Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The MCRT had spent the morning at a crime scene about an hours way drive from the Navy Yard. The call had come in at 0800 that an identified marine of the name Henry McNeil was killed in the woods. The scene itself wasn't one of the worst they’d seen, surprisingly organised for the assumed spree killer motive. When the team arrived, local Leo's were canvassing the area, starting to mark up potential evidence and taking photos before Gibbs dismissed them from around the body to let Ducky through.

Slumped against the trunk of a tree, bound in place by a thick expanse of rope was the body. Drying strains of blood ran down the right arm, left leg and the face of the victim all stemming from three gunshots wounds. From a preliminary examination, there wasn't much more to note apart from the haunting expressing of fear on the marines face.

“What ya got Duck?”

“Jethro I may be good at my job but I’m afraid I’m going to need longer than two minutes before I can reveal anything useful about this man's demise,”

Turning away from Ducky and the body, he watched Jimmy fight with the gurney and DiNozzo, Ziva and McGee make there way through the clearing towards him.

“DiNozzo, witness, Ziva, evidence and McGee, photos,” he barked out.

He was met by a chorus of “yes boss” and “yes Gibbs”, before he turned back to Ducky, an expectant look on his face. Noting the expression, Ducky began.

“Well Jethro as it seems this man..”

“Henry McNeil,” Gibbs interrupted.

“Right, well, Mr McNeil, was tied to this tree and shot three times, once a graze to the arm, the second to his left thigh and then one to the front of the head, which I can confidently assume was the fatal shot. Judging by the ligament marks I would say he was tied up before he was killed.” Ducky surmised.

“Time of death?”

“The body’s still warm and rigour mortis hasn't set in yet so I’d estimate between 2 and 3 hours ago, anything else will have to wait until I complete the autopsy”

“Thanks Duck,”

Two and a half hours later, the scene was processed and the team were heading back to base at the Navy Yard. With a brief stop for some coffee, it wasn't long before they were in the bullpen trying to piece together what had happened to McNeil. McGee and Abby were in her lab sorting through the evidence, Ducky and Jimmy beginning the autopsy and Tony and Ziva working background on the victim.

“What happened to our witness?” Asked Gibbs, walking into the bullpen and towards Ziva’s desk where his two agents were working.

“Uh he was getting checked out by paramedics on the scene then he was going to be escorted here,” Replied Tony.

Nodding in response, it was 20 minutes later that Gibbs got a call from agent Fielding to say the witness was waiting in the conference room to be interviewed. Standing up from his desk and throwing out the now empty coffee cup from his desk, Gibbs headed towards the conference room.

“I’m agent Gibbs, I’m just here to ask a few questions about what you saw today,”

“Yeah, of course, anything I can do to help,” Replied Andrew Lane, a criminal defence lawyer who was with Henry McNeil when he died.

“Can you just run through what happened please,”

“Um yeah, so me and Henry were going hunting, we used to do it all the time but I hadn't seen him in five or so years, we were just walking through the forest and then we heard rustling in the bushes, we though it was maybe a deer but it was a man. He was wearing camouflage too so we assumed he was hunting like us. When we realised it wasn't an animal we called out, didn’t want him assuming us to be something to shoot at. He came closer and then he pointed the gun at Henry, told me to run as fast as I could and hope he didn’t catch up. I didn’t want to leave Henry but I panicked, I didn't know what else to do, I figured if I ran far enough I could get a signal, call for help but I couldn’t. When I heard Henry screaming I tried to hide in the bushes so the guy didn’t see me then I could go to try and help henry but then he kept screaming and I couldn’t see him. When I found him, he was dead. I got a signal and called for help but the guy was gone and it was too late for Henry.” Lane finished. He took a deep breath, holding his head in his hands.

“Can I ask how you knew McNeil? If you don’t mind.”

“We grew up together, same high school, we used to go on weekend hunting trips after we graduated,”

“You said you hadn't seen him in five years, why was that?” Asked Gibbs.

“We had a fight, over a girl, I moved towns the same week and we were both too stubborn to get over it before I left. I came back to visit and figured it was time we got over it. Didn't expect anything like this to happen though.”

