Therapy Time Part Three
Title: Therapy Time
Author: Spiceblueeyes
Pairing: None
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,010
Spoilers: None that I can see.
Warnings: Suicide of OC, violence, angst, brief mentions of child abuse.
Summary: The team gets a case that unsettles Tony more than he wants to admit.
Author's Notes: This is both my first ever NCIS story, and the longest story I've ever written, so I'm excited about it. The story was beta'd by devo79 who is awesome and really helped me make the story better.
Be sure to check out the totally cool art that kj_svala made for the story, she's very talented. You can find it here. The banner at the top of the page is hers as well, and I love it!
When Tony realized that Henry really wasn't going to say anything else, he spoke up. "You ever watch that show The Pretender?" Henry shook his head. "It was about this guy named Jared, played by Michael Weiss, who could pretend to be other people. He would just slide into other personalities and no one could tell the difference." The slight head tilt told Tony that Henry was wondering where this was going, but wasn't going to interrupt. "You know, I'm good at undercover work." It was almost a non-sequitor, but not really. Henry would get what he was saying.
"You're good at pretending."
Tony nodded. "I used to watch that show and think, 'I could do that.'" Tony paused, "turns out that Suarez was a Pretender too."
~*~*~*~
A few minutes after Suarez's phone call Gibbs barked "Tony, Ziva, go back to Suarez's apartment. Talk to his neighbors, find out who his friends are, where he hangs out." Tony stood up slowly, grabbing for his pack. Ziva started toward the elevator and he followed her. He didn't need to race her this time; because he'd swiped the keys to the car as soon as he'd come in that morning. Always be prepared. Tony was never a boy scout, but they had some good advice.
Twenty-five minutes later they were at Suarez's apartment again. Tony wasn't as fast as Ziva, but he did have a bit of a lead foot so he ended up only adding five minutes to her time. Of course she complained that he drove like a old blind woman, but hey, at least they were alive.
They knocked on the door to the neighbor on the left first. "I'll do the talking Ziva." She rolled her eyes but didn't challenge him on it. She knew people sometimes (often) found her intimidating. The woman who opened the door looked to be in her early thirties, brown hair and green eyes.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hello ma'am. We're from NCIS, I'm Special Agent DiNozzo and this is my partner Agent David. We have a few questions for you about your neighbor, Rafael Suarez." Tony smile through the whole spiel, turning on the charm.
"Oh, did something happen to him? Is he in trouble?" She looked concerned.
"He's a person of interest in our investigation." Tony made his voice light, like Rafael wasn't in real trouble and possibly facing the death penalty.
"Oh, okay." She hesitated and then offered, "would you like to come in?"
"That would be great, thank you." Tony stepped past her into the apartment and Ziva followed. The woman gestured for them to sit on the couch. The living room had three bookshelves, stuffed full of books. Two tree looking plants in the corners and a bonsai tree on the coffee table. There was no tv in sight.
"You have a very nice home." Zica commented, looking around.
"Thank you. I only moved in last year, but I love the space." She looked around the room too, as if trying to see it as Ziva was. "I'm Sara Thomas, by the way."
Ziva smiled at her, "Nice to meet you Ms. Thomas." Then she sat down on the couch next to Tony. Sara sat across from them in a small armchair.
"So what would you like to know about Rafael? I didn't really know him that well, but he seemed like a good boy."
"Anything you can tell us would be helpful Sara." Tony said. "Any habits you noticed, his mood, his friends..."
"Oh, well he was always so nice. He would help me carry groceries from my car sometimes. And he always says hello in the hallway." She explained. "He's always smiling too. Sometimes I think it isn't possible for a person to be in such a good mood all the time, but he was." Sara smiled.
"Did he have friends over a lot?" Tony asked. He had a pen and paper pad ready to write down information.
"No, not really." She thought about it. "Well, he did have a couple people over sometimes, but not lately."
"Do you know their names?" Ziva asked.
"No." She answered. Then she said, "Wait, there was a girl who used to come over, her name was Stevens. Lily Stevens. He introduced us when I ran into them in the hallways once. He said they were friends from way back."
"That's great." Tony said, as he wrote down the name.
"But like I said, she hasn't been around in a while. That I've seen anyway." Sara continued.
