So sorry for the long hiatus loves. Been dealing with some stuff, then the holidays… This is a really long chapter (for better or worse), but a lot of ground is covered. The beginning is NSFW, so, ya know, enjoy somewhere other than work! ;) I hope to get back on track soon. Thanks for your patience!
Chapter 18
Tony shuddered as Jethro's arms came around him in the shower and his dry lips met Tony's neck. This was how things started. The first time Jethro actually took him was in the shower back in March. It was now August and so much had changed, but that touch still made him come alive inside like no other touch ever had. His heart pounded harder in his chest and his world grew more vivid the moment that Jethro's hands found his body.
"God, I love you," Tony murmured.
"Love you, too," Jethro said back, his voice husky and low. "And I love how you look when the water is streaming down your sexy body. Makes me want to lick every drop off of you."
Tony groaned and leaned against the wall in front of him so that his ass pressed into Jethro's crotch. He felt him grow harder at the new connection and swayed his hips to rub against him.
"That's right," Jethro said quietly. "You know what you want."
"You. Every minute of every day."
Jethro smirked as he bit down gently on Tony's shoulder.
"Tease," Tony whispered.
Jethro continued nibbling and suckling his way up Tony's neck. Tony groaned and then turned around so that he was facing Jethro. He leaned forward and took his mouth in a kiss and found himself pinned to the wall with Jethro's body as he devoured his mouth, a hand on each side of him. He let himself melt into the kiss knowing that he was being possessed and owned tonight, and he admitted that he didn't care one damn bit about what anyone else would've thought about it. He was Jethro's, and he wanted everyone to know.
Jethro wrapped his hand around Tony's cock and gave it a few long twisted strokes. Tony moaned softly into the kiss as he did so. Jethro decided he was going to take this round quick and then build it back up slowly once they got out of the shower and he had Tony cuffed to the bed. His mouth moved to Tony's neck where he sucked just hard enough not to give him a hickey and then bit down hard on Tony's shoulder.
"Fuck yes!" Tony gasped. "Oh yes…"
"Turn around," Jethro commanded as he unclenched his teeth. He reached for the bottle of lube he'd brought with him from the bedroom. He squirted some on his fingers and then sat it back on the holder next to the shampoo. He wasted no time going straight for his prize and opening it up. He loved the little gurgling sounds Tony made as he moaned with the water from the showerhead flowing over his face. It made him smirk as he slipped another finger into Tony and stretched them apart.
It didn't take but a minute to stretch him nice and loose. Jethro reached for the lube again, slicking his cock and without any fanfare plunged into Tony's prone body.
"Holy shit!" Tony cried out. "Yes! Yes, Jethro! Yes!"
The pace was hard and fast from the beginning, taking Tony with no care as to how he felt as long as he wasn't in pain. He was going to make him beg for his release. He loved how Tony pushed back against an already punishing rhythm causing their wet bodies to smack against one another. It was intense and when he came without warning into Tony's ass he reached over and turned off the water.
"Let it drip out of you," Jethro said, pinning Tony against the wall again. "You don't get to come yet." Tony groaned. "Get out and rub down with a towel."
"Yes, sir," Tony said with a shudder. He got out and did as he was told.
Jethro led him to the bedroom where he unpacked the cuffs. "Face down on the bed, hands above your head."
Tony following his orders was a complete turn on for him. He came over and fed the cuffs through the headboard so that Tony's left hand couldn't reach his right and vice versa. He cuffed them and stood back to watch his handiwork. "I like that." He took his phone out and started taking pictures of Tony on the bed, letting the flash announce what he was doing.
"I didn't realize that when I taught you how to take pictures with your phone you'd be taking pictures of me," Tony said with a soft chuckle.
"I should take video of that ass dripping my cum," Jethro said in reply, then moved to the bed to spread Tony's cheeks and hit the record button. "So nasty."
"You love every bit of it," Tony said.
"I do," he stopped the video after only a few seconds and sat the phone back on the nightstand next to the bottle of lube that he'd brought back from the bathroom with him. He turned the lamp off, once again letting only the lamp from across the room light the space. He sat next to Tony, drawing his nails across his skin lightly enough to raise goosebumps, but hard enough to leave light pink marks in their trail.
"I know you're dying to come, but you're going to have to wait until I get what I need again."
Tony groaned.
"Don't pretend like the idea of being denied your orgasm doesn't turn you on even more," Jethro said with a smirk, then spanked Tony hard once on each cheek. The crack that filled the air was satisfying for both of them and Tony gasped in both pleasure and pain.
"You'll be lucky if I let you come at all," Jethro said, a dark feeling coming over him. "I should leave you tied up like this all night, begging me to let you have your release."
"Please, no!" Tony moaned. "Don't. I really, really need to come."
"I know you do, but you can't yet. Not until I say so."
"I know," Tony said. He took a deep, steadying breath. "What do I have to do?" he asked.
"Just lay there until I'm ready to cum again."
Tony tried to lay still but he could feel the cum running down his ballsack from his ass and wiggled his butt to try to rush its movement so the tickling would stop. There was another loud crack and Tony felt the sensation of the smack to his right ass cheek on a delay. Jethro got up and went to the luggage. He opened it up to find their underwear and the ties. He grabbed one of Tony's widest and brought it over to the bed. Without warning he wrapped it around Tony's eyes, tying it in a knot at the back of his head. Tony groaned.
"You're evil."
"You love it."
"I do."
Jethro parted Tony's ass again and ran his finger around the rim of his stretched anus. It was soft and wet and Jethro wished he was ready to dive back in again. He felt a slight twitch in his cock, but it wasn't ready for another round yet.
He straddled Tony and began rubbing his back in a sensual way to keep him hard and aching for him. He dipped down and bit and licked as he went. It was amazing to touch Tony freely without the fear that anyone would interrupt them. Amira wouldn't be calling for another five hours. He had all the time he needed to play with Tony uninhibited.
His fingers ran up and through Tony's hair and then he grabbed hard, yanking Tony's head back, destroying the calm feeling the massage was giving him. Tony gasped, and Jethro smirked. "What do you want, Tony?" he asked.
"I want you to fill me with more cum!" Tony gasped out. "Please!"
That wasn't the answer Jethro was expecting, and it caused his dick to jump again a little more forcefully this time.
"You're filthy and I love it," Jethro said gruffly as he bent down near Tony's ear before biting the backside of his shoulder.
"Shit!" Tony gasped. He started letting out a string of words in Italian that sounded distinctly like begging and Jethro groaned low in his chest. He picked up the words "per favore" over and over again and smirked to himself.
"That's right," Jethro said, feeling borderline malicious. "Beg. Beg me to let you come."
"I need you to fuck me, Jethro," Tony whined. "Please?"
