"Witness Protection Program"
NCIS HQ...
Abby's Lab...
It was afternoon/mid-afternoon at NCIS. The team had relayed to Vance what had happened, and Vance reluctantly agreed to at least Gibbs serve as a consultant on the case--Gibbs still was not happy though.
Ducky had also taken the liberty of giving Abby, Chloe, and Paige a once over just to be on the safe side.
Now Abby stood, downstairs, in the lab.
Chloe and Paige were sitting in Abby's office.
Gibbs entered the lab.
"Abs." Gibbs said, quietly, stopping at the door.
Abby spun around on her heel to face him.
"Gibbs." she said, happy to see her husband.
He walked over to his wife.
"So, how'd it go with Vance?" she asked, as she stole a kiss.
The look that Gibbs gave her told Abby all that she needed to know.
"Not good, hunh?" she said.
Gibbs shook his head.
"Nope."
He kissed his wife on the lips.
When he pulled away from her Abby saw something in Gibbs' eyes, and knew instantly that something was troubling him.
"What?" she asked, firmly.
"Hmm?" Gibbs said, a confused look on his face.
Abby pulled away, a few steps, and looked at her husband.
"You've got something on your mind--what is it?" Abby asked, sternly.
"What are you talking about?" Gibbs asked.
Abby was starting to get ill at Gibbs--she hated it when he kept things from her--withheld information from her...she just hated it.
"You can't hide things from me Gibbs." Abby said, her voice rising an octave.
Uh no. Now Gibbs knew he was in trouble. Abby only called him by his last name when she was upset or upset/ill with/at him.
Gibbs let go of a long held sigh, and decided to just get it over with.
"I can't stop thinking about what happened--at the park." Gibbs said, slowly.
Abby saw the tortured look on her husband's face, and her heart ached for him.
She walked over to his side.
"He had a gun to Chloe's head, and I-" he stopped short, his mind reeling, as he tried to choke back the emotion(s)--it wasn't something that he did on purpose, it was just instinctive for him.
He swallowed hard.
"-I hesitated." he said, finally.
Abby wrapped her arms around her husband.
"If it hadn't been for McGee--she might be laying on one of Ducky' slabs." Gibbs said, as he wrapped his arms around Abby and held her close.
"But she's not, Jethro." Abby said, softly, trying to comfort her husband.
"Look, I was scared too, ya know--I was there." Abby continued.
"But I'm her father." Gibbs replied. "I'm supposed to protect her."
Abby knew there would be no changing his mind--at least not right now, but she had tried.
"That's why I've arranged, with Vance, to have you and the girls placed in protective custody." Gibbs said, suddenly.
Abby pulled away from her husband, a surprised look on her face.
"You know somewhere safe--away from me--" Gibbs continued.
"What!?"
"--Cause as long as you're near me, you're in the line of fire." he added.
"You're not serious?" she remarked, still in shock.
Abby shook her head in disbelief.
"I-I can't--I can't believe that you would do this-" she began to rant, angrily.
"Abs." Gibbs said, quietly, trying to calm his wife down.
"You didn't even ask what I wanted to do...did you?" she demanded.
Gibbs shook his head.
"Why do you always do this to me, Gibbs!?" Abby asked, angrily, her voice rising another octave.
"Abs, I just want you and the girls to be safe." Gibbs said, attempting to make her see things his way.
"I know, but--you didn't even talk to me first." Abby said.
"I mean, what if I want to stay here--with you?" Abby asked.
"You can't." Gibbs said, sternly.
"Why not!?" Abby asked, angrily.
"Because its too dangerous, and you know it!" Gibbs nearly shouted.
"So, what if I don't care!?" Abby shouted back.
"I don't give a damn whether you care or not--your going and that's final!" Gibbs shouted back, equally as loud.
Gibbs saw the flash of anger, hurt, and fear in his wife's eyes as the words left his mouth, but it was too late.
From inside Abby's office Chloe and Paige watched and listened as their parents fought.
They didn't fight a lot--at best it was a rare occassion--but nevertheless, they had their fair share of arguments and disagreements just like other couples did.
Their parents fighting always seemed to upset Paige, but Chloe had seen it more times than Paige had, and there was no doubt in her mind that her parents loved each other.
And the one thing that Chloe had never seen her father do--nor did she believe that he would ever do it--and that was that he had never raised his hand to their mother (Abby) out of anger.
Chloe could see the tears welling up in Paige's eyes.
Paige turned and ran over into the far corner of Abby's office, and sat there and wept.
Gibbs stepped closer to Abby, and employed the 'stare'.
"Is that understood?" Gibbs asked, in a low growl.
Abby's cheeks were stained with tears by now.
"Screw you Gibbs!" she snapped, angrily.
