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Here we go, chapter 3!
If you think I own NCIS or anything related to it, then I have a bridge I want to sell you in Brooklyn!
Gibbs, Kate and McGee arrived back at Petty Officer Moreland's house just as the crime scene unit was leaving.
"McGee, you check out the bathroom. See if you find any drug residue. Kate, search the bedrooms," ordered Gibbs as he pulled on gloves and began to look around the living room.
Kate started in the master bedroom where Moreland and the victim had been found. Aside from the bloodstains and broken artifacts in the room, a result of the altercation, there wasn't much there. Kate proceeded to the next bedroom.
She smiled when she opened the door. Painted in light shade of pink, accompanied by a small pink, princess canopy bed and stuffed animals galore, she had to assume this was Arissa's room. She walked into the room and quickly noticed the various photos that lined the dresser. In one photo, Arissa sat smiling in a pink and white, Easter dress with her teddy bear in hand. In another, she played in the water at a beach with Moreland, once again smiling. In the last photo of Arissa laid sleeping in Moreland's arms while Moreland looked up at the camera, his eyes held both joy and sadness.
Kate searched the room, opening drawers and checking the closet for anything out of the ordinary. Her eye caught sight of a large chest that sat at the edge of the canopy bed. She opened it up to find yet more stuffed animals inside. She ran her hand over the top of the chest, to find the lining was not completely connected to the top of the chest. She pulled on the fabric.
"Um, Boss!" shouted McGee from the bathroom causing Kate and Gibbs to rush to his location. "I found something!"
Inside the bathroom, McGee held up the bowl end of a pipe with the tip broken off. Dried blood rested on the broken end.
"How much you want a bet that's what caused those cuts on Arissa's face?" said Kate.
"Bag it," said Gibbs.
"There is also some residue here on the counter. Think that's the "flour" Arissa was talking about?" asked McGee.
"Take a sample for Abby," replied Gibbs
"Gibbs! I think you might want to see this?" said Kate as she led Gibbs towards the child's bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, Kate pointed out the chest and the large sum of money that was taped to the top of it.
"That's a lot of money for a three year old?" said Gibbs.
At the office, Kate and McGee worked diligently to find out what they could about Petty Officer Moreland.
"What do we have?" asked Gibbs as he walked in carrying yet another cup of coffee.
"Petty Officer Moreland has been in the Navy for five years, enlisted just out of high school. Shortly after enlisting he married one, Vanessa Rich, his high school sweetheart. They had a daughter Arissa Moreland. The couple separated shortly after Arissa was born. Apparently, Moreland and Rich meet a drug rehabilitation program they were both in during high school. While Moreland was able to stay clean after completing treatment his wife relapsed several times. Moreland didn't want Arissa around the drugs so he took her and left so she could seek treatment." Said McGee.
"Where is Rich?"
"Died last year. Drug overdose."
"Any living relatives?"
"Rich's parents are both living but they are out of country."
"Find them! Things are not looking too good for our Petty Officer! Kate?"
"Talked to Moreland's CO's, they never suspected him of any type of drug use, always come up clean during drug testing. However, neighbors did become suspicious a few months ago when Moreland started having numerous people in and out the house all times of day. Thought he might be dealing?" said Kate.
"What about the victim?" asked Gibbs.
"Jane Doe. Abby is trying to match her prints now but she running a little behind," replied McGee.
"Kate, go help her!" spat Gibbs.
Downstairs Kate found the Gothic forensic scientist staring at the plasma screen as it ran finger prints.
"Hey Abbs!"
"Hey Kate! Running prints to identify our Jane Doe."
Kate pulled up a stool and sat next to the Goth. Aside from the nausea, Kate's pregnancy had taken a toll on her energy level as well. She was only able to work full force for about two to three hours before the urge to rest her eyes overpowered her. Her three hours of energy had reaches its limit as her need for a nap started to hit her.
"You okay, Kate?"
"A little girl is laying in the hospital with stitches across her face because some geeked up woman got mad that she spilled her stash on the floor not to mention her father is in critical condition!" said Kate as she rested her head in her hands as the thoughts of what was happening to Arissa started to make her stomach flip. Adding that to her fatigue, Kate was not feeling too good.
"Hey, you know the futon is always available?" said Abby, noticing how tired Kate looked.
"I can't. Gibbs sent me down here to help you out."
"I'm okay! You go lay down!"
"Thanks, Abbs!" said Kate giving the Goth a little hug before she headed behind the glass sliding doors to lay down for a bit.
Awhile later, Gibbs entered the lab carrying a big red cup that made the Goth jump off of her stool.
"What do you have, Abbs?"
"Still haven't identified our Jane Doe. I pulled three sets of prints from that pipe; I matched one set to our victim, I running the other two. I'm guessing one is probably our mystery woman? The assailant definitely used that pipe to cut the little girl's face," replied Abby taking a sip of the Caf-Pow.
"Anything else?"
"Our "flour" from the bathroom? Cocaine! Really hope that little girl didn't ingest any? This stuff can do damage to a kid, like increased heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature…"
"Abbs? I got it!" said Gibbs stopping her before she got too far into her rant.
Gibbs noticed Kate lying down behind the glass doors.
"How long has she been asleep?"
"Since she got down here. Go easy on her, Gibbs! I don't think she's feeling too well today?"
A small smile crossed Gibbs' face.
"Let her rest, she needs it." said Gibbs as he turned to leave the lab.
Gibbs arrived at the hospital to find Tony laying next to Arissa both soundly asleep the hospital bed. Gibbs entered the room quietly as to not wake the sleeping child.
"DiNozzo," whispered Gibbs as he shook the agent to wake him.
