“Abby,” Gibbs paused on entrance to her lab, stopping and taking in the sight of her typing agitatedly on a computer while Spike was laughing so hard he was having trouble breathing, and considering he didn’t breathe that told you how hard he was laughing. “What are you two doing?”
“Ugh!” Abby groaned, slapping the keyboard. “There is no reason why he,” She paused, glaring at Spike playfully. “Should be alive.”
“Well he is.” Gibbs stated simply, ignoring Spike who recovered from his laughing fit enough to smirk at him.
“I’ve run blood test's, EEG’s, ECG’s, DNA tests, everything,” Abby slapped her keyboard again before muttering something and stroking it like a beloved pet. “He shouldn’t be alive.”
“I’m not.” Spike agreed with her with a grin.
“Not helping!” She yelled at him. “He has brain activity, but no heart beat or pulse, his blood test showed nothing abnormal, unless you could three different blood types,”
Gibbs raises his eyebrow at this, turning to Spike for an explanation. “I was hungry and Doc didn’t ‘ave any AB, so he gave me a packet of O and B pos.”
“Which matches up precisely to what’s in his veins,” Abby stood up, moving to Gibbs and thrusting a pile of papers into his chest, snatching the large Caf-Pow drink off of him and taking a long slurp through the straw. “Vampire’s are cool, but I can’t document him as anything, as far as I can tell, he’s a corpse with brain activity, only slightly higher than the rest of us.”
“You should meet Red,” Spike grinned at the thought of Abby and Red sharing a lab for a while, the sorts of things they could get up to, then his brain got side tracked on the sort of things they could get up to and his grin grew larger.
“Whatever,” Gibbs ignored the papers putting them down on Abby’s desk. “Do we have anything new on the case?”
“Nada,” Abby replied. “I double checked all the last tests I ran to make sure everything was right, it was.”
“Never doubted you.” Gibbs smiled, bending over and kissing her lightly on the forehead before moving out of the room and heading down to interrogation.
“Wot was that then?” Spike grinned at her. “Little fling with the older man?”
“At least he’s younger than you,” Abby stuck her tongue out at him. “And alive, bonus points there.”
“So I was right,” Spike’s grin got larger. “Bit of office romance going on in the team, what about nancy boy? He shacking up with anyone? Or the bit?”
“Tony?” Abby asked, raising her eyebrow at the affectionate nickname Spike had saddled him with. “And Kate?” She snorted in laughter. “Tony goes through more women then I can count, Kate’s not interested in him, speaking of, do vampires have relationships? Can you even have sex?”
“Yes and a definite yes,” Spike smirked at her. “Wanna go for a test drive?”
She just smirked back. “I’d break you little boy,” She grinned at him as he laughed. “But you do have sex, without blood pressure?”
“Heart’s just another muscle luv,” Spike started tapping on his chest with his palm, emulating a heartbeat. “I can make in work if I need it.”
“So you have finer control over your internal muscles, interesting,” Abby went back into scientist mode, the earlier flirting forgotten. “Control over your lungs and heart at will.”
“Yup,” Spike grinned, never really having thought about it before, he’d been able to do it for as long as he could remember, he paused, most vampires could, couldn’t they? He actually didn’t know, Angel never showed signs of breathing or having a heart beat, or eating normal food. He guessed he could do the heart beat thing or he wouldn’t have been able to have sex with Buffy, but the rest he was just guessing at. He was broken out of his musings when the telephone rang, Abby immediately hit the speaker phone and the Doc’s voice came over it clearly.
“Abby, is Agent Spike still with you?” Ducky’s tinny voice came over the speaker phone distorted.
“Sure thing Ducky,” Abby grinned. “You want to perform an autopsy on him? Can I help? I’d love to get a look at his heart and lungs, see how the...”
“No one’s performing a bloody autopsy on me luv.” Spike grinned. “What’s up Doc?”
“Ahh Spike,” Ducky’s voice came back. “I wonder if I could have a moment with you in autopsy, I have a few ideas about your eating habits and hoped you may be able to clarify a few things.”
“Sure thing Doc,” Spike smiled, moving over and taking a long slurp of Abby’s Caf-Pow before grinning at her. “Be right down.” He moved off before even getting a reply from the speaker phone and was out of the lab before Abby could say anything.
“He’s on his way ducky,” Abby explained to the speaker phone before hanging up and moving back to her tests on Spike, there had to be a scientific reason for him to be alive, maybe a parasite of some sort was exchanged with the blood, that could explain how vampires made other vampires, but it didn’t explain the sun allergy that they all had, or the drinking blood, or the reflection issues, that was the one that was driving her mad. “There has to be a reason, forensics hasn’t let me down yet!” She grinned resolvedly at the computer before jotting down another battery of tests to run on Spike next time he wandered in.
=/^=
“What’s up?” Spike asked as he made his way into the autopsy room where Ducky was frequently found. He was performing an autopsy on what looked like a car crash victim laid out on the silver table in front of him.
“Ahh good,” Ducky smiled, putting the tools he was working with down. “I wanted to speak to you about blood.”
“It’s always about blood,” Spike quipped of the line, smiling about how true the statement was. It had been true six years ago, it was still true now. “Wot about it?”
“Well instead of you working through our transplant supplies, I had a rather ingenious thought,” Ducky smiled at him, fetching a mug from the side and squeezing a packet of blood into it. “Smell this will you?”
Spike picked the mug up, carefully sniffing it as he watched Doc do the same thing with a different coloured mug. “B pos, human,” Spike stated, smiling when Doc nodded. “The nose never lies doc.”
“And this one,” Ducky passed over the second mug, taking the first off of Spike and placing it on the side.
“Same,” Spike sniffed the second mug again to be sure.
“The second mug contains blood to be destroyed from Bethesda hospital; they have dozens of packets every day marked for destruction because they are contaminated with Aids, viruses or are otherwise unusable.” Ducky smiled as Spike shrugged, taking a sip from the mug. “I assume then that you cannot receive or be a carrier for any viruses or illness then?”
“Nope,” Spike grinned, taking another sip from the mug. “Red’d be able to tell you why, but vampires can’t get ill.”
