Authors Notes:

Welcome back, you lovely ghosts! Most of you seemed to agree that a T rating was appropriate so that's what I'll be sticking with! Thank you for responding to my inquiry!

Sorry, this chapter is later than the promised date. I had it written out the day before it was supposed to be posted and had planned a quick edit/run through to see if it was okay… (I'm still not happy with it) It turned out a bit shorter than I would have liked… Anyway, the next day started a three day nonstop one job to the next with little time to rest… Usually, I would have had a bit more time and would have been able to meet the goal but my second job is hitting a very busy time of the year for us… Next time I'll make sure the update day is on the weekend… hey- look next 28th lands on a Saturday. I'll definitely try to have the next chapter posted either the 28th or the 29th of next month. Anyway. Enough of my rambling- on with the story!

Ghostly Clues

File 9:

Gibbs was sipping laggardly at a dark coffee and staring blankly at Merry's diary having given it another go through when his cell phone began ringing. Groaning he pulled the infernal device out of his pocket. "WHAT?"

"Gibbs!"

"Abby?"

"So I was just browsing through the GIW servers because- well, they have all this hidden info on things I've never heard of before- and we might need to know it for our case- plus they hacked us first- and our mystery hackers fingerprints are all over their server- seriously are these guys even trying? I mean if you have such secret info- especially secret to even other branches of the government shouldn't you at least invest in a proper firewall?"

"Abbs…" Gibbs' voice was exasperated.

"Right." The forensic specialist shuffled. "Rambling. So, as I was saying I was sifting through their servers and there's a lot of questionable stuff here- but more importantly, even though they didn't get anything from us they've filled Merry's death as ghost related- and it looks like they're not only looking into another related case that opened early this morning, but they're already filing reports on a conviction."

Gibbs frowned deeply. "Send me the files. I'll get right on it."

"Sending McGee the files now." Abby chirped. "He'll brief you on your way. And hurry Gibbs…"

"I will." The man said throwing on his jacket. "And Abby…"

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"We're going to talk about this mystery hacker you mentioned later."

Abby sputtered. "I was going to tell you- I just-

"Forget it Abby. Later." With that, the man hung up moving to gather his team.

When the NCIS team arrived at the scene there was already a ruckus of noise and yelling. "Geeze." Tony snorted. "Usually we have to be seen before we get things this riled up."

"Clearly we aren't causing this." Gibbs said.

"I know- it was a joke."

Ignoring the other agent Gibbs marched forward up to the corner apartment on the third floor. "It's hectic in there." An officer at the door said. "I don't know if I'd get involved if I were you."

"This may be related to our case." Gibbs said. The officer shrugged opening the door and allowing the group in. Gibbs blinked a few times as he took in the scene.

An officer stood to the side looking irritated as two clean-shaven men stood in blindingly white suits pointing strange looking weapons toward a woman standing in front of a strange floating boy and one sprawled on the ground. The body if Gibbs had to guess. "You are obstructing justice!" The darker skinned white suit barked cocking his gun.

"YOU'RE obstructing justice!" The red-headed woman screamed back her fist clenched tight at her sides and her body shaking.

The floating boy behind her had his hands curled up to his chest his legs pulled in slightly as he stayed just in reaching distance over her shoulder.

"Whatever your reasoning you are harboring an ectoplasmic entity who is in violation-

"He is a hero!"

"For all we know, he did this!"

The boy's toxic green eyes were wide and dilated. Gibbs knew fear when he saw it and this child was about to bolt. He floated back just slightly and the paler of the two men in white pulled his trigger sending a bright bluish beam flying. It was headed straight for the woman and the boy's body jerked and flowed moving in front of the blast as he held up his hands. There was a flash and a loud zapping sound.

"Phantom!" The woman shrieked.

"Step away from the ghost!" The man who had not fired ordered. Phantom, as the woman had called him glared at the man.

Seeing more than enough Gibbs stepped between the two groups. "That is enough!"

"Who are you?" One of the men with the strange weaponry asked. "You're interfering with a government operation."

Gibbs pulled out his badge. "NCIS. I believe the police report said that this was a murder involving the removal of body parts- which fits the MO of our suspect. So this case falls under our investigation."

