Conversation in an Elevator

Tony stared disconsolately at the huge stack of manila case files sitting on his desk. Vance had just informed Gibbs that their cold case review had been going so well, barring a major terrorist threat he planned to keep them in the office an extra week. It being Wednesday, Tony had thought he only had three more days of being chained to his desk; he was pondering the ethics of wishing for a bomb threat or two when his desk phone rang.

"Special Agent DiNozzo."

"Hi, Agent DiNozzo. This is Sammie Hawthorne."

Tony's eyes widened, and he looked quickly at Gibbs' desk and then half stood to look around what he could see of the entire floor. No sign of Gibbs.

"Hey, Sammie! Thanks so much for getting back to me. Would you like to set a time to talk again? I could come see you this weekend."

"Actually, I came to you. I'm here in D.C., at a coffee shop not far from the Navy Yard. I came to the city to visit some friends, figured I might as well handle this too."

Images of Gibbs running into Sammie in the coffee shop zinged through Tony's mind, none of them with good outcomes. He frantically waved at Ziva and Tim; they started to get to their feet, only to be waved back down as he typed hastily into a chat window, telling them, and Ducky and Abby, what was going on. He caught a glimpse of Ziva's shocked expression as he began rambling.

"You're here! In the city. Wow! Ah, tell you what, let me text you an address and I'll meet you there. Give me your cell number?"

"Um… really? Isn't it easier for me to just come to your office?"

"No, no, not at all… you have to deal with security, it's a real hassle, you need an escort in the building, it would be a much more relaxing conversation far, far away from here."

"Well, okay, if you're sure." She sounded doubtful, but gave him her number.

"Yeah, really, SO much better. Texting you an address now… I'll meet you there in about an hour? Great, thanks!" He hung up the phone and leaned over letting his forehead rest against the surface of his desk. "Crisis averted," he mumbled.

"What crisis is that, DiNozzo?"

Tony shot upwards, back ramrod straight in his seat, staring at Ziva, who was studiously ignoring him while her fingers flew over her keyboard. A glance at McGee showed his face buried in a case file. Smiling weakly, Tony turned to his left to look up at Gibbs, who stood on the other side of the partition by Tony's desk, one arm resting on the top of it while the other raised his coffee to his lips.

"Oh, hey, Boss. Didn't see you there."

"No kidding."

The two men stared at each other.

Tony cracked first. "So, Boss…"

"What crisis?"

Tony sat back, his expression turning serious. "Can we talk in your office?"

Gibbs' eyebrows lifted. He continued to look at Tony, then nodded slightly. Tony rose from his chair and followed Gibbs to the elevator, exchanging panicked looks with Ziva before wiping all expression from his face as the elevator dinged and Gibbs stepped inside, Tony after him.

Gibbs turned to face Tony as his SFA hit a button to get the elevator moving, then stopped it a few seconds later. Tony took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then turned to face his boss. The two men stared at each other. The standoff ended when Gibbs raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Okay, Boss, so this isn't case related…"

"You gonna tell me you have a dentist appointment, DiNozzo?"

"What? No, Gibbs! Vance is not sending me undercover, and believe me, I learned my lesson. I would tell you. Won't make that mistake ever again, I promise." Tony saw Gibbs relax in small ways, and as always was gratified for that bit of evidence that his boss really did care about him. He then saw that Gibbs was waiting for him to continue.

"Look, Gibbs… Jethro. Uh, nope, that's just wrong. Look, Boss… I'm asking you to trust me."

Gibbs blinked at that, and his brow furrowed. The staring contest resumed, and this time Tony wasn't backing down. Gibbs finally tilted his head slightly, indicating that he was asking for an explanation.

Tony broke eye contact and looked down, thinking. "Most likely, this goes one of two ways," he said, as he looked up again. "You never need to know anything about it is one way. The other is you find out everything, and by everything, I mean, wow. Everything." Tony sighed. "And I don't know which possibility is the better one." He moved forward slightly, stepping just a hair into Gibbs' space. "So, I'm asking you to let me, let us have your six, and for you to trust me. Please."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed as he looked at Tony. He slowly raised his coffee cup, took a sip, then lowered it. Then he nodded once.

Tony smiled. "Thanks, Boss." He stepped back, getting the elevator moving again, canceling the trip downward and sending it back to their floor. Glancing at Gibbs, he explained, "Gotta get my stuff from my desk."