“Fantastic,” Ducky smiled, putting the first mug down on the side. “Ah Jethro,” Ducky paused as Agent Gibbs walked into the autopsy room. “I believe I have solved the problem of Spike’s eating habits. He is now going to serve as a destruction facility for contaminated blood from Bethesda hospital.”
Gibbs paused in his step, surprised that he hadn’t thought of that. “You can drink contaminated blood?” He asked, moving over and watching Spike carefully as he took another sip from the mug he was holding.
“Yes, he is currently drinking some blood that contains the hepatitis B strain after an officer returned from India; he assures me that it is quite safe.” Ducky smiled as he watched Gibbs pick up the first mug from the side of the table and sniffed it gently.
“And this one?” He asked carefully.
“Normal B positive blood drained from an autopsy.” Ducky supplied the answer as he watched Gibbs slowly put the mug down. “I can have a fridge fitted in your office for Spike’s personal tastes, it will have to be marked as biological hazardous material of course, but it would be a lot safer and easier to keep it up there than it would to find a space down here for it.”
“Sounds good,” Gibbs stated, turning to watch Spike finish off his mug of blood before picking up the second mug that he had just put down. “You drink that every day?”
“Yup,” Spike grinned at him, taking a large mouthful of the blood.
“We’re getting you a personalised mug,” Gibbs stated simply, turning back to Ducky.
“Yes, good idea Jethro, wouldn’t want anyone else to pick up the contaminated blood by accident.” Ducky paused, turning to Spike. “You will have to be very careful with the blood, do not let anyone else touch it and report it directly to me if anyone comes in contact with it aside from you or Agent Harris,” Ducky paused in thought. “Also if any goes missing or is tampered with in some way you will come straight to me.”
“Sure thing,” Spike agreed hastily, not wanting to throw away the opportunity of having fresh blood packets in easy reach every day. “I'll even stick a lock on the fridge; make sure no one else can get in.”
“Yes, that would be an excellent idea,” Ducky agreed. “Was there something you wanted Jethro?”
“Yes, I need Spike to help with an interrogation.” Gibbs explained smirking at Spike’s raised eyebrow. “Staff Sergeant Raphael still refuses to talk; I thought a two man team would work better.”
“Good cop bad cop?” Spike grinned.
“But who is who?” Ducky chuckled at the two as they turned to face each other, sizing each other up.
“At least I don’t look like an extra from Die Hard,” Gibbs smirked at Spike as he looked down and noticed he was just wearing black pants and a white vest, some of his blood he was drinking had dripped down his chin and onto the vest, giving it a ‘wounded in action’ look.
“Soddin’ hell,” Spike shook his head in disbelief at what he looked like. “Can I change first?”
“Change on your own time,” Gibbs stated, turning round and heading back to the elevator, Spike moving to keep up. “Interview first then we find out how Harris is doing with the gun running.”
=/^=
“Something I’ve been meaning to ask,” Gibbs stated as her got out of the elevator on the interrogation floor followed by Spike.
“Shoot,” Spike grinned as Gibbs shook his head at the vague reference to the earlier action in the day.
“Vampire’s can go out in sunlight?” He asked, obviously trying to figure out which of the vampire myths were myths, and which were facts.
“Nope,” Spike grinned. “Burns ‘em up faster than a sausage on the barbeque.”
“Then how...” Gibbs started to ask then stopped walking when Spike waved his right hand in front of his face, twirling a silver ring round his index finger with his thumb.
“Red made this for me,” Spike said, stopping to face Gibbs. “Lets me go out in sunlight, powerful magic, one of a kind.”
“And if any other vampire got hold of it?” Gibbs asked, assessing the potential misuse of the small object around Spike’s finger.
“Won’t work, Red made it only for me, any other vamp tries it on it’ll burst into flames, taking the vamp with it.” Spike nodded as Gibbs smiled; appeased that no one else could take the advantage Spike had over other vampires.
“Why do you do it?” Gibbs asked, trying to get a feel for Spike. His gut was telling him to trust Spike, that he could trust him with his life, but his brain was telling him not to trust a vampire with anything, especially his life. “The good fight as you said.”
“I like it,” Spike grinned. “Most demons want to destroy the world, take it over or whatever, I like it ‘ere, just the way it is.”
“So you fight so humans can remain in control?” Gibbs asked, trying to get a feel for the vampire’s motivations.
“Guess so,” Spike nodded. “Got a soul, that’s more than any other vamp can say, come on, interrogation time.” Spike grinned, moving forward before Gibbs could ask any other questions. Pausing for a second he called back. “It was a woman.”
Gibbs had to smirk at that one. “It always is.” He said softly smiling as he heard Spike laugh throatily.
“C’mon then, let’s crack some heads.” Spike grinned as he pushed open the interrogation room and stormed in, making a hell of an entrance.
“Wrong room Spike,” Gibbs grinned as he walked past the empty interrogation room where Spike was glaring at the empty room.
“Knew that,” Spike muttered as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him as he watched Gibbs move to the next room down the hall and walk calmly into the room. “Should have lights, or labels or sommet,” He muttered as he followed Gibbs into the interrogation room.
=/^=
“Come on, tell me something at least,” Tony asked Kate for the fourth time as they sat in the car, watching Xander and Agent Todd wait for the weapons buyers to turn up. “You sparred with him this morning, tell me how you did?”
“He’s fast, strong,” Kate grinned. “Choke holds seemed to work though.”
“Choke holds,” Tony smiled back. “Thanks.” He was training with Spike tomorrow morning and wanted to get as much information about the vampires fighting style as he could. “What about martial arts?”
“He’s good,” Kate noted, thinking back to her training session and marking how many styles she had recognised him using. “At least five, maybe six martial arts at expert level,” She paused, adding another one when she remembered the modified Aikido throw he used on her when she over lunged. “Seven,” She tried to think of there were any more that she could put names to, but he was an extremely fast fighter, blending styles quicker than she could categorise them. “Maybe more.”
“Seven martial arts at expert level?” Tony whistled. “Glad he’s on our side.”
“Same here,” Kate had to agree. “If he was fighting against us I don’t think we’d stand a chance.”
“What about Xander?” Tony asked, picking the binoculars up and taking a closer look at their target to make sure no one had approached them yet.
