WALKER HOME
"Major Geoffrey Walker, retired," Kate was reading from her PDA as Gibbs rang the doorbell. "Married Petty Officer First Class Janice Walker after he retired from the Corps. She's assigned to the Navy Yard. She's out."
He rang the doorbell again. "Didn't you call ahead?"
"Yeah," Kate replied. "He said he'd be here all day with his baby daughter."
"He's a brave one," Gibbs murmured. "A lot of Gulf vets with the syndrome are nervous about having children."
"Did you know anyone...with...it?" Kate asked, looking at him.
Gibbs just turned a hard expression on her, and she didn't ask more. He then pulled out his lock pick.
X X X X X
The door to the tiny home swung open, and Gibbs entered first, his weapon pointed as Kate covered him. They cleared the hall, and as they entered the living room, they saw a large man lying on the ground, his eyes wide open and staring up at the ceiling.
Kate hurried over, holstering her weapon as Gibbs cleared the living room and the kitchen. "Mr. Walker!" she called, patting his face hard as she looked for a pulse. "C'mon, wake up."
Gibbs turned so he was facing the still unchecked hallway to the bedrooms. "Pulse?"
"Shallow."
"Shh," Gibbs suddenly said. "Did you hear that?" He got up. "Stay with him, call an ambulance." Moving as slowly as he could, he made his way down the hall.
"NCIS, Agent Todd, I need an ambulance at 9476 Beaumont Blvd." She clamped the phone between her head and her shoulder. "Yeah, he's breathing, and his eyes are open, but he looks passed out."
Suddenly Walker's body began to jerk violently, and Kate quickly yanked the phone from her ear, turned on the speakerphone, and set it a few feet away. "Walker!" She held his head as he began to convulse.
"Agent Todd!" came the 911 operator's voice over the speakerphone.
"He's convulsing." Kate shifted so she wouldn't be in the way. "He's bleeding at the mouth." She felt her throat constrict.
"We've someone coming right now," the operator radioed. "They'll be there in just a few minutes. Right now, I'm going to stay on the line. Can you tell me his situation? ... Ma'am? ... Agent Todd?"
Kate blinked, holding the man's neck as he continued to convulse, blood seeping out of the side of his mouth. Cmdr. Trapp's face flashed in and out, and she vaguely heard her name. "He's not breathing."
X X X X X
Gibbs made sure to ignore the sounds in the living room, and cleared the small room first. He pointed his gun at the larger bedroom and then heard the squeak again. He swung the door open and stepped inside, weapon drawn.
A small tot stood in her crib, looking at him.
X X X X X
Kate didn't notice when Gibbs came out, the baby sitting in his arms quietly. "What happened?" he asked, noticing the slightly bewildered look on her face.
"Oh, he - " She snapped out of it and looked up, then her expression changed to one of shock, then amusement. "Very cute, Gibbs." When he looked at her, she shrugged with a smile. "Just saying."
"She was standing in her crib," Gibbs replied. "That was the squeaking I heard. What happened?"
"He...he started to convulse, and then bleed at the mouth," Kate replied.
"Who are you?" one EMT asked, standing up.
"Agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS," Gibbs replied shortly.
"Who's the kid?" the EMT asked.
"His daughter," Gibbs replied.
"We better check to see if she's okay," the EMT said quietly, taking the non-protesting tot, who just looked at him curiously, and set her down on the dining table. "Just in case." The other EMT stood up slowly. "He's gone."
NCIS HQ
"Wow," Tony commented as Gibbs and Kate returned, the former carrying the baby carrier and the latter with a baby bag swung over her shoulder. "What about rule number twel - " At Gibbs' look, he shrugged. "That's one heck of a secret to keep, Kate," he replied with a big grin, redirecting to a safer target; Kate made a face at him. "What happened?"
"When we got there, we found the gunny passed out on the floor," Kate replied. "He started convulsing...and died."
"McGee, I want her mother found," Gibbs ordered, handing the child in the carrier to Kate as he headed down to autopsy.
"So what's their daughter's name?" Tony asked sympathetically coming around to Kate's desk.
"Pauline. The major referred to her as 'Paulie' on the phone."
"Hi, Paulie!" Tony smiled at the tot in the carrier.
X X X X X
"...and that's all Tel Aviv will tell me. I...."
