The Silent Season by Karie

[Karie]

Hey all, I figured since I love to write, I would try keeping my fics in one thread, make it easier to find the series I am working on. It’s called the “Silent Season” since there are only words. These stories have all been betaed by Rinkle except the first one entitled “One Year Later” which is really just a drabble, to be honest. I hope you enjoy what I have written and be honest if there is something you don’t like about it, let me know. I will be putting them in order as they were meant to be read, so it is easier to follow.

[Karie]

One year later…

Disclaimer: I do not own any NCIS Agents. They all belong to CBS and DPB.

Pairing: None at this time.

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Five people stood together on the bow of a small sailing yacht. They each held a glass of champagne in hand and a somber expression on each face. It had been exactly one year since her death. And this was a quiet celebration. A celebration of her life and dreams. And it was a time to remember. No one spoke.

After a few hours, the Captain of the boat drained the last of his glass and set it down. Turning to the others, he was the first to finally speak.

“Caitlin Todd was a good agent and an equally good friend. She has been sorely missed. No one could ever replace her. But hopefully, one day soon, we will find someone to help fill her void.”

Those assembled; Anthony Dinozzo, Abigail Sciuto, Timothy McGee and Dr. Donald Mallard, nodded their heads in silent agreement and drained their glasses as well. Finally they sat quietly as the Captain, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, moved to steer the yacht back to the harbor.

A year had come and gone, and still they felt empty.

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Author’s note: This is the drabble that started it all; I like to think that if DPB bought this little bit from me, it would come at the end of a season finale. I purposefully did not give the boat a name, but yes it is the boat that Gibbs had been working on in his basement. I hope you like it enough to comment for me.

[LJG_NCIS]

I really like it Karie, and I can't wait to read more!

[nikkinor]

That was reall sweet and really good Karie, I liked it a lot.

[Karie]

Tomorrow I will work on the acts for the first episode "Filling the Void".

[LJG_NCIS]

Great! I'm looking forward to it.

[Karie]

Disclaimer: I do not own the show, the original characters, or anything else. I do own Maggie Sauer. Who is she, you ask, read and see. If DPB wants her, he can have her for the right price, and I get to write her dialogue and scenes.

Pairing: None at this time, each episode is different so what goes for one, will not always go for all.

Rating is for Language and content.

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Act one:

He sat up suddenly, breathing heavily and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He had fallen asleep. He didn’t think he could do that anymore. He rolled over and looked at the clock, and then he groaned. 5 AM. God, Ducky is going to kill me if I don’t take better care of myself. He rolled away from the clock and tried to go back to sleep. It wasn’t working. What had Abby said? If you can’t sleep, think about what woke you and put it out in the open. When you can’t remember anymore, you can go back to sleep. Only he didn’t want to go back to sleep. The dream he had was a nightmare. The nightmare was a memory he did not want to go back to.

He crawled out of bed and pulled on a shirt, and his jeans. Scratching his head, he walked out of the bedroom and downstairs to the basement. Once he was there, he turned on the light, picked up a sander and began to sand a piece of wood. Jethro Gibbs was tired. But he would not sleep. To sleep was to give place for remembering. And if he remembered, it would be remembering Caitlin all over again.

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She raced through the woods of the park, her brown hair pulled up into a tight pony tail. Her lean body cut smoothly through the air as sweat glistened on her skin. Her eyes stared straight ahead, but she was aware of everything around her. She wasn’t afraid of anything at this moment. There was nothing to be afraid of. This was one of the things she loved to do, run. He had taught her to love it.

Suddenly, there was a beeping from her side. Slowing down to a walk, she took the pager off her hip and looked at the message. DB EPGC Back 9. She looked around and headed towards the nearest road to find a taxi.

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It took her a couple of hours to get to the East Potomac Golf Course and by that time, there were police cars everywhere. She exited the taxi, paid the cabbie, and walked through the gates. After a few minutes of talking to the beat cops on the scene, she got a ride on a golf cart out to where the body was. Her team was already there, examining the surrounding area for evidence. They looked up as she came over the rise.

The body was at the bottom of a sand trap on the back nine of the course. He was face down with the hands tied behind its back. It… HE had been a blonde. She could tell that from the fuzz that made up his hair. And he was Navy Personnel. Something she could tell from the uniform he wore.

Damn! She swore to herself. This is not what I needed today.

She turned to her team and glared around. “Alright, boys let’s get down to it. We don’t have much time before we get NCIS in here breathing down our necks about this guy. He has a military uniform, which means they are going to want the body. So, don’t touch it. Cover it over and weight the edges so as to protect it. Get it a name. Get me a wallet or some other form of identification.”

She noticed the briefcase on the ground some small ways away from the body.

