A/N: Sadly I own nothing pertaining to NCIS or its' characters.
Old Nemesis, New Respect
Chapter 3: Decorated Hero
Tony exits the elevator with lunch and starts tossing it out to the respective desks.
"Where's Gibbs, Ziva?"
"Upstairs." No sooner than the words were spoken Gibbs is headed down after briefing Vance on the new case.
"Whatcha got?"
DiNozzo digs in with his first bite of lunch as Ziva clicks towards the plasma.
"Neil Matthew Kispert. Graduated Alameda High in '93. Immediately enlisted in the marine corp. He was injured in a training accident and transferred to a base in Peoria. This is where he met, dated and eventually married Katherine Harris. All within a three month period."
Tony snatched the remote out of Zivas' hand and continued the briefing while still chewing on his lunch.
"Love at first sight produced one Oliver Michael Kispert in October '94."
Tim came around the corner thumbing through a file. "The training accident dismissed Kispert from paratrooper training. After he transferred to Peoria he began to re-train in radio and cryptology."
"So the geek-bully became a geek." After a sideways glance from Gibbs and McGee, Tony continued. "Uh hum, Kispert was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan summer of '98. His unit was ordered to stand down due to cuts and units that weren't state side got extended tours."
Ziva proceeded on the personal level. "February '99 the Kisperts started the process of adopting three year old Timmy Doe, which became finalized in April the same year."
"Timothy! As in Mc…"
"Don't say it Tony!" Tim turned to the boss. "There's absolutely no way. Look he was three in December'98. That means he was conceived early spring '95. I was sixteen and living in Alameda not Peoria."
"So when did you actually lose your virg…" (thwack) "Oww!" (knew that was coming)
Gibbs turned to Ziva for the rest of the briefing.
"Kispert was finally deployed to Afghanistan in '05. He was on his third tour working intelligence in Kabul when his Humvee was hit by an IED. Three men were killed, only Kispert and one other, a Lt. Cook survived." A picture of the other soldiers popped up on the screen.
"And where is this Lt. Cook now?" Tony took over the remote and finished where Ziva left off.
"Lt. Cook, as a result of the explosion, lost his right arm and suffered brain trauma. Severe depression and PTSD was a contributing factor in his suicide earlier this year. Kispert was credited with pulling Cook clear, so it hit him pretty hard when Cook died. Both men were awarded the Purple Heart."
Gibbs turned his attention back to the missing SSgt. "Besides PTSD what were Kisperts' other injuries?"
Tony reluctantly filled in the blanks. "Kispert was burned over 60% of his body and is a double amputee."
A silence fell over the bullpen only to be broken by the ringing of Gibbs' phone.
"Gibbs…where? Grab your gear, locals found Kispert."
~~~~~?~~~~~
Tony and Ziva waited outside the motel room while Gibbs and McGee entered, not knowing what they'd find inside.
An officer walked up to them and spoke. "Management said he checked in around 2am and that he hadn't left all night."
Kispert was sitting, although not steady, on the edge of the bed handcuffed. His prosthetics looked as if they were thrown across the room. There were officers standing on either side of him, to keep him from completely falling to the floor.
Gibbs walked up to the two officers, looking back and forth between the two.
"Does he look like he's going anywhere?" Gibbs waited for an answer, before making his order known. "Take 'em off."
The two men looked at each other, then back to Gibbs. The first came back with, "It's procedure sir." While the second stated, "He's a person of interest in a homicide."
The infamous Gibbs stare made another attempt to get his point across. "NOW!"
The officers began to fumble with the keys to the cuffs in a rush to follow Gibbs order.
"Give him his legs too."
"But what if he attempts to make a run for it?"
Gibbs has had enough of this idiocy, rolled his eyes and retrieved the limbs himself.
"Get out of the way!"
From behind McGee gently laid a hand on Gibbs shoulder. "Boss? Let me…please."
"McGee knelt down in front of Kispert when he was recognized by him.
"Hey Champ, how's it going?"
"Hey yourself Neil, how are you doing?"
Waving his arms around the room Kispert replied sarcastically, "Living the high life!"
Tim was matching the limbs to the correct legs. "You wanna give me a hand getting these on you?"
Kispert grabbed the prosthetics from Tims' hands. "I bet you're enjoying every minute of this, aren't you McGee?"
"I don't enjoy anyone in pain. Especially a serviceman who…"
"Blah, blah, blah… I've heard it all before. "I'm sorry", "Thank you", "Bless you". Just don't go there Champ, not from you, ok?"
After getting it all together Tim helped Neil to his feet, crediting his imbalance to the alcohol and not the limbs.
The officers stepped forward with the hand cuffs. Tim put himself between them and Neil. He looked over their shoulders and the officers followed his line of sight, right into the steely blue eyes of Gibbs. Without a word the two backed off slowly.
With the agents on either side of him Kispert managed to get to the car.
"DiNozzo, David?"
"Yes Gibbs?"
"Make sure these local yokels don't screw up the evidence."
"Yes sir."
~~~~~?~~~~~
Tim entered the observation room and joined Director Vance at the window.
"How are the boys doing McGee?'
"Oh well, it's going to be tough. They're up in the conference room waiting on CPS. How's he doing?" McGee nodded towards interrogation.
"Aside from going to the bar Thursday, nothing. He doesn't even remember how he got to the motel."
"Do we know how he got there, Director?"
"The bartender has a standing agreement with the motel manager. When Kispert fell off the barstool for the third time, he took his keys and sent him there in a cab."
"That's very generous. Does he pay the bill too?"
"Only for the servicemen, as a tribute to his son, who didn't make it home."
"We could use more bartenders like that."
"Couldn't agree with you more McGee."
Their conversation was interrupted by McGees' phone buzzing in with a text from Abby requesting his presence to join her.
Vance gave a nod letting McGee know he was dismissed.