Just My Luck
Summary: 7 years ago, Ari Haswari murdered Annabelle Todd's big sister, Kate. After the case she resigned from NCIS, and accepted an offer at the FBI. When the decomposed body of a Navy Petty officer is found and taken to the Jeffersonian, her partner Seeley Booth, calls in the NCIS MCRT, without her knowledge. How will Annie react to seeing her old team, and why is one of them not surprised to see her there? – Set I don't know when…Rated T coz I'm paranoid! TIVA (They hid it well…), B&B (Because this is set when B&B are expecting, 7 weeks), MCABBY (towards the end), HODGELLA (Because they are married and have a kid, Michael who is 6 months old!).
Disclaimer
Me: Annie, do you want to do the disclaimer, or will I get Ziva to do it?
Annie: Get Zi to do it! I've went through emotional turmoil in the last chapter, I'm still trying to compose myself for this one!
Me: Fine, Ziva do you want to do it for me?
Ziva: Okay. Lilliana-Lissa HathawayDavid does NOT own Bones or NCIS, me or any of the other characters in the shows, as much as she would like to (If she did, Tony and I would be together already!). She does however own my best friend, Annabelle, or Annie, Todd! No copyright intended! Oh and Happy Birthday, Lilli!
Me: Thanks Ziva. And so very true! Now enough blabbing, on with the story!
A/N: Okay, first off I just wanted to thank all of the people who reviewed/followed/favourited this story, especially MistessoftheDark12 for being my first fave/follow! I wasn't expecting such a great response. The idea literally popped into my head while I was flicking between NCIS and Bones. And a special thank you to MindFullOfStories for winning my little competition for the name of my dead Petty Officer's wife, Natalie!
CHAPTER TWO
"Belle? Is that you?" Gibbs was the first one to regain the power of speech. One of his girls had come back to him.
Gibbs thought of all of his team, current and previous, as family. He had lost his blood family before he came to NCIS, and he had lost Kate 7 years ago, and Belle too he had thought. Although he still had Abby and now Ziva, he missed Kate and Belle. And now she was back, he hoped.
"Yep. In the flesh, Jethro." Annie said. As far as she knew, she was the only one on his team, ever, that was allowed to call Gibbs by Jethro. As the baby of the team, she used to have everyone wrapped around her finger. "But I go by Annie now. A lot less painful." She added, tears welling up in her eyes again. She blinked rapidly. Kate used to call her Belle, that's where everyone picked it up from. There was only one person allowed to call her Belle now, and that was her other sister, Rachel.
"As Booth was saying, we won't know more until we talked to the family, and friends. But you can start talking to one of those friends now." Annie said, still tucked under Ziva's arm. She hadn't let it on, when she had told Booth and Tempe who the bones belonged to, but she knew the man. Stephen was one of her best friends, as was his wife, Natalie. This was going to be even tougher on her.
"What are you talking about, Anne?" Booth said, puzzled. As far as he knew no one in the squint squad knew anyone by the name of Stephen Amos, but he could be wrong.
"Stephen is, sorry, was one of my best friends. His wife is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. Natalie will be devastated. They had been married for 4 years. I was maid of honour at their wedding." Annie said, and everyone looked at her.
"Stephen got home from deployment in Afghanistan 6 months ago, along with half of his unit, after his CO was killed in action. The rest of the unit got back 4 days ago. So you can rule that half out as possible suspects. I'll go and get you a list of the other half that came home at the same time as Stephen." Annie sighed, untucking herself from Ziva and walking towards Angela's office again, pulling a cell phone out of her pocket as she went. "Don't you go talk to Nat without me, Jethro! Or send anyone else to do it for you." She called back over her shoulder.
"Well, I guess we wait for Annie to get back before we spilt up. We can divide into groups though, for questionings. " Booth said, still waiting for the inevitable call from Annie, when he would be reprimanded for going over her head, again.
"Booth you can come with me and McGee, we'll go talk to the men in his unit. Ziva, Tony you are with Be, Annie. You go talk to the wife." Gibbs decided, and all the agents nodded.
"After we go brief your Director." Annie said, she had waked up behind everyone, as she always does, and spoke unexpectedly, making them jump. She was holding out a sheet of paper to Gibbs. He took it. "Cullen wants us to brief Vance before we do anything. And he wants me to be there as the FBI rep. And I suppose you guys need to inform Abby, and Ducky to come over here. So we can do that while we're at the Navy Yard. Then me, Ziva and Tony will go talk to Natalie." Annie continued. She thought she might as well get this all over and done with. She wondered idly if the bullpen looked the same as it had 7 years ago.