“Open that case, I want to know what’s in it.”

They did, and found identification for the body. There was only one thing wrong.

Double Damn!

“A Fed?” asked one of the boys in the trap.

“Yeah. A Fed. This means we now have a new problem. Not only do we have a dead navy boy, but now we have a dead navy fed. You don’t have to worry about what this means, just start baggin’ and taggin’. And please, make sure you wrap the case separate from everything else.” She walked over to one of the trucks that carried their equipment and sat on the bumper. “And does anyone have coffee?”

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She got her coffee about the same time that the first truck with NCIS markings came into view. She had already warned Langley Feds as soon as she could and she expected them to show up at any time. The truck parked, its tail end pointed towards the trap. Also driving across the green was a silver Acura with government plates and another truck, which parked next to the first. People began to empty out of the vehicles and make their way towards the trap, and consequently, towards her. One of them looked very familiar.

She stood up, wiped the dust from her rear-end and marched over towards the first person in the group who looked to be the leader. Stepping in front of him, she stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Just a moment. Detective Maggie Sauer, nice to meet you. This is my site, and you need to talk to me before I let you go any further.”

The moment she mentioned her name, the familiar guy jerked his head towards her and looked coolly into her eyes. That’s what she had thought. She did know him. And now, he remembered her. Fine by her, she still had a job to do.

“Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, pleasure. These are Agents McGee and Dinozzo. Also our Chief M.E. Dr Mallard. Since you are the…” Here he stopped and took in her attire. She didn’t back down or turn self conscious, so he continued, “Officer in charge of the situation, perhaps you would care to bring us up to speed?”

She nodded before leading them to the edge of the trap so that they could take in the scene below them. “This is what we have. One DB in Naval Dress uniform, face down, hands tied behind his back. Briefcase found on the ground near him had an ID for a Samuel Masters. Due to the dress, we didn’t touch the body.”

“Thank you Detective, that makes our job easier.” Gibbs went to move around her, but she blocked him again.

“One more thing about this. The ID was that of a Federal Agent. F.B.I. So we had to call the Feds.”

Gibbs sighed. Now he understood why she was in control of this. She had a problem and she was trying to keep it all from going Defcon 1 on her. He looked around for a bit, and then noticed the black sedans that were indicative of the F.B.I. The first person to step out made him smile, just a bit.

“Fornell…” he said under his breath. Dinozzo and McGee looked around to see and glanced at each other. Their expressions were somewhat unreadable.

“Gibbs, what’s going on here? I get a call that one of my agents is dead?” Fornell walked up to Gibbs, looked over the edge of the sand trap and saw what all the fuss was about.

“Fornell, this is Detective Sauer. She’s running this show today, so we have to take our cues from her.”

Fornell nodded and Maggie felt that was her chance to keep things as quiet as possible. She led them over to the van where she could sit and relax a bit with her coffee that someone had refreshed. Nice to know someone was keeping up with her.

“Ok, this is how it has to go. Gibbs, the body is in naval dress, so that leaves it to you until it can be identified completely. The information in the case is federal based, that goes to Agent Fornell here. I get the scene itself as well as the civilian witnesses. Now who wants the press?”

Gibbs glances at Fornell, who shrugged and said, “Fine, I’ve got the press. If that is alright with you Ma’am?”

“Sounds fair to me. Very well gentlemen, since that’s all I have, this concludes the discussion.” She smiled, stood up and linked an arm with Ducky. “Now Dr. Mallard, let me walk with you to the body. I am dying to know how he died.”

Tony snorted quietly. McGee looked back at him with a quizzical look on his face. “You say something?”

“Nah. It’s just… that detective.”

McGee turned to look with him. “Don’t tell me you know her… She one of your ex-pick-ups?”

“Nope. Ex-best friend in college. Haven’t seen her since we both went to the academy. She went one way, I went the other. Never saw her again, until now.” Tony smiled slightly. “She looks good.”

McGee stopped and looked at his friend. “She looks good? That’s all?”

“You expected me to say she was hot or something, McGee? Didn’t I tell ya? I don’t do that anymore.”

McGee didn’t know if he believed him or not. “Come on Dinozzo; let’s see if we can help Ducky.”

Dinozzo nodded.

As they made their way to the edge of the trap, Maggie was headed for the edge to climb up again. Dinozzo instinctively reached out to help her, grabbing her right wrist and hauling her out of the trap. She climbed up to his side, looked up, and then quickly pulled her hand out of his.

“Thanks,” she mumbled to him as she edged around him to leave.

Dinozzo watched her go and sighed. “Your welcome.”

