Chapter 3: Back to Annapolis
Once back in the car, DiNozzo and McGee were silent until DiNozzo turned to check on McGee. Tim was not a chatterbox at any time, but since they'd realized the case involved abortion, he'd turned into a sphinx.
"What're you thinking?" DiNozzo asked him.
"I'm just not very comfortable," Tim replied.
"Comfortable with what?" DiNozzo pressed.
"Abortion," said Tim.
"You have some scruples?"
"Yeah, well, it's pretty much murder, isn't it? You're killing a human being, only it's way earlier in their life."
Tony didn't say anything at first. Then he reached out to squeeze Tim's shoulder.
"I've thought about it some," Tony admitted. "I've had my problems coming to terms with it myself."
"And how do you feel about it now?" asked Tim.
"I think it's a necessary evil. Things happen. We have hormones, and sometimes they're so strong we can't help ourselves, we just give in and do what the hormones tell us to do, whether it's right or wrong.
We have sex. And in our society we're not supposed to have sex unless we want kids. Most reasonable people agree abstinence from sex is best if you don't want kids, but the hormones don't know that.
"And once a woman is pregnant, there are three things she can do. She can continue the pregnancy and deal with having a kid she may not necessarily want or be able to take care of. She can keep the kid or give it up for adoption. Or she can end the pregnancy."
Tim sighed. "Don't you think adopting a kid out if you don't want it would be best?"
"Tim, remember what you said this morning? You've never had to face a pregnancy because you're not a woman. In my opinion, you're entitled to *your* opinion, but in the end you're not the person who gets to make the decision."
Tim's lower lip protruded slightly as he thought about that. "Well, maybe," he conceded, "but I still think abortion is wrong."
Tony answered, "Well, like I said, you're entitled. But is that going to affect your performance on this case?"
"No," Tim responded firmly, "no, not at all. Someone has died at someone else's hand, and we need to find out who the doer was, regardless of the circumstances, because that's our job."
"Good man," Tony said, reaching out again to squeeze Tim's shoulder.
Silence fell over them once more and continued for the remainder of the drive.
At the Rack, they had barely entered when Jamie the bartender jerked a thumb in the direction of a table at which sat several young men. "Josh Wills is the one in the white t shirt," he told DiNozzo.
DiNozzo looked, then turned back to Jamie. "Is that a beer in front of him?" he asked.
Even in the dim light of the bar, the two agents could see Jamie's blush.
"Tell you what," DiNozzo told him, "I'm not here to bust you for serving minors, but don't be surprised if someone else shows up to do that. In the meantime, thanks for calling."
The two agents turned and began walking toward the table, while Jamie nodded with a miserable expression on his face. As the agents approached the table, its occupants looked up with varying expressions on their faces.
"Josh?" queried DiNozzo.
For a long moment there was no response. Suddenly one of the young men jumped out of his chair, apparently trying to escape. Unfortunately, his feet became tangled in the legs of the chair, and he stumbled and would have fallen had not DiNozzo grabbed his shirt and held him up.
"What's your rush?" DiNozzo said with his nose almost touching the young man's.
DiNozzo set him on his feet while the young Wills looked back and forth from agent to agent with frantic eyes. Young Wills, no longer in uniform and dressed in hip-hop shorts and a baggy t-shirt, with a cap turned backward on his head, was considerably taller and thinner than his father. He stood with slumped shoulders very much at odds with the military cut of his very blond hair, and his face showed the effects of fairly severe acne in the recent past.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
DiNozzo unhanded him in order to pull out his badge and ID. "Special agents DiNozzo and McGee from NCIS."
"I didn't do anything," Wills said.
One of DiNozzo's eyebrows went up. "Now did I say anything about you doing something? We just want to talk to you about something."
"What?" asked Wills.
"Prissy Newman," McGee told him.
Wills repeated himself, "I didn't do anything."
"Then you won't mind coming with us over to Washington to talk about what you didn't do," DiNozzo suggested.
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not now," replied McGee, "but if you don't want to come with us voluntarily, then we will arrest you."
Wills shrugged and held out his hands in appeal to his companions. They had been watching the exchange warily without saying anything. Their only reply to him was to shrug their own shoulders and look away. Finding no support, he sighed and gave up.
As McGee escorted the young Wills into the car, DiNozzo called Gibbs. "We've got Josh Wills in custody, and we're bringing him back for questioning. Do you want us to stop by and pick up his dad, too?"
