Ceindreadh's fic

[ceindreadh]

Hi there, this is my first attempt at an NCIS fic and I'd like to apologize in advance for coming up with such a twisted idea ;D

I noticed on the 'guidelines' thread there was a question about character death fic and it wasn't answered, but I figured that since TPTB have sort of set the scene that a Twilight related fic would be okay.
So here's my slightly humorous take on the events of Twilight (and yes, I do mean humorous..told you it was a bit twisted!)

-----------------------
Title: Death be not proud 1/?
Author:Ceindreadh
Email: [e-mail]
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen
Pairing/Characters: n/a
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: What happened after Twilight
Warnings: Death fic (duh!).
Notes: This is a sick and twisted idea that I got after reading a post regarding Twilight. I apologize in advance but I just couldn't help myself <g>

------------------
Kate sat up and grimaced, "Boy that last one sure stung like hell," she said as she pushed herself to her feet. She looked across the rooftop to where Gibbs and DiNozzo were standing with their backs to her. "Hey guys, everything okay over there?" she called as she dusted herself. "Did you get the second shooter?" Neither man responded to her, and Kate frowned in annoyance as she walked over to them. "Gibbs, DiNozzo, what's going on?" As she moved towards them, DiNozzo turned around, blood spatter on his face that couldn't conceal the look of anguish on it. "Oh my God, Tony, are you okay?" But he just walked right past her. "Gibbs, what the hell is going on?" And that was when Kate saw what Gibbs was looking at, stretched out on the ground.

Kate sank to her knees. "This is not happening," she said; even as she looked at her own body lying on the ground, blood pooling around its head. "This is not happening."
She looked over at Gibbs who had his phone out by now. "Gibbs, this is a mistake, I'm not dead, I'm right here." But he was oblivious to her presence as he called in to headquarters.

Kate ran over to where Tony was slumped against the wall, his head buried in his hands. "DiNozzo," Kate yelled at him. "I don't know what the hells going on, but it's probably your fault. Stop fooling around." Tony however was equally oblivious.

Kate spun around, there had to be something she could do. Maybe she wasn't quite dead; maybe if one of the guys did CPR or something then she'd wake up. "This is just an out of body experience, right guys? Don't just give up on me." She ran back over to Gibbs and tried to attract his attention. "It's a through and through, maybe it didn't do too much damage? I could just be in a coma, right Gibbs? GIBBS!" Kate waved her hand at Gibbs head, only to watch in horror as it passed right through it.

"He can't hear you Kate."

The voice cut through Kate's consciousness and she turned to see McGee standing right behind her. "Jesus McGee, you scared me to death sneaking up on me like that. What the hells going on, did DiNozzo put you up to this?" Even as Kate looked at McGee, had a horrible feeling that she knew what he was going to say. Maybe it was some special skill that came with being a ghost...or maybe it was just the three bullet wounds she could see in his chest.

McGee looked down at himself to see what Kate was staring at. "Ah yes, those."

"Oh my God, McGee...you're shot. You need to get to a doctor..." Kate's voice trailed off. "Oh no...you're not..."

McGee nodded, "I'm dead Kate...and so are you."

---------------------

Kate and McGee sat back against the wall and watched as the scene was recorded.
"I sort of feel like I should be doing something," observed Kate as an NCIS agent took photos of her body. Gibbs and Tony had left the scene by then, Gibbs under heavy protest. But from what Kate had overheard of his phone conversation with the director, he had had no choice but to turn the scene over to another NCIS team. Bad enough that he had lost one member of his team, but the discovery of McGee's body had been the clincher and both Gibbs and Tony were now back at headquarters, presumably being debriefed prior to a full investigation into the incident.

Kate sighed, "So what happens to us now, McGee? Am I doomed to haunt this rooftop for all eternity?"

"I don't think so," replied McGee. "I mean, I died down at street level, but I've been able to move around a bit since then. I guess we're not sort of stuck..." He paused and cleared his throat before continuing. "Um, Kate, I'm really really sorry about what happened to you."

Kate patted him on the knee, grateful that there was at least one person; make that ghost, that she was able to touch. "Thanks McGee, and I'm really sorry that you're dead as well. You were shaping up to be quite the NCIS agent. I just hope you didn't suffer much."

"Um, that's not exactly what I meant...see, there's something you should know." McGee took another deep breath. Okay, so he didn't need to actually breathe, but old habits died hard, at least harder than bodies. "See, when the gunfire started I knew I had to warn you guys, and when I realized I was dead, but still here, I figured I must be a ghost or something."