Ducky and a few other cops pulled the body out of the trap on a back brace and walked it to the truck. Gibbs spoke with Fornell for a moment before walking back to his car. “Dinozzo, McGee, let’s get back to Head Quarters and give Abby this trace evidence before we run out of time with the body.”

“You don’t think we can keep it, Boss?” asked Dinozzo.

“I don’t have the slightest idea, Dinozzo.” Gibbs sat in his car and started the engine. “But I don’t like how this is sitting one bit.”

[Karie]

Act 2

Tony sat at his desk and stared across the aisle to the empty desk chair that was Caitlin Todd’s. It had been a year since her death. A year since Ari, that nice guy, managed to fool the entire team so that he could take out Kate. Tony wanted to scream sometimes, but he kept quiet. It’s not that he loved her. Not really. She simply reminded him of someone, which he finally saw, for the first time in years, today at that crime scene. God, why today of all times, did he have to run into her now?

He wondered why she couldn’t bare to be near him. Why she sounded so cold when she spoke to him. They had known each other for a few years, and he still sent her cards and letters, but never received anything else back from her. It was like she didn’t want to acknowledge that they had ever met. McGee had inferred that perhaps she was another of his dates. Flavor of the week as Gibbs and Kate had mentioned once to him. But she wasn’t. It hadn’t been like that with her. She was special. She had kept him on his toes a lot of the time. This is what he had loved about Kate as well.

McGee came into the bullpen carrying two cups of coffee. He offered one to Tony, who accepted it with a word of thanks, then went back to typing up reports. No one had noticed it, but Tony Dinozzo was trying to be very much a changed man. He hadn’t dated as much since Kate’s death. He was still the wise cracker of the team, but he was still smart. He finished his typing course and passed, then went to work on other things, like his sketch work. Yet he still wasn’t as good as Kate on that. He also had attempted coming into work earlier and getting his share of the reports in on time. He thought maybe Gibbs had noticed that, but knowing Gibbs he would never say anything about it out loud.

Speaking of Gibbs, the man himself walked in about that time, with a cup in one hand and a report in the other. “Well, according to Detective Sauer, the witnesses can’t give much in the way of information. They weren’t there when the body was dumped, so it was a shock to everyone. She says there was quite a struggle though, so it means that the trap could actually be the original scene of the crime.”

Tony looked up. “What did Ducky say was COD?”

“He says it was death by strangulation. But he is a little leery of that, because there are some markings on the body that he can’t account for. And Fornell says we can keep the body. He trusts Ducky’s work more than anyone else’s. Sauer said she wanted to be there when we questioned Masters’ bunk mate, one Petty Officer Ted Rock. Dinozzo, you’re with me. McGee, I want you working on a timeline as to where Masters was starting from two nights ago.”


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Tony looked around for Maggie, but she hadn’t shown up yet. It’s not that she was late. It’s just that he had hoped to talk to her before they went to work. When she did finally show, it was too late for talk. Gibbs was ready to get to work fast. She nodded to Gibbs as he let her go up the stairs first. Tony watched her for some time, noticing the changes in her from when they were in college. Instead of the jeans and t-shirts she’d loved so much, she now wore matching pants suits that complemented her hair color and eyes. Her hair was short now, almost coming to her shoulders and was turned under in a tasteful style. Tony figured she chose that style for the ease of caring for it. She wore flats rather than heels. That meant if she had to run after someone, the shoes wouldn’t twist her ankle. She did remember what he had taught her!

As they reached the level where the Petty Officer was billeted, she glanced over her shoulder and caught Tony’s eyes on her. He looked down suddenly, so as not to make her think he was staring. Then he realized that that was worse, as she would realize he was embarrassed for staring, and brought his eyes back up to meet hers again, but she had already looked away. He sighed inwardly.

They reached the door to the Petty Officer’s quarters and Maggie slowed. Tony looked up and noticed something wasn’t right. The door looked like someone had been there already. And whoever it had been, had decided to knock rather strongly. It hung inward on its hinges, but only just barely. And there was a TV blaring inside. Tony moved past Gibbs and Maggie to take point, drew his gun and called out for the Officer. There was no answer. Gibbs and Maggie also drew their guns. Tony tried to stand in between Maggie and the door, in case someone tried to shoot at them from inside.

The only sound was the TV. It was showing some commercial about a cola and it was turned to an uncomfortably loud level. Tony looked back at Gibbs and motioned to the bathroom. Gibbs nodded and headed in that direction. Maggie hung back at the door and watched carefully. Tony made his way over to the TV, but tripped on something on the floor on his way over. He looked up at Maggie and pointed to the light switch on the wall behind her. She nodded and flicked it on.

