At The Hospital:
"Hey! Where's the body?" Gibbs questioned, walking up to Caitlin.
"As I told your partner, I'm not at liberty to release bodies to just anybody—even if they are NCIS." Some man replied, standing in a corner.
"Really? And why is that?" Gibbs demanded, sizing this man up.
"Well, she's part of the Grant family—one of the richest families in all of America. In some countries, they're considered royalty. She's our property." The man informed Gibbs, pissing him off.
"One: I don't care. Two: Ms. Grant is not property, and she never was. Despite being dead, she is a human being, who has a son. Three: she was a Petty Officer Second Class in the Navy; NCIS has jurisdiction—especially since her death falls under suspicious circumstances. My agents have informed met that it looked like she was murdered." Gibbs sternly told this man, narrowing his eyes.
"Well—as sad as that is; I just don't care. The body stays here." This man defied Gibbs with malice in his tone, slightly wavering.
"So, with that said, I'm going to assume you're either the one who had her murdered or orchestrated it. And in that case, I can and will have you arrested." Gibbs replied, pulling out handcuffs.
"Whoa, there. I didn't orchestrate anything, and I certainly didn't murder this child killer." The man retorted, backing away a little.
"Child killer?" Gibbs questioned in disbelief.
"Umm… Just before she passed away, Ms. Grant, while laughing, admitted to killing her two-year-old daughter, Willow May Grant. I thought about telling you over the phone, but I figured that would be something better explained in person. And I just got off the phone with the director of a crematory about two hours away; he confirmed that a Tessa Grant had her daughter, Willow Grant cremated." Caitlin hesitantly informed Gibbs.
"See? She will be staying here." The man once again told Gibbs.
"No, she will not. With all due respect, Director, Ms. Grant will be going with the NCIS agents." A doctor informed the man, walking over.
"Dr. Hollins, do you understand what you are doing? I will have your license." The man, the director, threatened the doctor.
"While in the ambulance, Ms. Grant insisted on being sent to NCIS for an autopsy and cremation. She downright refused to stay here or stay anywhere else. And I'm afraid NCIS went over your head: the lead medical examiner contacted the director of NCIS, who contacted a Tobias Fornell of the FBI. We are to hand Ms. Grant over to NCIS. If we do not hand over Ms. Grant willingly, the FBI will raid the hospital, your office, and home and rip it all apart." Dr. Hollins explained, watching the director.
"Fine. Take the child murderer for all I care. She's a disgrace to this country." The director angrily gave up.
"Not as much as you are, Mr. Lake. Or should I call you, Mr. Angel of Death? Yes, we know; we've been looking into you for months." Tobias Fornell spoke, walking in with three other FBI agents.
"Your medical examiner, Mr. Mallard, and his assistant, Mr. Jackson just left with the body of Ms. Grant." Dr. Hollins informed Gibbs as an agent cuffed the director and took him away—kind of. Director Lake was fighting against the agent wholeheartedly.
"Thank you." Gibbs and Caitlin thanked the doctor.
"Of course." Dr. Hollins replied, bowing before heading out.
"What are you still doing here, Tobias?" Gibbs questioned, annoyed.
"Oh, you're my ride; I'm going with you." Fornell replied with a stupid smile.
"Ha. No, you're not. Come on, Todd." Gibbs responded, walking away.
"Oh, yes I am." Fornell replied, following Gibbs and Caitlin.
"You're not coming with." Gibbs repeated, becoming agitated.
"That's not what Tom told me; he said I get to come with. I mean, without him and me, you wouldn't be walking out here with your body. Well—Ducky and his assistant wouldn't be taking the body to NCIS." Fornell cleverly retorted, essentially backing Gibbs into a corner.
"*Frustrated sigh…" Fine. But you're sitting in the back: Agent Todd will be up front." Gibbs gave up, walking to his car.
"Fine. Works for me." Fornell replied with a victorious smile. However, he knew Gibbs; he ran to the car to get in before Gibbs, knowing he'd leave him stranded at the hospital if he got the chance.
Five Awkward Minutes of Silence Later:
"So, I hear you may have a child." Fornell spoke up from the backseat.
"That's the consensus." Gibbs stoically replied.
"How old? A few months?" Fornell questioned, being nosey.
"Two and four months ago." Gibbs answered.
"That must be awkward." Fornell replied, leaning back in his seat.
"Why?" Gibbs questioned, not really caring. He already knew why; he was humoring Fornell.
"I'm just saying, it's a little late, isn't it? And while you've been married before, you've never had any children before. And now you're possibly getting a child that is two. Are you going to be able to handle that?" Fornell clarified, watching Gibbs via the rearview mirror.
Gibbs chuckled before countering, "I'll be just fine; I know how to take care of a child. As for me. What about you? You're only two years younger than me. How old is Emily now? How many other children do you have?"
That shut Fornell up.
Ten Gloriously Silent Minutes Later:
"It was the only way to get the body, Gibbs." Tom informed Gibbs when he came in, scowling with Caitlin and Tobias on his heels.
