DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. They're the creations of Donald P. Bellesario and James Cameron… both men are geniuses … well… story wise. Not time-line wise. I'm merely playing with these creations and I'm not making money.
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It was awkward. Terrorists had made an EM-bomb which emitted a big EM-pulse and with that they paralyzed the whole world. It happened in the year that Ducky had resigned. At age 65, he knew he had given all he could, he had instructed Jimmy well, and Jimmy had gained enough courage to actually know that he could be a M.E. as he was trained by the best. 2009 was a hard year for Ducky, apart from the resigning and not working anymore. Mrs. Mallard had died in January after a long and very cold winter. It had been unexpected, as Mrs. Mallard seemed to be doing fine, but one night, her heart had just stopped and Ducky had been devastated. He couldn't live in the house anymore, and moved in with me.
As everyone panicked when all the computers stopped, I was glad. Glad not to be obliged to use a computer anymore, and McGee didn't need to "reboot" most things for me anymore. I did have to teach my team to document everything carefully by hand, notes and reports had to be written, instead of typed. DiNozzo had a terrible handwriting, he needed a few well-deserved head slaps to improve his handwriting. Jenny was cooperative too, and had made sure that there was a training for all those agents with bad handwriting, and DiNozzo went.
The first few years after the pulse made our work more differentiated. We now had to send agents out in to the field to assist the police, FBI, CIA, and other agencies, as they couldn't cope with all the breaking and entering, low-life criminals, fencing, and all the other things, like protests for more medication and what not.
I stayed with NCIS for another 5 years after the pulse, until Ducky reminded me that I didn't really have to work anymore because we had enough money to live on for the rest of our lives. And I knew that DiNozzo was ready to lead his own team. I wanted to make sure of that first, before I went. When I eventually did, I said that if I heard one bad thing about him from Jenny or anyone else, I'd be back head slapping him before he could say "Burt Reynolds".
Ducky and I moved to Seattle. Ducky was turning 70, and after falling a few times off the stairs into my basement I decided we needed to get an apartment, with no stairs. Seattle was a great city anyway. They had good coffee before the pulse happened, and I hoped it had stayed the same. Ducky needed more care as usual. His limp had gotten worse, and his other hip had been replaced because the last time he had fallen off the stairs, he had actually broken his good hip. Ducky was turning into a grumpy old man because of this, and sometimes it was just too hard to actually help him as he wasn't cooperating and accepting that he needed help. He chased me out of the house a few times and made me stay in a hotel, until he'd call me on my cell phone to apologize.
What worried me the most was that Ducky started to show signs of early Alzheimer's. He was forgetting things, and he was sometimes just so lost in his own world and asked me where his father was, or his mother, or he thought he was with me on a case. As long as Ducky didn't wander off, I was happy.
Even though Ducky was really getting older, his slight defects didn't push me away from him, no matter how hard he tried to do so. He wanted me to get a life, learn to love someone else, but I refused. My heart belonged only to Ducky, and I didn't want anyone else and told him to learn to live with the fact that I wasn't leaving him, even though he was really getting old. We weren't married, but ‘for better or for worse' really stuck with me after those 3 failed marriages. He was still lucid most of the times.
"Jethro?" Ducky asked while we were having breakfast in bed. It was one of those lazy Sundays where you'd just wanted to stay in bed the entire day and make love to each other. When Ducky was younger, I did put him through that. We had made love all day long on a boring, lazy Sunday. But now, I was more careful with him. And listened to what he wanted, and when and how.
"Yes, Duck?" I replied sweetly and softly kissed him in his neck.
"Aren't you curious to how Anthony is doing, now he has to be in your shoes?"
"He's not in my shoes Duck." I chuckled. "I didn't let him."
"Well, he has never called you for help… doesn't that bother you?"
"Nope." I put a strawberry in my lover's mouth. "That means he's doing just fine."
"I wish that Jimmy would call me." Ducky sighed after eating the strawberry.
"Well, no news is good news, Duck."