“Nobody ever does,” Sighed Gibbs, patting Lane on the shoulder. “Thank you for your help, that should be all we need for now, we’ll be in contact with updates,”

“Agent Gibbs?” He was met with the older man turning around, a raised eyebrow in question. “I’m a little apprehensive about this guy coming back to um finish the job,”

“We can set you up in temporary witness protection while the case is ongoing, I will file the paperwork and until then you can wait here at NCIS. That way there will be no risk of him getting near you,”

“Thank you, I appreciate your help, I hope you find him sooner rather than later.”

“We will do our best sir,” Nodded Gibbs who turned and left the room.

Walking back up the to the bullpen, he stopped on the way for coffee then sat behind his desk. Getting out the paperwork needed for the temporary witness protection, he got to work filling it out. Fifteen minutes later, after refereeing two bickering matches between Tony and Ziva and one DiNozzo head slap later, he was heading up to the Director’s office for her signature.

Ignoring Cynthia as usual, he barged through the doors to find her sat behind her desk, on the phone. She didn’t jump or appear surprised at his interruption, he presumed he was probably the only one with the habit of barging in uninvited. He took a seat on the sofa in the corner of her office and waited for her to finish.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this time?” She smiled, sarcasm dripping out of her voice.

“I need you to sign this, a temporary witness protection for the witness to our case,”

“What’s the magic word?”

“Pretty please,”

She smirked. “Pass it here,” She said, reaching her hand over her desk.

Instead of passing it over, he came behind the desk, reached forward and spun her chair so she was facing him, before passing over the sheet of paper. A poorly disguised smile crept over her face and she grabbed a pen to adorn the paper with her signature. Skimming over the document briefly, her eyes froze over the name of the witness. Andrew Lane.

“What’s the case?”

“Marine found tied to a tree, shot three times,” He said casually, his gaze fixed out the window behind her.

“What did the witness say?” She asked, a slight shake in voice noticeable.

“You tryna take my case Jen?” Asked, Gibbs, turning around from the window and facing her.

“Jethro I’m the Director, I have a right to information about any case and I don’t need to be questioned,” She snapped.

“Him and the victim were out hunting, witness got told to run while the shooter killed, when Lane found McNeil he was dead and the shooter was gone, he called emergency services then we got the call.”

“McNeil?”

“Henry McNeil was the victim, why the interest? Missing the field work?” He teased but the smug look left his face as he watched the colour drain from Jenny’s.

“Agent Gibbs, I’m afraid I’m going to need my office back I have a meeting coming up,” She dismissed, the shake in her voice clearer now and he didn’t miss the way her fingers started tapping on the desk in front her. That was a nervous tic she picked up years ago. It may have been years since were partners but he could still read her like an open book.

“Everything ok Jen?”

“Just fine, here is the paperwork for your witness,” She said, her eyes not meeting his and instead following the now signed bit of paper she held out for him to take.

He said nothing else but watched her carefully as he left the room. Something about the case had completely shifted her mood but he had no idea why. There was no gruesome detail that could have caused it, she had tough skin, he was well aware of that and he knew exactly how much worse she had already seen as an agent and what she would have overseen so far as Director.

The twitch in her right eye when she kicked him out for the ‘meeting’ she was about to be a part of, tipped him off to the fact it was a lie. She just wanted him out of there, but why? That was a problem he would deal with later. For right now he wanted an update with the case.

Chapter Text

“Update, now,” Barked Gibbs, marching into the squad room, past Tony and Ziva’s desks and standing expectantly before the plasma screen.

The two agents hurried to their feet and positioned themselves either side of their boss. Aiming the clicker at the screen, Tony pressed the button but nothing happened. Trying again, the screen remained black, so naturally, he went for the classic technique of hitting the remote into his desk. Still nothing.

“Where’s McGeek when you need him?” He muttered, being met with a glare from Gibbs and feeling Ziva snatch the remote from his hand. She aimed it at the screen and turned it on instantly.
“Our victim, Henry McNeil, a navy analyst. No wife or kids, just a brother living in the UK,” Explained Ziva.

“He’s been an analyst for the last 5 years, we have taken a look into his recent work, he was detailed as working on a classified project. I’m trying to get in touch with his command leader to see if it links to the case but if this is just a psycho in the woods he might not even know the guys an analyst,” Added Tony.

“Anything else?”

