The Cascade Effect Chapter Twenty-Two/??
The Cascade Effect
Rating: R(Will Go Up to NC-17)
Summary: One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.
Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The weekend came and went and they finished up the paperwork for the case and then went to work on cold cases. They had made out really well. Tony had found a few new leads on two cold cases that had belonged to Pacci. He’d followed up on hose leads and it had led to the arrest of one perp, a rapist that enjoyed causing harm to men in the navy, and a search for a person of interest in three assaults on three different women whose husbands were deployed overseas.
Ever since the case on the Chimera Tony had had the song Hoist the Colours stuck in his head. He had found himself singing it on his way to work or at odd moments. Thankfully no-one had caught him yet. He was on his way over to Gibbs house to hang out and help Kelly with a paper for her history class and was singing the opening lines when he walked in.
“The king and his men, stole the queen from her bed, and bound her in her bones. The seas be ours and by the powers, where we will, we’ll roam. Yo Ho, all hands, Hoist the colours high, Heave Ho, Thieves and Beggars, Never Shall We Die!”
“Nice song, DiNozzo.” Gibbs said, smirking at him.
“Shit, Boss! Don’t do that. Yeah well. Ever since the Chimera I’ve had that song stuck in my head. Did you ever figure out why they sent that missile when they didn’t know we were off the ship?” he asked as he hadn’t had a chance to before now.
“Yeah, they didn’t want the public to know about the secret op they were running. The idiot that decided that has since been dishonorably discharged. It was someone that didn’t have the proper authority to make that decision. Never consulted anyone higher either.” Gibbs said, unusually talkative for once.
“Ah. So where’s Kelly?” Tony asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Kitchen, making a snack.” Gibbs said before turning and heading to the basement to work on the boat. Tony just shook his head fondly and headed for the kitchen to get Kelly moving so they could get this paper she had due in three days done.
A few days later Tony, Kate, and McGee were working on some paperwork while Gibbs had gone out for coffee. While he was out a young woman showed up wanting to speak with Gibbs. When the elevator showed up Abby was with him.
“No.” Gibbs said as he walked out of the elevator with Abby following him.
“Please, Please. Please, please, please Gibbs?” Abby pleaded with him.
“No.” he told her.
“Ugh, okay. I’ll never ask you for anything else again ever. I promise.”
“Abby. Come on. Ever?” Gibbs knew Abby wouldn’t ever not ask for something.
“Well, okay maybe not ever but I won’t ask for anything else for at least like, a week.”
“Sure. Where and when?” He couldn’t deny Abby for very long.
“Here and now.” She told him, holding up her phone. Just as she snapped his picture McGee came up and her picture didn’t take right.
“Boss, there is a young woman here waiting to see you. I sent here to the lounge.” McGee said as he stood there waiting for Abby to take his picture.
“Name?” he asked,
“Maddie Tyler.”
“About?”
“Twenty-two, twenty-three.” Gibbs just looked at him. “Sorry. Uh, personal, she wouldn’t say.” McGee said. Gibbs began to walk off, heading towards the lounge.
“Uh. Gibbs!” Abby called after him, he turned around slightly and smiled a bit before leaving.
McGee looked at Abby questioningly. “It’s for my cell phone so when Gibbs calls his face will appear and I’ll know it’s him. See?” Abby told McGee, showing him the picture on her phone.
“Nice… print.” McGee told her. Abby turned the phone back around and saw that her finger obscured Gibbs’ picture. “Awwww” she stomped her foot in frustration.
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“Oh, Hi.” Maddie stood up to greet him.
“Special Agent Gibbs.” He said, sitting his coffee down on the table.
“I know. I, I, I mean, I remember. But you… probably don’t. I’m Maddie, Maddie Tyler. It’s been a long time. Um, I use to come over to your house. I was Kelly’s best friend. Or uh I mean at least I remember it myself, being her best friend. I like to think she thought so too.” Maddie rambled as they sat down. Gibbs didn’t realize that she didn’t know Kelly was alive, then again not many did know she was alive.
“You lived on base?” Gibbs asked her.
“Marine brat. My dad was an officer.” She told him.
“I remember. A Good man.” He did remember her father now.
“He retired, moved back to Oakland. Died a couple years ago. I’m um finishing my degree at Georgetown. Science. I guess you’re, wondering why I’m here. This is gonna sound so stupid I can’t believe I’m…I need some help and you’re the only person I know who...” she trailed off.
