Author's note: Sorry for the delay. I've been a little busy, especially since my little cousin was feeling a bit sick.
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Chapter 12
The NCIS team arrives at an old recreational building that's under renovation. The GPS locator that Gibbs had Abby to place into Kenneth McCloud's cell-phone and watch, lead them to this building. They enter into the building with guns drawn as they make their way to the great room, which is the largest room in the entire building, where the Wilkinson and McCloud families are ready for a fight.
Inside of the great room, the Wilkinson's and McCloud's stand about ten feet apart. The Wilkinson family consists of: Lance (all family members stem from who Lance is), his brother Emmet, his mother, his aunt, uncle and one male cousin. The McCloud family consists of: Kenneth (all family members stem from who Kenneth is), his mother and father, his aunt and his two cousins Derek and Justin. Of the 12 people in total, each side consists of four males and two females.
With the two families ready for a fist fight, the NCIS team finally barges into the great room. The two families quickly look toward the NCIS team as four guns are pointing in their direction. Then the families look back to each other with angry eyes.
"Nobody make a move! It's over!" Gibbs yelled.
"This white piece of trash killed my brother!" Lance exclaimed as he points at Kenneth.
"I didn't kill your nigger brother!" Kenneth shouted back.
"I know who…" Gibbs begins to say.
The two families charge at each other. The fist fight begins between the two families. Gibbs aims his gun toward the ceiling and fires a shot. The sound of a single gun-shot didn't seem to faze the two families at all.
"I don't think they're gonna listen." Tony said.
"Everybody unload. We need to break this up." Gibbs stated.
The four of them unload their guns by putting the magazine cartridges into their pockets. Each of them put their empty guns into their holsters. Then the NCIS joins the fight, but only to break it up.
The fight between the two families continues and the NCIS team keeps trying to break it up. Chioke, who was supposed to stay in the car, has the door to the great room opened a crack and is watching the whole thing.
During the fight, someone on the Wilkinson side of the feud takes out a small lead pipe that was concealed in his pants. Chioke watches as the person bashes the lead pipe against the back of Tony's head. Tony falls away from the pack of people and lands on the floor. Chioke immediately opens the door and starts running to Tony.
Gibbs, who saw Tony get hit, immediately goes after the person with the weapon. Gibbs grabs the person's arm before he could swing the weapon at a member of the McCloud family. Gibbs grabs the weapon, punches the Wilkinson family member in the stomach and tosses the weapon as far away from the fight as he possibly can.
As the fight continues, Chioke finally reaches Tony. Chioke gets down on the floor and pulls Tony up toward him. Tony is slightly dazed from the blow to the back of the head. Chioke wraps his arms around Tony's neck. Tony has a painful expression on his face as he rubs his head. Chioke holds onto Tony.
Eventually, two of the feuding people notice the little black boy on the floor, with his arms wrapped around the white NCIS agent. The two people immediately calm down and stop fighting. As the other feuding people begin to see this as well, they also calm down and stop fighting. With the majority of the feuding people calmed down and just looking at the little black boy with his arms around his white father, the people see the love and caring in Chioke's eyes.
Ziva and McGee are standing between the two families and trying to get them to step back from each other. The only two people who seem to still be fighting are Lance and Kenneth. Gibbs, who is trying to break them up, finally shoves both of them to the floor. Gibbs places his foot Lance's back in order to keep him from getting up. With knowing the reason why the families have seemed to stop fighting, Gibbs quickly pulls his gun out of the holster, loads it and then he points the gun at Kenneth as he finally gets up. Kenneth puts his hands up and just stands there.
"I didn't do it, Agent Gibbs." Kenneth stated.
"I know you didn't." Gibbs said. "I need you all to remain calm cuz I have something to say." He puts his gun into the holster.
Gibbs points to Tony and Chioke who are still on the floor.