“He lives in the area and goes hunting each year according to the records that wildlife officers keep, I spoke to them on the phone, apparently McNeil doesn’t cause any problems, normally hunts alone but brought an old friend this time. Typically he hunts for a few days, camping out in the forest. I’m going to check the names on the list against the previous years McNeil was there and for any criminal records,”

“Good work Ziva, I’m heading down to Abby’s lab,” He called over his shoulder as he headed for the elevator.

“I swear McGee messes with this thing every time I go to use it,” Huffed Tony receiving an amused hum from Ziva in response.

On the way down to the lab, Gibbs’s mind shifted back to his encounter with Jenny. It didn’t make sense, why the sudden shift her attitude? He played back their conversation, he hadn't said any wrong for once, all he had done was barge in but that was almost expected, it would be more of a shock for him to knock and wait. Had he got to close? He had kept to the ‘no off the job’ rule she wanted but they were both guilty of the subtle glances, wandering eyes, close proximity and sometime the odd comment that was just a little to inappropriate for the workplace, but it was all mutual. He was relatively sure he was in the clear but what did that leave to be the problem?

The sound of the elevator doors opening and of heavy metal broke him from his thoughts. Resigning himself to figuring out what was wrong with Jenny later, he walked into the lab looking for Abby after making a quick stop at the CafPow machine.

“Whatcha got Abbs?”

“Hi Gibbs,” Smiled Abby as she bounced up and down on the spot slightly after turning down her music. Offering he CafPow to her, she took it excitedly, taking a long sip and then continuing to bounce over towards her computer. “You always bring me these at the perfect time,”

Reaching out his arms so his hands rested on her shoulder, he stopped her small bounces and twisted her body gently so it faced the screen. Repeating himself again he asked, “What have you got Abby?”

With a small smirk on her face she took the hint and began to explain her findings. “So I started off looking at the rope that was used to tie McNeil to the tree. The ropes have literally no prints so whoever used it must have worn gloves. There was blood on it as well but I ran it and it was all his own blood not our killers. Based off the composition and appearance of the rope I’m pretty sure it was bought from an Ace Hardware store about an hour and half ride from the forest.”

“Anything else?” He asked after nodding at the information.
“Sadly no, I have no prints, no DNA, barely anything from the scene and no murder weapon. Once Ducky’s finished taken samples from the body I’ll run what I can and see if that brings up anything,”

“Alright, any sign of McGee?”

“He left about 30 minutes ago once we’d finished sorting through the evidence, I guessed he’d gone back to see you”

“Okay, thanks Abbs,” Before heading out Gibbs put his hands back on her shoulders and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek to which she smiled and waved him off.

Heading back in the elevator, he made his way to his next stop. Autopsy. Walking through the doors, he could hear Ducky recounting some story of his youth, and he could also see Jimmy struggling in an attempt to concentrate on the notes he was making while engaging at the key parts of the story.

“Hey Duck,” He interrupted.

“Ah, Jethro, just in time to hear the end of…”

“Sorry Duck, gonna have to wait till later, we have a case to solve,”

“I suppose we will let the suspense built then Mr Palmer,” Resigned Ducky.

“What have you got for me?”

“Well Jethro, I’ve identified that the cause of death was definitely the gunshot wound to the head. However, what’s interesting is that based off of the bleeding and the status of the other two gunshots wounds it seems to be that McNeil was first shot in the arm which was a clean wound that by comparison to his other injuries was just a graze. I can estimate it was after about ten minutes of bleeding that he was then shot in the left thigh which was a much more severe wound that caused extensive bleeding. I think it was then another thirty minutes before the final shot to the head. Jethro this killer is most definitely sadistic. We were able to retrieve 2 of the bullets, one from the thigh and one from the head however, the bullet that grazed arm must have been left at the scene. They will be heading to Abby in a minute,”

“There was no bullets by the body, there was a hole in the tree though, likely where the bullet was carved out. Thanks Duck,” Sighed Gibbs, turning towards the door.

“Jethro wait, there's one more thing, Mr Palmer was able to find this stuffed in McNeil’s throat, we presume to keep him quiet while he bled out” Added Ducky sadly, reaching for an evidence jar that was placed on his desk. Inside was a piece of cloth. “I’m about to send it up to Abby to see what she can get from it along with some samples from the body, I’m sure she’ll let you know the results when she’s got them,”

Nodding, Gibbs made his exit to the elevator and headed back to the squad room. Once he was back he gave Tony and Ziva an update on the new information he had from Ducky and Abby and assigned them each routes of enquiry. Ziva took on sourcing the CCTV and records from the Ace Hardware store the rope was bought from, while Tony kept working on getting details from McNeil’s boss about his work.

