Chapter 10
Washington DC
Three days Later…
Gibbs sat down on the stool in the basement, grabbed the key hidden in one of the bell jars and unlocked the lock that had his sniper rifle. He pulled out a small notebook that he found in the box that Hetty sent to him when she went off grid back in May.
He made sure that this item from the box was well hidden because it contained Hetty's notes from when she was Clara Callen's handler years ago. Gibbs had tried to avoid anything that would have revealed information on G's past over the years, but with the Comescu's back in their lives, he was hoping that there would be more information that Hetty had neglected to tell the ones who have been secretly protecting him all this time.
"Clara called me early this morning and asked me why I didn't respond to her contact? I told her that I did and they were supposed to get back to me after talking to her. She told me the following:
There is a mole in the CIA probably working with the Comescu's and to trust no one.
She had screwed up big time. I asked her where in the hell she had been for the past five years and she told me that she would tell me when she saw me on the beach with her two children. Amy, who is five and a son who is three. She did not tell me the son's name.
She begged me to be careful, and told me that no matter what they told me to go to the beach.
I told her that I would have someone that I trust there to get her and the children if I wasn't there in thirty minutes.
I need to get a hold of"
He turned to the next page and realized that was it the end of the notes.
"Who did you need to get a hold of Hetty?" Gibbs asked to himself and flipped through the remaining pages of the notebook to see if there was anything else.
"Jethro?" Natasha said from upstairs.
He took the notebook, put it in the hidden compartment with his sniper rifle, and locked it.
"Basement!" He yelled up putting the keys in his back pocket.
Natasha walked down the stairs, "So it is true. You do hide in the basement most of the time."
"Just wanted to get some work done before we left. How are you feeling?" He asked.
"First time in a long time, I don't feel like I like I'm being followed."
"Good, I've talked to Director Vance and he has agreed that you can stay here with me and not a safe house."
She sighed with relief, "thank you."
"But in doing that, you have to agree to have a security detail with you when you are not with me."
"Security?"
"Three of them," he told her.
"Jethro! I don't need Larry, Curly, and Moe watching over me."
"It's that or you're in a safe house the entire time." Gibbs told her.
She sighed, knowing that she would rather be at Gibbs place than hidden away, "fine."
"We'll leave in about thirty minutes." Gibbs told her surprised that she didn't fight more about it.
"I'll go get ready," She walked up stairs to her the room and closed the door.
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"It's very orange," Natasha said, looking around the large room with Gibbs.
"You'll get used to it" Gibbs told her as they walked to Ziva's desk.
"Gibbs, I'm glad you're finally here," Ziva said, relieved.
"What's going on?"
"Someone missed you," Ziva said, hearing the elevator door ding.
"Gibbs!" A voice squealed loud.
Natasha turned to see a woman, wearing a black t-shirt with a purple and black mini skirt, and knee-high black combat boots that made the woman sound like she was stomping as she walked quickly up to Jethro.
"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby Sciuto wrapped her arms around him squeezing him tight.
"Hey Abbs."
"I'm so glad you're home!"
"Abby, Ziva, this is Natasha Petrov she will be working on this case with us and with the Los Angeles team. She'll be staying with me until this is all over. Nat, this is Ziva David one of the agents on my team and Abby Sciuto our forensic scientist."
Abby stood there smiling, "where is the Los Angeles team?"
"Look behind you," a voice said.
The three of them turned around to find them there.
"You're here!" Abby Sciuto hugged Sarah.
"and you!" she hugged G, "I can't believe that my two favorite people in LA got married!"
"Remember I rescued you too when you were in LA," Sam mumbled.
"I'll never forget that Sam!" She said as she hugged Sam and then Kensi.
Abby paused for a moment looking at Deeks.
"Marty Deeks," he said extending his hand out to shake it and Abby hugs him.
"Hey," She hugged him.
"She's a hugger," G told him.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Time to wrap up the reunion, Director Vance wants us to meet him in his office now" Gibbs said putting his gun and his badge in the desk drawer and locking it.
"This includes you Nat, you'll meet with the three stooges after the meeting," Gibbs told her.
"Alright."
"Three Stooges?" Sarah asked.
"I will have a security detail when Jethro is not around." Natasha told Sarah.
Sarah looked at Gibbs, "when you're not around?"
"She's staying with me," Gibbs said now knowing by the expression of shock on Sarah's face that this was not going to go well.
"Jethro told me this morning that I had a choice, to put up with security and stay with him to be on this case or be put in a safe house the entire time." Natasha told her.
