Gibbs went home feeling like he had a stone in his stomach. He knew he had done the right thing… as a human being. Maybe he was getting old, going soft on the people involved with cases he worked on. He had done it before, with the ashes of that dead marine who left a wife and a little daughter. Well, it wasn't really tampering with the evidence. He just speeded the whole process up a bit. He knew he was getting into trouble. Just as Fornell asked him to, he just felt really guilty because of Abby and her thought of being published and in a way, he had betrayed his long time friend and his lover, Ducky.
Gibbs gave himself another head slap as he walked into his house, tossing his coat somewhere it could drop to the ground and walked straight to his boat. All the frustration he had right now, had to escape from his system. He'd call Fornell later. Right now, he betrayed his whole team. He grabbed the bottle of bourbon from his work bench and took a swig out of the bottle. It tasted bitter, just like he felt, and it tasted like paint thinner. He shook his head and made a mental note of buying the good stuff for emergencies like these.
The next morning he didn't have any trouble in getting up, even with a hangover, but he was reluctant to go to work. He felt guilty, and nothing could stop that. He'd kill Fornell later. He stopped at Starbucks on his way over to NCIS headquarters and when he walked in to his office, Tony and Ziva were talking about the previous case.
"Hey! Move on!" Gibbs snapped and sat down behind his desk.
"Yes boss." Tony replied. "Sorry boss."
Gibbs glared at Tony and shook his head. "I really wonder if you're really ready to take over my place, DiNozzo."
"Sorry?"
"Never mind. I'm talking to myself."
"Ducky asked if you could stop by Autopsy, boss." Tony replied as-a-matter-of-factly.
"And you should keep your foot elevated. I don't even know why you're here." Gibbs shot at him, got up and walked towards the elevator to go and see Ducky. "Go home, Tony!" he yelled at him before entering the elevator.
Autopsy was dark, except for one lamp that was burning, and it was at Ducky's desk, where he found his friend. "You wanted to see me, Duck?" Gibbs asked.
"I found this." Ducky held up the evidence container, containing a bit of substance. Ducky sounded unhappy and disappointed.
"What is that?" Gibbs asked, knowing exactly what it was, but Ducky didn't know that, or he pretended not to know.
"This, Jethro my dear, is the bone scraping of that burned body we had this week." Ducky got up and walked straight into Gibbs' personal space. The shorter, older man knew how to appear taller, and take advantage of it. Plus, Gibbs had a soft spot for him.
"Are you sure?"
"What did you do?" Ducky was looking up to him, worry lay in his eyes. Bags were underneath his eyes because Ducky probably hadn't slept properly.
"I don't know." Gibbs responded sheepishly.
"I found it in a garbage container, Jethro. In the NCIS garage."
"Why are you dumpster diving?" He responded surprised. Gibbs hated to lie to his partner. He really did, but he didn't have a choice. Not now anyway. He'd explain later.
"Why are you tampering with evidence?"
"I'm not!"
"You broke the chain of evidence, Jethro! You switched canisters!"
"Duck…" Gibbs nagged. "You know as well as I do…"
"That you are in a position to do so!"
"Not now." Gibbs said softly. "Okay, Duck?"
"What is going on, Jethro? You know you can tell me."
"I can't." he pointed to the security camera's. "And I'll explain later. Just keep this quiet, alright?"
"But Jethro…"
"Not now, Duck." Gibbs planted his hand on Ducky's shoulder and gently squeezed in it. "Please." He whispered. "Trust me?"
Ducky nodded in return and put the canister away. Gibbs went back to the elevator when his phone rang. A dead marine was found with drugs on him. "Ducky! Grab your gear!" he shouted and took the stairs to his office to gather the rest of his team.
