Alone ~ NCIS

Chapter Five

The drive home was peaceful, Ducky babbling about some experience he'd had in Africa in his youth. I'd tuned out ten minutes ago, turning instead to stare out of the window at the passing scenery. Somewhere in the distance, the dark waters of the Potomac lapped at sandy shores. Ducky's clapped out old car rattled around yet another corner, threatening to toss a hubcap as we continued on our journey.

We'd discussed tea earlier, and I'd just told him to cook what he wanted and that I'd eat anything.

I wasn't lying.

I ate mostly everything. Except maybe some vegetables.

Ok, quite a few. I refused point blank to eat Brussels sprouts, even during Christmas, broccoli tasted and felt like eating soggy carpet, and carrots that had been boiled to death tasted frankly awful.

I'd told Ducky as much, but he'd shook his head and laughed, saying something about having to train me to eat more vegetables, at which point I'd threatened to shoot him and stuff him and then hang him in a hunting shop. He'd laughed but argued no further.

The evening was quiet, Ducky made a simple meal of pasta with a very tasty cheesy sauce and a salad on the side. I noted the distinct lack of broccoli, carrot and sprouts.

He sat down gladly, slinging his apron over the back of another chair. I smiled at him. He nodded happily, and we tucked in.

The food was delicious, and the salad I reluctantly tried was good too. By the time I was finished, almost all of the pasta was gone, and half the salad disappeared too.

While I finished off the last traces on my plate, Ducky cleared his throat. I looked up at him.

"Isla." He began, his tone unreadable.

"Ducky." I mirrored.

"Why are you here?" He asked the dreaded question. I should have expected it, I'd been expecting it for days. But he'd asked it right at the moment I'd let my guard down.

"I had to drop off the medal." I swallowed my mouthful and put down my cutlery.

"How did you come to possess the medal, and how did you know where I was?"

"It was his last wish. His last words. The paramedics told me. 'Give him the medal.' I knew which medal he meant, so I packed up and left."

"I'm sorry." I hated those words.

"You had nothing to do with it. You didn't kill them, so there's no need to be sorry."

"But how did you find me?"

"It took a long time. I started in New York and just kept going. Eventually someone tried to mug me, big mistake, and the police tracked you down for me. Not hard, given that their M.E. knows you." I shrugged and leant back in the chair. There wasn't much else to say.

"Are you ok?" He asked, brow creased with worry.

"Oh yeah, the fencing lessons didn't go to waste. It's amazing the damage an umbrella can do." His face flashed with something I couldn't read.

"An umbrella?"

"Yep, I broke a few ribs and fractured his jaw."

"..umbrella." He muttered to himself, eyes unfocused as he stared off into the distance, thinking.

"Yeah.." I nodded, now completely confused. He raised his head to look at me, then rose to his feet quickly.

"I think, dear Isla, you have just solved a mystery." He bustled past, and I followed suit. He shrugged his coat on, already moving to the bowl next to the door for the keys. I grabbed my jacket and slipped out of the door as he pulled at it. He opened his mouth to protest but I got there first.

"I'm coming. And it's my mystery now too." He sighed frustratedly, but pulled the door closed and turned the key. I was already sitting in the car by the time he came down the steps, his phone open in his hand.

He passed the phone to me as he got in, grumbling something about not finding Gibb's number. I smiled and bit back the joke that was already lining itself up in my mind, already flicking through the contacts on his phone.

Gibbs' number was one of five numbers on his contact list.

"Got it. Want me to call him?"

"Yes please." He said, pulling out onto the road. "and put it on speaker."

"Already done." I cut him off. Gibbs picked up on the third ring, his voice rough with sleep. He'd obviously just woken up.

"It's an umbrella, Gibbs. He was attacked with an umbrella." Ducky said immediately.

"What?"

"The contusions I found on his back and ribs, they were from an umbrella."

"Are you with Abby?" Gibbs asked groggily, a rustling on the other end of the line suggested he was up and moving.

"Not yet, but we'll be there soon."

"Alright, meet you there." He hung up sharply, and Ducky nodded, urging his Oldtimer Morgan to go faster.

This would be interesting.

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A/n: Hey, it's me, I'm very sorry for the incredible delay. I honestly lost track of where I was going with this, but here is a new chapter. I'm still not sure what I have planned for this fic, so updates will be slow until I find the ideas and the motivation to continue . Sorry Xx