“Problems?” he questioned.
“Guy problems. Crazy guy problems. I went on a couple dates with him about eighteen months ago. He’s a marine. Went to Iraq, just got back a week ago. He came to see me, you know wanted to get things started again but I mean there was… there was nothing to start because nothing had ever gotten started. I tried to explain that but he kept insisting. He was desperate to move in with me and uh when I said no, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.” Maddie told him.
“Is he stalking you? Did you report him to the police?” Gibbs asked her, still wondering why she’d come to him instead of the police.
“They said there nothing they can do, it’s only been a week.” She explained. Now he understood why she’d come to him.
“He threaten you? He hurt you?” she showed him her arm, pulling her long sleeve up, showing the livid bruise.
“I don’t think he meant to, he just kind of grabbed me but, he’s really freaking me out.” Maddie told him, it was obvious she was scared.
“What’s this marine’s name?” he questioned.
“Rudi Haas.”
“Where do I find him?”
“Outside my house.”
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“Sexy!” Abby said as she snapped Kate’s picture with her phone.
“Cute!” Abby said after taking McGee’s picture.
“Pretty.” Abby told Ziva before moving to Tony.
“Tony.” Abby said after seeing the face Tony made for his picture.
“Hehe that’s the best yet.” Tony said
“Boss!” McGee said and they scrambled to get back to work so they didn’t incur Gibbs’ wrath.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were…sorry Gibbs.” Abby said as Gibbs walked past them and she had snapped his picture with the young woman.
They watched Gibbs walk to the elevator and get on with the young woman after the director had disembarked.
“Know her?” Ziva asked after they had left.
“Wish I could say I did.” Tony told them.
“Maddie Tyler.” Abby informed them.
“Who is?” Tony asked her.
“Ask McGee” Abby said.
“Said it was personal.” He told them.
“New girlfriend?” Ziva queried.
“Too young.” Abby replied.
“Not a red head.” Tony put in.
“Niece?” Ziva threw out.
“Nice. McGeek, McGoogle, her name.” Tony said, even though he knew that Gibbs’ nephew was too old and his great-niece was too young and his great-nephew was too young as well.
“Oh I can do you one better. Myspace.” McGee informed hem, having pulled up Maddie Tyler’s Myspace.
“Well, she has an eclectic taste in music. Everything from Yoyo Mott to Metallica.” Abby said, speaking her thought aloud.
“Lots of friends. College kids mainly.” McGee informed.
“And one from her childhood. My first and still my best friend, Kelly. Forever in my memory.” Ziva said, reading the caption on the photo.
“Gibbs’ daughter was named Kelly.” Abby told them. She knew that not everyone on the team knew that Kelly was alive. Actually she was pretty sure Ziva was the only one that didn’t know that Kelly was alive.
“One in the same.” McGee commented.
“Mystery solved.” Tony said, still a little confused as to what was going on but he was sure Gibbs would tell them if they needed to know. He was also sure that he would find out from Kelly if it wasn’t anything major.
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Gibbs had taken Maddie home and scared off the marine before Maddie invited him upstairs for coffee. She began looking for a photo album to show Gibbs. Once she’d found it she showed him the photo in question. Said she couldn’t remember who had taken the photo. Gibbs had been the one but had never found out why they were laughing. She hadn’t realized Kelly had never told him. Gibbs didn’t know that Maddie didn’t know Kelly was alive. He’d inform her later, once he’d gotten to the bottom of this mess that Maddie had inadvertently gotten herself into. She’d tried to give him the photo but he’d managed to thwart her attempts. He’d also learned what they’d been doing. They had buried a time capsule that day and were sitting on it when he’d snapped the picture. The Tyler’s had moved before he’d shipped out later that month because her father had been moved to another base. As he left he noticed Rudi sitting in his car on the phone. He headed towards the man and he took off. Gibbs hoped he wouldn’t come back.
When he got back to the office he had McGee run a background check on Rudi Haas. The director decided to stick her nose in where it didn’t belong. He told her it was a background check on the grounds of stalking even though Maddie hadn’t filed a complaint. McGee had stopped typing when the director showed up and started typing again when she told him to do it.
“She knew.” Ziva whispered slightly.
“Reads Gibbs like a book.” McGee said.
“Short read, not a lot of dialogue.” Tony said.