Stymied

Gibbs watched Tony grab his gear and head to the elevator. His gut was telling him trust was important, but not knowing if Tony was walking into trouble didn't sit well with him. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Gibbs drank the rest of his coffee, tossed the cup in the trash, then went to stand in front of McGee's desk, looking at his junior agent.

McGee tried to keep staring down at the case file open in front of him, but he couldn't do it. He looked up, wilting under Gibbs' stare. "Uh, Boss… something I can do for you?" His voice crept into the upper registers.

"What's DiNozzo up to, Tim?"

McGee winced; it was a low blow, using his first name. "Well, Boss –" His computer dinged, and he looked at the screen. "Oh… OH! There's a thing… sub-basement… I gotta, um…" He rose to his feet. "Yeah, I gotta go… do the… thing." He stared wide-eyed at Gibbs, then ran to the back elevator.

Gibbs watched him go, resisting the temptation to read the screen. Then he turned toward Ziva, who had clearly been watching him, and was now refocusing on her own computer screen. He approached her desk, standing in front of her, waiting.

She glanced up at him. "Can I help you, Gibbs?"

Gibbs shook his head slightly, smiling. "Well, Ziver, you can tell me what Tony's up to."

Ziva blinked, keeping her eyes on her screen. "I do not know to what you are referring."

Gibbs stared at her. She looked back up at him, her face blank. "Tony has asked me to stay out of his business. So, I am trying to be a good teammate and am staying out of it." She gave him a small smile, then returned to her computer screen, narrowing her eyes and typing with increased vigor.

Gibbs sighed, then turned and made his way to the elevator and Abby's lab.

A few minutes later, he walked in to pounding music and an Abby who wouldn't look him in the eyes. "NO, Gibbs! I am way too busy, and there's just, there's SO much work, and it's very delicate, you know, so you have to leave. Work can't wait, Gibbs!" She took his arm and quick-marched him back out the door, giving him a little push, then slamming and locking the door behind him.

A little bewildered, Gibbs made his way to Autopsy. He walked in to see Ducky sitting at his desk, going through some forms. There was no sign of Palmer.

Ducky looked up at his entrance. "Ah, Jethro! So kind of you to visit."

"You're the only one who thinks so, Ducky."

Ducky watched as Gibbs pulled a chair over to the desk and sat down. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Tony just left after refusing to tell me why. McGee and Abby won't talk to me, and Ziva's reverted to Mossad-level secrecy." He shot a stern look at his friend. "You know what's going on with my team, Duck?"

Ducky sat back, sighing. "Jethro, why are Anthony, Timothy, Ziva, and Abby, in her own fashion, on your team?"

Gibbs gave Ducky a puzzled look, then shrugged. "They're the best at what they do."

"Come now, Jethro, you know it's more than that. They are your chosen family. They care for you. I would even go so far as to say they love you. All I am willing to tell you is that what they are doing right now is for you. They are trying to protect you. Let them."

Gibbs looked around the room, trying to find the right words. "From what? I don't need protecting."

Ducky laughed. "My dear friend, if the past few years are any indication, you need a full-time bodyguard. I'll repeat myself… let them do this for you."

Gibbs shifted uncomfortably. "Tony did ask me to trust him," he admitted.

"Then I suggest you do so."

Gibbs looked into Ducky's eyes, rubbed at his chin, then nodded. "Thanks, Duck." He clasped his friend's shoulder as he stood, then left the room to return to his desk. He greeted Ziva with a nod, then focused on the next case file on top of the pile on his desk, glancing over at Tony's empty seat every so often.

Conversation in a Coffee House

Sammie was easy to spot when Tony arrived at the coffee house he'd sent her to. She was next in line at the counter, about to place an order, when he joined her. "Hi, Sammie."

She turned to him, but before she could speak, the man behind her snapped out, "No cutting the line!"

Sammie turned around and glared at the man until he shifted nervously, lowered his eyes, and muttered an apology. She turned back around, smiled at the barista, and placed her order, then turned to Tony expectantly. He was too busy gaping at her to realize it was his turn.

"You okay, Tony?"

"Ah, yeah." He placed his order, glancing at her, thinking hard. She has his smile and The Glare!

Tony insisted on paying, and they moved off to wait for Sammie's black tea and Tony's coffee with sugar and hazelnut creamer before finding a table away from other customers.

"Thanks for meeting me here," Tony said once they were seated.

Sammie gave him a strange look. "The other place was so much closer."

"Yeah, I know." He simply smiled at her while she clearly waited for an explanation, sighing when it became clear he wasn't going to give her one.

