-1Authors note: Thanks for the reviews and alerts. A few things: Jenny is still alive (Yay!), I really don't know about the baby DNA (I was trying to recall from Law & Order) and I have absolutely no idea about navy ranks. I could use some help. Just ask if you have any questions. And I still can't figur out the paragraph breaks. PS. All characters do not belong to me, only little Chelsea.
If there was one thing that was certain in McGee's life, it was the little voice in his head that sounded a lot like Gibbs.
I don't believe in coincidences.
McGee had spent the rest of the morning re-tracing his steps. He just couldn't figure out where he could have possibly met Petty Officer Jones.
"Where is Gibbs?"
McGee looked up at Ducky, who was bouncing on his toes.
"I'm right here Ducky," Gibbs said, entering the bullpen, "What do 'ya got?"
Ducky's face was grim as he handed Gibbs a file. By then the three younger agents had crowed around them.
"Miss Jones, as you know, died from being stabbed in the stomach," Ducky told them, "But, she was not the only one killed."
It took a moment to realize what Ducky meant.
"She was pregnant." Gibbs stated, his eyes darkening.
"How far along was she?" Ziva asked, her heart hurting.
"From the size of the fetus," Ducky said, referring to the file, "She was two months pregnant."
"Well," McGee said, speaking for the first time, "That be part of the reason she is dead."
"Is the baby's DNA with Abby?" Gibbs asked.
Ducky nodded. There was times he hated his job. Children, to him, were a blessing of innocence, for a little while. He hated to see the pain flash in Jethro's eyes, knowing he was thinking of his little girl. It hurt him to watch Abby try to grasp some sort of innocence. Tony and Ziva both made a lost child a vendetta for justice. And Ducky watched McGee take out a picture of his sister to motivate him, not that motivation was needed to solve a crime against children.
"Are you alright Ducky?"
"Oh," the elderly man said, coming out of his thoughts, "Yes Ziva, I'm alright."
As well as a Medical Examiner could be in a cruel world.
"Abby?" Gibbs called, entering her lab.
He noticed right away that Abby was upset. Instead of her usual eardrum blowing, so-called music, a dirge was playing. And Abby was staring blankly at her screens, hugging Bert the Farting Hippo tightly. Even though it was a sad sight, Gibbs couldn't help but smile a little. Kelly would have done the same thing.
"Abby?" he tried again, sitting in the chair next to her.
Her dark eyes pierced his.
"It was a baby Gibbs." she said quietly.
She wanted him to know exactly why it had happened. No matter what he said, Abby had always thought he was omniscient.
"I don't know why Abbs."
"Boss?" Tony said, poking his head in the lab.
"What DiNozzo?" Gibbs snapped.
"McGee figured out where he met Hannah Jones."
Gibbs looked at Abby.
"Go Gibbs," she said, wiping away some stray tears, "Let's get this bastard and boil him!"
Gibbs gave her a kiss on her cheek, glad she felt better, even if she was planning a cruel and unusual punishment.
"So what do you have McGee?" Gibbs barked, entering the bull pen with Tony hot on his heels.
"Remember when I taught at the Norfolk base for a week?" McGee asked excitedly.
Gibb blinked at him.
"Uh- well, anyway," McGee stuttered, "She was one of the students. She even came and asked questions."
"She ask any personal questions?" Gibbs asked.
"Um- yeah," McGee said sheepishly, "I just thought she was, er, interested in me."
Ziva shot Tony a warning glare before he could crack a joke.
"Ziva, McGee, you're with me." Gibbs said, grabbing his gear, "Tony, you and Abby figure out Hannah's past. We're going to visit Petty Officer Jones' commanding officer."
"Is Chelsea still with the Director?" McGee asked.
Gibbs nodded, noting curiously that McGee seemed to be taken with the blond haired girl.
"Move!" he barked.
"Commander Pike?"
"Enter." said the tall, husky middle aged man, "How can I help you?"
"NCIS, I'm Special Agent Gibbs." he said flashing his badge, "These are Special Agents McGee and David."
"Commander James Pike," Pike said, shaking Gibbs hand, "How can I help NCIS?"
"Do you know a Petty Officer Hannah Jones?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes," Pike said, "she is one of my people. Why?"
"When was the last time you saw her Commander Pike?" McGee asked, hand poised over his notepad.
"Monday," Pike said, looking confused, "two days ago. She has Tuesdays and Wednesdays off."
"Did she seem alright?" Ziva asked.
"Yes," Pike said, "what is going on Agents?"