Jethro loved the sound of those words coming from those lips. He stroked himself a few times and found that he was getting semi-hard. "Turn that head to the right," he demanded and then stretched so that his dick was right by Tony's mouth. "Open up." Tony's mouth opened and Jethro guided his dick inside. Tony couldn't get a great angle here, but Jethro started thrusting in and out anyway. He got more cheek than throat, but it still felt good enough to make him harder. "Atta boy. Let me fuck your face." Tony sat still and Jethro's hands grabbed Tony's hair and started a nice rhythmic plunging into his mouth. Tony had a hard time breathing at that angle and soon was coughing. Jethro dropped his head after he pulled safely out and Tony took some deep breaths.
"You want to be fucked again, huh?" Jethro asked.
"Yes, sir. Please," Tony asked breathlessly.
"What if I just wanted to jack off all over your back?" he said, stroking himself.
"I'm yours to do with as you please," Tony said, his voice dripping with an honest craving to please his lover.
"Good answer," Jethro said. He climbed back onto Tony's ass and unceremoniously plunged back into him.
"Fuck yes!" Tony cried out.
Jethro got a nice bouncing ride going as he fucked down into Tony, then switched positions to accommodate his knees. Tony started trying to bounce back and Jethro shook his head.
"Hold still," he said, then he laid across Tony's back, pinning him to the bed as his hips thrusted in and out of Tony, pounding into his ass over and over again. "My cum makes for nice lube. You feel that?"
"Hell yeah," Tony moaned. "Please, harder…" His voice trailed off into another moan.
Jethro kept at it until he needed to switch positions. He got up on his knees and maneuvered Tony to do the same, then slid back in. "So good," he murmured as he thrust in and out a couple of times slowly, then increased his pace again.
"Please, Jethro! Please! I need to come so bad! You're- you're hitting- oh fuck! Pleeeeeeeeaaasssseeee!" he whined.
"Not until I do and I tell you you can."
"Please come! Please come!" Tony chanted.
"Is that what you want? Huh? Me to fill that ass again?" Jethro grunted out between thrusts.
"Yes… Yes… Yes…" Tony gasped with each thrust.
Jethro shifted his position just a little to get a better grip and started slamming into Tony's ass deeper and harder than before. He was losing his rhythm and Tony knew that he'd be full again soon with the warm liquid.
There was a loud groan from behind Tony and Jethro's hips stuttered to a stop, thrust a few more times, then stopped again before pulling out slowly. He watched as his cum sluiced out of Tony and smirked. The possessive feeling inside him grew even more as he watched as if he'd just marked Tony as his. He sat back on his feet for a few minutes as he caught his breath and got his bearings.
"We're going to take a little home movie," Jethro said with a lightbulb of an idea. "I'm going to unbind you, though I think you'll keep that tie on, and I'm going to watch you jerk off."
Tony groaned and waited for Jethro to unsnap the cuffs. "There you go. Turn over. Lube is next to you on your left if you want it."
"I've got so much precum right now that I might not need it," Tony said with a chuckle. It was then that he heard the chime that meant Jethro had started recording with his phone. He tried to block that out and started a slow stroke using the precum. After a couple of strokes there was even more. He liked the friction it gave him. His cock was not quiet slick, not quite dry, and very hot.
"Can I come?" he asked.
"Not until I say. Stroke harder and faster," Jethro commanded.
"Yes, sir," Tony said as he began stroking as directed. He thought he was going to explode- if not his dick then his head. His need was pounding through him.
Jethro watched him intently, not even checking to see if Tony remained in the viewfinder on the camera. He watched Tony turning red in his restraint not to let his orgasm go and he decided to have pity on him.
"You're mine," he said.
"All yours, Jethro. Only yours."
"Good. You can come."
"Oh, thank god!" Tony belted as he laid back and stroked himself a few more times until he jolted up off of the bed with his orgasm, one hand on his dick and the other propping him up as he groaned and his face scrunched up. He erupted all over the comforter that was crumpled and bunched up underneath him.
"There you go," Jethro said huskily as he watched. "Feel better?" Tony collapsed on the bed gasping. He held up a thumbs up and Jethro chuckled. He stopped the video and then grabbed some tissues to try to wipe up the cum all over the comforter. He took them to the bathroom to throw away and grabbed a wet washcloth for Tony. "Here you go. Clean up a bit and we'll lay down for a while."
Tony groaned and took the washcloth. He cleaned himself up and handed back to Jethro who took it back to the bathroom. Once he was back he laid down next to Tony, pulling him close to him. He kissed him in the crook of his neck and breathed him in.
"I just can't get close enough to you," he whispered.
"Ditto," Tony said, snuggling against Jethro.
They nuzzled each other until they dozed off.
********WDYG?********
Elly looked up from across the room to see if Ned had gotten his email. He'd been slacking for a few minutes and looking at houses online. Their search the night before was enlightening. They both found out just what type of houses they didn't want to live in, but they hadn't gotten much closer to narrowing down the style that they wanted. It was frustrating in some ways, and interesting in others. They were both pointing out little things that they liked, but they couldn't really define a style. Ned must've opened the email because his expression was casually considerate. He raised an eyebrow a bit as he half-nodded/half-shook his head in a bobble. Elly could hear him click through the various photos of the house and counted through them. He followed along silently, watching Ned's expressions with every click to see if he could capture his true reaction of each room. When they both clicked to the last photo he waited. Ned bent over and started an email.
He stared at his computer and waited for the email to come through. With a blink and a ding, he smiled and opened his inbox to click on the reply.
I like the siding on the outside. It's a nice color. Shutters would have to be painted a different color though. And I love the deck in the back. It would be perfect to put an above ground pool against. Small yard otherwise, which has its pros and cons. Not much to mow and rake, but also not much to hang out in. No room for a firepit and a pool. We'd kinda have to choose between them. I love the kitchen, but hate the bedrooms. Too small. May be a good room for our kids, but not for us. Love the tile and hardwood floors. Easy to clean! :D
Elly smiled. The thought of planning for kids had his stomach fluttering. He read it through one more time and replied.
I agree with everything but the shutters. I kinda like them. I'm not opposed to painting them, but I do like the contrast. It was just different than everything we'd looked at last night and I wanted to get a sense of your likes and dislikes.
He watched from across the room as Ned opened the email. He looked back at him and gave him a thumbs up. Elly smiled and went back to doing actual work. They'd returned to working on the database project. He was coding while Ned and Greg were writing up profiles on the cold cases. Across the bullpen Tim, Ziva, and Sommers were all doing their parts.
Elly hadn't told the team about his conversation with Sommers yet. He wanted to wait to see what the outcome was the next morning. He'd noticed the other man's purpling jaw hadn't moved much since he came back from the gym. The other side of the bullpen was silent except for the clacking of keys and the occasional question from one of them to try to help them decipher some handwriting in an old case file.
Twenty minutes later there was a ding from his email client and he saw that Ned had sent him a link. He opened it and saw another house. As soon as he saw it his heart jumped. It looked perfect. Pale yellow with green shutters, a nice porch with a big front window, and a privacy fence around the back yard. There were little flowers planted in a strip of garden along the driveway and front walk, and a small garden of ferns and shrubs against the porch.
