NCIS

Chapter 6

What a beautiful mess

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean Doctor." Palmer confessed as he looked up at Ducky from where he sat at the desk filling out the paperwork on the John Doe.

"I mean, Mr. Palmer that the heart attack may have been brought on by something other than clogged arteries." Ducky replied.

"How can that be Doctor?" Palmer wondered. He rose from the desk and walked toward Ducky who was looking into the victim's chest cavity.

"There are only so many ways in which that can happen my dear boy and that is what we have Abby for to find out exactly how it happened but take a look here Mr. Palmer." Ducky pointed out the liver and the gastrointestinal tract.

"He was poisoned?" Palmer guessed.

"Yes, Mr. Palmer and by the looks of it he was poisoned with arsenic." Ducky replied with a slight nod.

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"Maybe you didn't hear me Special Agent Gibbs, where is Agent DiNozzo?" Jenny's patience was already beginning to wear thin. Gibbs was the last person she wanted to deal with while everything was going on. She knew when he asked which DiNozzo that he was indicating he knew about Brooke.

"I heard you just fine Director and I asked you which one." Gibbs stared at her and used extra force in his tone when he addressed her as her position. It was what he always did when she was getting on his nerves.

"You know damn well which one Jethro." Jenny hissed. She stared back at Gibbs and in a manner that on she could get away with doing. Then again she learned it from him unlike Brooke who simply inherited the ability.

"No, I don't know Director." This time as he spoke to her he wore a smug grin on his face though his eyes still showed the anger and hurt he felt toward her for hiding this from him. He could see in her eyes that she had no all along for the past three years.

Jenny spoke to Fornell and Ziva without looking away from him. "Agent Fornell and Officer David, please follow me." She turned away from Gibbs on her heel heading toward the elevator and not far behind her Fornell and Ziva followed.

"What was that all about, where is Tony?" Kate asked a little confused by what she heard.

"You heard the Director Kate, we're off the case." Gibbs answered as he sat at his desk. He knew where Jenny was going and maybe she'd find out that he really did know where Tony was, maybe she wouldn't, maybe she already knew, but that was not what had him concerned.

Kate looked over at McGee who had sat down as well for an answer that made more sense but this time he did not give it but not only that he showed no interest in telling her. She was not sure what came over him and decided to sit down as well instead of pressing the issues and causing them to be even more upset with her than they already were.

"Gibbs!" The outburst from Abby as she exited the elevator in a rush gave the three agents whip lash as they snapped their heads up in response. She bolted straight for Gibbs' desk with the ring contained in the evidence bag in her gloved hands.

Kate and McGee, curious by nature got up from their seats in a flash and stood next to her in front of his desk.

"What have you got Abs?" He tried not to look excited that she found something, he was not sure how much the other two would read into it.

"Um, well my lab is kind of occupied at the moment so I haven't been able to run any actual tests but I found something interesting with my own senses." She explained.

Gibbs just stared at her to which she responded by slipping into her mock Gibbs voice. "Get to the point Abby, I don't have all day."

Despite the anger he had for her keeping the secret he smiled but Kate and McGee stood there with questioning looks, wondering what she could have possibly found. Abby pointed out part of the ring that had a clearly visible fingerprint on it.

Gibbs got an almost irritated expression on his face. "Abs, I already knew that was there." He half growled.

Abby shook her head. "No Gibbs, I managed to get a match before my lab started getting crowded."

"Abs, with me." Gibbs led her to the hallway by the bathrooms. Kate and McGee stayed behind looking more confused than ever but not uttering a single word to one another.

"Did Brooke kill him?" He stared into her eyes hoping for an answer any answer and for the first time in all the years she had known him she saw a glimmer of fear in his icy blues.

With the question and the look following it she could tell that he knew but she questioned herself wondering if it was appropriate to just save her breath and come out with the truth or lie to him until he stared it out of her.

"You mean the blonde you brought in earlier, Kate told me about her over the phone." Abby told him with her poker face on. "I guess that's possible."

Gibbs said nothing and as she predicted he simply stared at her. In that moment she realized that he knew for sure.

"Gibbs Brooke is gone I shouldn't have to tell you that." She said calmly.

