Author's Note: If you didn't read the warning, here it is again. Femslash people! The two OCs are in a monogamous relationship, and are both female. If you don't like it, don't read it. This will hopefully be a crossover with Proof of Life and a full NCIS casefile.
"I'm remaining fucking calm," Jaeger's face was flushed with rage. The marine's jaw was clenched in an attempt to keep control. Gibbs reached over and laid one hand firmly on Jaeger's shoulder. With tears barely held back, the younger marine leaned against the table, bracing with both arms. "They took her out from under my fucking nose," was growled. "Under my motherfucking, pus-dripping, pussy of fucking, goddamn nose." Gibbs didn't comment, just continued to rub the shoulder under his hand.
Seeing that grievous bodily harm had temporarily been avoided, Tony cleared his throat. "Captain, can you tell us exactly what you remember about that night."
Pieces popped back into place as Jaeger pulled it together. Taking a deep breath, "Sonny, that is Captain Amanda Sheldahl, and I went out that night. We were at the new place over on Denver, the White Wolf Pub. Sonny started shooting pool with some other SpecOps guys, I was watching. Didn't really say much, but Sonny was making conversation with them."
Gibbs gently asked, "Do you remember what they were talking about."
A negative shake of the head. "I admit, I wasn't really listening. But they didn't seem hostile or threatening towards her at any time. That I would have noticed. Anyways, I had a drink, JD and coke on the rocks, more JD than coke. Sonny was drinking her usual screwdriver, two parts no-pulp, light orange juice and one part Kremlyovskaya Deluxe vodka, no ice. She had two, maybe three of those. Stupid, I didn't even think to keep track. About one-thirty we'd had enough and headed home. My alcohol tolerance is negligible, so I was buzzed. So was Sonny. And I flagged down a cab just to be safe."
"The cabbie dropped us off here. The door was locked when we got here. Sonny went and got ready for bed, and I gave the place a once over before going into lockdown for the night. About two forty-five, I was in bed with Sonny and maybe five minutes later I was asleep. And I woke up about eight this morning and Sonny was…"
Clearing his throat, Tony asked in a slightly strangled voice, "You said you were in bed with Captain Sheldahl."
Eyes glittering dangerously, Jaeger turned to glare at the ex-cop, turning the full intensity of the marine-trained gaze on the man. "Sonny's my wife," the tone was low and dangerous. "Is this going to be a problem?" The look on the female captain's face was cold.
The defensiveness was understandable. Tony gave Jaeger a reassuring smile. "No, not a problem. Just a surprise. Keep going."
Jaeger sighed deeply. Twisting around she cracked her neck in a sharp sound. "At first I thought that Sonny had just gone out. She does that sometimes, after bad nights. But I went out to the porch, and she wasn't there. I just knew something was wrong. It wasn't like there was anything obvious." She paused a moment to chew at her lower lip. "Everything was off. The closes thing I can compare it to is when you know someone's watching you and he's up to no good."
Shrugging off the moment, she continued. "I checked everywhere, but her bike and car are still here. All her stuff's here, including her weapons. I called everyone I could think of, but no one knew where she was. Not even Davy, that is Lieutenant David Tunensis, he's Sonny's co-pilot, and she would have told him if something happened. There's not much to tell after that, I made a call to a friend and here you guys are."
"How long has Captain Sheldahl been missing?" Gibbs' arms were across his chest and his face was cool.
Jaeger shrugged. "I couldn't tell you," she admitted in shame, "I slept through the whole damn thing." The nervous energy drove her to walk towards the mirror on one wall of the kitchen. She glared into it taking in her disheveled, feral appearance. Dark blonde hair was sticking up in a wild chaos of spikes despite the severe brevity of the cut. Red surrounded the eyes that were more gray than blue and made the crowfeet at the corners stand out even more prominently. Most telling were the lines of tension around her worry-bite swollen lips. "Fuck." She ran one hand through the disaster that was her hair. "I'm acting like a fucking pussy."
Gibbs moved to stand behind Jaeger. "No, Captain. You're not. The woman you loved just vanished and you have no idea what happened. You've held it together so far. Looking for her, telling other people she might see to call you, and getting us here. Now, let us do our jobs. Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt Captain Sheldahl."
The Gunny's statement had soothed whatever inadequacies the Captain was feeling. With a snort she answered, "A better question might be who doesn't. As much as I love her, Sonny's got a talent for pissing people off by walking into the room. Even I want to clean her clock sometimes. Hell, Davy wants to sometimes, and that guy doesn't have a temper to speak of."
There was a pause as Jaeger sat back and considered. "But seriously hurt Sonny. I can only think of two or three off the top of my head. That's not including all the bigoted assholes out there who might have found out about us. Shit." The realization hit her like a blow to the gut. "This could be a hate crime, couldn't it. Shit. But why take Sonny and not me."
There was empathy in Tony's eyes as he laid a hand on the shorter woman's shoulder. "We don't know anything for sure right now." His voice was quiet and reassuring. "Can you tell me the names of the people who might want to hurt your wife?"
Tony's word choice earned a strained, but grateful smile. "You'll want to check with Davy too. I know there's things Sonny's declined to tell me about." The smile turned crooked and affectionate. "She's afraid I'm gonna screw myself over by getting into it with a superior officer. Anyways."
"There's a second lieutenant with the local grunts who's given her grief because she turned him down on an offer. A couple of the guys in her unit had to rough him up to get him to leave her alone. His name is Haist, I think."
"Um, Staff Sergeant Krest in the logistics. Long story short, she blames Sonny for her boyfriend leaving her. And Lieutenant Colonel Bower, who's in charge of the local MP Light. Sonny knocked his lights out once in a bar fight, he's been looking to get even ever since."
"A pair of Corporals grunts again, who were getting too frisky with another woman. Both Sonny and I were involved in that altercation. Brigadier General Masson, insubordination in front of the whole Goddamn company. And she turned out to be right."
One hand rubbed a weary path across her face, "Officer Morale with the PD. Sonny publicly accused him of abusing his wife. Half a dozen rednecks that got it into their heads that beating up gay couples heading home was fun. That was both of us again. That's all I can think of at the moment." The recital ended with her looking even more tired than before.
Both NCIS agents looked honestly impressed. "Wow," Tony muttered. "And I thought I was bad." The smack to the back of his head was expected. Jaeger smiled at the interaction.
Okay, cheat sheet. I know the characters can get a little confusing.
Capt. Amanda 'Sonny' Sheldahl- 160th Nightstalkers (Army Pilot)
Capt. Matilda 'Matt' Jaeger- marines
Lt. David 'Davy' Tunensis-160th Nightstalkers (Sonny's co-pilot)