He clicked the next picture button and found a gorgeous living room with fireplace and hardwood floors, cream walls and a ton of sunlight from that window. It opened up to a large kitchen with a large space off to the left that was surrounded by windows for a dining table. The appliances were all stainless and looked brand new. There was a tile mosaic backdrop around a granite counter and updated white cabinets. The island was part stove and part countertop with a rack hanging above it that pans could hang from.
A door between the kitchen and living room on one side ended up leading to a small bathroom with just a shower, sink and toilet. It was a little outdated, but not horribly so. A dark wooden banister led up to the second floor where there was a master bedroom that Elly wanted to move into immediately with an entire wall dedicated to closet space behind white accordion style doors. An in-suite bathroom boasted an oversized tub/shower and double vanity sink, each with its own cabinet and mirror. They'd have to redo the tile because it was an ugly pinkish orange, but that was easy enough to fix.
The next pictures showed two other smaller bedrooms, all hardwood floors like the master, and a smaller basic bathroom with white tile. Further photos showed a finished laundry room in the basement and another partially finished room that could be used for a rec room or such if given the right TLC. The backyard photo just sank it for him though. There was an inground pool off the patio and enough yard beyond it that they could put a firepit if they wanted. He was in love.
"That's freakin' perfect!" he said to Ned without bothering with an email replied. "I mean, just freaking perfect!"
"Yeah, except for the price tag," Ned said with a chuckle. "I don't think we are ready to take on something that high."
Elly looked at the price. $369,500. He sighed.
"Damn. We'd need at least $25,000 down to get payments as low as we'd need them."
"Yeah, and we're only at half of that if we use every bit of our savings."
"Well, at least we've got a template now. But damn that's perfect! It hurts to look at! I mean, it wouldn't take a lot of work at all, which is good because I don't think either of are very handy."
"Hey! I can use a saw! And a drill and hammer, too! I helped build stage sets in college."
"You've been holding out on me!" Elly said with a smile.
"Are you two house hunting?" Greg asked with a hint of disbelief.
"They both smiled at each other before turning to him. Ned nodded and Elly said, "Yeah."
"Damn," he said, sitting back as he spun his pen in his hand. "Makes me feel like that's what I should be doing with Little Girl on the way."
"You have to do what's right for you," Ned said with a one shoulder shrug. "Your condo is fine for you right now."
"We're combining households anyway, so we figured we'd take the leap," Elly said, also shrugging.
"Guess that makes sense," Greg said. "Send me the house you're talking about though. I wanna see it!"
They both smiled and Elly sent him the link. They watched his expression as he flitted through the pictures.
"That's a gorgeous house," Greg said. "I wish you would get it so that we could come over and use that pool! I could use a dip in it right now."
"Alas, it's pretty expensive." Ned sighed.
"Yeah, but anything you find without a horrendous commute is going to be," Greg said. "That's why we ended up with the condo. We couldn't afford a house when we moved out here. With both of our incomes now we probably could, but we're going to have to adjust to Little Girl first and see what she needs before making the commitment to a huge house payment every month."
"You have the down payment saved up?" Elly asked.
"A good portion of it. I have a feeling that's all going to find a use before it gets put down on a house though. Having a baby is expensive!"
Both men chuckled softly.
"Seriously! Have you checked out how much a box of diapers cost?! It's ridiculous!"
They laughed a little harder.
"Will totally be worth it though," Elly said with a smile for him.
"Oh, hell yeah it will be," Greg said, smiling brightly with a dreamy look in his eyes.
Elly looked at Ned who was looking back at him searchingly. There was a hopeful look in the expression, and Elly smiled back and nodded. Their eyes were locked and they both knew that it wouldn't be too long before they were looking into having kids themselves. Give them a few years and they'd start the process.
Greg's voice interrupted their moment. "Hey now! I know that look! Don't even think about it! You haven't even made it to the wedding yet. Give it a little time before the whole kids thing."
Both men laughed. "You're giving me baby fever!" Ned said through his chuckles.
"Seriously though," Elly said. "We know it will happen eventually, but we're not ready for it yet. That doesn't mean we're not totally living vicariously through you right now though."
Greg smiled. "You're welcome to! It's pretty awesome. Glad to share it."
They got quiet for a few minutes and then started back to work. Ned couldn't concentrate though. He thought about the house and kids, and that made him think of Amira and the night before. He turned to Greg, wondering if he shouldn't ask him about it. He stopped himself, then turned back to him again.
"Hey Greg?"
"Yeah?" he answered, looking over, then back at his screen.
"We had an issue with Amira last night and I'm worried about her."
Elly was suddenly fully attentive to the conversation. "Yeah. Greg, it was so sad."
"What happened?"
Ned took on telling him what had happened the night before. By the end of the short summarization Greg looked as pained as he and Elly had felt the night before and Ned knew that he was right to ask.
"Well, Sierra was right to leave her alone for a while. But what did you do after that? What did she do?"
Ned slowly shrugged one shoulder. "We hung out downstairs and she didn't come down all night. We checked on her before we went to bed, but she was out. Sleeping soundly."
"How was she this morning?"
"Cranky, but clingy," Elly answered. "She wanted to be held at all times. We asked her if she wanted to call her dads and she shook her head no and wouldn't look us in the eyes."
"But she hugged me tighter than Elly does when he asked her," Ned said, shaking his head daunted. "Clung to me for dear life."
"And she wouldn't eat this morning. We tried, Sierra tried, and she wouldn't touch her Cheerios. We offered yogurt, and a bagel, and even leftover chicken from last night. No takers."
"But she did have a Gatorade. Or at least she was carrying it around like a security blanket," Ned added, grimacing at Elly before looking back at Greg.
Greg thought for a minute and looked back and forth between the two men. "I would bet money that she's going to talk to Tony and Gibbs when they call tonight and cry and get mad but also be really sad. She's probably never had to deal with guilt and shame like this, and she's probably feeling that right now and doesn't know how to comprehend it. She'll be okay. She knows she messed up last night and she just needs reassurance that it's going to be okay and that everyone forgives her and still loves her."
"Oh," Ned said, sitting up. "I never would've thought about that. She seemed angry more than anything. Rebellious even."
"She was probably being stubborn, but what did you guys say to her when she didn't want to talk to Tony and Gibbs?" Greg asked.
Ned looked at Elly who answered. "I told her that they missed her and that they loved her and wanted to talk to her."
"Which probably reinforced the shame and guilt because she knows that they love her and miss her, but she doesn't know it, know it. She's never had to deal with this. It all new territory for her. She's never been without Leyla, and she's never had to face this fear. It's going to be ugly. Her doubts are natural. It's going to be a storm that needs to be ridden out carefully though. Don't placate, but don't get angry. Patience, love, tenderness but a firm response is going to get everyone through this."
Elly smiled at him. "You're going to be a great dad, Greg."
"Totally," Ned agreed with a nod.