"Oh, hey Boss! Must have dozed off there for a minute," said Tony half asleep.
"How is she?" asked Gibbs.
"Not showing any signs of cocaine ingestion but they still want to monitor her."
"Go home. I'll stay with her."
"You sure, Boss?"
"Yeah, go on. She's probably just going to sleep most of the night anyway. I'll be fine."
"It's not really you that I'm worried about. I went to the bathroom while she was napping and she has a complete freaked out when she saw I wasn't there when she woke up. I think she's becoming attached to me?"
"Go, DiNozzo!" spat Gibbs as he pulled up a chair next to Arissa's bed.
Tony slowly rose out of the bed.
"You know, Boss, she's a cool little kid! Sad she has to go through this," said Tony as he turned to leave.
Back at his apartment, Tony entered to find Kate, still in her work clothes, asleep on his couch. He tried his best to stay quiet but his closing the door was enough to wake the female agent.
"God, Tony! Can you be any louder?" groaned Kate.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Nice to see you are taking full advantage of the "in case of emergency" key I gave you?"
"Your place is closer to the office. I didn't feel like driving all the way home. How's Arissa?"
"Sleeping. Gibbs is with her."
Tony flopped down on the couch next to Kate and wrapped his arm around Kate's waist, placing his hand on her stomach.
"How you holding up?" asked Tony seeing the tired look on Kate's face.
"Well, let's see? I fell asleep in Abby's lab for like two hours and when I finally woke up I spent the next hour with my head in toilet!"
"So, I'm going to go with you're doing well then?"
Kate rolled her eyes.
Tony smiled as he pulled Kate close to him and placed a kiss on top of her head.
After showering and changing into their pajamas, Tony and Kate relaxed on the couch as they waited for the takeout they ordered to arrive. The two enjoyed their food before snuggling up on the couch together while watching one of the late night shows on TV. The two fell asleep together on the couch but Kate's sudden bout with hot flashes, forced Tony to sleep on the floor next to the couch.
The vibrating of Tony's cell phone interrupted his slumber once again.
"DiNozzo?" answered Tony groggy.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" asked McGee on the other end of the line.
"No Probie, I'm always wide awake at four fifteen in the morning! What?"
"Gibbs needs us, here's the address…"
Tony took down the address before hanging up the phone.
"Kate!" shouted DiNozzo causing the female agent to jump out of her sleep, payback for making him sleep on the floor. "We got to go!"
Metro P.D. responded to a call about a domestic altercation at the home of Petty Officer Stevens. They arrived to find the Petty Officer and the woman involved in a very physical altercation. The woman yielded a knife and successfully managed to cut Stevens in the arm several times. They were both obviously hyped up on some type of drug which made apprehending them ever more difficult. When the team arrived they found the two handcuffed in the back of two Metro P.D. cars.
"Thanks for calling us," said Gibbs to the Metro P.D. officer.
"When we saw it was a navy guy we thought you might want him? We found several kilos of coke in the house; apparently your Petty Officer here is heavy in the drug game both as a consumer and a user. Took four of my guys to bring him down," said the Metro P.D. officer.
"What's her story?"
"Some random hooker. Stevens brought her home thought he'd give her some coke in exchange for a good time. Guess that didn't work out too well?"
Gibbs excused himself and walked over to the car where the Petty Officer sat handcuffed in the backseat. Gibbs opened the door and leaned in.
"Petty Officer Stevens?" asked Gibbs.
"I got her! I got her good!" whispered the Petty Officer to himself, clearly dealing with the effects of the drugs.
"Petty Officer Stevens!" shouted Gibbs trying to get his attention.
"Yeah, I got her good! I hope you enjoyed your hit, bitch? Cause it will be the last you ever have!" yelled the Petty Officer out the window towards the woman in the other car.
"Petty Officer!" yelled Gibbs finally getting the man's attention. "What the hell happened here?"
"Payback, sir."
Frustrated by the Petty Officers actions, Gibbs slammed the door closed. At the other car, Tony and McGee were not having any better luck. The woman insisted on screaming out curse words at them, kicking and screaming for them to arrest the Petty Officer. They finally gave up and went to join Gibbs.
"This is pointless, Gibbs! She's way too high off of narcs to comply right now," said Tony.
"So is he," huffed Gibbs.
Kate walked over and joined them.
"Bethesda said they will monitor him until he comes off his high and then turn him over to us," explained Kate.
The rush of Metro P.D. officers took them away from their conversation. The team watched as Metro P.D. officers pulled the woman's limp body from the back of the car and attempted CPR looking for any signs of life in the woman. After a few minutes, an officer held up his hand to stop before looking over to Gibbs with a disappointed look on his face. Gibbs looked over to the other car where Petty Officer Stevens sat smiling at the action in front of him.
The woman's body was released to NCIS for autopsy while Petty Officer Stevens was transported to Bethesda to begin detox. Kate followed to ensure that the proper protocol was followed. Tony, McGee and Gibbs returned to the office, where they met up with Abby in her lab.
"Our mystery woman is Alli Jennings of Laurel. She has had several other priors for aggravated assault and drug possession," said Abby as she looked at the plasma.
"You mean our second victim, she's dead," said Tony.
"Anything on the knife?" asked Gibbs
"Prints are that of Alli Jennings and of Petty Officer Stevens. I'm DNA matching the blood now to see if it may have been the same knife used to assault Moreland."
"Call me when you have something. DiNozzo! You might want to be heading over to hospital?" yelled Gibbs as he turned to exit the lab.
"For what, Boss?" asked Tony.
"Arissa should be waking up soon; she'll be looking for you! McGee, you're with me!"
Dove into the case in this one? What do you think? Reviews are welcome! Update coming soon :-)