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 fantastic work!
They got out of the chopper as soon as it landed and waited at the edge of the heli-pad for somebody to show them to the murder scene. Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he got out of the cramped conditions, glad to be away from Gibbs. A young man approached the group and introduced himself, he showed them to the crime-scene, then disappeared somewhere. Gibbs looked at the crime scene, it was almost identical to the last one, he turned to give orders to his team, but they had already taken the initiative and were doing it themselves.
Gibbs turned to where Ducky was crouched by the body, "Anything?"
"Gibbs, we just arrived" Ducky sighed, "Cause of death unknown at this stage, last time, COD was a cut to his throat, but it seems that this time, our murderer changed tactics. Changed his M.O as you might say. Time of death between two and three days. Can't tell you more…"
"Until you get him home." Gibbs finished his sentence. Ducky nodded, "So take him, and McGee"
McGee looked at Gibbs, "But we just got here"
"That a problem, Agent McGee?" Gibbs asked
"No boss. Don't you want me to take any evidence back to Abby though, so she can get started on analyzing it?" he asked
Gibbs growled and told Tony to hurry up with the bagging and tagging.
The rest of the trip to the ship was uneventful; the interrogations with both Lt Brown and PO Thompson revealing nothing. They spent the rest of the day interrogating various people who knew their marine, Srg Simpson. By the time they boarded the chopper again, Gibbs was almost impossible to work with, he'd been snapping at everything they had said and kept grumbling about nothing.
Tony looked across at Gibbs who was staring out the window, his expression unreadable, but the fact that he was majorlly pissed off was hard to miss.
"Got something to say, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, daring him to say yes
"No boss"
"Then stop staring at me"
Tony nodded, and looked at Kate. She had also been hard to work with all day, her temper almost matching Gibbs'. Tony closed his eyes and willed himself to drift off to sleep.
When they got off the chopper, McGee met them and said something, but it was lost in the noise of the chopper blades. Gibbs frowned at him, McGee tried to say it again, but the sound didn't carry, leaving Gibbs very frustrated. Gibbs yelled at McGee over the noise, his words loud, clear and unmistakable, McGee paled, then told them that Lt Brown's parents were in town for a few days and gave them the address.
"Good work. McGee, you're with me. You two," he turned back to Tony and Kate, "see if Abby found anything, likewise with Ducky"
McGee and Gibbs got into the sedan and drove to the address listed. They got out of the car and approached the house.
"Nice looking area, must have money" McGee commented
Gibbs glared at him, "Well, did you check that out?"
He didn't have a chance to reply as the door opened and an old lady walked out of the house.
Gibbs introduced themselves and was about to ask about their son, when the woman broke into tears. Gibbs blinked back the surprise in his face; he briefly glanced at McGee for help, momentarily lost, but the young agent looked as helpless as he felt. Gibbs straightened up and adopting his best marine tone asked her what was wrong.
The woman was leaning against the door-frame for support and looked up at Gibbs, "My son, you've come to tell me about my son." The woman broke down into hysterical sobs
Gibbs realised what she was talking about, and explained to her that they weren't here because her son had died; they just wanted to ask her a few questions.
The rest of the questioning went smoothly, once the woman had gotten over her embarrassment and cleaned herself up. They learnt that the Brown had never gotten on well with his father, joining the navy was the last straw, they hadn't heard from the man since. His mum had been supportive of the Lt, throughout the teasing when he was in college, to when he stood up to his father and joined the navy.
As they got back to the car, Gibbs handed McGee the keys, "You're driving"
McGee tried not to look surprised as he took the keys and headed to the driver's seat.
"You get anything else?" Gibbs asked, climbing into the passenger's seat
"No, I was hoping we'd getting something more from the officers on the ship."
Gibbs nodded and answered his phone as it began ringing. Gibbs closed his eyes as he received the information, listened for a while then closed the phone. "The other blood that Abby found in Dowling's cabin belonged to Brown. The crime-scene we cleared today was clean, our guy's getting smarter"
Tony looked at his watch then back at Gibbs, his tummy had been grumbling and doing little dances since that afternoon, it was now well passed diner time, and he was starting to feel light-headed. Tony sighed then looked at Kate.
"Got somewhere to be DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without looking up
"No, but my stomach does. Sometimes us mere mortals have to eat" Tony replied, somewhat shortly
Gibbs looked up at the tone Tony used, raising his eyebrows, "Fine, go, you're no use to me if you pass out"
Tony grabbed his stuff and left without so much as saying goodbye.
Kate watched him leave and sighed as she returned to her work
"Something wrong Kate?" Gibbs asked
"I just don't see why were going over these files. They aren't going to tell us anything. Ducky said the beating Simpson received was less severe than Mitchell's, indicating that it was probably an attempt to make it look like it was some random event and take the heat off whoever did it. This, is a pointless exercise" Kate replied, getting irritated by Gibbs' tone and attitude
Then Gibbs exploded at her, the content of what he said was lost on her as she listened to him yell. When he had finished ranting and raving, Kate silently got up, grabbing her gear and turning off her lamp, heading for the elevator.
Gibbs watched her go and rubbed his face, then ran after her, getting into the elevator just before the doors closed.
"Kate" he said softly, "Kate, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that". Kate didn't say anything, not even the quip about his rule about not apologizing. She continued staring at the wall, with her back to him.
"Kate, would you at least turn around?", when Kate did nothing, he flicked the switch for the emergency stop, shutting down the elevator. Kate turned around and looked at him.
"Kate, I…" he took a step forward, then another, invading her personal space, so that their bodies were almost touching. He could smell her perfume and feel the warmth of her body. He flicked back a stray piece of hair and put it behind her ear. He leaned in to her…
Kate watched as their lips got closer and closer, then, he pulled back. She knew he was having second thoughts and touched his arm. Gibbs sighed and turned the elevator back on, she heard him say, "I need coffee"
That's it for chapter 13... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please!