The day passed as usual. They processed the crime scene, Ducky would examine the body with Jimmy, Gibbs would be breathing down DiNozzo's neck for progress and background information and he tried to stay away from Abby. She was doing great with the analyzing thing she did. She was hyped up on caf-pow, as usual, and she was hyped up because she would get published again. Which had to be stopped. If word got out that donor DNA was found in a dead body, which was special, she'd be published, other scientists would want to take a look at the body in question and do their own tests and find out that Abby was wrong. While she wasn't. She was wrong because Gibbs had tampered with the evidence. And now Gibbs had to save her from humiliation.
While on the elevator to Abby, he slapped himself on his head again and told himself to tell Abby. He knew about the security camera's in her lab, so he knew he had to take a different approach; sign language.
"Hey Abs." Gibbs said casually.
"Gibbs!" Abby bounced. "I've got…"
"We need to talk." He signed.
"Oh." Abby replied and pointed to the cubicle with the futon in it. "There?"
"Yes." He nodded and followed her, closing the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Abby wasn't willing to sign. Gibbs felt the urge to give her a head slap but he had never done so and wouldn't do it either.
"You know I love you as a daughter." He started, sitting down, facing her.
"That's sweet." Abby smiled.
"But, there's something you need to know."
"There is a cow?" Abby pondered.
"No!" Gibbs replied.
"Well sorry Gibbs. Your sign language looks woody sometimes. You sign with a huge dialect, you're difficult to follow now."
"I'll go slow." He said and continued in sign language, telling her everything. He told her why she had to stop this case from being published. He told her why he tampered with evidence, and he told her how sorry she was.
"Does Ducky know about this?" Abby signed. Gibbs had expected her to be angry with him and break the silence between them by yelling at him. He knew she was disappointed. He also realised she was using the "Duck" sign for Ducky. He had never thought of that himself. He usually spelled his lovers name.
"He has suspicions." He replied. "I can't tell you why I did this, but I need to, and you need to tell Jen."
"What?!" Abby called out.
"Calm down!" Gibbs hissed. "Tell Jen."
"But you'll get suspended! Court marshalled, or you'll be forced to retire prematurely!" she signed aggressively. Probably because she was worried and overprotective.
"Exactly."
"Damn you, Gibbs." She muttered and hugged him. "You better have a damn good reason."
"Don't tell anyone." He got up and went back to his office. "DiNozzo!"
"Yes boss?"
"What are you still doing here?"
"I'm working."
"I thought I said you had to go home."
"Yes you did."
"That was an order."
"Oh."
"Ziva, bring him home." He sat down behind his desk and rumbled through his drawers to put the flask he had gotten from Shannon and Kelly in safely in his pocket. In his head, he was silently counting the seconds until Jen would call him up. He had sent Abby directly to Jen, telling her that she wanted to be sure that someone didn't tamper with the evidence and that the Maryland Arson Investigators had to check the fingerprints on the evidence canister holding Corporal Danforth's DNA sample, as there shouldn't be fingerprints on it. Ducky had worn gloves to acquire the DNA and Abby also wore gloves, that was standard procedure.
"Special Agent Gibbs!" Jen's voice sounded from upstairs.
"You don't have to yell, Jen." He said, while looking up to her. Her face was flushed. She looked pissed off.
"A word, please."
"McGee, go and help Abby." Gibbs pointed at him and went upstairs.
Jen made it hard for him not to look at her. Even though she had admitted she had learned to speak his language a long time ago, he wasn't impressed by the way she tried to appear taller and stare at him. It was hard for him not to laugh. She looked so silly with that elf like hair.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well, what?" Gibbs retorted sheepishly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What did I do, Jen?"
"You tampered with evidence." She started.
"I did?" he asked surprised.
"There are suspicions that you did."
"Oh." Gibbs nodded. "I see." He took off the holster of his gun, disassembled his gun and put it on her desk, along with his badge. "Here you go."
"What?"
"What?" Gibbs echoed. "Go ahead, start an investigation."
"Are you resigning?"
"Do you want me to?"
"No!"
"Well, then I'm suspended, don't you think?"
