Chapter 6
McGee walked into the bullpen not surprised to see Tony and Gibbs's desks empty, but it still hurt. On the way to work he had been stealing himself for the fact that Gibbs really had quit and that Tony wouldn't come in without Gibbs. McGee walked slowly over to his lonely desk and stowed his back pack. He sat down with a sigh and stared at Kate's desk, so much more had happened than Kate's death, it was as if she had taken the soul of the team with her, and that had surprised McGee. He knew that he wasn't accepted yet as a full member of the team, that he was still trying to find his place in the scheme of it but he thought he had understood what made the team work, and he had always thought that it could survive losing anyone except Gibbs, but now he wondered if he was wrong, if in fact the team as a whole was what made it all work.
His eyes drifted over to Tony's desk next, and he wished he could help him in some way but Tony was grieving more than anyone could have imagined, it was as if he had lost part of himself. McGee remembered seeing Tony when Kate was first shot, he had been calm and professional, his face and body covered in her blood but he had still done his job, had continued to do it the next day as well, but it was as if slowly he had switched off and stopped functioning as a person. McGee had always envied Tony and Kate's relationship; they knew each other so well, each knew how they other would react, what they would say or do in any given situation and although they had argued like school children most of the time, they had stood as one too often not to be connected, but McGee now wondered if the feeling had run deeper than that, sadly though he nor anyone would ever know now.
McGee wiped at a tear that fell down his cheek and looked around nervously to see if anyone was watching him but everyone was busy with their own lives and work, no one was paying any attention to Timothy McGee, just as they never did he thought somewhat bitterly.
McGee's eyes turned to Gibbs's desk, the one that was closest to his own, the man that he looked up to like he had never admired anyone else before and he felt like crying out loud. McGee didn't understand how he could throw everything away like that, how he thought he could get Ari working alone, McGee had no doubts in his mind that that was what Gibbs planned, that he had quit in order to find Ari and kill him, but he had believed that NCIS was Gibbs's whole life, that he lived breathed and ate NCIS but this had made McGee realise that Gibbs saw NCIS as people not a building and a badge, he know understood better what Gibbs tried to make them all understand. That it was the people that mattered more than evidence or even justice really, because without the person, the victims, their friends and families, justice was just a word, it was people that gave it its true meaning.
McGee sighed and looked around him not really sure what he should do, there was no one here to tell him to fetch the van, or to get data, there was no one here at all, just him. He stood slowly and decided that he would need to speak to someone about his situation but he wasn't sure who, perhaps the director or he could go
"McGEE!"
McGee spun round, nearly falling over in his haste and shock at the voice calling out to him, he wasn't sure whether to grin or stand to attention at the sight of Gibbs striding from the elevator, Tony following behind him.
"Get the van McGee" Gibbs said striding to his desk and pulling out his gun
"We have a body, and it looks like one of Ari's men" he said not pausing before striding back to the elevator.
Tony grinned at McGee for the first time in a long time
"Come on probie, the Boss has spoken" he said as he grabbed his rucksack and followed Gibbs, leaving a stunned and happy McGee following in his wake.
………………………………………….
Ducky had reached the scene before Gibbs and the others and was already bending over the body with the liver probe, waiting for the reading to determine the approximate time of death; he looked up as Gibbs bent over the body and ran a visual check on him.
"I would hazard a guess Jethro that he died between 0500 and 0800 this morning, he hasn't been gone long" he said carefully, as he wiped the probe and packed it away.
"Cause Ducky?" Gibbs asked, smiling at the way Ducky sighed
"I haven't had much time to determine that Jethro, you really are an impatient man sometimes, you often remind me of a doctor I once knew in Nepal. He was a very…"
"Today Ducky" Gibbs said, not wanting to listen to another one of Ducky's stories
"Yes, you really are like him" Ducky muttered bending down to the body again "You could take your pick of any of these bullet wounds, anyone of them would have killed him" he said pointing to the array of holes in his head and heart region. "But he wasn't killed here, there isn't enough blood, and the blood has settled twice" he told Gibbs pointing to where the skin looked discoloured on his hands, as if blood had pooled there.
Gibbs nodded his thanks and stood up, Ducky following him, Gibbs turned to Tony and McGee both busy examining and recording the crime scene
"Let's get the scene shot and tagged" he said crossing to the local LEO's "Tony get the body recorded so Ducky can get him back to the morgue" he called out over his shoulder
"Who found the body?" he asked without any preamble, his eyes all business as he reached the police officers
"Woman over there with the dog, she was taking him for his morning walk and he found the body and started to howl, so she came over to investigate, called it in on her cell phone" the officer closest to Gibbs said, "When we got here he matched the APB out on one of the suspected terrorists that killed your agent, so we called you in straight away" he continued, nervous under the intensity of Gibbs' stare.
"Good" Gibbs said as he walked away to talk to the witness, glad to be able to do his job and hopefully bring him one step closer to Ari.