"I suppose you're right, my dear."
"Of course I am." I grinned. "You want to go for a walk this after noon?"
"No." Ducky moved the breakfast tray away. "We're staying here. Right here." Ducky started to lazily draw circles on my chest with his index finger. "And we're going to enjoy each other, and you're letting me have control because I have been neglecting you, dearest."
"Duuuuck…" I sighed happily. "You don't have to do this…"
"I want to." Ducky said with a determination Illya Kuryakin would be jealous of.
"I'm not objecting…"
"Then shush." Ducky silenced me with a tender kiss, warm and filled with passion and I couldn't help not to respond to that. I made an attempt of laying Ducky down and get on top of him, but Ducky bit my lip when he felt me move. "Stay." He muttered.
I sighed happily, and tried not to think of the consequences. Ducky would be exhausted, cranky, whiney and proud after he was through with me. And his body would really hurt, so I tried not to move, to make things easier for him. Giving up control was still something I had to get used to, and it was still hard, after all those years. But it was in Ducky's best interest. Every time we made love, I tried not to hurt him. I tried to be careful and put as less strain on his body and hurting limbs as I could. I was always afraid I was going to break him, but I loved him as much I possibly could and beyond that and let him have his way for now. He had shifted on the bed, the lazy index finger had turned into a pair of warm lips and a tongue that was teasing my nipples. I couldn't help but respond to Ducky and played with his hair. "Don't move." He growled annoyed and put my hands above my hand. "Don't."
"But…"
"Don't." and for a moment, I thought that Illya Kuryakin was staring me right in the face. But it was Ducky. Ducky being very much determined and he wouldn't take ‘no' for an answer. "Don't make me tie you up." He giggled boyishly and returned to what he had been doing, kissing my chest, trailing my chest with his tongue, teasing me by lingering a bit at my nipples and went down. I was still amazed what Ducky could do to me with barely using his hands. Ducky had great hands, surgical hands, soft and elegant, but he never seized to amaze me what he could do to me without them.
"Don't move… and I'll let you be on top." Ducky grinned as he removed the rest of the covers and decided that my penis would be the next best thing to focus on. It was really hard not for me to move, Ducky knew what he was doing, he knew he was driving me insane by the licks up and down my shaft. And it was hard, to give up control and lay still at the same time. I couldn't do that, really. My whole body reacted to Ducky's actions. Ducky was amazing, even at the age he had now, even now, when his body hurt most of the time. Ducky was teasing me, by taking my penis in his mouth for one moment, and then licking it the other. Ducky was taking his time. Every time I moaned, he lingered just long enough to shut me up and groaned for more. He was obviously enjoying himself a lot. He was grinning like a little boy, and I swore I heard him giggle. There was an enormous smile on his face and his blue eyes sparkled. "Duck…" I gasped.
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
I was really close to take the control back. I couldn't stand this pleasant torment any longer, and I would regain control as soon as Ducky would start to use his hands. I wanted to grab him, put him softly down on the bed, and kiss him deeply, and I'd play with his penis at the same time, it'd sure drive him insane, and it'd make it easier for me to make him ready for me. And I knew this was going to happen, as long as I didn't move, which was getting more difficult. When I was younger, I could easily stop myself from feeling aroused for a long time. I wasn't as relaxed in my life as I was now. This was tough. And it wasn't the only thing that was hard at the moment.
Furthermore, Ducky was currently positioned on top of me, with his back towards my face and he had started to make use of his hands, on my lid. He was making it hard for me to get him off me, sitting like this. I decided to disobey orders, and move. I started to trail his spine with my index finger, guaranteed to make Ducky squirm.
"Jethro…" Ducky giggled. "Wait… it's not your turn yet."
"But… I …"
"You need to come first, before I let you take your turn."
"That's not hard." I panted.
"No, but your penis is." Ducky deadpanned.
I groaned and fell back on the pillows, removing my hand from his back. This was followed by a gentle squeeze in my cock by Ducky, which was followed by Ducky's finger tips circling the head. "Come." Ducky nearly sung. "You know you want to."