"But…"
Gibbs turned around and walked out of her office. "Now, Madame Director, you don't want to break protocol now, do you?" he said teasingly and suppressed a smirk and walked down the stairs. He grabbed his coat from his chair and went home.
He stopped by the local liquor store for some good bourbon and decided to go to Ducky's place and keep Mrs. Mallard some company, along with her Corgis. He might take her and the dogs for a walk, and he would cook for her and Ducky and maybe himself if Ducky would let him stay. He needed someone to confide in. He couldn't do it at work, but he sure as hell knew that his lover would listen to him. Gibbs was good at keeping secrets. But not this one. Only because Fornell was involved.
"God dammit, Jethro!" Ducky yelled as he entered the house around dinner time.
"Donald!" Mrs. Mallard warned him.
"Sorry Mother."
"Sorry, Duck." Gibbs said apologizing when he walked out of the kitchen. He was making Spaghetti Bolognese, as Mrs. Mallard wanted to eat that. He helped his lover out of his coat and hug it up the coat rack.
"You should have warned me." Ducky shot a glare at him. "I went by your house and didn't see you there."
"I'm sorry." Gibbs said again and kissed the older man on his forehead. "After dinner, we'll go for a walk and I'll tell you."
"You'd better." Ducky muttered. "What are you making?"
"Spaghetti."
"Oh dear, god help us."
"Hey, your mother says it's too die for!" Gibbs smiled.
"Well, if we don't die from it, yes. Besides, mother's taste buds are ancient." Ducky walked in to the kitchen. "Dear god!" he exclaimed.
"Don't mind the mess." Gibbs snickered. He was pushed out of the kitchen by Ducky and decided to watch Jeopardy with Mrs. Mallard and the dogs. Gibbs knew he could cook, just not as well as Donald Mallard the sous-chef and his spoiled taste buds.
After dinner, they went outside for a walk and Gibbs told Ducky everything. Why he tampered with the evidence so he would be suspended and how he felt about that.
"I agree, Jethro. Kill Fornell."
"Excuse me?" Gibbs was surprised to hear that from his lover.
"You're risking being court marshalled." Ducky replied. "Unless you can resign in time."
"You think I like being in this position?" Gibbs said surprised. "I'm getting too old for this. I shouldn't be doing this anyway, and yet, I'm doing it."
"Exactly, my dear." Ducky patted his arm. "Are you missing something in your life? Is your life going better than ever before and you want to stop that from happening?"
"Duck!" Gibbs nagged. "I'm not missing anything in my life. I have you."
"Then why?"
"Tobias asked me to, okay? They have reasonable doubt about Jen and Ziva. I can understand why they distrust Ziva, hell, even I don't trust her like McGee or DiNozzo. But Jen?"
"Well, she was prancing around like a ballerina after you left."
"She's good at that."
"What is going to happen now, Jethro?"
"I guess I'm going to call Tobias in the morning." Gibbs sighed.
It was quiet for a long time as the two lovers walked through the park. They enjoyed each other's company, they didn't need words to show how they truly felt about it their other half.
"Jethro, I need to tell you something…" Ducky started when they sat on a bench near a pond.
"What?"
"The director asked me why you tampered with the evidence. And asked me how you could have done that."
"And?"
"I told her that I allowed you break the chain of evidence."
"Ah, Duck! You shouldn't have!"
"Well, it is the truth, Jethro."
"But you protested, Duck! I told you I'd slap DiNozzo silly if he'd do such a thing and I just walked out."
"The director suspended me because of that."
"What?!" Gibbs was furious.
"It's only reasonable." Ducky stayed calm. "I allowed you to break the chain of evidence and there for you could tamper with the evidence."
"I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Ah, but it did."
A week later, Gibbs was working on his boat in his basement while Ducky was sitting on the steps of the stairs with a cup of tea, reading a pathology magazine. He hadn't been to NCIS headquarters ever since he let himself get suspended, and Fornell hadn't shown himself either. It was like he had to do everything by himself, though he didn't really know what he was supposed to do.
