Chapter 2
Tony rushes to park his car to finally get to work. He's running quite late since he had to drop Chioke off at school. After parking his car, he grabs his bag and quickly runs to get inside of the NCIS building. Once inside, on the floor he needs to be at, he rushes to his desk and sits down. Tony is already late as it is.
"There's no point in pretending you were on-time." McGee stated. "Gibbs walked passed here a little while ago and saw you weren't here."
"And you didn't bother telling him I was in the bathroom." Tony said.
"He didn't even buy it the first time." Ziva stated. "And that was an hour ago."
"Ok, I'm really late… But I think he'll be a little understanding of my situation right now." Tony said. "Jamie is depressed over losing the baby and Chioke… Well… He's completely distant from Jamie and I don't understand why cuz he probably doesn't know how to express his feelings since he's still learning sign language. And since my wife is Gibbs' daughter… Yes, I do think he'll be a little understanding of how the last three weeks have been for me." Tony said as he slams the desk drawer closed. "The baby wasn't just Jamie's, you know. It was also mine. I wasn't the one carrying the baby, nor do I think I could ever handle doing so for nine months, then going thru the process of labor…" He continues as Ziva and McGee stand up and walk over to his desk. "…But the point is… The baby was mine that I helped to create." He places his right hand over his face in order to hide his emotions. "Just cuz I wasn't the one carrying the baby, doesn't mean it's not affecting me as well as her."
"It sounds like you really wanted the baby." McGee said in a caring tone.
"I did." Tony said. "I still do."
"You and Jamie can always try again, right?" Ziva asked.
"When the doctors got a closer look…" Tony paused for a second. "Jamie has extensive damage to the lining of her uterus which will take some time to heal properly. So we can't risk her being pregnant again until her uterus is fully healed cuz the baby wouldn't survive if it's not." He added. "We won't be able to try again for quite a while."
"Sorry to hear that, Tony." McGee places his hand on Tony's shoulder as a sign of caring.
"You know I never really…" Ziva begins to say.
"I know, Ziva." Tony said as he knew what she was going to say. "I just don't know what to do or how to handle this, right now. She just lies in bed all day, hardly talks to me or anybody who comes to check on her… She hits me, not hard, but just to push me away if I try to get her out of bed, and at night, she cries herself to sleep in my arms. I don't know how to make her feel better."
Gibbs walks into the area.
"You're late, DiNozzo." Gibbs stated. Then he motions for Tony to walk with him.
Tony gets out of his chair and walks down the hall with Gibbs. They stop in an area where no one else is around.
"There are some private things you shouldn't talk to co-workers about. And my daughter's uterus is one of those things." Gibbs said. "Ziva asked a simple question. You didn't have to go into any details. All you had to do was say that you and Jamie would eventually try again."
"Sorry, Boss." Tony then sees the expression on Gibbs' face. "Right... Apologizing is a sign of weakness, I got it."
There's a moment of silence as Gibbs reads Tony's body language.
"If you need help, DiNozzo, all you have to do is ask."
"I… Can definitely use some help, Gibbs."
"That's all you had to say."
"All Jamie does is…"
"I heard." Gibbs quickly said. "I'll come over later and get her out of the apartment for a while."
"Good, cuz I'm kinda scared to do it myself." Tony laughed.
"Eventually you'll learn that marriage is about doing the things you think are best for your wife, even though your wife basically wants you to just leave her alone cuz she's depressed."
"If that's why you have three divorces on your marriage record, then I sure as hell don't wanna do it."
"I only have three divorces on my marriage record cuz I'm a bastard. But I was married four times."
"That's right. Shannon was…" Tony notices the expression on Gibbs' face. "I'll just shut up."
Gibbs cell-phone rings. He answers the phone. He takes a minute in order to talk with the person on the other line. Finally, he closes the phone.
"What do we got, Boss?" Tony asked.
"We have a lynched sailor." Gibbs answered.
The two of them walk to the work area in order to get Ziva and McGee and also to pickup their gear.
The team eventually makes their way to the crime-scene. Local police, along with the Sheriff and the man who found the victim are either working the crime-scene or waiting. Once the NCIS team is out of their vehicles, Gibbs is appalled at the manner in which the crime-scene is being handled. The Sheriff walks over to them.
"You must be…" The Sheriff tries to greet him.
