Trauma Queen: A NCIS Fanfiction

Chapter Eighteen

"Naomi?" Cassidy Marie asked as she opened her front door.

"Hi Cassidy. It's been a long time." I smiled shyly at her, not knowing how to proceed. I hadn't talked to her since the month of the trial. She looked almost worse than she did then. Her eyes were dull and her blonde hair was thinning. She looked like she was just skin and bones at this point and she was swimming in her sweatshirt and athletic shorts.

"What're you doing here? And who's that?" She motioned to Ziva who was standing behind me.

"Ziva David, NCIS," Ziva answered with a small smile.

"We need to talk to you about your sister, Gina. Can we come in?" I asked nervously.

She nodded and stepped to the side. "Of course. Come on in."

She led us into her small apartment that was just two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It was the cleanest place I'd ever seen, not even a fleck of dust was on the furniture. She sat down at the kitchen table, motioning for us to sit across from her. She folded her hands on the table, her bones pressing against her skin, and waited for us to say something.

"Gina's been murdered Cassidy. I'm so sorry." As soon as the words left my lips, Cassidy's face just dropped.

"What? Oh my god. How?" She ran a hand through her hair, pulling out a few strands and letting them fall to the floor.

"We have our medical examiner trying to figure that out right now. Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?"

"Oh my god I can't believe this is happening. First my parents. Now her. Why does everyone I love keep dying?" She slammed a fist on the table as tears streaked her face.

"I'm so sorry Cassidy." I reached across the table and put my hand on hers.

She looked me in the eyes and I almost broke down myself just from looking at her. "He gets out soon you know. Very soon."

I sighed. "I know. Do you have anyone you can live with? At least for a little while?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my girlfriend. I'm supposed to be moving in with her before Liam gets out of prison. She's going to be heartbroken when I tell her about Gina."

"Again, I'm so sorry. I know you two were close."

After Liam's conviction, I spent a lot of time with his victims. Cassidy and I got along extremely well and we had been friends for the rest of our time at MIT. When we graduated, we didn't speak much, which I assumed was because she wanted to put Liam behind her. And since I was his ex-girlfriend, that meant me too. She was the sweetest of the girls and had a good head on her shoulder. She didn't seem as affected as the others, but I knew that it was getting to her now that he was about to be free.

"Would you mind if we looked around her room?" I asked as kindly as I could.

Cassidy sniffled. "Go ahead."

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I slammed my hand on my desk in anger. All the anger I had towards Liam years ago was boiling to the surface. I couldn't believe he was about to be freed into society. Looking up from my desk I saw all three of my team members staring at me with concerned faces.

"I'll be back." I stood up quickly and almost ran over to the elevator. There was only one person who could help me feel better, Abby.

As soon as the doors opened, I could hear the heavy metal music blasting from the lab. Abby was bouncing to the music and typing furiously on her computer, looking at results from some analysis she did.

"Hey Abby," I said quietly. She didn't turn around so I spoke louder. "Abby!"

She whipped around and a huge smile appeared on her face. "Naomi!" She rushed over to me and wrapped me into her arms. "How are you? Are you here to tell me all about your date with Timmy?"

I laughed. "Not exactly, but it would be a good distraction..."

"What happened? Then you can tell me about Timmy!" She pulled a stool up next to hers for me and started doing her work again.

"That girl who was killed, Gina, is the sister of someone I know. Her name is Cassidy. And in college, she was raped by my ex, Liam. He's been in jail for a while now, but he's getting out soon. And I don't know why I'm so bothered by it, but talking with her made me feel so awful. I'm just so angry." I put my face in my hands, trying not to let the anger show.

"Naomi," Abby put a hand on my shoulder, "I'm so sorry. I can see why that would upset you. It sucks. But you can make it up to Cassidy if you find her sister's killer."

"I'm just so mad because of what he did to her. And now to think he's going to be free? That's not okay with me."

"I know Naomi. I know. But you've got a family here and we'll go to the ends of the Earth to protect you. Liam, that's his name right?" I nodded. "Liam isn't going to hurt you. I can promise you that."

I reached over and pulled Abby into a side hug. "Thanks Abby. I appreciate you."

"That's what friends are for. Now," she clapped her hands together. "McGee. How was the date?"

I felt a small smile on my face. "Amazing. Thank you, by the way. You didn't have to do that for me."

She shook her head. "Nonsense. Of course I did."

"Well it was amazing. Dinner was great. Conversations were great. Did you know he published a book? Because I found that out when the waiter brought over a bottle of champagne and said it was on the House because they loved his work. And I was so taken aback."

"Yeah I did know." she laughed. "What did you guys do after dinner?"

I felt heat in my cheeks as I looked at the ground. "Uh well we um... we went back to our building. And he um he kissed me. And then he kept kissing me. He um he stayed the night also."

"Oh my god. Did you two... ya know?"

"Oh no, no. We just made out for a while. I'm not trying to sleep with someone I went on one date with."

She nodded a few times. "Good to know you have a good head on your shoulders."

"Yeah. But I think I might have said something stupid earlier..." I let my voice trail off at the end.

"What did you do?"

I sighed. "Well we were driving back to headquarters and he said something about 'not telling Gibbs about all of this'. And I said something along the lines of I didn't even know what this is and that we'd only been on one date. And then it got all awkward."

"Well I mean you're not wrong." Abby smiled and laughed a little. "Just give him some time, he'll come around."

"Who will come around?" Gibbs said, walking towards Abby and I.

"My brother," I said quickly.

Gibbs nodded. "What do you got Abbs?"

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A/N: hi! Thanks so much for reading Trauma Queen it means the world to me! Sorry for not updating. I'm currently working 2 jobs and taking classes like 15 hours a week so yeah it's been a little hectic.