"It is still useful information, thank you." Ziva said.
"We should get going, don't want to take up too much of your valuable time." Tony stood up, and Ziva did as well.
"It's no trouble, I'm happy to help." Sarah held out her hand and Tony shook it.
"We'll call you if we have more questions, and feel free to call us if you remember anything you think might be important." He gave her a business card. It had his e-mail address, and the number to NCIS, along with his extension.
"Okay. I will." She took the card and walked with them to the door. "I hope Rafael isn't in too much trouble. He really is a nice boy." Tony and Ziva just smiled and said goodbye as she closed the door.
They turned to go to the door of the next neighbor. "Well, our killer sure has a fan." Tony said. Ziva shook her head.
"I do not understand how a man that is so nice to her could kill another woman in cold blood. It makes no sense."
"How much do neighbors really know about you anyway? They only see a little bit, and only what you let them see."
Ziva looked at Tony, "that is very cynical, don't you think?"
Tony just smiled, "the truth often is."
The next neighbor was Joe Gilligan. Tony couldn’t stop himself from having a field day with his name, and made multiple Gilligan's Island references while interviewing him. Luckily the guy was used to it, and didn't get too annoyed; though Tony thought he was happy to see them go. They left pretty quickly since it seemed that Joe didn't really have anything to add to what Sara Thomas had told them. Suarez's neighbors didn't have any insight into why he'd shot a woman while shopping.
~*~*~*~
"What was he pretending to be?" Henry asked. Tony just shook his head and didn’t say anything.
"What are you pretending Tony?"
"I'm not pretending anything, Doc." Tony gave a smile and cocked his head, but the smile was forced and the eyes were a little scared.
Henry smiled, "not your best effort Tony, I can see right through that." Tony let the expression drop from his face and just shrugged.
"Suarez was pretending to be something he wasn't. He was trying to be okay, when he wasn’t."
"And you Tony?"
Tony just shook his head again.
~*~*~*~
Tony called McGee with the information they’d gathered. While he was busy tracking down Lily Stevens Tony and Ziva grabbed something to eat. Tony spotted a burger joint nearby and they went in and were escorted to a table. Tony flirted with the waitress that came to take their drink order, and when she left he checked out her ass. Ziva sounded exasperated when she asked him, "will you never grow up Tony?"
He chuckled and replied, "Where’s the fun in that?" She just shook her head. "Come on Zeevah! Lighten up. When was the last time you had a little fun?"
She glared at him. "I have fun Tony. I just do not bring it to work with me."
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because it is inappropriate." Her look said 'duh, but she was too classy to ever say it out loud.
"Look," he said, "our job is tough. We need to laugh and relieve the tension sometimes."
She nodded, "yes, that is true. But there is a difference in releasing the tension and always being the class cloud." She said seriously. Tony's lip twitched like he was trying not to smile.
"I think you mean class clown, not cloud."
"Yes, yes," she waved her hand dismissively, "but you understand what I mean. Are you truly as sophomoric as you seem some days?"
Tony leaned back in his chair, "Sure I am." He winked at her. She just sighed and picked up her menu. Her cell phone rang and she answered it, McGee was on the other end.
"Hello McGee." She said.
"Hey Ziva, what are you guys up to?" He asked.
"We are having lunch," she eyed Tony over the table. "Did you find Lily Stevens?"
"Yes. She's on a trip though, visiting friends in New York." Tony was leaning across the table, straining his ears trying to listen in. Ziva put the phone on speaker to save him the trouble. "She scheduled to arrive back tomorrow afternoon."
"Okay Probie, we'll finish lunch and head back." Tony said.
"Alright, but make it quick. And bring coffee when you come back, Gibbs is in a bad mood." Both Tony and Ziva winced.
"Sure thing Probie, one cup of acidic sludge coming right up." It was in everyone's best interest to keep Gibbs happy. Or, at least less gruff, since happy wasn't one of his more frequent facial expressions. Ziva hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
"I do not understand how he drinks that stuff." She commented.
"Gibbs lost his taste buds a long time ago, in service for his country." Tony said.
"Oh really, how?" Ziva laughed.
"Have you ever tasted the coffee soldiers get? That stuff'll burn your tonsils right off." He grinned.
