AU scenes/stories for NCIS episodes. Each is independent from all the others since this is all based on the possibility of parallel universes and multiple timelines... many, many of them. Later on some may seem to follow something that happened in an earlier AU episode story, but it's probably coincidence unless I say otherwise in the beginning.

This is #10 - a short alternate universe story/scene for Season 1, episode 10 Left For Dead

The original episode aired on January 6, 2004.

The dialogue is from the episode. It goes AU after the bomb explodes.

Rating: K+

Category: General

Warnings: Spoilers for episodes, probably just the one that the AU story is about. But down the road who knows?

Disclaimer: I own nothing NCIS. I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit.

And finally, all mistakes are mine.

"Well, that's both good news and bad news," Gibbs informed Stephen Brauer. "She can't tell you the formula to her explosives, but then again, she can't remember who buried her in Rock Creek Park," he added pointedly.

Brauer asked Suzanne McNeil, "Were you buried?"

"Yes," Suzanne replied as she looked into his eyes.

Looking at her intently he asked, "You don't remember anything?"

"Only that I like blueberries," she joked.

Grateful she hadn't told the agents he buried her, Stephen suggested, "Uhm...come, Suzanne. Sit with me. Perhaps we...talk?"

The two walked over to some furniture in the lobby area and sat down with Suzanne facing away from the NCIS agents.

Gibbs and Tony had seen his reaction to her still being alive and knew he was the one who buried her. They had a murder so maybe he killed Richter too.

"That son of a bitch is guilty as hell," Gibbs muttered.

Gibbs, Kate and Tony stood watching the pair as they talked. Tony still needed a place to stay and reminded Gibbs.

"You remember when I stayed with you that time, when it didn't really go so well?"

"Yeah. I remember, DiNozzo."

Kate wasn't listening to them. She was thinking about Suzanne.

Tony knew he was asking a lot. "Well, listen. I was younger then. Immature, a little unfocused..."

Gibbs wasn't having any of it. "It was six months ago, Tony."

Kate's brain kicked into gear. "She said... someone bashed the poor man's head in. How did she know that Richter's head was bashed in? I couldn't see the wound, nobody told her how he died." Knowing the truth, she looked toward Suzanne. "She remembered."

Kate stared at the woman and could have kicked herself for not realizing. Gibbs and Tony turned to look also, understanding the many possible implications and ramifications.

"No one dumps me, Stephen." Suzanne stood up and opened her hand. "My latest compound. So volatile, all you have to do is drop it."

Stephen looked at the gray ball with a detonator sticking up and told her, "Then you'll die, too."

"I've already been buried."

Terrified and knowing she would drop it, he yelled in German, "Sie hat eine bombe!"

The three agents drew their weapons and took a step or two, three for Kate, toward the pair in the lobby. Not too close because she had a bomb and Gibbs and DiNozzo had seen what her bombs could do.

Kate shouted, "Suzanne! Don't!"

Suzanne replied, "Sorry, Kate," but everybody knew she was not sorry at all.

Later that night, Tony lifted his head and reached out with his hand to get Gibbs' attention. "We oughta do something, boss."

"Have you ever made a mistake, Tony?"

The younger agent smirked, "According to you or me?"

"You," Gibbs told him.

Tony didn't like admitting mistakes, but he admitted by saying, "Yeah."

Gibbs wanted to know, "Could anyone make you feel better?"

"No," and he put his head back down. In time he would talk to Kate about the times or one time anyway that he'd been taken in and things had gone to hell.

Gibbs took a long drink from the cup in his hands and then tried to relax with his legs resting on the pillow on the hard chair. It wasn't too bad. He'd be okay. He had made mistakes too. Suzanne leaving the hospital, not telling Kate to go everywhere with her and to watch her closely, leaving Suzanne and Stephen alone and the biggest one was not treating Suzanne as a suspect as well as a victim.

He glanced outside at the falling snow before telling the younger agent, "Look at it this way, Tony. Kate will be fine... in time. You'll be fine too and you might not need a place to stay when you get out of here."

"The Doc said just one night," Tony reminded him.

"Uh-huh, we'll see." Tony had said no heat or electricity for a month, but Gibbs knew that was an exaggeration, both from the building manager and DiNozzo. If the younger man needed a place to sleep Gibbs would let him stay over. He wasn't thrilled about a month, heck, he wasn't thrilled about a week, but he'd help DiNozzo if it came down to it.

Tony had started to doze when he jerked awake. "I got it. Kate and I can both come and stay with you."

"DiNozzo, go to sleep," Gibbs ordered, but not too harshly.

"Yes, Boss," Tony obeyed as he snuggled his head into the pillow. "I know you'll be here or close by in Kate's room."

Their injuries weren't life threatening, but burns and cuts from projectiles were painful and easily infected. The wounds had been contaminated with debris and shrapnel and cleaning had required anesthesia. Tony and Kate had been lucky. Oh, Gibbs had burns and cuts too, but his two agents didn't need to know he had refused to be hospitalized. He'd made a deal with the doctors, and Ducky, to stay close so the staff could keep an eye on him while he kept an eye on his people. He hurt, but the pain pills helped and his own recovery would depend on them recovering. It was a win-win for him to be mobile.

"Sleep, Tony." His voice was a little softer, like the falling snow outside the window and he smiled, thankful Ducky had taken Abby home and Kate had been sleeping soundly when he left her room. Now he needed DiNozzo to nod off so he could.

"Too bad for you they didn't put us in the same room," Tony sighed, almost asleep.

Gibbs whispered, "Yeah, then you'd never get to sleep and neither would Kate... or me."

End

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