Tom Morrow frowned, and then he noticed even the MTAC technicians looked confused at the sound. "Daniel, hold on a second," he finally spoke, and the Bahrain NCIS agent fell silent as he watched the director turned to the techs. "What is that?"
"It...sounds like a child, sir," the MTAC technician said.
"I KNOW. What is a child doing at HQ?" He headed out to overlook the bullpen.
Gibbs' team, he mused as he looked down and saw the carrier on Agent Todd's desk, and the petite agent gently rubbing the back of a crying tot while glaring at DiNozzo. "In my office. NOW."
It would be them.
Morrow stepped back into the conference room. "Daniel, sounds fine," he replied, referring to their earlier conversation. "Go ahead and email me your report." With that, he ended the call and headed to his office, just as the agents trooped in. He pointed at the chairs.
"McGee, Balboa, you're sitting between us," Kate said, and when the computer agent looked at her, confused, she retorted, "She cries when she sees Tony's face." Morrow could still see the teary-looking eyes of the child in the agent's arms.
Tony made a face, and Morrow pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. Kate settled first, and as the others took their seats, he took time to study the child, sitting sideways on Kate's lap, nestled against her side. She a cute one. There was a fold at her wrists from the baby fat, and when she bent her arm, another fold appeared in her forearms. The director looked at her profile and almost laughed: her nose was a tiny little point just rising out past a round, pink cheek.
"What is going on?" he finally asked, after letting the agents squirm in silence awhile.
Morrow listened to Kate's explanation while watching his agent interact with the small child. Kate entertained the baby with her NCIS badge, holding the thing at a good distance. The tot just kept looking at it, touching the shiny metal with chubby hands. Every so often she started to lean forward to try to put her mouth on it, but without even looking the female agent knew to hold her back and pull the badge out of reach with her other hand.
The director had to admire the child's persistence: she didn't give up, and she didn't fuss; she just kept trying to taste the badge no matter how many times Kate managed to remove the badge just before she got to it.
As Kate finished, Morrow frowned and looked up. "Where's the kid's mom?"
"Don't know, sir."
"She cry a lot?" Morrow asked shortly.
"Nooo," Kate replied, the corners of her mouth twitching ever so slightly. "She was perfectly quiet until she looked at Tony. Don't worry, sir. She doesn't cry when she sees me, or Gibbs, possibly the others."
"We get it, Kate," retorted Tony from the other end.
The director motioned for the agent to give him the baby, and she lifted the child from where she sat onto the director's desk.
He cleared his throat, and two eyes blinked at him soberly. She didn't laugh or smile but just looked at him innocently and sat quietly. Morrow frowned sternly to see the reaction, but she just blinked again, following him with her eyes but not getting agitated. Morrow finally looked around at DiNozzo. "What did you do to make her cry?"
Tony's face spoke volumes about the matter. His slightly furrowed-brow, pouty look appeared, a look akin to the one he wore when his car was totalled for all the nation to see. "All I said was hi."
The corner of Morrow's mouth twitched.
"A face only a mother could love," Balboa commented with a grin, and McGee snorted. The glare from Tony promised a dozen headslaps later, but it was worth it to see the director chuckle.
Morrow looked back from his agents to the tot, who was examining a spot on his desk with curiosity. She didn't look up for a long time, until Morrow cleared his throat. When she looked up at him, he looked at her sternly. "You're not going to cry while you're here," he said firmly. "No crying, okay?" he said, nodding his head. She followed suit.
Morrow picked her up and set her back in Kate's lap. "Don't let her see DiNozzo. And find her mother."
NCIS HQ, AUTOPSY
"I was having enough trouble with Col. MacClellan here, and then you come and pull me off to a new body," Ducky said to Gibbs, who was leavning over the body. "I'm afraid I don't have anything for you on the retired Major Walker yet."
"That's two dead," Gibbs muttered. "That's not a very good record."
"Did you know that in the ancient Song dynasty of China, that was how one was certified to become a medical doctor?" Ducky began as he cleaned Walker's body. "Each student of ancient medicine was given a certain number of students. 1 dead out of ten was considered good, and 2 out of ten not so bad, and so on. What is quite interesting is that the very best served the emperor and his household, but interestingly, they also taught at - "
"DUCK."
Just then the autopsy doors opened, and in came the others, Kate with the baby carrier.
"Took you long enough to get down here," Gibbs pointed out.
