Title: Unexpected Days

Author: weirdfanfics232

Date: December 30, 2020

Wordcount: 3,867 words

Fandom: Lie To Me / NCIS

Warnings: sickfic; mention of blood

Notes for the Fandom Blind

NCIS: NCIS is the federal agency Naval Criminal Investigative Service. They deal with crimes relating to the U.S. Navy. Leroy Jethro Gibbs is the head of the team - the people working for him are Tony DiNozzo (senior field agent), Ziva David (Mossad Liaison), and Tim McGee. Others working at the agency are Jen Shepard (director), Donald "Ducky" Mallard (head of autopsy), Jimmy Palmer (autopsy assistant), and Abby (forensic scientist).

Lie to Me: Lie to Me follows the people working at the Lightman Group. The Lightman Group is a team of people trained in understanding micro expressions. Cal Lightman owns the company, along with Gillian Foster (a psychologist). The others who work there are Eli Loker and Ria Torres (a natural at reading micro expressions and Lightman's protege).

Ria and Loker were due to arrive at 1 p.m. but Lightman arrived at 12:40. The director of NCIS had specifically requested he come early so they could discuss the logistics of the week; for the next seven days, Agent Gibbs's team and Lightman's employees would be staying at Gibbs' house to get to know each other before they began working on cases together.

He was expecting Gibbs to open the door but it was actually Director Shepard who did. She and Lightman had met only once before, when he visited the NCIS headquarters.

"Dr. Lightman, good to see you again," she said. She moved aside so he could step in and take off his coat.

"How are you?" he asked blandly, as he took off his coat and shoes. He wasn't much for small talk but he hated to just stand in silence with the woman.

"I'm well, and you?"

"Oh I'm good," he said. Without another word, she turned and walked further into the house. Lightman continued after her. She led him into a living room. It had an armchair, an L-shaped couch, a coffee table and a couple wooden chairs placed in front of the fireplace and TV. It was clear the wooden chairs were only there since the room did not have enough seats for the amount of people due to come.

"Agent Gibbs will be back in a moment," Director Shepard said. She sat in one of the wooden chairs and made herself comfortable. "Please, sit down."

Lightman chose the armchair next to the doorway. However, he continued to sit up straight rather than settling in. They sat in silence for another minute or two, until Gibbs eventually came in. Gibbs nodded gruffly at Lightman but did not go to shake his hand so Lightman just nodded back without standing up.

"Alright, why are we here, Jen?" Gibbs asked. He sat down in the wooden chair next to hers. The question surprised Lightman; he had assumed Agent Gibbs was the one running the whole meeting and therefore the one who requested they arrive early.

"I thought we should go over our intentions for this week and what we all wanted to get from it," Director Shepard said.

"What is there to discuss?" Lightman asked. "Both teams are staying at Agent Gibbs's house as a strange work retreat so they can get to know each other."

"Yes," Shepard said, "but we need to discuss—"

Lightman's phone began to buzz in his pocket.

"Hold that thought," he said. He pulled the phone out and saw that it was Ria calling him. Lightman frowned and excused himself from the room so he could answer.

"What's going on, Torres?" He asked briskly. "Are you on your way?"

"Hey, Lightman, sorry I didn't call earlier, I honestly just woke up." She coughed. "I'm sick."

"Sick?" He repeated. "How bad?"

"Uh, I have a 102 degree fever."

"Alright, so bad," Lightman said. He thought for a moment. "Let me talk to the director and get back to you."

"Okay. Thanks."

He hung up the phone and walked back into the living room, where Shepard and Gibbs were waiting.

"Torres is sick," he told them when he walked in. "A 102 degree fever."

Gibbs looked at Jen and raised his eyebrows. He would have told the sick woman to stay home (only partially because he didn't want this entire situation to happen in the first place and that would help his cause) but he had a feeling Jen would have a different response.

"Unless she's in the hospital, I expect her to be here," Jen said. "This meeting is very important and I don't want to have to reschedule it."

Lightman nodded and muttered under his breath, "Yeah I figured you would say that."

In all honesty, he was surprised Ria had admitted she was sick. Due to her upbringing in which she was not allowed to show weakness of any sort, she generally came to work no matter the circumstances. Depending on how sick she seemed, Lightman would either give her some half-hearted task to appease her or he would flat-out send her home. He wondered whether she was making progress in realizing that she did not have to be perfect all the time or if she just didn't want to come to this and was using her fever as a way out. Of course, there was a small possibility she wasn't even sick to begin with and was just hoping that since she never willingly took a sick day, Lightman would grant her this but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. At least until he actually saw her. It was pretty easy to gauge whether or not a person had a fever by just looking at them.