"So you tried to haunt us to warn us?" Kate was touched by the gesture. Okay, it obviously hadn't worked, but it was typical of McGee that he'd do his best to help his colleagues, even at the point of his own death. "That is so sweet."

"Yeah, but when I tried to sort of, I don't know, transfer myself to the rooftop, I got the wrong one...and it was the one where Ari was, and he had a high powered rifle."

"Ari? You mean it was Ari who shot me? That nice guy! I knew I should have stabbed him when I had the chance."

"Anyway," McGee continued in a hurry, hoping to get the words out before he lost his nerve. "I don't know how, but I could see that he was aiming at this rooftop, and that he was aiming at Gibbs, so I started yelling at him and jumping around in front of him, anything I could think of so he wouldn't make the shot..."

If McGee hadn't already been dead, Kate's look would have dropped him in his tracks.

"YOU distracted Ari while he was aiming at Gibbs. YOU made him hit me instead?" Kate started swatting McGee about the head. "Oh my God, you killed me...you nice guy!"

---------------

to be continued

[jo]

this is great!! i'm reading at work and grinning like a fool. hope no one walks thru till i get it under control.
i don't usually go for quirky stories like this but i can't wait to read what you have in store for us!!!!

[mcgeesgal]

This is quite interesting. I can't believe you killed McGee, but still very intriguing. A bit twisted I will agree. All the same though you've got me captivated.
I'm looking forward to how you continue this.

[ceindreadh]

I'm just going to apologize in advance for this chapter as well ;D

Death be not proud - part 2/?


[part 02]

"I said I was sorry," McGee stole a quick glance at Kate. "If I'd known that Ari was going to hit you instead, I..."

Kate sighed heavily, "I'm the one who should be sorry, McGee. I had no right to blow up at you like that. Gibbs was my responsibility and it was my duty to take the bullet for him. Damn Ari. The worst of it is he's going to get away with it. Gibbs is never going to be able to track him down. The only times he's found Ari it's because he wanted to be found. Dammit!" There was no response from McGee and when Kate looked up she saw that he was gone...or to be more accurate, *she* was gone...the rooftop where she and McGee had been sitting was gone, and instead Kate was sitting in the back of a car moving swiftly along a busy highway. The driver glanced in the mirror, and Kate recoiled as her eyes met those of her killer.

And then the car faded from her view and she was back on the rooftop with McGee calling her name.

"Kate, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," frowned Kate. "Well, apart from being dead and haunting this rooftop. What the heck just happened?"

"I don't know, one minute you were there and the next you just disappeared. Where did you go?" McGee was trying to hide his nervousness. Bad enough that he was dead and clearly doomed to be a ghost for all eternity, but having his only companion disappear on him was really not good.

"I think I was with Ari," Kate said slowly. "I don't know how it happened, but one minute I was here and the next I was in his car." She grabbed McGee's arm. "Do you realize what this means? If I can find out where Ari is going, we can capture him."

McGee looked at Kate, a skeptical expression on his face. "How? We can't exactly slap a pair of handcuffs on him." He waved his hand through the concrete wall for emphasis.

"I don't know, maybe we can get a message to Gibbs or something. There's got to be a way. No way in hell am I letting him get away *again*."

------------------------

"I can't believe that Gibbs isn't here," said Kate as she paced up and down beside her desk. "Two of his agents are dead, the killers are on the loose, and he's at home working on his boat?"

The trip back to Headquarters hadn't been the easiest. It had taken them several attempts to be able to disappear from the rooftop and reappear in the NCIS parking garage. Twice Kate had ended up back in Ari's car, but it had been growing dark and she had been unable to identify his location. But finally they had both managed to show up at the same place. Their first attempt at using the elevator hadn't been a success. They had followed a janitor into the elevator car only for them both to remain standing on the ground as the car rose to the floors above them.

Finally they had managed to transfer themselves to the office, but Gibbs was nowhere to be seen and an overheard conversation between some of the other agents on duty had revealed that Gibbs had been sent home by the director.

"So what should we do now?" asked McGee. "Try and find Gibbs at home?"

"Yes, no...I don't know where he lives." Kate paced up and down for a few more seconds before turning to McGee again. "There's somewhere I want to go first before we track down Gibbs."

------------------------------

Ducky sighed as he dropped the bullets into the tray. "Mr. Palmer, be a good chap and run those up to Abby, would you."

"Yes Dr. Mallard," said Palmer. He hesitated a few seconds before adding, "Do you want me to finish up Agent McGee?"

Ducky shook his head, "No, thank you. I'll see to young Timothy. Poor lad, he was here for such a short time."