"That's Tony and his adopted son, Chioke, who came from Nigeria. To them, the color of their skin makes no difference in the way they love each other. Chioke doesn't understand the concept of racism, but he surely understands love." Gibbs stated. "But they aren't the only ones where the color of their skin didn't make a difference. Jamar Wilkinson and Vanessa McCloud had a secret. They were in love. They were in love for a long time and had to keep their relationship a secret cuz of your stupid feud. I know why the feud started… Can any of you remember why?" He waits for half of a minute and hears nothing. "Before Vanessa died, I made her a promise. Jamar and Vanessa wanted this feud to end so they didn't have to hide their love anymore. Neither of them is here anymore, so they can't finish what they started. Both families lost a member and I'm sorry for your loss. But it's time for all of you to stop using racism as an excuse to continue this feud. Your families used to be friends. A long time ago, the color of your skin didn't make a difference. All of you should be shamed yourselves by allowing the feud to get to the point of using racism as the excuse. Jamar and Vanessa had a plan of ending the feud. It was all on Vanessa's laptop. Only one person in this room was flagged as a possible issue in their plan of ending the feud. But for everyone else, they had high hopes for all of you in accepting their relationship." He added. "Before coming here, our Forensic Scientist sent us everything that was on the laptop. I don't have any print-outs, but you should see all the photos of Jamar and Vanessa together. They looked so happy in every single picture. This feud started over a really stupid reason and it's time you all look passed the racism excuse and just end it. If not for yourselves, then end it for Jamar and Vanessa."
After a minute of thinking, the mother of Jamar and the mother of Vanessa stepped forward. As they stand in front of each other Jamar's mother raises her hand for a handshake. Vanessa's mother does the same. They shake hands. Jamar's mother then looks to Gibbs.
"If Kenneth didn't kill my boy, then who did?" The Wilkinson mother asked.
"Maybe you should ask Lance." Gibbs stated. He grabs Lance and begins to place the handcuffs onto him. "Lance Wilkinson… You're under arrest for the murder of Jamar Wilkinson and also the rape of Vanessa McCloud." He said. "Vanessa's laptop had you flagged as the only possible issue in their plan of ending the feud. You're the only racist here and you decided to not play fair in this fight. The laptop also revealed detailed information about how Vanessa felt after you raped her…"
"You can't prove…" Lance begins to say.
"She was pregnant!" Gibbs exclaimed. "With the detailed account of the incident, the DNA results which were only a partial match to Jamar meaning it must be a close relative that we'll match to you, and many witnesses to Vanessa's depression, I sure as hell have more then enough proof. You didn't want the feud to end cuz you hate white people. You found out about their relationship and their plans to end the feud. So you raped her in the hopes she would be so depressed that she would just stay away from Jamar or kill herself. But when that didn't work, you went with even more drastic measures by killing your own brother, just to keep a stupid feud from ending."
"Those white pieces of gutter trash…" Lance begins to say.
"How dare you!" Lance's mother exclaimed as she smacks him across the face to shut him up.
"Ziva… Take Lance and read him his rights." Gibbs said.
Ziva takes holds of the handcuffed Lance and walks him away from the area. A member of the Wilkinson and McCloud family both help Tony to stand up. After helping Tony to stand, the two people shake hands. Chioke puts his hand into Tony's hand. The two mothers approach Gibbs.
"I'd like to see the photos of Vanessa and Jamar together." Vanessa's mother stated.
"I'd also like to see those photos." Jamar's mother said.
"McGee…" Gibbs tries to get his attention.
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Take them to the car, get the laptop and show them the photos." Gibbs said.
"Right this way." McGee said to the mothers. They walk away.
"If anybody else wants to view the photos of Jamar and Vanessa together, just follow them." Gibbs stated.
The rest of the Wilkinson and McCloud family members follow McGee. Tony and Chioke also leave. Kenneth is the only one who remains where he stands. Gibbs approaches him.
"You're right, Agent Gibbs." Kenneth said. "This feud started over a stupid reason. Making all those racist remarks always made me feel like crap cuz it just wasn't me. But I kept doing it."
"It's over now." Gibbs said.
"I never knew they were together. But I think if Jamar and Vanessa were still here…" Kenneth begins to say as he wipes a tear from his eye.
"Your sister talked to me until the end. She was the one who solved this entire case. The laptop was the key to everything. She never gave up on giving me its location." Gibbs said. "Jamar and Vanessa would be proud of all of you today."
"Can I go see the pictures of…"
"Go on… Get out of here.
With Gibbs being the only one left in the great room, he thinks of Vanessa. Gibbs cracks a smile as he knows he kept his promise to Vanessa by finishing what she and Jamar started.