AU stories for NCIS episodes. Each is independent (totally stands alone) 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. Again, these are AU scenes/stories which means a character may die in one, but be alive in the next one.

This is #11 - a short alternate universe story/scene for Season 1, episode 11 Eye Spy

The original episode aired on January 13, 2004.

The dialogue in some of this is from the episode.

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.

With the tide rising, they rushed to get measurements and photographs before moving the body.

Kate exclaimed, "His dive knife is missing."

"Yeah. You didn't see this coming, did you, my friend?" Ducky saw a big wave coming in and yelled, " Hey, watch out!"

Gibbs shouted, "Tide!" and Tony laid down in front of the wave, shielding the dead body.

"Well done, Tony," Ducky praised.

All business, Gibbs instructed, "Bag him," after the wave rolled back.

Ducky, a little sympathetic to Tony's wet clothes, told him, "I've got a spare suit in the van."

Tony got to his feet, but still hadn't spoken. With his shoulders hunched in a stiff shiver, he had a look of shock on his face.

Kate asked, "You okay? What is it?"

Gibbs understood. "Shrinkage," he told her and got back to work.

Ducky and Gerald left with the body and Gibbs doled out assignments.

Tony changed into a NCIS jumpsuit and went to the Little Creek Quarter Deck to get the phone number of the call that alerted them to the body on the beach. He told the seaman apprentice on the lobby desk that NCIS wouldn't have a hard time tracing the blocked number, but in truth he wondered. He could call Abby, but she was back at the Navy Yard. He could find a computer to use and try to do it himself, but he honestly didn't know how to do it. As Tony walked out of the building he remembered another option and something Gibbs had said to him a while back. 'He is young and green, yes, but he is smart and capable.'

Timothy McGee was at Norfolk, his small, dingy office just a few minutes away, and Tony called the 'wet behind the ears' agent to make sure he was there.

Gibbs and Kate rounded up the CIA technician who had made the call and made a call of their own.

The Assistant CIA Director demanded, "What the hell are you up to, Gibbs?"

"I want the recording of the satellite transmission," Gibbs told him calmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, let me put Mr. Worth on. He can explain it to you."

"Oh, no, no! No!" Worth protested, leaning back in the car seat away from the cell phone.

"Your analyst was spying on a US naval base."

"You have Worth?"

Gibbs was tired of the dodging and weaving. "I'm not really sure which congressional oversight committee he's going to be spilling his guts to. I mean, there are so many to choose from, these days."

The Assistant Director sighed and gave in. "How do we handle this?"

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Thirty minutes later Gibbs and Kate were on their way back to the Naval Yard with the recording of the satellite transmission. Gibbs' team had done enough of their own investigating that nobody at the CIA needed to pursue it further. They had Worth and the other employee who had viewed the live satellite feed and would deal with them. And the employees wouldn't be talking to anyone. Per Gibbs' assurances that he could square things, Jeremy Worth was still on administrative leave, but employed, as long as he underwent some retraining and an extended period of probation. It was getting more difficult to lure geeks into public service, especially The Company, so they needed to try to retain employees whom they had already invested a great deal of time and money. As for Gibbs, he stored Worth's name away as a possible future source.

"You think she'll take the bait?" Kate wasn't so sure the plan would work.

Gibbs was hopeful. "Well, pretty hard to pass up getting away with murder and framing your husband's lover."

"Well, if she's guilty, she's a pretty good actress," Kate admitted.

Gibbs wasn't big on compliments, but every once in a while. "Eh, you weren't bad yourself, kid."

Kate didn't like playing the game with the widow. "Ugh, made me feel creepy."

"Why? You still don't believe she knew about her husband's affair?"

"The wife's always the last one to know, Gibbs." Kate said it, but didn't have firsthand experience. It was what she'd heard.

"Don't believe it. " Gibbs on the other hand, did have firsthand experience plus many years of investigating cheating spouses who committed crimes.

"I hope you're right. Otherwise we were pretty cold to a woman who just lost her husband."

"Well, let's find out," Gibbs told her, not sure it would work either.

The satellite was in position and Abby's friend, Ashton, was sending the image to her. "Gibbs, she's on the move. I'll redirect the satellite to you." She used her skills to send the image to the car with Gibbs, Tony and Kate. "Are you getting this?"

Tony replied, "Yep, let's roll."

"Hang on. Let's get some separation," Gibbs advised. He wanted the plan to have a good chance of working and he didn't want the wife to see them following.

Abby had a larger image that made it easier to decipher roads and landmarks. "She's leaving the base. She's turning onto...highway 264, going south."

Gibbs was ready to start the tail. "Okay, Lieutenant. Let's see where you're going."

"Ah. I hope she's not just popping out for a Big Mac," Tony said what the others were thinking.