"Come on! Tony, Zi we're taking my car." Annie added, as she started to walk toward the building's exit. "Oh, and Jethro, Tempe is going with you. She always goes with Booth on stuff like this." Annie tagged on as an afterthought. Technically, Tempe went with Booth everywhere when it comes to a case.
Tony and Ziva looked at Gibbs who nodded, telling them to follow the energetic FBI agent. They grabbed their gear from where they had stowed it on the floor at their feet and followed the bubbly young woman.
~NCISxBONES~NCISxBONES~ NCISxBONES~ NCISxBONES~ NCISxBONES~ NCISxBONES~
When Ziva and Tony caught up with Annie, she was opening up the driver's side door to the midnight blue Aston Martin DB9 that Tony had been salivating over earlier.
"I call shotgun!" Tony called, and Ziva laughed at her partner's childishness.
"No you don't. Zi has it. It was one of her conditions when I bought this car. She rides shotgun whenever she's in it. Maybe next time." Annie said as she watched Tony's expression change. She had always felt so happy joking over things with Tony when she was at NCIS, and it hadn't changed in their 7 years apart.
Once Ziva had settled into the front passenger seat and Tony grudgingly into the back, Annie looked Ziva and Tony seriously.
"I know this has nothing to do with the case, but you guys don't have to hide your relationship with me. You may be able to keep it a secret at NCIS, and that is a minor miracle in itself, but I can read you both like a book." Annie said slyly. "And, no Tony. Zi did not tell me. I figured it out." Annie said with a laugh. She had someone special in her life too. She recognised the looks they secretly shared. She shared the same ones her guy.
"Okay, now enough with the heavy stuff." Annie said and the three shared a laugh.
The three joked back and forth the whole way to the Navy Yard, which took the same amount of time to get to as the NCIS team took to get to the Jeffersonian.
"Has it changed much? The Bullpen?" Annie asked the two NCIS agents seriously as she got out of her car. "I'm actually a bit nervous going back. I haven't been in there in 7 years." She confided nervously. Tony and Ziva shot sympathetic glances at their FIB companion. This place must bring back some memories. "And I'm shit-scared of Abby. Will she kill me outright, or hug me to death?" That made the two NCIS agents laugh. Leave it to Annie to make a joke out of something like this to hide her own discomfort.
"I think something in between. She'll probably hug you as soon as she sees you, and then she'll yell at you for disappearing like you did." Tony said, laughing.
The group walked through the parking lot, and into the elevator. Tony pressed the appropriate button and the doors closed. Annie sighed. She was actually going to bring her past and her present together, finally. The doors slid opened and Annie went and got a visitors pass from the security guys while Tony and Ziva flashed their badges. It felt weird to Annie to be getting a visitors pass again after so many years. She remembered when she was 17 and she had come in one day with Kate. She had a day off after mid-term exams, and practically begged if she could go into work with her big sister. She had stayed in the lab most of the day, helping Abby and then she had gone down to Autopsy to help Ducky and his then assistant Gerald.
The group moved into another elevator and Tony pressed the button again. Up to the bullpen. Ziva quickly hit the emergency shut off switch and turned to her best friend. Tony looked at the silent exchange going on between his partner and the girl he had always thought of a little sister. Finally Annie spoke.
"Geeze, Zi! I'll be fine, honestly." She said, sighing.
"Okay, I was just checking on you. You should not be forced into something you are not ready for." Ziva explained. She was genuinely worried about the young woman standing in front of her. It surprised her when Annie lent across and hugged her.
"I'll be fine, Zi. Honest." She whispered, and Ziva believed her.
"Come on girls. We got a briefing to do, and a wife to interrogate. " Tony said cheerfully, effectively ending the moment. Annie walked up to him and slapped him upside the head, Gibbs style. Tony rubbed the back of his head mumbling something about Anne and hitting harder than Gibbs. Ziva flicked the shut off switch again and the elevator whirred to life.
The doors slid open and the trio got out, and made their way up to Director Vance's office. Ziva alerted the secretary who called them through. After listening to the voice on the other end of the phone for a few seconds, the secretary got up and opened the door to allow them access. Ziva led the way, with Tony following and Annie bringing up the rear.