"Is there some reason your people are trying their best to contaminate my crime-scene?! I see three of them aren't even wearing gloves, yet they're touching everything they find." Gibbs said in a slightly pissed tone of voice.
Ducky sees a local policeman walk over the body.
"For heaven's sake… Your man just walked over the victim." Ducky stated. "And his shoe touched the body. There's definitely gonna be some transfer now. Don't you people have any respect for the dead?!" He walks off to go to the dead body in order to begin working. Tony, Ziva and McGee also walk away in order to get the local police away from the area.
Gibbs grabs the Sheriff and pulls him close. He stares the Sheriff in the eyes.
"Get your people away from my crime-scene before I throw them out." Gibbs threatened.
"We may not be as experienced as…" The Sheriff begins to say.
"Not being experienced is an understatement in this case." Gibbs said. "My crime-scene is a circus right now!" He exclaimed. "Do you realize how much extra work you and your people have created for us? Not to mention the fact of contaminating any possible evidence!" He finally lets the Sheriff go.
Tony, Ziva and McGee are arguing with the local police about putting things down and getting away from the area so they can work.
"What do you want from me Agent Gibbs?" The Sheriff asked.
"I already told you." Gibbs stated. "Get your people off my crime-scene."
"I've turned the crime-scene over to NCIS!" The Sheriff shouted to his men. "Stop what you're doing. They'll take it from here." He turns back to face Gibbs. "Is there anything else?"
"I'll need the fingerprints and footprints of all your men in order to eliminate them from anything we find…" Gibbs stated. "…Since you were all so kind as to contaminate my crime-scene." He added in a sarcastic tone of voice.
"I get it, Agent Gibbs. We have no idea how to run a murder scene." The Sheriff said. "We've never dealt with a murder before. All we get are domestic disputes, occasional drunken fights between people…"
"I don't care what types of petty crimes you deal with around here."
Gibbs finally walks away in order to get to work. The Sheriff shakes his head as he's slightly aggravated with Gibbs' attitude. Tony walks to the truck in order to get something. The Sheriff walks over to him.
"Is he always like this?" The Sheriff asked.
"Yeah, pretty much… Especially when a crime-scene isn't handled properly." Tony replied. "Don't even try to get on his good side, cuz he doesn't have one. You're basically on the very bad side, of his bad side."
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaimed to get his attention. "Stop the chit-chat and start sketching!"
"Sketching?" The Sheriff wondered.
"We do sketches of the crime-scene. Measure distances and stuff like that." Tony said.
"Why not just take pictures?"
"We do take pictures. But from a picture, can you tell me how far an object is from the victim's position? Or how far each blood stain is from the next? Or…" Tony begins to say just as Gibbs smacks him on the back of the head. "Or measuring the distance between me and my boss in order to figure out how much of a head-start I'll need in order to dodge the Gibbs-slap." He said. "Ow, by the way." He rubs his head. He looks at Gibbs who is just glaring at him. "I'm… Just gonna go work now, Boss."
"You do that, DiNozzo."
Tony walks away. Gibbs looks to the Sheriff.
"Are you done distracting my team, Sheriff?"
"Agent Gibbs, I could actually be useful, if you let me."
"Other then your poor skills in processing a murder scene…"
"Look, Agent Gibbs, I understand that we handled the scene very poorly. But I know this town. I've lived here my entire life. I know things that nobody else knows about."
"You can start by telling me who you think killed my sailor."
"It definitely appears to be a hate crime, that's for sure. This town has three black families…"
"Use the term African-American, Sheriff." Gibbs corrects him.
"We have three African-American families in this town. The rest are white folk. Most of white residents in this town are either friends with, or are very friendly with the African-American residents. But there are a few people who have never accepted them. I don't wanna call them racists, but that's actually what they are."
"Have there been any signs that these racist residents would ever go this far?"
"In all honesty… No." The Sheriff responded. "They try to avoid either each as best as they possibly can. At most, it's been a couple harsh words that were exchanged. No death threats." He added. "But there are two families that really seem to have a lot of tension between them. Your sailor belongs to the African-American side of the feud. I'll send someone to question…"
"No, Sheriff. We'll do the questioning." Gibbs interrupted. "But you're right… It does appear to be a hate crime. So we'll investigate that angle first, unless we find evidence to suggest otherwise. For now, just give me a list of the racist people in your town."
"Alright, I'll go make that list for you."
The Sheriff walks away. Gibbs goes over to the dead body in order to keep working.