"She had a choice?!" Sarah asked, "are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Babe, it's okay," G put his hand on her forearm, hoping that she would calm down but knew that it wouldn't be any use.
"Yes, we'll talk about this later," Gibbs told her quietly.
"Gibbs-"
"I said, we will talk about this later, Agent Burgess," Gibbs glared at her and walked away.
She watched as Natasha walked up the stairs with the others, "did you know about this?" Sarah asked as G.
"No, I didn't," G told her.
Director Vance pulled up the picture on the screen, "while all of you were on your way here, Operations Manager Henrietta Lange and the rest of the Los Angeles team has been working with Miss Sciuto, Agent Fornell, and myself. This is the information that we have gathered so far."
"Ricky Napolitano," Fornell said.
"Doesn't look like the brightest bulb in the batch," Deeks remarked glancing at the report on him.
"He's not," Gibbs replied.
"Son of Jimmy Napolitano AKA 'Jimmy Naps' who had the business in Virginia, Maryland and DC. Ricky was arrested for the killing of FBI undercover agent Vic Gara and other mob activities. He has been out of jail now for about three years and has been staying under the radar ever since." Fornell said clicking the remote for the pictures to show on the screen.
"What about Jimmy Naps?" DiNozzo asked.
"Died shortly after Ricky got out of jail."
"So if he's staying under the radar, why is he dealing with the Comescu's?" Ziva asked.
"We were wondering the same thing. Natasha has taken these pictures of them over the past two months," Gibbs said, as Fornell pulled up the pictures of Alexander Comescu and Ricky in Romania.
"The agents who were following Ricky took these two days ago, that was the last time he has been on the radar," Gibbs pulled up pictures of Dracul talking to Ricky. "The other problem is not only are the Comescu's after Natasha they also want Agent Callen, his team, and Agent Burgess dead."
"Why?" Natasha asked.
"That's classified," Sarah said, before anyone could respond.
Natasha looked at Sarah and then looked around the room, "does everyone else know?"
"A few people know," Director Vance said before Sarah could respond.
"I don't understand, if we're all working on this case why are we left in the dark about this information?" Natasha asked.
"Agent Burgess is correct, most of it is classified information and I will leave it up to Agent Callen to decide on telling anyone in this room who does not know what's going on. " Director Vance said hearing his phone beep.
"I want everyone to understand that when we find Alexander or Dracul Comescu, you are to bring him in alive." He looked at G and the team, "that's an order."
He then looked at his phone, "LA OSP team, Agent Burgess and Gibbs you are wanted in MTAC in five minutes to talk to the LA office."
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"Do you know what's going on?" Sarah asked, Gibbs waiting in MTAC for the video conference to start.
"No," Gibbs replied, as the screen lit up and they saw Hetty Lange sitting at her desk.
"Good morning."
"You're up early," G said.
"It was not my choice to be up this early Mr. Callen," Hetty told him as she turned the laptop and Owen Granger appeared on the screen.
"Let's cut through all the crap shall we?" He growled, "there are two things I would like to know, first, why there were two teams at the Paris nightclub checking on Dracul Comescu?"
"As I told Assistant Director Granger there was some miscommunication between both teams on who was supposed to check on Dracul Comescu," Hetty added off camera.
"Operation Comescu has been something that this team has been working on for almost a year," G explained to him.
"Yes, I know Agent Callen, I would like to know why Special Agent Gibbs got involved and endangered Agent Burgess by having her be the one to mark him with the overwatch."
"She was not in any danger," Gibbs stressed to him.
"Why you fly to Los Angeles to talk to Agent Burgess about going to Paris?"
"My phone was broken," Gibbs said, sarcastically.
"You spoke to Agent Burgess for less than five minutes, had her lie to Agent Callen about where she was going-"
"Are you having me followed Owen?" Sarah asked.
"That's Assistant Director Granger, Agent Burgess," he sharply replied.
"What's the second thing you wanted to talk to us about Ass-sistant Director Granger?" Gibbs asked.
"Detective Deeks and Agent Blye are to come back to LA today." Granger told them.
"This is an ongoing case, we-"
"I know that Agent Callen and if it were my decision I would have all of you come back today. I've had several arguments with Hetty and Director Vance on why this team should not be involved, Special Agent Gibbs, and his team are perfectly capable of taking care of this situation. I've only agreed to have you, and Agents Hanna, and Burgess still there on one condition, you have one week to get this taken care of, after that, the three of you will come back to LA. We don't need to be wasting our funds because of a personal vendetta against the Comescu family."