"I can't wait to find out!" Greg said, his smile reaching his eyes.
********WDYG?********
Ellie felt like she'd been transported to another world. She was sitting on the ground in the garden, a basket next to her with carrots, green peppers and tomatoes, and next to the beds she'd been working was a pile of weeds. The sun was hot on her shoulders and the smell of the soil was calming. She couldn't believe that just 48 hours earlier she'd been a hostage.
She was aware that she'd been left alone. The sounds of her mother shuffling around and snapping the ears of corn off the stalks on the far edge of the garden had stopped. She'd been told about how these stalks were a new hybrid they were trying in the soil to see how they liked it and would only be for the family this year, but they'd worked out really well so far and they were thinking about doing a plot of them next year for the farmers' market.
Now there was no snapping, shuffling, or explanations. The neighborhood gossip had also trickled down to nothing. She was alone to absorb the peace.
Her thoughts drifted away from the abduction and the videos she'd been forced to watch. They settled on the best memories with Jake. Times they were happy from before he became the monster. She thought of their favorite dates in college, fierce debates on policies that sometimes they were even on the same sides of, but debated anyway. She remembered Sunday mornings in bed and Saturday nights out with friends. She thought fondly on Jake's excited expression when they were going to work at the NSA together for the first time. He wasn't always the retched disaster he'd become.
She told herself that she'd fallen in love with a good man that went bad. He wasn't always like this. He wasn't always perverse and demented and violent beyond belief. He wasn't always broken, shattered, sadistic. He'd been endearingly sweet and childlike sometimes when it was just the two of them. And even his words during the confession ran through her head and made her smile just the littlest bit, that she was the source of good in his world and he'd wanted to keep her safe from this. Until he didn't.
She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. If she hadn't have come home when she had and overheard the conversation between Jake and his handler they could still be searching for who had killed Mark.
She blinked in surprise as tears started to fall that she didn't feel coming. Mark was gone. She'd never see him again. Never work with his brilliant mind. Never laugh at his corny jokes. Never roll her eyes at another tacky Hawaiian shirt or announcement of his vacation photos being ready to view. He'd make her a Christmas card every year with one of the photos, and she wouldn't find one on her desk this year. He'd been her friend, her mentor, and now he was gone.
She pulled her knees from their crossed pose to bend towards her chest, then laid her head on it as her arms came around them, folding her frame. She felt small and fragile suddenly. She heard the gate squeak next to her and looked up to find her dad.
"Ellie honey," he said softly, then came to sit next to her on the ground. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. She turned to bury her head in his shoulder as her arms wrapped around him and just cried.
"I gotcha," he whispered, occasionally patting her back or smoothing her hair. Otherwise, he stayed silent.
She cried for so long that she lost track of time as her mind swirled with all of the darkness of the past week. She cried for Mark, for her, even for Jake and the kids he twisted to his demented ways. She cried for the brokenness she felt for not being able to see her own husband was a serial killer. She cried from the shame of being an NSA analyst and missing all the signs that her husband was the perfect suspect. She cried for the hole that Mark left in her life, and she cried for the fear that had kept her awake for the past few nights. She cried because she never wanted to go back to the NSA where everyone would know her story, everyone would suspect her, judge her, and talk about her, or worse, try to be sympathetic. And how dare they try to be sympathetic when they had no idea what she was going through? She cried because she was safe now, but cried harder because she hadn't been and no one was able to protect her from that.
She only started to calm down when she thought of the people who had been trying so hard to protect her over the past week. She thought of Ned, and she thought of Elly and Parke. She thought of Ziva and Abby and McGee. She thought of the kind ME and his assistant, and even their kind director. She thought of her mom and brothers and her dad as he held her. That sense of safety settled in her gut and she took a few deep breaths. The tears stopped, and she felt weak and exhausted as she let her dad go and fell back into a cross-legged position on the soft soil.
Her dad reached a hand towards her with a handkerchief in it and she took it with a small sideways grin, then blew her nose. She remembered Parke handing her his a couple of nights before on the wall of the parking garage and turned towards her dad.
"Dad, I don't want to go back to the NSA."
His eyes widened a little and he blinked, but nodded. "Okay. What do you want to do?"
She took a deep breath. "I want to join NCIS."
"And do analysis there?" he asked.
"No," she said with a slight shake of her head. "I want to be an agent."
"That's… that's a big change. I know you'd wanted to do that in the past, but I didn't think you did anymore."
"Despite the nightmares this situation has brought up, the silver lining has been that I'd felt more at use working on this case with the agents than I ever have at the NSA. And I trust them, Dad. The teams I worked with are amazing people. And they have a position that's going to be opening up soon, and I want it."
"Then you go get it, sweetheart."
She smiled at her dad and knelt up to put her arms around him again. He hugged her tightly.
"You are an amazing woman, if I do say so myself. You don't deserve all of this. You go do what you have to do, Elenore. You know we'll support whatever you decide."
"Thanks, Dad. I love you."
"Love you, too honey."
********WDYG?********
Sommers sat at his desk and grit his teeth through the pain he was feeling in his jaw until that hurt, and then he had to take a few deep breaths to relax. He was riding an emotional rollercoaster that fluctuated between fury and depression. Sometimes that fury was at his coworkers, especially Critten, and sometimes it was at himself. He felt like he was on a wire, and all it would take was one good breeze to blow him off, and the only question left was which way he was going to fall.
When he was brutally honest with himself, he knew he had become a cocky, arrogant jerk. He'd been that way so long now though that it was pretty much his entire adult personality. Sure, he'd always been a little overconfident, and he was sure someone in this room would tell him something about how it had to do with his upbringing, but he sure wasn't going to ask their opinions about it. If he was overcompensating for something, so be it, but he was a grown ass man now that didn't need his father's approval. Yet, here he was, sitting behind a desk in the tacky orange cage of the NCIS bullpen. God, he hated these walls.
He thought of some of the things that Critten had said to him and how he pretty much had transformed before his very eyes in the gym, and, he begrudgingly admitted, in the morgue. He'd always kind of seen Critten as somewhat of a fairy, or at least a dorky tech guy. The pain that currently reverberated in his jaw told him to check himself at the very thought of it now. The words that echoed through his head from their "conversation" in the morgue reverberated pretty much everywhere else. He'd been dead wrong. Critten may not have been the kind of leader he expected, but he definitely was one. One he wouldn't cross again.
He stared blankly at the text in front of him as he thought about what other unexpected surprises he'd experienced from his coworkers on this case that he wouldn't have even thought of. Ziva calling him a dick in the car the other day, not to mention learning about her ties to Mossad, and holy-shit-she-really-killed-her-own-brother. He intentionally lowered his eyes so his wouldn't accidentally meet hers over the edge of his monitor.
He thought of McGee telling him to get downstairs now or he was going to Vance to have him immediately discharged. Another tech geek he'd underestimated.