After they ate they headed back to NCIS. This time Ziva pick-pocketed the keys out of Tony's pocket so she drove. He held on to the bar above his head and prayed. When they pulled into the parking garage, pulling into a space with a loud screeching of the tires, Tony stumbled out of the car and exclaimed, "thank you god, I didn't think we were going to make it!"
Ziva snorted, "Do not be so dramatic Tony; I am a very good driver." She exited the car more gracefully than he had.
Tony got up off the ground and followed her inside, shaking his head at how delusional she was.
When they got up to the bullpen Ziva sat down behind her desk and Tony tossed his back pack behind his. Then he went to stand in front of Gibbs. "Hey Boss."
"Tony." Gibbs' look said 'continue talking or I'll slap your head.'
"So Suarez's neighbors all said he was a good guy. Helped unload groceries, never had loud parties, he was the neighbor everyone wants to have." Tony got out his pad of paper that he'd taken notes on. "They all said he was always in a good mood and smiling. I'm thinking maybe the pills we found might have something to do with that."
Gibbs looked thoughtful, and then handed Tony a file. "Take this down to Abby."
"Okay Boss." Tony grabbed the file and headed down to the forensics lab. Any excuse to see his favorite goth scientist.
The elevator door dinged open and he got out on Abby’s floor, and headed toward her lab. He was greeted with a “Hey Tony!”
“Hey Abby, Gibbs said to give this to you.” He held out the file he’d been given.
“Thanks.” She took and leafed through it quickly, then put it on the table. “So are you here for the results on what the pills were?” She asked.
“Sure, let’s see what our murderer was taking.” Tony answered. Abby walked further into the lab and Tony followed her. She retrieved the bottle of pills and held them out so he could look.
“Each of these little babies is a powerful depressant. There are some Valium, some Xanax and a few Librium for variation.”
Tony looked at her. “Those are prescription drugs.”
Abby nodded, “Yeah, but I’d bet, since they were in an aspirin bottle, that he didn’t have a prescription. You can buy them on the street if you know where to go.”
“So these are serious drugs, right? The kind you can get addicted to?” Tony asked.
Abby’s pigtails bobbed as she nodded some more. “These are controlled substances; pharmacists keep them under lock and key. Or at least they’re supposed to. They’re used to treat things like anxiety and panic attacks. They also have sedative effects. These are the good stuff.”
Tony frowned, “On the security footage he didn’t look sedated or drugged out.” Abby went over to her computer and typed something in that pulled up the video that showed the murder. Tony went to stand next to her and they watched the screen as the scene unfolded.
Rafael Suarez was in the aisle, looking at the tea section. The video didn’t have any sound so when he started suddenly Tony said, “that must be the feedback over the loudspeaker that the witness talked about.” Suarez’s eyes went wide and he was turning his head in all different directions as if looking for something. Just then Mrs. Killigan rounded the corner with her shopping cart. She wasn’t even looking up; she had her head down and looked like she was reading some kind of list, most likely the shopping list that had been found at the scene, covered in blood spatter. Suarez spotted her and his expression was one of fear. He reached back and pulled a gun out of the small of his back and aimed it at her. He shouted something, but with no sound they didn’t know what it was. The witness, Becky came around the corner then, and a soon as she saw what was happening she froze. Suarez didn’t appear to see her at all. His eyes were fixed on Susan Killigan. Susan now had her head up and was looking back at Suarez, but because of the angle of the camera they couldn’t see her face, only the back of her head.
Suarez shouted something else and Mrs. Killigan held her hands up to her sides and shook her head, hard. The hand that was holding the gun was shaking, but then Suarez yelled again, and it steadied. Without sound the muzzle flash seemed anticlimactic, and then Mrs. Killigan slid to the ground. Behind her Becky had her hands up to her mouth, presumably screaming. Suarez lowered the gun and looked confused for a moment. He backed away, and when he reached the end of the aisle turned and ran. Abby stopped the video once he was off screen.
Both of them were silent for a moment, taking it in. Then Tony said, “He definitely didn’t look sedated to me.”
“Well, drugs can affect people differently.” Abby’s voice sounded doubtful though.
“I think it’s time we talked to Suarez’s doctor.” Tony turned to head back upstairs, “good work Abs.”
“Thanks Tony!” She waved goodbye.