Kate and McGee watched in fascination from the corner of the lab as Ducky continued with his work, describing to McGee's body in great detail exactly what procedures he was performing. Kate had been slightly relieved to hear that her body was currently in one of the drawers and would be dealt with the next day. "This is amazing McGee, don't you think so?" When there was no response she looked at the young agent who was wearing a glazed expression on his face. "McGee, maybe you shouldn't be watching this."

It was too late though and as Kate watched, McGee put his hand over his mouth and raced to one of the sinks where he started retching furiously.

Over at the autopsy table, Ducky stopped what he was doing and looked around. "Is there somebody there?" he called, frowning slightly. "Mr. Palmer, is that you?"

It took Kate a few seconds to realize what had happened. "Oh my God, McGee, he heard you! Ducky heard you! Now if we can only get a message through to him!"

McGee turned around from the sink, feeling a little sheepish as he realized that vomiting was another thing his ghost wasn't able to do. Technically he shouldn't have been able to feel nauseous, but then it was probably a psychological rather than a physiological response. "What, by having me vomit?"

Kate frowned at him, "No, but there's got to be some way to get through to him. So far he's the only person that's shown any reaction to our presence."

"Maybe it's because he spends so much time around dead bodies," said McGee. "The psychic emanations from a recently deceased corpse could..."

"Well I don't care why it works so long as it does."

During their conversation Ducky had returned to his task and was now busy tidying up McGee's corpse. Kate and McGee moved over to the table, McGee taking good care not to look down at his body.

"Okay, how should we do this," Kate thought carefully for a moment. "McGee, see can you move your hand."

McGee looked at Kate blankly and lifted his hand. Kate glared at him, "Not that hand, *that* hand," she said, pointing at the body on the table.

"Oh right, okay." McGee concentrated carefully and tried to lift the hand from the table but his ghostly fingers simply slipped through the flesh and the table below. "It's not working," he said. "I can't make it move."

"Patrick Swayze could do it fine," muttered Kate. "Here, let me help."

It took both their combined efforts but finally they were able to make McGee's fingers twitch. "We did it!" Kate was delighted. "Come on, let's move your hand..."

Carried away by their new found skills at manipulating objects, neither Kate nor McGee noticed that Ducky had stopped what he was doing and was staring at McGee's hand as it jerked and twitched on the table. "Oh my, Timothy?

McGee stopped what he was doing and looked up, "Uh-oh," he said as he saw the expression on Ducky's face.

------------------

"It's sort of ironic," said McGee looking down at the ground. "Ducky had to have had the biggest heart of anybody I knew. And then it went and failed on him."

"That's very kind of you to say so Timothy, but my heart was no bigger than average, as I'm sure Mr. Palmer will find out during the course of my autopsy." Ducky crouched down beside his rapidly cooling body. "I must admit that I'm rather embarrassed by my reactions. After all the time I spend talking to dead people, the one time I get a response and I succumb to a heart attack. Most embarrassing."

"We're really sorry Ducky," said Kate. "If we'd known what was going to happen then we'd never have tried to contact you."

Ducky stood and put his arm around Kate's shoulder. "My dear Caitlin, it was worth dying just to be given the chance to talk to you again. You can't imagine how painful it was believing that I'd never hear your voice again."

McGee cleared his throat ostentatiously.

"Oh and you too Timothy. I was most sorry to hear of your untimely demise. Perhaps it was the cumulative effect of all today's shocks that did my heart in, and not simply your efforts. Although I do have one complaint to make."

"And what's that Ducky?" asked Kate.

"Well I really wish that you'd waited until I was back in my street clothes before contacting me." Ducky looked down at his blue apron, which was stained here and there with various bodily fluids. "Now I'm going to be stuck wearing this thing for eternity and I had such a nice bow tie in my locker."

--------------------------

To be continued.

[dottieb]

ceindreadh said:

I'm just going to apologize in advance for this chapter as well ;D

Death be not proud - part 2/?

This is great, Ceindreadh! I loved the part with the elevator!

[mcgeesgal]

Oh, this is funny. A little wrong in a weird way, but definitely funny.

Keep up the awesome work.

[jtbwriter]

;D
C-you are wicked!!!LOL!

Great fic-I didn't know you started over here-I just read it over on FF.net.

Please continue it-much better then some piece of .... that someone posted on FF.net-kind of a sick nah-nah!

Not at all funny like this! ;D Thanks!

[ceindreadh]

Okay, here's part 3 and I probably should add a warning for gratuitious nudity ;D
Enjoy!