"We got called in Director Morrow's office," Tony muttered. When Gibbs raised an eyebrow, demanding a reason, Tony assured him, "It wasn't anything."
McGee and Balboa snickered.
"It turns out Tony," Kate replied, her smile wide as she looked at him, "has a face only his mother could love. Paulie took one look at him and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Director Morrow heard it all the way up in the MTAC teleconference room."
Gibbs smiled, amused, and Ducky chuckled.
"She just didn't get a chance to know me," Tony muttered.
"Oh, I don't think so," Kate corrected, her eyes dancing. "I think she's the wisest female we've met since...I got my dog."
Balboa snorted in laughter. "I think DiNozzo's losing his touch." Tony whacked him in the back of his head.
"Well...it's not like da Vinci just lost his paintbrush," Kate teased.
"Well, she certainly is a cute little one," Ducky replied as he leaned over the carrier, which Kate had put on his desk. "Hello, Miss Paulie. I'm afraid this day hasn't been going so well for you."
The tot looked at him and reached up, latching onto the ME's bowtie. The elderly doctor chuckled and undid the bow, tying it so that there was no loose strings, and gave it to the child to play with.
"Ducky." Gibbs pointed impatiently at Walker's body. "What do you think?"
"Well, as I said at the house, there is no sign of outward trauma."
"He was lying on the ground, with no visible bruises or anything, when we came in," Kate replied. "The only other person in the house was the baby Gibbs found."
"Is the kid all right?" Tony asked. "You checked the kid, right?"
He winced when he said it, because he was sure Kate was going to say something smart or snarky about his concern for the child, but the former Secret Service agent just blinked for a moment at the body, then looked at Tony. "She's fine. The EMT cleared her to come with us."
"What happened?" Gibbs asked, looking over at her.
"Uh, he was lying there, staring up, when we came in. Gibbs moved to clear the rest of the house while I called for back - for...the EMTs," Kate quickly corrected.
Tony frowned, his eyes darting from the body to Kate, who was suddenly looking a little peaked.
"Was he already seeping blood from his mouth, already convulsing slightly?" Ducky asked.
"No," Kate murmured. "It was sudden. He started to convulse...." She trailed off, staring at the body.
Ducky's eyes darted from Gibbs to Tony, then to McGee and Balboa, the latter two looking wholly puzzled. Tony pressed his lips together worriedly, and looked at Gibbs.
The senior agent looked at Kate, frowning.
Kate finally snapped out of it. "Is there anything else you need, Ducky?" she asked, looking at the ME, avoiding the others' glances. "If not, I think I need to go out and get some formula and diapers, at least until we find her mother."
Gibbs looked at McGee, who shrugged apologetically. "No mother yet. Sorry, boss."
"Uh, I'll be going," Kate replied almost nervously, picking up the carrier from Ducky's desk as she headed out. "I'm going to catch lunch then, Gibbs."
There was a moment of silence, and then Tony muttered, "Wow, that was really weird. Is Kate okay, boss?"
"Go talk to that doctor," Gibbs replied, and Tony conceded, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer. The others trooped out.
"Jethro," Ducky murmured when the door had shut, leaving them alone. "Air Force One, Jethro." When Gibbs turned to look at him, Ducky crossed around, looking at him earnestly. "I was feeling a sense of deja vu already. What happened is enough to remind her of what happened to Commander Ray Trapp on the president's plane."
"Walker was bleeding, Duck, and he was already down when we went in," Gibbs pointed out.
"Jethro," Ducky insisted. "The convulsing, the oral fluid. She was the one with Cmdr. Trapp when he died." When the man straightened, he continued, "And it's not just Cmdr. Trapp, Jethro." He sighed, and then said, "Two months after Kate joined NCIS, she asked me if she could see Major Kerry's autopsy report."
Gibbs looked hard at him. "What?"
"I did not think it was a good idea, but she asked, so I let her see it," Ducky replied. "She saw how Trapp died, and that's exactly how Kerry died."
"She's an agent, she's going to have to get over this," Gibbs replied. "She can't break down over every case."
Ducky frowned and put on a chastising expression, knowing to which case he referred. "That night she was so distraught, she shot an innocent boy, Jethro," he replied firmly. "However you might have felt about it, she still felt guilty. For her job she bore it quietly, and she is doing it now, but it would behoove us to be more sympathetic. This case is no different."