On to part four.
Author: Spiceblueeyes
Pairing: None
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,010
Spoilers: None that I can see.
Warnings: Suicide of OC, violence, angst, brief mentions of child abuse.
Summary: The team gets a case that unsettles Tony more than he wants to admit.
Author's Notes: This is both my first ever NCIS story, and the longest story I've ever written, so I'm excited about it. The story was beta'd by devo79 who is awesome and really helped me make the story better.
Be sure to check out the totally cool art that kj_svala made for the story, she's very talented. You can find it here. The banner at the top of the page is hers as well, and I love it!
When Tony realized that Henry really wasn't going to say anything else, he spoke up. "You ever watch that show The Pretender?" Henry shook his head. "It was about this guy named Jared, played by Michael Weiss, who could pretend to be other people. He would just slide into other personalities and no one could tell the difference." The slight head tilt told Tony that Henry was wondering where this was going, but wasn't going to interrupt. "You know, I'm good at undercover work." It was almost a non-sequitor, but not really. Henry would get what he was saying.
"You're good at pretending."
Tony nodded. "I used to watch that show and think, 'I could do that.'" Tony paused, "turns out that Suarez was a Pretender too."
~*~*~*~
A few minutes after Suarez's phone call Gibbs barked "Tony, Ziva, go back to Suarez's apartment. Talk to his neighbors, find out who his friends are, where he hangs out." Tony stood up slowly, grabbing for his pack. Ziva started toward the elevator and he followed her. He didn't need to race her this time; because he'd swiped the keys to the car as soon as he'd come in that morning. Always be prepared. Tony was never a boy scout, but they had some good advice.
Twenty-five minutes later they were at Suarez's apartment again. Tony wasn't as fast as Ziva, but he did have a bit of a lead foot so he ended up only adding five minutes to her time. Of course she complained that he drove like a old blind woman, but hey, at least they were alive.
They knocked on the door to the neighbor on the left first. "I'll do the talking Ziva." She rolled her eyes but didn't challenge him on it. She knew people sometimes (often) found her intimidating. The woman who opened the door looked to be in her early thirties, brown hair and green eyes.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hello ma'am. We're from NCIS, I'm Special Agent DiNozzo and this is my partner Agent David. We have a few questions for you about your neighbor, Rafael Suarez." Tony smile through the whole spiel, turning on the charm.
"Oh, did something happen to him? Is he in trouble?" She looked concerned.
"He's a person of interest in our investigation." Tony made his voice light, like Rafael wasn't in real trouble and possibly facing the death penalty.
"Oh, okay." She hesitated and then offered, "would you like to come in?"
"That would be great, thank you." Tony stepped past her into the apartment and Ziva followed. The woman gestured for them to sit on the couch. The living room had three bookshelves, stuffed full of books. Two tree looking plants in the corners and a bonsai tree on the coffee table. There was no tv in sight.
"You have a very nice home." Zica commented, looking around.
"Thank you. I only moved in last year, but I love the space." She looked around the room too, as if trying to see it as Ziva was. "I'm Sara Thomas, by the way."
Ziva smiled at her, "Nice to meet you Ms. Thomas." Then she sat down on the couch next to Tony. Sara sat across from them in a small armchair.
"So what would you like to know about Rafael? I didn't really know him that well, but he seemed like a good boy."
"Anything you can tell us would be helpful Sara." Tony said. "Any habits you noticed, his mood, his friends..."
"Oh, well he was always so nice. He would help me carry groceries from my car sometimes. And he always says hello in the hallway." She explained. "He's always smiling too. Sometimes I think it isn't possible for a person to be in such a good mood all the time, but he was." Sara smiled.
"Did he have friends over a lot?" Tony asked. He had a pen and paper pad ready to write down information.
"No, not really." She thought about it. "Well, he did have a couple people over sometimes, but not lately."
"Do you know their names?" Ziva asked.
"No." She answered. Then she said, "Wait, there was a girl who used to come over, her name was Stevens. Lily Stevens. He introduced us when I ran into them in the hallways once. He said they were friends from way back."
"That's great." Tony said, as he wrote down the name.
"But like I said, she hasn't been around in a while. That I've seen anyway." Sara continued.
"It is still useful information, thank you." Ziva said.