Assistant Director Granger stood there for a moment, then looked at Sarah, "is that a problem Agent Burgess? Or is it Callen now?"
Sam, Kensi, and Deeks looked at Sarah surprised that he knew that she is now married to G.
She sighed, "I haven't decided about that yet."
"Well, maybe you can make that decision while you're there too. Agent Blye, Detective Deeks, your flight leaves in four hours, I suggest you go back to your hotel room and pack now," the screen went black.
Sarah felt G's hand on hers squeeze slightly knowing that he was there for support knowing that she had to put up the act of not being related to Owen Granger, "I'll be outside," she said, walking away.
"How does she know Granger?" Sam asked, as Sarah walked out of MTAC.
Callen looked at him, "he was one of the instructors when she had training for NCIS, he filed a report on her while she was there."
"What did she do?" Deeks asked.
"She broke his nose, because he made a remark about her being 'royalty' because Hetty and Mike Franks are her Godparents," he then turned and walked out of MTAC.
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When Sarah walked out of MTAC she felt her phone vibrate. She looked at the screen and saw one message.
Ass-sant Director? Tell Gibbs that Hetty nearly spat out her tea. OG
She smiled and was just about to text him back when she looked up to see Tobias Fornell and Natasha walking down the hallway.
"There's my daughter's favorite babysitter," he smiled.
"Tobias! Glad you didn't leave before seeing me, how are you?" Sarah hugged him.
"Good."
"How is Emily?" She asked.
"She busted my eardrum squealing when I told her that you're in town. I think she said that she want you both to go to the mall." He told her still bothered by the ringing in his right ear.
"Well hopefully we'll be able to get this case wrapped up and I will be able to take her out before we go back to LA."
"I've already cleared it with her since it's not my week." Fornell said.
"How is the Mistress of the Dark?" Sarah asked, as Gibbs and G walked out of MTAC.
"Married. Happy. Out of my hair," he grinned ear to ear.
"That's great."
"Mistress of the Dark?" Natasha asked Gibbs as he walked up beside her.
"Diane," Gibbs mumbled.
"Diane? Your ex-wife Diane?"
Gibbs sighed, "yes."
"You let him marry her?" Natasha asked him shocked.
"I warned him!" Gibbs said, defensively.
"I did too," Sarah added.
"You never got along with her," Fornell accused Sarah.
"She threatened to duck tape my mouth shut and chain me to a chair so I couldn't stand up and object to the wedding!"
"Only because of your loyalty to Jethro," Fornell said, remembering all too well of the argument between him and Diane on why Sarah was invited before their wedding started.
"It was at both of your weddings!"
"Agent Burgess a word," Gibbs walked down the stairs, "Tobias, I think you better tag along."
"I'll be right back," Sarah kissed G on the cheek.
Natasha watched G as Sarah walked downstairs, "wow," she said genuinely surprised.
"What?" G asked.
"I have never seen you look at anyone like that."
"Like what?"
They slowly walked down the stairs, "like once she's no longer in sight you'll be counting the minutes until you see her again."
She could see him almost blush a little, "I'm glad, G. You deserve to be happy."
"What about you?" He asked.
"I think I'm meant to be alone," She told him.
"I thought the same thing until I met her," G admitted.
She sighed, "Come on G you know me, I was taught to depend on myself and no one else. Family, friends, lovers are a distraction and will get them or yourself killed."
"But you're not an agent anymore."
"True," she sighed, "so, why do the Comescu's want you dead?" She asked when she knew that the others were out of earshot.
"Last May we raided their beach house because they had our boss Hetty Lange. Alexa, Dracul's Aunt and Alexander's sister, was killed and now Alexander is the head of the family. The Comescu's have been known to have long memories and they thrive on holding a grudge. They now want Sarah, my team and me dead."
"But, Sarah had nothing do with it."
"Doesn't matter, she's married to me."
Natasha stood there stunned at the bottom of the stairs, "I swear the sins of our past always catch up with us."
He stopped, "what do you mean?" He asked.
Stunned with what she realized what she just said, "nothing," she walked over, pushed the door open to the break room and walked inside.
"Tasha, is there something more going on?" He followed her.
"No, just forget what I said okay," she demanded.
"You really haven't changed," he told her frustrated.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're scared," G accused her. "You have this wall up around you and when you say something like that or when someone gets too close you push them away. You did it back then and you're doing it now," he walked up to her.
"G," she said looking away from him her expression of wanting to tell him but couldn't.