“No clue,” Kate said honestly. “Spike says he’s nearly as good as him, though I’m guessing he doesn’t have the speed or strength that Spike has.” She paused, wondering how she would do when she trained with him on Monday. “Eye patch is real though, I saw him show it to the staff sergeant in the gym.”
“From what I could get on his file before my computer melted,” Tony muttered something under his breath that Kate didn’t catch before continuing. “He was a slouch until second year of school, then something kicked in and he started picking up his grades and spending more time in the school gym, even tried out for a few martial arts programs at the school before he was kicked out for using unnecessary force.”
“Could have been his girlfriend?” Kate asked. “The slayer?”
“Maybe, but I got the impression that it was something else, don’t know what though.” Tony nodded, thinking back to anything else he could remember from the files he’d seen.
“Ask him, he seems pretty open about stuff.” Kate smiled as Tony shook his head.
“I don’t want to piss off anyone that could take down Spike,” Tony grinned. “Especially when they’re immortal.”
“Point,” Kate grinned at him. “What time’s the buyer supposed to show?” She glanced at her watch before taking the binoculars off Tony and checking they were both ok in the car waiting for the buyer.
“About nine,” Tony replied. “Half an hour yet.”
“What do you think of him? Personally?” Kate asked, nodding to the car where Xander and Agent Stone were waiting.
“Xander?” Tony smiled as Kate nodded. “Seems solid, boss trusts him. Abby trusts him, he’s got more clearance than god and got me and you a two hundred percent pay raise, what’s not to like?”
“You get the feeling he’s taking over?” Kate asked, carefully watching Tony’s reaction to the question.
“No,” Tony answered without a second thought. “He defers to Gibbs whenever he asks for something, and seems alright with following orders from him.”
“But you’re ok taking orders from him?” Kate asked, noting that she had found herself looking to Xander for orders when Gibbs wasn’t around.
Tony paused, thinking about this for a moment. “He’s got the same, I dunno, presence as Gibbs,” Tony smiled, shaking his head. “He’s above me and you on the food chain, I know that.” Tony smiled, putting the team in their places. “Spike seems to follow Xander’s lead, but will turn to you or me for questions or orders when needed, so I put him around the same level as us.”
“But not Xander,” Kate followed his thought trail.
“No, Xander’s definitely higher than us,” Tony smiled, more ok with that than he thought he’d be. “He’s Gibbs second, the rest of us follow both of them.”
“I agree,” Kate nodded, happy that Tony had come to the same conclusion she had. She was fine following orders from Xander, he did have the same presence than Gibbs had, it was just natural coming from him. He wasn’t a leader, he was a 2IC, that much was certain, but he was fine taking over if the boss wasn’t around. “Do you think we’ll ever get to meet a slayer?”
“Dunno,” Tony answered with a grin. “I’d love to though.”
“Don’t get your date book yet,” Kate smirked at him. “If they can bend a sniper rifle in a perfect circle I don’t think you’d want to piss them off.”
“I'll remember that,” Tony grinned at her, imagining what a slayer would be like.
“Besides, if Xander brought any of them here, it’d probably be his ex,” She smiled as Tony swallowed dryly. “I get the impression that if you got on her bad side; you’d be on Spike and Xander’s bad side as well.”
“Check,” Tony nodded. “Don’t annoy the dangerous people or date their ex’s.” He paused, looking at Kate. “You think that’s covered in rule twelve?”
“Don’t date co-workers?” Kate smiled. “Think that one’s a bit fluid now as we cover two agencies.”
“Think I'll play it safe anyway,” Tony smiled. “Don’t want Xander or Spike having any reason to be pissed at me.”
“Good plan Tony.” Kate smiled at him, watching him memorise this new rule. Maybe she should have it laminated along with the rest of Gibbs’ rules and pinned up in the office so people could check them easily, made it simpler than Gibbs just spouting them off a random moments.
=/^=
“Four months training starting June oh two,” The Staff Sergeant continued to rattle off his work history as Spike and Gibbs just watched. “Ten hours a day running maintenance repair and evaluation.”
“Were you and Grimms close outside of the academy?” Gibbs interrupted with his question.
“We had a few beers on the weekends.” Sergeant Raphael answered, his eyes never leaving Spike who was lazed against the wall opposite him trying to get some blood out of his top. “Along with some others from our class.”
“What ‘bout now?” Spike asked with a sneer. “Still go out drinking with ‘em now?”
“No sir.” The sergeant replied a little too quickly.
“On the phone?” Spike continued.
“No sir.” The sergeant replied again quickly.
Gibbs paused, pulling out his phone and pressing a speed dial number smiling when Spike moved over to the table and leaned in close to the sergeant.
“You’re lying.” Spike said simply, leaning down to get face to face with the sergeant.
“Did you know lying to a federal agent during an ongoing investigation is a federal crime sergeant?” Gibbs asked, smirking at Spike. “Ten months prison time followed by dishonourable discharge, not to mention being charged with impeding an ongoing federal murder investigation.”
“Fine,” The sergeant glared at Spike. “We talk from time to time, doesn’t make me a criminal.”
“But lying to me makes you a twat.” Spike sneered. “What ya talk about then? Sports? Girls? Large explosions?”
“Yeah,” The sergeant said, averting his eyes from Spike’s piercing glare. “Sometimes we talk work, that involves weapons and explosions sir.”
Gibbs looked at Spike who nodded slowly over to him, indicating that Sergeant Raphael was telling the truth. “We found Corporal Grimms’ body yesterday,” Gibbs stated, moving over so he was behind the sergeant. “He’d been hit by a SMAW.”
“Big ol’ hole in ‘is chest,” Spike grinned, raising his hand to his chest, pantomiming an explosion just too the right of his heart. “Boom!”
“The serial number on the weapon that killed him,” Gibbs continued, ignoring Spike’s theatrics. “Matches a weapon he delivered to you three days ago marked for destruction.”
“Remember?” Spike grinned. “That bit o’ paper you signed and sent back saying you’d taken the weapons off ‘im.”
“So, how can this weapon be in the possession of Camp Geiger,” Gibbs paused, resting his hand on the sergeants shoulder and squeezing lightly. “But not be there.”
“Stuff get’s misplaces once in a while,” The sergeant explained softly as Spike chuckled.
