Chapter 16

Natalie was hanging out with Abby in her lab. Abby hooked up Nat's laptop to the NCIS internet network so that she could get some of her work done. It was nice in the lab and it meant she was in a semi-private space in case anyone needed to talk, which Natalie was glad to see a couple of people took advantage of.

Abby left for a deposition upstairs and her grandfather walked in.

"I spoke with Gibbs," he said sitting on a stool next to Natalie. "I've got NYPD and Metro helping us out and a junior agent doing some background for Gibbs when we get this other investigation behind us. I wish you had told me Nat."

"I was embarassed and scared. All I knew is Gibbs made me feel safe." She suddenly realized how that sounded, "Not that you don't!" she rushed.

"It's alright. I'm just glad you had someone you could turn to." They sat in silence for a moment before he said, "He's a good man, little old though…" and quirked an eyebrow at her.

Natalie blushed horribly, "I guess so," she said before turning back to her work.

"I noticed you sometimes. It's alright. I don't like it, but given some alternatives, I approve of this crush."

Natalie was sure her eyes bulged out of her head and her face had to be on fire it was burning from embarassment so much. "I..uh.."

Tom chuckled, "I'd rather someone younger, but you are vastly mature. And I don't believe Gibbs is aware, so your secret is safe with me."

"Oh God. Kill me now."

They both laughed a little. "I'll see you later. What's happening tonight?"

"DiNozzo and McGee are doing surveillance and I'm staying with Agent Todd. We'll go to the funeral tomorrow before her and Gibb's watch. From there, McGee or DiNozzo will bring me back here for the day."

"Alright, Agent Todd used to protect the president, I can't imagine you could be any safer," Tom said as he was leaving.

Natalie went back to work.

It was much later when Dr. Mallard stopped by with some lunch for them both. They enjoyed a peaceful lunch and he didn't pry into anything which Nat appreciated.

"How's your day going Ducky?" she asked him.

He smiled, "Not bad. Mostly routine paperwork and a few non-urgent matters. How are you holding up?"

"As well as can be expected. Thank you for not indulging in your own curiosity." She smiled and finished her salad.

"Of course we are all curious but you've been a wonderful addition around here and really helped a few people. We care about you. But try very hard to be understanding of people's privacy."

The smiled at each other and when Ducky went to go back to autopsy Natalie hugged him. He wasn't the only one to just stop by and chat for a few minutes during the day. It was something that touched Natalie deeply. People knew something was going on but also seemed to know to keep to themselves. They never pried or bugged. Just little hellos, how are you today and small talk. A few hung around to discuss what losing an NCIS agent meant to them for her dissertation. By the time it was time to go Natalie was actually tired. The stress from the last couple of days had caught up to her.

"Hey, wanna pick up a pizza tonight?" Kate asked her as they were gathering their things."Sounds perfect" Nat responded.

Kate walked her out to the car and had her call in their order to save time. They went in together to pick it up as Kate didn't want Nat out of her sight until they were safely at Kate's place. Kate gave her a tour and gave her some security protocols they were going to follow. Natalie was to sleep with a whistle just in case and Kate would be spending the night on the couch waking up every hour or so to do a security check.

"Doesn't sound like you are going to get much sleep, I feel bad," said Natalie as she dished herself some pizza.

Kate placed a reassuring hand on Nat's shoulder, "Don't you worry about me. This will be a breeze compared to protecting the president." Kate turned the TV on to some sort of home and garden channel and they mostly tuned it out and chatted about their lives, more as friends than business or research. It was comfortable.

Kate talked about growing up with her crazy brothers and how she learned quickly to fight back. She was often like one of the boys, but how she always looked up to her sister. She was always there for Kate's emotional needs.

"So for Thanksgiving we would always go to my aunt and uncle's farm since they had the biggest kitchen and dining area. We'd have my family, theirs, my grandparents, other aunts and uncles and their kids… had to be 25-30 of us all ranging from babies up to our 90 year old great grandma who lived with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Don." The TV was completely forgotten at this point and they two women were curled up at opposite ends of a couch with their own blankets. "I was 16, my brothers were either in high school or college at that point and my sister was working on her master's I think. Anyway we usually ended up making teams and playing touch football. I say 'touch' in the vaguest sense of the word. Generally the boys would get a little rough but would be gentle with whatever girls were playing. Well my cousin Tommy ran for a long pass and tripped and ended up taking down my oldest brother John in the process. The two ended up in a cow patty. Well naturally Jim and Brian, my other brothers were killing themselves laughing. John took offence and on the next play ended up taking down Brian first, who ended up with a black eye. Jim was next with a bad bruise on his lower back from falling into me. At that point I was upset with the lot of them and ended up taking them down one by one. It was one of the messier games. When all was said and done someone needed stitches, someone dislocated a shoulder, there were two dislocated fingers, one broken wrist, countless bruises and cuts and almost everyone had mud or shit on them in the end. The only one unscathed was my youngest cousin Beatrice. So naturally Uncle Don decided that wouldn't do and picked her up dunking her in one of the water troughs. It took my Great grandma to break up the brawl that started over whether or not someone actually made the final touchdown or not. It took two vehicles to take all those needing the hospital there. It's a small town so we were literally the only ones at the ER that night and the doctor and nurses on staff ended up having a good laugh at our family."