"Agent DiNozzo, Agent David. What can I do for you?" Vance said, getting up from where he was seated at his desk.
"Director, this is Special Agent Annabelle Todd, FBI. She is one of the agents assigned to the Jeffersonian team." Tony introduced the two.
"Pleasure, Director. I was told you needed to be briefed on the case. We identified some remains as those of Petty Officer Stephen Amos. He died roughly 2 weeks ago, no cause of death as of yet. Agent Gibbs, Agent McGee, my partner Agent Booth and Dr Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian are going to talk to his shipmates and, after we have briefed you, Agent DiNozzo, Agent David and myself will be going to talk to the Petty Officer's wife. I have also been made aware that you would like your forensic scientist, Miss Scuito and your M.E, Dr Mallard to be involved in this case." Annie said professionally. She had worked with other agencies before and had to brief the Directors or the higher-ups on countless occasions. "We will go and give them notification." Annie tacked on as an afterthought and Vance nodded.
"Very well. Agent David, tell Gibbs to keep me posted." Vance answered. "Wait, Annabelle Todd, the name rings a bell." Vance added. The Director knew he had seen some files somewhere with that name, case files?
"I used to work at NCIS, sir. I was assigned to Agent Gibbs' team, 7 years ago." Annie answered, smiling slightly. She was remembering all the times she had been sent up here to do Gibbs' dirty work, because she was better at speaking to authority than he was.
"Ah, yes. I've seen case files with your name on them." Vance said. "Well, if that is all, you may go." Vance said, dismissing the group.
"Well, that was easy." Tony said as they descended the stairs into the bullpen. Annie laughed.
"Yeah, but the life-threatening part of today is still to come. Abby. Death by hugs, not the way I wanted to go. " Annie said, shuddering, and Ziva and Tony laughed. Annie could always get that reaction out of someone, it was something she prided herself on, her sense of humour. She loved how she could make someone laugh so easily, it made her feel happy.
The group continued to laugh as they made their way to the elevator. Annie was bouncing even more than normal, nervous energy. Tony smiled, Abby was going to get one hell of a shock when she saw Annie. Abby was the one that grieved the longest over Kate's death and Annie's sudden resignation. Abby had nicknames for the three of them; A, B, and C. A for Abby, B for Belle and C for Kate. The alphabet.
The elevator dinged as it opened and Annie laughed as she heard the blaring of Abby's music as soon as she stepped out of the car. She had missed that.
"Abby! We have a case!" Tony yelled as he walked around the corner into the lab. "But you are going to have to work on it somewhere else." He added as Ziva walked around the corner with Annie. Annie kept shifting her weight from one leg to the other, and the scar on her left shoulder was tingling, like it always did whenever she was nervous.
Abby was in her office finishing some paperwork when she heard Tony yell. She got up quickly, turned down her music and rushed over to Tony, hugging him. When she moved over to hug Ziva, who had come to stand next to him, she noticed someone else in the room standing awkwardly behind the two NCIS agents. She looked startlingly familiar with her crystal blue eyes and chocolate brown hair.
"Please tell me you recognise me Abby." The young woman said, in a small voice that Abby recognised only too well. "I've already had to put up with Timmy and Tony not recognising me." She added.
All of a sudden, Abby was flying over to Annie and enveloping her tightly in a bear hug.
"Um, Abby. I can't breathe!" Annie exclaimed, and Abby let go. Then all of a sudden she was glaring at the younger woman.
"How dare you leave! Without saying good-bye! We had just lost Kate, and then we lost you too! McGee and I tried to trace you but we couldn't find you at all! We thought you dropped off the face of the planet! Did you go back to Indiana? What do you do for a living?" Abby got out in a rush, still glaring at the girl.
"I had to go, Abs. It was too hard to watch all of you caught up in your own grieving, and most of you forgetting that I hadn't just lost a teammate, but I had lost my big sister too! It was easier going without telling anyone. You would have found a way to make me stay. And no, I didn't go back to Indiana, you know I hated it there. I was here in DC the whole time; you just didn't look hard enough." Annie said, answering most of the eccentric Goth's questions.