"She did everything by the book the time she shot the petty officer," Gibbs argued. "She couldn't have known."
"I understand that statement, for you, would be considered a comfort," Ducky replied gently. "But she has a softer heart."
DR. BRIAN MARTIN'S OFFICE, VA CLINIC
"You take a lot of Gulf War veterans," Tony commented, his tone slightly suspicious.
"They need the help," Martin replied carefully.
"The government hasn't even confirmed that Gulf War Syndrome is an actual disease," McGee pointed out.
"Look," the doctor sighed as he sat forward. "Agent Orange in Vietnam wasn't acknowledged for years, either. All I know is that there are veterans coming in here, and they are desperate for some kind of solution. They'll eat what I tell them to eat, they'll exercise when I tell them to. They want to be helped, and so I do my best to do it."
"What's a typical regimen you put these men on?" Tony asked.
"First is exercise and diet," Martin replied. "It's a strict diet of a certain amount of fruits, vegetables, chicken and beef, whole grains."
"Tofu wraps?" McGee muttered under his breath.
"Please, Dr. Martin," Balboa replied, sitting up and looking slightly embarrassed at his coworkers' attitude. "Continue."
"I ask them to walk in the morning, around 7 am, to get in the fresh air, and to certainly exercise, however they wish, but it must include anaerobic and aerobic. For each patient, I look at their medical records and suggest things to avoid and to do. In bed by 11 pm, no eating two to three hours beforehand."
"You sound more like Dr. Phil's weight-loss guru," Tony replied. "You're a medical doctor."
"Yes, I am," Dr. Martin replied, unfazed. "And I know a good diet when I see one. The immune system has to be built up."
"What about this?" Tony asked, holding up a bottle sitting on the doctor's desk. "Pleromades."
"It's a new drug on the market," he replied in much the same tone he had the entire interview. "It's to help suppress some of the symptoms, and help build up the immune system."
"Sounds more like vitamins," McGee replied.
"I'm telling you what I do," Dr. Martin replied, his impatience showing through. "I - "
"Few doctors would extend such care and concern to their patients as you have," Balboa declared, sitting up. "One of the Marines told us he called you emergency when his child's pediatrican couldn't be reached. The VA is lucky to have you."
Martin waved it off, but smiled at the young NCIS agent. "I do what I can." He paused. "I could give you all that rhetoric about honoring those who served and yada yada yada. The truth is, some of the guys...the Marines...they're real pains in the neck."
There were a few chuckles, but Tony merely narrowed his eyes.
"But my father - he served in Vietnam," the doctor continued. "Died there. It's personal for me."
"Balboa, could you call HQ and let the director know we're going to be late to that meeting?" DiNozzo said shortly.
The doctor tried to hide his surprise, but somewhat unsuccessfully. He couldn't believe the senior NCIS agent had just...almost insulted Balboa.
The agent in question realized it, too. Balboa stared back at DiNozzo for a minute, then got up and went out.
NCIS HQ
"Where's Kate?" Tony asked as he came in, McGee and Balboa trailing behind him.
"Hey guys!" Abby greeted as she, Ducky, and Gibbs turned. "We were just getting started. I finally got our chart up and going, and with Bal's information, we should be able to fill in the blanks."
"What did you get from the doctor?" Gibbs asked.
"Nothing, except he's a health food freak," Tony muttered. "He pretty much interviews each person and tailors a diet and exercise regimen to them before he'll start the meds."
"He tries to keep them from going on the medicine until necessary," Balboa interjected.
"And he won't show us records," McGee added.
"They are confidential," Balboa pointed out.
"Are you trying to help us, here?" Tony asked.
"Hey, wasn't Kate with you?" Abby asked, puzzled.
"No...I thought she'd be back by now," Tony replied, slightly worried.
"Abs! Chart!" Gibbs pointed at the screen.
"Okay, first, from all the interviews and phone calls you guys got, and all the meds you guys collected: he's got them on different dosages."
"What?" Tony was thoroughly confused. "He's not providing a regular dosage?"
Abby shook her head. "Each of the vets had a different dosage." She flicked on a chart. "The names of the vets are listed in column one, and their height, weight, symptoms, and their dosage. There seems to be some correlation between how bad their symptoms are, their body size, and thus their dosage, but it isn't consistent. I can't figure out exactly what he was using to determine dosage."
"There's no pattern," Gibbs repeated, looking to Abby for confirmation.