He took a sip of his coffee, then looked at her seriously. "You okay to talk now?"

She wrapped her hands around her tea and nodded. "You wanted to know about my life before the accident, right?"

Tony nodded.

"There's honestly not much I can tell you." She stared at the table, not really focused on it. "I remember the hospital. I remember waking up and looking at the bracelet on my arm and not recognizing my name… but I couldn't think of any other name. The doctors told me I couldn't remember things because of the trauma of losing my parents, and the injuries from the accident." She looked up at him, smiling slightly. "Have you found out anything new, with your high security clearance?"

Tony shook his head. "Nope. Mostly been waiting to talk to you again."

Sammie drank some tea, then looked around the room for a while before turning her attention back to him. "Somehow I'm just not as surprised as I should be that I have someone else's fingerprints." She looked away again. "Will you tell me whose?"

Tony cleared his throat. "I'd like to hear your story first. I'm suspecting something… if I'm wrong, and I don't handle this right, someone I care about could get badly hurt. I'd like to stop that from happening… that's why I'm here."

Sammie looked at him thoughtfully. "Okay." She sat back, letting go of the tea and crossing her arms over her chest. "I was in the hospital for a long time. I had to relearn some things, but within a few years I was fully recovered, except for my memory. I was lucky… the Hawthornes were great parents, and I was happy with them." She reached up to brush a few tears away. "They didn't want me to forget my parents; they gave me pictures of them… but I never felt connected to the people in the pictures. They were just… random people." She shook her head. "I had these dreams, sometimes… my mom in the pictures had brown hair, but I would dream about a woman with red hair. And my dad in the pictures, they told me he was in construction, but I insisted my dad was in the military."

Tony spoke up. "Army?"

She shook her head. "Marines. I don't know why I was so sure of that… the doctors finally suggested that those pictures should be put away, and my parents – my adoptive parents, I mean – they stopped talking about them. So, I did too." She gave him a wry smile. "After all, everyone was telling me my brains were scrambled." She sighed. "But the dreams never stopped. Became less frequent over time, but never stopped. I had one last night, actually." Her lips quirked into a slight smile. "This man, I think he was my dad, was talking to me very seriously about rules… and I think they had numbers?"

Tony shook his head. "Wow." She looked at him, puzzled, but he didn't explain. He tilted his head as something occurred to him. "The pictures they gave you, of your parents… were you in any of them?"

Sammie frowned. "No… they were pictures from their drivers' licenses. I don't have any pictures of me from before the accident."

Tony didn't have any more doubts, not really… it was possible this was all a set up, but she would have to be the best actor he'd ever encountered. Got to get her to Abby and Ducky. We need to run DNA. And we need an explanation for how Kelly Gibbs became Samantha Kendall.

Tony drank some coffee, considering his words carefully. Sammie watched him; he got the sense she really hoped he could give her some answers. "I'd like to show you some pictures, if that's okay. Sort of like a police lineup."

She sat up, clearly intrigued. "You want to see if I recognize anyone."

He nodded.

"Please…" she said. "I need to know. I… I thought I had gotten past all that, but now, well, not so much."

Tony flipped through pictures on his phone, finding an old one of Tom Morrow, the director of NCIS when he was hired. He showed it to Sammie, who looked at it carefully, then shook her head and shrugged. He got similar responses to a picture of Tobias Fornell, one of Ducky, and one of a Marine in uniform from a recent case. McGee didn't get any reaction either. He showed her a picture of Jack Gibbs, and that gave her pause.

"I've seen him before." She stared at the picture. "He makes me feel, I don't know… happy, I guess?" She looked at Tony, her expression confused. He held up a finger, indicating for her to wait, then showed her a picture of his own father.

Her eyebrows shot up. "He looks like you."

Tony smiled. "My dad." He flipped through a few more pictures, then brought up a recent one of Gibbs, taken surreptitiously at a crime scene, when Gibbs was smiling at something Ducky had said. He handed the phone to Sammie, whose eyes widened immediately as she took it. "That's… that's the man I've dreamt about. Only he's older… I think."

Tony held out his hand; she gazed at the picture before reluctantly handing the phone back. He searched through pictures, finding one of Gibbs from many years ago, before Kate joined the team. He held out the phone again. Sammie glanced at his face, took the phone again, and drew in a quick breath at the sight of the picture. Tears welled in her eyes. "That's him. That's my dad. My first one. I know it."

