"So, Alex have you ever been to a crime scene?"
"No, but I've caused quite a few of them," Alex said as he and Gibbs walked out of the emergency room and into the hall.
"Well today's your lucky day, we got a new case. And according to our Director, my team's the only one qualified for the job. Do you feel up to it? Or do you want me to assign someone to take you home?" Gibbs asked reluctantly, not really wanting Alex out of his sight again considering what had happened.
"No I'm okay," Alex replied truthfully, the dull ache in his head already nearly gone.
"Okay, I gotta call Mcgee and get the location of the crime scene," he spotted Ducky walking with another Doctor, " why don't you go talk to him while I get the address?" Gibbs said as he got his phone out.
Alex nodded and went over to where Ducky was, Ducky smiled when he saw him, then motioned him to come to him.
"Alex, this is Frank Hampton, the doctor that looked you over while you were unconscious. What's Gibbs doing? Doctor Hampton has the forms he needs to sign to check you out," Ducky explained.
"He had to call Mcgee," Alex explained as he saw Gibbs shut his phone and walk up to the Alex and the two Doctors.
Doctor Hampton explained which forms Gibbs needed to sign and handed Gibbs the forms, but he then looked pointedly at Alex with a some what guilty look on his face.
"I wanted to apologize, Mr. Rider. Now normally I like to be there when my patients wake up, But we've been really busy today, and I've known Ducky for years, and I knew you were in very capable hands," He said.
Alex smiled, "Don't worry, doctor I understand," Alex assured him as Gibbs handed Doctor Hampton back the signed forms.
"In any case I am prescribing some painkillers, if you wind up needing them," the Doctor said handing Gibbs he prescription.
"Thanks, Doc. Ducky we got a case, Palmer's bringing the truck, you can hitch a ride with me and Alex," Gibbs said stuffing the prescription in his pocket and bringing out his car keys.
"A case? Don't you think that's spreading your team a little thin, Gibbs? I mean you're practically short an agent, what, with Anthony's arm being in a sling," Ducky asked as he and Alex started walking toward the exit door of the hospital.
"Yeah, well the Director seems to think that this was a excellent idea," was all Gibbs replied back.
Once they approached the dark blue Dodge Charger, They climbed in,Gibbs driving, with Ducky riding in the passenger seat, and Alex slid into the back seat. Gibbs whipped out of the parking lot, and headed for the crime scene. Ducky then started talking to Gibbs about an upcoming medical convention, to which Gibbs looked like he was only half listening. But Ducky either didn't seem to care or he didn't notice;Alex couldn't decide which scenario it was.
Alex rested his head against the window, and took in the scenery. Before he knew it they were pulling into a driveway with a beautiful house-well without the crime scene tape, and NCIS agents everywhere.
Gibbs, Ducky and Alex stepped out of the car and headed toward the big black, blue, and white NCIS van, where the team was grouping.
Gibbs and Ducky went over and started putting on their NCIS jackets, hats, and latex gloves, and in Ducky's case a NCIS coroners jumpsuit.
"What have we got?" Gibbs asked straightforwardly.
"Two beaten marines found in the house, by the name of Jason Moore and Steve Payton. Payton's dead, and Moore's on his way to the hospital. But the paramedics said it didn't look too good," Ziva reported.
"Who found them?" Gibbs asked.
"Payton's girlfriend. She walked in on the man beating them, she's okay just got a knock to the head,the paramedics cleared her though, no concussion. She's sitting in the police car, but she's pretty shook up, Boss," Mcgee warned.
"Name?" Gibbs asked.
"Sarah Sommers," Mcgee replied.
Gibbs nodded, "Alright, get to work. I'm gonna go talk to Ms. Sommers, then I'll be back to help. Did DiNozzo go home?" Gibbs asked noticing he had yet to see his Senior field agent.
Mcgee shook his head, " The Doctor tried to tell him to go home and get some rest, but he refused. Imagine that. He's sitting in the front seat of the van, supposedly looking through his notes."
