Odd Pair Out
AN: Mag 7's Vin Tanner has a cameo and maybe one of the other boys.
Oh, and there is a mention of Dr. Greg House from "House, M.D." They all belong to other people.
***
Chapter 2
If it were anyone else, Ray would have definitely let loose. The fact that it was, in fact, Fraser took some of the anger out him.
"Well, Detective," Lt. Harding Welsh drawled as the bedraggled blond preceded the-neat-as-all-get-out Mountie into the station. "You look like you had a fun time."
"Oh, yes, sir," Ray drawled sarcastically. "It's great fun chasing small time creeps. Though," he cut off Fraser, who had already opened his mouth, "we did manage to get a cat-napper off the streets…"
"Good work, Vecchio," Welsh shook his head. 'A normal day with the Mountie. Poor Kowalski.' "I'm sure there are a school full of little girls that are bursting with joy."
"Indeed," Fraser smiled innocently. "Ray is now apparently an honorary member of the Corinth Street Feline Association (CSFA), with weekly meetings and refreshments courtesy of the PTA members of three area elementary schools as well as a number of day-care centers located in the same area." (1)
'Poor, poor Kowalski,' Welsh resolved to give the poor blond an extra week of downtime when it was his turn for vacation. "Contain your excitement, Vecchio."
Ray just glared at them both darkly. It didn't matter if Ray was a bit flattered to be the center of attention of a good number of the small female population and it certainly was beside the point that Ray actually decided to go to future meetings of the CSFA, but it was *especially* not worth mentioning that Ray had a bit of a fan club due to an earlier adventure with his crazy partner that the blond swung by to visit on occasion. It was also not attention worthy that a good number of the 'Detective Ray Fan Club' (DRFC) members were also involved with the CSFA. 'Oh, if Tony could see me now…'
What was important, however, was that, thanks to Fraser, a two-bit drug dealer was back off the streets.
"Alright, well," Welsh left them some instructions for the day and went to go fill out some paperwork, including some forms for Ray's future extended vacation. "I'll leave you to it."
As he disappeared down the hall, Ray turned to narrow his eyes at Fraser. "Need a ride back to the Consulate?"
Fraser opened his mouth, no doubt to make a wittingly innocent remark, but closed it again as he caught his friend's dark look. "Ah, no. No, that won't be necessary, Ray. I believe a walk would be more than sufficient in my return. Er, I will see you later?" He hoped his friend's temper would cool by then.
"Sure thing, Frase," he said as he turned away from the Mountie, who deemed it safe enough to beat a tactfully hasty retreat. "See you tonight," he yelled after him.
Once, Ray was certain that no one was watching, he let his 'anger' fade and chuckled as he remembered his unflappable Canadian friend erring on the side of caution and practically running from the blond. "Tony was right," he mused, not for the first time. "No one really can tell when I'm about two seconds away from kickin' them in the head and just playin' with 'em."
***
"Nah, never tried that one," ATF Vin Tanner drawled over the phone as Ziva, McGee, Abby, and Palmer were gathered around Ziva's desk. "Gonna have to ask Josiah about it and see if he'll let me have a go."
"Agent Tanner," everyone present straightened as Gibbs strolled in, coffee in hand. "Don't you have work to do?"
"Reckon that's my cue," Vin bid them goodbye and disconnected right quick before he got his friends in hot water.
"Gear up, we got a case," Gibbs ordered and led the way to the garage, Palmer going down to assist Ducky while Abby went back to the lab.
"Where is Tony?" Ziva questioned her team leader as they piled into the car and sped off, her and McGee holding on as tight as they could.
"He called it in," Gibbs answered, narrowly missing a telephone pole as he passed a minivan. "Marine and Sailor were found not far from the Azure Café just off base." (2)
"What was Tony doing down there?" McGee wanted to know. "He was supposed to be coming into work from his apartment."
"Abby sent him to get something and it was the only area that had it," Gibbs explained, missing the knowing looks that passed between his team mates. Abby was, next to an oblivious Tony, one of a handful that could get what they wanted from the ex-Marine without a fuss. "Someone ran across the scene and DiNozzo just happened to be in a two mile radius."
Ziva frowned as McGee shook his head. "Whoever it was, they apparently have a good set of lungs on them."
Realization dawned and Ziva immediately winced in sympathy.
