Ethesian Wind
"Hey, little girl, did you lose your dollies?" the question was followed by howling laughter, but Rick did not stop walking on the corridor towards his English class.
His tormentor, one of the older students in his class, who got held back due to his bad grades, keeps harassing him, just to cause more laughter from his goons.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" He pushes Rick, causing him to trip. Rick looks at him with hatred, from his position on the floor, and starts collecting his books.
The bully steps on his hand as he tries to get one of his notebooks from the floor, but he refuses to moan in pain.
"What is going on here?" someone shouts, and the weight is suddenly gone. Rick looks up, and it's Jake, along with two other friends of his, and they are intimidating the bullies.
"We were just talking with him," says the bully.
"Yeah, sure," Jake helps Rick up, and the two other boys collect his books from the floor, "just stay away from him, or you will have to deal with me, ok, asshole?"
The bully, along with his two other goons, gets scared at the tall teenager defending the little loser, and ran away.
Jake uses his hand to get his reddish hair out of his eyes, and looks down to Rick, "are you ok?"
Rick nods, and silently accepts his books from Jake's friend.
"We'll escort you to your class," offers Marty, a gangly teenager with eyeglasses, who plays drums in Jake's garage band.
Rick looks at the three older boys, and sees no hostility, and walks to his class flanked by the older boys.
Before they separate, Jake calls out to him, "hey Rick, during lunch, stop by our table, me and my friends, we will be talking about our projects for the summer, I'm sure you would like it."
Rick murmurs something that Jake cannot hear, and he urges Rick to repeat himself.
"I don't want to be a burden," Rick says, almost a whisper.
"Ah, no burden at all, Tom and Marty won't mind," he points to his friends, "and we can tell you all about our projects for our band during summer."
"You guys have a band?" asks Rick, excited.
"Yeah, I play bass, Tom is a wicked guitar and Marty can blow up your ears with his drums."
"Cool, I'll be there."
During lunch break, Rick listened to the three boys, as they spoke about their plans and dreams for their band, attentively. Tom suggested that they might need a mascot, and Rick was officially adopted by the group.
For the first time since his father died, Rick smiles a sincere smile.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Joy and Tim arrive at the door of a nice suburban house, and knock on the door. They hear footsteps, and some barking in the background.
Finally, Tara Beckinsale opens her door, and looks at the two agents with a frown on her face, "hi, how may I help you, agents?"
"We would appreciate if you answered some questions, Mrs. Beckinsale," says Tim, politely.
She looks at the two agents for some seconds, still mad at them for kicking her out of the Veseleys' home.
"Is this about Lawrence?" she finally asks.
"Yes, ma'am, we're still investigating his life and acquaintances, and we would appreciate if you cooperate," says Joy, in a monotone voice.
Tara sighs, makes a face and opens the door, "just for Lannie, I'll do it, come on in."
The two agents enter the house, Tara takes their jackets and takes them to a small closet, by the door, where she hangs them alongside the coats of her family. She comes out of the closet, and looks at the agents, "so, coffee anyone?"
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
After a frustrating interview with Mrs. Beckinsale, which revealed that her only interaction with Lawrence and Lannie had been during parent meetings on the school and game watching their respective kids, Tim and Joy excused themselves and got ready to leave.
Mrs. Beckinsale entered the closet, got two jackets from it and waved at them, as they drove away. However, Mrs. Beckinsale took the wrong jacket, not Joy's, and gave it to the agent, who did not notice the mistake, as the cloth and color were the same as her own.
Instead of stopping somewhere for lunch, they drive home to Johnny's and Lisa's home, just to check on Matt and Sarah, and for a light lunch.
Once they arrive, they find Sarah throwing a ball for Jethro to catch in the backyard, and they can hear Priscilla's delighted laughter, as she runs on chubby legs after the dog.
McGee smiles at the scene, as his sister seems genuinely happy, and at the innocent picture of the little girl with the dog at her feet. He's assaulted with longing to have the same thing, his own home, a family, and glances briefly at Joy, who is helping Matt to set the table for lunch, talking softly with her brother.
This chance had been stolen from them, even before they met. In those rare times they had sat down and really talked about their relationship, Joy's inability to have children had only been mentioned twice in their conversations. On their first night together, when they decided to forego protection, for their weekend filled with wall shattering sex, and later on when they had to sit down to decide what to do with their attraction, right in the first week they were partnered at NCIS.
He looks outside again, and watches his sister playing with the little girl, and feels his heart constrict, as he always imagined that, despite his long line of misadventures with the fairer sex, he would get it right some time in the future, and he would be given the chance of starting a family of his own.
However, fate had been kind, and at the same time cruel. It put in his path someone who was beyond all he had ever dreamed or imagined, someone who loved him fiercely in a way that sometimes surprised him, but unfortunately she would never be able to give him a child on her own.
However, she grew up in a family who taught her that, regardless of blood, love was much more important than anything else, and as he sees her teasing her brother, he could clearly imagine a family formed by adopted children, like Joy herself, and still happy.
"TIM," shouts Sarah, "come here!"
He smiles, opens the sliding glass door, and goes to the backyard to play with his sister, leaving the door open after himself. Sarah throws him the ball, and he starts teasing Jethro with it. The dog charges against him, trying to catch it from his hand, and he throws it, and Jethro runs to catch it. Mission accomplished, the dog comes back wiggling its tail happily, proud of his accomplishment. McGee leans down and rubs his head, congratulating him.
Suddenly the wind changes, and Jethro freezes. The door is still open, and Joy is standing by the door speaking with Matt. He turns his head to the kitchen and McGee can literally feel his hackles rising.
"Jethro?"
Jethro starts running towards the kitchen, towards Joy, barking and baring his teeth. Joy gets scared, and freezes where she is, but Matthew acts faster and rushes to close the glass door, effectively trapping the attacking dog in the backyard.
Tim shouts at Jethro, who is scaring Sarah and Priscilla, who is crying in Sarah's arms.
McGee finally catches Jethro's collar, and drags him away from the glass door, which now is all scratched and slobbered over, and orders him to lay down. He still growls furiously, but obeys.
"What the hell happened here?" says Matthew, looking at the furious dog outside being barely restrained by McGee.
"I don't know, he's never reacted to me like that before."
"You've never told me he was a guard dog, Lisa will get mad at us for letting Priscilla play with him."
"But he's not a guard dog, he's…" she freezes, suddenly having an insight. She turns to McGee, and stares at the dog, who is still snarling at her through the glass.
"He's what?" Matt is not following her yet.
"Oh, my God," she mutters, and knocks on the glass door. Jethro is still barking, and McGee is having difficulty to hold 90 pounds of angry dog back.
"What?" Tim holds Jethro by his collar, but the dog is still snarling angrily.
"Hold him down, I'm coming out."
"What? Are you crazy?"
"I have a theory."