Title: Death be not proud 3/7
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 NCIS or the characters but I'm just borrowing them and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
[Part 3]
Half an hour later, Autopsy was buzzing with people. Kate, McGee and Ducky sat out of the way and watched the proceedings. Not that anybody would have noticed had they been standing in the middle of the action, but it was a bit disconcerting to have people walk right through them without a pause, so they had moved to one side.
"I must admit that I'm quite impressed with Mr. Palmer," said Ducky. "Performing CPR like that and raising the alarm as quickly as possible. All to no avail of course, but he certainly kept his cool much better than I would have believed possible under the circumstances."
Palmer had returned to Autopsy only a few minutes after Ducky's demise. Upon seeing that the body was still warm, he had called for assistance and attempted to resuscitate his boss, only giving up when the paramedics had arrived and pronounced the Doctor beyond all help. Since then he had taken charge of the situation, calling in the ranking NCIS agent on duty to report the death and insisting to the paramedics that the body remain in NCIS hands.
"Yes," continued Ducky, "I shall have no fears about leaving matters in his capable hands until a replacement for me arrives. If you will excuse me for just a minute."
Kate and McGee watched Ducky went over to where Palmer was sitting by the corpse. "I'll take good care of you, Doctor Mallard," he was saying. "It was an honor and a privilege to work with you and...I'll miss you, sir."
Ducky crouched down and said softly into Palmer's ear, "Take care of yourself Mr. Palmer." He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed that Palmer showed no sign of having heard him. On the one hand, it would have been nice if the young man could have heard his reassurances from beyond the grave, on the other hand, the last thing they wanted was for another spirit to join their number. While Palmer had shown no signs of any coronary problems, even the strongest heart could fail under circumstances such as being suddenly confronted by a ghost.
Making his way back to his companions, Ducky could see that the children were in the middle of an argument.
"I think we should go see Gibbs," said Kate. "We need to find a way to contact him and let him know where Ari is going to be."
"But we don't even know if we'll be able to get through to him," replied McGee. "And even if we do, look what happened to Ducky. What if Gibbs keels over with a heart attack or something as well? We should try and make contact with Abby. She's got a Ouija board and everything and she's not the type to get all freaked out about it. Heck, she's probably expecting us to try and contact her from the afterlife anyway."
Kate turned to Ducky. "Looks like you have the casting vote Ducky, don't you think we should try Gibbs first? He's the one who can actually do something about Ari."
Ducky was looking blankly at Kate so she explained about what had happened to her earlier and how if she concentrated she could find where Ari was.
"That's most remarkable Caitlin," said Ducky. "But not altogether surprising. It's a common mythology that when a murderer dies, the first people they meet in the afterlife are the shades of their victims come to extract revenge. So it would be only reasonable to expect that these ghosts would have some way of sensing where their killer is so that they can be there at the moment of his or her death."
Kate looked around her apprehensively at Ducky's words. "So why was McGee the only one who showed up for me. I know I've certainly killed plenty of people."
Ducky rubbed her arm comfortingly, "But you never murdered anybody Caitlin. You have only ever killed in the line of duty and you should remember that."
Kate sighed in relief. "Okay then, but I still think we should contact or at least try to contact Gibbs first."
"I'm afraid I find myself agreeing with Timothy on this one, my dear. Gibbs is a good man but he's not exactly the most receptive person when it comes to supernatural events."
"Yeah," interrupted McGee, "Remember when I brought up Spontaneous Human Combustion."
"Precisely. Which is why I feel that we should focus our attentions on Abigail. She at least is open to possibilities which Gibbs would reject out of hand, and as such I believe that we will be able to make contact with her, or indeed she with us."
"Fine then, we'll just nip upstairs to Abby's lab."
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But when they got there the lab was deserted. The bullets which Palmer had delivered to her earlier were logged in and running through some type of computer program but Abby was nowhere to be seen.
"She must have gone home," said Kate, a little disappointed.
"Or been sent home," observed Ducky. "She was very upset earlier."
"Well that's no problem then," said Kate with a grin. "I'm sure McGee here can bring us all to Abby's apartment. Right McGee? Just zoom in on her coffin or something."
It was only the lack of blood circulation that prevented McGee from blushing, but before he could formulate a reply, Ducky spoke up. "There's actually one stop I'd like to make first. Somebody I'd like to check up on."
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"DiNozzo?" said Kate in surprise as they materialized outside Tony's apartment.
"Yes Caitlin," replied Ducky. "You of course didn't see Anthony when he arrived back at headquarters. The poor chap was in a terrible state. He was still badly shaken up from the incident with the car and of course he really should still have been at home recuperating from his illness. I wanted him to check back into the hospital at least overnight just to make sure he wouldn't have a relapse, but he refused. The least I can do now is see that he's still in one piece. Rest assured, I shall not try and make contact with him, but if he's under the weather then maybe we can figure out a way to dial for help on his behalf."
"Lead on Ducky," said Kate and she and McGee followed him into the apartment.
"Hmm, it's a lot cleaner than I imagined," said Kate as they walked through Tony's living room.
"I think Tony has a maid comes in once a week or so," said McGee.
"Why do I have the feeling she's one of those maids who wear a skimpy little uniform and carry a big feather duster."
Ducky came out of the bedroom with a frown. "There's no sign of him in there."
"Maybe he went to a friends house," suggested McGee.
Kate shook her head, "His car keys are on the table, and there's the jacket he was wearing today. See, it's got my blood all over it."
"He could be in the bathroom," said McGee.
"Well somebody else can go check on him then," said Kate.
"I'll just be a minute," said Ducky. He walked over to the bathroom door and walked through it.
Kate meanwhile moved over to the answering machine. "You have three new messages," she read off the display. "Let me guess, two blonde and one red head."
Ducky's voice startled her slightly.
"Well the good news is that we don't have to worry about Anthony's health."
"And the bad news?"
Ducky stepped aside to let a boxer short clad Tony out of the bathroom. It was obvious what the bad news was, as Tony hadn't needed to open the door to get out.
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Tony's initial delight upon seeing Kate and McGee had been tempered slightly by their insistence on finding out the circumstances of his death.
"Was it a heart attack or something?" asked Kate.
"Does it matter Kate?" groaned Tony, "I'm dead, okay. Can we just move on from that and figure out what we're going to do next."
"Ducky, why won't you tell us?"
"Doctor patient confidentiality my dear Caitlin. Besides, it doesn't really matter now, does it."
"But people don't just suddenly die. Ducky, you didn't give him a heart attack by trying to contact him, did you?"
"Oh no, he was dead by the time I got there, most unfortunate."
"Ducky," said Tony, a warning in his voice. "Oh what the hell. Look, if it'll stop you bothering me for all eternity, I was getting ready for a shower, started feeling sick and then I tripped and bashed my head. Next thing I know I'm sitting there looking at my body and Ducky is walking through the door. I tell ya, if I hadn't already dead I'd have probably croaked just seeing him. So you happy now?"
Kate couldn't help herself and burst out laughing.
"It's not funny," snapped Tony, although his lips were twitching slightly at the absurdity of it all.
"You have to admit that it is kind of amusing," said McGee.
"Shut up Probie."
"Actually, since I died first, that means I have seniority over the two of you," retorted McGee. "So that would make me the boss and both of *you* the Probies."
Tony just stared at him in horror. "Okay, now I know I'm in Hell."
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To be continued
Author's Chapter Notes:
And then there were three. Kate and McGee continue their quest, now with Ducky's assistance.
Chapter End Notes:
The very first NCIS fic I wrote. Written before Kill Ari aired, so no season 3 spoilers.