A few minutes later, the car jerked to a stop and the three immediately spotted their fourth off talking to a witness. Spotting the rest of his team, Tony wrapped it up smoothly and strode toward them with a grim countenance.
"So, Tony," Ziva said. "What is the… situation that we have?"
"What?" Tony said loudly, cupping an ear. "Speak up a little would you? A little hard o' hearing at the moment."
"Report, DiNozzo," Gibbs, hiding an amused smile, told him. Concern swiftly replaced amusement as Tony began to all but yell the information at them. 'Gonna need to have Ducky take a look at him,' he thought before tuning in.
"The Marine is a Major Tessen Krinel and the Sailor is a Captain Samuel Dessid. Both were reported missing about an hour ago and they weren't seen since last night."
"Good job, DiNozzo," Gibbs raised his voice and hid a smile at the delighted look on his agent's face. The group turned as they heard a vehicle approaching and saw that Ducky and Palmer had finally arrived.
Ordering Tony to get looked over first, the others went about their assigned duties with Gibbs filling in for Tony.
A few minutes passed and Tony took over while Gibbs escorted Ducky to the bodies.
"How is he, Duck?" He wanted to know.
"Ah, well," Ducky smiled slightly. "Anthony will be back to working order in about another hour or so. It was mostly shock of having been exposed to a high frequency to a certain amount of time. Now, let us take a look at these poor fellows…"
***
When the team reconvened at the office a few hours later, it was lunch time and Tony, much to the others' delight, had regained his hearing.
Tony was in the middle of his second double cheeseburger when his phone rang, summoning him to Abby's lab.
"Hey, Abby," Tony called out, entering the lab. "Shouldn't you be calling Boss instead of me?"
"I would," Abby was at her keyboard, staring at the screen, twirling a pigtail with one hand and sipping a Caf-Pow! with the other. "But I see him everyday and I haven't seen you in forever."
Tony grinned as she smiled up at him angelically as he came up to her. "You just saw me yesterday."
"To me, it was last week!" Abby whined. "Anyway," she sobered, tuning back to her keyboard. "There's just something about this evidence that… I would normally say 'hinky', but it could just be me…""What do you mean?" Tony stood behind her to look over her shoulder.
"Well, it says here," Abby brought up her chemical breakdown chart on the screen. "That our boys were sort of not exactly kinda aware, if you know what I mean."
"Drunk?" Tony tilted his head a bit.
"With help," Abby added. "I found traces of this drug that shouldn't be out on the street yet." Seeing Tony look at her blankly, she explained, "Well, what I mean is that it's sort of a cousin to anesthesia, but think more sedative or muscle relaxer. Only the best of the best have access to this stuff."
"Like Nathan Jackson?" Tony remembered that the ATF Agent was a medic on Chris Larabee's team.
"Sort of. Nate's good, but it'd be more like Doctor House," Abby shrugged as she remembered the quirky doctor that Jimmy Palmer and Tony had come across on vacation in Montreal two and a half years ago. They still kept in touch and every once in awhile, they would meet up for a drink. Much to the surprise of his co-workers, House had dubbed Palmer and Tony 'honorary ducklings'(3) and insisted that they spend a few days with the team to see how things were done. Palmer was salivating at the thought, but Tony didn't know what to make of it just yet.
"So, a medical facility," Tony mused.
"Maybe, but I do know that it was given to them in the form of a drink," Abby smiled as Tony's eyes lit up.
"Abby, was there any cameras on the scene?" He asked excitedly.
"Not visible ones," she grinned back at him. "Give me an hour or so and I'll have that information. Oh, and I think Ducky wanted to see you down in Autopsy when you're done up here."
"Why not Gibbs?" Tony was flattered at the attention, but he really didn't need to be the first one to know about these things.
"He's been called to MTAC," she explained.
"I didn't see him go up there," Tony frowned as he recalled him sitting at his desk.
"Bossman doesn't have to be seen," Abby said in her spooky voice. "I'll see you later, Tony, my friend."
"Bye," he waved as he left the lab and headed down to see Ducky.
***
There wasn't anything that Constable Benton Fraser liked more than a good old-fashioned cup of tea.
Having decided to give his unpredictable best friend some time to cool down (not having the slightest idea that he'd been played but good), Fraser had relocated from the kitchen to his office where he was now staring at his computer.