Gibbs shook his head and took her by the shoulders. "Abby, I saw her in the lab. Now I need you to tell me if she killed that man."

Abby was silent for a long moment and Gibbs became uncomfortable, there was no way his little girl was capable of killing someone in cold blood. "Abby."

"I don't know if she did it but the print doesn't belong to her even if she did," She told him quietly. "Gibbs…It belongs to Joann Fielding."

Gibbs suddenly tore away from her and jogged his way back into the squad room.

"What is it Boss?" McGee asked as he stood up from his chair. He knew the look that was playing across Gibbs' face.

"McGee, tell me you got that witness's information." Gibbs said as he paused at his Agent's desk.

"Of course Boss, you want me to-?"

"Get her back in here," Gibbs finished McGee's sentence and turned to Kate. "Kate, go down to Ducky and see if he has anymore news about the body."

"Gibbs the Director-."

"I don't care about what the Director said, this is my case and I'm going to finish it your job is to follow my orders!" He barked.

Kate said nothing and left her desk as Gibbs requested heading toward the elevator and for the second time that day tears filled her eyes. She wondered to herself if everything would go back to normal after today this case was over.

Gibbs watched her go and after she was in the elevator he turned back to McGee who hung up the phone not a second earlier.

"She's on her way Boss." McGee told him with a nod as Abby came around the corner with the ring still in her hands.

"Take her to interrogation one when she gets here."

Gibbs turned on his heel and as he darted past Abby he slipped the evidence bag with the ring in it out of her hands and marched toward the stairs.

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Abby stared at her feet afraid to look up at him for the fear that if Gibbs knew then maybe he did too. She pulled off her gloves turning them inside out and dropped them into the trash beside his desk.

She was so used to having all the answers and she'd give anything to have them for the questions that kept popping into her head. Luckily he was the first to speak but his words were not that of comfort or even words that she was expecting to hear.

"When were you going to tell me?"

She looked up at him finally feeling betrayed and hurt at the question. She realized that by his asking he was giving himself up and letting her know that he already had knowledge of her secret.

"Tim, I couldn't out her you know that." She said tearfully, she could not believe that he was putting her in this position.

"We broke up because it was too painful for both of us now just imagine how I must feel to find out that was a lie too." McGee shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "How am I supposed to trust you again?"

"Timmy, don't be like that, I didn't have a choice and it's not like I asked to carry the burden of knowing while you and Tony and Gibbs were in the dark, you don't even know how I found out that Brooke was alive. If I had waited five, maybe even two minutes to see the Director that day I'd be just as shocked as you are to find out that my best friend is still breathing. Don't you dare look at me like I'm the bad guy it was just as hard for me as it was for you, if not more."

As Abby spoke her voice became shaky. She was ranting but she didn't care. He didn't understand and there was no way for her to explain properly in a way that he could.

"Yeah, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to get to talk to her and share everything you wanted with her." McGee snapped.

Abby, who was not used to his hostility, could do nothing but stare at him in shock and utter discomfort. "It wasn't like that."

McGee stared back feeling sorry for giving her so much grief and causing her to cry but he couldn't help it, she knew all along and that was almost enough to kill him. "I don't know what to believe anymore." He said quietly.

"Um, am I interrupting something?"

The polite voice made both Abby and McGee look up to find a woman with blonde hair standing in the center of the squad room clearly feeling out of place. Since she was there less than an hour ago she had showered and changed out of her work out clothes and into a pair of skinny jeans and fancy eggplant colored shirt with an NCIS visitor's pass clipped to the hem. Her hair was down and wavy and parted to one side.

McGee looked at Abby who was wiping her eyes quickly to avoid questions and further eye contact with him before turning back to the witness.

"No, don't worry about it, come with me please." McGee came out from behind his desk and led the blonde Brooke down the hall to bring her back to the interrogation room without a second glance at Abby.

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Gibbs paused on the stairwell on his way back down to the lab. If he said he'd never dreamed of seeing her again he'd be lying.

He looked at the engraving of the ring through the plastic bag in his hands, the words all too familiar to him. He read it once more though he did not need to he had already memorized every single word.

"Brooke Joann Gibbs-DiNozzo, First kill."