"Petty Officer Hannah Jones was murdered two days ago Commander." Gibbs said.
Commander Pike blanched. He sat down.
"She is dead?"
"Commander," Ziva said, "was there anyone she was especially close to? A boyfriend maybe?"
"I don't know about a boyfriend." Pike said, looking pained, "She is close to two of my other people. Lt. Joy Thomas and Petty Officer Camilla Webster. They always eat lunch together."
"Are they here?" McGee asked.
Commander Pike just pointed to two red-headed women sitting in desks next to each other. Gibbs nodded for Ziva and McGee to question them. After they left Gibbs sat in a chair in front of the commander's desk.
"What kind of person was Hannah Jones, Commander Pike?"
"Jones was a hardworking woman." Pike said, "She arrived on time, she got her work done and others' work done."
"She have any problems with co-workers." Gibbs said, leaning forward.
"No!" Pike exclaimed, acting as though he'd been slapped, "Everyone loved Hannah. The women came to her for advice, hell, I came to her for advice."
Gibbs nodded.
"And the men?"
"The men think of her as a little sister." Pike said, "They respect her and protect her."
"She needed to be protected."
"No," Pike said shaking his head, "Jones held her own, but that was the type of relationship."
"Any of your men or others act more than 'brotherly'?"
"Not that I saw Agent Gibbs."
Agent Gibbs was a male. So was Commander Pike.
"Any of these 'brothers' could possibly fall for her Commander." Gibbs said, standing, "I think I'll check around."
Meanwhile, Ziva and McGee were questioning Lt. Joy Thomas and Petty Officer Camilla Webster.
"I cannot believe she's dead." Lt. Thomas said, tears running down her face.
"Did you know Hannah's daughter Chelsea?" McGee asked, handing her a tissue.
"Her what?" exclaimed Webster.
"You didn't know she had a daughter?" Ziva asked suspiciously.
"I think I would have remembered that Agent David!" Webster said, purposely mispronouncing Ziva's last name.
"It is pronounced Dah-Veed."
"So," McGee said, jumping in quickly, "I imagine she didn't tell you she was pregnant."
"Noooo!" Lt. Thomas wailed.
McGee had to do something quick. He could tell Ziva was getting frustrated with both women.
"Did Hannah have a boyfriend?" McGee asked, stepping between the distraught women and Ziva.
"No," Lt. Thomas said, sniffling, "she always said that she just didn't have time for men."
"Anybody harass her?"
Both women shook their heads. They gave Ziva and McGee the same account Gibbs had gotten about Hannah Jones' work ethic and relationship with co-workers.
"Thank you." McGee said, handing them each a card, "If you think of anything else give us a call. I am sorry for your loss."
"They did not know she was a mother." Ziva said to McGee as they walked down the hall to meet up with Gibbs, "I thought they were best friends."
"Weird."
"No boss." DiNozzo said, on the phone with Gibbs, "Her military records held no information on Chelsea. I am looking! On it Boss."
Abby smiled as Tony snapped his phone shut with a frustrated sigh.
"Boss says to look deeper, whatever the hell that means."
"I can do that." Abby said, tapping away on her keyboard.
"I can do that." Tony mimicked in a teenaged preppy voice.
"Oh my God!" Abby exclaimed with a shiver, "NEVER do that again!"
"Petty Officer Hannah Jones is 23 years old, no criminal record, pristine military record, sends three emails a week to an 89 year old uncle, works out four days of the week." Tony muttered loudly, "She is a freakin' poster girl for Perfectionists Unite."
"Is there such a magazine?" Abby asked, curious.
"Of course not!" he snapped, "I didn't know what else to say."
"How 'bout 'I know who killed our Petty Officer.'" Gibbs said entering the lab with McGee and Ziva, "Abby, did you get any other hits on the baby's father."
"Sorry Gibbs," Abby said, "paternity shows up later in the baby's DNA.'
"She is perfect Gibbs," Tony said, "I cannot find any connections."
"She is not perfect DiNozzo." Gibbs said, glaring, "She abandoned her child and got into some sort of trouble along the way."
Ziva, Tony, Abby, and McGee just stared at each other sadly. Gibbs glared at them, but they didn't move.
"Go find out what the trouble was!"
In a split second, Abby started tapping on her keyboard, McGee doing the same next to her. Ziva and Tony sprinted behind Gibbs to the elevator. Ziva was calling contacts while Tony talked with the local LEO's and some buddies in Baltimore. Gibbs smiled a satisfied smile to himself. Yeah, they were whipped.
PHOOMPH!