Title: Death be not proud 2/7
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: Ceindreadh@eircom.net
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen
Pairing/Characters: n/a
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: What happened after Twilight
Warnings: Death fic (duh!).
Notes: This is a sick and twisted idea that I got after reading a post regarding Twilight. I apologize in advance but I just couldn't help myself
Acknowledgments: I don't own the characters but I promise to return them in mint condition when I'm finished with them.
[part 02]
"I said I was sorry," McGee stole a quick glance at Kate. "If I'd known that Ari was going to hit you instead, I..."
Kate sighed heavily, "I'm the one who should be sorry, McGee. I had no right to blow up at you like that. Gibbs was my responsibility and it was my duty to take the bullet for him. Damn Ari. The worst of it is he's going to get away with it. Gibbs is never going to be able to track him down. The only times he's found Ari it's because he wanted to be found. Dammit!" There was no response from McGee and when Kate looked up she saw that he was gone...or to be more accurate, *she* was gone...the rooftop where she and McGee had been sitting was gone, and instead Kate was sitting in the back of a car moving swiftly along a busy highway. The driver glanced in the mirror, and Kate recoiled as her eyes met those of her killer.
And then the car faded from her view and she was back on the rooftop with McGee calling her name.
"Kate, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," frowned Kate. "Well, apart from being dead and haunting this rooftop. What the heck just happened?"
"I don't know, one minute you were there and the next you just disappeared. Where did you go?" McGee was trying to hide his nervousness. Bad enough that he was dead and clearly doomed to be a ghost for all eternity, but having his only companion disappear on him was really not good.
"I think I was with Ari," Kate said slowly. "I don't know how it happened, but one minute I was here and the next I was in his car." She grabbed McGee's arm. "Do you realize what this means? If I can find out where Ari is going, we can capture him."
McGee looked at Kate, a skeptical expression on his face. "How? We can't exactly slap a pair of handcuffs on him." He waved his hand through the concrete wall for emphasis.
"I don't know, maybe we can get a message to Gibbs or something. There's got to be a way. No way in hell am I letting him get away *again*."
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"I can't believe that Gibbs isn't here," said Kate as she paced up and down beside her desk. "Two of his agents are dead, the killers are on the loose, and he's at home working on his boat?"
The trip back to Headquarters hadn't been the easiest. It had taken them several attempts to be able to disappear from the rooftop and reappear in the NCIS parking garage. Twice Kate had ended up back in Ari's car, but it had been growing dark and she had been unable to identify his location. But finally they had both managed to show up at the same place. Their first attempt at using the elevator hadn't been a success. They had followed a janitor into the elevator car only for them both to remain standing on the ground as the car rose to the floors above them.
Finally they had managed to transfer themselves to the office, but Gibbs was nowhere to be seen and an overheard conversation between some of the other agents on duty had revealed that Gibbs had been sent home by the director.
"So what should we do now?" asked McGee. "Try and find Gibbs at home?"
"Yes, no...I don't know where he lives." Kate paced up and down for a few more seconds before turning to McGee again. "There's somewhere I want to go first before we track down Gibbs."
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Ducky sighed as he dropped the bullets into the tray. "Mr. Palmer, be a good chap and run those up to Abby, would you."
"Yes Dr. Mallard," said Palmer. He hesitated a few seconds before adding, "Do you want me to finish up Agent McGee?"
Ducky shook his head, "No, thank you. I'll see to young Timothy. Poor lad, he was here for such a short time."
Kate and McGee watched in fascination from the corner of the lab as Ducky continued with his work, describing to McGee's body in great detail exactly what procedures he was performing. Kate had been slightly relieved to hear that her body was currently in one of the drawers and would be dealt with the next day. "This is amazing McGee, don't you think so?" When there was no response she looked at the young agent who was wearing a glazed expression on his face. "McGee, maybe you shouldn't be watching this."
It was too late though and as Kate watched, McGee put his hand over his mouth and raced to one of the sinks where he started retching furiously.
Over at the autopsy table, Ducky stopped what he was doing and looked around. "Is there somebody there?" he called, frowning slightly. "Mr. Palmer, is that you?"
It took Kate a few seconds to realize what had happened. "Oh my God, McGee, he heard you! Ducky heard you! Now if we can only get a message through to him!"
McGee turned around from the sink, feeling a little sheepish as he realized that vomiting was another thing his ghost wasn't able to do. Technically he shouldn't have been able to feel nauseous, but then it was probably a psychological rather than a physiological response. "What, by having me vomit?"
Kate frowned at him, "No, but there's got to be some way to get through to him. So far he's the only person that's shown any reaction to our presence."
"Maybe it's because he spends so much time around dead bodies," said McGee. "The psychic emanations from a recently deceased corpse could..."
"Well I don't care why it works so long as it does."
During their conversation Ducky had returned to his task and was now busy tidying up McGee's corpse. Kate and McGee moved over to the table, McGee taking good care not to look down at his body.
"Okay, how should we do this," Kate thought carefully for a moment. "McGee, see can you move your hand."
McGee looked at Kate blankly and lifted his hand. Kate glared at him, "Not that hand, *that* hand," she said, pointing at the body on the table.
"Oh right, okay." McGee concentrated carefully and tried to lift the hand from the table but his ghostly fingers simply slipped through the flesh and the table below. "It's not working," he said. "I can't make it move."
"Patrick Swayze could do it fine," muttered Kate. "Here, let me help."
It took both their combined efforts but finally they were able to make McGee's fingers twitch. "We did it!" Kate was delighted. "Come on, let's move your hand..."
Carried away by their new found skills at manipulating objects, neither Kate nor McGee noticed that Ducky had stopped what he was doing and was staring at McGee's hand as it jerked and twitched on the table. "Oh my, Timothy?
McGee stopped what he was doing and looked up, "Uh-oh," he said as he saw the expression on Ducky's face.
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"It's sort of ironic," said McGee looking down at the ground. "Ducky had to have had the biggest heart of anybody I knew. And then it went and failed on him."
"That's very kind of you to say so Timothy, but my heart was no bigger than average, as I'm sure Mr. Palmer will find out during the course of my autopsy." Ducky crouched down beside his rapidly cooling body. "I must admit that I'm rather embarrassed by my reactions. After all the time I spend talking to dead people, the one time I get a response and I succumb to a heart attack. Most embarrassing."
"We're really sorry Ducky," said Kate. "If we'd known what was going to happen then we'd never have tried to contact you."
Ducky stood and put his arm around Kate's shoulder. "My dear Caitlin, it was worth dying just to be given the chance to talk to you again. You can't imagine how painful it was believing that I'd never hear your voice again."
McGee cleared his throat ostentatiously.
"Oh and you too Timothy. I was most sorry to hear of your untimely demise. Perhaps it was the cumulative effect of all today's shocks that did my heart in, and not simply your efforts. Although I do have one complaint to make."
"And what's that Ducky?" asked Kate.
"Well I really wish that you'd waited until I was back in my street clothes before contacting me." Ducky looked down at his blue apron, which was stained here and there with various bodily fluids. "Now I'm going to be stuck wearing this thing for eternity and I had such a nice bow tie in my locker."
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To be continued.
Author's Chapter Notes:
McGee and Kate may be dead, but they're still on the job.
Chapter End Notes:
The very first NCIS fic I wrote. Written before Kill Ari aired, so no season 3 spoilers.