'I really shouldn't,' he licked his bottom lip nervously as he contemplated finding his friend's old partner and letting this Tony know that Ray still thought about him. Missed him, really. Sighing, he turned back to his reports and took a sip of hot tea.
"The Yank alright, son?"
Ben just about spit his mouthful all over his desk at his father's unexpected timing. "Everything's fine, Dad," Ben sighed as he put his cup down and turned to see his father, the late Sgt. Robert Fraser, standing beside him. "Why do you ask?"
"He's not as full of energy as he usually is," Bob noted. The friendship between the Yank and his son was something that he didn't have to understand, but it warmed him from the inside that the bond was strong. "Seems almost sad sometimes."
"It's his last partner," Ben leaned back in his chair. "The last one he really liked. Tony DiNozzo is his name. Sounds like a nice fellow…"
"But you don't want him to be, is that it?" Bob could tell that his son was feeling off about the whole issue. "You're jealous of this DiNozzo character for stealing your friend away from you."
"I'm not jealous and he has not stolen anything that I'm aware of, let alone Ray," Ben denied vehemently. He absolutely hated that his father could see through him.
"Try telling yourself that enough and maybe you'll convince me."
"I'm not!" Ben buried his head in a report while talking to his father. "I know Ray's my friend and nothing that happens will change that."
"That's right, Fraser. Friends through thick and thin."
Ben immediately picked his head up and blinked at his blond friend standing in the doorway. "Uh, Ray? Ah, what's the problem?"
"Well," he shuffled inside the foyer a bit. "Lieu wants us to scope out a new crime scene."
"I'll be right there," Ben nodded as Ray walked out of the room.
'I wonder what's up with Fraser,' Ray thought as he waved at Turnbull on his way out to the GTO. 'And what did he mean 'nothing that happens will change that'? He knows he's my best friend, right?'
While Ray was contemplating this, Fraser arrived and slid in the front seat. "Diefenbaker is otherwise occupied with other things. Ray? Shouldn't we get going?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, right."
As Ray drove down the road, he had to ask. "Frase? You know that you're my best friend, right?"
"Of course, Ray," Fraser nodded slightly. He couldn't help but feel a warmth spread through his insides at that sentiment. "I you, as well, Ray."
"Besides Dief?" Ray teased. "And your imaginary friend?"
"Yes, Ray, besides Dief. And my imaginary friend," he grimaced at that. If only Ray knew…
Arriving at the scene, Fraser immediately went to confer with the ME as Ray surveyed the scene. Huey came up to him and debriefed.
"His name's Tomas Delin and he's evidently been visiting some friends in this area," the other man told him.
"Where from?" Ray wanted to know.
"Washington, DC," Fraser piped up, coming to stand beside him.
"And how do you know that?" Fraser was about to open his mouth when Ray shook his head. "No, forget it. I know you, it's probably what was on his shoes. Anyway, let's get this all packed up then we'll head back over to the station."
***
"So. They were beaten up before they were shot," Abby shook her head as she sat in on the information session with Ducky. "Why? I mean, being beaten alone would've put them in a bad place already. That's kinda overkill, ain't it?"
"That's one of the questions we don't have answers to," Gibbs shook his head as McGee proceeded to tell them about their services and other potentially interesting information. He studied the brown haired Marine and blond Sailor. Both were on the up and up, except the fact that they must have done something to warrant being killed off in their middle thirties at least.
"No shady business, then," Abby shook her head again as she studied the big flat screen. "Is it hopeless? Well," she cut McGee off before he could start. "Any other factors in this? I'll run it through AFIS and see what's going on."
"Go," Gibbs nodded and turned to Ducky. "Anything else?"
Ducky sighed. "Unfortunately not. From what I can understand, the injuries sustained through being beaten with the pipe found at the scene would have been enough to kill. Why take the shot through the heart? That, my dear Jethro, is the only thing I don't understand. But then, I'm just the doctor," he added with a small smile. "I'll be tracking down Mr. Palmer if you need me. I let him off for an early lunch, but I'm about to be welcoming another friend and I need some help."
Ziva frowned as she surveyed the information out on the screen. "I do not understand this myself," she commented to her teammates as Ducky took his leave. "What is the possible connection between these two? According to this, they have had no prior contact with each other until today."