“You misplaced a rocket launcher?” Spike laughed louder. “And you signed for it as well?” Spike shook his head muttering ‘idiot’ under his breath.
“So you stand by your report Sergeant?” Gibbs asked, ignoring Spike again.
“I have no reason not to.” The sergeant said, craning his neck round to look at Gibbs in the eye.
“You always this full of it,” Spike smirked at him. “Or is this some special marine training I dunno about?”
“Spike,” Gibbs stated flatly, moving to leave the interrogation room.
“Fine,” Spike muttered, standing up and following Gibbs out of the interrogation room. “Still say he’s full of it.” He smiled at Gibbs once he had closed the door behind him.
“How did you know he was lying?” Gibbs asked curiously.
“Body temp rose, heart beat increased,” Spike paused, turning to him. “Could just smell it.”
“That’s good,” Gibbs smiled. “Better than a polygraph.” He turned and started walking down the hall with Spike in hot pursuit, “Another tool in your belt.”
“Oi!” Spike grinned at him as they stopped by the elevator. “I ain’t no tool for you to use.”
“Maybe,” Gibbs nodded. “But it’s useful none the less.”
“‘Specially at poker.” Spike grinned at him as the elevator doors slid open.
“You cheat at poker with me and I'll cut off your balls myself.” Gibbs stated flatly as the doors slid shut.
=/^=
“Rupert,” Master Chief Stanze slapped his old teacher on the back as he smiled at him. “When you said you were coming I didn’t expect it to be so soon.” He smiled, throwing his arm around the older man’s shoulder. “How’s Fitz?”
“Dead,” Giles said soberly. “Kalas killed him when he was after MacLeod.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Stanze lowered his head as a sign of respect, remembering to put one of Fitz’ old songs on tonight to remember him by. “He was hell of a singer back then.”
“You still have the albums he signed for you?” Giles smiled, thinking back to the rock concert they had both attended when Fitzcairn opened in The Apollo in Hammersmith with his third band named ‘The Who.’
“Yeah,” Stanze smiled as he led Giles into the NCIS building from the gate. “Couldn’t believe he made such a name for himself, didn’t he know the secret to keeping himself hidden?”
Giles smiled, nodding his head in agreement. “After I taught him to play the guitar, he felt he needed to share his ‘genius’ with the world.” Giles smiled, remembering those late night sessions as they both strummed away on the guitar in breaks from training with their swords. “He was good; I'll remember him for that.”
“That he was,” Stanze smiled. “Never understood the name though, Roger Daltrey?”
“It was a play on words I guess,” Giles smiled. “A name he used back in the fourteenth century I believe, he must have thought it was time for a comeback.”
“Fair enough,” Stanze smiled. “You’ve had your share of students over the years Rupert; don’t know how you manage with them most of the time.”
“Yes,” Giles smiled, taking off his reading glasses that he had taken to wearing permanently so many years ago as part of his new identity. “I was sorry to hear about Quince, I heard Macleod killed him.”
“So Harris said,” Stanze nodded slowly. “Seems we both need to have a talk with him about our old students.”
“Another time maybe,” Giles smiled, stopping at the door to the NCIS HQ. “I have an appointment with the director of NCIS, are you free tonight? I know a nice pub just inside the city, serves proper English beer and the most delightful steak and ale pies.”
“The Admirals arms,” Stanze smiled thinking of the old pub he used to frequent when he first got moved to Washington Naval yard. “Tomorrow night I'll be there; I get off at twenty hundred hours.” He saluted crisply. “See you then.” He took one last look at his old teacher before smiling and walking back into the main naval base.
“Fitz,” Giles smiled softly as he flashed his ID to the young officer behind the desk on his way into the building. He didn’t tend to think of Fitz much anymore, another friend he had lost to the damned game. He’d met Fitzcairn back in eleven ninety in London, dying from being stabbed by a mugger for the two gold coins he kept in his pocket. Such a senseless death, but Fitz had taken in his stride and come back the life of the party, always one to love and never one to let you down.
Giles smiled, nodding as two other officers entered the lift on its way up to the top floor. The director of NCIS had arranged a meeting to finalize the paperwork of the duel agency team that had arisen by circumstance, with Xander and Spike working out of NCIS permanently there was a lot of paper shuffling to be done. The Joint Chiefs were actually happy with the arrangement, apparently Special Agent Gibbs was known for getting himself into dangerous situations without enough man power behind him to back himself up, he was one of their top NCIS agents, now he had backup in the form of an Immortal and a Vampire, they were happy that he’d be around for a long time to come. Watching the doors open as they arrived on the top floor Giles checked his ID was properly secured to his belt and visible, he didn’t want any questions as he made his way through the office floor and up the stairs to the M-TAC room where the director of NCIS had claimed his office next door.
“Director Giles,” The voice came from behind him as he was about to knock on the M-TAC door.
“Director Morrow.” Giles smiled, turning round to greet the man who had called his name.
“This way please,” Director Morrow held out his arm, motioning to the office by the side of the M-TAC room. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“Not at all,” Giles smiled as he followed the man into his office where he stopped as the director started pouring two glasses of liquid from a crystal decanter. “Thank you.” He smiled as he accepted the drink, scotch, a decent age as well.
“We’ve got a problem,” The director of NCIS stated, sitting down behind his desk and motioning for Giles to take a seat opposite him. “With Special Agents Gibbs, Todd and DiNozzo being reassigned for duel agency purposes, I need a team to pick up the slack here for NCIS cases when Harris takes the team on SWIC cases.”
“I see,” Giles nodded, taking a sip of the whiskey and smiling appreciatively at the director. “And what do you need from me?”
“I have two people in mind,” The director paused, picking up the files from his desk and handing them to Giles. “I’d like a profiler on the team that has scientific knowledge as well as enough knowledge about SWIC cases to know when to hand it over if they come across one that Harris should be dealing with.”
“Someone from our branch then,” Giles nodded, thinking of anyone he knew that would fit the profile.
“To be blunt yes,” the director nodded. “Special Agent Sheppard will be heading up the team, as well as acting as my second in command of NCIS in training for her to take over when I retire.” The director paused, waiting for Giles to flip open the next folder. “Liaison Officer Ziva David will be working as her second; she’s a trained operative from Mossad, deadly as they come. She’s worked with Agent Sheppard before on several cases; I don’t want to split them up.”