There, in the middle of the room, was Petty Officer Ted Rock. He was face up, but his hands were again tied behind his back. He was also in full dress uniform. There was a look of panic on his face. Tony reached down to close his eyes as Maggie walked up to the TV and turned it off. Gibbs walked up, looked around Tony and swore under his breath.

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They were still looking around the room when Ducky, McGee and Fornell showed up to help. In the top drawer of the dresser, Maggie found the Federal Agent ID with Rock’s face in it, yet having a different name. There was also a case under the bed with yet more sensitive material inside.

Ducky looked the body over, gave an estimated time of death and took the body away for further examination. Maggie’s crew and Fornell’s men worked together to tag evidence with McGee as the three heads of the combined team, as well as Tony, went outside to confer.

“Another Navy boy with a Fed wallet. This is getting unusual,” Maggie started.

“These boys aren’t in any department that I know of, Gibbs. I don’t know who they are, or what they were working on. This stinks of a set up, but I don’t know who they are setting up!” Fornell was getting agitated now.

Gibbs nodded and turned to Maggie. “Did you get anything more from the original site?”

“Nothing at the moment from all the witnesses we interviewed. The area surrounding the body is so full of scuffs and markings; it is difficult to tell what the situation was. There are some prints around the edge that we were able to make castings of. One was of a male boot print and the other was a woman’s heeled shoes or boots. This means the edge of the trap could have been the beginning and it ended somewhere down in the trap. For this body, it’s a different situation. This one looks like the original site for this death. So we might get a better idea what happened.”

Gibbs nodded, and then turned to Tony. “Dinozzo, I want you to go back to the first site with Detective Sauer and see if you can figure out who has been coming in and out. It’s a public course so anyone could have been there. Since it’s only open at certain times, you might check the surveillance cameras for the time that Ducky gave as an estimated time of death. Meanwhile I will go back in there with McGee and finish processing the scene.”

“Right Boss,” answered Tony as he turned towards the car. Maggie came with him and they both climbed in the car. Neither said a word as Tony began to drive. The silence was awkward and Tony tried to figure out what he wanted to say first.

“I’m sorry I never wrote back to you,” she said, breaking the stony silence. Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, you have been busy. Same as me, work and stuff getting in the way.”

“No. I just didn’t try to find the time. I didn’t want to write back.”

“Oh.” Tony didn’t know what to say to that.

“My mother continues to send on all your notes and letters. As well as your Christmas and birthday cards to me. She liked you a lot and thought it was unfair of me to stop talking to you.”

“Why did you stop?”

She looked at him. He didn’t flinch. They had stopped at a red light and he could turn his attention to her for a moment. “I don’t know.”

That was all she said. Tony continued to stare her down, but she turned her head and nodded to the light. “It’s green.”

He nodded and turned his attention back to driving. There it was. That was all the explanation he was going to get for the time being. Wasn’t exactly what he was expecting. But then he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. But that sure wasn’t it. He sighed inwardly, not for the first time, and kept driving. If she didn’t want to tell him, then he wasn’t going to argue. He had other things to worry about for the time being. The first being who had killed the Petty Officer and his bunk mate and why.

They stopped at the office of the golf course and went inside. After flashing a couple of badges and some pearly whites, they got the information they needed and headed back to NCIS head quarters. Tony offered to take Maggie back to where ever she had her car, but she said that head quarters was fine as she wanted to get the preliminary diagnosis from Ducky first hand. He nodded and continued to drive.

He tried small talk. “How is your mother?”

“She was fine the last I heard.” She looked up. “She said to tell you, she missed having you around to eat her left-overs.”

“Tell her, thank you for thinking about me.”

“I will.” More silence.

“So are we going to continue like this?”

“Like what?”

He slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a halt on the side of the road. Maggie simply stared straight ahead. If she was scared by the suddenness of the move, she made no indication. He slammed the car into park and turned to regard her. “This Mags. What is going on here between us? You are short and cold and so not being yourself right now. Did I do something and not know it? What’s wrong?”

“There is nothing wrong, Dinozzo. Now let’s get back to the office so I can get my report.” And that was it. She wouldn’t look at him, wouldn’t speak to him. After several long moments passed, Tony gave up and started driving again.

Yet, in his mind he was thinking. This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
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After Tony had driven them back to HQ, he asked to go home early. He claimed to not be feeling well. Since there was nothing really for him to do at that time, Gibbs agreed. Plus Gibbs noticed that Tony looked a little pale, although he wouldn’t admit to feeling worry for the young agent. Maggie said she would get a ride back to her car later, for which Tony was grateful. He didn’t think he could handle another car ride with the Ice Queen again. She was so unlike what she used to be.