"I checked it over a zillion times and have everyone in the lab do it, too," Abby replied, her frustration beginning to show. "Ducky looked over it, Gerald looked over it."
"So maybe it's not something physical that's making the final decision on what the dosages are," Gibbs murmured.
"Well," Abby sighed. "I don't know where else to look. I compared everything - height, weight, already known diseases and symptoms, family history. I don't know what else to test."
McGee frowned. "I spoke with a Mr. Kim, whose wife was on it. He said something about Martin chatting up his patients, asking about their families and support networks. Something about wanting a healthy environment for his patients when he treated them. He isn't using entirely medical criteria to select his patients."
"Isn't that illegal?" Balboa asked.
"He's got dead patients, Bal," Tony retorted. "I think his method of picking patients is hardly a problem right now."
"We've got twenty patients," Gibbs murmured out loud. "Four have died, counting MacClellan and Walker. The previous two were heart attacks."
"We had two of the twenty go blind," Abby added, using her computer pointer to point out the two people on the chart. They were the ones who got the highest dosages, at least from what I tested."
"So we know the effect of the medicine," Tony muttered. "It's killing them."
"But we can't figure out why or how he's assigning dosages," Gibbs muttered, shaking his head. "Keep digging, and keep calling," he replied as he headed out. "Rip that clinic apart. I want a pattern to these things!"
RESTAURANT
"She's over there," the waiter replied, pointing out a dark corner booth to Gibbs, who pocketed Kate's photo.
The carrier was sitting on the cushioned bench beside her, Paulie covered in her baby blanket and just sitting quietly, watching Kate with big eyes but not making a sound.
Kate wasn't really eating - just pushing food around her plate. According to the waitress, she had been there since just a short while after she'd left headquarters; Kate obviously hadn't gone anywhere else, just sat in the corner booth for the past forty-five minutes.
As Gibbs approached her booth, she didn't even look up. "I still have fifteen minutes, and I'll get formula then."
"I'm not here about that." He sat down across from her, studying her intently for a moment. She didn't look up. "You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't act fine." Gibbs sat back.
He watched as Kate pushed a bit of carrot around and around her plate, sloshing it through the gravy with each turn. They sat in silence for awhile, the noise of the restaurant in the background.
The fork was making its tenth trip when Kate finally spoke, her voice tiny but filtering through the noise. "I wasn't entirely honest that time - about the...Cmdr. Trapp case."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "It's a little late."
"I was holding Cmdr. Trapp when he was convulsing," she said softly. She took a breath, her eyes still on her plate. She stabbed at the pile of mixed vegetables. "He came out, dropped the football, made a joke about dropping the football during an Army-Navy game, and then introduced himself to me. He commented on eating with the president, and then he started convulsing violently in his seat. He was shaking so hard he fell out of the chair, onto the ground."
Kate singled out a pea, poking at it, making it go left and then right. "I was holding his neck, trying to stabilize his head, and there was already foam at his mouth. By the time the EMT got there, he was already not breathing, no pulse. I read Ducky's autopsy report; he died right there while I was holding him."
Gibbs folded his hands in his lap and waited patiently.
Kate sighed, closing her eyes ever so briefly. "I saw Tim's time of death, too. You know, I - I had left just minutes before. Not even five minutes before, and I didn't even need to." She inhaled sharply. "I read the entire report - he had a heavier dose of the venom than did Trapp, everything."
Gibbs pressed his lips together. "You wouldn't have been able to save him if you were there."
"Of all people, Leonard - I just - Leonard." Kate shook her head, still somewhat in disbelief. "He would have been one of the last ones I would have guessed." She sighed, her eyes following the pea in its trek around her plate.
They sat in silence for awhile, and then Kate murmured, "Tim didn't want to die alone." She stabbed at the vegetables. "He never said that out loud, but he was always talking about how the Marines wouldn't leave someone behind; how they'd find him if he died out in combat alone, and all that - family. He lost his parents in a car accident when he was young, and he was bounced around foster homes for awhile." She took another stab at her food. "I wasn't even there." Stab. "I dumped him just minutes before." She stabbed again, more harshly; her fork slipped, scraping the bottom of the plate in a hair-raising scrape and clattered to the plate.
Her boss watched as she sat for a moment, her head bowed, trying not to look at him. After a moment, she managed to take a sip of her soda. "I'm going to the head. Please watch Paulie." She got up, grabbing her purse, and headed off, not looking at him once.