"NCIS. Yes. You found ectoplasm in your investigation. Any cases involving the paranormal fall under our jurisdiction. We already filed paperwork to take the case off of your hands-

"Like hell, I'll let you do that!" Gibbs snapped. "Even if you didn't piss me off by blatantly contaminating a scene and all but convicting a suspect without evidence you are trying to take the case without talking to me first. I don't like having things stolen from me."

"Protocol clearly dictates-

"Protocol my ass!" Gibbs growled. "All I see is two trigger-happy buffoons nearly injuring a witness and chasing off another while shouting guilty without any merit!"

The boy blinked at Gibbs clearly shell-shocked. "He's a ghost- he's guilty by default." The white GIW said.

Gibbs felt his fist curl and his jaw tighten. "That's not how this works. I don't care if he's a fucking demon- if you don't have evidence to prove he did it the real killer will kill again. This isn't about pride or superiority or some kind of witch hunt. This is about stopping another death, and if you can't understand that you will never have jurisdiction over this case!" Gibbs glared. "Now get the hell off my crime scene."

The two straitened recognizing authority even if only subconsciously, and began marching toward the door. "This isn't over." The darker skinned GIW said in a whisper.

Gibbs just glared the two down until they were out of sight.

Silence seemed to fill the room in a suffocating manner for several breaths before it was broken by a shaky laugh. "Wow…"

Gibbs turned his attention to the shaking boy who had verbalized his disbelief from where he'd sunk to the ground. The boy was sitting with his legs collapsed in an awkward position and his hands splayed on the ground as if he was barely holding himself up. Gibbs snorted. More like barely holding himself together. The kid had guts sticking around even when he knew the two GIW bastards were not going to listen to reason. "Now." He said making the boy jump slightly and the woman look at him with guarded eyes. "What happened?"

The two looked at him with a mixture of confusion and shock. "Come." David had made her way into the room and was coaxing the kid into a standing position as she moved him to the couch. She motioned to the woman to follow. Letting out a sigh Gibbs decided to let his team take over the interrogation for the moment. He wasn't always the best at calming people after a stressful situation. "Has the body been examined by a Coroner?" He asked the officer standing in the corner who was looking just as shocked as the witnesses.

Startling to attention the officer stuttered. "Uh- n-no- he's on his way." The man said. "Should be here soon."

Gibbs grumbled. They should have already had them here. It wasn't like they were in another state. Pulling out his phone Gibbs called an old friend. "Do you think you can make it out here?"

Ducky was suturing up a man who had died from a heart attack as he talked to his speakerphone.

He momentarily considered the words. Deciphering what the other man was asking of him. "Well after I finish with Maxwell here, I can be there in about 3 hours."

"Good." Gibbs said. "With everything else going on I need to know I can trust the autopsy."

"It's a bit out of the way." Ducky sighed. "Still, it has been slow around here."

"Wouldn't want you getting rusty." Gibbs quipped as he studied the body, taking extra care not to touch it. Tony was already taking pictures. Blank eye sockets stared back at him tears of blood pulling around the head. Gibbs wasn't sure if it was more or less disturbing that the eyelids seemed to be perfectly intact.

Authors Notes:

I really wanted to have the GIW involved somehow because how would they not get involved? But it's really hard with the jargon which I skirt around as much as I can because I'm not good at it.

In regards to the GIW filling out reports seemingly before they've even apprehended Danny… The GIW canonically is very strict with paperwork and I imagine that they've got methods of speeding up the process- including filling out paperwork ahead of time for assumed outcomes. (otherwise, I doubt they'd be getting around to even the little they do get to in the show) In fact, they'd only truly arrived a little before the NCIS team and were making assumptions based on the Police reports they were basically stealing.

I spent a good amount of time thinking about how to approach this scene I really didn't want Danny running off… so I had him stay and protect Mikey's Mom. On that note thank you for all the name suggestions! I know that in the last chapter Danny addressed her as Ms. T. but that's easy to change. I like the name's Thorn and Phillips… maybe I'll flip a coin.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.