Gibbs nodded, " Yeah, that sounds about like DiNozzo."
Gibbs grabbed a camera and started walking toward the front of the van motioning Alex to follow suit.
They found Tony sitting with his head leaning against the back of the seat, eyes closed.
"DiNozzo what good are you if you're passed out?" Gibbs asked loudly causing Tony to jump, wincing as the sudden movement made him jar his shoulder, which was now in a sling.
"I'm good, Boss. Just resting my eyes," Tony tried.
"Well I know trying to get you to go home will be a waste of time. So do you think you could at least work the camera, with one arm?" Gibbs asked handing the camera to Tony.
"Of course," Tony said taking it and started walking toward the house, but Alex stopped him.
"Look, Tony I wanted to apologize for what happened," he said.
"Why? Were you the one who shot me?" Tony asked, with mock confusion.
"I might as well have. You got shot looking after me," Alex said looking guiltily at Tony's shoulder.
"Alex, it's my job to be looking after you. This is by no means your fault. And besides that I've had a lot worse," Tony replied, refusing to let any fourteen year old think that he was the cause of anything that happened like that.
Gibbs smirked at that, " He's not lying."
All Tony did was smile hugely, pat Alex on the shoulder with his good arm and walk off toward the house.
"Come on Alex, we need to talk to Ms. Sommers," Gibbs said ushering Alex to follow him.
As they neared the police car, they could hear the soft cry coming from the open door of the back seat.
Gibbs stood in front of the woman and introduced himself, but Alex stayed a few paces behind giving Gibbs and the weeping lady some privacy, but he could still hear Gibbs and Ms. Sommers' conversation.
I'm Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Do you mind if I ask you some questions, Ms. Sommers?" He asked softly.
She nodded and said weakly, " You can call me Sarah."
Sarah had shoulder length hair, strawberry blonde hair, with bright blue eyes, and even though she had been crying and her make-up was running, she was still beautiful.
"I know this is kinda hard but how close were Steve and Jason?" Gibbs asked gently.
"They were best friends ever since high school. They did everything together, they even enlisted in the marines at the same time. When I first started dating Steve he made it clear that if I took him it would mean taking Jason to," Sarah said with a small smile.
"And you were okay with that?" Gibbs asked.
"Of course. Jason is great, he's like a brother to me. When Steve had to go to base for a few days, some one broke into my house I called Jason all upset and he came over there that night, and slept on the couch so I could get some sleep," Sarah replied.
"My agent said you saw the man beating Steve and Jason. Was he wearing a mask?" Gibbs coaxed gently, knowing that this was gonna be a sensitive subject, but he had to get the answers sooner or later.
"No he wasn't wearing a mask, I walked in and he saw me, then he ran over and pushed me into a wall and ran out the door. I hit my head on the wall on the way down and got knocked unconscious. When I woke up I just assumed they were badly beaten....I...didn't think that.....,"Sarah tried to finish but couldn't.
Gibbs gave her time to regain her composure then, "Sarah we're gonna need to take you to NCIS, so you can describe the man to our sketch artist. And maybe ask you some more questions, do you think you can do that?"
Sarah nodded firmly, "Absolutely. I'll do anything to help."
"Good, you sit tight,and once we're done I'll come back and take you to NCIS," Gibbs said and patted Sarah on the shoulder, then motioned for Alex to follow him once more.
They walked slowly up to the house, but when they reached the steps Gibbs turned abruptly and stood in front of Alex.
"Alex why don't you go wait by the van? At least until get they get the body out of here," Gibbs suggested, not wanting to horrify Alex.
But Alex just smiled grimly, " Gibbs I've seen dead bodies before." 'Seen them....Saw them die...Same difference,' Alex thought silently.
Once again Gibbs studied Alex's face hard, "Are you sure, Alex? I haven't seen the body yet, but on our cases their never pretty."
"What dead body is?" Alex challenged.
