell anybody until she figured out what to do, and I didn't think that was going to be a big deal, but you guys knew Ziva was worried about something and it all snowballed and then I lost the baby and I had to tell Jimmy what was going on and it's just a big mess."

"Sarah's-?" Gibbs rubbed a hand over his face. "McGee, get Palmer. Then get back up to the bullpen so we can go talk to Macy's mom. You can fill me in on Sarah on the way to Cumberland."

Tim nodded and escaped before anything else could happen.

When he walked into Autopsy, Tony was there talking to Jimmy and Ducky. "Palmer, Gibbs wants you in the lab. I stuck my foot in it, and Abby's crying." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Jimmy. I didn't know."

Jimmy nodded. "We didn't tell you; you couldn't know. And you've got your own things to worry about." He headed out, the doors hissing closed behind him.

Tony turned to face Tim. "Didn't know what? How many secrets do we have floating around?"

"Abby had a miscarriage the other day," Tim said. "Gibbs thought I was yelling at her for not telling us about that and lit into me."

Ducky shook his head. "Did you and Jethro get things straightened out before he banished you?"

Tim nodded. "I take it Tony just filled you in on Sarah?" He turned to face Tony. "Jimmy knew. Abby told him after she lost the baby, said if telling us would keep Sarah's secret for a few more days while she figured out what to do, he could tell."

"So he told Gibbs." Tony hoisted himself onto the empty table. "We've got a drug cartel with friends in high places gunning for Gibbs, somebody killed Agent Macy for reasons unknown, Sarah's got a baby she doesn't want, and Abby and Jimmy lost one that it sounds like they did want. Basically, we're up a creek without a paddle and getting closer to the waterfall."

"I suggest you boys focus on finding justice for Agent Macy, as that is the only one of the four we can do much about," Ducky said. "As for our conversation, Anthony, allow me to think on it for a while. Perhaps I can find a solution."

Tony nodded and hopped down. "Come on, McGee. Before Gibbs finds us not where he wants us and there's another dead agent."

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After returning from Cumberland, Tim followed Gibbs out of the elevator.

"Get a sketch artist out there. Let's ID this guy." The team leader headed for his desk.

"Already made the call, but I can make it again." Tim had a bad feeling this wasn't related to the Burroughs case; it was related to Mexico. Why else would somebody have gone through Macy's notes from her days as an MP?

"DiNozzo."

"What?" Tony spoke through a mouthful of food, and Tim wondered if Tony had gotten him a sandwich, too. This was shaping up to be another endless day.

"Making it again, Boss." He sat down at his desk, noting the wrapped sandwich by his keyboard.

"Come on, chew." Gibbs sounded impatient, and Tim couldn't blame him. He hoped Tony and Ziva had come up with something. "What do you got for me?"

"Agents spoke to the owner of the bar Burroughs was in the night of the rape." Tony spoke around his food.

"Swallow."

"Remembers an American civilian hanging with her. Young guy. Big mouth. Big drinker." Tony's voice made his distaste clear, and Tim couldn't help but think of Josh. He didn't know if the big drinker applied, but he wouldn't rule it out.

"He got a name?" Gibbs' voice brought Tim back to the present.

"Ahhh, yes." Tony got up and brought up the information on the plasma. "He used a credit card, ran his bank statements. 22, out of Chevy Chase, Tyler Hammond. His dad Randall, he's a big muckety muck builder in DC."

Tim started searching for the name.

"Yeah, he founded Derby Construction." He pulled up the company's site. Great, another spoiled rich kid. "They have sites all over the city."

Tony took over. "Junior finished Georgetown last year, kicked around for a few months, 'til Mommy and Daddy got sick of seeing his face, sent him off to Europe three months ago."

"He still in Europe?"

"Negatory. Got back a week ago. Tyler's home now. Maybe Agent Macy went to see him."

"Maybe she got too close." Tim frowned. Would a college kid really kill a federal agent over a rape?

"Take Ziva. Go see him." Gibbs headed to his desk. "DiNozzo, McGee filled me in. Basement's always open, you two need to talk."

"Yes, Boss." Tony grabbed his gear, and Tim decided he'd better get down to the evidence garage and go through those notebooks, isolate the missing ones. Ducky was right — they needed to find Macy's killer.

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Tony pulled up outside the Hammond estate, his gut churning. This was too much like what he grew up with, and what he knew of Hammond was too much like Josh for his liking. This was not the case they needed to catch this week, not with everything else going on. He looked around as he and Ziva walked over to the ambulance where a few police officers were standing as an older guy ripped one cop a new one.