He thought for a few minutes about that specifically. He'd grown such a disdain for techies, looking down on him, when what he'd always wanted to do was work in a lab. Was that really his belief, or was that his dad's being imprinted on him? He wrapped an arm around his stomach. He felt sick, and he hoped anyone who saw would mistake his movement for that of a man with sore ribs, because those really did hurt like fuck, too.
His head spun. He'd become a combination of his dad and brother, but there was nothing of him left. He was the condescending player his brother had taught him to be, and he was the dumbass who put brawn over brains like his dad. That wasn't him. He felt hot from head to toe and thought he was going to pass out again or throw up. Maybe both. At the same time.
The last thing he heard was Ziva calling for McGee.
********WDYG?********
Ziva looked up to see that Sommers looked very flushed, his eyes darting around wildly. She noticed his arm was around his stomach and when she looked back up his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. She jumped up and called out for McGee who looked over just in time to jump up and catch Sommers before his chair could tilt backwards and cause him to hit his head on the bookshelf behind him.
"Sommers?" Tim asked.
"Greg!" Ziva said over the divider. "We need your hand!"
"A hand, Ziva," Tim correctly calmly as he lightly smacked the side of Sommers' face to try to wake him up.
All three men from the other side of the bullpen came over, but everyone made way for Greg.
"What happened?" Greg asked.
"He looked very red, and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and then he was… like this," Ziva said.
"Come on, Kyle," Elly said with a grimace. "I didn't think I'd kicked the back of his head that hard, but maybe I did."
Greg nodded and pulled down open his eyes lids. "Oooo… yeah. There's definitely a concussion there. Check that out," he said, opening the eye lids again for Elly to see. One pupil was much larger than the other.
"They weren't like that earlier," Elly said. "Ducky checked."
They could hear Ziva behind them on the phone as she talked to Ducky. Elly held Sommers in place while Greg turned to take the phone from where Ziva was holding it out to him. They all waited the discussion out and then Greg handed Ziva back the phone and she hung it up.
"He's on his way up and he's calling an ambulance."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Jimmy appeared with a vial of smelling salts. "This worked earlier," he said, wiggling in to the space in front of Sommers and thrusted the vial under his nose. He stirred, groaned, and then was out again.
"Damn it," Elly groaned. "How'd I know this was going to come back to bite us?"
"Chill man. It'll be okay," Greg coaxed, but he was using his phone to shine a bright light into Sommers' eyes. "His left pupil reacts to the light, but the right doesn't. We'll have to wait and see what happens. Here, hand me the salts again." He was shoving them back under Sommers' nose and getting nothing but a soft groan when Ducky arrived.
"The ambulance is on the way," he announced. "Security has been alerted and they should be here momentarily." Greg showed him the pupil reactions and Ducky's grim expression matched Elly's. "Yes, well it can take time for a concussion to show signs like this. Did you say he hit his head?" he asked Elly.
"He may have at one point, but the truth is that I kicked him during sparring in the back of the head," Elly said, feeling the blood drain from his face and his own stomach going queasy.
Ducky merely nodded and gingerly ran his fingers over the back of Sommers' head. His serious expression grew graver as his fingers ran over a bump that felt more like a pouch full of fluid. "I feel the point of contact. Will need a CAT scan and x-rays to be sure."
"I'll go tell the Director why there's about to be a gurney in his bullpen," Elly said, then moved to head up the stairs.
"You want me to go with you?" Tim called.
"No. Stay with your… teammate," Elly said, his eyes on Sommers for a long moment before turning back to Tim.
He headed up the stairs and then to Vance's door. Pam motioned for him to go on in, and he nodded his thanks before opening the door and closing it behind him.
"Agent Critten," Vance greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"I gave Sommers a concussion. And I broke his nose. Probably bruised some ribs."
"You're looking a little pale. You should sit down," Vance said getting up to motion that Elly sit in front of his desk. Elly did as directed, took a deep breath and looked back up at Vance. "Now explain."
"We had sparring scheduled in the gym this morning, and it was a veiled excuse to teach Sommers about assumptions. The team delegated me to be the one to prove the point, and we sparred. He was grossly unprepared for me, and I outmatched him dramatically. I pulled a lot of my anger, but apparently not enough. I'd broken his nose and took him to see Ducky, who did glance at his eyes with a penlight, but he didn't see any signs of concussion. He set his nose, Kyle and I had words, found out more about him and what his problem is, and things appeared to be good. But now there's an ambulance coming to take him to the hospital because he's unconscious at his desk and definitely has a concussion."
"So, he hit his head during the match, and now you feel responsible," Vance said gravely.
"No, sir. I kicked him in the back of the head during the match. I know I'm responsible."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
"Well, what do you want to do about it?"
"I want to go to the hospital with him. I've never put anyone in the hospital that didn't deserve to be there, sir."
"I would definitely say that you should go. You need to be prepared of the possible consequences of this. If the injury is severe enough…"
"I know, sir."
"Is there anyone who witnessed the fight that could attest to the kick?"
"Ohhhh yeah," Elly said, eyes wide with a nod. "Half of NCIS was down there, and I know there's video."
"You should know that I knew that there were plans for today's fight, and I didn't stop it. As a boxer, I've learned that there are some lessons learned in the ring that can't be learned anywhere else for some people. There are also things in place to protect you. Athletics lead to concussions. That's just the way it is. You all sign disclosures when you sign on that you'll be doing this kind of fighting and that you could be put in danger. The key is whether or not you used undue force. Who has the video?"
"I know Abby does," Elly said, swallowing.
Vance went around the back of his desk again and picked up the phone. "Pam, please ask Ms. Sciuto to come to my office and bring the footage of this morning's sparring practice. Thank you."
He sat back down behind the desk. "Get to the hospital. I'll review the footage and tell you if I think undue force was used."
"Thank you, sir," Elly said, getting to his feet. His stomach lurched for a minute, but he took a deep breath and shook his head and made his way towards the door.
Vance sat back in his chair and shook his head. He was never letting the Gibbses take vacation again.
********WDYG?********
Sommers was standing in the corner of the kitchen of the old house they lived in before his mom left them. He was confused. The entire family was there staring at a child version of him as he grinned and blew out the candles on the birthday cake in front of him. It was round with a big dinosaur drawn on it in green icing. Five candles. He was so small, and they were all together.
He wanted to be mad at his mom, sitting there smiling like she was happy when he now knew that she was already cheating on his dad and that she'd give up complete custody of them a year later, never looking back. But that day had been such a great day. He still remembered it. There were little dinosaur eggs in the cake when it was cut and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He'd even gotten a cool little brush set and his dad took him out looking for fossils. He'd loved dinosaurs as a kid. He'd loved his family.
The scene started changing around him and he looked around frantically. "No!" he said, panicking. "No! No-no-no-no-noooo! Come back! Please? Please!" he shouted, and then the room went dark. A sense of sickening dread came over him as he adjusted to the dim light in the room from the moon outside his window and he remembered the night like it was yesterday.
