Chapter 22
"Alessandra, what are you doing here? You should be at home."
"I'm sorry I-" a big, bald security guard grabbed Tony's shoulder.
"You'll have to leave sir."
"But I wasn't doing anything wrong," Tony stuttered. Great, he thought. He sounded like McGee.
"Just back off Antonio, he's with me."
"Ok, but if he gives you any trouble…" he turned to Tony "then he is out. Are we clear?"
"Crystal. Now if you could just leave us alone for a sec," the guard snorted and walked off.
"Nice guy."
"You're kidding right," Alessandra stated sarcastically.
"Alessandra, you shouldn't have come here. You could have been kidnapped, or worse, killed."
"I can look after myself, and I have to get back to work," Alessandra went to walk away, but Tony stepped in front of her.
"I can't let you do this. I have to look after you so nothing bad happens. When you work in a place like this, then that is not that unlikely."
"It can't be that bad here. You're here."
"I told you I was going to a bachelor party. Why would you even work in a place like this? You could be a model, an actress, a singer."
"A singer?"
"I've heard you sing around work, in Abby's lab, and you're good. Alessandra, you could be anything you want. But instead you work here."
"Do you think I'm happy about it?" Alessandra cried "I have no money. I've lost contact with my family, and I was too embarrassed to ask anyone for money. Jason was away in Iraq, what was I supposed to do?"
"Alessandra, there are better ways to make money."
"I really need to get back to work, they could fire me," she tried to get away again, but Tony stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulder.
"I can't let you."
"Why, because it's your job to make sure I don't get hurt?" She looked him in the eyes. He looked sincere.
"No, because I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you. Honest." He kissed her on the forehead to assure her everything was alright and that he meant what he said. He wiped the tears from her face. "Just promise me that you won't do anything like this again. When it is all over, we can find you another job."
"On one condition."
"You name it."
"You will find out who is after me and stop them."
"That's fair." She hugged him
"I'm so sorry, Tony." He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.
"Everything will be fine. Put this on," he handed her his coat.
"Thanks" she put it on. It was big, but it covered her up.
"Now, I'll take you home. I think we can still catch some of that South Park marathon if we hurry." She laughed.
"That would be great."
"I just need to say goodbye to all the guys. We can call here tomorrow and tell them that you quit." She nodded.
"Woooo! Look who Tony's got for our own little private dance." They all cheered.
"Cool it guys. I'm taking her home." He realized that was the wrong thing to say.
"Ooh, you lucky bastard." Alessandra giggled
"I didn't mean it like that. She is-" he almost forgot he couldn't mention the case, even to a load of drunks. "She is my girlfriend." they all clapped and cheered. "I'd better get her home. Congratulations on everything Phil," Phil slurred something to Tony, but he couldn't make out a single word. "Yeah, you too," he guessed.
"You understood that?" Alessandra whispered.
"No, not really. Now let's get you home."
"About time," she joked.
Chapter 23
"Alessandra, hurry up! I'll be late for work!"
"Can you wait, maybe 5 more minutes?" Alessandra asked. She was frantically looking around the little room they spent the previous night in.
"What's wrong?" Alessandra stopped looking for a second.
"I can't find Kenny. I looked everywhere. I left him right here before I left last night. I don't remember if I saw him when we came in or not."
"Are you sure you didn't leave him with Kate, or in Abby's lab?"
"I don't think so."
"Alessandra," he wasn't sure he should ask about why Kenny was so special to her or just let it go. He thought he knew, based on what Kate told him, but it wasn't the same as being told by her. "Do you mind if I ask why Kenny is so special?" Alessandra swallowed.
"I have a twin sister. Her name was Kendra."
"Was?" asked Tony. He knew what she was going to say.
"She went missing when I, we, were 13, 3 weeks after our 13th birthday. We loved South Park, especially Kenny. I was always jealous of Kendra because her name resembled his. Her nickname was Kenny, so for our 13th birthday, she got Kenny, and I got a soft cat toy because my nickname was Catty"
"Catty?"
"I know" she laughed "No resemblance. But I didn't like being called Alice."
"I'll pretend that makes sense. Have you heard anything from Kendra?"
"No. The day she went missing, I didn't think much of it. We were close, but I loved her Kenny toy, so I took it. I told Kate that it was mine and I got the last one in stock, because I felt a little guilty that I had taken it. After about 3 days, I really started to worry. I started taking Kenny everywhere, like Kendra used to. I started to think, if I took him everywhere, that maybe, she would stay alive. I know that's impossible. I'm sorry, you probably think all this is stupid." That was a completely different story to the one that Kate had told him. He wondered how she would react if she found out he knew the real side, and she knew a made-up side Alessandra had used as a cover up.
"It's not stupid. He means a lot to you so we'll find him."
"I can't make you late to work though, so I'll look after work."
"Hey, Kate. Did I leave Kenny with you?"