Lightman texted her back saying that she had to come in anyway but to either take an Uber or catch a ride from Loker since he most definitely did not want her crashing her car on the way to Gibbs's house due to slow reflexes and the general brain fog that came from being sick, then slipped his phone back into his pocket. He tuned back into the conversation Gibbs and Shepard were having.

"There's no point on her being here if she has a fever," Gibbs said. Shepard took a sip of water and placed the glass back on the coffee table. They were lounging about in Gibbs's living room, where everyone would soon be sitting. "She's not going to retain most of the information and nobody will really be able to get to know her. Besides, she's probably contagious and will just end up getting the rest of us sick."

"My decision is final, Jethro," Jen said coolly. "I expect everyone to be here. If you're that worried about her health, Dr. Mallard can look her over."

Gibbs looked like he wanted to argue but then thought better of it and backed down. Lightman tilted his head and looked at him. He was angry, there was no doubt about that. But there was also concern in his eyes, although concern about who was up for debate. Still, it was curious that he backed down so quickly despite seeming like such an assertive man and Lightman began to wonder about the working relationship between the director and the special agent.

He was pulled out of his reverie by a knock on the door. He glanced at the clock. 12:50 p.m. Whoever it was, they were early. Lightman expected Gibbs to get up but he stayed seated and waited for the person to let themselves in. He supposed it was normal for his house to be unlocked and his agents knew that.

Sure enough, after a minute, the door opened. Tim and Ziva walked into the room, quickly followed by Tony. They shared greetings with the others in the room, though nobody made a move to shake hands. The three of them sat on the far end of the L-shaped couch. Just after sitting down, Tim's phone began ringing. He stood back up and walked into the other room. As he left, Lightman heard him say, "Hey Abs, what's up?"

"Who else is coming, boss?" Tony asked.

"Abby, Ducky, Palmer, and Lightman's team," Gibbs said. They fell into silence.

A minute later, Lightman's phone began ringing. A quick glance at it showed that it was Loker. Lightman answered the phone and put it on speakerphone so he wouldn't have to repeat everything to Gibbs afterward.

"Hey Loker."

"Hey Lightman, we're definitely going to be late now," Loker said. His speaking was slow and he sounded distant, like he was focused on something else.

"Why?"

"Well, uh, you know how Ria's sick, right? Well she got a bit dizzy and tripped in her kitchen… long story short, I think she broke her nose. We're trying to get the bleeding under control now."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you going to do once you get the bleeding under control, Loker?" Lightman asked impatiently.

"Oh, uh, I hadn't really thought that far ahead, honestly."

"Bring her over here," Gibbs said. He spoke a bit louder than usual so the speakerphone would pick up his voice. "Ducky — Dr. Mallard — will be here soon and he can look her over, see if it's broken."

He glanced over at Jen, who nodded at him. She approved of his decision, though Gibbs didn't seem to care much what she thought either way.

"Okay, we should be there in fifteen minutes," Loker said. The panic was leaving his voice now that he didn't have to try to figure out what to do.

Lightman nodded, though Loker couldn't see him, said an abrupt, "see you then" and hung up. They sat in a near silence for the next twenty minutes until Lightman's phone buzzed with another text. Still looking incredibly bored, he turned his phone on and read the text, then stood up.

"They're outside," he said. He went outside to meet them. When he got there, Ria was slowly climbing out of the car, clinging onto the door for stability with one hand. With her other hand, she was holding an ice pack wrapped in a towel on her face. Despite the cold ice pack, her forehead was glistening with sweat.

Lightman whistled. "You really messed this one up, didn't you?"

Ria glared at him as best she could. "Maybe I wouldn't have face-planted into my granite countertop if you weren't making me come to work with a high fever."

"Technically, you're not really at work," Lightman said. Loker came around the car and let Ria hold onto him rather than the car as her stabilizer. Lightman slammed the car door shut behind them. They began walking toward the house, at a slow pace. "Are you dizzy?"

Ria nodded but stopped when it made her vision swam. "Dizzy and a bit of double vision," she said. Her voice was muffled by the towel that was covering her mouth slightly but Lightman could make out what she was saying all the same.

"Headache?"

"Yeah but I was dizzy and had a headache before I fell so it doesn't mean anything," Ria said. Lightman held the front door open for them, then shut it once they were all inside. The men both took off their shoes while Ria stood and tried not to faint. Loker helped her step out of her boots — he was feeling immensely guilty about the whole situation and was trying to compensate for it — then they followed Lightman into the living room.

