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!
And of course, again a gigantic thankyou to Kate for her fantastic inspiration and fantastic work!
Gibbs woke up and opened his eyes, his vision was still blurry. He tried to focus, but that made his head pound. He frowned and tried to remember what had happened, he rubbed his hand over his head and gasped in pain. A chill ran through his body, making him bring his knees to his chest and rubbed his arms. He felt his head laying in something cold, perhaps water. The thought of water made Gibbs open his eyes again as he realised his throat was bone dry. He put his hand up to his head and felt the wet patch, then brought his hand in-front of his eyes and squinted. His hand was red, it took him a while to realise it was blood, his blood. Putting his arm back by his side, he tried to sit up, but was hit with a wave of nausea. He tried to fight it and sat up straighter, but his vision went black and his body thumped back onto the cold hard ground as he slipped into unconsciousness again.
Tony slammed the door of the last cabin and walked to where Kate was standing, hugging herself. He sighed and took in her appearance; the last couple of hours had taken its toll on her.
"Well that the last of that block, lets see if we have any better luck in the next" Kate said, turning to walk to the next lot of cabins
"Look, Kate, lets take a break, get something to eat, then come back fresh" Tony suggested
"Tony, we only just ate" Kate replied
Tony looked at his watch, "Actually, that was four hours ago." Kate frowned at him, "What! If I don't eat, I feel sick and like I'm gonna pass out, hasn't happened yet cause I usually eat something"
"You have diabetes?" Kate asked
"No, just a fast metabolism" Tony replied
"I'm not gonna take a break because you wanna eat. Can you imagine how that would sound in a report? 'We would have saved Special Agent Gibbs, but we decided to take a break and have a picnic instead'"
"Better than, 'Halfway through the search, Agent DiNozzo decided to take a trip to the hospital wing due to falling unconscious. Prior to the incident he was aware that he needed to obtain sustenance, but against his better judgment, decided to be an ass and continue with the fruitless search.'"
Kate rolled her eyes and turned on her heel "Fine, go get some goddamn food. I'm going to 'be an ass and continue with the fruitless search'"
"You want anything?" Tony called after her.
But all he heard in response was the knocking down of a door and "NCIS, against the goddamn wall! Now!" he was sure he heard her voice crack on the last word, he sighed and turned around.
Ducky got out of the chopper and ran with the paramedics as they moved the PO out of the chopper and into the waiting ambulance, going through the mans stats. Mark, one of the paramedics, nodded his thanks and loaded the PO into the ambulance. Ducky watched as the ambulance drove off and sighed; he turned around and made his way to NCIS HQ. He entered the bullpen and looked around for McGee. He frowned and decided to check the lab. As Ducky walked into the lab, he heard the typically loud music that Abby played and spotted McGee at the work-station opposite to Abby.
"Timothy!" he called
"Ah, Duck-man" Abby said, turning down the music to speak, "What can I do for you?"
McGee turned around and watched Ducky. "What does Brown mean to you?" Ducky asked
"A colour, darker than orange and lighter than black" Abby replied, looking back at her monitor
"Abs, he's referring to Lt Brown. He's a friend of the last two victims, was in a relationship with one of them for a while. His blood was found at the first crime scene" McGee replied, "But, Gibbs dismissed him as a suspect, why?"
"Because the third victim is alive, he mentioned Brown when he woke" Ducky replied
"Alive?" McGee asked
"You know, now that you mention who he is, the partial print I picked up matched Brown's" Abby said
"What!" McGee asked
"As well as fourteen others McGee, Gibbs knows that" Abby replied
Ducky nodded, "I informed Anthony and Caitlin, but couldn't get hold of Jethro"
McGee picked up the phone as Abby turned to Ducky, "The PO you picked up was alive?"
"Yes, he was, is. He woke in the helicopter". Abby nodded
"He's still not answering, and neither is Tony or Kate" McGee said as he put the phone down
"That's because they're outta range, Tim" Abby said, rolling her eyes, "And you say you went to MIT…"
Tony handed Kate a packet of chips and a cup of hot coffee. "Eat" he said simply
"What took you so long? You've been hours" Kate asked
"Actually it was three quarters of an hour. I got lost" he replied
Kate rolled her eyes and sat down with a sigh. She took a sip of the coffee and screwed up her face. "Jesus Tony, how much sugar did you put in this? I like my coffee sweet, but not this sweet"
"Yeah, well I figured you needed it" Tony said, sitting down beside her
"Why!" she asked, watching him, "You think I'm in shock, don't you?"
"I'm pretty damn sure you are" Tony replied. Kate continued to stare at him; Tony watched her and let out a breath, "Kate, it's perfectly normal". Kate shook her head and looked up. "I know that you both feel more for each other than you would ever admit, or allow. More than you would for just a co-worker"
"He's my boss, Tony" Kate finally replied, "I don't know what makes you think…" Kate stopped as Tony pulled out his PDA and tapped the screen a few times, "What are you doing?"
"I took this photo on the chopper back to NCIS after Lt Mitchell died" he explained then showed her the photo, "I was going to use it as a kind of bribe against you, kinda like the wet T-shirt picture, but…" he trailed off
Kate looked at the photo of herself and Gibbs sleeping against each other on the chopper. Tony watched Kate as her eyes filled with tears, but didn't fall.
"Why?" she asked, looking at him
"Why what?"
"Why…him?"
"Kate, you can't help who you fall in love with" Tony replied, wiping away a stray tear that made its way down her face, and pulled her into his arms, "Remember he had a part in this too"
Kate gave a small smile, "You make it sound like I'm pregnant"
Tony pulled himself out of the hug, "Are you?" he asked looking into her eyes
"No!" she replied, slapping his arm, "We haven't slept together or anything. Besides, it would never happen, it could never work" she said, "Rule 12"
"Well, you're gonna have to make some rules of your own" Tony said, then gestured to the food, "Now, eat something"
McGee took another deep sigh and tried to focus on the screen in front of him. Abby looked up at him and frowned, "McGee, if you keep sighing like that, you're gonna pass out from hyperventilating"
"Sorry Abs, it's just," he subconsciously stopped and sighed, "Gibbs is MIA, Kate and Tony are over there, searching for him, trying to save him, with the killer still on the loose. Meanwhile, I'm," he sighed again, gesturing with his hands, "I'm here and there's nothing I can do"
Abby nodded and waited for him to continue, but when he just looked down, she walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. McGee looked up into her eyes, "I should be over there with them, Abs."
"But you're not. You're here, with me." She said, moving around the chair he was sitting in, to stand behind him. She gently rubbed his shoulders, "You're tense" she said softly, "So, in the meantime, we should go over what we know. What do we know?"
McGee sighed, "Well, the murderer knows his victims, has a drink with them. He then brutally bashed them…" he stopped and shook his head, "I don't know. I should try to interrogate the PO that Ducky brought back"
"According to Duck-man, he's still in a coma" Abby replied
"I know. The PO was originally thought dead when he was alive…" McGee mused, "But couldn't be pronounced dead, because…" he turned to look at Abby for help
"You can't pronounce somebody dead when they are cold, hyperthermia can stop your heart…" Abby explained, but McGee didn't hear the rest
"Hyperthermia!" he exclaimed, standing up, "All the victims, they were cold!" he looked at Abby to see if she would put the pieces together. "I know where Gibbs is. I have to get in contact with Tony and Kate"
That's it for chapter 16... I hope you like it! Please review, please!