Tony went home, and checked his messages. Twenty-three calls from girls that he had dated at one time or another, and asking him to call them sometime soon. Used to, he would always have a date. He never had to worry about going to bed alone. Now, he welcomed it like a sanctuary. When he was home, he knew he wasn’t dishonoring Kate. He never wanted to do that again. He remembered all the times she would look at him in disgust, call him a pig. Laugh at him for bragging about his latest accomplishment in the realm of flirtation and women. He hated himself for that. He didn’t know why, but he felt better about not dating more women than one could in a year. He did still like many other things he was known for, such as action movies and TV, and other things that were extremely manly things to do. He still wanted to go sky diving, but that was something he would put off for a little while longer.

He shucked off his shoes, grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and noticed the casserole that his neighbor left him. That was another thing that bothered him. He could cook, but for some reason the little old ladies of the building thought he should be stocked in ready to eat meals. They felt sorry for him because he was always either working, or out with some woman. He never brought any of the ladies he dated home with him. And it was such a nice apartment. He just didn’t want them to get the wrong impression that he wanted anything more than a quick night on occasion. Yet another reason to ‘quit’ women, as it was.

He sat on the sofa and looked around his nice apartment. It was a nice quiet apartment, with no color or warmth to it. His home was actually rather sparse and neat. He reached over to the end table and pulled out the graduation yearbook for his college. He leafed through it until he found her picture. Margherita Sauer. Tony laughed a little, thinking about when he had first seen her name in print. She hated that name, which was why she insisted on going with the short form of Maggie. Her mother had said it meant ‘pearl’ but Maggie never felt like one.

Tony stared at the picture of Maggie Sauer, his best friend, and fell asleep. His dream showed him the Maggie that he once knew. She was next to Kate, actually being assessed by the other woman, his partner and fellow agent. With a critical eye, Kate examined this Maggie from all angles. Then she turned to Tony and smiled that mischievous grin of hers and said, “Sorry Tony, this one couldn’t keep up with you anyway.” Then he saw the new and, much as he hated to admit it, improved Maggie. Kate examined her the way she had the other version and then smiled again. “Oh yeah, this is much better, Tony. She could actually give you a run for your money! Too bad you can’t get into that head of hers and figure out where you screwed up. Ah! Well… it won’t matter much soon. This case will soon be over and she will walk back out of your life.”

The dream faded and Tony woke with a start. It was the first time he hadn’t screamed out for her. This time he had something more important on his mind. Kate was right, if he didn’t do something fast, Maggie was going to walk back out of his life as quickly as she walked in!

[LJG_NCIS]

Karie, this is soooo good. Keep 'em coming!

[Karie]

Tomorrow hun, I'll have the next act up tomorrow. And on another note, pay attention to the special One Shots that might be popping up later. I realized that there was a missing scene in one of my fics that needs to be addressed.

[Karie]

Act 3

Di-di-di, Di-di-di. Gibbs read the ID on the phone, noticed that it was Fornell, and answered with a terse “Gibbs.”

“Gibbs, I found them. Meet me outside in ten minutes.” Fornell hung up and Gibbs looked around to see who was in the bullpen. McGee sat at his desk typing paperwork. Tony was out getting coffee. And that young Detective, what’s her name, Sauer, was not in yet. Gibbs stood up and headed out. McGee looked up towards him.

“I’m going for a walk, McGee. Get back to work!” McGee nodded and went back to typing. Gibbs got in the elevator, punched the down button for the lobby and waited. Within minutes he was on ground level, standing outside the office building with Fornell.

“What have you got, Tob?”

“It’s about Masters and Rock. Not the names they were going under as Agents. Their true names I can’t give you yet. They were part of a security detail for an Admiral Stacker. The Admiral had been threatened and he was concerned for his family. So we had a few boys that were ex-naval personnel. We set them up with IDs and backgrounds. Get them on the base, close to the Admiral’s family. Last they were seen was at an awards ceremony on base. They finished their watch, and headed home. That was two days ago.”

“Ducky puts their times of death at 12 midnight on Tuesday. That would be soon after the ceremony. So the last people to see them were at that ceremony… Ok, I’ll get that list and check it against the list we got from the Golf Course and see if anything clicks. Do you have anything else?”

“Masters had a girlfriend named Sylvia Card. I’m sure you can get her address. She may know more about this. At any rate, she hasn’t been told about Masters’ death yet.”

“Right, I’ll send Dinozzo and McGee over right away.”

Fornell smiled and turned to leave. Gibbs did likewise but stopped when Fornell called back to him. “So Gibbs, what do you think about that Detective Sauer? She’s some hot number, ain’t she?”

“That’s Dinozzo’s department, Fornell, not mine.”

“What’s my department, Boss?” asked Dinozzo as he walked up with the coffee.

