Gibbs looked up at the girl in front of him, leaning against the wall with her dark eyes staring at the note in Abby's hands. She raised her own blank gaze to meet a matching one given by Gibbs. No expression flitted between the two for a good few minutes. Abby and Tim exchanged glances, wondering which one would crack first. Madisyn was the first to speak.
"I didn't know what was in it; I just brought it to where I was told." She explained as some sort of explanation. Gibbs picked up Abby's phone, dialing the number without taking his blue eyes off Madisyn. The girl took the time to look around the lab. The bright spark that she had in her eyes hadn't faded in the least bit; she looked alert and interested, wondering what was actually going on. She didn't listen to Gibbs' brief conversation before he placed the receiver down and strode back to the door and the elevator, followed at a slightly less hectic pace by Madisyn.
Madisyn had assumed that they were going back to the office, but when the doors opened once more, they were somewhere completely different. She didn't ask where, but she could guess. The doors slid back to reveal two men clad in scrubs and a few large flat metal tables. Madisyn swallowed as she got used to the smell, and the cold. She immediately regretted not bringing her coat down. The voices that had been muffled by the door stopped as Gibbs walked over to where the dead body lay stretched out on the table. "Dignified." She muttered, not able to stop herself. She had a habit of making comments whenever the moment took its fancy. However, no-one else seemed to notice.
"Ahh Jethro." Came an unmistakable English accent. "I was just telling Mr. Palmer where the word 'stereotype' came from." The man had his back to Gibbs and Madisyn, examining the body. Madisyn looked away for a second as the body came into full view. Not something you'd want to see on a full stomach. "Well, our young office died of a gunshot wound to the skull. Death would have been instantaneous. Someone broke his neck post mortem." He concluded.
"Why?" Madisyn couldn't help herself asking out loud. She immediately regretted it when all the eyes in the room that could see turned to look at her. She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the three faces. Donald Mallard straightened up and glanced at Gibbs.
"Miss Kyran, Ducky." Gibbs introduced her. "She says she's your daughter."
Author's Chapter Notes:
"Believe it when we say we didn't mean to."