A young version of him was lying in bed, the blanket pulled up over his head and he could tell he was crying. Yeah, this was definitely the night. His mom had always left the nightlight on for him, but she was gone now and his dad had decided he was old enough since he was six years old to go to sleep without it. Time to grow up, he had said.
He'd left him a little flashlight next to his bed and told him that if he was afraid of something in the shadows to get up out of bed and go shine the flashlight on them and make sure nothing was there. He'd meant it as a kind gesture, and intended for it to inspire courage, and looking back now Kyle knew it. But that night, he was terrified, because the moon was full outside of his window and the trees were casting all sorts of shadows across his room. It hadn't helped that the creaky old closet door had come open a little, which would be a problem until they fixed the doorknob years later.
He'd stayed up all night shivering and crying in his bed because he was so afraid. Hours upon hours of fear.
Kyle went over to the bed and tried to sit down and comfort his younger self, but he wasn't really there, and he knew it. This wasn't right. He wanted to be able to make him feel better since no one else was coming to help him. When he couldn't fix it, he became agitated. "Jeez! Just stop fucking crying! Nothing is in the damn closet! Nothing is hiding in the fucking shadows! Get over it! Turn the damn flashlight on if you're so fucking afraid!" When his child-self didn't stop his weeping, he growled and got up. "Fine! I don't have to listen to this! What's next? How do I get out of this place?"
He looked around the room and saw the door. "Makes sense," he said, and headed for the door. He couldn't leave though. He ran into it like a brick wall. He couldn't open it, couldn't interact with it. It might as well have been a painting. "Fuck!" he growled.
He turned back to sit on the bed, the only thing he seemed to be able to interact with. "This is so fucking stupid. Why didn't you just turn on the damn flashlight? Or the lamp? Dad's asleep by now. He'd never know. Why didn't you pull back the curtain and sleep where you could stare at the moon? It took you a full week to come up with that solution. Why didn't you just do it from the beginning? You're so fucking stupid."
An hour passed and he couldn't get out of the room no mater how hard he tried. He sat on the bed with a sigh. "You wanted so much to make him proud of you. To prove that you could do it. That you could make it through the night without the damn light, could be a big boy, a real man. You were fucking miserable all week. And he knew it, but he praised you for making it through the night that first morning and you soaked it in like a goddamned sponge. You've always been so damn eager to make him happy.
"Well let me tell you something, we shouldn't have cared so damn much. Now look at the mess we're in! The mess I'm in. Doing a fucking job I hate with people who make me wanna gag. So, do us both a favor now, and not care. Don't care about what he thinks, because you'll never make him happy. And you're going to get yourself killed trying. I don't even fucking know how I got here, but something's not right, I know that. I probably got shot or something."
He looked down at the shaking lump under the blanket. "Come on, kid! Listen to me!" He reached out to shake him, but for just a second he felt the lump and then the world spun and he wasn't in the room anymore.
The scenery's bright sun shining on him was a stark contrast to the nightmare he was just in. He was in the schoolyard of his high school. There was something very familiar about the way the light shone on the trees and the warmth he felt coming over him. That's when he saw her coming toward him on the sidewalk. She was still perfect. He realized what he was reliving and turned to see his gangly fifteen year old self walking towards her from behind him. This was the day he asked her out.
His younger self walked right through him and he turned around to watch the situation unfold. He remembered feeling so nervous, but happy to be running into her. He'd conveniently planned it this way, knowing she headed from lunch early to her 6th period every day, and he had study hall and could roam freely.
"Hi, Anna!" he greeted cheerfully. He watched Anna's blue eyes flash and twinkle, her cheeks turn just a slight shade of pink.
"Hi, Kyle!" she said back enthusiastically.
They both stopped as they approached one another.
"Heading to lunch?" she asked.
"No, I had it last bell. I'm in study hall. Used needing to go to my locker as an excuse to come out and enjoy the weather a minute. I'm so glad it's not freezing today!"
"I know!" she said, rolling her eyes in agreement. "I was finally able to wear a dress today! It's so nice out!"
Sommers smiled to himself as he thought of how the rest of the conversation was about to go and felt a little proud that he managed it so well at fifteen.
"It's a very pretty dress. Then again, I don't think there's anything you could wear that would be ugly. You put it on, and it immediately looks better."
Anna turned pink but laughed mirthfully. "Are you flirting with me, Kyle Sommers?"
"Definitely," he said with a mischievous smile.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?" he asked back.
"Are you going to ask me out?" she said with an impish grin.
Kyle smiled and fell to his knees in a goofy parody. He raised his arms towards Anna and with the drama of a Shakespearian actor said, "Anna Pangino, will you grace this humble dweeb with your presence at the Spring Fling on Friday?"
She laughed with her hand over her mouth. "Why yes, Sir Dweeb."
Both young and old Kyle grinned from ear to ear as young Kyle got up and took Anna's hand and brought it to his lips with a bow. "Good lady," he said with the dramatic accent. "You are too kind to one such as me."
She laughed again as he kissed her hand and she pulled it back. "Give me your number, Sir Dweeb."
Young Kyle returned to his normal self and stood just a little closer to Anna as she wrote down his phone number in her planner. Older Kyle watched as young Kyle walked her to her next class, then practically bounced back across the yard to the main building that had his locker in it.
He felt immensely better than he had felt in the bedroom. He'd always been a bit of a dork. He was into science and math and doing things that most people his age considered geeky. Sure, he liked the occasional video game and kept up on all the latest action movies, but as he thought back on it he wondered if he would've done that on his own without his brother and dad's influence. Playing Call of Duty was a family night in, and though he enjoyed action movies, when his dad and brother weren't around he'd usually have a documentary on.
"Who the hell am I?" he asked.
The world swirled around him again, but this time he was prepared for it. When he landed he was in the Applebee's near his Dad's house, and Anna was sitting across from a nineteen year old him, looking as beautiful as ever even though she was obviously disgruntled.
"Aw, hell no! Please no!" He groaned loudly to himself and turned around to hide his face in his hands. "I don't wanna go through this again!" He groaned and sighed again before turning around. "Alright. Get it over with."
The scene unfolded in front of him and made his skin crawl. Younger Kyle was verbose and arrogant and completely oblivious to the way that Anna looked more and more disgusted with him as the twenty minutes went on. He was glad he was coming into it halfway through dinner. This was bad enough.
When he started bragging to her about all of the girls he'd hooked up with over the year he noticed something that he hadn't noticed years before. Anna didn't just look angry and disgusted, but sad and hurt. He wanted to slap his hand over his younger self's mouth. To grab his head and turn him to look at the slight glaze coming over this angel's eyes, but he couldn't. Instead, younger Kyle just tore into his steak and older Kyle waited for the sledgehammer that was about to come down.
"You know what, Kyle. This was a mistake. You've obviously changed, and quite frankly, it's appalling. I'm leaving."
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, sitting back and looking at her like she had three heads.