"But we looked everywhere!" Abby exclaimed. She couldn't believe that B was here, standing right in front of her. She had longer hair than before she left (when she worked at NCIS, Annie's hair had been just below her shoulders, and now it reached the middle of her back.) and she looked older, obviously. But she was still B. Abby turned to Tony.
"You said we have a case? Well, where is my evidence?" The Goth asked.
"Not here. You have to work on this case somewhere else. I said that." Tony answered. Abby's face fell. Working a case somewhere else would mean leaving her babies.
"But," Abby started. Annie cut her off.
"Yes Abby, we know you will miss your babies. But you will have bigger toys to play with for a few days. And you will love working in the lab, even if it is only for a little while." Annie said in a rush. She was waiting for Abby to guess what she did for her day job. And she couldn't wait to see Abby's expression when she found out she was going to be working at the Jeffersonian!
Ziva smiled at her two best friends. She knew that Annie and Abby were really close when Annie was still at NCIS, and she hoped that Abby wouldn't kill Annie with too much kindness when Annie said where Abby was going to be installed for the remainder of the case, because Abby had been talking about how cool it would be to work at the Jeffersonian for ages!
"Where is this lab you speak of? And how are you involved in this case, B?" Abby asked suspiciously.
"The lab is the Medico-Legal Lab at the Jeffersonian, and I am the senior agent assigned to the team." Annie said, deadpan. Just as Ziva and Annie had expected, Abby squealed at the mention of the Jeffersonian Lab.
"I get to work at the Jeffersonian? With Dr Brennan!? She is an amazing forensic anthropologist and I love her books!" Abby exclaimed, and as the two other females in the room had predicted, Abby ran over and enveloped Annie in another tight bear hug.
"Yes, Abs. Now can you please stop squashing Annie. Her boss wouldn't be terribly happy if we didn't return her in the same state we borrowed her. " Tony said, laughing as Abby released Annie and almost straight away, Annie started massaging her ribs.
"Wait, if you are the senior agent assigned to that team, then what agency do you work for now?" Abby asked, trying to wiggle some more information out of B.
"FBI. They offered me a job after I left here. I figured you wouldn't look for me in DC and you wouldn't look for me in the other federal agencies. Apparently I am quite a commodity. I got offered a job at CIA and ICE as well." Annie explained.
"Abby you need to get going. Hodgins is already looking through soil samples without you!" Annie added.
"Do I have time to say good-bye to my babies? And can I bring my CD's?" Abby asked.
"5 minutes. And I don't think Tempe would appreciate the music in her lab." Annie answered.
"Oh and Abby, guess what? We have a Caf-Pow machine basically right outside the lab!" Annie smiled at the expression on Abby's face.
"4 minutes and 30 seconds, Abby. You know how to get to the Jeffersonian, right?" Annie asked and when Abby nodded Annie continued.
"Just tell the security guys to call Dr Saroyan, and she'll come and sort everything out for you. " Abby nodded as she started flying around the room making sure that all her babies were alright before she left.
"See you later Abs" The three agents yelled as they moved out Abby's lab. Time to go down to get Ducky.
Another elevator ride down to Autopsy, and Annie was bouncing again. Ziva and Tony shared an indulging glance at the young woman. Where she got the energy to bounce around all day had fumbled Ziva ever since she met Annie almost 9 years ago when Annie had been doing her NCIS training course.
*flashback*
Annie was 19, fresh out of school and had been living in an apartment across the hall from the one Mossad had assigned to Ziva. The two women hadn't exchanged so much as 10 words before that day. Ziva had been in America for 3 weeks on a mission, and on that day as the girl across the hall was fumbling for her keys, Ziva opened her apartment door, and suddenly the door was slammed shut again and the girl was shoving Ziva into her own apartment, slamming her own door closed as well. There was a loud boom followed by a crash coming from across the hall. The girl waited 10 seconds, then turned to the Israeli woman.
"Seems like someone's out to get you, Mossad." The girl said, and Ziva gasped. How could this girl know? Ziva had never said anything to anyone to imply that she was from Mossad, let alone to this girl.
"What are you," Ziva started, but the girl cut her off.
"I can read people really easily. You are a very good actor, but you are too stiff at times. And one of my seniors told me about you. Jenny pointed you out to me while we were having lunch one time." The girl answered. One of her seniors? Was this girl a cop or something?
"I know what you're thinking and no, I am not a cop. I'm a federal agent. Almost. I'm doing the training now. NCIS." The girl answered.