"We should get going, don't want to take up too much of your valuable time." Tony stood up, and Ziva did as well.
"It's no trouble, I'm happy to help." Sarah held out her hand and Tony shook it.
"We'll call you if we have more questions, and feel free to call us if you remember anything you think might be important." He gave her a business card. It had his e-mail address, and the number to NCIS, along with his extension.
"Okay. I will." She took the card and walked with them to the door. "I hope Rafael isn't in too much trouble. He really is a nice boy." Tony and Ziva just smiled and said goodbye as she closed the door.
They turned to go to the door of the next neighbor. "Well, our killer sure has a fan." Tony said. Ziva shook her head.
"I do not understand how a man that is so nice to her could kill another woman in cold blood. It makes no sense."
"How much do neighbors really know about you anyway? They only see a little bit, and only what you let them see."
Ziva looked at Tony, "that is very cynical, don't you think?"
Tony just smiled, "the truth often is."
The next neighbor was Joe Gilligan. Tony couldn’t stop himself from having a field day with his name, and made multiple Gilligan's Island references while interviewing him. Luckily the guy was used to it, and didn't get too annoyed; though Tony thought he was happy to see them go. They left pretty quickly since it seemed that Joe didn't really have anything to add to what Sara Thomas had told them. Suarez's neighbors didn't have any insight into why he'd shot a woman while shopping.
~*~*~*~
"What was he pretending to be?" Henry asked. Tony just shook his head and didn’t say anything.
"What are you pretending Tony?"
"I'm not pretending anything, Doc." Tony gave a smile and cocked his head, but the smile was forced and the eyes were a little scared.
Henry smiled, "not your best effort Tony, I can see right through that." Tony let the expression drop from his face and just shrugged.
"Suarez was pretending to be something he wasn't. He was trying to be okay, when he wasn’t."
"And you Tony?"
Tony just shook his head again.
~*~*~*~
Tony called McGee with the information they’d gathered. While he was busy tracking down Lily Stevens Tony and Ziva grabbed something to eat. Tony spotted a burger joint nearby and they went in and were escorted to a table. Tony flirted with the waitress that came to take their drink order, and when she left he checked out her ass. Ziva sounded exasperated when she asked him, "will you never grow up Tony?"
He chuckled and replied, "Where’s the fun in that?" She just shook her head. "Come on Zeevah! Lighten up. When was the last time you had a little fun?"
She glared at him. "I have fun Tony. I just do not bring it to work with me."
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because it is inappropriate." Her look said 'duh, but she was too classy to ever say it out loud.
"Look," he said, "our job is tough. We need to laugh and relieve the tension sometimes."
She nodded, "yes, that is true. But there is a difference in releasing the tension and always being the class cloud." She said seriously. Tony's lip twitched like he was trying not to smile.
"I think you mean class clown, not cloud."
"Yes, yes," she waved her hand dismissively, "but you understand what I mean. Are you truly as sophomoric as you seem some days?"
Tony leaned back in his chair, "Sure I am." He winked at her. She just sighed and picked up her menu. Her cell phone rang and she answered it, McGee was on the other end.
"Hello McGee." She said.
"Hey Ziva, what are you guys up to?" He asked.
"We are having lunch," she eyed Tony over the table. "Did you find Lily Stevens?"
"Yes. She's on a trip though, visiting friends in New York." Tony was leaning across the table, straining his ears trying to listen in. Ziva put the phone on speaker to save him the trouble. "She scheduled to arrive back tomorrow afternoon."
"Okay Probie, we'll finish lunch and head back." Tony said.
"Alright, but make it quick. And bring coffee when you come back, Gibbs is in a bad mood." Both Tony and Ziva winced.
"Sure thing Probie, one cup of acidic sludge coming right up." It was in everyone's best interest to keep Gibbs happy. Or, at least less gruff, since happy wasn't one of his more frequent facial expressions. Ziva hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
"I do not understand how he drinks that stuff." She commented.
"Gibbs lost his taste buds a long time ago, in service for his country." Tony said.
"Oh really, how?" Ziva laughed.
"Have you ever tasted the coffee soldiers get? That stuff'll burn your tonsils right off." He grinned.