“I agree,” Giles nodded, checking Officer David’s history.
“A two person team can handle most of the leg work, but I want a third on standby in the labs in case something comes up that they need a third for.” The director smiled. “Medical background would be useful, along with forensics and computer knowledge, they’d also need to be able to pass security checks and handle themselves in a combat situation.” The director paused, pulling up another folder. “They’d be working directly under Miss Sciuto in forensics, helping out with lab work mostly; she has an unusual work practice.”
“I can see,” Giles chuckled at the picture along with the notes given on Miss Sciuto.
“I have a few people in mind,” Giles smiled, closing the three folders carefully and placing them back on the desk. “I can make a few calls, see who’s available.” Giles smiled, thinking back to his old teacher, he’d definitely get a kick out of this and had been bugging him to meet Xander since he’d first mentioned him to the old man.
“Someone special in mind?” The director asked, reading Giles’ face like a book.
“An old friend, medical background, excellent on those infernal machines and can handle himself better than anyone I know.” Giles smiled, thinking back to his last training session with his old teacher. “He owes me a favour or three.”
“Make the call,” The director nodded. “Agent Sheppard and Officer David will be here next week to start on casework, I’d like your agent here before that for security vetting if possible.” He smiled, taking another sip of his drink.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Giles nodded, trying to remember where his teacher was currently, last he heard was he was in Seacouver, no New York helping Duncan MacLeod out with something. “Give me a day to track him down and I'll call in a favour.”
“Agreed,” The director smiled, happy that the official business was out of the way, “So what can you tell me about Agent Harris’ history?” The director chuckled as Giles let out a laugh.
“Where to start?” Giles laughed, leaning back in his chair and taking another sip of the whiskey.
=/^=
“What time is it?” Xander asked, fiddling with the radio as he tried to find a decent song to pass the time with.
“Five to,” Stone replied with a smile. “Anxious?”
“Nah, just bored.” Xander grinned, finally settling on some soothing Sarah McLachlan to pass the time. Leaning back in his chair he laced his fingers behind his head and relaxed to the song.
“You’ve done undercover work before then?” Stone asked, trying to get a feel for the agent she was working with.
“Time to time,” Xander smirked. “Kind of a natural actor.”
“How long have you worked at NCIS for then?” Stone asked after a moment silence, breaking his concentration from the song’s lyrics again.
“I don’t,” Xander explained simply. “I’m on loan from SWIC,”
“Never heard of them,” Stone waited for him to elaborate but he simply sat there in silence like he expected the answer. “What’s they’re jurisdiction?”
“Think the X-Files and your somewhere close,” Xander grinned, that was the unofficial term that Willow had cooked up for their agency, kind of a joke at first but then it had spread and everyone was using it now, the ‘Spook Squad’ as it was affectionately known, or the ‘X-Files’ for when the techies and geeks were in control.
“What is it?” Stone asked as she felt Xander stiffen suddenly in the car, his eyes immediately alert and searching the darkness outside of the car.
“Get out of here,” Xander said simply, getting out of his side of the car and pulling out his rapier from under his coat. “Find Kate and Tony; don’t come back until I signal.”
“What?” Agent Stone looked around, trying to figure out what had set Agent Harris off. “What is it?”
“Just go!” Xander shouted, slamming the car door shut. “That’s a direct order Agent Stone.”
“Sir,” Stone said simply, biting her tongue at the order but starting the car anyway and driving off to where she knew Agents Todd and DiNozzo were watching from.
“Right,” Xander twirled round in a three sixty, trying to place where the sensation was coming from. “You can come out now.” All humour gone from his face as he dropped into a fighting stance ready for anything, his ringers gripping his rapier tightly as he felt his knuckles burn from the tension.
“I thought I’d wait until you told our guest to leave,” A voice came from the shadows to one side of him, spinning he watched as a man in grey combat fatigues walked out of the shadows, brandishing a short sword that glittered in the low light of the moonlit night.
“Kind of you,” Xander quipped, eying the sword in the man’s hand and memorising every feature about how he moved. “I take it you’re not the buyer then?”
“Oh I am,” The man smiled. “I sent my men away, we’ve been watching you for the past,” He paused, glancing at his watch for a second. “Past twenty minutes, but since the weapons can wait, I thought I’d come to speak to you personally.”
“You got a name?” Xander asked, watching as the man stopped walking about six feet away from him.
“Robert West,” The man nodded, expecting the same from him.
“Xander Harris.” Xander nodded in mutual respect. “Don’t suppose we can both walk away from this now do ya?”
“I’m afraid not Agent Harris,” The man smirked. “Oh yes, I know your working with the NCIS, Agent Stone was kind enough to inform me of that.” He smiled as Xander span round to see Agent Stone walking up behind him, her gun trained on him.
“The weapons are useless,” Stone informed him. “First two are active, the rest are fakes.”
“I figured as much,” The man nodded, causing Xander to whip round to face him again. “But at least I will have the satisfaction of killing you first.”
“She’s not going to interfere?” Xander asked carefully, his left hand itching to go for his side arm.
“No, she will take your weapons and surveillance items, leaving just the sword.” The man nodded. “I may be after your head, but I am not dishonourable.”
“Kind of you,” Xander quipped, slowly unclipping his side arm and throwing it towards Agent Stone before throwing his microphone and GPRS tracker from NCIS over to her. “She’s watching then?”
“Of course,” The man smirked. “I have known Miss Stone since she was a child; she has been amazingly useful in acquiring me weapons and explosives to stockpile for the militia.”
“You really work for the militia?” Xander raised his eyebrow. “Figured that was just a cover for something.”
“No,” The man smiled, shaking his head as he watched Agent Stone pick up the gun and other pieces by her feet before moving back into the shadows. “I run the militia.”
“Should have seen that,” Xander quipped, happy that he’d kept his crucifix so that Kate and Tony were hearing all of this, hopefully they’d know enough to heed his order and stay out of it until he signalled.
“The military in this country is falling apart,” The man explained, walking around Xander in a slow circle, his eyes never leaving Xander’s blade. “The marines will fall, and then the militia will take over.”
