Fic: Adagio for the Moon (Chapter 4/12) [NCIS 'Were!Verse]
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
Chapter Word Count: 1,168
When Tim and Gibbs got to Bethesda Medical Center, they were told that Commander Dalton was in a meeting, but that he would be out in less than ten minutes. The two agents' patience was rewarded when Dalton left the small meeting room not three minutes after they'd arrived.
'Commander Dalton?' Gibbs asked, pushing away from the wall he'd been casually leaning against. Dalton stopped after handing off a file folder to a nearby corpsman.
'Can I help you gentlemen?' he asked, his voice accented with a soft Georgian drawl.
'NCIS. Is there somewhere we can talk to you in private, Commander?' Dalton considered Gibbs' request, and then gestured for the two NCIS agents to follow him into the conference room he and his fellow medical professionals had just vacated. Once the three men sat down at the table, Dalton turned his attention to Gibbs.
'What can I help you with, Agent-?'
'Gibbs,' Gibbs replied. 'This is Agent McGee. We're here because the body of Petty Officer Third Class George Warner was found this morning in Georgetown. He's been murdered.'
To Tim, it seemed like it took Dalton a few too many seconds to school his face into something resembling shocked surprise, but then again, Dalton was only human and didn't have the enhanced senses of a were; to anyone else, the very slight delay might not have been noticeable. Tim kept quiet about his observation, though, as he didn't want to keep Dalton from telling them any vital information.
'I'm sorry to hear that,' Dalton said. 'Do you have any idea how he died?'
Gibbs shook his head. 'Not yet. Our M.E was still conducting the autopsy when we left the Navy Yard. What was it that Petty Officer Warner did for you, Commander?'
'That's classified, Agent Gibbs,' Dalton said, frowning slightly. 'All I can tell you is that he was part of a research team. I can't say any more than that.. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work.' He got to his feet, Gibbs and Tim following his example. After shaking hands with one another, Commander Dalton left the room, heading deeper into the halls of the Medical Center, while Tim and Gibbs headed out to the car they had arrived in.
Just before Gibbs pulled out of the parking lot, his phone rang. He answered it with his customary bark of 'Gibbs,' putting the speaker-phone on when he realized it was Tony on the other end.
'Hey, boss,' Tony said. He sounded grim; Tim wondered what it was that the High Beta had found to provoke such a reaction. 'Ziva and I are at Warner's apartment. We found a body here, and another note like the first one, except this one mentions NCIS. Ziva's on the phone with Ducky; he and Palmer should be here soon.'
'Damn,' Gibbs muttered, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. 'Did you find anything besides the body?'
'Well, we've got some fingerprints and some hairs, but they could just be Warner's, Boss,' Tony said. 'We're going to head back to the office once Ducky's done here.'
'Keep looking while you wait,' Gibbs said. 'I want as much evidence as possible.'
'On it, Boss,' Tony replied. Gibbs shut the phone with an abrupt snap, cutting off anything else Tony might have to say.
---
Tim met up with Tony and Ziva in the bullpen two hours later; the two had stopped to take quick showers in the locker room, not wanting to smell like a decaying body. Gibbs had gone to see what Ducky had found out from Petty Officer Warner's autopsy. Kate was still with Abby the last time Tim had checked; it was either in Abby's lab or autopsy- when Ducky wasn't in the middle of trying to figure out what had killed someone -that Kate could most often be found. There were other ghosts that made the NCIS building their home, and for some reason, they tended to stay in or near Ducky's domain, even when an autopsy was being conducted.
'Feel better after your shower?' Tim asked as Tony used a towel he'd pulled out of one of his desk drawers to dry his hair some more. Tony didn't answer, but merely threw his towel at Tim, who managed to catch the damp object before it hit him in the face.
'We had to wait an hour in an apartment smelling of dead guy because Palmer got lost. Again,' Tony groused, running his fingers through his hair to try and tame the tousled mess a bit. If anything, the action made his hair even more mussed up than usual. Ziva hid a smile at the sight of Tony's hair, quickly returning her eyes to her computer screen so Tony wouldn't see the laughter dancing in her eyes.
'What do we know about our latest victim?' Tim asked, tossing the towel back at its owner. Tony caught it with one hand and then dumped it in a crumpled heap next to his desk.
'Not much, except that he's a guy,' Tony said, rolling his shoulders and trying to work out some kinks in his back. 'Hopefully, Abby will be able to track him down from his fingerprints.'
Tim frowned. 'He didn't have his ID bracelet on him?' That was odd; from a very young age, weres were taught never to remove the bracelets, as they were the only thing preventing medical disasters from occurring. If a were got any other kind of blood besides that of another were, it could turn out to be lethal. Weres had the same blood types- A, B, O, and AB -as humans and vampires, but there was a specific protein in the blood of a were that rejected any blood that did not contain said protein.
Ziva shook her head. 'It was very odd,' she said. 'Perhaps whoever put him in Petty Officer Warner's bed took it with them.'
'Maybe,' Tim agreed.
'What happened with Commander Dalton? Gibbs seemed more grumpy than usual when we saw him earlier,' Tony said, leaning back in his chair. Tim sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck as he did so.
'Not much, actually,' he replied after a few seconds. 'He was very close-mouthed about what Warner did, and would only tell us that he was part of some sort of research team. Everything else was classified. I tried looking into the files to see what the team was researching, but I couldn't get in.'
'Something even you couldn't get into, McGeek? I'm astonished,' Tony said with a smirk. 'Anyways, Abby's working on the stuff we gathered from Warner's apartment, so hopefully we'll have something to work with soon. Otherwise, we're going to be here for a while.'
'That is very true,' Ziva affirmed, and then fell silent, returning once more to her work. Tim and Tony soon followed her example, each man searching for something that might help them end the hunt for the killer that much sooner.
