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Do I really need to say that I DO NOT own NCIS or anything related to it? Really?
The next morning started out like most had for the past month. Kate was woken up at 4am by a sudden wave of nausea and Tony spent the next two hours running behind her, holding back her hair and gently rubbing her back to comfort her as she emptied her stomach into the toilet. By 6am, the nausea had subsided enough for Kate to take a shower. Afterward, Tony was able to jump in the shower while Kate attempted to ease her morning hunger with a scrambled egg and a piece of toast. Her attempts turned out to futile as she barged in during Tony's rendition of "Outrageous" to empty her stomach for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.
"Don't worry, Katie! The worst is almost over! The doctor said all of nausea should stop after the first trimester and as of today you are officially in your second trimester!" stated Tony as he stepped out the shower in all his glory.
"Seriously, Tony?" blushed Kate as Tony stood naked in front of her.
"What? It's not like you haven't seen it before! That is my child you're carrying?"
"And right now, the both of you are making me sick!"
Kate tossed a towel at Tony hitting him square in the face. He smiled as he wrapped the towel around his waist and heading to the sink to brush his teeth, playfully pushing Kate to the side in the process. Kate watched Tony in the mirror.
"What?" asked Tony, noticing some distress in Kate's face.
"How do you think they are going to react?"
"Well, McGee will probably be traumatized. Ducky will hit you with some anecdote about his experience with pregnant women during his days in the African jungles, and Abby will probably smother you to death from excitement."
"What about Gibbs?"
"Now Gibbs is a tough one? He could either be really happy for us or we could be looking for new jobs by the end of the day?" Tony spat into the sink. "I'm hoping for the first one!"
Noticing the worry on Kate's face, Tony snaked his arms around her waist and a placed a kiss on her cheek.
"Don't worry about it. Whatever happens, I'm here for you."
Kate allowed a small smile to cross her face. As annoying and immature as he was, there was just something about Tony that Kate liked. Over the years, Tony had grown on Kate and ever since he found out about the baby he had been nothing but supportive. Though they weren't "dating", Kate was really starting to enjoy the amount of closeness the two of them were sharing through the experience.
The two entered into the bullpen as they always did, arguing.
"The light was red!" spat Kate
"It was a stale yellow, Kate!" replied Tony.
"Which means slow down, not floor it!"
"I had to floor it if I wanted to make the light or else we would still be sitting there!"
"You may like pulling 5G turns DiNozzo, but I would rather not!"
"I got it! How about next time, you drive?"
Despite the fact that today was the day they planned to reveal their secret, they wanted to keep it business as always.
"Morning, guys!" said McGee from behind his computer.
"Probie, Where's Gibbs?" asked Tony putting his things into his desk.
"I'm right here!" said Gibbs rounding the corner with his morning cup of coffee.
"Hey Boss, Kate and I need to talk to you about something..."
"Talk to me later, DiNozzo...Gear up! Attempted double homicide in Silver Springs" spat Gibbs as he headed for the elevators.
McGee grabbed his things and followed after Gibbs. Tony stared at Kate, who had the look of "I think I'm going to puke" plastered on her face.
"You need to hit the head before we go, Kate?"
"No, I think I'll be fine. I'm still recovering from your Indie 500 driving this morning," said Kate as she and Tony followed behind McGee and Gibbs onto the elevator.
"Maybe you should ride in the back today?"
The pain in Tony's side from the night before returned.
The house was located in a quaint little military neighborhood. From the outside, there was no sign of any trouble but inside was a different story. The trail of blood started in the living room and led all the way back to the bedroom where Petty Officer James Moreland was found. Despite the numerous stab wounds to his body, he still had a fate heartbeat and was rushed to Bethesda Naval Hospital for treatment. The same could not be said for his female companion. The brutal stab wounds to her chest and throat led to her demise.
Kate took pictures of the body while Tony took measurements of the bedroom. She had managed to escape the nausea at the office and during the Gibbs speed race to the scene but the smell of blood in the house was starting to get to her. Kate snapped one photo before the sweat began to form on her brow. She snapped another photo as the saliva began to form in her mouth. She was barely able to hold the camera up to her eye before she was making a mad dash out of the bedroom.