After they ate they headed back to NCIS. This time Ziva pick-pocketed the keys out of Tony's pocket so she drove. He held on to the bar above his head and prayed. When they pulled into the parking garage, pulling into a space with a loud screeching of the tires, Tony stumbled out of the car and exclaimed, "thank you god, I didn't think we were going to make it!"
Ziva snorted, "Do not be so dramatic Tony; I am a very good driver." She exited the car more gracefully than he had.
Tony got up off the ground and followed her inside, shaking his head at how delusional she was.
When they got up to the bullpen Ziva sat down behind her desk and Tony tossed his back pack behind his. Then he went to stand in front of Gibbs. "Hey Boss."
"Tony." Gibbs' look said 'continue talking or I'll slap your head.'
"So Suarez's neighbors all said he was a good guy. Helped unload groceries, never had loud parties, he was the neighbor everyone wants to have." Tony got out his pad of paper that he'd taken notes on. "They all said he was always in a good mood and smiling. I'm thinking maybe the pills we found might have something to do with that."
Gibbs looked thoughtful, and then handed Tony a file. "Take this down to Abby."
"Okay Boss." Tony grabbed the file and headed down to the forensics lab. Any excuse to see his favorite goth scientist.
The elevator door dinged open and he got out on Abby’s floor, and headed toward her lab. He was greeted with a “Hey Tony!”
“Hey Abby, Gibbs said to give this to you.” He held out the file he’d been given.
“Thanks.” She took and leafed through it quickly, then put it on the table. “So are you here for the results on what the pills were?” She asked.
“Sure, let’s see what our murderer was taking.” Tony answered. Abby walked further into the lab and Tony followed her. She retrieved the bottle of pills and held them out so he could look.
“Each of these little babies is a powerful depressant. There are some Valium, some Xanax and a few Librium for variation.”
Tony looked at her. “Those are prescription drugs.”
Abby nodded, “Yeah, but I’d bet, since they were in an aspirin bottle, that he didn’t have a prescription. You can buy them on the street if you know where to go.”
“So these are serious drugs, right? The kind you can get addicted to?” Tony asked.
Abby’s pigtails bobbed as she nodded some more. “These are controlled substances; pharmacists keep them under lock and key. Or at least they’re supposed to. They’re used to treat things like anxiety and panic attacks. They also have sedative effects. These are the good stuff.”
Tony frowned, “On the security footage he didn’t look sedated or drugged out.” Abby went over to her computer and typed something in that pulled up the video that showed the murder. Tony went to stand next to her and they watched the screen as the scene unfolded.
Rafael Suarez was in the aisle, looking at the tea section. The video didn’t have any sound so when he started suddenly Tony said, “that must be the feedback over the loudspeaker that the witness talked about.” Suarez’s eyes went wide and he was turning his head in all different directions as if looking for something. Just then Mrs. Killigan rounded the corner with her shopping cart. She wasn’t even looking up; she had her head down and looked like she was reading some kind of list, most likely the shopping list that had been found at the scene, covered in blood spatter. Suarez spotted her and his expression was one of fear. He reached back and pulled a gun out of the small of his back and aimed it at her. He shouted something, but with no sound they didn’t know what it was. The witness, Becky came around the corner then, and a soon as she saw what was happening she froze. Suarez didn’t appear to see her at all. His eyes were fixed on Susan Killigan. Susan now had her head up and was looking back at Suarez, but because of the angle of the camera they couldn’t see her face, only the back of her head.
Suarez shouted something else and Mrs. Killigan held her hands up to her sides and shook her head, hard. The hand that was holding the gun was shaking, but then Suarez yelled again, and it steadied. Without sound the muzzle flash seemed anticlimactic, and then Mrs. Killigan slid to the ground. Behind her Becky had her hands up to her mouth, presumably screaming. Suarez lowered the gun and looked confused for a moment. He backed away, and when he reached the end of the aisle turned and ran. Abby stopped the video once he was off screen.
Both of them were silent for a moment, taking it in. Then Tony said, “He definitely didn’t look sedated to me.”
“Well, drugs can affect people differently.” Abby’s voice sounded doubtful though.
“I think it’s time we talked to Suarez’s doctor.” Tony turned to head back upstairs, “good work Abs.”
“Thanks Tony!” She waved goodbye.
On to part four.