A/N: This is a birthday present for Yo/"Nina"...if it gets on the site by then. Oh well, it's supposed to be on here by the 21st, and if it's not, it's supposed to be. I don't care much...sorry about it being so late- Mom banned me from the computer last Thursday and I forgot about writing it until about 1:30 AM, the time right now...so I hope it's halfway decent.
I guess if I beg for reviews I get them. So review, please! Yay, people reviewed...lots of people reviewed...
And shiri, I couldn't care less if people said my story sucked- I like it when people criticize my work. Of course, it's obviously better when they say it's good, but nobody's perfect, right?
Do I even need to do a disclaimer anymore? Yeah, I don't own them, you people know that by now! Like I magically acquired them between now and last Thursday- really. I suppose it's possible...anyways.
"Is he always like that?" Kate asked immediately as Alexia closed the door to the bathroom.
Alexia shrugged as she lifted a blue box out of the cupboard. "I don't know, he's been weird lately. I never thought he'd hurt Mom, though-"
"So you think he did shoot her?"
Alexia opened the box and took out the disinfectant and some bandages. "Well, I'm not saying that- I really don't know what to think. You never think of your father being one to kill his wife, but then again, enough people do it that it's a possibility...how'd my fingerprints get on the gun?"
"I suppose it's possible that they were lifted from something else- I don't know, though. We'll ask Abby."
"Who?"
"Our forensic specialist. You'll like her- ow!" Kate's hand automatically went to her forehead as Alexia rubbed it with disinfectant.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "It's gotta be done, you know."
"Yeah, I know...speaking of which, what happened to you?" Kate pointed to Alexia's own head, where her brown hair was reddened.
Alexia peered at her reflection in the mirror. "Uh, that must've been when Dad hit me with the gun-"
"He hit you?"
"Well, to knock me unconscious, I suppose. But yeah, he did." Alexia finished putting the bandage on Kate's head and was about to put the supplies away when Kate snatched them away.
"Your turn."
Alexia rolled her eyes but stayed still. "Do you suppose Gibbs has arrested him yet?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. It sounds like something he'd do."
"Why? Does he like arresting people?"
Kate smiled. "Well, only if they've done something wrong...and I think he's pretty sure Rob's guilty of some crime. If it's not murder, it's aiding a murder, or insubordination, or not cooperating with the law, or child abuse- he could probably get him on that, actually. There's maybe a dozen things he could try arresting Rob for and prove half of them. He could get him to confess everything- he's a great interrogator."
"So what do you do? Or what did you do before?"
"We all do everything- I was in the Secret Service."
Alexia's eyebrows raised. There was Rob's audible voice from the kitchen, but she paid no attention. "Really? That's cool. We had to take a job survey for our career unit and it said I should be a federal agent." As an afterthought, she added, "My dad loses his temper a lot."
"Really? Well, seeing as your dad's an agent-"
"Probably not for long," Alexia said, shrugging. "Well, I hope not, especially if he's the one who shot Mom. Actually, he wouldn't have. He would've gotten someone else to do the dirty work for him. Probably one of his team. They're all idiots."
"I'm inclined to agree..." Kate finished the bandaging of Alexia's head and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
"I feel like an exercise guru," Alexia commented, gingerly feeling her head. "You know, with the sweatband and all..."
"Yeah," Kate agreed.
"You think the guys out there have found anything to talk about?"
"Probably they've been questioned and possibly arrested. You know, we're going to need your statement and anyone else who's been around-"
"Yeah, I figured. Dad's team didn't get anything from me- made me wonder. You'll want to talk to my friend Katie as well. She left with me for school and saw Dad take me and accuse me of murder."
Kate nodded and they made their way out of the bathroom.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen with the seven men, it was deadly silent.
"So, I suppose you're going to arrest me?" Rob asked with a definite sneer.
"They can't," supplied Ethan with an air of superiority. "They've got nothing to pin you on."
"They could try insubordination," Jimmy thought aloud.
"Perhaps child abu-" Chris stopped short of finishing his thought with a loud cough.
"What?" McGee inquired, obviously knowing what the man was about to say.
"Nothing. You've got nothing to go on with him," Chris answered, much too quickly.
