A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!
Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!
Again a humongous thank you to Kate for her inspiration and great work!
Kate looked at her watch and silently swore, she was an hour late. She looked back at the doors as they opened and walked into the bullpen to find Tony on the phone and McGee glued to the screen of his computer. Tony acknowledged her with a smile and wrote something on his notepad. Kate nodded in return, then sat down.
"Morning McGee" she said
"Kate" he responded
"Seen Gibbs?" she asked
"Nah hasn't come in yet. Maybe he went to see Ducky" McGee suggested, "We'll brief you both when he gets in, we found out a few things that you two might find interesting"
"Ok, well, I'm going to see Ducky" she said, going to the elevator
Kate walked into autopsy and saw Ducky behind a pile of paperwork.
"That from the useless boring conference that you had to go to?" she asked
"Ah, Morning Caitlin. Yes indeed. I'm not sure what they want me to do with all these notes, I think I might give them to Mr. Palmer, he may find them of use" Ducky replied
"Find what of use, Doctor?" Jimmy asked, walking in
"This paperwork, Mr. Palmer, it's of no use to me, but you may find it interesting. There's a few cases from early work last century and several from when we faced the bubonic plague…" Ducky stopped and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, "Yes, that reminds me of a story one of my somewhat older collegues told me about. A young man turned up in India…"
"Ducky!" Kate interrupted, exasperated, "Have you seen Jethro?…I mean, uh, Gibbs?"
Ducky smiled at the slip-up, "No, my darling, I haven't seen him since I sent him home. How was he yesterday?"
Kate blushed slightly, "He was good, better, he had something to eat for dinner, it wasn't a lot, but it was something. I think I might ring him"
"That might be a good idea. Anthony and Timothy have already tried a few times today but got no answer, you may have better luck"
Kate rang his cell. It rang and rang and rang. He finally picked up on her third call.
"Gibbs?" he answered
"Where have you been? We tried contacting you," Kate didn't need to say the implicit, I was worried about you
"Yeah, somebody turned off the ringer thing"
"Oh," Kate said, "Are you okay? You sound a bit breathless?"
"Yeah, I'm walking, have been for the last hour"
Kate frowned. Then heard the elevator ding and saw Tony and McGee come out
"Why and where are you walking?" she asked
"My car is still at work, Kate."
"So catch a cab"
"I don't trust their driving"
"Then catch a bus"
"Don't trust their driving either"
"Why not?"
"Kate, I'm walking. I'll be there later" Gibbs said and hung up
Kate turned to Ducky and raised her eyebrows
"He's walking?" Ducky asked. Kate nodded and frowned.
"Why doesn't he catch a taxi, or public transport?" McGee asked
"Apparently doesn't trust their driving" Kate answered
Tony sniggered. Ducky looked at them and decided to explain, "Five years ago, before you started working here, Tony, Gibbs was working a case. The killer kept slipping through their fingers, and as you can imagine, Gibbs became slightly frustrated. One day, they had him in their sight and chased him down the street. They crossed an intersection, but a taxi ran a red light and crashed into Gibbs' partner. She didn't die instantly, it took three days, he never left her bedside. They had been seeing each other for a few months before the accident and thought they had something. Apparently the driver had been drinking and wasn't paying attention to the road. This is when he made up rule 12, which I'm sure you are aware of, he also made up rule 13, which you probably haven't heard of; 'never trust taxi drivers'"
The silence in the room was deafening. Ducky sighed.
"Wow" McGee said, to nobody in particular
"So, what about buses?" Tony asked, adding, "I mean, apart from the obvious"
Kate walked out saying that she would pick him up. And heard Ducky's voice come through, "In psychology, there is a concept known as stimulus generalization where a stimulus similar to the original one, buses and taxis, respectively, elicits the same reaction as the original stimulus. This principle was first discovered by …"
Kate got into the elevator and Ducky's voice was droned out.
Kate drove along the street she knew Gibbs would take and eventually found him. She pulled up beside him and wound down the window
"You've come further than I anticipated." She told him
"I'm a marine, Kate. I can walk fast" he replied and continued walking
"You gonna get in?"
"Nope. I'm enjoying the walk"
Kate silently swore, stopped the car and turned it off. She grabbed the keys, got out and ran to catch up to him.
"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked her when she caught up
"What do you think?"
"Don't you have work to do?" he snapped, then added "People to see?"
Kate stopped walking and watched his back as he continued walking. When he realised she wasn't beside him anymore, he stopped and turned around.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I've stopped seeing Shane" Kate told him, then walked back to her car
"It's my business when it affects your work" he called after her
Kate turned around and looked into his eyes and coolly replied, "He's not affecting my work. You are"
Before Gibbs could reply, his phone rang.
"Gibbs!" he barked into it. He listened for a while, then snapped it closed, "We have another body"
Tony looked up as he heard the elevator ding and saw Kate and Gibbs walk out. Neither looked happy, something was up.
"Get your gear, we have another body" Gibbs said, grabbing something from his desk, "Be at the chopper, ready to go in 10" Gibbs walked back to the elevator and got in, shouting to them as the doors closed not to forget Ducky
Tony looked at Kate who was busy getting her gear, "Jeez Kate, what'd ya do to him?"
Kate glared at Tony and walked out of the bullpen, leaving Tony alone with McGee, who shrugged.
"Ducky will be there in 5. Do you think Gibbs wants me to come along?" McGee asked
"Well what do you think Probie?" Tony asked, thinking the answer was obvious
"Ok, I'll get my gear"
Tony and McGee arrived at the heli-pad first, followed by Ducky then Kate. They filed into the chopper and waited for Gibbs. Gibbs eventually turned up, carrying a cup from star bucks. He got into the chopper and closed the door.
"So I guess this means I won the bet" Tony said, smiling
"It's decaf, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped
"It's still coffee" Tony replied, still smiling
"This does not count, DiNozzo. It is decaf! This is not coffee!" Gibbs said, saying each word matter-of-factly
"Technically he's right, Anthony. It is actually the caffeine that Gibbs is addicted to, not the coffee…" Ducky was silenced by a glare from Gibbs
"This is not coffee! And I do not have an addiction!"
"We both know that's not true Jethro, if it wasn't an addiction, you wouldn't be going through withdrawals" Ducky replied, leveling his gaze at the younger man
"I am not going through withdrawals!"
"He's in denial" Kate said, joining in the conversation
Gibbs sent Kate a look that sent daggers. He then said softly and slowly, in a voice everybody recognized as being very dangerous, "I do not have an addiction, I am not going through withdrawals and I am not in denial. Are we clear?"
The rest of the journey to the ship was passed in relative silence, which was only broken when Gibbs asked Tony and McGee to fill them in on what they had found out. Gibbs told them he wanted to interrogate the two officers named Anthony before they left the ship. Tony nodded in agreement, then sat back and tried to remain relatively unnoticed. The tension was thick enough to run a knife through. He watched as Kate and Gibbs, who sat as far apart as possible, at opposite ends of the chopper, took turns glaring at each other. Tony sighed and exchanged glances with Ducky.
That's it for chapter 12... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please!