Gibbs smirked again, "Okay fair enough, but if it gets to rough for you, you can always walk out and wait outside. Oh, and here put these one," Gibbs handed him two latex gloves, "rule number two. Always wear gloves to a crime scene."
"Rule number two?" Alex asked as he slid the gloves on.
"Rules my team goes by. You'll probably learn quite a few of them, while you're hear," Gibbs said, "and this is a crime scene so don't touch anything unless someone okay's it, got it?"
Alex nodded and followed Gibbs into the house.
The whole place was completely trashed. No table, or chair was turned upright, there was glass everywhere. But a they went into the sitting room, it was the worst part of the house, not only were glass and upturned furniture, but blood stained hand prints, and pools of it had soaked into the white carpet.
Alex's gaze then fell on the dead body, laid out on the floor, facing up.
What parts of Steve Payton's body, that wasn't covered up by ripped clothing was bruised and bloody. And Alex knew enough to know that once the body is dead it doesn't bruise. So Steve and Jason must've put up a fight for awhile for him to still have time to bruise.
Ducky, then came up to the body and kneeled down beside it. He then took out a long probe, lifted up Steve's shirt,and much to Alex's dismay, stuck it deep into the corpses lower torso.
Mcgee who was standing nearby with an evidence bag, dropping a cell phone into it, noticed Alex's shocked face.
He nudged Alex, "Yeah, it kinda freaked me out the first time I saw it too."
"What's he doing?" Alex asked.
"That thing's called a Liver probe, and by the name I guess you know where it goes. But it give us a more accurate time of death. Not that we really need it now but it'll help Ducky with the coroners report," Mcgee explained.
"Oh," was all Alex could think of to reply.
He took his eyes off the body and looked around what was left of the room, careful not to step on anything that could be important. Not that he knew what was important and what wasn't.
Alex heard a frustrated growl followed by, "Tony!"
Alex turned to see Tony, who was currently looking and taking a picture of Ziva's butt, as she was bent over to pick up a receipt from a diner that was on the floor after she had taken a photo of it.
"What? My finger slipped," Tony replied innocently.
"Are they always like that?" Alex asked Mcgee. This wasn't the first time Alex had seen Tony and Ziva amuse him with their bickering.
"You haven't seen nothing yet, Alex," Mcgee said gravely. And Alex definitely believed it.
He felt out of place watching the team work. There wasn't really anything he could do but watch so he mostly stood near the far side of the wall and watched them work. After another hour and a half of them taking pictures of stuff and putting various items in evidence bags to take to Abby, they packed their gear and evidence up and was ready to go back to NCIS to get started on the case.
"Alex you ride with the team back to NCIS. I've got to go get Sarah from the police car," Gibbs suggested.
Alex nodded and went over to Tony, Mcgee, and Ziva.
"There is no way you're driving, Ziva," Tony was saying.
"My driving has improved since the last time," Ziva objected.
Tony and Ziva stared at each other for a moment then, "Flip a coin?" Tony asked.
Ziva nodded and Tony dug into his pockets looking for a coin.
"Probie, give me penny!" He ordered when he couldn't find one himself.
Mcgee rolled his eyes but fished into his pocket and produced a penny. Tony took it, "which do you want?" he asked.
"Tails," Ziva said immediately.
Tony nodded and flipped the coin, caught it, and looked at it. Mcgee and Ziva crowded around Tony.
Ziva looked very smug as she snatched the keys from Tony's hand as he asked, "Two out of three?"
NCIS**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS
Alex, Tony, and Mcgee all filed silently into the bullpen holding their stomach, faces pale. Ziva was smiling, was taking up the rear.
"I said I was sorry, what more to you guys want?" Ziva said.
"Ziva, you came around a turn on two wheels in a NCIS van. Saying sorry does not suffice," Mcgee said going over to his desk sitting down.
"And running three red lights, narrowly missing oncoming traffic, and then all you say is 'oops?' You know we're supposed to be keeping Alex out of safe, not getting him hit by pick up trucks," Tony said, pulling up another chair by his desk for Alex.