"Gibbs!" Abby's voice sounded from upstairs. "Where are you?"
"Basement, Abs." Gibbs called back, not looking up from sanding a rib of the boat.
"Nice of you to drop by, Abigail." Ducky looked up to her when she stood in the doorway.
"Look what I brought!" Abby held up 3 cups of coffee. "Just the way you like it." She smiled widely.
"What's on your mind, Abs?" Gibbs walked to her as she ascended the stairs and took over his cup.
"Nothing, I can drop by, can't I?"
"Anthony is driving you to madness?" Ducky chuckled.
"Oh, no not at all." Abby sat down next to Ducky. "He's actually doing quite well, he is reacting mature and handling the current case very well. He's delegating poorly, of course."
"Good." Gibbs nodded.
"And Jimmy requires my help all the time. I'm no pathologist, but he seems to be nervous with the deceased."
"Poor boy." Ducky responded.
"You two should come back."
"We can't Abs, we're suspended." Gibbs chuckled. "Any suspicious behaviour of the director or Ziva?"
"Well, they seem to hang around together more often, and Ziva got called in for the current case, first, not Tony." She started. "And I wish I could speak Hebrew, I have no idea what they're talking about."
"And?"
"Fornell is nosing around."
"Bastard." Gibbs muttered.
Ducky was in Gibbs' kitchen, cooking up something for the both of them and Gibbs was working on his boat and had sawdust all over him. He didn't mind though. The bourbon tasted better with sawdust in it and he liked to spend more hours on his boat than usual. He missed his team though. He missed working on a case, and he missed head slapping DiNozzo.
He got startled when he heard Ducky yell. "For God's sake Fornell!"
Gibbs sprinted up the stairs and went to the kitchen. "Tobias…"
"Ah, Jethro." Fornell smiled widely.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you." He growled.
"We relieved the director and agent David out of their positions for now, pending the investigation of them conspiring against us."
"Couldn't you have done that without me making a damn fool out of myself?!"
"Eh…"
Gibbs was about to hit him, but Ducky kept that from happening. "What's going to happen now, agent Fornell?"
"Well, we're offering Gibbs the temporal position as Director."
"I'm not taking it." Gibbs growled. "I want my team back."
"You and Dr. Mallard are no longer suspended, we cleared it with the powers that be, collected the correct evidence and well… I'm saying this to ease your mind, no actions will be done towards Corporal Danforth's father and towards Corporal Miller. Miller is staying in the navy."
"That easy, huh Tobias?"
"Oh yes." Fornell smirked. "We're taking care of everything."
"And using me, and Ducky, as a damn pawn!"
"Well, now I owe you one."
"That's it?!" Abby bursted out. "He let you do all of that, and drag Ducky with you and.. and.. he's …"
"It's that easy, Abs." Gibbs reassured her. "Fornell works in mysterious ways sometimes."
"Still…"
"I'm as puzzled as you are."
"Good to have you back boss." McGee and DiNozzo chorused. "What is going to happen to Ziva and Madame Director?" DiNozzo continued.
"I don't know."
"I started to like Ziva…" Abby pouted. "I'm the only girl again, it's not fair."
"But dear Abigail, you are OUR only girl, you're special." Ducky smiled.
Gibbs' phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs…We're on our way." He hung up. "Grab your gear, kids, a sailor has been eaten by a bear."
Story Notes:
Written for the ncis_gibbsducky challenge #2, A missing scene. (to 3x16 Family Secrets)
Oh yes, no sex in here;-)
Author's Chapter Notes:
He moves in mysterious ways. Not everything is black and white.
Chapter End Notes:
Written for the ncis_gibbsducky challenge #2, A missing scene. (to 3x16 Family Secrets)
Oh yes, no sex in here;-)
Oh yes, no sex in here;-)