Gibbs didn't reply; he headed to the elevator.
"What do you have, Ducky?" Gibbs questioned, walking over to the autopsy table.
"What I have was once a beautiful young woman with multiple contusions, over thirty stab wounds so far, and two gunshot wounds. Someone certainly wanted this woman dead—and they got what they wanted; she ended up dying from blood loss. But that's all I got for now. Jethro… Is it true they're saying that she killed her daughter? Then so, who is that little girl?" Ducky questioned Gibbs after answering him.
"That's what they're saying, but I don't know if it's true or not. We were told that the daughter she killed was called Willow May Grant. In the letter, Tessa stated that her daughter's name is Ariel Hope Gibbs. I don't know what, but something is going on—and I'm going to figure it out one way or another." Gibbs answered Ducky, turning to walk away.
"Jethro, wait. I know about just as much as you do, but I do agree something is up. When you get to that little girl, could you bring her down to me. She may be a key to figuring things out. As I said, she has multiple contusions, but I didn't think a whole lot about it until just now. Around the contusions, there are voids—not like she was shielding herself, but someone small. Someone like that little girl. I would like to examine her. I hope I'm wrong, but I think someone was hurting that little girl." Ducky stopped Gibbs, just thinking of something.
"Yeah. I'll be back." Gibbs replied, becoming ridged. His child or not, she may have been abused or something; he hated child abusers and animal abusers more than anything.
"Are you two coming?" Gibbs called Caitlin and Tobias.
"Right." Caitlin and Tobias hurried to the elevator—just making it in time.
In Abby's Lab:
Ariel slept for about forty minutes before waking up five minutes ago, screaming and crying.
"What's wrong with her?!" Tony yelled to Abby over Ariel.
"I don't know! Maybe she's hungry! Or maybe she had an accident!" Abby yelled back.
"What does that mean?!" Tony asked, confused.
"You know…" "No, I don't know!" Tony interrupted Abby.
"She's still in diapers or pull-ups! Maybe she had to go!" Abby yelled back.
"Oh, no. No! No way in hell!" Tony yelled, putting his hands up.
"What's going on in here?" Gibbs demanded, walking into the chaos.
"We don't know!" Tony replied, still yelling.
"I thought maybe she was hungry, until I saw diapers." Abby answered as Gibbs walked over.
"She has a dirty diaper. Thank you, Haru." Gibbs lifted Ariel from the wagon and took a bag containing diapers, baby wipes, baby powder, and extra bags from Haru.
"Smart dog. I could really use a dog like that." Fornell spoke, watching Haru in amazement.
"Don't even think about it, Tobias. He belongs to Ariel." Gibbs firmly told Fornell, placing Ariel on one of the tables.
"Don't you know how to change diapers?" Gibbs questioned, removing Ariel's diaper to find a mess.
"Oh! No." Tony made a face, placing his arm over his face before answering.
"Vaguely. I've seen it done before, but I've never changed one before. Sorry." Abby answered and apologized, watching Gibbs easily take care of Ariel.
"How do you know how to do that?" Fornell questioned, stunned.
"I've had friends with kids. I've babysat before. Believe it or not, I've wanted to be a father for some time. However, after so long, I didn't think it was going to happen. And not that it's any of your business, I didn't know about Ariel until today. I'm just waiting on DNA results." Gibbs answered Fornell, annoyed.
"Really?" Fornell asked, blankly staring at Gibbs.
"What?" Gibbs demanded, hearing something in Fornell's tone.
"You seriously need a DNA test done to see if that little girl is yours? Are you blind? She's basically a carbon copy of you and that woman—without all the wounds. Look at her face." Fornell condescendingly told Gibbs, flipping out a little and startling Ariel.
"Quit yelling." Gibbs instructed after feeling Ariel jump a little.
Meanwhile, Ariel patiently lay there, holding her hands over her stomach and looking at her surroundings as Gibbs changed and cleaned her. She was now only crying a little instead of wailing.
"Damnit." Gibbs cursed once he got her cleaned.
"What's wrong?" Everyone questioned, concerned. They could see just how pissed he was becoming.
"Come on; we're going to see Ducky again. Tony: get Ariel's things put into her wagon and bring that down. Caitlin: help him. And grab that bag of folders and bring them down as well. Abby: you may read the letter Tessa sent me. While you're at it, get whatever prints or whatever you can off it. And call Ducky to let him know I'm coming back down with the baby; she doesn't need to see her mother like that. Tobias—you come with me. Come on, Haru." Gibbs delegated everyone, agitated before leaving.
"Welcome back, Gibbs. What seems to be the problem? How bad is it?" Ducky questioned when he saw how angry Gibbs was.
"I don't know, but for starters, she has bruises on her inner thighs. And I can tell just by looking at them, that they're not from some toy or falling." Gibbs answered, pissed off.
"Oh. Ok, well, I got her put away. Please, set her on this table, and I'll start looking her over." Ducky instructed as Tony and Caitlin walked in with everything Gibbs ordered they bring…