Title: Death be not proud 3/?
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: [e-mail]
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen
Pairing/Characters: n/a
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: What happened after Twilight
Warnings: Death fic (duh!).
Notes: This is a sick and twisted idea that I got after reading a post regarding Twilight. I apologize in advance but I just couldn't help myself <g>
Acknowledgments: I don't own NCIS or the characters but I'm just borrowing them and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.


[Part 3]

Half an hour later, Autopsy was buzzing with people. Kate, McGee and Ducky sat out of the way and watched the proceedings. Not that anybody would have noticed had they been standing in the middle of the action, but it was a bit disconcerting to have people walk right through them without a pause, so they had moved to one side.
"I must admit that I'm quite impressed with Mr. Palmer," said Ducky. "Performing CPR like that and raising the alarm as quickly as possible. All to no avail of course, but he certainly kept his cool much better than I would have believed possible under the circumstances."

Palmer had returned to Autopsy only a few minutes after Ducky's demise. Upon seeing that the body was still warm, he had called for assistance and attempted to resuscitate his boss, only giving up when the paramedics had arrived and pronounced the Doctor beyond all help. Since then he had taken charge of the situation, calling in the ranking NCIS agent on duty to report the death and insisting to the paramedics that the body remain in NCIS hands.

"Yes," continued Ducky, "I shall have no fears about leaving matters in his capable hands until a replacement for me arrives. If you will excuse me for just a minute."

Kate and McGee watched Ducky went over to where Palmer was sitting by the corpse. "I'll take good care of you, Doctor Mallard," he was saying. "It was an honor and a privilege to work with you and...I'll miss you, sir."

Ducky crouched down and said softly into Palmer's ear, "Take care of yourself Mr. Palmer." He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed that Palmer showed no sign of having heard him. On the one hand, it would have been nice if the young man could have heard his reassurances from beyond the grave, on the other hand, the last thing they wanted was for another spirit to join their number. While Palmer had shown no signs of any coronary problems, even the strongest heart could fail under circumstances such as being suddenly confronted by a ghost.

Making his way back to his companions, Ducky could see that the children were in the middle of an argument.

"I think we should go see Gibbs," said Kate. "We need to find a way to contact him and let him know where Ari is going to be."

"But we don't even know if we'll be able to get through to him," replied McGee. "And even if we do, look what happened to Ducky. What if Gibbs keels over with a heart attack or something as well? We should try and make contact with Abby. She's got a Ouija board and everything and she's not the type to get all freaked out about it. Heck, she's probably expecting us to try and contact her from the afterlife anyway."

Kate turned to Ducky. "Looks like you have the casting vote Ducky, don't you think we should try Gibbs first? He's the one who can actually do something about Ari."

Ducky was looking blankly at Kate so she explained about what had happened to her earlier and how if she concentrated she could find where Ari was.

"That's most remarkable Caitlin," said Ducky. "But not altogether surprising. It's a common mythology that when a murderer dies, the first people they meet in the afterlife are the shades of their victims come to extract revenge. So it would be only reasonable to expect that these ghosts would have some way of sensing where their killer is so that they can be there at the moment of his or her death."

Kate looked around her apprehensively at Ducky's words. "So why was McGee the only one who showed up for me. I know I've certainly killed plenty of people."

Ducky rubbed her arm comfortingly, "But you never murdered anybody Caitlin. You have only ever killed in the line of duty and you should remember that."

Kate sighed in relief. "Okay then, but I still think we should contact or at least try to contact Gibbs first."

"I'm afraid I find myself agreeing with Timothy on this one, my dear. Gibbs is a good man but he's not exactly the most receptive person when it comes to supernatural events."

"Yeah," interrupted McGee, "Remember when I brought up Spontaneous Human Combustion."

"Precisely. Which is why I feel that we should focus our attentions on Abigail. She at least is open to possibilities which Gibbs would reject out of hand, and as such I believe that we will be able to make contact with her, or indeed she with us."

"Fine then, we'll just nip upstairs to Abby's lab."

----------------------

But when they got there the lab was deserted. The bullets which Palmer had delivered to her earlier were logged in and running through some type of computer program but Abby was nowhere to be seen.
"She must have gone home," said Kate, a little disappointed.

"Or been sent home," observed Ducky. "She was very upset earlier."

"Well that's no problem then," said Kate with a grin. "I'm sure McGee here can bring us all to Abby's apartment. Right McGee? Just zoom in on her coffin or something."