“Fornell was talking about Detective Sauer. What do you think of her Dinozzo? You think she’s “hot”?”

Dinozzo’s face scowled at Gibbs and Fornell. “Hot? HOT? Let me tell you something, Gibbs. There are a lot of things I would think about Maggie Sauer. I would never think of her as ‘hot’. She’s much better than that.”

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked back into the office with the coffee. Gibbs looked at Fornell, who returned a look of ‘What the hell was that all about?’ to Gibbs before turning back to his car and leaving.

Gibbs followed Dinozzo into the building and caught up to him at the elevator. They rode up together in a stony silence that was normal for Gibbs, yet very unusual for Dinozzo. Gibbs looked at him.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Is it about the dating jokes? Cause if it is, we didn’t mean it really. They were jokes.”

“Why are you explaining yourself? You never explain yourself. You make snide remarks, but never explain yourself. No, it’s not about the girls I dated.”

“Then it’s about Kate? You know its no one else’s fault but Ari-“

“It’s not Kate either!”

Gibbs stared straight ahead. “It’s about Sauer.”

Dinozzo looked at him with a murderous glare. “Maybe it is. Doesn’t mean I want to talk about it.”

“You knew her. I could tell you knew her the moment she said her name. I felt you tense up.”

“I knew someone that looked like her. I knew someone that talked like her, sounded like her, smelled like her. I know this isn’t her anymore. This woman, she isn’t the woman I knew before. She’s different.”

Gibbs kept his mouth shut for a moment. Both men were acting very different from what they normally did. Neither knew how to deal with it. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Both men left, feeling very uncomfortable indeed.

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When Gibbs looked up again, he saw Detective Sauer walk into the bullpen. She looked cool and crisp, much like she looked the day before. Even when she was at a crime scene, she always looked calm. The way she handled Dinozzo was interesting. She acted as if she could take anything he dished out. And she knew how to handle herself on a case. Gibbs began to get a crazy idea in his head.

“Detective Sauer, it’s so good to see you. Want some coffee? I can send Dinozzo or McGee down for you.”

“No thank you. Where are we in the case?”

“They are Feds. Set up to protect an Admiral Stacker. I’m taking McGee with me to check with the Admiral. I want you to go with Dinozzo to speak to Masters’ girlfriend, Sylvia.”

“That’s just fine with me. Just let me call the station.”

“You can use the phone at that desk,” said Gibbs, and without thinking, pointed to Kate’s desk. She sat down and picked up the phone, dialing the Captain’s personal line.

Dinozzo walked in with McGee from getting a report from Abby about the trace off the briefcase. They both stopped short as they saw Sauer sitting at the desk. Gibbs looked up, then followed their gaze and stopped short on her as well. He didn’t speak for a moment. Sauer finished her call, looked up and blanched slightly at the looks she was getting.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Dinozzo was the first to snap out of his daze and step up to the desk, holding out a hand and helping her out of the chair. “No, it’s ok. You didn’t know whose desk you were sitting at. We know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Didn’t mean anything by what?” She looked over at Gibbs. “You know, why don’t we talk about this in the car. Gibbs? The address to the girlfriend?”

Gibbs agreed and handed the address over. Dinozzo grabbed his jacket and led her out of the bullpen, onto the elevator. McGee looked at Gibbs.

“Yeah, McGee, I know. I just realized it myself before she came in.”

“I’ve seen how she treats Tony. Do you think she could work with this group?”

“She’s already doing it, Tim. And she is doing it quite well. I think we need someone to help fill the void Kate left. And I think Sauer will do nicely in filling it. Don’t you?”

“Sure Boss. But I’m not sure how Tony will take it.”

“Dinozzo will take what I feed him, or he’ll walk. But I think this will work out just fine.” Gibbs began to smile as he turned away to work on something else. Something very important to all of them. They just hadn’t realized it yet.

[LJG_NCIS]

This is great Karie. Really getting interesting.

[Karie]

Glad you like it, I think that was act 3, two more to go in this episode. I think if it get's long, I may make a website or put it in my live journal and link it instead.

[Karie]

Sorry it took so long, weekend and all. Here is the next act. I am seriously thinking of making a webpage for this season, and then updating on here the one shots that I am working on.... maybe.... Let me know what you think would be best.

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Act 4

Tony drove at a comfortable speed as they made their way to the address Gibbs had given them. Maggie waited for him to say something, anything. She didn’t know what she had done, but obviously she had done something to upset the guys and she wanted to know what she did. Now she understood why Tony felt the way he did. But her indiscretion was very fresh and the one she wouldn’t tell Tony was years ago. It was harder to fix.

“Her name was Kate, and she was a damned good agent.”