"To the left! To the left!" shouted Tony as he followed her into the bathroom.
She fell to the floor and emptied her stomach into the toilet. Tony came in behind her and gently rubbed her back to comfort her.
"There, there Kate! At least you made it to the toilet this time!" mocked Tony.
Kate flushed the toilet and gave Tony an evil glare before heading over to the sink.
"Shut up, Tony!" said Kate as she rinsed her mouth.
At that moment a gentle, whimper could be heard in the room.
"Kate? Did you hear that?"
"Yeah!"
"There's someone in here?"
The shower curtain began to ruffle. Tony nodded towards the shower and the two agents pulled out their guns. Tony gave Kate the signal and after a count of three, Tony ripped the shower curtain back.
The three year old girl sat curled up in a ball in the back of the shower, clinging tightly to a teddy bear. Three cuts ran over her hazel eye to her cheek almost as if Freddy Kruger himself had taken a swipe at her, causing a stream of blood to flow down her face.
"Oh my god, Tony!" exclaimed Kate as she holstered her gun and step into the shower, lowering herself to be eye level with the little girl.
"Are you okay?"
Kate reaches out her hand to the little girl but she pulled away from her in fear.
"It's okay. We are not going to hurt you. My name is Agent Todd." whispered Kate trying to comfort the little girl. "Can you tell us your name?"
She whispered "Arissa" ever so softly, holding tightly to her teddy bear. "I want my daddy!"
"Um, your daddy isn't here right now but if you come with us..." Kate reached out her hand again only for Arissa to pull back from her again. Kate looked to Tony unsure of what to do next.
"I don't think she likes you very much, Kate?" smirked Tony.
"You think you can do better? Be my guest!"
Tony kneed down next the tub.
"My name is Agent DiNozzo. Your daddy isn't here, sweetie. That's quite a cut on your face. Why don't we go get that looked at?"
Tony reached out his arms and the little girl slowly leaned into his embrace, keeping an eye on Kate's location the entire time. Scooping the little girl into his arms, he grabbed a towel off the rack, gently placing it over her face in an effort to stop the bleeding. He helped Kate out of the tub as the two headed outside to find Gibbs.
"Gibbs! Gibbs! I think we may have a problem?" yelled Tony as he approached his boss carrying the little girl in his arms.
"She was hiding in the shower," said Kate.
Seeing the tiny body in Tony's arms, only wearing thin pajamas, Gibbs took off his jacket and wrapped it around her tiny body. Gibbs examined the little girl, noticing the vast amount of blood on her face as she clung tightly to Tony's jacket.
"Ducky!" shouted Gibbs to the M.E. who was loading the body into the truck.
"What is it, Jethro?" replied the elderly man.
Gibbs pointed toward the little girl in Tony's arms. Ducky approached the girl and noticed the blood trail on her face.
"Dear God, Jethro! We need to get her to a hospital immediately!"
"Tony! Kate! Take the truck!" spat Gibbs.
"On it, Boss!" replied Tony as he headed to the truck with the little girl in his arms.
Kate jumped into the passenger seat and positioned herself to receive the little girl in her arms.
"Arissa, I'm going to need you to go with Agent Todd?" said Tony trying to hand Arissa to Kate.
"No!" shouted the little girl, tightening her grip on Tony.
Tony looked at Kate.
"It's okay, you hold her. I'll drive!" replied Kate as she slid into the driver's seat allowing Tony to get in the passenger seat with Arissa.
At the hospital, the nurses attempted to rush Arissa back to the E.R. despite her unwillingness to let go of Tony. After a few minutes of reassuring Arissa that the nurses would not hurt her, she finally loosened her grip on Tony allowing them nurses to take her to the back.
Tony and Kate took a seat in the waiting room.
"Did you see those cuts on her face, Tony?" asked Kate as she ran her hands over her face trying to shake off the fatigue that was overcoming her.
"Yeah Kate, I saw them," replied Tony pointing the blood strains that now resided on his shirt as a result of Arissa burying her face into his chest.