And as Gibbs stood there Abby walked over to the chair that she'd set up in front of her workstation and plopped down into it--arms folded against her chest and facing away from him--all the while avoiding eye contact with Gibbs.
Gibbs stood there for a minute, and then he turned and walked out of the lab.
In Abby's office Chloe was trying to comfort her little sister.
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NCIS HQ...
Out In The Hallway...
Gibbs stood in the hallway waiting for the elevator to get there.
He knew he had messed up--he'd messed up big time.
He didn't mean any of what he said, it just kind of came out.
Suddenly the elevator door opened and there in the elevator stood Ducky.
"Jethro, just the man I was looking for." Ducky said, as Gibbs stepped onto the elevator.
"Well Duck, looks like you found me." Gibbs replied, solemnly.
Ducky could sense that something was wrong.
"What is it?" Ducky asked.
Gibbs sighed, as he hit the up button on the wall of the elevator.
The elevator doors slid shut, and the elevator started to move.
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NCIS HQ...
Abby's Lab...
Abby sat at her workstation with her head resting on her arms--sobbing.
"Mom, are you okay?" Chloe asked, approaching her mother's side.
Abby lifted her head, and wiped some tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.
"I'm okay." Abby said, trying to make herself stop crying.
"Paige and I saw you and dad fighting." Chloe informed her mother, slowly.
Paige stepped out from behind Chloe.
Abby held her arms out to her daughter.
Paige hugged her mother.
"I'm sorry you guys had to see that." Abby said, apologetically. "You're father and I love each other very much." she continued.
Abby kissed paige on top of the head, gently.
"Even though we don't always agree on everything--doesn't mean we love each other any less."
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NCIS HQ...
Inside The Elevator...
"Abby and I-" he started to say. "Nothing...its--its nothing." Gibbs said, finally.
"What'dya need Duck?" Gibbs asked.
"The autopsy reports for both of the young men lying on my slabs." Ducky said, holding out a file folder.
Gibbs reached out and flipped the "Elevator Halt Switch" which brought the elevator to an abrupt stop--the lights in the elevator went out as well.
Gibbs turned to face Ducky, leaning back slightly on the elevator wall.
"I know Director Vance said otherwise, but I thought, given the circumstances, that you should be the first to see this." Ducky explained, knowing what Gibbs was thinking.
"What?" Gibbs asked, flatly.
Ducky flipped open the file folder and went straight to a set of photographs that he and Jimmy had taken.
He showed Gibbs two photographs in particular--first.
"See this tattoo here," Ducky pointed out. "Both men had the same tattoo in the same exact place on their bodies." Ducky explained, in a low voice.
"Whatcha thinkin' Duck?" Gibbs asked, with a knowing look.
"Just that maybe, these tattoos are some means of identification--like the type used by many gangs here in the United States." Ducky explained.
"So maybe we can use the tattoos to lead us to the big boss himself." Gibbs said.
"Precisely." Ducky said, with a triumphant smile.
"Nice work, Duck." Gibbs said, patting the aging man on the shoulder. "Anything else."
"Well I sent some samples off to Abby for analysis, so we won't know anything else until she's done." Ducky said.
Gibbs nodded.
Gibbs reached over and flipped the switch back on--restarting the elevator.
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NCIS HQ...
Interrogation Room...
Ziva and Tony were in the interrogation room with the suspect that they apprehended in the park.
Tony stood leaning against the wall while Ziva sat at the table across the handcuffed suspect.
Ziva rubbed her eyes with one hand.
"If I were you I would start talking." Tony said, to the man. "Pissin' her off is not a good idea." he added.
Ziva straightened up.
"Okay, from the top." Ziva said, looking at the man.
"Name." she said, sternly.
The man sat silently--unmoving.
By now Ziva was really angry, and her patience was getting shorter and shorter by the second.
"Answer!" Ziva shouted, slamming her hand, hard, against the table.
Still nothing.
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NCIS HQ...
Squad Room...
Gibbs and Ducky stepped off of the elevator.
Ducky headed for Vance's office, while Gibbs headed for his (own) desk.
"McGee." Gibbs said, as he entered the bullpen (area).
"Yeah boss." McGee replie, standing up behind his desk.
Gibbs walked up to McGee and handed him a couple of photos, of which Ducky had taken doubles.
"I want you to run these--see what comes up." Gibbs said, in a low voice.
"Right, on it boss." McGee replied, taking the photos and sitting back down.
Gibbs leaned in close.
"Vance is not to know." Gibbs whispered.
McGee nodded, expressing to his boss that he understood.
Gibbs walked back over to his desk, and sat down.
"Tony and Ziva get anything out of our 'friend'?" Gibbs asked.
"Uh nope, not yet." McGee replied.
Gibbs heaved a exasperated sigh.