Release followed quickly, I came over his hands, and over my legs, and the bed was probably a mess too, but I didn't care. We never cared about that, for that there were long, nice showers (or a bath) and the washing machine. Ducky got off me, and sat down on his hands and knees, with his head near my ears. "I'm yours." He said with a husky voice. "Come… and take me…" he whispered.
For a man of Ducky's age, he still had a lot of stamina, which made me feel like the luckiest guy on earth, though I needed to catch my breath. Since Ducky was in his "taunting boy" mood, he couldn't help but commenting. "What's taking you so long? You're getting old, dear." He grinned.
"I am." I replied with a husky voice and looked up to Ducky. He was ready. He was looking at me with passion and fire in his eyes, and I was concerned about him falling off the bed if I didn't support him. I kissed him for a moment, before I got up and spoil him. "You're beautiful."
"I'm old." Ducky stated.
"You're gorgeous." I sat up and kissed him in his neck before I got up completely. "I love every bit of you."
"Jethro…"
"It's the truth." I said firmly and fondled his penis, which immediately responded to my touch. "Ah…" I grinned.
"Jethro." Ducky said determined.
"Look at that, what a beauty."
"Jethro." Ducky groaned.
I moved myself underneath him, and started to suck his penis. I made sure he wouldn't fall off the bed by holding him. And Ducky came, just like that. Half of it stayed in my mouth, the other half was dripping off my face, but I was having a blast. "Dear God… Jethro." Ducky squeaked. I had to stabilize him, otherwise he'd have fallen on top of my face, which was kind of hilarious.
We stayed in bed for most of the Sunday afternoon, and ordered some Chinese take out as we both didn't want to cook.
The next day, when Ducky was taking his afternoon nap, the front door bell rang. It was actually quite puzzling, because it'd never rung before. I put my coffee on the table and walked to the front door to open it.
"Hey boss." DiNozzo grinned. "How are you?"
"Tony?" I reacted puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
"McGee and I came to check up on you." DiNozzo pulled McGee, who was standing away from the door, towards him.
"Hey boss." McGee smiled.
"Hey." I said even more surprised. "Come in, I've made fresh coffee, but be quiet, Ducky is asleep."
We talked for a while, DiNozzo informed me about how everyone was doing, and pointed at the bag. "Abby said that Bert needed a good home."
"Bert?"
"The farting hippo."
"Oh!" I laughed. "Great, Ducky will love that."
"How is he doing?"
"Oh… he's doing fine." I smiled. "He's getting older, but other than that, he's still Ducky."
"Do you think you can leave him alone for a day?" DiNozzo asked worried.
"Of course, why?"
"We eh… need your help." McGee replied.
"I'm retired."
"That's why."
"What?"
"Boss, we're stuck on a case." DiNozzo said. "We need your help."
I sighed and told him to tell me what was going on. Apparently, one of their suspects in a burglary case had escaped and they had traced him back to Seattle. It wasn't a normal suspect, the girl in question seemed to have some sort of superpowers or she was on steroids, Abby wasn't sure about that. She was super strong, and super fast. DiNozzo and McGee wondered if I could do some asking around, as two strangers attracted too much attention nowadays. They knew that the girl was called Max and that she was a messenger for Jam Pony, but she hadn't been there for days now, and that was all they knew.
"Fine. I'll see what I can do. You two boys need a place to crash?"
"We're staying in a hotel, boss." McGee replied.
"Can't be such a good hotel… Jen doesn't like high bills."
"Roaches." DiNozzo nodded.
"Rats." McGee added.
"Ducky and I have a spare room. If you two don't mind sharing a room, you can stay here."
"Thanks boss, but that's…"
I bend towards DiNozzo and head slapped him. "You're staying."
"Yes boss." DiNozzo smiled widely. "I missed that."