Sammie stared at the picture for several minutes, wiping at her eyes and sniffling. She then cleared her throat, handed the phone back to Tony, and met his eyes, waiting. Tony closed his own eyes for a moment, hoping this was the right move. Then he met her gaze. "His name is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. His wife was Shannon Gibbs… and his daughter was Kelly Gibbs."

Sammie stared at him. "Was. Kelly..." She dropped her eyes, her attention turning inward. Then she looked back up at Tony and almost whispered. "Was that me?"

Tony reached up to scratch the back of his head. "I hope so, 'cause if not, I'm screwing this up really, really badly."

She sat back in her chair, looking around the room without really seeing it. Without looking at him, she stated, her voice stronger, "I have Kelly Gibbs' fingerprints."

Tony nodded.

Sammie's brow furrowed. "Do you… do you have a picture of Shannon?"

Tony made a quick call. "Abs… can you dig up a picture of Shannon and send it to my phone? One of her with Kelly would be great… sorry, can't talk now, thanks." He hung up immediately, hoping Abby wouldn't hold it against him later.

A few minutes later, his phone buzzed. He opened the email, clicked on the picture, and showed it to Sammie.

She stared at the picture. "That's… that's me… I… she's dead, isn't she?"

Tony nodded. "Car accident. There's more to the story, but I think it should wait."

"My dad… he's still alive?"

Tony nodded. "He's my boss." He watched her eyes widen as she understood why he hadn't wanted to meet at the coffee house near the Navy Yard. "He doesn't know I'm here, Sammie. Kelly Gibbs died in that car accident... but maybe not."

"Maybe?" She looked at him, almost angrily.

Tony looked down, his fingers tapping the table top. "We need to confirm this." He looked back at her. "We need to be sure, Sammie. He was devastated when he lost his family, and it still hits him hard all these years later. I don't think he'd be able to handle it if we didn't absolutely know for sure."

Sammie nodded. "I understand." She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him, and he was struck by how much she suddenly looked like Gibbs. "But you're sure, or you wouldn't have told me all this."

Tony nodded. "I'm as sure as I can be without a DNA test." He smiled as she looked at him almost challengingly. "You have his smile. And the way you glared at that guy in line behind us… perfect imitation of my boss."

She smiled slightly. "Can we do that? The DNA, I mean."

"Yeah, pretty sure we can. If we can get you into her lab, I'm guessing Abby can run the DNA and check for a match by the end of the day."

"Who is Abby, anyway?"

"Our forensic scientist, and a friend. She's the one who discovered that Sammie Hawthorne's fingerprints were a match for Kelly Gibbs." His eyes narrowed… he looked at the time on this phone, then made a call. "Ducky? Hey, can you take Gibbs out to lunch or something? I need to get Ms. Hawthorne to Abby, and we can't risk running into him right now… great, thanks." He smiled at Sammie. "He'll text me as soon as they're out of the building."

"Thanks for this," Sammie said, after a few minutes of silence. "Stuff is starting to make sense." She smiled ruefully. "Sort of."

Tony returned the smile. "There's a bunch of us… Ducky, the guy I just called, he's a good friend of my boss, and our medical examiner. You'll meet him, I'm sure, after we get you into Abby's lab. You'll have to hide out in her office, in case Gibbs shows up down there." Sammie started to protest, but Tony held up his hand. "Non-negotiable. We have to be sure. I know you want to see him, but none of us are going to be willing to risk it until we know for sure you are who we think you are. Well, who I think you are."

"The others don't believe it?"

Tony thought about it. "I think we all want to. We've worked with Gibbs for a lot of years, and at one time or another we've all wanted to be able to give him his family back. It's a little unbelievable that we might actually get to do it." He grinned suddenly. "Abby's the most skeptical, I think… she's very protective of Gibbs. She won't argue with DNA though, that's for sure. You might even halfway convince her if you glare at her."

Sammie's brow furrowed. "What if the DNA isn't a match, and I'm not Kelly after all?"

Tony turned serious. "Then we'll be putting you in protective custody until we sort out how your fingerprints got mixed up with hers. Our first theory wasn't that you were actually Kelly… we thought one of Gibbs' enemies was using you to get to him… you're a great match for what Kelly could have looked like as an adult."

Her eyebrows shot up. "He has a lot of enemies?"

Tony nodded. "Oh, yeah." His phone buzzed, and he looked at it. "Ducky's headed out with Gibbs now. Did you drive here?"

She shook her head. "Taxi."

"Come on, I'll drive, we'll get you to Abby."