“Your kind of book.” Ziva said, not realizing what she was implying nor how close to the truth she was.
“Are you suggesting I don't read?” Tony asked, He knew that he hid his smarts from them but he hadn’t realized that they thought he was that shallow and stupid. Oh well, they’d learn the hard way.
“Think she's suggesting that you only look at the pictures Tony.” McGee told him, smirking.
“Well, a picture paints a thousand words McGee.” Tony replied to McGee’s taunt.
“And in your case most are the names of female body parts.” Ziva tossed out smugly. She had no idea just how wrong she was.
“I'll have you know that since 1981 I have been a loyal subscriber to National Geographic Magazine. Some serious picture-gazing right there.” He said, deciding to use the fact they thought he didn’t read to his advantage.
“So how'd she know?” McGee asked, curious.
“Women's intuition.” Ziva told them.
“Do you have that?” Tony asked Ziva getting a death glare from her. “Forget I asked that question.” He said.
“The director could see that Gibbs was pre-occupied with something, and she saw him with the girl.” Ziva explained.
“Sounds more like male logic than women's intuition.” McGee commented.
“Either way I think she's worried about him.” Tony said.
“Question is should we be?” McGee queried.
Gibbs had gone home and was talking to Kelly about the time capsule when Maddie called him, saying that Rudi had come back. When he got there she was gone, her door had been kicked in, the deadbolt broken. He heard her screaming and looked outside, watching as an unknown man pushed her into Haas’ car. He headed outside hoping to stop them from getting away but he couldn’t get a shot without risking hitting Maddie. He headed for his car and called Tony to tell him to put a BOLO out on Rudi Haas’ vehicle and Rudi Haas as well. He headed back to the office and immediately asked for an update. He told McGee they needed a picture of Maddie as well to send out and McGee told him Abby had on from when she’d been trying to get Gibbs; picture.
As the case progressed they found out that the man that had tried to hire Haas had the man’s SUV wired with a GPS that was activated. That’s when they found out that two of his former employees were being investigated for stealing money from Iraqi people but they hadn’t been able to find the money.
Gibbs had had to tell Shepard that Maddie was a family friend from fifteen years ago. She understood now that she must have been friends with his, supposedly dead, daughter Kelly.
After finding Haas’ body in the closed down clothing factory and his cause of death Gibbs left to go back to Maddie’s apartment. That’s when they realized that the one thing Maddie Tyler had that Haas didn’t was a street address which meant mail.
“Tony?” Jenny asked after Gibbs had left.
“Director.”
“Any idea where he went?” she asked him.
“No.”
“Hazard a guess?”
“Well he took his badge, and his gun. Maybe he's going to shoot someone.” He told her. McGee went to Gibbs’s desk.
“Oh boy!” he exclaimed, holding up Gibbs’ badge and ID. Gibbs had once again gone off Grid. He was good for doing that.
Things really began to pick up then. After Gibbs had disappeared they were hoping he’d show up.
“Calling Gibbs?” Tony asked Ziva.
“He did not pick up.”
“Worried about him?” he asked her, he was worried about Gibbs too but he wouldn’t tell her that.
“Are you?” she asked him.
“You be worried about him. I'll be tentatively troubled, privately perturbed, fleetingly flustered.” He told her. He was often flustered around Gibbs, he was just able to hide that very well. Gibbs often invoked all kinds of emotions in him.
“Have you called him?” Ziva queried.
“I would have to be deeply discombobulated to even think of calling him.” He told her, even though he had called him so he was deeply discombobulated at the fact that Gibbs had gone off grid.
After Gibbs had disappeared and they’d figured out why Gibbs had left Abby had found something. Tony went down to Abby’s lab with the director and was informed that the substance on the nails was Bluefin tuna and that there were only a few places that were involved in it and one of them was near the old docks, which is where the director had told Gibbs the two men that were being investigated had last had the GPS tracker Tony headed out. He parked the car and got out, moving slowly around the buildings. He heard gunshots and saw through the nearby fence a car go into the water. He ran around to the front of the building and shot the men that had been shooting at the car and had turned their guns on him. He shot to kill before tossing his gun and diving into the water. He first tried to open the door then smash the windows. Eventually he was able to get the window shield pulled ou and Gibbs pushed Maddie to him. He carried her up and out of the water, laying her flat on the docks before jumping back into the water to save Gibbs. Gibbs had already passed out and Tony tried to get him out but the steering wheel was trapping Gibbs’ legs.