"Everything looks clear," McGee piped up from his computer monitor. "No red flags from the bank or anything."
"McGee, go with Ziva and talk to Captain Dessid's family and friends," Gibbs told them. "Me and DiNozzo will go talk with Major Krinel's side after I talk to one of the other agents about something or other that apparently can't wait until the next meeting," Gibbs grimaced as his two youngest teammates dispatched swiftly leaving him and his senior agent alone. Blue eyes snagged on the young Italian and he frowned slightly. "DiNozzo?"
Green eyes came back to the present with a start. "Boss? Where'd McGee and Ziva go?" He asked, looking around.
"I sent them ahead. We'll go as soon as I clear something up with someone else. Is everything alright, Tony?" Gibbs sauntered over to perch a hip on the corner of his friend's desk.
"Yeah, just going over some things with myself," Tony shrugged as his leader narrowed his eyes at him for a moment.
"Sure?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, it's probably just in my head that's all." Tony saw no reason to tell him that the case seemed familiar just yet. And anyway, it was a vague enough feeling to be déjà vu and yet it felt familiar just the same. He decided to shelf it and wait to see if anything could clear it up later on. Sighing, he bent his head down to work on some Senior Agent paperwork as Gibbs continued to study him.
A few minutes later, Gibbs left him to it. With Tony, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the younger man let him into his head. Yeah, he could force him to talk, but Gibbs didn't make the same mistake more than once. Wincing at the elevator, he starkly remembered that last fiasco he inadvertently caused. The only thing that Gibbs could do was wait and see what would happen.
***
Ray sighed and ran a hand through his short, blond hair.
It was bad. Delin had been drugged with some sort of sleeping drug that had been taken in a drink. It wouldn't have meant anything, had there not been another body found two hours after the first. Burglary didn't know what to make of it, but the tox screen came back with a match.
Sehid Kowan was also from DC, and was also visiting friends in the area. Like Ray, Kowan was blond and former boxer but of small town fame.
Ray looked around the bull pen to see Frannie Vecchio doing something with the computer and Fraser was quickly approaching him.
Sitting up, he took a sip of lukewarm coffee before addressing his friend. "What's going on, Frase?"
"Well, I did some digging and found that there were quite a few others before Delin and Kowan. All cold cases, of course, but from different areas of Illinois and not just Chicago."
"Alright," Ray stood up. "Frannie!"
"Yeah, Ray?" his 'sister' looked up at him.
"Can you put these limits in and figure out if it's just Illinois that's got these dead bodies?"
"Ray, I think the word you're looking for is 'parameters'," Fraser corrected with an absent smile at Frannie.
"Same thing," Ray waved a hand. "Got it, Frannie?"
"Sure, bro," she nodded as she smiled coyly at the Mountie. "I'll get right on it."
"C'mon, Frase," Ray grabbed his friend's elbow. "Let's go talk to some people."
"Very well, where should we start?" Fraser questioned.
"The friends they were visiting should work," Ray led him out.
***
"GIBBS!"
Tony, Ziva, and McGee winced as Abby rushed into the office proper, waving a hand excitedly.
"AFIS just got a hit!" Abby skid to a stop in front of his desk. "Not too long ago, someone put in a nationwide inquiry for particulars matching our case! I traced it back to Chicago, the 2-7 Police Department district, and they have two dead bodies that matched the ones down in Autopsy. Then, I had another hit and found out that there are similar, if not identical, unsolved cases all throughout the states, but there was quite a few in Illinois and up North a little bit."
"Good work, Abby," Gibbs nodded as he went back over what she had told them. "What's the situation in Chicago?"
"Well, I found it in Major Crimes," she twirled a ponytail. "There's a detective on the case, Raymond Vecchio, and a Canadian Mountie, Constable Benton Fraser."
"A Mountie?" McGee frowned.
"Yeah," Abby whirled around to face him. "Apparently, some hinky business went down a few years ago and he was exiled to work at the Canada Consulate to liaise with Detective Vecchio and the rest of the 2-7."
"Get a hold of them, David," Gibbs ordered Ziva. "I want to know everything they know."
"What about jurisdiction, Boss?" McGee wanted to know.
