Fic: A Murder of One
Fandom: NCIS
Title: A Murder of One
Author: Starbucks Sue
Genre: General
Rating: FRT
Characters: Leroy Jethro Gibbs; Anthony DiNozzo
Summary: Gibbs’ reaction on the rooftop.
Warning: Spoiler for Twilight
Disclaimer: NCIS and the characters portrayed in this story do not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
He doesn’t have to look twice to know that Kate is dead. With a bullet through the forehead there’s no need to question, no need to check the pulse or heartbeat, no need to try CPR. Death is the only outcome of such a wound. So he races to the edge of the roof, raw anger flooding through him aimed solely at the man who has taken the life of one of his own. He knows who fired the shot but staring out at the rooftop opposite there is no sign of life, the killer gone as silently as he arrived, as silently as she died.
“Ari you bastard, I’ll find you wherever you are.” He whispers the promise into the silent sky; he knows he’s not going to stop until he finds him. He doesn’t like to kill in cold blood, it’s against his nature and his training, but he’s done it before and he’ll do it again to seek justice for someone he considers family.
And they are his family, this mis-matched group of people he’s collected over the years.
Ducky was the first to be let into his heart all those years ago, the man is like an older brother, looking out for him, guiding him, being his sounding board, confidante and conscience, even before Mike Franks’ retired and left him with his own team.
Abby was the next to be accepted into his honorary family and he looks on her as a daughter. The young woman’s enthusiasm for life and her vitality reminds him of his dead wife and he thinks that’s how the young Goth managed so quickly to worm her way past his defenses and into his heart.
Tony is the son he never had and always wanted. Passionate and emotional due to his Italian heritage, insecure and vulnerable because of his troubled childhood, he’s flourished under the former Marine’s tough love and fatherly nurturing, emulating his mentor a little too closely sometimes for his own good but Gibbs is proud of him and what he’s achieved, despite his less than stable background and lack of familial support.
Tim was a risk to take on, the probationary agent was very inexperienced but Gibbs gut told him that the young man had potential, what he lacked in experience in the field was made up by his computer skills and his calm and placid nature. Every probationary agent has to start somewhere and with Tony to look out for and help train the younger man Gibbs knew that the risk was worth it.
As for Kate, she’d been a lucky find; even now he knows he wouldn’t go back and change anything. Kate had needed the least from him, an experienced agent with a stable family background, she hadn’t required much in the way of nurturing or training and had fitted in well once she started to understand him and Tony and they had quickly found their balance as a team. Gibbs had put up with the sibling rivalry, it had even amused him at times and he had always been of the belief that a little healthy competition kept all his agents on their toes. They will all miss her terribly but they will go on, all the stronger for having known her.
He pulls back from his memories and returns to the scene behind him, seeing that his senior field agent is kneeling on the rooftop, not touching, just staring down at the woman who has been his partner, his big sister, for the past two years. As Gibbs gets closer he can see that the younger man’s face is coated in a layer of fine droplets of blood, Kate’s blood. It’s obvious that Tony’s in shock, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the developments on the rooftop. It’s only been two days since he returned to work after the plague and he came back a week early. In the past twenty four hours he’s fallen down an embankment and almost been blown up saving Tim and Kate’s lives because of a bomb strapped to the underneath of a car. No wonder he’s in shock, he wasn’t one hundred percent physically or emotionally to start with.
They thought they’d got all the terrorists, thought they were all dead. Kate had taken a bullet for him, caught in her jacket. They’d pulled her up between them and she’d been teasing them and laughing at the moment of her death. He can see that Tony just can’t take it in at the moment and he knows he’s got to pull the younger man back from the brink.
He pulls out his handkerchief and cups the back of Tony’s neck gently, turning the younger man’s face towards him. Tony looks at him, shock and disbelief clear in his eyes. He strokes the back of the Tony’s head - a place more used to feeling the sting of a headslap - and he can see the touch bringing Tony slowly back to reality. He spits on the handkerchief in a manner more familiar to a parent with a small child and gently wipes the blood from his agent’s face. Tony just stares at him but he can see reality is beginning to sink in.
For one dangerous moment Tony’s eyes fill with tears and Gibbs pulls him into a gentle embrace. Tony clings tightly to him as tremors wrack his body but, as Gibbs expects, he quickly masters his emotions and pulls back, back in focus, back in control.
They will not grieve yet, they have a killer to find, later when it’s all over they will be able to mourn the loss of their friend but for now, on the rooftop, it’s enough.