He could not stop thinking about Abby. He knew he'd been wrong, and that she was now hurting, and it was tearing him up inside.
Gibbs stood up behind his desk.
"Going somewhere?" McGee asked.
"To get some coffee." Gibbs replied, as he walked away.
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3 Hours Later...
NCIS HQ...
Squad Room...
Gibbs entered the squad room and found his team sitting around talking with one another.
"Hey Boss, see ya got yourself some coffee...are you feelin' better now-" Tony said, as he got up from his desk.
"I heard you and Abby had a--a bit of a disagreement, earlier, and I was just wonderin' if-"
Gibbs stood and looked Tony dead in the eyes with 'the stare'.
"You know what, never mind, I-I'm just gonna go and-and sit down now." Tony said, grinning nervously as he turned back for his own desk.
Gibbs sat back down in his chair, and turned to his computer screen.
Tony sat back down in his chair.
McGee leaned over in his chair towards Tony.
"I think that's a 'no', Tony." McGee said, with a smirk.
Tony made a mocking 'Ha Ha' face at McGee.
"David," Gibbs called, across the bullpen.
"Yes sir." Ziva answered, straightening in her seat.
"Get anything from our suspect?" he asked.
"Nothing." she replied.
Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"He still refuses to say anything--to anyone." she explained.
Gibbs, coffee cup in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, made his way over to his desk, and sat down.
"We grilled him for almost 2 1/2 hours, and all we got was a blank stare--everytime." Tony chimed in.
Gibbs read a memo that had been e-mailed to him on his computer from Director Vance.
He finished reading the memo and then he punched the escape key on the keyboard, and stood up behind his desk.
"David, catch!" Gibbs called across the bullpen, as he lobbed the plastic bag at Ziva.
Ziva managed to catch it just in time to avoid being hit square in the face with/by whatever was in the plastic bag.
"Ducky found that in the dead guys pocket." Gibbs explained, as he walked out from around his desk.
"A cell phone?" Ziva remarked, as she studied it.
"Find out what's on it," Gibbs said, as he walked past her desk.
"On it." she said as she got up and headed for the elevator.
"Good luck with that honey!" Tony called after her.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs called, over his shoulder.
"Yeah boss!" Tony replied, standing up.
"Go with her." Gibbs instructed.
"You got it boss!" Tony called back.
Tony ran towards the elevator, but the door(s) were already closed behind Ziva.
Ziva waved at her husband, with a playful grin, as the elevator doors closed shut.
Tony chuckled to himself--amused.
"Oh, cute--very cute," Tony thought. "Alright, have it your way then--two can play this game." he said aloud, as he turned and bolted for the stairs determined to beat his wife downstairs.
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NCIS HQ...
Director Vance's Office...
Gibbs walked in through the door into Vance's office.
Vance was standing/leaning against the outside edge of his desk.
"You wanted to see me--Leon?"
"Took ya long enough." Vance scoffed.
"Yeah well, I was kind of preoccupied." Gibbs replied.
Vance chuckled.
"The reason I called you up here Gibbs, is not because I want you to stop investigating behind my back--and don't say you're not, because I know you are," Vance started.
"Wasn't gonna." Gibbs replied.
Vance reached across his desk, and picked up an already opened package, wrapped in brown paper.
"This package just arrived about an hour ago." Vance explained.
He handed the package to Gibbs who gave it a quick once over.
"On the outside it was addressed to NCIS, but on the inside it wa addressed--to you." Vance said, as he handed Gibbs the card that had been found inside the package.
"Who's it from?" Gibbs asked, plainly.
"It didn't say." Vance replied. "But I think you should listen to it yourself." he added.
Gibbs reached inside the package/box and pulled out a small miniature tape recorder.
Gibbs held it up and pressed the play button.
......Pre-Recorded Voice/Message......
"Hello Special Agent Gibbs, who I am is not important right now, but what is important is that you and Special Agent DiNozzo be made aware of your crimes and also that you will be held accountable for said crimes." The voice explained, very calmly.
Gibbs looked up at Vance.
"If you are listening to this, Agent Gibbs--then it means that you have, by some miracle, managed to elude my enforcers. The next time, though, you won't be so lucky. The guilty party will be punished--severly. I will be in contact if you and your families are still alive."
And that was it. The recording ended rather abruptly.
Gibbs turned the recorder off, shoved it back into its box, and tucked it under his arm.
He nodded at Vance, thanking him for the heads up.
Gibbs turned and headed for the door.
"Whatever your plannin' Gibbs--be careful." Vance said.
Gibbs turned around.
"Let Eric, downstairs, know that we'll be staying over night." Gibbs said.
Vance nodded.
"I will." Vance said.
Gibbs turned and walked out.
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NCIS HQ...