Ducky was thrilled when he had woken up from his nap. He loved to see "Anthony and Timothy" as he called them and he fired a lot of questions at them, which was entertaining to see, and DiNozzo and McGee dutifully answered every single question, as they didn't mind. Ducky loved it that they came to me for help on a case. He was getting excited and rambled on about old cases and remembered embarrassing things, like McGee's Poison Ivy problem many years ago.
After dinner, I planted Ducky in front of the TV in his favourite chair with a glass of bourbon and some snacks to watch re-runs of Jeopardy while I took DiNozzo and McGee into the dining room so they could fill me in about the whole case with more debt to it. I told them if it was such a big case, then it was odd that Eyes Only didn't talk about it. Eyes Only was a TV broadcast or a hack as he called it and made the citizens of Seattle aware of corrupt people and criminals in the hope that they'd stand up against the establishment. DiNozzo joked that maybe Eyes Only was the brain of a large group of terrorists and he wouldn't be surprised if Eyes Only was behind the whole EM pulse in the first place. I remembered that Eyes Only didn't broadcast for about a year and a half a few years ago. And when he did, the first thing he said that his equipment had been destroyed by criminals and he had to start all over again. Ever since then, Eyes Only's broadcasts had been about the rights for so called "transgenics" most of the time. Ducky believed that there could be no such thing as transgenics, as it took a lot of work and effort and research into messing with DNA and all that complicated doctor stuff I didn't know about. And if there were transgenics in Seattle, we hadn't noticed them anyway. If there were transgenics, there must have been a huge think tank of scientists somewhere. There were rumours that a company called Manticore was behind transgenics, but no one found proof of the existence of that company, not real proof anyway. There had been a company called Manticore but it had been burned down to the ground. So maybe everyone, including the hero Eyes Only were chasing ghosts.
The next day, I went to the messenger service Jam Pony and talk to the boss about his missing employee. But that wasn't easy. The boss, Normal, didn't say a word about this Max in the first place and threatening him didn't work out either. When I told him that I was related to Max, as that usually helped, Normal laughed out loud and walked off, muttering something like "She doesn't have normal relatives, you freak.". It left me nowhere. Then the next best thing to do was to think of places where criminals would hide out if they didn't want to be found. I didn't want to talk to the authorities, simply because they wouldn't understand why a retired NCIS agent would investigate a crime that was committed in Washington D.C. And then it hit me; Terminal City was once an industrial place before the pulse, or so I was told and it had been abandoned for several years now because it would be polluted. A few years back there was something on TV about Terminal City, showing that rumours about transgenics would be true. I didn't believe it, nor did Ducky. People were upset and afraid about other people with supernatural powers or whatever and Ducky said it was mass-hysteria at the time. "Even if they exist, dear Jethro, then I don't understand why people are so afraid of them when they haven't even met them. They're afraid of ghosts." Ducky had said. And it was all true. People were easily afraid of things they didn't know or understand. When the pulse happened, the whole nation was sucked into a depressive spiral. Teenagers committed suicide because they couldn't go on the internet anymore, adults were raiding supermarkets for food, and were freaking out because they couldn't do their job anymore. There were a few plane crashes that day, and a lot of people died, and America had been upset. We, as a nation, were slowly crawling out of that dark hole.
I decided to check out Terminal City for myself. From the outside, it did look abandoned. There were fences set up, holes were cut in those fences, it was polluted by trash, looked deserted and I expected tumbleweed. But it wasn't deserted. There was a flag up. A white bird with black and red on it.
"Yo, can I help you old man?" a girl's voice sounded.
Startled, I turn around and face a girl, or a young woman, long brown hair neatly put in a ribbon, wearing leather clothes. In my teens, this would have turned me on and I'd have taken her right at the spot. But I don't have that feeling of sensation anymore, though I could do it to Ducky any place, any where, any time.
"Nope." I smiled. "Just looking."
"What are you looking for?" she took a step closer to me, looking up to me.
"I have been living here for a long time now… but I've never seen this." I pointed at Terminal City.
"Ah."