It was only the lack of blood circulation that prevented McGee from blushing, but before he could formulate a reply, Ducky spoke up. "There's actually one stop I'd like to make first. Somebody I'd like to check up on."

---------------------

"DiNozzo?" said Kate in surprise as they materialized outside Tony's apartment.

"Yes Caitlin," replied Ducky. "You of course didn't see Anthony when he arrived back at headquarters. The poor chap was in a terrible state. He was still badly shaken up from the incident with the car and of course he really should still have been at home recuperating from his illness. I wanted him to check back into the hospital at least overnight just to make sure he wouldn't have a relapse, but he refused. The least I can do now is see that he's still in one piece. Rest assured, I shall not try and make contact with him, but if he's under the weather then maybe we can figure out a way to dial for help on his behalf."

"Lead on Ducky," said Kate and she and McGee followed him into the apartment.

"Hmm, it's a lot cleaner than I imagined," said Kate as they walked through Tony's living room.

"I think Tony has a maid comes in once a week or so," said McGee.

"Why do I have the feeling she's one of those maids who wear a skimpy little uniform and carry a big feather duster."

Ducky came out of the bedroom with a frown. "There's no sign of him in there."

"Maybe he went to a friends house," suggested McGee.

Kate shook her head, "His car keys are on the table, and there's the jacket he was wearing today. See, it's got my blood all over it."

"He could be in the bathroom," said McGee.

"Well somebody else can go check on him then," said Kate.

"I'll just be a minute," said Ducky. He walked over to the bathroom door and walked through it.

Kate meanwhile moved over to the answering machine. "You have three new messages," she read off the display. "Let me guess, two blonde and one red head."

Ducky's voice startled her slightly.
"Well the good news is that we don't have to worry about Anthony's health."

"And the bad news?"

Ducky stepped aside to let a boxer short clad Tony out of the bathroom. It was obvious what the bad news was, as Tony hadn't needed to open the door to get out.

-----------------------------

Tony's initial delight upon seeing Kate and McGee had been tempered slightly by their insistence on finding out the circumstances of his death.

"Was it a heart attack or something?" asked Kate.

"Does it matter Kate?" groaned Tony, "I'm dead, okay. Can we just move on from that and figure out what we're going to do next."

"Ducky, why won't you tell us?"

"Doctor patient confidentiality my dear Caitlin. Besides, it doesn't really matter now, does it."

"But people don't just suddenly die. Ducky, you didn't give him a heart attack by trying to contact him, did you?"

"Oh no, he was dead by the time I got there, most unfortunate."

"Ducky," said Tony, a warning in his voice. "Oh what the hell. Look, if it'll stop you bothering me for all eternity, I was getting ready for a shower, started feeling sick and then I tripped and bashed my head. Next thing I know I'm sitting there looking at my body and Ducky is walking through the door. I tell ya, if I hadn't already dead I'd have probably croaked just seeing him. So you happy now?"

Kate couldn't help herself and burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," snapped Tony, although his lips were twitching slightly at the absurdity of it all.

"You have to admit that it is kind of amusing," said McGee.

"Shut up Probie."

"Actually, since I died first, that means I have seniority over the two of you," retorted McGee. "So that would make me the boss and both of *you* the Probies."

Tony just stared at him in horror. "Okay, now I know I'm in Hell."

--------------------------

To be continued

[mcgeesgal]

This story just keeps getting better and better. I'm really laughing my head off over here. You keep managing to kill them all off and still find something funny about it. I like that. Death should be funny.

Keep up the incredible work. ;D

[ceindreadh]

Title: Death be not proud 4/?
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: [e-mail]
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen
Pairing/Characters: n/a
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: What happened after Twilight
Warnings: Death fic (duh!).
Notes: This is a sick and twisted idea that I got after reading a post regarding Twilight. I apologize in advance but I just couldn't help myself <g>
Acknowledgments: I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them but I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished with them.



[Part 04]

"So what do we do now?" asked Tony, once he had been brought up to date on the events so far. "Go after Ari and take down that son of a SWEETIE?"

"I don't think we could do that Tony," said McGee. "So far the most we've managed to do was move my hand." Seeing Tony's frown of puzzlement, he quickly added, "That is, the hand on my body. So I don't think we'd be able to do anything to Ari. Not yet anyway, we'd need a heck of a lot more practice."

"Besides," said Ducky. "I believe it would be most inadvisable for the dead to start taking revenge on the living. However justified we might be in doing so. Most mythologies predict direful things for angry spirits, who take out their wrath on the living, and I don't know about the rest of you, but while I'm quite happy to be a ghost, especially in such convivial company, I don't think I'd be quite so enamored to be a wraith or a boogeyman."