"I'm Annabelle Todd, by the way, but you can call me Annie if you want. You are?" The girl, Annie, said, holding out her hand for Ziva to shake. Ziva took it.
"Ziva David. Are you going to let me go now?" Ziva asked, anxious to see how her apartment had fared the blast. How did the girl know about the bomb anyway? That was the first of her questions for Annie.
Annie opened the door and stepped out of the way to allow the other woman access to the hallway. Ziva got out her keys and went to unlock her door, Annie standing behind her. Ziva turned the key in the lock, and when it clicked she push her way in.
There was no structural damage, but all Ziva's belongings were in ruins. Lucky she always carried the few items she held dear to her with her always; the only picture of her family whole, before her little sister Tali died, and her Star of David necklace.
"Do have anywhere else you can stay while you contact your Mossad buddies?" Annie said from right behind Ziva, and Ziva jumped.
"I will figure something out." Ziva replied.
"You can stay with me until your apartment gets sorted out. I have a spare bedroom." Annie offered. This shocked Ziva. A girl she had only just met was offering her a place to stay, right after saving Ziva's life.
*end flashback*
After that, the two had been inseparable, they had instantly bonded and Ziva even showed Annie a few Mossad tricks (how to kill someone 18 different ways with a paperclip was Annie's favourite threat to use on Hodgins.). When Ziva's mission was over and she went back to Israel, the two kept in close contact, and Annie was the first one Ziva called when she was coming back to the US and the last one she saw before she left.
The elevator ding brought Ziva out of her thoughts with Tony looking at her strangely. Ziva just smiled. She looked over at Annie who was still bouncing as she walked out of the elevator, Tony and Ziva following. The young woman was just as much her sister as Tali was.
They waked into Autopsy, just as Ducky finished relaying one of his famous stories to his assistant, Jimmy Palmer.
"Ah, Anthony, Ziva. What can we do for you? And who is this?" Ducky asked, puzzled. Palmer recognised her though. Her hair was longer, and she looked older than the last time he had seen her, but he was positive it was Annabelle Todd, the first agent on the MCRT who was actually nice to him.
"Hey Ducky, Hey Jimmy! How are you?" Annie said. She saw the recognition dawn in Ducky's eyes.
"Annabelle? Is that you?" Ducky asked. What was she doing here? She vanished after her sister's death 7 years ago.
"Yes Ducky, it's me." She said, walking around Ziva and Tony to hug Ducky first then Jimmy.
"Where have you been all this time?" Ducky asked her. He was genuinely curious.
"FBI. I'm assigned to the Jeffersonian team. That's why I'm here. We found the remains of a dead Petty Officer and since it is a joint operation, you are cordially invited to join us at the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal lab for a party." Annie said happily, putting on a fake British accent at the end. Ducky and Jimmy laughed.
"Well that is one way to avoid Abigail's and Timothy's searching." Ducky said everyone laughed.
"You guys will need to get going if you are going to help in any way. Cam is already running the tox screen, but isn't having too much luck and my guess is that the bones will cleaned shortly. Do you know the way to the Jeffersonian? " Annie said. She wouldn't be surprised if the bones were getting cleaned right now, by one of the interns. Tempe was so eager.
"Of course, my dear." Ducky said, and Jimmy sighed. At least he wouldn't have to navigate blind this time. He knew where he was going too.
"Okay. When you get there, have security call down Camille Saroyan. She'll get your access passes sorted out." Annie explained. Ducky and Jimmy nodded.
"Now that that is sorted out, we have a wife to investigate!" Tony exclaimed, and everyone laughed. Annie walked up behind Tony and slapped him, Gibbs style, again. He cringed. He did mean what he said in the elevator about Annie hitting harder than Gibbs.
"Fine, come on then DiNozzo. Let's go. " Annie said, smiling and walking over to Ducky and Jimmy hugging each briefly before dragging Ziva and Tony out to the elevator.
The trio made their way to the elevator and down into the parking lot. Time to break the news to Natalie Amos.
A/N: Again, thank you all so much for all the reviews/follows/favourites. They mean the world to me! Not sure when I will update again because a thing called VCE (The last two years of high school in Victoria, Australia, Suuuuuper important!) starts in a few days... Hopefully in month from now… give or take a few days.
~Lilliana-Lissa HathawayDavid~