“Where the hell is McGee, I thought he was down with Abby but I haven't seen him?” Asked Gibbs gruffly, annoyed he was missing one his team.

“Boss I’m right here,” Said McGee, a slight nervous edge in his voice. He was met by Gibbs’s expectant stare. “Agent Feilding saw me when I was on my way back from Abby’s lab, he wanted one of us helping to get Lane sorted for Witness Protection, I was just coming back to check it’s alright for me to escort him to the safehouse?”

Satisfied with the excuse, and realising until they made progress with the tasks at hand and they got a lead, there wasn't much else that could be done, he nodded and said, “Go,”.

An hour later, McGee had just got back, leaving Agent Fielding with Lane at the safehouse and was settling back at his desk ready to go through McNeil's phone for any evidence that suggests he would be a target for a pre-planned attack. Ziva had identified one man, Mark Riley, with a criminal record for assault in the forest at the same time as McNeil as well as accessed the CCTV and purchase records from the store the rope was bought from. Tony had been slowly wadding through speaking to McNeil's coworkers and had talked to his boss who was amendment on the fact that McNeil's work may have been classified but would have hardly put him at risk. He did however reveal that there was a project that he was a part of which involved dealing with information with a significant amount more value.

“I checked the CCTV for any sign of Mark Riley in the store but I couldn’t see him or any purchase records with his name, the store was an hour out of his way too and there's no connection between him and McNeil,” Signed Ziva, feeling like the last hour of work had been pointlessly leading her in a dead end.

“Ive spoken to all but 2 of McNeil's coworkers who all agree that his work really shouldn’t have put him at any risk although his boss did talk of a project with a more high value set of information from about a year ago, he said he can check with his boss to see if we can be read in but it will have to go through them, then Director Shepherd before we get near it,” Provided Tony.

“I’ve accessed McNeil’s phone and checked through his texts, calls and emails. There's nothing that appears threatening or suspicious. All the calls are from numbers in his contacts. I can run a test for any malware on the phone but I’m gonna need Abby and it’ll take a while,” Added Tim

At that moment, Abby herself walked into the squad room, fiddling with her hands and a sad expression on her face. “Abbs, what's wrong?” Asked Gibbs, standing up from his desk and walking towards her.

“Major Mass Spec had a major meltdown, he’s had to do a full reset which means he’s going to be acting weird for the next few days which is just really not what I needed right now Gibbs and I’m going to have to re-run all the samples I got from Ducky after the reset which takes ages itself and…”

“Abby, hey, it’s okay, we can deal with it tomorrow, it’s getting late. Go home,” He interrupted, pulling her into his side in a hug.

“Boss you know, since its getting late, McNeil’s co-workers probably aren't going to answer their phone so maybe we could all…”

“Relax DiNozzo you guys can all go home too,”

“Thank you boss, goodnight.” Replied Tony excitedly, grabbing his stuff quickly and pushing his chair under his desk. “Race you to the elevator Ziva,” He added, a childish grin spread across his face which was met by an eye roll. Not quite as quickly but still will an edge of eagerness to leave, Ziva and Tim, grabbed there bags, said goodnight to their boss and headed out. With a kiss to the cheek, Abby also said her goodnight to Gibbs and left to go back to her lab to pack up and head home herself.

He watched everyone head out and scanned the office, finding out he was now, unsurprisingly, the only one left in the bullpen. He was almost certain however that a certain red-headed ex-partner of his would still be in her office working away at the seemingly never ending pile of work. With a quick once over to ensure his desk was left neat, he strode up the stairs, along the corridor and towards her office.

It was the perfect opportunity to work out what exactly had bothered her earlier in the day. He was still confident he hadn't done anything wrong but his last 3 marriages had proved that whatever he thought could almost certainly be wrong. At least when she inevitably questioned his presence he could lead with the classified project McNeil had been a part of, rather than admitting to the fact he really just wanted to see if she were okay.