"We need eyes inside," Gibbs told the others after they'd followed Lieutenant Egan to a pub. "It can't be me or Kate. She'll recognize us."

Tony smiled, "Guess it's up to me."

As he got out of the car, he told Gibbs, "I know, boss, sarsaparilla."

He was back fifteen minutes later.

"She's sitting alone in a booth. A couple guys have hit on her, but she turned them away."

Kate suggested, "Maybe she's waiting for someone."

"What's she drinking?"

"Some kind of wine," Tony told him.

Gibbs wasn't ready to give up on her going to retrieve the missing military hardware. They needed to play out the plan. Maybe she needed some liquid courage and didn't have any at home. He would have chosen something stronger, but maybe the woman wasn't much of a drinker.

They didn't see anyone go in and ten minutes later she came out, got in her car and started back the way they'd all come on 264. The agents followed discreetly. The woman might have had wine, but she was driving okay, just below the speed limit and smoothly in her lane. Gibbs backed off to keep her from realizing they were there.

Suddenly Abby's voice alerted them. "Gibbs, she's turning right about half a mile ahead. It's residential."

"Thanks, Abbs. Okay, Lieutenant, where to now?" Gibbs spoke softly as he made the turn. "This is not your neighborhood."

Abby supplied more information and Gibbs stopped the car around the corner from a large cul-de-sac. They proceeded on foot from there to a house where they saw the target car parked on the street. The Lieutenant was walking up the driveway to a dark porch.

Tony whispered the address to Abby from two houses down while Gibbs and Kate got closer.

The woman was still standing there on the dark porch when Abby got back to them. The owner's name didn't mean a thing to any of them. Gibbs and Kate were next to the porch on either side and Tony had moved behind the car in the driveway.

"Gonna run the plate, boss."

A minute later the Lieutenant left the unlit porch and returned to her car where she stayed. The agents had moved so she couldn't see them while they waited for her to do something and for Abby to get back to them. When Abby did, it was a bit of a surprise; the car in the driveway belonged to Commander Lauren Tyler who was the dead man's lover.

Kate exclaimed, "Oh my God, she was going to confront her."

Tony added, "Maybe she was going to kill her husband's lover too."

Gibbs stared at the woman still sitting in her car. Had he misjudged her? Was it about jealousy or were they right to start with and it was about the hardware? He watched the widow drive away and then they hurried back to their sedan. After making sure she went home, they called it a night. In the morning they would need a new plan. They still thought she might have killed him and the handheld sonar gun was still missing.

End

Alternate reality #2

"I've got ten minutes before Ainsley comes looking for me. So what's the big emergency?"

"No one can know about this."

"Okay."

"We haven't got much time. I was repositioning from Cuba towards Quebec. Guess I hit a glitch over Virginia. Little Creek Naval Base."

"Oh, God bless America."

The two men straed at the image of the hot babe polar tanning.

"She's really cold."

"Really... COLD."

"Better than monitoring ship movements in the Atlantic."

"As long as we don't get caught."

"Uh oh, a problem."

"Someone else must be there. Damn. Oh, no, no, sweetie, nobody's looking."

"All right, all right."

"Hey, where'd she go? What just happened?"

"Punch in."

"Is he dead?"

"I don't know."

"What do we do?"

The two men stared at each other for a full three seconds as their CIA futures flashed before their eyes.

"Nothing," they both said at the same time. Knowing someone would eventually find the guy, the two men went back to work, hoping nobody would ever need to look at the recording of the satellite transmission. That way nobody would know they'd seen anything.

It was late in the day when Gibbs breezed into the squad room.

"Grab your gear. We're going to Little Creek."

"Call Ducky, boss?"

"Already on his way with Gerald."

It was almost quitting time, but they headed out.

"What happened?" Kate asked.

"Head of a classified project reported a man missing when he didn't return from underwater testing... something."

Tony piped in with, "Probably testing something classiified, but where?"

"The ocean," Gibbs replied dryly.

Tony smirked and Kate smiled as they walked behind Gibbs to the parking lot.

"We're going to help search for him?" Kate wanted to know.

"Nope," Gibbs told her, but that was it until they were in the sedan and on their way. Then he told them the rest of what he knew.

"Classified project. Classified hardware. Missing diver. MPs searched a few places where Lieutenant Commander Thomas Egan was known to go. They found his vehicle and then... him...dead in the water."

"Drowned?" Tony asked.

Gibbs replied, "Don't know."

Kate and Tony discussed the case and what could have happened as Kate used a laptop to search for more information about the commander. Gibbs listened, but he was wondering why a SEAL would take a chance by diving alone. He should have had someone along who knew where he was and what he was doing. The project was classified so whatever he was testing was classified too and he went alone? It was hard not to second guess with so much that could go wrong. At least one shark had taken a big bite, but hopefully there was enough left for Ducky to determine a cause of death.

End

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