The Third DiNozzo

Chapter 3 ~ The First Case

Just as McGee was about question, her words. Someone rushed into the bullpen and spoke.

"Dead Petty Officer! Grab your gear!" A man with gray speckled hair said while walking to the desk in the middle of the room. He grabbed a cup of coffee off his desk and went right back the way he came. Aspen was confused and luckily Ziva noticed.

"Just grab your gun and badge if you have one and follow us, quickly!" She said. Aspen nodded and grabbed her temporary badge and followed after them. In the elevator, the gray-haired man finally noticed Aspen.

"You must be, Agent Jacobs?" He asked. Aspen nodded her head and extended her hand. 

"Aspen."

"Get ready for hard work." He said before sipping his coffee. Completely ignoring her hand. Aspen was slightly offended before McGee whispered in her ear. 

"Don't worry, Gibbs will warm up to you with time." 

"I hope so," Aspen said as they exited the elevator and got onto the cars. The ride was semi-boring except for the moment McGee made a wrong turn and caused them to be late, which Gibbs didn't appreciate. Nothing however topped them having to wait for the Medical Examiner. They stood outside the house with the body waiting for the M.E (apparently named Ducky) to show up with his assistant. Finally, the M.E van pulled up and an older-looking man got out.

"Sorry we're late, Jethro! Palmer here forgot his left from his right!" He said walking to the back. Right as he disappeared a young man with dark brown hair walked around the front of the van. Aspen made eye contact with him as Tony walked over and patted him on the back.

"Leave it to the Autopsy Gremlin to forget basic directions." Aspen rolled her eyes and flashed a sympathetic smile at Palmer before turning to find McGee and Ziva entering the house. She quickly rushed in after them. When she got in her eyes popped out of her sockets as she found herself face to face with a room full of movie posters. 

"Whoa!" She walked over and examined the one right over the t.v. "This is a SIGNED poster of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince!" She squinted to read the names. "Signed by: Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith! Damn, this probably cost a pretty penny." Aspen said turning back to face the body. 

"You into movies, Aspen?" Ziva questioned. 

"Yeah. My Mom used to take me to the movies whenever my stepfather would get drunk. A distraction as she called it." Aspen snapped her gloves on and squatted down beside the body. "By the time I was ten the movie theater OWNER knew me by name."

"Whoa-Ho! This!" Tony said entering the house he sprinted over and looked at the same poster Aspen looked at. "It's even signed!" He rushed over and looked at more of the posters around the room. "This guy had taste!"

"Actually um- Tony ... It's a female," McGee said. Tony looked and saw the female Petty Officer laying on the ground with a pair of scissors stabbed into her chest. 

"Ouch." He said. Aspen rolled her eyes and backed up and Ducky and Palmer walked in. Ducky got down beside and stuck the liver probe in. While he did that, Palmer tapped Aspen on the shoulder.

"H-Hi. I-um- just wanted to welcome you to NCIS." He said. "And thank you for not agreeing with Tony." Aspen smiled.

"Of course. I used to work with someone like him back in Pasadena. I never let him get under my skin. So you shouldn't let him get under yours - I'm sorry what's your name?" She asked him. He took off his cap and rubbed his hair. 

"Palmer, James Palmer. Everybody calls me Jimmy though." He said extending his hand.

"Jacobs, Aspen Jacobs." She took his hand and smiled. The moment they touched hands however both felt differently. Jimmy couldn't take his eyes off of her, admiring her beauty. He hadn't noticed until that moment how her dark brown hair fell to her shoulders, and her dark brown eyes shimmered. Aspen hadn't looked at a man that way since the day Marcus got shot. She felt her heart begin to race and her breath quickened before she yanked her hand away. 

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy. We should really focus on our work." She wiped her hand on her pants and went back to stand beside McGee.

"Our victim is Petty Officer Third Class Majorie James. According to AFIS, she was just getting transferred to Jacksonville in three days." He read off this scanner.

"Hence all the boxes," Ziva said snapping a photo of the boxes on the couch. Which had bloody handprints all over them. Aspen knelt down beside the body again and shook her head. 

"Poor girl, she can't be much older than 23!" She said. 

"Actually she's 25, Aspen," McGee said showing her the scanner she read the age and nodded her head. Ducky started explaining some medical findings while Aspen stood up and joined Tony over by some more posters. 

"This chick had taste!" He said admiring a poster of Top Gun. "She has everything from Mary Poppins to Vacancy! She would've been good to know." He reached out to touch her poster of Top Gun. Aspen quickly rushed forward and slapped his hand away.

"OW!" He said rubbing his hand.

"Serves you right. Learn to respect the dead, DiNozzo." She said mocking his last name. "Besides, no one will want your greasy handprints over a work of art." She said crossing her arms.

"Oh yeah? Name 5 actors from Top Gun that aren't Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis." Tony said giving Aspen a smug grin. Aspen bit her lip and chuckled. 

"Okay, you want to play that game. Alright. Let's see ... Val Kilmer played Iceman, Anthony Edwards played Goose, Randall Brady played Lt. Davis, Barry Tubb played Wolfman, and Danny Nero played a radioman but he was uncredited." She flashed a smile towards Tony. "Now how about you tell me the entire main cast of the movie Hatari?" 

"Hatari?" Tony said scratching his head. "I don't think I've ever heard of it." He said.

"Imagine that, a movie that you DON'T know DiNozzo," Ziva said from her spot next to McGee. "You claim to be the Poster Boy of movies." Aspen couldn't help but laugh at how Ziva threw an insult at Tony. 

"Yeah, Tony. Even I know Hatari." Tim said getting up and walking out to find Gibbs. Tony groaned.

"Well, we know one thing for certain, Gibbs probably won't know Hatari, for it sounds like it is not a western." Aspen quickly backed off and went over to stand next to Ziva who was smirking at Tony. Tony closed his eyes. "He's right behind me isn't he."