His hand under her chin he lifts up her head to look into her eyes, "you know that Jethro and I would help you no matter what."
"Yes," she told him quietly.
"You can trust us Tasha," G assured her.
Her eyes looked away from him as she bit her lower lip, "G, I've...I've been-"
"I was afraid the ceiling was going to fall on top of me!" They heard Deeks say, loud from outside the door.
Natasha walked over to the counter, picked out a mug and poured coffee into it. She knew that G was still looking at her wanting to know what was going on.
"You're exaggerating," Kensi said, opening the door walking into the room.
"Really? The bed moved two feet to the left!" Deeks told her following her in.
"Are you sure it wasn't you?" Kensi accused playfully.
"All I'm saying is I woke up this morning with feet in my face and what sounded like a goose being strangled," Deeks stated as Sam walked into the room.
The noise woke him from a sound sleep and he swore the bed shook. Marty Deeks opened his eyes to see feet in his face and what sounded like a goose being strangled very slowly.
He sat up and looked around the room frantically, "where is?" Then he realized that the feet and the strangled goose, belonged to Kensi, "oh my God!" He said, loud enough to have anyone wake up, but she didn't.
She snored again.
He layed back down and with his hands over his face, "no! Not again!" He moaned.
And again.
He grabbed the pillow and pressed it up against his ears to block the sound, but he still could hear her, "you have got to be kidding me!" Next time he was at the store he needed to get earplugs.
Deeks had mentioned to her once that she snored and she told him that he was insane. Now it was time for him to prove her wrong. He got up slowly, walked over to get his phone out of his back jeans pocket, pulled up the voice memo app and hit record.
And she was silent.
"Son of a-"
And then, the bear arrived.
He looked up at the ceiling, "thank you!" He whispered, slowly walking over to her side of the bed. He held the phone inches from her head as she snored away trying not to laugh.
After a minute, he decided to stop the recording and make sure that he saved it to have her listen to what he had to listen to.
Techno music started to blare from her phone. He quickly moved out her sight as she sat up, scrambled to the nightstand on her side of the bed, and grabbed her phone. "Shut up!" She moaned and hit the snooze button on her phone, "Deeks?"
"Yeah?"
She turned to see him standing by the desk, "what are you doing?"
"Turning my alarm off since I'm already up."
She moaned, "I'm so exhausted," she got up, "I didn't sleep well at all." She stretched and grabbed her phone off the nightstand, "I'm going to go and take a shower."
"You're lying."
"I have proof!" Deeks reached for his phone in his back pocket, "do I-"
"Don't you dare!" Kensi glared at him.
Sam stood there watching G and Natasha wondering what was going on before they were interrupted.
"What's going on?" G asked.
"Seems Deeks recorded Kensi snoring," Sam told him as Natasha walked out of the break room.
"I don't snore," Kensi stressed again, then looked at G and Sam who looked away from her.
"Do I?" She asked seeing their reaction.
"Well, you see Kensi," Sam said not able to look at her.
"Oh my God!" Kensi said horrified.
"It's not that often," G assured her.
"But why didn't you tell me?" She demanded now embarrassed.
"Because, unlike Deeks, we want to live," Sam told her.
"I still can't believe Granger is sending us home," Kensi said.
"It's a big win for him to argue with Director Vance and Hetty just to send us home." Deeks said.
"And we have a week to wrap this up before we get sent home." Sam said.
"Don't let it bother you hopefully, we'll get this done and be home soon," G told them.
"Keep us updated on what's going on."
"We will." Sam said, as Kensi and Deeks walked out of the break room.
"Everything okay here?" Sam asked, as G grabbed a mug on the counter and poured coffee.
"Yeah, everything's fine," he said, not looking at Sam.
Sam gave G a look knowing that he was lying to him, "are you going to tell me what's going on between you two?"
"There is nothing going on Sam," he replied.
"Then why did Natasha get out of here like the room was on fire and you can't look at me." Sam asked.
"Tasha said something that makes me think she knows more than she's willing to admit. When I asked her about it she shut me out."
"Just be careful G."
"I will."
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Gibbs hit the stop button on the panel and felt the elevator jarred to a stop, the lights dimmed, and then turned to Sarah, "what the hell is wrong with you?"
"Me?" Sarah asked surprised.
"Nat is a good agent," Gibbs snapped at her.
"She's a former KGB agent, who does private work, and got caught spying on the Comescu's for a friend." She got out her phone, pulled up the video app, "and let's not forget what happened a couple of days ago."