"You're being a royal dick! I never would've imagined that one year could change someone so damn much, but you're an egotistical douchebag. You're certainly not the caring and interesting man I once loved. I don't know who the hell you are. A manwhore, that's for sure. I never took you to become the walking venereal disease it sounds like you've become. And I always thought you were smarter than this, but it turns out that you're just the towheaded dumbass your father always wanted you to be. I don't even know why you're sitting here right now. It sure wasn't to catch up with me! All you wanted to do was rub it in my face that you're a walking penis. Funny, I always thought you were so much more than that. Turns out that I was wrong. Go to hell, Kyle."
Sommers cringed as he watched her get up. She was beautiful when she was angry. And just like he knew she was doing in courtrooms now, she'd cut him down to size. Explained it in a way that unequivocally described him. And as she got up, she was the lawyer, judge and jury.
Older Kyle wanted to slap him in the back of the head, but instead ran after her, which is what he should've done all those years ago. As he did he saw that she was crying. He watched her go to get in her car and sob. He stood outside of her car and felt an absolute sense of hopelessness and defeat come over him. He tried to reach out to tap on the window, but couldn't. Instead he placed his hand against it wishing he could rub her tears away.
He rested his forehead against the window and took a deep breath and then felt that sensation again that said he was changing memories.
He was sitting at the conference table with his team last Friday.
The groan that escaped his throat was truly pained. Truly. He went to the window and looked out of it as he listened to the Gibbses explain the plan for the upcoming week. He couldn't even look at himself when he heard him speak up.
"You mean I'm stuck behind a desk for a week so these two can go fuck?!" his own voice shouted. He cringed at himself. Then, biting on his fist, he turned and glared at his only slightly younger self while everyone else in the room did the same thing. He glanced at everyone at the table and really saw their expressions. He saw on their faces what they felt about him in that moment. He especially saw Critten's face and how he was lucky the young SFA hadn't come across the table right then and there and given him that beat down.
It was when the other team's quietest member spoke, and spoke with so much quiet rage in his voice, that he got a chill down his back.
"I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're all sick and tired already of your rhetoric. No one asked you, no one gives a damn about what you want, and no one wants to put up with you anymore. We didn't ask to have to serve alongside an inflated egotistical narcissistic homophobic idiot, so if you don't want to do the job assigned, there's the door. As for the rest of us, we're going to do what you're too stuck up to do- our fucking jobs. But please, continue to overcompensate with your big guy attitude and childish whining that you're somehow delusional enough to think you're better than the rest of us. See where that gets you, because I can guarantee that it won't win you any friends or allies amongst us, and you'll find that out at the worst possible moment."
Older Kyle shuddered at the implication as younger Kyle rolled his eyes. What he hadn't realized then was that the team truly hated him enough to leave him hanging when he needed it. He'd thought they'd be too goody good to leave him stranded, but now that he heard it and saw all their faces again, he knew without a doubt that he was a goner one day.
"McGee, Critten, stay put. The rest of you get back to your desks," Gibbs growled, finally tearing his gaze from Kyle.
Older Kyle followed the rest of the group outside. He watched younger Kyle head for the steps as the rest of the team waited for him to get ahead of him so they could give each other less than covert glances of disgust. He watched himself sit at his desk and try to ignore the way everyone in the room texted back and forth on their phones about him. He knew that's what they were doing. Older Kyle didn't blame them.
Truth was that he didn't care that the two men were in a relationship. It wasn't a gay thing. It was just sickening sweet how they were all so fucking happy. He'd never had that, and as he looked at himself and looked back at the memories he'd experienced that day he knew why he hadn't. He moved to sit at Gibbs' desk and thought. Each thought was more self-loathing than the one before.
"You really have no idea how much of a prick you are, do you?" he asked his slightly younger self. "This isn't who we were supposed to become. Who I was supposed to become. I was happier as a dork. I wasn't so bitter, angry, cold. I should go back to being that, but I don't know how. It's so late in the game to change. I've been this way for so long now." He tried to pick up the stapler from Gibbs' desk but his hand went through it. He sighed.
"These people are… ridiculous. But maybe they could be good for us. Well, that is if Critten doesn't kick my ass again, and if we survive getting shot or whatever else it is that happened to me. I wonder what happened? I don't really remember much. It's all fuzzy. Got my ass kicked, was chilling at my desk, and then… nothing. They say that trauma can give you amnesia. Maybe that's what's happening. I was probably doing something stupid though. Waking up will only mean that I'll be confronted with how stupid I was, and quite frankly, I don't want to face that any more than I want to face these dumbass memories, so I don't really care what happens."
He sat quietly for a long time. Then looked from Ziva to Tim who was coming down the stairs with Critten. He looked back at himself as he ignored the returning SFAs.
"I wonder if Dad has been notified yet. He's either going to be so pissed at my stupidity, or think that this is the best thing I've ever done if I pull through it. Another thing I'm not looking forward to."
He looked up at the stairs again a couple of minutes later and saw the Gibbses coming down the stairs together. He noticed that for just a moment it looked like they were reaching to hold the other's hand, but stopped themselves. Something about that hit him hard in the chest. They were restraining themselves.
He thought back to holding hands with Anna in the hallways at school, and how he took her hands in his so often when he kissed her. He had never once felt like he couldn't hold her hand while they were dating. Hell, he'd taken her hand in his when he asked her out. How could such a simple gesture mean so much?
And for just a minute he wondered if the two men had restrained themselves for professionalism or for fear of homophobic jerks. Probably both. He heard Parke's words in his head again and cringed. They all thought he was one of those homophobic jerks because of the way he'd been reacting to the two together. It wasn't that they were men though! he practically shouted at himself. They were just too damn perfect. That kind of perfection doesn't exist. It doesn't last. It's obnoxious, he told himself.
Gibbs came directly towards him and he jumped up from his chair in a frantic realization that he was sitting at his desk, only to remember that Gibbs couldn't see him. Even though he couldn't know he'd been there, he felt real fear that somehow Gibbs would just know. He tried to squeeze past him but brushed his shoulder and he felt it like he was really there.
Suddenly he wasn't there anymore. He didn't even feel the transition this time. He was in a driveway of a house that was definitely a crime scene. Red and yellow caution tape billowed around him, there were red and blue lights of LEOs around, and an ambulance was pulling away from the scene with sirens blaring.
He suddenly heard someone call out his name in a rough older voice.
"Sommers! Get your ass moving!"
When Kyle looked up he saw a man he didn't recognize shouting at him, only he wasn't really him anymore. The man that growled a response back was a much older version of himself. And he looked rough. He'd put on some weight, was wearing a police uniform instead of an NCIS uniform, and he was going bald.
He grimaced as watched in disgust as the man chugged his way past him and around the side of the house. He followed in daunted repulsion as he saw him try to find anything of consequence for their case.
There was a large privacy fence around the back yard, and the only gate was the one that lead to the driveway. The two looked around for any signs of evidence, or at least much older Kyle did while modern day Kyle watched him in awe. Older Kyle scanned the back porch and then caught his eye on the shed in the corner. He clopped his way through the soggy yard towards it, his flashlight and gun out. He'd obviously heard something that his younger self hadn't. They moved together towards the small two-toned brown shed and then stopped in front of the door.
