Trauma Queen: A NCIS Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty Two

"Hey Abby," I said, walking into her lab, a huge smile on my face. "You'll never guess what happened yesterday!"

"McGee and you are official?" She asked, a hint of mischief in her voice.

"What? How did you know?"

"McGee came down about ten minutes ago and told me." She pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "I am so happy for you two! What are you going to do about Gibbs?"

I pulled out of her hug and ran my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, I have no idea. I guess I'll have to talk to Tim and see what he wants to do about it? What do you think we should do?"

She shrugged. "I don't know Nai. I don't know what he will say. He has that rule for a reason, but it's a reason he's never shared with us."

I sighed. "All right. Well I'll let you know what happens I guess."

"Be strong. You guys will figure it out."

With another hug, I went back upstairs to the office, trying to conceal my smile. I was so happy about my relationship with Tim, but I knew we had to keep it very professional at work.

Sliding into my chair, I glanced at Tim who had trouble concealing his smile. It seemed he was just as happy as I was.

"Good morning," Tony said, sauntering in with his bag over his left shoulder.

"Morning Tony." I didn't look up from my computer, which was open to Gina Marie's bank account. I was trying to see where she spent her money just before she died. And it seemed like she hadn't spent in the days prior. The last charge was at a café.

"Don't sit DiNozzo." Gibbs came rushing into the office, opening his drawer to retrieve his gun. "We've got another body. Rock Creek Park. Petty Officer."

We all looked at each other and grabbed our gear to follow our boss to the garage. Another body. This marked three unsolved cases in the past few weeks. The first body, petty officer Brian, was given to another team after we got Gina Marie. We didn't want to put either case on hold. And now, we had yet another case to solve.

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We arrived on scene to see a woman in her early twenties lying supine with her arms folded over her stomach and both her wrists cut down the vein. She was blonde and looked almost identical to Gina Marie. She was also positioned the same and had the same injuries.

"Boss," I said nervously, "I think we might have a second kill from the same person who killed Gina Marie. It's the same M.O. and same position of the body."

He nodded. "Maybe. Cahn take pictures. David and DiNozzo mark evidence. McGee interview the witness over by the police cars."

We nodded and took off to complete our respective tasks. Slinging the camera around my neck, I went head to toe to take pictures, like I would do a trauma patient assessment. When I reached her shoulders, I noticed she had an "I" carved into the left side of her neck. I took a close up picture of it and remembered how Marie had an "N" carved into her. I shuddered at the thought of these two cases being related. Who would ever do such a thing?

"Our victim is First Class Petty Officer Meaghan White." I overheard Tim say to Gibbs. "She's been on leave for four days to see her family."

"Has the family heard from her?" I asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Her family doesn't live around here. They're from Maine."

"So then why would she lie about visiting her family?"

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out."

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After five hours of sifting through files that belonged to Meaghan White, I needed a coffee break. I didn't know how much longer I could stare at a damn computer screen.

I stood up, cracking my back as I did so, and walked towards the break room. Grabbing the biggest cup I could find, I filled it to the brim with black coffee. I needed all the caffeine I could get.

Before I could turn around, I felt a hand graze against my lower back and I instantly knew it was Tim. I smiled shyly and turned around, leaning my butt on the counter.

"A bit risky if I say so myself." I smiled up at Tim who was a little too close to just appear friendly.

He shrugged. "No one's going to notice. We're just really good friends."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh that's what we are, okay." I stifled a laugh.

"Hey! Boyfriend does have the word friend in it!"

I wrapped my arms around his waist and nuzzled my head into his shoulder. I sighed uncomfortably as I pulled away from him.

"Something wrong?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Yeah." I looked at the ground. "Something about this case isn't settling right with me. I don't know what it is, but something definitely isn't normal."

Tim cracked a small smile. "None of our cases are normal."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean. I think what has me the most worried is the letters carved into the neck. It's like there's something that is supposed to be spelled out the more they kill."

Tim nodded. "We've has that done before; it's never pretty. I wouldn't stress out about it though; we need to focus on solving the murders."

I shook my head. "I know I know. I just can't shake this uncomfortable feeling."

"Do you want me to stay over tonight?"

I smiled and blushed as I nodded. "Yeah. That would be great."

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"I'm telling you! The Maltese Falcon has way better symbolism than The Big Sleep! I don't know how you don't see it!" I almost yelled as Tim and I walked up the stairs in our building.

"I don't deny that Maltese Falcon has symbolism! I'm just saying that The Big Sleep has better symbolism!" Tim rolled his eyes at me, clearly not understanding what I was trying to convey.

"I don't get you sometimes." I laughed, reaching into my purse for my keys.

"Naomi... your door is ajar."

My head shot up and I saw that my door was slightly open and it looked like the wood had been forced open. I instantly retrieved my gun from my purse and waited for Tim to grab his.

I walked slowly up to the door with my gun raised and looked inside and saw that my living room was a mess. There was stuff all over the floor. Even though I couldn't discern what the garbage was, I knew that no one was standing right there.

I pushed the door open and flashed my gun first to the right side of the room and then the left. Tim did the same after me and we split up. I took the kitchen and he took my bedroom. Walking slowly through the apartment, I felt my heart pounding in my ears. As I walked into the kitchen, I noticed that the counter was perfectly clean save for a single napkin. I checked in all the cabinets and closets before I went over to the singular napkin. Holding my gun in my right hand, I picked up the napkin with my left. There was only a couple things written on its surface with what I thought could be a sharpie.

-L

"Naomi?" Tim called. "Your bedroom and bath are clear."

"Kitchen's clear. Call 911." I pointed my gun at the window where outside on the balcony someone was sitting on my railing.

The person had long blond hair that fell to their shoulders. Their clothes were dirty and their shoulders were slumped. As I started walking over towards the balcony, I stopped in my tracks. They slowly turned around and at the side profile of their face, I saw the face of Liam. When he caught my eye, he smiled, and then jumped off the railing. There was no way he had gotten killed from that.

"Tim!" I yelled, still pointing my gun at the window. "Get in here and call 911!"

"What happened?" Tim asked as he ran into the kitchen.

"It's Liam. He's here in DC."