She sighed in relief. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s ok. Like I said, you didn’t know. It was a year ago.”

Maggie didn’t say anything. But something was bugging the back of her brain. A question that she needed answered. “Did you-?”

“No.”

“Would you have-“

“NO!” Tony drove faster, but he was still careful. “It wasn’t like that between us, ok? It was different. It was more like a brother/sister relationship.”

Maggie was silent for a moment. She glanced at him, and flinched. He was tense, with a tight jaw and his hands clenched on the steering wheel. Then a thought came to her and she voiced it.

“Like you and me? Best friends and all that.”

“Yeah, like you and me. Like we used to be.” He kept driving, but she noticed that he had relaxed a bit. “You know, she reminded me a lot of you.”

“Which is why you didn’t mind my sitting there in the chair?”

“Yeah, I guess. It was just that, you seemed so natural a fit to that space. It scared me a bit.”

“What scared you?”

Tony didn’t answer because they had reached the apartment building of Sylvia Card. He parked the car and they both got out at the same time, heading towards the stairs that would take them up to her apartment.

Sylvia Card was a very attractive woman. The kind of woman that would have made Tony sit up and take notice. But that was the ‘Old’ Tony, not ‘New’ Tony. The ‘New’ Tony simply introduced himself and Maggie and asked if they could come in to question her about her boyfriend. She said that they could and soon they were sitting on a black leather sofa across from her. She sat delicately in a chair, her soft hands crossed on her lap. She flicked her head to toss a lock of hair out of her eyes and smiled at Tony. He didn’t respond, so she turned her attention back to Maggie.

Her answers to Maggie’s questions were short and exact. Yes, she was dating Petty Officer Masters. No, she had not seen him in two days. Yes she knew his bunkmate Petty Officer Rock. When Maggie asked if she had a picture of Masters, she produced one that happened to be right next to her on the side table. Now was the hard part, telling her that her boyfriend was dead. Tony heard dogs yipping in the next room and turned his head in that direction.

“Those are my spaniels, Agent Dinozzo,” she answered his unspoken question. He nodded. He had noticed the leashes hanging in the hall. “I have three of them. Sam loves my spaniels.”

Maggie sat forward. Tony knew that pose. She was about to give bad news, something he was no good at. He was glad Gibbs had sent her with him. Maggie was so much better at this. She had practiced it enough during their academy days

“Miss Card, we wanted to ask you about Samuel, because something has happened. It isn’t good.”

Sylvia sat straighter, if that was at all possible. “What about Sam?”

“Miss Card, Sylvia… May I call you Sylvia?” the other woman nodded, so she continued. “Sylvia, Petty Officer Masters was not a Naval Officer. He was an Agent with the F.B.I.”

This interested Sylvia a bit, but she said nothing. Maggie went on. “Two days ago, Agent Masters and his partner, Agent Rock, were on a case. They hadn’t been seen since the Awards ceremony that they were working. Both have since been found.”

By now Sylvia knew what was going on. Her face began to fall slowly as Maggie spoke. By the time Maggie was done, she was weeping openly. Tony reached over with a box of tissues. She took a few and thanked him quietly. Maggie continued explaining in quiet tones the death and the involvement of the NCIS as well as the F.B.I. It didn’t take long to bring her up to speed. Then the next questions began. Did she know of anyone who might have known that Masters and Rock were agents? Did she know that they were assigned to Admiral Stacker? Did she know Admiral Stacker? They got ‘no’ to each question. Soon every question had been asked and it was time they left.

Tony stood, with Maggie beside him. They both said their goodbyes and Sylvia let them out. They walked over to the car and sat inside, trying to figure out where to go next.
“What do you think?” asked Tony.

“She was lying. She knew something about those guys she wasn’t letting us know.”

“She was trying to charm me.”

“I noticed that. I also noticed you ignoring her. A beautiful woman like that and you don’t even glance her way.”

“Not my type.”

“What type is that?”

“The type whose brain is her beauty.”

Maggie smiled. “I never thought you would fall for the smart girls.”

“I never did before.” Tony smiled back at her. “So what do you think of the team?”

Maggie took her time answering. He had slipped to a different direction and she wasn’t ready for it. “It’s a nice team. Do you enjoy working with them?”

“I love it. I’m glad I screwed up enough for Gibbs to offer me the job. He seems to like you a lot as well.”

“How can you tell?”

“You can’t usually tell. But Gibbs called you Sauer. Not detective, or Ms. He called you Sauer. The next thing you know he’s going to start calling you by your first name.”

“You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“Nah. He would just call you ‘Maggie’. The person you have to be careful of is Ducky. He loves to use your real name when he talks to you. I think he’s the only one that can get away with calling Gibbs ‘Jethro’.”