“And you’ll be running the entire show,” Xander finished off, his arm aching a bit from the build up of lactic acid in his muscles from holding a fighting pose for so long.
“Naturally,” the man smiled, stopping and dropping into a fighting stance. “So you see, I can’t allow you to go free, knowing what you do and having seen my face.”
“Not going to be an issue,” Xander quipped, falling back into a different fighting stance. This wasn’t the first immortal he’d faced, but he was suddenly thankful that Giles had had him learn so many fighting techniques, that way he could identify which the man was using against him, and switch if his normal loose style wasn’t working.
The man was fast, he struck out with his sword quickly, meeting Xander’s in the air and clashing in the night as sparks flew. “You’re fast.” He noted, sneering over the blades as he pressed harder, his two handed grip allowing for more leverage than Xander’s rapier could match. “No matter, I will know your secrets soon enough.”
“You don’t want them,” Xander quipped, pulling his blade back and stepping out of the way as the man leaned forward suddenly, surprised from the move and the sudden disappearance of the opposing force on his blade. Stepping round in a circle Xander quickly brought his free arm down, elbowing the man to the back of his neck as he stepped past, sending him stumbling further away from him.
“I'll have your head for that,” The man snarled, spinning back to face Xander before lunging forward in a brutal attack which Xander only just avoided, parrying with his sword and stepping out of the way at the last second. The man growled bringing his sword back and slashing blindly at Xander as he stormed forwards, his anger getting the better of him as Xander expertly parried the blows, stepping backwards as he did so the movement helped him brace the stronger blows against his rapier.
=/^=
“Should we help?” Tony asked, carefully watching the monitor where they could see the sword from the other man moving quickly towards Xander’s chest before a flash of metal passed over the camera blocking the sword at the last second.
“He said to stay out of it,” Kate nodded. “I think that order to Agent Stone wasn’t for her, but for us.”
“And the swords?” Tony asked, wincing as the movement on the screen blurred as Xander quickly ducked another swipe of the larger mans sword, tumbling to the ground and rolling before facing the man again.
“Take his head,” Kate noted, remembering what Xander had said to Spike when Spike had first arrived at NCIS. “Xander said that Gibbs shot Jack before he could take his head,” She watched as Tony nodded slowly, remembering the conversation. “That must be how he was going to deal with Jack, by taking his head.” She winced at the memory of Jack holding the scalpel to her throat.
“Explains the swords,” Tony nodded, smiling at the screen as he watched Xander go on the offensive, striking quickly at the man and managing to slash his arm as he drove the larger man back several steps. “Get the bastard!” He screamed at the monitor, never having seen such action outside of a movie.
“He’ll get him,” Kate smiled. “He was chosen to go after Jack the Ripper; he’s got to be good to go after someone like that.”
“Didn’t think of that,” Tony nodded, grinning as Xander managed to land another blow, slashing through the dark pants of the man into his thigh. “Go on!” He shouted, smiling when Xander pressed the advantage and landed two more slashes on the chest, his expert speed and accuracy more than a match for brute strength.
“You want some popcorn Tony?” Kate quipped, laughing when Tony turned round to glare at him.
“It’s better than Wednesday night TV,” Tony grinned after a moment before turning back to watch the action again.
=/^=
“Come on,” Xander quipped, trying to anger the man as much as he could, force him into making a mistake so he could finish this. “My ex fights harder than this.” He grinned as the man growled in anger, lunging again while Xander simply stepped to the side and brought his rapier down on the sword, the clashing noise echoing through the night.
The man had fallen silent a while ago, only grunting when Xander landed a blow and screaming in rage when he attacked. His tactics seemed to rely on brute strength and pressing the advantage when he had it, while Xander relied on speed and accuracy, his thinner blade slipping through the man’s defences easily and catching him before he could react.
“Please,” Xander faked his famous puppy dog eye at the man, smirking when he lunged again, the blades meeting with the familiar sound and the sparks flying as his rapier slid down the blade of the sword. “Never get tired of hearing that,” Xander grinned, avoiding the sword again and parrying it away. “It’s such a cool sound.”
The man lunged again, his sword falling through the air where Xander was, only just missing his arm as he swiftly stepped out of the way, lunging neatly down and bringing his sword down on the hand, slicing through the fingers as his other hand came down with all the strength he could muster to punch the man in the back on the neck, sending him to his knees, screaming at the pain in his fingers as he dropped his sword.
“One thing,” Xander paused, bringing his rapier round to press it against the man’s neck. “Who killed Corporal Grimms?”
“McLain,” The man grunted out. “She hit him in the back with a rocket after he wanted a bigger cut.” He lent down, bracing himself for the inevitable. “Do it.”
“You get all of that?” Xander asked out loud, seemingly to no one.
“We’ll pick up McLain and Stone later,” Xander paused, picking up the man’s sword and tossing it away from him. “You’re under arrest.”
“You can’t arrest me,” The man shouted, reaching round his back for his gun and rolling to his side to get a clear shot. Xander was quicker though, he simply stepped along with him, arcing his sword down at the man got back to his knees to take his shot. No report followed, the empty thud of the man’s head was the only sound the followed the scraping sound as the rapier cleaved clean through his neck and embedded itself in the dirt and gravel ground under foot.
“Should have taken it,” Xander said simply as the mist started to rise from the body. “Stay back until it’s over!” He shouted as the first explosion echoed through the night and he raised his sword to the sky, lightning striking the sword several times before striking him in the chest as The Quickening started.
=/^=
“Boss, Agent Stone’s dirty, same as McLain; they were both in on it.” Tony reported over the phone to Gibbs. Pausing for a second he listened to what Gibbs had to say, nodding along. “Will do, Xander’s just finishing up something,” He paused, looking at the screen that was just showing static. “He’s being hit by lightning after taking some guys head off with his sword,” He paused, pulling the phone away from his ear for a moment before returning it. “No boss, it’s real, check with Spike, find out when it’s safe for us to get him.”
“Didn’t believe you?” Kate asked with a smirk as she watched the lightning and explosions in the distance where Xander was.
“Would you?” Tony asked in reply.