Title: A Murder of One
Author: Starbucks Sue
Genre: General
Rating: FRT
Characters: Leroy Jethro Gibbs; Anthony DiNozzo
Summary: Gibbs’ reaction on the rooftop.
Warning: Spoiler for Twilight
Disclaimer: NCIS and the characters portrayed in this story do not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
He doesn’t have to look twice to know that Kate is dead. With a bullet through the forehead there’s no need to question, no need to check the pulse or heartbeat, no need to try CPR. Death is the only outcome of such a wound. So he races to the edge of the roof, raw anger flooding through him aimed solely at the man who has taken the life of one of his own. He knows who fired the shot but staring out at the rooftop opposite there is no sign of life, the killer gone as silently as he arrived, as silently as she died.
“Ari you bastard, I’ll find you wherever you are.” He whispers the promise into the silent sky; he knows he’s not going to stop until he finds him. He doesn’t like to kill in cold blood, it’s against his nature and his training, but he’s done it before and he’ll do it again to seek justice for someone he considers family.
And they are his family, this mis-matched group of people he’s collected over the years.
Ducky was the first to be let into his heart all those years ago, the man is like an older brother, looking out for him, guiding him, being his sounding board, confidante and conscience, even before Mike Franks’ retired and left him with his own team.
Abby was the next to be accepted into his honorary family and he looks on her as a daughter. The young woman’s enthusiasm for life and her vitality reminds him of his dead wife and he thinks that’s how the young Goth managed so quickly to worm her way past his defenses and into his heart.
Tony is the son he never had and always wanted. Passionate and emotional due to his Italian heritage, insecure and vulnerable because of his troubled childhood, he’s flourished under the former Marine’s tough love and fatherly nurturing, emulating his mentor a little too closely sometimes for his own good but Gibbs is proud of him and what he’s achieved, despite his less than stable background and lack of familial support.
Tim was a risk to take on, the probationary agent was very inexperienced but Gibbs gut told him that the young man had potential, what he lacked in experience in the field was made up by his computer skills and his calm and placid nature. Every probationary agent has to start somewhere and with Tony to look out for and help train the younger man Gibbs knew that the risk was worth it.
As for Kate, she’d been a lucky find; even now he knows he wouldn’t go back and change anything. Kate had needed the least from him, an experienced agent with a stable family background, she hadn’t required much in the way of nurturing or training and had fitted in well once she started to understand him and Tony and they had quickly found their balance as a team. Gibbs had put up with the sibling rivalry, it had even amused him at times and he had always been of the belief that a little healthy competition kept all his agents on their toes. They will all miss her terribly but they will go on, all the stronger for having known her.
He pulls back from his memories and returns to the scene behind him, seeing that his senior field agent is kneeling on the rooftop, not touching, just staring down at the woman who has been his partner, his big sister, for the past two years. As Gibbs gets closer he can see that the younger man’s face is coated in a layer of fine droplets of blood, Kate’s blood. It’s obvious that Tony’s in shock, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the developments on the rooftop. It’s only been two days since he returned to work after the plague and he came back a week early. In the past twenty four hours he’s fallen down an embankment and almost been blown up saving Tim and Kate’s lives because of a bomb strapped to the underneath of a car. No wonder he’s in shock, he wasn’t one hundred percent physically or emotionally to start with.
They thought they’d got all the terrorists, thought they were all dead. Kate had taken a bullet for him, caught in her jacket. They’d pulled her up between them and she’d been teasing them and laughing at the moment of her death. He can see that Tony just can’t take it in at the moment and he knows he’s got to pull the younger man back from the brink.
He pulls out his handkerchief and cups the back of Tony’s neck gently, turning the younger man’s face towards him. Tony looks at him, shock and disbelief clear in his eyes. He strokes the back of the Tony’s head - a place more used to feeling the sting of a headslap - and he can see the touch bringing Tony slowly back to reality. He spits on the handkerchief in a manner more familiar to a parent with a small child and gently wipes the blood from his agent’s face. Tony just stares at him but he can see reality is beginning to sink in.
For one dangerous moment Tony’s eyes fill with tears and Gibbs pulls him into a gentle embrace. Tony clings tightly to him as tremors wrack his body but, as Gibbs expects, he quickly masters his emotions and pulls back, back in focus, back in control.
They will not grieve yet, they have a killer to find, later when it’s all over they will be able to mourn the loss of their friend but for now, on the rooftop, it’s enough.