Gibbs felt his stomach twisting into knots like it did the first time he read the engraving. He closed his eyes and for a moment flashed back to when Brooke was barely a teenager and Shannon and Kelly were still alive. It didn't last nearly as long as he had wanted it to since his cell phone interrupted the memory.

"Yeah, Gibbs." He answered.

McGee's voice came through. "The witness is here, Boss. Have her waiting in interrogation for you."

"I'm on my way McGee." Gibbs hung up and put the phone back into his pocket. Just when he was getting used to not having her around she was back in his life and he wouldn't even get the chance to see her, at least not yet.

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"I am starting to believe Abby when she says that you are psychic, Jethro." Ducky said without looking up as the doors to autopsy beeped announcing the arrival of Kate.

"Actually it's me Ducky but Gibbs sent me." She said with a warm smile as she walked up to the table that was occupied by the victim's corpse.

Ducky looked up with a chuckle. "So he sent you to do the digging this time yes?"

"That would be correct, I take it you have something?" Kate asked crossing her arms.

Ducky looked at Palmer who was sewing the officer back up at the other side of the table then looked back at Kate. "Well I don't think Gibbs would have sent you down here if he didn't suspect I had something."

Kate shrugged smiling again. "That much is definitely true, so what do you have?"

"Based on what I have seen before me Caitlin I would have to say that our victim was poisoned." Ducky answered in a gentle tone.

Kate's face turned to stone and she shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Poisoned, with what Ducky?"

"It appears to be arsenic, I have sent blood, urine, and tissue samples up to Abby for analysis. If it is what I suspect it to be then the hair samples I have also sent up should come in handy." Ducky replied as he turned from looking a Kate to the body.

"The initial cause of death was a heart attack, however had he not died from that it is likely that someone was intending to kill him slowly." Ducky added.

"Thank you Doctor." Kate patted his shoulder then left autopsy for the squad room.

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"Tony." She repeated his name not to get his attention because she clearly had it already. She said his name because for three years she was unable to and each time she couldn't she wanted nothing more than to do so.

"This is unbelievable." He whispered. Seeing her through the door of the lab was far more different from standing there in front of her, talking to her.

"I'm sorry Tony, to have put you through this." She told him sheepishly. If it hadn't been three years since she'd last seen him she would be looking at her feet.

"Why are you here," He paused and took a step closer to her and cupped her face in his hands. He tried to resist but he had to touch her to know that she wasn't just a dream or a ghost. "How are you here?"

She let out a ragged breath trying to keep from bawling tears of joy at seeing him again so she could speak. "My murderer was obviously not as successful as you thought." She replied shakily.

"Where have you been?" He asked in a whisper as he lowered his hands and wrapped his arms around her in a tight but gentle embrace.

"Witness protection, they wouldn't even let me have a picture of you." Her voice sounded far away as she buried her face in his shirt taking in his scent.

"What happens now?" He asked out of concern and love, he was not about to let her go. He didn't want to.

"You know that body you found this morning?" She answered with a question.

Tony hugged her tighter. "Yeah, what about it?"

Suddenly she started to sob. "If I don't identify him as the man who tried to kill me I have to go back Tony." She answered. "I don't want to go back!"

Tony pulled away enough so that he could kiss her softly on the lips and wipe the tears from her face. He was about to tell her that it would be alright and that he would go with her to look at the body and it would be the right man so they could pick up where they left off. But he was interrupted by the door to the other part of the lab opening.

He watched as their little girl with bright red hair wearing a sundress came running out to hug his leg

"Daddy!" All that was going through his head was that it couldn't really be her as he bent down to take her into his arms.

Tony looked up at his wife and opened his mouth to speak, to demand an explanation but Jenny saved him from saying something stupid out of anger.

"Brooke."

She didn't budge from looking at Tony with unshed tears in her eyes. She saw the pain and betrayal clear across his features and it broke her heart.

"Brooke," Jenny called a bit louder. "You have a body to identify."

Finally she tore her eyes away from Tony and looked toward the door at Jenny, Ziva, and Fornell. She nodded and looked back at Tony. "Please, I don't want her seeing something that." She whispered and without waiting for an answer the brunette left him in the lab with Shannon still clinging to him and he had no intention of letting go.