"So we can't do anything to Ari," grumbled Tony, resting his head in his hands. "Being a ghost sucks."

"Oh I didn't say we couldn't do anything to him, Anthony. Merely that we shouldn't kill him. We're ghosts remember, and what do ghosts do?"

Tony looked up, his trademark smile back in place. "They haunt people!"

Ducky nodded and smiled. "It may take a bit of practice, but I'm sure that between the four of us, we can manage to make that nice guy's life a living hell."

If McGee's spine had been with him, instead of resting in a drawer in the morgue with the rest of his body, he was sure that a cold shiver would have run down it at the tone of Ducky's voice.

"Well I hate to break up your happy plans," said Kate, "But haunting the guy just doesn't do enough for me."

"Not the stalker type, eh Kate," said Tony. "You know you really ought to let out some of that pent up aggression of yours in some form instead of keeping it all bottled up."

"Yeah? How about I let it out on you. Just because I want to do something constructive about stopping Ari instead of sitting around in my underwear."

"Ooh, low blow, Kate," Tony grinned, "But if you want to sit around in your underwear, don't let me stop you."

"You know the worst thing about this whole situation is that I can't even shoot you."

"Actually the worst thing about this situation is that no matter what we do, we won't be able to stop Ari from carrying out more terrorist acts," said McGee, stepping between Kate and Tony. "Look, our priority at this moment should be finding out where Ari is and communicating that information to somebody who can do something about it."

"Looks like Probie grew himself a pair in the afterlife," said Tony, although there was a note of respect in his voice. "So what do we do now?"

"Um, er," McGee was suddenly conscious of all eyes being upon him. Taking a deep breath, or at least a rough approximation of one, he said, "I think we should try to make contact with Abby."

"What about Gibbs?" asked Kate. "He's the one who can get things moving to catch Ari."

"If anybody can convince Gibbs about the veracity of a message from beyond the grave, then it would indeed be our Abigail," said Ducky with an air of finality. "And besides, it would be nice to reassure the poor child of our continued presence."

"Cool," said Tony. "You know there's something I've always wondered."

"How women manage to turn you down?" Kate smirked at him.

Tony pulled a face at her before replying, "Nope, I've just always wondered, how exactly does a Goth mourn. I mean they've already got the black clothes thing going, so what do they do when somebody dies, wear bright colors?"

-------------------------

Abby was still in her trademark Goth outfits when the team found her. Black clothes, black eyeliner and plenty of funky spiked jewelry. But it was obvious that she was upset. Even her pigtails seemed a little less perky than usual.

As McGee had predicted, she was slumped in front of her Ouija board doing her best to seek out a message from the spirit plane. The second they materialized in front of her, the Ouija board started going wild, moving frantically from side to side.

Abby immediately sat up straighter, her eyes widening. "Oh my God, this is not happening." Taking a deep breath, she put her hands back on the pointer. "Okay...is...is there somebody there?"

"Well at least she's expecting to contact one of us, so she's probably not going to keel over and die if we respond," said Kate. "Sorry Ducky."

"No apologies necessary Caitlin. Shall we try and move the pointer?" He put his finger on the pointer but it went right through it. "Hmm, this isn't as easy as I'd expected."

"Maybe Kate or I should try it," suggested McGee. "Abby's probably trying to contact one of us, so maybe I don't know, we'll be able to do it."

Kate shrugged, "What have we got to lose."

As Abby repeated her question, Kate and McGee concentrated their resources on the pointer. It took a lot of effort but they finally managed to make it point to the YES.

Abby's eyes were focused on the board. "Who are you?"

This proved a little more difficult to answer, as both Kate and McGee were trying to spell their own names. But eventually they stopped arguing and Abby held her breath as the pointer moved M C G E E K A T E.

Abby shot back from the table a look of delight on her face. "Tim, Kate, oh my God, this is so cool! Are you here, I mean really."

"Abigail, be careful dear girl," said Ducky, as Abby was now jumping round her apartment in delight and had already waved her spiked wristband through his head twice.

"I've been doing this sweets for years, and this is the first time I've gotten a proper response, or at least one I could be sure wasn't some bonehead with his finger on the pointer trying to make it tell me to sleep with him. Guys, where are you, can you let me see you?"

"Abby, watch out," called Tony as Abby's path took her over to her computer desk, but he was too late, and the team watched in horror as Abby waved her hands once too often. The spiked wristband smashed into the desk light and one of the spikes went directly into the bulb socket. There was a shower of sparks and the lights went out.