The team fired up their computers and started getting information on both Steve Payton, and Jason Moore, while Alex engaged himself in a conversation with Tom on his cell phone.
How's everything going in America, Alex?
Not bad actually I've only been shot at once so far, and knocked unconscious once.
Wow....Nice Alex. So what are the people that are looking after you like?
Their actually not that bad. One of them is a bit like you actually, his name's Tony DiNozzo.
Like me, huh? He must be a riot, then.
Yeah, he is Mr. Modest. But I'm gonna go Gibbs just walked in (the boss).
Oh, well we definitely don't want you to get into 'trouble.' And I'm sure you can hear the sarcasm all the way in America.
"Mrs. Sommers gave us a good photo sketch of the man that attacked," Gibbs was saying, holding up the drawing of a man in his late 30's, balding.
"I got something Boss. Two weeks ago Steve found out that Luke Fulmer, a corporal that had recently been assigned to his unit, was on drugs and he reported it. Fulmer got a dishonorable discharge shortly after it. Needless to say Fulmer was not happy about it. Even threatened him about it at a local bar, which got him arrested, and I'm only guessing that made Fulmer even more angry," Mcgee read off his computer.
"And that would explain how he could take down two marines," Tony put in.
"Mcgee, find him then, you and David check it out," Gibbs said, looking at Alex who was watching Tony attempt to type, and the fact that he had a shoulder out of commission was not helping in the least.
"Tony? Would you like some help there?" Alex asked, finally taking pity on the man.
"Huh?" Tony asked looking up at the teenager.
"Typing? Come on Tony at the rate you're going the case will get solved before you get done with whatever it is you're doing," Alex said, smiling gently.
"It's not that bad!" Tony said looking down at how far he had gotten in his research on Payton's girlfriend. Which wasn't much.
"Come on Tony let me help, watching you type is kinda painful. Just tell me what I need to type in, and this will go by a lot faster," Alex said already getting used to Tony. Tony was a prankster, Alex saw him put salt in Mcgee's coffee when he wasn't looking, on the way back up to the bullpen. And Tony also liked to tease people, both of which he saw Tom Harris do back in England. So he was pretty much used to it.
"Uhh....I don't know how..Uhh..Gibbs would feel about this, Alex," Tony said lowering his voice so Gibbs wouldn't hear.
"Come on, if I just sit here I'm gonna get bored. And trust me things to go so well when I get bored. You can ask Jack-" But Alex stopped abruptly at mentioning Jack.
Suddenly Gibbs got up and walked over to where Alex and Tony were talking quietly.
"DiNozzo, is Alex being here gonna be too much of a distraction for you? Or do I need to separate the two of you?"
"Absolutely not, Boss," Tony said and went back to his mediocre typing. Gibbs noticed this immediately.
"DiNozzo I know for a fact how bad your typing is, but this is pathetic. Alex you're a teenager, you should know how to type, help DiNozzo out, he's gonna need all the help he can get," Gibbs said, then said something about a coffee run.
Ziva,who had saw the entire scene play out, smiled smugly at Tony before grabbing her bag, and gun, then following Mcgee to the elevator, to get Luke Fulmer to bring him to NCIS, for questioning, leaving Tony and Alex to do their work.
AN-Well I hope you liked this one. It might've been alittle bit boring because I'm just now getting the case rolling. But I tried to make up for the boring-ness by putting in some funny stuff. Lol or tried to make it funny.
And I have no idea if I put the Gibbs rule with the right number. I looked it up but sometimes the internet isn't always in sync with the show.
And a new special thanks to Psychowing for the use of the line "No but I've caused a few of them," Alex said. It was in one of the replies posted by Psychowing and I had liked it a lot so I put in in the story. Thanks a bunch!
And a thanks to my Beta reader, Sheluby94dreamer, for looking this over for me and making suggestions when needed.
Reviews inspire me!*hint* lol