"Hey guys," Tony said as he walked up. "You Tyler Hammond?" He addressed the college kid sitting on the ambulance bumper, face battered and rapidly bruising.

"Who are you?"

"NCIS."

"Damn Navy," the father said. "Where were you guys a few minutes ago?"

Tony decided he liked it better when no one knew who NCIS was. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Old Man Hammond was ready to take a swing at somebody. "A couple of guys in ski masks pulled up and beat the daylights out of my son."

Tony tried to defuse the situation, especially since he had a pretty good idea of who the two guys were. "Well, that's not good. Can you describe these guys, Tyler?" He kept his tone professional, inquisitive, but he noticed Ziva wasn't saying anything.

"Big." Tyler looked up, his skin purpling where he'd been hit. "I never saw them coming."

"So you did not see their faces?" Ziva's tone was factual, but it set Randall Hammond off again.

"Didn't need to. They took off in an SUV with Navy base permits on the glass." He glared. "Couple of respectable military guys beating up an innocent kid. You know, I have friends at the Pentagon, I'm going to call my lawyer, and I'm going to sue you people."

"OK. All right." Tony turned away from the ambulance and put a hand on Ziva's shoulder. "Why don't you call Gibbs? Give him a heads up. Tell him our attacker's been attacked." And then he was going to make sure Ziva went back to the Navy Yard — he didn't trust either of these men, and while their little ninja chick could more than hold her own, the Hammonds would probably find a way to get back at her. And they didn't need any more complications right now.

Tony waited at the house until Gibbs arrived. Hammond's lawyer showed up first, and Tony winced, knowing that was just going to make things worse. Still, maybe that meant Hammond felt like there was something to hide. The lawyer might be more reasonable than Hammond, who was starting to get on Tony's nerves the way he kept grousing about the Navy being full of thugs.

When Gibbs pulled up, Tony breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they could get somewhere. He followed Gibbs into the house and back into the living room.

"Special Agent Gibbs." The team leader held out his badge, then flipped it to show his ID. "How're you feeling Tyler?" Gibbs tucked his badge inside his coat pocket. Tony followed him, noting the similarities between the Hammonds' place and the estates where he grew up. Hammond might be a self-made man, but he cloaked it in a veneer of old money.

"We've been waiting for you for over an hour," Hammond said. "It's nice of you to finally show."

"Busy day today, Mr. Hammond."

"Maybe you need to get your priorities straight, Agent Gibbs. Look what they did to my son." The venom in Hammond's voice was clear, but Tony thought he heard something else there, too.

"Who, exactly?" Gibbs was playing it straight, so Tony just sat back and looked around, cataloging information.

"Navy guys," Tyler said.

"Your Navy," Hammond added.

Tony wanted to protest — they hadn't found any evidence the sailors were guilty of anything except looking out for their shipmate — but he knew he needed to let Gibbs handle this part.

"I was walking to my car," Tyler said, removing the ice bag from his jaw. "They grabbed me, and-"

"You don't need to say any more, Tyler." The blond man spoke from where he stood behind the couch.

"That's sound advice. Who're you?" Gibbs didn't sound nearly as pissed as he usually did when a lawyer showed up.

"Marshall Tompko, Mr. Hammond's attorney."

"Well, you're right, Mr. Tompko. Tyler, you don't have to say anything else. It makes you look guilty." Tony felt a little tension ease from his shoulders. That sounded more like Gibbs.

"My son didn't do anything wrong." Hammond sounded too self-righteous, and Tony was sick of it.

"That's not what Petty Officer Burroughs says." He managed to keep his voice calm, though both Hammonds were pushing his buttons.

"I know all about her and her little story. She's lying." And Tony got a flash of what Sarah could face when Josh found out about the baby. He pushed that aside, needing to deal with this case and this rich jerk first.

"Mr. Hammond, if your son's so clean, why did two Navy sailors drive all the way out here, kick his ass?" Gibbs tone was surprisingly mild, which should have been a warning sign.

"Because Tyler Hammond witnessed them rape one of their own that evening in Marseille," the lawyer said. "He tried to stop it, but couldn't."

Tony resisted the urge to tell the lawyer that was a crock. "That's not the petty officer's story."

"She's afraid, intimidated," the lawyer said. "They're on that ship together 24-7. They know that Tyler can ID them, they're scared he'll talk, and they're desperate."

"It's a theory." Gibbs was barely hiding the skepticism in his tone, and Tony felt like cheering. He hated dirtbags, but rich, entitled dirtbags were even worse. "How about you Tyler? You got an opinion?" Gibbs looked down at the kid.