"But then again, you know why I'm here, don't you?" I suddenly realised.
"Excuse me?"
"You're Max."
"What are you? A cop or something?"
"Retired."
"That says it all…"
"Look, I mean you no harm. If my friends are telling the truth, you could easily kick my ass."
"What are they saying about me?" Max replied, in full defensive mode.
"That you can run like the wind."
Max snorted. "Funny."
"Come to my place tonight. Take a friend with you. We'll have dinner and we'll talk. I'm just an old geezer, living with an even older geezer, we won't hurt you."
"You're…"
"gay."
"Right…"
I gave her my address. "Just talk." I emphasized. Don't really understanding why I'd invite her over at my house, but I some how knew she wasn't going to talk anyway when she wasn't comfortable.
"Do you have beer?"
"Heineken."
"Heineken?!" she exclaimed surprised. "I'll be there." She replied cool. "Gotta blaze." She walked off and I shrugged when I got back in to my car. This would become a very interesting evening. I didn't go home immediately. I decided to stop by at the library and read up on those so-called transgenics. They had been in the news many years ago, I knew that. Ducky said that it wasn't possible to make super humans, or not yet anyway, so I believed him and then we just didn't watch the news anymore. I found some papers of 2020 about Terminal City, about transgenics and a company called Mantecore. I decided to call an old friend of mine, maybe she could shed some light on the whole situation.
"What?!" DiNozzo blurted. "She's coming here?"
"This is my home DiNozzo." I shot at him. "Besides, she doesn't look like she's capable of doing things you said."
"I've seen it on security footage, boss. The girl is fast, strong and dangerous."
"But I think she's also reasonable."
"Boss!" DiNozzo exclaimed.
"Now now, Anthony…" Ducky interrupted. "Jethro may be retired, but he still knows what he's doing. No one can read people like he does."
"Besides, Jenny said that a few years back, people were setting these super humans in a bad light, making the citizens afraid of people different from themselves. Eyes Only had sent footage of something to the agencies that didn't get corrupted."
"Jenny?!" Ducky, DiNozzo and McGee exclaimed.
"Hey, give me a break. I'm getting old. I need the info too."
"But dearest, there is no possibility that there are super humans." Ducky started. "If this is true, people must have started to experiment with DNA enhancement in the 1990s to get this result."
"Maybe they have Duck, and that they learned by trial and error."
"Boss, I didn't know you believed in this stuff." DiNozzo said.
"I don't. But Jenny had some convincing information. And she explained it in normal English." And then I started to tell them what Jenny had told me.
"Okay dearest…"
"Sure boss, if you'd like to give it a try to let her tell the truth… according to what you've just told, no prison can hold her." DiNozzo said.
"Good. Now Duck, will you make your famous pasta?" I looked at my lover, who seemed to look absent minded. "Duck?"
"Yes?"
"Pasta?"
"What?"
"Will you make pasta?"
"Can't mother make it, Jethro?"
"Duck."
"What?"
"Will you make pasta?"
"Stop asking me that, Jethro. Mother can make it. Now… I have to go to work." Ducky walked to the coat rack. I let him put on his coat and put his hat on his head.
I pointed a finger at DiNozzo and McGee as Ducky walked out. "I'll be right back." I grabbed my coat and walked after Ducky. "Hey Duck, I'll walk you."
We walked our usual round in the near by park and then Ducky returned home. "Ah, here I am." Ducky smiled and hung up his coat and hat again. "Right… I now shall make pasta for our guests, dearest." Ducky gave me a peck on my cheek and turned to DiNozzo and McGee. "I am truly sorry, Anthony and Timothy. My mind wanders off sometimes."
"That's okay Ducky." They chorused.
"Now, settle yourself on the couch, Jethro will give you something to drink." Ducky smiled as he walked into the kitchen.
Around 7 pm the doorbell rang and I went to open it. Max was there, with a guest. "Hope you don't mind, I brought my friend along." She said.
