The Cascade Effect Chapter Seven/???
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.
AN: Someone pointed out that Joan Jett wasn’t the original singer of Crimson and Clover. Thanks for making that known (you know who you are…just wish I could have responded properly) as I was sure Joan Jett was but seeing as a LOT of bands do covers it is possible that she’s not. Though I will stick with the version I know as that was my inspiration for the name of the bar. I am a musician’s daughter so I love learning new tidbits about the ever changing world of Music. Now without further ado….another chapter of Cascade Effect starts.
Chapter Seven
It had been a few weeks since his brush with death and Tony was going stir-crazy. He was ready to go back to work even though he knew he could take another week yet. Kelly had tried to talk him out of going back early but it hadn’t worked. She had even had her dad try to convince him to take the time allotted for him to recover but he hadn’t been able to change Tony’s mind either. It still boggled his mind that both Gibbs’ were so concerned about his health. He knew Kelly would be because she looked to him like an older brother; someone other than her dad that she could look up to. She even said she wanted to follow in Tony’s footsteps and go into Law Inforcement. It had caused plenty of fights between Kelly and Tony and Gibbs. It was one of the things they were in agreement on; they didn’t want Kelly to have to deal with the crap that came with being in Law Enforcement but that she was old enough to make her own decisions.
Kelly had convinced her dad to pick Tony up; not that he needed much convincing according to Kelly, so Tony was getting ready for his first day back knowing that it would be an interesting day. Kate had recently suffered a broken leg during a case so she was stuck on desk duty. Director Morrow had brought in Paula Cassidy to help the team since Tony was out on Medical Leave and Kate was stuck behind a desk. Kelly had told him that her dad had been even more of a bastard than usual; especially since Paula Cassidy had tried to take over Tony’s desk. Kelly had witnessed it as she had stoped by during a lull in her classes and had seen her dad force Agent Cassidy to take another desk. It had caused no end of amusement for her, especially since McGee and Kate had been tiptoeing around him ever since. Tony heard the knock on his door and finished up, grabbed his bag, gun and badge and opened the door smiling.
“Ready to go, boss?” he asked. The stare he got in return was beginning to make him fidget.
“Ya look like hell DiNozzo. Ya sure you’re ready?”
“I’m fine, Boss. I feel great.” Gibbs just stared at Tony before shaking his head and muttering something about stubbornness and headed for the stairs, Tony right on his heels.
They arrived at NCIS and while in the elevator Gibbs once again had to ask if Tony was sure he was ready and point out he looked like shit and that he should take the extra week. Tony told him he’d be fine. When he walked in Paula Cassidy had once again changed her hair color.* Originally she was supposed to arrive the next day, but because of Kate’s injuries she had been called back because she was one of the few that could stand to work with Gibbs, other than his team, and not run away in tears or resign. Kate and McGee ignored him as he walked in and Paula just gave him a small wave, the look on her face meant she was obviously not happy about something. Tony stood there as Kate gave Gibbs the details of their newest case, Gibbs threw the truck keys to McGee and Paula followed McGee. Gibbs’ small headslap had him smiling and following Gibbs like normal.
When they got to the crime scene Gibbs and Paula headed to the car while he ran the plates and got the information from them. He headed down the embankment while telling Gibbs before his foot got caught on something and he went tumbling down towards the others. Gibbs headed up to find out where Ducky was whilst the three of them continued to process the scene. A snake began to wrap around Paula’s leg, which had Tony trying to freak her out until McGee came down with the keys to check out the trunk. When he told her that it was a corn snake and not poisonous she pushed Tony down to the ground once again.
He caught a glimpse of something under the car and turned his head to get a better look.
“Freeze, McGee! Don’t move! Car’s wired to explode. Looks like the detonators tied to the trunk.” He said standing up.
“What?” McGee squeaked his nervousness showing in his voice,
“How far’d you turn the key?” Paula asked, stepping away from the vehicle more.
“Uh… not sure. Almost all the way I think.”
“Okay, don’t let it snap back. Alright” Tony said, moving to carefully get his hands on the key so McGee could get out of harm’s way.
“Yeah.”
“Let go…okay.” He said now that he had a hold of the key. “Okay both of you run.”
“No Tony we’re not leaving you stand…” Paula began before Tony interrupted her.
“I’m a lot faster than you are I’ll be right behind you. This is not a debate! Okay. This thing might be primed already.” He said, glancing at them as they began to run up the embankment. Once they were safely out of the way he let go and ran as fast as he could. He managed to make good ground before the car exploded and was able to avoid most of the blast. He had the breath knocked out of him from the pressure wave that had caught him before he got to the top of the hill.