-------------------------

"You know maybe somebody put a curse on this team and that's why we're dropping like flies," said Abby.

"That'd be one explanation I'm sure," said Ducky.

"Ah well," said Abby. "You got to admit, it was a pretty cool way to go. Although I am disappointed about one thing."

"Only one?"

"Well yeah, I mean I always figured that death by electrocution would make my hair go all curly, you know like happens in the movies. But it's as straight as ever." She tutted in disappointment.

----------------------------

To be continued.

[mcgeesgal]

A curse, huh? That's definitely an interesting thought.

I'm still enjoying this. I can't wait to see what you have in store for Gibbs. Or what you have planned to possibly end the story, which of course I don't want to see you do unless you run out of funny.

[dottieb]

Oh, not Abby, too! I figured she'd stay alive because she's the only one the ghosts could communicate with. Thought they'd lead her to Ari and she'd kill him! <g>

[ceindreadh]

Title: Death be not proud 5/?
Author: Ceindreadh
Email: [e-mail]
Website: n/a
Permission to archive: Yes
Fandom(s): NCIS
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen
Pairing/Characters: n/a
Rating: FRT 13
Summary: What happened after Twilight
Warnings: Death fic (duh!).
Notes: This is a sick and twisted idea that I got after reading a post regarding Twilight. I apologize in advance but I just couldn't help myself <g>
Acknowledgments: I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.

Probably only one more part to go after this. Enjoy!

[Part 05]

"So what do we now, guys?" asked Abby, as perky as ever even in death. "Cause I think we should sneak into the guys changing rooms at that new gym downtown."

"Make it the ladies changing rooms and you've got a deal, Abs," said Tony, eyes lighting up at the prospect.

"Did I thank you yet Tony for being so considerate as to drop dead in your shorts? Because I really appreciate it."

Tony struck a smug pose.

"Did I thank you for *not* dropping dead in the shower, DiNozzo?" said Kate.

Tony pulled a face at her, "Gee Kate I don't know. Guess I never thanked you for getting your blood all over my face."

"Don't blame me for that," snapped Kate, "McGee was the one who distracted Ari at the wrong time. Hey McGee," she said, turning to the younger agent. "Next time make sure you get him to hit this bonehead instead."

"I...I said I was sorry," McGee stammered.

"Ah, what's the matter, probie gonna cry," taunted Tony.

"I told you not to call me that any more."

"Oh yeah, well make me. Probie probie probie probie...ouch!" This was in response to Kate punching him in the stomach. "Hey that's not fair. Pick on someone your own size."

"Children please." Ducky's voice went unnoticed in the noise. He turned to Abby who was watching the argument.

"You know I really wish I had some popcorn right about now, Ducky."

"I think we need something stronger than that my dear Abigail. Without a firm hand to guide them, those young people will tear themselves apart. What they need is a leader."

Abby looked at Ducky for a few seconds before putting her fingers in her mouth and whistling loudly. When the three arguers finally shut up and looked at her she said "Pack up everybody, we're going to pay Gibbs a visit."

"Um, I don't know it that's such a good idea," said McGee hesitantly. "I mean, so far everybody we've tried to visit has, you know, died."

"Hate to say it, but Pro...McGee's right," said Tony. "We're not exactly batting a thousand here."

"I'm not sure that we have any alternative," said Ducky. "We could try and make ourselves known to a psychic or medium and perhaps pass on a message that way."

"Yeah, cause Gibbs is really gonna listen to some nutcase ringing him up to say she's got a message from 'beyond the grave'," this last was said in Abby's spookiest voice.

"Oh," said Kate, unsuccessfully trying to keep a smile from her lips. "I can just see his face now."

-------------------------

"I do have one suggestion before we head over to Jethro's house," said Ducky.

"What, you want to check out the changing rooms too, Duck man?" grinned Abby.

"Tempting though the idea is, Abigail, I really feel that we should devote some time to shall we say a higher purpose."

"You were more fun before you died. Go on Ducky, what sort of higher purpose did you have in mind?"

"Well I really feel that it would be a good idea for us each to practice moving things. While Caitlin and Timothy have had some small success..."

"I told you already how sorry I was about that, Ducky," interrupted McGee.

"Yes yes, but you also told me how difficult it was to manage even that small amount of movement of a corporeal form. I believe it would be of great value to us if we were able to interact with objects with a greater degree of success. It would certainly facilitate matters when endeavoring to communicate with Jethro."

"So you want us to practice so we can go all Poltergeist on his ass?" asked Tony. "I'm up for that."