Minutes later, a male doctor emerged from the back.
"Agent Nozzo?" shouted the Doctor.
"DiNozzo?" shouted Tony getting the Doctor's attention.
"Are you the ones who brought in the little girl?"
"Yes! Agent DiNozzo and Agent Todd, NCIS. How is she?" said Tony as he and Kate rose to their feet.
"She has some pretty bad cuts on her face. We are going to have to suture them but she's not willing to let anyone near her. She keeps asking for an 'Agent Nozzo?' which I'm guessing is you? Would you mind coming with me? Maybe you can help keep her calm while we fix her up?" "
Tony followed after the Doctor leaving Kate in the waiting room.
Two hours went by and Kate hadn't heard a word on Arissa. She has started to drift off to sleep when Gibbs and McGee arrived.
"Kate!" shouted Gibbs waking the female agent up. "Statrep?"
"Tony is the back with her. I haven't heard anything. How is Moreland?"
"Critical. Not looking to good."
Just then, Tony emerged from the back.
"DiNozzo!" shouted Gibbs getting the agents attention. "How is she?"
"She had some pretty bad cuts there, Boss. It took a good amount of stitches to close her up. She's resting now," replied Tony.
"Let's go talk to her," said Gibbs as he led this team to the back.
Inside her room, Arissa laid in bed, teddy bear still in hand. The blood was cleaned from her face, and now three rows of stitches resided just above and below her right eye. Her light brown hair rested on top the stitches as her hazel eyes caught sight of team, causing her once relaxed demeanor to tense up at the sight of the female agent.
"She isn't too fond of women," said Tony. "She would only let the male doctors and nurses work on her."
"I've noticed," said Kate.
Not wanting to cause the child anymore stress, Kate opted to wait outside along with McGee, leaving Tony and Gibbs alone with the little girl.
"Hey Arissa! This is my friend Agent Gibbs," said Tony as he entered the room with Gibbs in tow.
"Hi," said Arissa as Gibbs took a seat at the edge of the bed. "I want Daddy!"
"Your Daddy isn't here yet but he is on his way! In the meantime, those are some bad cuts you got there?" said Gibbs.
"They hurt!"
"I'm sure they do. I cut my head like that once. I was running in the house and I hit my head on the edge of the table. Is that how you got your cuts? Did you fall down?"
"No," whispered Arissa as she held her teddy bear tighter.
Gibbs and Tony looked at each other.
"How did you get those cuts, Arissa?" asked Tony.
Outside in the waiting, McGee waited for Kate to return from restroom.
"You okay?" asked McGee noticing Kate the paleness of Kate's face as she sat down.
"I'm fine, Tim. Any word from Tony and Gibbs yet?"
"No."
Tony and Gibbs came out from the back.
"What happened?" asked Kate
"Arissa saw what happened," replied Tony. "There was another woman at the house along with Petty Officer Moreland and the victim. She was acting crazy especially after she sniffed the "flour" in the bathroom."
"Flour in the bathroom? You thinking drugs?" asked McGee.
"You keep flour in your bathroom, McGee?" snapped Gibbs.
"What happened to her face?" asked Kate.
"Apparently, Arissa must have got into the bathroom and messed with the cocaine which must have pissed the woman off. Arissa said the woman started to fight with Moreland and the victim. Things got pretty intense so Moreland hide Arissa in the shower. Arissa said after the fighting stopped the woman found her in the shower, she was still mad about the cocaine so she broke her "tubey" on the counter and cut Arissa in the face to make her pay," explained Tony still unable to process the situation.
"Tubey, as in a pipe?" asked McGee
"That's what we are going to find out. Kate, McGee, you're with me!" said Gibbs as he headed for the hospital exit.
"What about me, Boss?" asked Tony.
"You stay with Arissa. They're going to have to run test on her to make sure she didn't ingest any of the drugs, they are probably going to need some help keeping her calm."
"Don't you think Kate would be better suited for that?"
"She likes you, DiNozzo!"
Chapter two! What do you think? Reviews are welcomed! :-)