“Boss, remember when I said I never felt better? I lied.” he said, collapsing onto the crime scene tape.
Once they were back at the Navy Yard Gibbs made Kate take Tony down to see Ducky. She was concerned about what had happened and had been badgering him to tell her what had happened.
“I’m tellin’ ya im fine.” Tony said around the thermometer in his mouth.
“136 over 84 is not fine for you Tony. Your blood pressure is high.” Ducky said, pulling the pressure cuff from Tony’s arm.
“Almost getting blown up tends to do that to me. Not to mention hanging around Kate when she’s in one of her moods.”
“This isn’t funny DiNozzo.” Kate said, arms crossed over her chest.
“No, it’s not. If I hadn’t come to work today Paula and McGee would be laying on one of those tables over there.
“Well at least your temperature is pretty normal” Ducky said, taking the thermometer and checking it.
“Yeah, I’m good to go…nnnggg” Tony groaned as he moved off the table.
“Ah, muscle soreness?”
“Only when I move or breathe” he said, slightly sarcastically.
“Yes, clearly you haven’t quite recovered with your bout of y-pestis. You need a rest.”
“No, I need to get back to work.”
“Oh, dammit Tony. I should just take you home and get you in bed.” Kate paused, looking around and running her words over in her head. “Okay, that didn’t come out the way I intended.”
“What didn’t, Kate?” Gibbs asked as he walked in to autopsy.
Oh I wa…I was just say…” Kate stumbled over her words before Ducky interjected.
“Kate was just expressing our concern for Tony here,”
“Yeah, how is he?”
“Stubborn, pig headed and unaware of his own limitations.”
“Sounds about right.” Gibbs said, walking over to where Palmer was looking over the burnt remains of their victims.
“I haven’t finished with you yet.” Ducky told Tony as he walked past to the light board and the dental records of their victims.
Once he’d gotten the information he needed he headed for the elevators, telling Tony he needed to go lie down. Tony followed stiffly, the muscle soreness obvious. He first tried to lay down in the bullpen before McGee and Kate disturbed him and Gibbs told him to go somewhere else. He decided to go to Abby’s lab. Her hug aggravated his muscle pains and she knew it because she started apologizing. Once they’d got the results from Abby they headed back to the bullpen, Gibbs parting remark about someone trying to kill them had Tony and Abby worried.
When Fornell showed up while Gibbs was out and told them that Ari Haswari was back in town and wanted to kill Gibbs Tony knew the shit was going to hit the fan. After talking with Fornell, Gibbs and Morrow, Kate was put in charge of Gibbs’ protection detail. She gave Paula the rundown on how she wanted things to be done when out in the field seeing as she wasn’t cleared for field duty yet. The next day they went out to Danbourne Avionics and found out that one of their old target drones was missing. That’s when they realized Ari wasn’t a double agent and was playing them all.
When they had gotten a relatively good trace on Ari’s cell phone they headed out for Norfolk. It was as they were heading there that Tony asked what day it was. McGee told him and he looked at Gibbs.
“Boss, Paula was originally planned to return today.”
“What’s that got to do with anything, Tony?” McGee asked.
“The whole Marine Amphibious Strike Group returns today. Five ships all of them due in Norfolk.” Tony said. Gibbs was the one to explain that it wasn’t the ships but the returning crewmember’s families that they were going after. Tony had to grab the wheel when Gibbs turned around to glare at McGee for implying he couldn’t work the target drone control.
As soon as they got to the grouping of warehouses they figured out which one the terrorist cell was using and went in after them, guns blazing. McGee managed to jam one of the frequencies before his computer was shot and destroyed. Gibbs ended up shooting the control unit that they’d used to fly the target drone to stop it. Once they had stopped the drone a terrorist came out of nowhere, Tony shot him before he could shoot Gibbs too. As they stood there talking a shot came from out of no-where, splattering Tony’s face with blood and brain matter. Tony and Gibbs looked around but couldn’t see anyone. It had to be Ari. They both knew it, in their guts. It would be proving it that would be hard.
~Rooftop~
Ari smirked as he saw the back of Kate’s head in his crosshairs. He pulled the trigger, watching as it made contact with her forehead dead center.
“Sorry Caitlin” he whispered before hurrying to pack up and get out of there.
TBC…
AN: Yes, I can be an Evil Bitch. Hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Cascade Effect. As always reviews appreciated flames are not.
*I’ve noticed that Paula Cassidy seems to change her hair color a lot. That and her original hair color seems to be similar to Kate’s but not quite as black as Abby’s. Could be the lighting though.
Chapter Eight>