Everyone in the room stared as they walked in but Ria couldn't care less. She was more concerned with putting one foot in front of the other until she eventually reached the couch and could lower herself down. Unfortunately, a wave of nausea hit her and she had to hope beyond all hope that she wasn't about to puke all over Agent Gibbs's carpet.

The people around her were talking but her head was spinning too much to be able to keep up. Her symptoms were getting worse at a rapid pace. Their voices were garbled, like they were underwater, and she found it increasingly frustrating to try to keep up, so she more or less gave up. She found herself sinking into the softness of the couch and just wanting to sleep… she didn't notice her upper body falling forward until Loker's strong arms caught her and pushed her back up into a seated position.

His voice now crystal clear, he said, "Wow, let's try to stay sitting up for the moment, why don't we?"

Ria nodded in response although she wasn't sure she could actually manage what he was asking. She was getting so tired. So, so tired. She just wanted to close her eyes and sleep.

Somebody (she believed it was Gibbs, though she couldn't be sure since she'd never met him) was speaking, she could see his lips moving, but she had no idea what he was saying. She stared blankly at him for a couple seconds while he looked back expectantly. Luckily, Loker seemed to realize she had no idea what was expected of her and took matters into his own hands. He moved her hand from where it was holding the blood-soaked towel and icepack and pulled them from her face. It was just as well, the ice pack wasn't really cold anymore. She reached her hand up to feel her nose. She flinched slightly at the touch — her nose was broken, really what did she expect? — but continued to feel it regardless. When she pulled her hand back, she was happy to see it wasn't covered in blood. It seemed her nose wasn't bleeding anymore which was a good sign.

She glanced to her left. Lightman and Gibbs were talking to each other. She was still seeing two of each of them and their voices were drifting in and out of her focus.

"Ducky will be here soon," Gibbs said. He looked at Ria. "Think she can make it that long without passing out?"

Lightman looked at her critically. "She's pretty tough, she'll probably be fine."

"How did she break it?" Tim asked. He had been out of the room when Lightman was on the phone with them.

"Uh, she has a fever and she got dizzy and fell face first into her counter," Loker explained.

"Why did she come if she has a fever?" Abby asked. "Wouldn't it be better if she just stayed home?"

"That's a great question," Loker said. He looked at Lightman, who shrugged.

"Director Shepard insisted she was here no matter what."

At that moment, the front door opened. Ducky and Palmer entered the house, arguing as always about Palmer giving the older doctor the wrong directions. Apparently, Jimmy tried to direct him around a traffic jam and it did not end well. Gibbs walked into the front hall to explain the situation.

Ria blinked. She could have sworn Gibbs was standing in front of her a minute ago and then he disappeared. The world was spinning more than ever and she was really feeling like she might throw up. She stared at the ground hoping that it might get a bit better. Gibbs's feet and legs came back into her vision along with two other pairs. She blinked a couple times and tried to raise her head to look at them. From what she could make sense of, Gibbs was standing with an older man, and another man that looked about her age.

The older man was speaking, she heard something about moving the kitchen then Loker was asking if she thought she could stand up. She nodded because she wanted to make them happy, she was causing so much trouble, and tried to stand. Loker stood with her and caught her as she immediately began to fall. He supported almost her entire bodyweight and walked her out of the room and to the kitchen table where the others couldn't see them. Gibbs moved two of the chairs so they were facing each other and Loker dropped her somewhat unceremoniously on one of the wooden chairs. Ducky sat across from her and put his doctor's bag down on the table.

"How aware has she been?" he asked as he pulled out supplies.

"She was fairly responsive when it first happened but she's been pretty out of it since we got here."

Ducky nodded along. He stuck a thermometer in her ear and waited for the beep. When it did, he pulled it out and looked at the screen.

"102.5. How high was it earlier?"

"She said 102 when she texted me a couple hours ago," Lightman provided.

"We'll keep an eye on it," Palmer said. Ducky nodded in agreement. He then looked at her nose.

"It's not misaligned so it won't need too much treatment," he said. "Ice it for 10-15 minutes at a time, at least 4 times a day, and keep her head elevated while she sleeps to reduce swelling. You know, this reminds me of a case I had a few years back—"

"Now is probably not the best time, Duck," Gibbs said. "We think she has a concussion."

"Oh yes, of course." He focused his attention on Ria once again. "Can you follow my finger with your eyes?"

Ria stared at him for a couple seconds before her brain processed what he was saying then she nodded. He held his finger up and moved it slowly side to side. She tried her best to follow it without moving her head as well, to no avail. Ducky hummed under his breath and grabbed his penlight.

"I'm going to shine this in your to check how your pupils dilate. I know it's bright but try to keep your eyes open, alright?"