Cynthia had clearly gone home he acknowledged as he passed her desk and went to barge into the office as usual. He was surprised though, when the handle didn’t budge below his hand and instead of opening before him, the door simply remained in place blocking his path. Calling out her name, he knocked the door to see if she were still in there. It would be unusual for her to lock herself in but similarly it would be unusual for her to have left already.

He checked his watch. 7:13pm. Maybe for regular office workers or even those at NCIS with more of a life outside of work, it was be perfectly normal to have left the office at this time, especially after an early start, however not for her. They were too similar for that to be the case without a reason. Neither of them had anyone to go home to at night, unless she had someone he didn’t know about, which he doubted was the case given the amount of time he spent watching her. Figuring that whatever caused her change in mood earlier must be the reason she left early, he was only more adamant to find out what it was.

45 minutes later, he found himself at her door, one hand with a white plastic bag filled with take out containers and the other reaching to knock on her door. He hadn't really though much on the drive there. After getting his car, leaving NCIS and getting the food, all he really considered was if Jenny was ok and he knew he couldn’t let his mind rest until he knew for sure she was and that was only going to happen if he saw her.

He knocked the door three times and waited for her to answer, assuming that Naomi and her security detail had left for the night. Looking through the glass in the door he could see her shadow and she opened the door a fraction. Just enough so that he could make out the gun drawn at her side.

“Jeez Jen, its just me,” He said, half concerned and half proud that she had her gun drawn and ready.

“What do you want?” She sighed, lowering her weapon and opening the door just slightly more.

“I brought dinner,” With that comment he saw that she visibly relaxed just a little bit, enough to push.

“That's presumptuous,” She stated matter of factly only to be met with a blank stare. “How do you know I haven't eaten?”

“Well have you?” He asked impatiently. He was still stood on her front porch, in the dark with the bag in his left hand feeling increasingly heavy. He was met by silence which obviously meant, as he predicted, she hadn't eaten and was probably quite hungry. They shared the same characteristic that when they had their mind focused on something, taking care of themselves was very low on the priority list.

She said nothing else, but opened the door fully and moved to the side to allow him in. Gibbs watched her lock the door and then walk through to the study and put her gun back into the drawer he knew she kept it in. Walking through to the kitchen, he put the bag of food on the counter and started to gather plates and cutlery for the table. Once he was done, he called out to her, presuming she was still in the study. “Jen?”

There was no reply but she emerged through the kitchen door holding two glasses of amber liquid. They both sat down, silently opening each container of food and each taking portions of what they wanted. Jenny couldn’t help but let a small smile show as she scanned through the food he had brought. Although she wouldn't voice it, the choices he had made, some for her and some for them to share were exactly what she would have selected had she been choosing.

“Thank you for bringing me dinner,” She spoke quietly, not meeting his eyes, but he could hear the sincerity in her voice. Honestly, she probably wouldn't have even thought about dinner if he hadn't shown up.

He nodded and gave a small smile in return to her thanks before speaking, “Tony spoke to McNeil’s boss on the phone today, the victim from our case, and he was working on a classified project a while ago that could be relevant to our case. McNeil’s boss is gonna talk to his boss who will need to speak to you to read us in,”

He watched her face as he spoke, she wouldn't make eye contact with him and like he predicted earlier, it seemed to be something about the case that put her off.

“Is that why you brought dinner? To tell me that?” She asked. Her voice was cold as if she were trying to put as much distance between herself and the case as possible. “You could have told me that at work,”

“You left early,” He stated. That’s when she looked up and met his eye for the first time. He knew, that she knew, that he had her there. She saw no point in making a comment when she knew she was backed into a corner. The thing with knowing and understanding each other so well is that the conversation ahead could play out internally for either of them to the point when one knew they were checkmated before the argument even began.

“This case is bothering you, why?” They held eye contact.

“I don’t know what your talking about Gibbs,” The use of his last name proved only further that he hit the mark.

“As soon I talked about the case in your office earlier you started acting all different, same right now, so something to do with it must be bothering you Jen, I just wanna know what it is,”

“I’m not hungry any more,” She stated. Standing up, she walked out of the kitchen and through to the study once again. He gave her a minute then followed.

“Jen look,” He started, standing in the doorway and seeing her curled up in one of the armchairs staring into the fireplace. “Something's bothering you and I just wanna help, talk to me,”

There were a few beats of silence before she spoke quietly. “I know the victim,” She sighed. “And the witness,”