Disclaimer is in Chapter 1.
Chapter 6
Gibbs watched as Rebecca descended the stairs. She looked…aware. He knew that she could handle the cover of a trainer, after all it was what she did for a living. But she looked uncertain about something. Probably her ability to maintain her composure if something happened.
He glanced at his team as they were getting ready to leave. They were trained agents. Trained to handle pressure. Trained to kill if necessary. She was a civilian…and someone close to Ducky.
"Ducky!" He thought, wincing inwardly. How was he going to break the news to his friend?
"Hi, Special Agents Gibbs." Rebecca said softly as she approached.
"I think that since you're part of the team, you can drop the Special Agent part." He offered kindly.
Rebecca smiled.
"Have you told…"
"No, not yet. I thought maybe we should tell him together." Gibbs said weakly. "He can take his anger out on me."
"He won't be angry, Gibbs." Rebecca said. "He'll be concerned, worried, frustrated, helpless…but not angry. He's seen enough to know that life throws us a lot of curve balls."
"Does everything you do have a baseball analogy?" Gibbs asked, genuinely curious.
Rebecca shrugged.
"Come on, Autopsy is this way."
The woman hesitated. "Ummm…we won't be actually seeing bodies, will we? I don't do so well at the sight of blood."
Tim looked up nervously at this statement. Ziva's pen stalled. Tony kept his head down, but rolled his eyes.
"We'll keep you from the blood, Ms. Lyndsey." Gibbs promised. "You keep us together as a team."
Rebecca nodded.
Autopsy
"You're doing what!" Ducky's voice rose an octave. "I won't allow it! Jethro, how could accept this? I'm calling the Director right now!"
"Ducky, please." Rebecca placed a hand over the older man's, stalling him from lifting the phone. "I'm a big girl. And it's to help find a missing Colonel. Besides, it's not as if I'll be in danger. I'm just the cover the team needs."
Ducky's nostrils flared.
"I thought you said he wouldn't be angry." Gibbs mused.
Rebecca shrugged.
"I didn't think he would be. I've never seen him angry."
"He looks angry."
"Yeah…he does."
"He is in the room right in front of you." Ducky stormed.
Gibbs blinked. Seldom did the medical examiner lose his cool. Then again, things just weren't the same since Kate died. He placed a hand on Ducky's shoulder and waited until the older man's eyes met his.
"Ducky…I promise, she'll be safe. We won't let anything happen to her."
"I'm holding you to that, Jethro. If anything does happen to her, you'll answer to me first…and then her father."
Rebecca shuddered in mock horror.