Gibbs looked down at the plate and then waved a waitress over. "Pack this up, please." He took his credit card and Kate's receipt and then handed them to the waitress.
NCIS HQ
"Mother?" came Gibbs' sharp question over the phone.
"Uh, well, boss - " McGee scrunched up his face, waiting for the lecture.
"WRONG ANSWER, McGEE." Tony and Balboa looked at him sympathetically; it was so loud they could hear it.
"Okay, she's at Gitmo." McGee took a deep breath. "Petty Officer Second Class Janice Walker is an Arabic translator," he said nervously. "She was sent TDY to Gitmo two weeks ago to help - they were shorthanded. And, uh, the Gitmo commander told the NCIS agent that right now, uh, the detainees are...more important."
"Did you tell them that right now her husband is dead and her daughter is living at NCIS?" Tony whispered.
"Yeah, we told him the whole thing, and about Paulie living here, and the Gitmo commander said...um...'Well, then you know she's safe.'" McGee winced at the growling coming over the line. "Well, the good news is, her TAD will end tomorrow, so she can call in. Then."
There was a click and a dial tone, and Tony patted him sympathetically.
LOCAL SUPERMARKET
"You didn't have to come, you know," Kate pointed out to her boss as she continued to study her list. "You could have driven yourself back to HQ in the company car."
"Just hurry up." Gibbs carefully removed the tight little fist that had grabbed a hold of his collar.
Kate moved farther down the aisle. She had gone through all of Paulie's things and written down what products she used, and now was in the process of looking for all of them. Considering neither she nor Gibbs had any experience in the area, they had been in that baby aisle longer than anticipated.
She scanned the labels again and frowned; she had to have missed the diaper size that she was looking for. Groaning to herself, she started over.
"You're most likely looking for this size," pointed out an elderly woman who suddenly appeared next to her. "Given the size of your baby." She nodded towards Paulie, who was happily playing with the button on Gibbs' coat.
Kate looked over, and sure enough, there was the one she was looking for. "Thank you," she smiled in grateful relief. "This is the first time I've been baby shopping, so." When the woman looked surprised, looking down towards where Gibbs was playing with the child, Kate followed her gaze. "Oh," she replied in clarification. "We're just baby-sitting for a few days."
"Ah." The woman nodded. "My daughter's staying with me, and she got sick, so I ran out to get some things for my grandson." At Kate's slightly wistful, wide smile, the woman asked, "You thinking about children?"
Kate chuckled, a bit embarrassed. "Someday, I'd like to. A lot of other things have to fall in place first." She saw the woman look quickly at her left hand, and she laughed. "Yeah, marriage to a good guy would be one of them."
The elderly woman patted her arm. "Don't go looking at the exteriors," she advised. "Just 'cause he's an idiot about flowers and chocolates doesn't mean he won't make a good husband and a good father. My Lee wouldn't know a tulip from a rose, but I wouldn't trade him for anything." Kate smiled and nodded, and the lady winked. "I best be going. My grandson will start hollering for food."
Kate nodded. "Thank you, ma'am," she said, indicating the diapers she was now holding.
"Formula's just down there," the elderly woman added helpfully, and Kate nodded, moving farther down the aisle.
The old lady kept pushing her cart down towards the front of the store. She stopped in front of Gibbs, who turned from Paulie and nodded in a quiet, friendly acknowledgement. "Ma'am." He looked slightly taken aback when she narrowed her eyes at him in appraisal.
WHAP She slapped the back of his head. Gibbs looked at her, stunned, as she pointed a bony finger at him. "You get that girl of yours a ring, and hurry it up. She's not getting any younger, and you certainly aren't either!"
Kate now turned back, her arms full of diapers and formula, just in time to see the elderly lady put her arm back down by her side, and Gibbs looking shocked. She wanted to just drop everything and have very good laugh; what Tony wouldn't have given to see that bewildered look on Gibbs' face. Too bad she didn't have a camera; she could make a pretty buck selling pictures of a shocked Gibbs around the office.
She came over, dropping the things into the cart. "What happened?" she asked curiously. Gibbs turned an indescribable look on her, and Kate frowned in puzzlement. "What?"
Chapter End Notes:
Casefile. Posted to ff.net 7-31-05 to 8-5-05.