"No," Gibbs said, "we don't want them together so they can cook up some story. Ziva and I will pick up Joe."
On the way back to NCIS headquarters, Tony snapped on the radio. From time to time, he slapped the steering wheel in rhythm with the tunes. Josh Wills sat in misery in the back seat, staring out the window at the passing scenery, not aware that Tony was keeping him under close observation in the rearview mirror.
In the meantime, Gibbs and Ziva were paying a visit to Joe Wills, who had finished mowing his lawn and was sitting in a lawn chair with a cooler next to him. He held a tall can of beer in one hand as he surveyed his handiwork.
"Well, hello, again, pretty lady," he said to Ziva. "Where's your other pal?"
"He's questioning your son about the events of last night," Gibbs replied.
"And who the hell are you?" Wills demanded.
"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS, and we're here to arrest you on suspicion of murder."
Wills attempted to jump out of his chair but was prevented from doing so because his hips were too wide. He started yelling. "You can't do that. I don't know nuthin' about no murder, and I don't know no girl that's been murdered, and you can't prove I do."
Once he had gained his feet, Ziva stepped behind him to cuff him, which set him off again. "You can't do this to me. I got my rights. I wanna a lawyer. Goddamn, get these cuffs offa me."
At Gibbs' nod, Ziva calmly read him his rights and frog-marched him to the car, while he kept up his rant, full of invective and curses.
He continued to yell at them throughout their journey back to NCIS headquarters. The agents found themselves wishing they had a police squad car with a window closing off the back seat from the front.
At one point Gibbs could stand it no longer, telling Wills to pipe down. The glare that Gibbs shot him over the back of the seat shut him up for a couple of minutes, but it wasn't long before he began again.
Ziva looked at Gibbs. "I can…." She said. Gibbs nodded. She turned around to look at Wills. "If you don't shut up right now, I'll make you."
"Yeah, and how're you gonna do that, bitch?" Wills challenged her.
In answer, she reached across to find the right spot on the side of his neck, applied a little pressure, and, finally, he was quiet.
"Thank you," Gibbs told her in a fervent whisper.
When DiNozzo and McGee had arrived at NCIS with the younger Wills, McGee had taken him to an interrogation room. They found that Gibbs had left a message for them not to begin interrogating Josh until he and Ziva returned with Josh's father. McGee watched him from the observation room while Tony returned to the morgue to see if Dr. Mallard had any further findings from his autopsy of Prissy Newman's body. As there was nothing new, Tony checked into the lab. Abby had nothing new either; she was waiting for Josh Wills' DNA sample.
Tony lingered a while watching Abby work. She looked up at him, saying "What?"
The two were long-time friends, but Tony wasn't sure if she would be willing to answer the question he had for her; it was personal. Taking a deep "now or never" breath, he said, "Abs, do you use birth control?"
"Is this some kind of back-handed proposition?" she answered, cocking her head and propping her hands on her hips. "Are you saying that you're finally going to break down and ravish me on the spot? Or do you want to make a baby with me?"
He had to laugh, but shook his head. "I dunno," he told her. "It just seems like, if you're having sex, you should be using some kind of protection."
"What makes you think I'm having sex?" she retorted.
"Well, if you were…" he stammered.
She stepped toward him, taking his face in both of her hands. "What's wrong?"
"Tim is pretty much against abortion, and I…well…I'm not sure how I feel about it."
Abby looked intently at Tony, thinking of how to respond. "Tony, I think everybody is against abortion, even people who are pro-choice. It would be better if there were never any need for it, but things happen. Sometimes, people do want to have children, but it's not a good time. Sometimes people are really making an effort and using birth control. And sometimes people do stupid things. And, ya know, there really is only one effective means of birth control—but things happen."
"Yeah, that's sort of what I told Tim."
"Okay," she said, "fair enough. To answer your question, yes, I've used two or three different kinds of birth control through the years, but if I did become pregnant anyway, and thought I needed to, I would not hesitate to have an abortion." She looked into his eyes. "So sue me."
"Nah, no need for that," he answered, turning to go. He turned back to her for a moment. "That bit about me ravishing you, though," he said with a grin. "Hold that thought and take your pills."
"Tony!" she exclaimed as the door closed behind him.
Chapter End Notes:
!!!WARNING!!! The subject of this story is very controversial, and some readers may be uncomfortable with it. Remember--I'm not forcing you to read it.