"That's fine." I replied. "I told you you could." I was amazed by how her friend looked a lot like Tony. "I'm…"
"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Ex-NCIS agent, ex-marine." Max summed up. "I let Logan here do a background check."
"Ah." I nodded. "Come in."
I closed the door behind them and lead them to the living room where DiNozzo and McGee were. DiNozzo was already checking out the girl. "Wow." He practically drooled.
"DiNozzo!" I barked and slapped his head.
"Ouch."
"These are my friends, Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee. Hope you don't mind they're here."
"It's cool." She replied. "I'm Max." Max spoke to DiNozzo and McGee. "This is Logan."
"Hi." Logan smiled. "I have to admit, I know of doppelgangers, but this is spooky."
"You think?!" DiNozzo exclaimed.
"Jethro dear…" Ducky walked in and saw our guests. "Oh." He smiled. "Hello, I'm Donald Mallard. Now, tell me Anthony, why are there two of you?"
"I'm Logan Cale, sir."
When they were having dinner, Max spoke up. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"It seems like you've been stealing some sensitive information from the NCIS headquarters in Washington D.C." I answered calm. "They know that they can't put you in prison because you'd be out of there in a blink, but I want to know why."
"I asked her to do it." Logan said. "I'm one of the few non-transgenic people living in Terminal City, we can live together without killing each other, and I needed the information because of my cable hack."
"Your what?"
"Eyes Only." Max said.
"That's me."
"Really?" Ducky exclaimed.
"Yes."
"Good for you, lad." Ducky smiled. "You do good work."
"Thanks. I'm now trying to get more rights for transgenic people through my hack, and those files are an important step to achieving that goal."
"We're not dangerous, and it's time that people accepted us." Max said.
"It's discrimination."
"I agree to that." I replied. "Truth be told, I'm not one that easily beliefs things that go beyond my head."
"I could arm wrestle you and win." Max smiled.
"We'd like those files back."
"I promise you you will." Logan replied. "When I'm through with it."
"The next time, just ask." DiNozzo said. "We like to know where our stuff is."
"So, I'll do you a solid…what's your end?" Max asked.
"Well, I'm not going to put you behind bars?" DiNozzo replied.
"You can't take me."
"Ehm… I'll speak to the director and ask her to help you in any way she can?"
"Really?" Logan reacted surprised.
"Discrimination gets on his nerves." McGee replied.
The rest of the dinner wasn't unusual. Max was filling us in on Terminal City and her relationship with Logan. It was an unusual relationship, she told us about the virus she had that was deadly to Logan but now fortunately had cured. She told us that she was pregnant with him and that it would be the first baby born out of a transgenic and a non-transgenic as far as they knew. Ducky already offered to help where he could. Ducky was taken by the girl, and Max seemed to adore Ducky. That was my Duck… Women seemed to like him instantly, no matter how old he was. However, Duck kept mistaking Logan for DiNozzo, which was a mistake we could all make, but they were different. Logan had intelligence. DiNozzo… was immature and not so intelligent, even though he was older than Logan. DiNozzo was intelligent enough to lead his team but that's it.
The next day, Ducky wanted to go to Washington D.C. for a few days to catch up with old friends and co-workers, and I didn't mind. Seeing DiNozzo and McGee made me want to see my Abs and buy her as much caf-pow as she wanted. Ducky wanted to make sure that Jimmy was doing his best, and he wanted to inspect Autopsy. Ducky had always kept it clean, even though he had done a lot of autopsies in there. Jimmy wasn't a clean person, according to Ducky. So we went. And we had a great time.
And indeed, a few months later we received word from DiNozzo that the files were returned, correctly and as a whole. Nothing was missing. In return, NCIS had sent some groceries and clothes, which was needed in Terminal City and well received.
Max and Logan often came to our place to have dinner and had become good friends of ours.
Story Notes:
Crossover with Dark Angel.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs and Ducky have retired to Seattle when an old friend needs Gibbs’ help.
Chapter End Notes:
Crossover with Dark Angel.