"Oh god, they probably thought you were crazy people."

Kate chuckled, "Nah, they were used to seeing some of us at some point on Thanksgivings and 4th of Julys. I don't think we ever had a year where no one had to go. One year was just one, which was one of my aunts who had cut herself peeling sweet potatoes and needed stitches."

"I don't know how I would have fared. I'm an only child. It was always just me and my mom. But we celebrated everything. We even developed strange little traditions because it would just be the two of us."

They sipped their teas before Kate asked, "What kinds of traditions?"

Natalie smiled in memory, "On our birthdays we'd always pick what we wanted for supper. And instead of cake it would always be pie and balloons. They were helium balloons and we would attach birthday wishes and set them free." Nat set her tea down before continuing, "Christmases we would always have neighbors over to share in a feast. Same with Thanksgiving, but on Thanksgiving we would always go to visit a retirement home or homeless shelter and visit with those who didn't have family. Mom said it was important to make people feel loved no matter what had happened in their lives. She said real family never turns their backs on you and real family isn't always blood, sometimes its just people close to you."

"Your mom sounds like an amazing woman" Kate said.

"She was," Natalie sighed, "I try to take the things she preached and continue that in my life. I think that's why Paul was able to… I dunno… fool us maybe? Even when he had mom tied up and scared and crying, she still looked at him like he just needed to be loved by someone. It was the same look she gave the homeless who made bad decisions in life. Like love could fix anything."

"Natalie, it's not anyone's fault. Paul is sick, you should know that better than anyone." Kate hugged her.

"Do I? I feel like I question everything I know."

Kate looked at her and held eye contact, "Let's look at it differently. Don't think of Paul as the guy you knew who was your friend. Look at him as a test subject in a research study you read. What do we know about Mr. X?"

"I dunno Kate…" Natalie trailed off.

"Alright. What would you tell me if I said I have a suspect who has shown obsessive behaviours, stalks a victim and tried to control them and their loved ones? What kind of psyche would I be looking at if they are solitary, very intelligent, meticulous and violent when pushed?"

"I'd say they likely had an emotionally and probably physically abusive past. They are showing signs of declining mental health, possible Obsessive Compulsive, maybe Schizophrenia. I'd want to know if their co-workers, family or friends noticed any signs of mania, depression, self-harm. I'd want to look into their past and have an MRI done. Those with some genetic mental health disorders have them from birth and there really is no fixing it so much as medicating them so they can hopefully live a peaceful life."

"So you're telling me its likely my suspect is just sick, they can't help what's happening to them?" Kate asked her.

"Possibly, but I think the obsessiveness and meticulous behaviors would point more to making choices, maybe as a way of compensating something else in their life."

Kate nodded before asking, "What was Paul's home life like as a kid?"

"A lot of pressure to do well. I think his parents were somewhat absent. Why do you ask?"

"Gibbs sent us everything Abby could pull up about him and I read everything I could. He was never taken to the hospital with any signs of physical abuse and all his school records are clean. If I was to guess, I'd say it points to choices not anything uncontrollable. That doesn't mean he isn't sick. I just think that there was never any signs of him becoming obsessed or stalker-like prior to you. And his family doesn't have enough money to make something like that go away, you know what I mean?"

Natalie nodded in return, "If I didn't know Paul, I'd tell you, you have a dangerous person who's psyche broke and has since made bad decisions."

"So, I'd then tell my victim," Kate started pointedly looking into Nat's eyes, "That they did nothing wrong, there is no way they could have known or done anything differently, regardless of their educational background."

Natalie started to cry, "Kate… I…." she bit her lip unable to find words, "Thank you."

They hugged and stayed that way until Nat felt her tears slow, "I think I kept blaming myself, if I just could have seen the signs, maybe I could have saved Mom." They pulled apart, "You helped me see I couldn't have."

"Come on, let's get ready for bed. It's gonna be an early day tomorrow," Kate said standing up.