In Abby's Lab...
Tony, Ziva, and Abby were standing around in the lab talking while waiting on the results from the tests that they were running.
"I heard that you guys had a fight," Tony said. "Gibbs didn't wanna talk about it--he didn't hit you, did he?" Tony asked.
Even though she was still angry and upset with her husband she would never tell a lie about him.
"No, of course not--Gibbs would never lay a hand on me out of anger." Abby said, quietly. "He's just really stubborn sometimes." she added.
"I wish these machines would hurry up already." Ziva said, blowing out a frustrated sigh.
Abby laughed at Ziva--her friend.
"Their like little babies, ya know--you can't rush'em to grow up any faster than they already are." Abby said.
Suddenly Tony's cell phone rang, and he answered it.
It was Gibbs.
The two of them talked, briefly, and then Tony hung up--a serious look on his face.
"Ziva, you got a gun on ya?" Tony asked, quickly.
"Yes, why?" she asked, her husband.
"Gibbs just got a message from the person who's been trying to kill us." Tony explained.
"We're all targets." he added.
"Tali." Ziva breathed.
"Yeah. That's where were headed." Tony said. "To get Talia and McGee's sister."
"Sara, why?" Abby asked.
"She was babysitting Talia for us at McGee's place." Ziva explained.
Ziva bent over, pulled her left pants leg up a little bit to reveal a small revolver inside an ankle holster.
She handed the weapon to her husband.
Tony checked the ammo, and then with a flick of his wrist closed the weapon back up.
"Be careful." Ziva said, as she planted a quick kiss on her husband's cheek.
Tony turned and was half way out of the room when Abby called his name.
"Tony," she called out.
Tony turned around. "Yeah?"
"Keep an eye on my husband for me, please." she said, softly.
Tony smiled a knowing smile.
"I will." he replied, and then turned and walked out of the lab.
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NCIS HQ...
Squad Room...
Gibbs and Tony returned about an hour and a half later with Talia and McGee's sister Sara.
Ziva and McGee were waiting in the squad room when they stepped off of the elevator.
"Mommy!" Talia yelped excitedly, as she ran around the corner to her mother's desk.
Ziva was sitting at her desk.
"Tali." Ziva said, with a smile, as the 5 year old leapt into her mother's lap.
"Kiss." Ziva said.
Gibbs, Tony, and Sara came around the corner as Talia gave her mother a big kiss.
"Did you lock everything up?" McGee asked Sara as she approached his desk.
"Yes, I locked everything up--just like you said." she replied, slight annoyance in her voice.
Gibbs and Tony sat down at their respective desks.
"How was she?" Ziva asked.
"She was great." Sara replied, with a smile. "We colored, watched TV, she napped."
"Ziva," Gibbs called, from his desk.
"Sir?" she replied.
"Anything on that cell phone?" Gibbs asked.
"Nothing." she replied. "It was a burn phone."
"Abby and I traced every call placed and recieved from the suspects' cell phone." she added. "All of the outgoing calls were the same."
Gibbs let out a 'well that was a waste of time' sigh.
Talia gave her mother another big kiss.
"Hey what am I, chopped liver." Tony quipped, jokingly. "What about a kiss for dear old dad."
Ziva laughed.
Talia jumped down from her mother's lap and ran across the bullpen to give her daddy a kiss.
"So what are we doing for supper?" Sara asked, looking over at her brother.
"I guess we'll order out." McGee replied.
"McGee--tattoos?"
"Uh, not yet Boss. The images are still running through the known databases." McGee informed Gibbs.
Across the bullpen at Tony's desk--
"Daddy," Talia said, sitting in her father's lap. "I'm hungry."
Tony looked across the bullpen at his wife.
"You hungry?" he asked.
"I guess I could eat--yes." Ziva replied.
Tony looked over at Gibbs.
Gibbs realized that Tony was staring at him.
"Go." Gibbs said, nodding. Then a half second later he changed his mind.
"Wait--call out and order for all of us--then let Eric downstairs know that the delivery guy is coming." Gibbs said, revising his original statement.
"Alright," Tony said, standing up. "Come on pumpkin." Tony said, softly, ushering his daughter along.
As Ziva stood to follow them, everyone in the room began handing her slips of paper with their orders on them--except for Gibbs.
She stopped by his desk.
"Chow Mein?" she asked.
"Yep." he replied.
She smiled and then walked away, memorizing her boss's order.
"Watcha workin' on?' Sara asked, her brother.
The two of them began conversing with one another, as Gibbs stood, walked around his desk, and headed for the elevator.
............To Be Continued In "Break-In"............
Author's Chapter Notes:
The pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, as Gibbs tries to convince Abby to go with the girls into a special witness protection program--juts until the whole mess blows over...