He pulled and jerked on the steering wheel before finally he was able to break it free, releasing Gibbs from its clutches. He got the man to the surface and onto the docks next to Maddie. He checked his pulse as he had done Maddie’s but it was extremely weak and thready, almost non-existent..
“Oh God, don't make me kiss you boss!” Tony said, hoping the threat would work even though he knew it wouldn’t.
He bent down and began giving Gibbs CPR. He’d never thought the only way he’d get to kiss Gibbs would be when he was unconscious if not dead. His lips were cold from the dirty Potomac river and Tony pulled away to begin giving the man chest compression. He repeated the process several times before he knew he had to try and save Maddie’s life. He moved over to the young woman and began to give her CPR hoping to bring the water up out of her lungs. She began coughing up the water and Tony breathed a small sigh of relief before moving back to Gibbs.
%%Gibbs; POV%%
He’d watched Tony take Maddie up to the surface before trying to break the steering wheel. His lungs were burning already and he knew he probably wouldn’t make it. He just hoped Kelly would understand. His vision began to go black and he passed out, taking in water as he did.
“Jethro, go back. You need to move on. It’s okay Jethro. Go back, there’s someone who needs you more than I do. Kelly needs you, so does he. Go, Jethro. I approve. I love you, Jethro. Go back.” Shannon said, smiling serenely.
%%End Gibbs’ POV%%
Tony smiled as Gibbs began to cough up the water from his lungs. Maddie had grabbed Gibbs’ hand while he worked on his boss. He was just glad that they were both okay. Just then Ziva, McGee and Kate showed up followed by Ambulances and Ducky. How that happened Tony wouldn’t know. Gibbs tried to get out of going to the hospital but Tony made sure he went with a very quiet word in his ear. Once the crime scene had been taken care of he made the rest of the team head back to the office before going home and changing.
He’d just gotten changed when he began coughing. He must have breathed in some of the water without realizing it. He grabbed his emergency inhaler and managed to take a few puffs from it, letting the medicine go to work before heading out. He’d just arrived at the hospital when he coughed up some water from his lungs. He was able to breathe a little better because of it.
He walked in and asked after Gibbs and Maddie. They were in the same room and Kelly had just come out.
“Tony! Thank god you’re okay. Dad said you jumped in and saved him and Maddie then gave them both CPR. You should have gotten checked out at the scene.” She scolded him, leading him to the room with two beds where Maddie and Gibbs were.
“I’m fine Kelly.” Tony told her.
“Hey Boss, Maddie. How are you feeling?” he asked them.
“Don’t need to be here. Where’s the doctor?” Gibbs said, in his typical manner.
“Still reeling. All these years and Kelly was alive.” Maddie said. Tony chuckled.
“Believe me, I know what you mean. When I met Kelly for the first time she looked ready to kill.” Tony said. “Then a year ago if I hadn’t known about Kelly I would have been more pissed than I was.” He followed up before trailing off as he got another coughing fit. This time he couldn’t stop.
“Shit, Tony!” Kelly and Gibbs exclaimed.
“We need help in here!” Kelly called out as nurses came running in. She and her dad explained the situation and got him on oxygen. Dr. Pitt, who was working the ER that night had been walking past when the commotion started and they managed to get the coughing under control relatively quickly.
“Tony, you should know that because of the plague you need to be careful.” He told him as Tony was seated next to Gibbs in the chair.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You’re not gonna keep me are you, Brad?” Tony asked him.
“It depends on how stubborn you are.” Brad told him, smirking. Tony groaned.
Maddie was taken upstairs to a room and Tony ended up in her place once the bedding had been changed and everything cleaned. They wheeled him to X-Ray and got pictures of his lungs which showed that Tony just had some irritation due to the dirty water he’d inhaled.
Brad told Tony that he’d release him as long as someone would be there to keep an eye on him and Gibbs and Kelly both agreed to keep an eye on him. Tony was just glad that no-one was seriously injured, other than the dead bad guys. Hopefully Gibbs wouldn’t go off grid again anytime soon.
TBC…
AN: Hope ya’ll enjoyed this chapter. As always reviews, comments and constructive criticism is welcomed. Flames will be used to make bon-fires and flamers will be given to the Vampire King of Mississippi, Russel.
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Chapter Twenty-Three>>