"Ah," Tony said, nodding. "Yeah, nothing. What was that he was going to say? I could've sworn it was 'child abuse', boss."
"Now why would he say a thing like that?" Gibbs asked in a curious voice. "McGee?"
"Uh, because of his daughter," McGee responded uncertainly. "Maybe he hits her."
"Yes, perhaps he does..."
"I don't! I have never laid a hand on her!"
"Do we have proof of that?"
"You could've asked Sam, but you can't now," Rob replied sarcastically.
"What about Alexia? Couldn't we ask her?"
"She'd try everything to get me in jail."
"Now
why is that?"
"Because she doesn't like me- you know
teenagers. She has a very vivid imagination, you know."
"Vivid enough to imagine her mother being murdered?"
"If she had seen it, she would've told you," Ethan told them. "Wouldn't she?"
"Did she tell you anything?" Tony asked in a inquisitive voice.
Jimmy shook his head. "No. Nothing."
Gibbs, Tony, and McGee all caught Rob's obvious eye-rolling. "Nothing?" Gibbs asked.
"No, nothing," Rob confirmed. "She didn't say a thing. I think she was in shock-"
"I wonder why?" Tony muttered.
"Well, she did just see her mother get murdered!" Chris exclaimed.
"See her mother get murdered?" Gibbs squinted. "See? I thought she didn't know anything."
"Well, you know- not see, physically, see her murdered...but she saw her dead, you know. That's enough of a shock as it is- if she saw her murdered, why wouldn't she say anything!" Chris finally erupted, slamming his fist down on the counter for emphasis.
"Unless she was scared of something," Gibbs observed, cocking his head to one side. "What would she be scared of?" He looked pointedly at Rob.
"I don't know!" Rob shook his head. "Are you implying she'd be scared of me?"
"I wasn't implying anything."
"I didn't kill her. I'll swear on her life I didn't kill her."
McGee suddenly spoke up. "If you killed her, her life must've not meant that much to you to begin with. Right?"
Tony cracked a half-smile. "Right, Probie. Very good logic."
"You have no proof!" Rob suddenly yelled. "You have no proof at all! No proof that I killed her! I didn't kill her! My hand was never- NEVER -on that gun! Any forensic specialist can tell you that- ask Abby or whatever her name is, she'll prove my story right-"
"But will she find more fingerprints on that gun?" Gibbs reasoned. "Will there perhaps another set? Just because you didn't pull the trigger doesn't mean that you didn't kill her."
"I didn't!" Rob screamed, sinking to the hardwood floor on his knees. "I never wouldn't killed her! I loved her!"
Kate and Alexia walked in and froze at the sight of Gibbs glaring down Rob, who was cowering on the floor, sobbing.
Gibbs eyed him like he would've looked at a particularly disgusting piece of garbage. "Did you? Then why, when we first came, were you not as upset?"
Rob shook his head rapidly. "I- I don't know, I just- I didn't-"
"What's going on?" Alexia asked as she and Kate stayed rooted to the spot in the dining room.
"Your father was just telling us how he didn't kill your mother," Tony supplied as Gibbs kept staring down Rob.
Alexia's eyes hardened. "Is he, now? What's his best argument for that, huh? That he loved her?"
Rob looked to Alexia and stopped his crying. "I did- don't you forget that-"
"Then why don't you love me? I'm the only part of her left, now, and all you can do is hit me on the head with a gun!"
Tony gave McGee a look, and they both looked to Gibbs, who looked happy that he could at least get him on child abuse.
A/N: Yeah, it's a bit long, but I just couldn't stop at a good place. It's kind of lame "cliffhanger", but it's good enough for me, so it better be good enough for you. As a note, I do realize that in the first chapter there were some "me"s and "my"s, and possibly some "I"s, and that was because I wrote the first part originally in first person. I thought I caught all of them, though..rats. Only two people have noticed it, though...goody! And witness statements- yeah, I realize I should've done those too, but only one person has noticed that...yay! Huh, maybe I should screen my stories more carefully. Oh well. It's good enough for me, and it's good enough for my proposed "beta", who technically isn't my beta. She reads my stories and all, but after they're posted. Hmm. Maybe I should send them to her before via telegram on NationStates. Yeah, Yo, you know what I'm talking about. The rest of you- create a nation! Express your creativity!