“Point,” Kate smiled. “Seems to be stopping,” She nodded as Tony stood up in the back of the van, leaning over to see out the window where only a few stray lightning bolts were flickering in the night. “Is that who I think it is?” Tony nodded, pointing to a woman that was heading slowly towards them, her side arm drawn as she checked around herself while walking towards the van.
“Agent stone,” Kate smirked, “Made our job easier, she’s probably here to finish us off.”
“Use this,” Tony grinned, pulling a tranquiliser rifle off the wall of the van, handing it to her. “Don’t know why Harris has one of these, don’t want to know.”
“With what he faces?” Kate grinned, loading one of the darts into the rifle. “Probably for demons or something.”
“Here she comes,” Tony grinned, leaning back in his seat as Kate laid down on the floor, aiming the rifle at chest height for when the door opened.
“Agent Din...” Stone started to say as she opened the door, seeing Tony first and then registering Kate on the floor as she fired the rifle, hitting her directly in the chest.
“Night night,” Tony waved sarcastically as her gun hit the floor of the van as she dropped it, the last thing she saw was Tony grinning at her as she crumpled to the ground, darkness following soon after. “Effective stuff,”
“It’s for werewolves,” Kate noted as she handed over the box of darts to Tony, smiling when he read the dosage. “She’ll be out for a while.”
“A while,” Tony grimaced. “That’d put six elephants out for a week,” Bending out of the trailer door he looked at her, poking her with his foot and receiving no indication she was still conscious. “We won’t get anything from her for a while.”
“She deserved it.” Kate grinned. “Put her in the back and cuff her, I'll drive back to NCIS while you keep an eye on her.”
“Ok,” Tony grinned, getting out of the van and pulling the unconscious agent up and pushing her forward into the back of the van. “Oh, boss,” He grinned, jumping back to the phone and picking it up. “Sorry boss, just got Agent Stone,” He paused for a moment as Gibbs said something. “Nope, alive, she’ll be unconscious for a while though, hit her with a werewolf dart from Xander’s supply.”
Kate raised her eyebrow as Tony laughed. “What?” She whispered to him.
“I'll tell her, tell Spike we’d prefer her alive, back soon boss.” With that he hung up the phone. “You were right, seems the only way to kill an immortal is to take their head.” Tony grimaced as he imagined that form of death. “Spike said we can pick him up anytime the lightnings finished, called a Quickening by the way, and that he’ll be pretty out of it for a while.”
“What else?” Kate asked, raising her eyebrows as she memorized this for later use.
“He sent Spike to pick up agent McLain,” Tony laughed as Kate moved round, climbing in between the seats before settling into the driver’s seat and starting the van. “Charging her with Murder One along with a slew of other offences.”
“Good,” Kate smiled as she leaned back to check that Tony and Agent Stone were secure before driving off towards where Xander was. “Long time in Leavenworth for that girl,” She smiled, thinking about how long it would be until Agent Stone woke up and they could arrest her properly.
“Mind if we stop for coffee on the way back?” Tony asked with a grin. “Guessing Xander will need some after that.”
“Yeah, and we’ve still got reports to file,” Kate muttered, looking at the clock which twenty two thirteen. “Think we can hire secretaries for that now?” She asked, looking in the mirror for Tony’s reaction.
“You think Gibbs’ would go for it?” Tony asked, giving the suggestion some thought before shaking his head. “Nah, me neither.” He laughed as Kate chuckled from the front seat. “Nice idea though.”
=/^=
“Giles!” Xander shouted out as he walked in their office, Kate and Tony following after dropping an unconscious agent stone off at the cells to wait for transport to Leavenworth. “What you doing her man?”
“I came to speak to the Director of NCIS; Agent Gibbs was kind enough to tell me you were out on assignment, so I thought I would wait for you.” Giles smiled, then stared at the dried blood on his student’s shirt where the cut had long since healed. “An immortal I take it?”
“Robert West,” Xander nodded, hefting the sword up that he had confiscated from the dead body. “You knew him?”
“No,” Giles smiled softly. “Not one I’ve heard of before.”
“Here ya go boss,” DiNozzo smiled, handing over the large paper mug of coffee that they’d got for him when they stopped and picked their own up. “And you are?” He asked, turning to Giles.
“Rupert Giles,” Ducky smiled from the doorway. “Director of SWIC, former watcher for both Buffy Summers and Faith LeHane, good friend and valuable ally to all,” he smiled, bowing softly as Giles bowed in return.
“Doctor Donald Mallard,” Giles smiled, repeating the man’s instruction for him, “Head mortician for NCIS, doctorate in biology and physiology from Edinburgh University. Top of your class in the Watcher Academy for subterfuge and tracking, current first Watcher to Master Chief Patrick Stanze and head Watcher for Alexander Harris.”
“How are you old man?” Ducky smiled as he crossed the floor swiftly, embracing Giles in a tight hug.
“Good,” Giles smiled, returning the man’s embrace. “Very good, I’m having a drink with Patrick tomorrow, a fond remembrance for Fitzcairn, care to join us?”
“I’m sorry, watcher protocol and all that,” Ducky smiled. “Another time perhaps, just me and you.”
“You’re my watcher?” Xander asked, watching Ducky carefully.
“Yes, though Rupert shouldn’t have told you,” Ducky shook his head at Giles playfully. “But I have been told that it is sometimes useful to form friendships with immortals, would you care to share some of your stories for your chronicle sometime?”
“Anytime,” Xander nodded. “You’re a friend of Giles, makes you a friend of mine.”
“Oh yes, me and Rupert go way back, he was a good friend of my grandfathers when we were growing up,” Ducky smiled as everyone’s eyes turned to Giles. “He was the one that first got me into medicine you see, helped me through my original exams in Edinburgh, he was a teacher there you see, physiology is only one of his many doctorates, he also has...”
“You’re immortal?” Gibbs asked, startled by this new fact and filing away the watcher comment about Ducky for later.
“My teacher,” Xander stated proudly.
“Another one?” Abby asked from the door where she had stopped to watch everyone, people watching was one of her hobbies; it always told her interesting things about them that they wouldn’t normally share with you. “How old?” she bounced around, walking up to Giles and eying him from several angles.
“He was friends with Ducky’s grandfather, so I’m guessing over a hundred, hundred a fifty?” Tony asked, jumping in this game of guess the age of the immortal.