“Jethro?”

“Don’t ever call him that in person. I don’t know what he would do, but just don’t ever call him that.”

Maggie laughed, lightly. “I’ll remember that, then.”

Tony looked over at her. He loved it when she laughed. Her eyes lit up and her face glowed. He realized that he missed his old friend. He wished he could talk her into staying with them, but he wasn’t sure if Gibbs would agree with him that she was exactly what the team needed to keep going.

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When Tony and Maggie got back to the bullpen, it was to find Fornell at Gibbs’ desk.

“You know, you look really comfortable there, Fornell. But I wouldn’t let Gibbs see you in his chair. He might get upset.”

“I found out more about Masters and Rock. They were friends a lot longer than being in the Navy or working for the Bureau. They were in high school together. Last year of school, they get into some trouble. A car accident that cost the life of one of their girlfriends. The boys were exonerated and released. They straightened up their act and stuck together for years.”

Gibbs came around the corner and nodded to Fornell. “You want to get your butt out of my chair, Tob?”

Fornell stood up as Tony smirked. Maggie stood next to Kate’s desk, but she couldn’t bring herself to sit in the chair again. Tony noticed this and motioned to her that it was alright. So she sat quietly, listening to what Gibbs had to say.

“Well, the Admiral is safe. No one came after the family, and there is a new set of Agents watching them. They also hadn’t seen the previous Agents since the Ceremony. So that brings us to the boys themselves. Toby, you were talking about the boys back in the day. Do we have names for the girlfriends?”

“Their names were Sandra and Amelia Cardigan, twin sisters that knew the boys only a few hours. Amelia is the one that died. Her sister Sandra disappeared. We haven’t been able to locate her yet.”

“Alright, now Ducky said that the bodies were both strangled with an unknown weapon. And based on the strength it would take, we are looking for anyone. There are some unusual markings on the body that he still can’t account for.”

He led the group into the Situation room where they looked at pictures of the bodies on the large screens. Both bodies were laid side by side; one on its back the other on its front. The unusual marks were well defined and Ducky pointed out the flat mark with a small tip pointing down on each body. The group stared at the marks, but no one could make heads or tails of them. Tony looked closely at them, and then looked at Maggie. She looked at them as well, and then her eyes went wide.

“Ducky, how wide was the strap that made the marks, do you think?”

“Most likely it was about a quarter of an inch wide. Why do you ask?”

Maggie looked around and saw the strap of a purse dangling next to her. She reached over and unsnapped the purse strap. Then she calmly walked over to Tony, grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, and shoved him to the floor.

“Hey!” he yelped as she stepped over him. Then she flipped him on his stomach and wrapped the strap around his neck. She was wearing heels today and she planted one square in his back, right between the shoulder blades. She didn’t really pull the strap tight, but simply showed the others what she was doing. Gibbs watched from behind her and understood immediately. She then pulled the strap from Tony’s neck and he flipped over to lie under her, her legs straddling his upper torso. She again wrapped the strap around his neck and planted a foot in his chest. Gibbs nodded and she stepped off of Tony.

As he helped his friend up, McGee looked at the marks, then at Tony’s chest as he opened his shirt.

“Same marks on the Agents.”

“So it was a woman.” said Gibbs.

“Yeah, and we know the woman in question.” said Tony.

“Sylvia Card, right Tony?” continued Maggie.

“She has three dogs, but I only saw two leashes on the wall in the hallway. I’m betting she used one of them to strangle and kill both men.”

“The question is what the motive is?” Gibbs asked, glaring at Tony. He turned to Fornell and the Agent shrugged.

“Let’s find out,” said Fornell as he walked out of the room.

“Good work, you two,” said Gibbs as he looked at the marks again. Tony nodded and walked to his desk to start typing up the reports. This case was all but solved. McGee walked in and watched Tony for a moment.

“You didn’t say anything sexist to Maggie?” he asked.

“Why would I, McGee? She’s quicker with a come back than Kate was.”

“Really?” McGee looked shocked.

Just then, Maggie walked in and Tony nodded for McGee to watch. “Hey, Maggie, good job in there.”

“Yeah, sorry if I hurt you in there Dinozzo.”

“Nah, no worries. I know you had some fun with it. Best view I’ve seen in some time.” He grinned at her and put as much charm as he could into that smile.

“And the best you will ever see. Not that you would ever get to see it again. I’m off to the station, call me if you get anything.” And she walked onto the elevator.

McGee nearly choked on his coffee at her reply and he put his cup down as he looked at Tony in surprise.

“Told you so.”

[LJG_NCIS]

Haha, this is great. Can't wait to read more.