Chapter Word Count: 1,168
When Tim and Gibbs got to Bethesda Medical Center, they were told that Commander Dalton was in a meeting, but that he would be out in less than ten minutes. The two agents' patience was rewarded when Dalton left the small meeting room not three minutes after they'd arrived.
'Commander Dalton?' Gibbs asked, pushing away from the wall he'd been casually leaning against. Dalton stopped after handing off a file folder to a nearby corpsman.
'Can I help you gentlemen?' he asked, his voice accented with a soft Georgian drawl.
'NCIS. Is there somewhere we can talk to you in private, Commander?' Dalton considered Gibbs' request, and then gestured for the two NCIS agents to follow him into the conference room he and his fellow medical professionals had just vacated. Once the three men sat down at the table, Dalton turned his attention to Gibbs.
'What can I help you with, Agent-?'
'Gibbs,' Gibbs replied. 'This is Agent McGee. We're here because the body of Petty Officer Third Class George Warner was found this morning in Georgetown. He's been murdered.'
To Tim, it seemed like it took Dalton a few too many seconds to school his face into something resembling shocked surprise, but then again, Dalton was only human and didn't have the enhanced senses of a were; to anyone else, the very slight delay might not have been noticeable. Tim kept quiet about his observation, though, as he didn't want to keep Dalton from telling them any vital information.
'I'm sorry to hear that,' Dalton said. 'Do you have any idea how he died?'
Gibbs shook his head. 'Not yet. Our M.E was still conducting the autopsy when we left the Navy Yard. What was it that Petty Officer Warner did for you, Commander?'
'That's classified, Agent Gibbs,' Dalton said, frowning slightly. 'All I can tell you is that he was part of a research team. I can't say any more than that.. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work.' He got to his feet, Gibbs and Tim following his example. After shaking hands with one another, Commander Dalton left the room, heading deeper into the halls of the Medical Center, while Tim and Gibbs headed out to the car they had arrived in.
Just before Gibbs pulled out of the parking lot, his phone rang. He answered it with his customary bark of 'Gibbs,' putting the speaker-phone on when he realized it was Tony on the other end.
'Hey, boss,' Tony said. He sounded grim; Tim wondered what it was that the High Beta had found to provoke such a reaction. 'Ziva and I are at Warner's apartment. We found a body here, and another note like the first one, except this one mentions NCIS. Ziva's on the phone with Ducky; he and Palmer should be here soon.'
'Damn,' Gibbs muttered, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. 'Did you find anything besides the body?'
'Well, we've got some fingerprints and some hairs, but they could just be Warner's, Boss,' Tony said. 'We're going to head back to the office once Ducky's done here.'
'Keep looking while you wait,' Gibbs said. 'I want as much evidence as possible.'
'On it, Boss,' Tony replied. Gibbs shut the phone with an abrupt snap, cutting off anything else Tony might have to say.
---
Tim met up with Tony and Ziva in the bullpen two hours later; the two had stopped to take quick showers in the locker room, not wanting to smell like a decaying body. Gibbs had gone to see what Ducky had found out from Petty Officer Warner's autopsy. Kate was still with Abby the last time Tim had checked; it was either in Abby's lab or autopsy- when Ducky wasn't in the middle of trying to figure out what had killed someone -that Kate could most often be found. There were other ghosts that made the NCIS building their home, and for some reason, they tended to stay in or near Ducky's domain, even when an autopsy was being conducted.
'Feel better after your shower?' Tim asked as Tony used a towel he'd pulled out of one of his desk drawers to dry his hair some more. Tony didn't answer, but merely threw his towel at Tim, who managed to catch the damp object before it hit him in the face.
'We had to wait an hour in an apartment smelling of dead guy because Palmer got lost. Again,' Tony groused, running his fingers through his hair to try and tame the tousled mess a bit. If anything, the action made his hair even more mussed up than usual. Ziva hid a smile at the sight of Tony's hair, quickly returning her eyes to her computer screen so Tony wouldn't see the laughter dancing in her eyes.
'What do we know about our latest victim?' Tim asked, tossing the towel back at its owner. Tony caught it with one hand and then dumped it in a crumpled heap next to his desk.
'Not much, except that he's a guy,' Tony said, rolling his shoulders and trying to work out some kinks in his back. 'Hopefully, Abby will be able to track him down from his fingerprints.'
Tim frowned. 'He didn't have his ID bracelet on him?' That was odd; from a very young age, weres were taught never to remove the bracelets, as they were the only thing preventing medical disasters from occurring. If a were got any other kind of blood besides that of another were, it could turn out to be lethal. Weres had the same blood types- A, B, O, and AB -as humans and vampires, but there was a specific protein in the blood of a were that rejected any blood that did not contain said protein.
Ziva shook her head. 'It was very odd,' she said. 'Perhaps whoever put him in Petty Officer Warner's bed took it with them.'
'Maybe,' Tim agreed.
'What happened with Commander Dalton? Gibbs seemed more grumpy than usual when we saw him earlier,' Tony said, leaning back in his chair. Tim sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck as he did so.
'Not much, actually,' he replied after a few seconds. 'He was very close-mouthed about what Warner did, and would only tell us that he was part of some sort of research team. Everything else was classified. I tried looking into the files to see what the team was researching, but I couldn't get in.'
'Something even you couldn't get into, McGeek? I'm astonished,' Tony said with a smirk. 'Anyways, Abby's working on the stuff we gathered from Warner's apartment, so hopefully we'll have something to work with soon. Otherwise, we're going to be here for a while.'
'That is very true,' Ziva affirmed, and then fell silent, returning once more to her work. Tim and Tony soon followed her example, each man searching for something that might help them end the hunt for the killer that much sooner.