“How old was Mister West?” Giles asked, turning to Xander and ignoring the comments about his age.
“Three, three fifty,” Xander nodded, still trying to sort out the new memories and skills in his head that he had acquired from The Quickening.
“You knew from his quickening before you even fought correct?” Giles asked, smiling when Xander nodded slowly. “You have a good feeling for age through a quickening, a useful talent when avoiding older immortals.”
“So?” Abby turned to Xander, eying him carefully for a reaction. “How old is he?” He nodded to Giles who just smiled and nodded to Xander, giving him his approval.
“Old,” Xander stated simply. “Very old,”
“What, a thousand?” Kate asked, eying the man carefully, trying to figure out if there was anything about him that could tip her off to his age.
“Over three for the ol’ man,” Spike announced from the door. “McLain’s in the clank, got feisty though, she’ll be out for the rest of the night.”
“Over three thousand?” Tony asked in awe, now looking at the man in front of him in a new light.
“Nearly three thousand five hundred,” Xander guessed, watching Giles for his approval.
“Three Thousand seven hundred and fifteen,” Ducky announced. “Born Ruprecht in one thousand seven hundred and eight BC, approximately anyway, first teacher unknown but has had several students over his lifetime” He smiled as Giles nodded at him. “Including Hugh Fitzcairn, later known as Roger Daltrey, lead singer and guitarist to The Who,” Ducky smiled as Giles blushed slightly. “It’s believed Mister Giles is the one who taught Mister Fitzcairn how to play guitar and sing, His chronicle is amazingly accurate.”
“As well it should be,” Giles smiled. “I wrote it myself.”
“And they call me old,” Gibbs smiled from his desk, wiping up some spilt coffee with his sleeve from where he had nearly choked on it when Ducky had announced the man’s age. “So what did you and the director talk about?”
“Ah yes,” Giles smiled, taking off his glasses and putting them in his jacket pocket. “He wanted my input on a new team he was building to take over some of your cases; he wanted someone on the team that would know if they came across a case that should be handed to you.”
“You’re sending someone else?” Xander asked in amazement, trying to figure out who Giles would send to work on a NCIS team.
“Yes,” Giles nodded. “He’ll be working closely with Miss Sciuto in forensics, but will be a full member of the NCIS team and a field agent in his own right.”
“He?” Xander asked, trying to picture who it would be. “Not Andrew?” He shuddered as Giles shook his head. “Who then?”
“An old friend of mine from the Watchers Academy, he’ll be arriving in four days time.” Giles smiled, not giving into Xander’s pleading look for more information. “Xander, I think we should have a talk,” Giles nodded to the door. “With me please.”
“Back soon guys,” Xander quipped, smiling at Abby and Kate as he walked past them following Giles round the corridors to the elevator. Once they were out of ear shot Giles stopped by the elevator and turned to him.
“Does she know?” He asked, turning to Xander and locking him with a glare.
“No,” Xander shook his head. “I wouldn’t have stayed if she did.”
“Does Spike?” Giles asked, the glare softening now.
“Yeah,” Xander nodded. “Told him last night, he promised not to say anything though.”
“Keep an eye on her; call me if anything happens.” Giles smiled as Xander nodded, pressing the button on the elevator to take him back down to the ground floor.
“Come on G-Man, who you sending?” Xander asked, begging for a hint. “One hint, that’s all I’m asking for.”
“Just one?” Giles smiled as he held the elevator doors open with his foot. “Fine,” He smiled as Xander nodded anxiously. “My teacher,” He then smiled a very Ripperish grin as the elevator doors shut on him, leaving Xander looking at the closed metal doors with a perplexed look on his face.
“Your teacher?” Xander asked out loud, staring at the doors for a while as he tried to figure out who that would be. He hadn’t met him, that much was certain, he’d remember meeting an immortal older than Giles was. Smiling to himself he headed back into the office, shaking his head when he couldn’t figure out who Giles would be sending.
“He’s sending his teacher for the team,” Xander said, smiling as he entered the room and everyone looked at him.
“I'll have an immortal in my lab?” Abby asked, bouncing about in excitement. “An old one?”
“Older than Giles,” Xander nodded, looking around to see what everyone thought of this.
“My boy,” Ducky smiled, patting him on the back. “Did he give you a name, anything?”
“Nope,” Xander grinned. “Just said it was his teacher and that he’d be arriving in four days.”
“Well then,” Gibbs smiled, standing up from his desk and turning his monitors off. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Night all,” With that Gibbs moved out of the office, Ducky following him as he shrugged his coat on as they walked through the door. “And I don’t want to see that x-box in the office ever again.” He shouted back as he got into the elevator.
“How’d be know?” Spike asked, glancing around the room.
“He’s Gibbs.” Tony, Kate and Ducky explained at the same time, laughing at each other after saying it in unison.
“That’s the explanation for a lot of things,” Xander smiled at Spike, “It’s a good one though.”
“Fair ‘nough,” Spike nodded. “Everything finished ‘ere then?” He asked, turning to look at everyone, watching as Kate and Tony finished tidying up their desks before turning off their monitors. “Guess so, night on the town?” He asked, looking around to see if anyone was up for it.
“I’m game,” Tony smiled, having now come to accept Spike after Gibbs had trusted him in an interrogation room. “Where you thinking?”
“Nice place of fourteenth,” Spike nodded. “Only a ten minute walk from the demon brothel as well, can fix ya up with one of those succubi girls Kate said you were into,” Spike grinned as Kate and Xander burst out laughing.
“Another time,” Tony said slowly, frowning at Spike then turning to glare at Kate before walking out the room.
“Pay up luv,” Spike grinned, striding over to Kate’s desk. “Told ya ‘e wouldn’t do it.”
“I know,” Kate smiled, handing over a twenty from her purse. “Was worth it just to see his face though, night you two.” She smiled, linking arms with Abby as they both waved before walking out of the room.
“You’re right,” Spike grinned, handing the twenty over to Xander. “She is sneaky.” The two laughed for a moment before walking out of the office, turning the lights off behind them. “Think we’ll fit in ‘ere just nicely.”
“Same here,” Xander smiled as he pressed the button on the elevator to call it back up. “Same here.”
=/^=
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.