She pressed play and the video started, they watched as G hugged Natasha.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I need your help," she touched his cheek. "You look good." She said.
"You look...great." He said.
She kissed him and his arms around her he breaks off the kiss looking into her eyes.
"Tasha, there's something-"
She placed her fingers on his lips, kissed him again, her hands now underneath his jacket, slowly going up his chest and beginning to pull it off of his shoulders.
The video stopped, "you're acting like a jealous wife." Gibbs told her.
"No, I'm acting like the agent assigned to protect him."
Gibbs took a deep breath, "her information is solid. You both promised to behave."
"Just because I promised to behave doesn't mean I have to trust her!"
"Well, I do!"
She hit the button and the elevator started to move, "well then, I hope I'm wrong." The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"I hope so too Red," Gibbs said, as she walked away.
Tobias stood there silent wondering if either of them knew that he was still there. He had known Sarah for over twenty years, knew that her and Gibbs would argue but most of the time it was brother and sister. But this was different.
"You know she's right," Tobias finally said as the doors closed.
Gibbs sighed, "Sarah is-"
Tobias hit the stop button, "someone you consider family and a damn good agent." He paused, "look, I know I haven't been in Hetty's 'Super Secret Group' for as long as you have but you have to see this from Sarah's point of view. In the past couple of months, she has met, married, ordered to protect and spy on her husband. Up until a couple of days ago G didn't even know that Hetty was doing that and that there are others. Sarah is doing her job as this war with the Comescu's starts up again. She has to be in that 'trust no one' mode when it comes to G."
"I know Tobias." Gibbs said.
"Then why are you not trusting Sarah on her instincts?"
"I do trust her instincts." He said, hitting the button that started the elevator to move up.
"What's going on Jethro?" Fornell asked.
"Rule number three."
Tobias had to think of which rule it was.
"Don't believe what you're told, always double check." Gibbs told him
"You think Natasha is up to something?"
Gibbs sighs, looking up at the numbers above the elevator door, "yep."
"What do you think it is?" Fornell asked.
"Don't know. That's why I'm double checking." He walked off the elevator.
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Sarah sat on the bench looking at the Jefferson Memorial that was across the Potomac. She closed her eyes and tried to relax as she waited for her contact to meet her. After her argument with Gibbs she needed to get out and collect her thoughts to get back on track. She left NCIS Headquarters and drove around DC for about an hour before she decided that the only way to find out what was going on was to call one of her contacts.
"You're early," Lauren Hunter said as she sat down next to her on the bench.
"I'm glad you could make it."
"I have a long layover for my next flight," Lauren Hunter said, glancing at her surroundings and then at Sarah, "you look tired."
"Jet Lag, what was supposed to be a quick weekend trip has now become a week. I hardly got any sleep on the flight back and I'm trying to catch up now. G on the other hand, sits in his chair, falls asleep, and is out the entire time."
"What's going on?" Lauren asked.
"I need information on Natasha Petrov."
Lauren thought about it, "former KGB agent, worked with Gibbs back in the late nineties, had a," she paused as she tried to find a word that would describe what her brother and Natasha had, "relationship if that's what you want to call it, with G, why?"
"She's in protective custody by Gibbs because she got in trouble with some family friends." Sarah told her.
Lauren raises an eyebrow, "and you're okay with this?"
"Yes," Sarah said.
Lauren laughed, "we've been trained by the same people, and have known each other for years, do you really think I wouldn't know when you're lying? Why don't you trust her?"
"I met her while she was kissing my husband."
"And she's still breathing?" Lauren asked her shocked.
"I was having an off day," she replied trying not to think of that moment when she saw Natasha kissing G.
"She approached me the next morning, after talking to Gibbs and finding out that he considers us both family, Natasha asked for a truce. I promised Gibbs I would play nice. I found out a couple of hours ago that she's getting three security guards, staying at Gibbs place, and on the case with us."
"And when you questioned it you were the one looking like a bitch."
Sarah nodded.
Lauren sighed, "welcome to my world."
Sarah took off the black wristband off her wrist and handed it to Lauren, "the flashdrive in this has all of my notes that I have learned over the past couple of days about her and what we have on 'Little Ricky'. It's not much and I wish I could help but if Gibbs and G find out-"
"They won't," Lauren assured her as she put the wristband on her wrist, "I know who to contact to get a hold of you if I find anything."
"I wish I could do more to help." Sarah said.
"How deep do you want me to dig?" Lauren asked her as Sarah stood up.
"Until you hit rock." Sarah walked away blending into the crowd.
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