"Well considering that Poltergeist activity is usually associated with a disturbed teenager, somehow I'm not really surprised," said Kate.

Before the bickering could start up again, Abby took charge and soon everybody was busy trying to move items of Abby's belongings around the room.

"Hey," yelped Tony as he felt Abby's hand on his boxers. "We're supposed to be moving corporeal objects."

"Sorry," said Abby, "I was er, aiming for something else."

----------------------

Finally, after several hours of practice, the team had acquired some proficiency at moving an object of their choice. It was still fairly hit and miss. Sometimes a simple push was enough to send say the Ouija board pointer scurrying madly across the table, other times it took a concerted effort, but overall Ducky was fairly confident that they would be able to control enough of their surroundings to pass a message to Gibbs.

Before leaving Abby's apartment, Kate took another trip back to get an update on Ari's situation. She was unable to ascertain where exactly he was, but as he had stopped the car to fill up at a gas station, she *did* manage to get a look at the number plate.

"You did good, Kate," said Tony when she told them of her success.

The words sent a chill through both of them. The last time Tony had said that had been the last moments of normality that either of them had known.

Unaware of the significance of the words, or perhaps just keen to get moving, Ducky rounded up his troops and they prepared for the transition to Gibbs house.

"It's the middle of the night," said McGee, looking at a clock. "Maybe we should wait, we don't want to wake him up."

"Oh Timothy," said Ducky, a note of sadness in his voice. "After all that's happened today, do you really think Gibbs will be sleeping? He'll be in his basement, working on that dammed boat of his."

"Yeah, any time he's ticked he goes and works on the boat," said Abby.

"Gee, I'm surprised he hasn't finished it by now," commented Kate.

"Nah, it's any time Gibbs get ticked he works on the boat," said Tony, "not any time he pisses someone off."

The tension broken, everybody gathered round.

-------------------------

"Wow, nice boat," said McGee, impressed at Gibbs handiwork.

"But where's Gibbs?" asked Abby.

"Gone upstairs for more coffee, probably," said Tony. "So what do we do? Start writing notes in the sawdust."

Kate had moved over to a workbench. "There's a carpenters pencil here. How about we write something on the boat. Then he'll be sure to notice it." She picked up the pencil with an effort, and held it out of the way of Tony's hand.
"No way DiNozzo, we want him to be able to read it!"

Tony backed off, hands in the air.

Kate brought the pencil over to the wood and tried her best to leave an impression on it, but her hand kept slipping through the wood.

"Concentrate, Caitlin," advised Ducky. "Easy does it."

"I want to get it done before Gibbs gets back," said Kate, biting her lip. "God knows what the sight of a moving pencil will do to him."

"Yeah, cause it's gonna be waaay freakier than him just finding writing after appearing on the side of his boat," said Tony, leaning over Kate's shoulder.

"Back off, DiNozzo," growled Kate. "Damn it," she swore as the pencil nearly slipped out of her hand.

"Let me try," said Tony.

"No!" snapped Kate. With one hand she tried to push him away, with the other she slammed the pencil up against the boat, concentrating on making it touch the wood and not go through it. But she had misjudged things and instead of the pencil just touching the wood, Kate's hand slammed against the side of the boat. "Dammit!" Kate instinctively dropped the pencil and watched in horror as the boat wobbled precariously on its support before crashing heavily to the ground. "Oh no!"

"Man, is Gibbs going to be ticked!" said Abby.

"Um guys," said McGee, who had walked around to the other side to survey the damage. "I think Gibbs is going to have other things on his mind."

"Like what, probie?" asked Tony as he followed McGee around to the other side of the boat. "Oh," he said, seeing the lower half of Gibbs body sticking out from under the wreckage of the boat. "Like that."

-------------------

"Oh my God, I've killed Gibbs," groaned Kate as she sat on the steps with her head in her hands.

"Look on the bright side Kate," said Tony.

"Bright side, *bright* side...I've just killed our last chance of catching Ari. Where the hell is the bright side in that?"

Tony shrugged, "Well at least since you're already dead, Gibbs won't be able to kill you."

-----------------------

To be continued.

[Nici]

haha, great job ceindreadh! I loved every one so far! Tony and Abby's parts are just great! keep it up!

[mcgeesgal]

I can only imagine what Gibbs' reaction is gonna be. I would have never thought of killing him with his own boat, but that's quite ingenious. Unfortunately, now he'll never get it done unless somehow the after life works to his advantage in that regard.

The story is still hilarious though. I'm laughing my behind off over here. Keep up the great work.