"Sorry Alessandra. Why, did you lose him?" Alessandra nodded. Kate gave her a hug. "We will find Kendra. Whoever is doing all this to you might be the same people who took her."
"I'm not sure to hope that they are or aren't." She had a point. It had been seven years since Kendra went missing. Alessandra didn't even know how Kendra was taken, no-one would tell her.
"When we are done with this case, I'll see if we can get Gibbs to allow us to see her file." Gibbs walked in. "I'll ask him now, actually, today might not be a good day" he was carrying two cups of coffee.
"I think I know what we are doing today," Tony told himself
"And what would that be," asked McGee.
"Today is interrogation day. Watch out Alessandra, he can get nasty in there," Kate shot Tony a hate glare.
"Relax. It's nothing to worry about. You have nothing to hide." She looked at Tony. She didn't know what Kate would do when she found out where she worked.
Chapter 24
"So, why are you down here again?" Abby asked Alessandra.
"I'm looking for Kenny, and I think Gibbs is interrogating Natasha and Annette."
"I haven't seen Kenny since you took him home yesterday, I swear. Natasha and Annette, are they the redhead and the blonde who were here the other day?"
"That's right," Alessandra nodded.
"So you're not allowed to see them."
"Not until after the interrogation. I didn't even know they were here until they were in the rooms."
"Ok" Abby looked at Alessandra. It was obvious about how she missed Kendra.
"Alice," she looked up at Abby. "Kate told me about Kendra." Alessandra sighed.
"Kendra was my best friend, and Kenny was the only thing of meaning that didn't go missing with her."
"I'm so sorry," Abby said as she gave Alessandra a hug. Alessandra let out a bit of a forced laugh.
"That's the second time I've heard that today."
"So you've told Tony?"
"Yes."
"So you know that you made it so Kate and Tony don't talk to each other anymore?"
"I did what?"
"Kate saw you and Tony, at the party and the pictures."
"Oh crap, what have I done?"
"It's not your fault. It's Tony's. At least, according to Kate."
"You don't think it's my fault, do you?"
"Oh, of course not. In the few days I've known you I'd never think that you would do something like that" Alessandra held Bert up to Abby like she was going to throw him. "No, don't throw Bert!"
"I wasn't gonna."
"Ok, fine. I don't think it was your fault. Honest."
"I believe that. Why would Kate be so mad in the first place? Were her and Tony-" Abby knew Kate would kill her if she told.
"No, they weren't. Kate is just worried about how Tony will treat you. He does have a bad reputation when it comes to commitment."
"Oh," Alessandra seemed disappointed. Abby didn't mean to upset her.
"No, don't worry. It's never too late for him to change."
"That's good." Alessandra seemed a bit happier now.
Kate and Tony looked through the one way mirror into interrogation room 2, where Gibbs was interrogating Natasha. He had just done with Annette in room 1, and now she was flirting like mad with McGee who was in there with her. McGee wasn't used to this sort of attention - other than with Abby - and he enjoyed it.
"If you know I didn't do anything wrong, then why am I here? You do believe me when I said I would never hurt Alessandra, didn't you?" Natasha asked Gibbs.
"I believed you. And your alibi checked out. We just need to know what kind of person Alessandra was, and if there was anyone who would want her dead"
"No-one would want her dead. She didn't have many enemies."
"Not many. That means she still had some."
"There were a few girls who didn't like her in school, but they wouldn't want her dead"
"I'll need names."
"Ok. There was a girl in the year below us. Her name was Hallie-" but before she could finish an alarm went off. "What's that?" Natasha asked in a panic as the alarm got louder.
"We need to get out of here. You need to stay with me."
Natasha followed Gibbs as he went to round up all the agents.
"You must remain in pairs. Do not lose sight of your partner," he told each of them. Gibbs paired up with Natasha, Annette with McGee, so that left Kate with Tony. When they got to the bullpen, they stopped. "Everyone wait here while I go and get Abby and Alessandra." And Gibbs ran down the stairs, as the elevator was not allowed to be used in an emergency.
"What is going on?" Annette asked, hoping someone might have a faint clue.
"Either something has caught fire, there is a viral contamination in Autopsy or the Lab, there is someone in the building who shouldn't be here or a bomb threat. It could be anything." Tony told everyone.
"Has this happened before?"
"Once, before Kate and McGee joined up. It was a false alarm though. Some homeless guy came in because he was hungry or something."
"Let's just hope that's the case this time," Kate said, to no-one in particular.
"What is going on Abby?" Gibbs asked when he found her and Alessandra outside the Lab shaking.
"We don't really know. One minute, we were just talking, and the next, BAM" Abby shouted. "Something flies in through the window" She slowed her voice down and softened her tone a bit. "Then we got a message that said 'you have 30 minutes'. Then the alarm went off. I'm worried that there might be a bomb in NCIS headquarters"
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