Tyler removed the ice bag from his jaw, but rather than speak, looked up toward his father. It made Tony wonder what he would see if he got Josh and Mr. Pritchard together in a room? Would Josh defer to his father? Maybe the one they really needed to worry about was Pritchard.

"My son just wanted to help, and this is the thanks he gets." Hammond glared at Gibbs. Tyler looked away from his father and back toward Gibbs. Tony hoped the kid would develop a backbone at some point. You couldn't let your dad run your life forever.

As they headed back to the office, Tony realized that if they did decide to adopt the baby, they were going to need to find a good lawyer just to make sure they could cut Josh out of this kid's life. At least if Sarah gave the baby up to another couple, she could make it a closed adoption so the baby wouldn't have any ties — that might keep Josh and the Pritchard influence far away from it. That wouldn't work if he and Tim adopted it. Tony sighed and wondered when life had gotten so complicated.

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Ziva stared at the information on the two sailors that was posted on the plasma near Gibbs' desk.

"What if his lawyer's right?" Tony said. "What if her shipmates did do it?"

Ziva kept her back to Tony, not sure she could face him, not during this discusssion. She was glad her hair hanging down shielded her face from McGee. Her fingers compulsively twisted, pushing at her cuticles, remembering the ragged, broken feel of her fingertips during her captivity.

"Then I understand why Petty Officer Burroughs has kept her mouth shut." Ziva remembered the passage to Somalia on the Damocles, the way she slept with a gun under her pillow.

"I don't," McGee said. "Why would you let someone get away with rape?"

"Perception." Ziva hoped the would understand. "Burroughs is in the military. If a woman cries rape, no man on that ship would ever totally trust her again." The Israeli forces were less restrictive on women than the American, but Ziva remembered that much from her service before she became Mossad. It was why, even though she knew her team would not hurt her, she refused to tell anybody the details of Somalia.

"Well, you're a woman," McGee said. "What would you do?"

It was a test. She knew it. Ziva looked down at the floor, but she could sense Tony approaching from behind. She decided to give them what she wished she had done, not what she actually did.

"I'm different," she said. "After torturing them until they cried like babies, I would castrate them, give them what they deserve." She was careful not to flinch when Tony approached her.

"Hmmmm," Tony said. "Spoken like a true almost-American." She felt his eyes on her and hoped he would let it drop. She did not want to revisit this topic, not here and not now.

Fortunately, Gibbs arrived. "Background check. I'm listening."

Ziva managed to participate in the discussion, but she was almost glad when Gibbs ordered her and Tony back to the ship. The car ride would be difficult, but she could always make him talk about Sarah.

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Sarah found herself making drinks on auto-pilot again that morning. Tim and Tony had given her a lot to think about the night before, and she was trying to grapple with it. She had never realized all the things they had to think about, and it made her re-evaluate.

What if they couldn't adopt the baby until it was six months old? Could she raise a baby for six months? Would she have to move in with them, so they could be there too? It would be weird living with them, but maybe she would have to do that anyway so she could feed the baby. She tried to picture feeding a baby, much less doing it with her brothers around. Maggie had always gone into another room to feed Kevin, and Sarah felt like she would probably do the same thing.

As the familiar ache in her feet and back started to build, she thought of a more pressing problem. Could she even do this job in a few months? Her body was protesting now, and the baby wasn't all that big yet. Not to mention she had to pee again. Sarah made a face and tried to finish off the drinks in the queue so she could take a break without getting somebody to cover. She didn't want to call attention to this, not when she wasn't sure how much longer there would be a this.

She managed to get done and get to the bathroom before her bladder exploded. She looked down at her small belly. "You are driving me nuts already, you know that, right?" Fortunately, there was nobody else in the bathroom.

Back at the espresso machine, Sarah tried to think about what would happen if the guys couldn't adopt another baby because of this, if they moved to Virginia to be near Gibbs and her parents. Could she ask them to only have one kid just to help her out? She tried to remember all the other things Tim had mentioned, but it was making her head hurt. Maybe she should call them and tell them to forget about it.

Except they sounded like they were really thinking about the idea, and how flaky would she be if she offered a baby one day and tried to take it back the next? If she did that, and then they did want to adopt, how could they be sure she wouldn't try to do that later? Come to think of it, how could she be sure she wouldn't change her mind later? What would happen if in five years she decided she wanted kids? Or if she later wanted kids and couldn't have them? Would she feel cheated that Tony and Tim had this baby, and she didn't?

Sarah massaged her temples and wished she could have a hit of espresso to chase away the headache. Just another thing the baby was interfering with. She sighed, but kept her hand from drifting to press her belly. She'd asked the guys, and she wasn't going to back out. She just had to focus now on what she would do if they said no.