Once again, Ria had to process what he was saying but she eventually nodded. He shone the penlight in one eye then the other. Satisfied, he turned it off again and placed it in his bag.

"So what's the verdict, Duck?" Gibbs asked. He was more than a little annoyed with this whole situation. He didn't want people staying in his house for a week to begin with, let alone a sick and injured woman whom he had never met. But another part of him, a small part of him mind you, was feeling protective over her, as he was with all his agents when they got hurt. Hell, how many times had DiNozzo been in almost this exact situation?

"She certainly has a concussion," Ducky said. "I believe that combined with her fever is making her confused and slow-to-respond right now. The best course of action at the moment would probably be to give her some Tylenol for the pain and allow her to get some sleep with the usual concussion procedure of neuro checks every two hours."

Gibbs nodded and thought to himself for a few moments while Palmer went to grab the bottle of Tylenol he knew Gibbs kept in the kitchen.

"I… can go home," Ria said slowly. Everyone stared at her. "I don't want to bother you. It's easier if I just go home."

"No, somebody needs to be with you," Gibbs said. "It's easier if you just stay here. I've dealt with enough of agents getting concussions that I know the drill by now."

Palmer returned with the Tylenol. He placed two in one of Ria's hands and a glass of water in the other. Ria stared at them blankly for a couple seconds then at Lightman.

"Take the pills, Ria," Lightman said. "Then you can go to sleep for a bit."

Ria didn't fully understand why she needed to take the pills but she trusted her boss enough to know he wouldn't intentionally poison her, and honestly, a nap sounded great so she did as she was told.

"I don't know where she should sleep," Gibbs said to Ducky. "Originally, she was going to share a room with Ziva and Abby but I don't want them to be woken up every two hours when I wake Ria up."

"Do you want her to sleep there for now then move her later if need be?"

"I think we should avoid moving her if possible." Gibbs stared at Ria for a second who, for her part, was looking at nothing in the distance and seemed like she might pass out at any second. "There's a double bed and a twin in there. I was going to put Abby and Ziva in one bed but I guess I'll put Ria in the bigger bed, then one of them can sleep on a cot in my room or the boys' room and the other can either sleep on the twin or on the couch, whichever they prefer. It's not ideal but it will work."

"You should only need to be waking her up every two hours for a night or two then everything can go back to normal," Ducky said.

"I'll probably still want her in the double bed though, so it's easier for her to be propped up while she's sleeping… but we can deal with that later. For now, I think she really needs to sleep." He shook his head and muttered under his breath, "I told the director it was useless for her to come with a fever."

"How are we planning to get her up the stairs?" Loker asked. "I mean, it was hard enough to get her from the living room to here, so getting her across the house and up the stairs might be difficult."

Gibbs grimaced. "Sheer determination. Think you can stand Torres?"

Ria perked up slightly at the mention of her name but she didn't actually move. Gibbs watched for a couple seconds to see if she would finally process it and move but she never did so he grabbed her hands and pulled her unsteadily to her feet.

"Think you can walk?" Lightman asked. She was a bit more aware now and she nodded but still looked unsure. The decision was made for her when she took one step forward and all but collapsed on Gibbs. He grunted then wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and held up most of her bodyweight as they walked. They managed that way up the stairs with Ducky following behind them to help settle her in when they got upstairs. Finally, they reached the guest bedroom where Ria would be staying and Gibbs sat her down on the double bed, much more gently than Loker had downstairs. He was moving with a practiced ease, having taken care of multiple concussed agents in the past, namely DiNozzo.

Gibbs assessed what she was wearing. Just sweatpants and a T-shirt. He wasn't sure if she had a bag in Loker's car but either way, her outfit was close enough to pyjamas for the time being. He grabbed some extra pillows to lean against the wall so Ria would be propped up as Ducky suggested. Then he pulled the covers back and helped Ria settle in.

"You don't think her nose will start bleeding again, do you?" Gibbs asked.

"I doubt it," Ducky said. "It seemed to only bleed for a short while after the impact, which is typical."

"Good." He turned his attention back to Ria. "One last neuro check before you sleep. What's your full name?"

"Ria Torres."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four."

"What is your boss's name?"

"Cal Lightman."

Gibbs nodded. "You're clear. You can sleep now, I'll be back in two hours."

Ria looked so grateful that she was finally being left alone to sleep that it was almost comical. Gibbs walked out, turning the lights off and closing the door almost fully as he went. As he walked down the stairs, he considered to himself how much this day was not going as he expected. He chuckled a bit to himself as he thought that Ria was probably thinking the exact same thing.

The End