What happened next happened so fast. Older Kyle tried to open the door, only to come face to face with a teenager with a gun. In both of their surprise, they stopped, slackjawed. The kid panicked though, and there was a gunshot. Older Kyle was hit in the throat, and crumpled to the ground, his hand reaching for his wound. The kid took off running across the yard, and current day Kyle dropped to his knees to try and stop the blood flow, only to find he couldn't touch his older self. He screamed for someone to help, genuine terror ripping through him, but he watched himself die quickly as the blood poured from him in a way he'd never seen before. It took a whole minute before someone came and found him since a number of officers had gone after the kid as he ran down the driveway. Kyle didn't understand that. Why did no one come to check on him?
He sat in the sogginess as he waited for someone, anyone to come to his rescue, but there was no time. He watched himself die there in the back yard at the hands of some sixteen year old. Finally, a couple of officers came running through the back yard towards him, radioing for an ambulance. They got to him and saw the mess that was left of who he used to be and checked him over.
"Officer down!" a female cop shouted into her radio. "Officer down!"
"Damn it, Sommers!" said the male that was with her. "You dumbass! Why didn't you radio for backup?!"
The female reached for his pulse, but shook her head. "He's gone."
"Bled out pretty quickly," the man said. "Got him right in the artery."
"Captain, Sommers is dead," the female said into her radio. "We need you in the back yard."
The male took a look in the shed and nodded. "Got a bloody sweatshirt in here and a bloody shoe print. Well, at least a partial. The grass probably got the best of it."
It took a while before the Captain joined them, and in the meantime Kyle had to listen as the two talked shit about his now deceased self.
"Cap always said he was going to get himself killed for not being a team player," the female muttered.
"Looks like he was right," the man said with a soft scoff. "You were his partner at one point, weren't you?" he asked her.
"Yeah, for like two months. Let's just say that we weren't compatible, and soon I was paired with Kennedy and he got paired with Cohegan."
"Cohegan was his partner?"
"Yeah. That didn't last long either."
"I bet it didn't!" the man said with a soft chuckle. "She wouldn't have taken his shit for a minute."
"Mathis was the only one who could really deal with him, but that's because… well, he's Mathis. Two peas in a pod."
"Damn, now who's gonna get stuck with Mathis?"
"Not us, and that's all I care about," the female said.
"Amen, partner," he said with a smile for her.
When the Captain got there he just stood over the body of Kyle's former future self and shook his head. "Any ideas about what happened?" he asked.
"Looks like our perp was hiding in the shed. Sommers came up on the shed alone," they all shared a look and the Captain sighed. "And then was ambushed when he opened the door."
"Well, Crouch and Goode caught the prick trying to get over a fence a few doors down. He's not going to get away with it. Ambulance should be here in a minute. I'll go get the process started to notify next of kin. Who's he got?"
"He had a brother," the female said. "His dad died right before we were paired up six years ago, and he mentioned his brother a couple of times. Not sure if he's still alive though. Was military and it was never really clear if he was talking about him in the past tense because he was dead or because he had been cut out of his life."
"He had an ex-wife he liked to bitch about," the male said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I know," the Captain said. "She came in one day and threw a high heel at him, then started wailing on him with her purse. He just kept backing up and taking it until Mathis pulled her off him. Was the funniest damn thing I've ever seen."
"Why was she going after him?" the male asked.
"He'd slept with her sister. They were already getting divorced, but she found out about it."
"Damn," the female said. "I'd throw a shoe at him, too."
The world changed around him and he was no longer in a dark back yard. He was in a shabby apartment as he watched a much older version of his brother go through his belongings.
"Aaron!" he whisper-shouted. "Aaron, can you hear me?" he asked. "Of course you can't." He sighed and sat down next to him on the bed. Aaron was going through a box of stuff he'd found in the closet, and was holding a photo of the two of them when they were teenagers on a fishing trip with their dad. He remembered that trip. He hadn't caught anything, but they'd had fun camping. It was a good trip. Their dad had barely said anything to him about preferring to relax by the water reading than doing any actual fishing.
The photo made him smile and he looked up at Aaron's face only to find it full of disappointment and regret. The older man shook his head and tossed the photo back in the box and stood up. A woman came to the door.
"What's next, Dad?" she asked.
Kyle looked from her to him and back to her. This was his niece. She was beautiful.
"This box can go to the trash, too," he said, handing it off to her. "So much crap in here." Kyle looked around the sparse apartment and realized that he could only mean the box. That hurt and he actually curled in somewhat on himself.
"We've packed the truck with all of the stuff to drop off at the donation center. ReStore will be here this afternoon for the furniture."
"Great, honey. Thank you. We'll be out of here soon. We can get back on the road towards home tomorrow. Waste of a trip, really."
"Damn!" Kyle damn near shouted. "What did I ever do to you?!" He's jumped to his feet, but then sat down again. The female cop had said that he'd talked about his brother in the past tense, and that they'd been cut off from each other. Something must've happened that caused a bad rift between them. He may have always been jealous of his brother, but he loved him. He couldn't imagine what it was that could cause such apathy about his death.
The others left him alone in the room and he looked around. It was damn near empty. There was a dresser, a bed with no linens, an empty walk-in closet, and a large black chest at the foot of the bed. He wondered what was in it, but knew he wouldn't be able to open it so he sat on the bed and sighed.
"Okay, so that was freaky. Maybe I'm really dying right now. Maybe that's what's happening. Maybe I really did get shot and this is Purgatory. Maybe I'm just getting a chance to see all of my failures before I get sent to Hell. If Aaron hates me that much…" he trailed off. "I want to wake up now. I don't want to be here anymore. Can I wake up please?" he asked towards the ceiling. There was no response and nothing around him changed. He got up and tried to walk into the next room only to find he couldn't. He was trapped in this bedroom. "Well, shit." He turned and laid down on the bed.
"This life sucks. I feel like Scrooge," he said out loud to himself. "I swear, if I wake up, if I get out of this place, things are going to change. I don't want to live this miserable existence… anymore. When did I get so fucking lonely?" He sighed and closed his eyes. After thinking about the answer to that question for a few minutes, tears started sliding out from the corners of his eyes and running down his face.
A blur passed before him and he started jumping from scene to scene in a matter of seconds. First, he was sitting with his team at conference table, then he was in a bar with them laughing, and then he was walking with McGee and Ziva towards a crime scene. Next, he was smiling at a text with a few hearts after it. Suddenly, he was in a church full of people waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle. Then, there was a baby in his arms, and when he looked up, Gibbs was standing there with a smile like a proud father. "You did good, kid," he said to him.
And with a bright light and loud bang, he was suddenly not there anymore. He was back in his body and everything hurt, but especially his head.
"Oh, god. What the fuck happened to me?"