"If they want to keep working this case, then they'll have to come work here with us. As far as we know, this is our case and we'll co-operate with them if they work with us," Gibbs shrugged. That was pretty much his answer for all cases that had overlapping boundaries.
The higher-ups, however, were not always amused.
"Yes, Gibbs," Ziva nodded, already on the phone.
McGee was ordered to dig up some more information on their victims and Tony was left to gather all the information already collected and go over them with a fine tooth comb until he found something to connect all these different people.
***
Abby bounced back into her lab, sucking on a well deserved Caf-Pow! as she went. Setting it down and getting her precious babies up and running, she noticed that she had a message from her friends at the ATF.
She clicked on it and blinked as she was face to face with team profiler Josiah Sanchez. "Hey, 'Siah. How's it going?"
"Well, Abby," he rumbled pleasantly. "I just wanted to know if you made good on your threat and managed to put a tracker on Brother Ezra."
"Who said it was a threat?" she asked innocently.
"I had hoped that was the case," Josiah smiled in relief. "Now, would it be imposing if I asked you to help us locate him?"
"What's in it for me?" Abby grinned, already on the job. "I mean, I do get something in return, right?"
"Of course, you do," Josiah nodded. "We shall negotiate on our next meeting."
"Fair enough," Abby pulled up a local map of the Team Seven's position. "Now, what happened and why is Ezra in the vicinity of a daycare?"
***
"Yes, hello? This is Agent Ziva David of NCIS," she shuffled some papers on her desk as a female voice answered. "I would like to talk to… Lt. Harding Welsh?"
"Why'd ya want to talk to 'im?" Ziva could tell that she was on the… offensive? Well, whatever it was that Tony had been talking about when the team had reconvened after their different field assignments. She could also tell that the female was Italian.
"I need to talk to him about a case that was entered into the database."
"I suppose. Alright, give me a minute."
Muffled voices came through the line and the Italian female told her that she was being reconnected. Soon, a gruff voice answered. "Agent David? This is Lt. Welsh. I believe you needed some information?"
"No, actually, I need to talk about a case that a Detective Vecchio has," she explained. "My superior wants him and Constable Fraser to work this case here in DC and to bring all pertaining information with them."
"This isn't gonna sit well with some people," he told her.
"As I am aware. However, we believe that it will be for the best if everyone converged in one place."
"Yeah, from what I've seen," Ziva heard some papers shuffling, "This is one sick perp. Alright, I'll convince Vecchio that it would be in his best interest to go to you. Constable Fraser won't be a problem. Fact is, I think he'll help me get it into his partner's head."
"That is all I ask," Ziva nodded.
They discussed a few particulars before the pair hung up.
***
Fraser watched as his best friend paced his living room.
"Why do we have to go to them?" he ranted, passing a hand through his short blond hair.
"It does make sense, Ray," Ben refuted. "It was, after all, their case first."
"Well, I get that, really," Ray suddenly smiled. "Know what? I bet I know what Tony would say."
"Oh?" Ben rose an eyebrow at him in feigned interest. "What would he say?"
Ray thought for a minute and smiled slightly. "'I guess this is where I either say that this reminds me of a movie or I say that we do our best to get along and if we don't it won't be our fault.'"
"Very wise," Ben nodded slightly. As much as he hated to admit it.
"Alright," Ray ran a hand through his short blond hair. "I guess I'll go get some stuff together…"
"We leave tomorrow," Ben told him as he left his friend. 'Perhaps,' he thought on his way back to the Consulate, 'Ray will be too wrapped up in this case to think about 'Tony' anymore.' He tried to tell himself that it was because Ray always seemed a little forlorn when talking about his friend, and that Ben didn't want to see his best friend so depressed looking.
He really didn't think it worked.
***
1. I haven't been to Chicago, though I'm hoping to visit sometime in the future. Corinth is a figment of my imagination and if there really is a street with that name in the city, please disregard this footnote.
2. The Azure Café is the name of a restaurant that featured in one of my Creating Writing stories in high school. I thought I'd give it a cameo appearance in my story.
3. For those of you who don't watch House enough to know things about it, the Fellows that House works with has been named the Ducklings and rumor has it that Wilson started the whole thing. It may be because they always follow him everywhere like a mother duck and her babies or that they always go to him at every dead end.
AN: We're getting there…
3. 05. 10 (F)