The Third DiNozzo

Chapter 8 ~ Possibly Identity Crisis

Aspen honestly did not want an early lunch but, she had to get away from Tony before she would kick him in the nuts. Aspen walked through the parking lot to find the blue Cadillac her mother gave her when she went to college.

"Hey, baby," Aspen said patting the trunk. Aspen loved the car almost more than she ever loved a human being, but she never let other people know that. So, Aspen got into her car and drove away from the Naval yard as quickly as she could before she could get caught by any of her coworkers. Her car rumbled as it turned out of the yard and down the road to the business district where plenty of coffee shops and restaurants were located.

As she drove down the street her phone started to vibrate and she saw it was her mom. Aspen quickly pulled over to a parking lot of a McDonald's and answered her phone call.

"Hey, Momma."

"Hello Aspen, how is my lovely daughter today." Claire Jacobs's voice came through the speaker of the phone.

"Fine," Aspen said quickly. A scoff from the other side of the phone stated that Claire did not believe her daughter for one moment.

"Asp, talk to me, hun." Aspen just clutched the steering wheel of the parked car and took a deep breath.

"One of my coworkers was being a motherfucking prick."

"Aspen Marie, watch your language!" her mom roared clapping her hands.

"Mom, I'm thirty ... not thirteen." Aspen said annoyingly while rolling her eyes, "Curse words make up ninety-nine point nine percent of my vocabulary."

"Well, use the other point one percent of that when talking to me, okay? What if I had a friend in the car?" Claire questioned.

"You? Have a friend in your car? Mom, you don't even let me touch the outside of the car when I come to visit." Aspen said, chuckling.

"Well, you're your father's daughter. You could just touch something and it would be jinxed for the next year."

"Speaking of him, have you heard anything on either of them? Sam wanted to know," Aspen said with a tone of her voice that meant she could care less about knowing what her birth father and birth twin were up to but, felt like it was a courtesy she should extend.

"Well, I don't have many ties to their lives anymore but I do know that your brother is working for a federal organization over there on the coast, and well, other than that I don't know," Clarie said.

Aspen had started to take a drink of water but immediately choked on it. The thought of being on the same coast as this brother was almost sickening. That's when she got the horrid thought of him being in the same agency as her. Claire heard and laughed.

"Did that scare you?"

"Yes!" Aspen said loudly. "Now I'm going to be worried he'll want to reconnect or some shit."

"Aspen!"

"Sorry, but I curse when I'm pissed, stressed, or annoyed, and right now, I'm all freaking three at once!" Aspen spat harshly at the phone. "After this Tony DeDickzzo being a prick to me, the last thing I need is my asshole of a twin becoming an issue."

"W-what did you say his name was?" Claire stuttered from her end.

"Tony DiNozzo. Why?" Aspen asked, looking over at the phone as if it was on fire.

"I- I have to call you back honey, I just pulled into work. Love you, bye!" Claire spoke rapidly from her end of the call.

"No, Momma, get back here and explain why his name was important!" Aspen shouted into the disconnected phone call. She punched the seat of her car and tossed her head back in frustration, her mother always pulled this shit, always and it annoyed her to no end. So once she was calmed down, Aspen pulled the keys out of the ignition and decided to get McDonalds for lunch. As she walked in she noticed a few other Federal Workers sitting together at a table chomping their Big Macs away while probably talking about the latest recruit or something like that. She approached the counter to order when she heard a voice from behind.

"Jacobs! Yo, Jacobs!" Aspen glanced over to see that sitting at the table was none other than her fiance's ex-partner, Joey Fontorelli. Aspen groaned as she watched him jump out of his seat and walk over, littering shreds of lettuce and some fries falling off his lap along the way. "How have you been?"

"Fine," Aspen said, being polite.

"You know after Marcus died, it was hard to go to work ... I cannot even imagine how hard it was for you. Considering ... well, ya know."

"Yeah, well at least I went back to work and didn't transfer out of Pasadena two days after his funeral," Aspen spoke back harshly turning back to the worker at the counter. "May I have a Number 7, cheese and Ketchup only on the burgers, large fry, with a large drink, and a 6 piece with ranch please?" Aspen rattled off, the worker struggling to keep up with her.

"Will this be for he -"

"To-Go," Aspen cut the worker off before they could finish. "I would rather be able to eat in peace." Joey seemed to take the hint and backed off.

"Good to see you're still surviving, Jacobs. Maybe I'll see you around Hoover."

"No, you won't." Aspen turned to look at him. "I'm working at the Navy Yard with NCIS now. So, consider this the only reunion I will ever have with you."

"Pen, c'mon! We used to be best friends."

"That was before you left me alone to deal with the loss of my fiance! We stopped being best friends the moment you chose to run away rather than stand by me."

"I'm sorry, Pen.

"And it's Aspen!" Aspen snapped grabbing the sack of her McDonald's order. "Have a nice life, prick." Aspen clutched her bag so hard her knuckles were turning white by the time she sat down in the car. Placing her food on the passenger's seat, she sped off to a park nearby to eat as she would never eat in her car. Once she pulled into the parking lot of the park, she got out with her food and made her way over to the picnic table underneath a tree. As she opened her bag, she wished this would be a peaceful lunch.

Rrrrrring Ring

"Just fucking great!" Aspen said reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone. It was McGee. "Hey, McGee. What's up?"

"Aspen," she heard what sounded like a car door closing on his end. "I was just wanting to make sure you were okay, I mean ... you did run out of there fast and -"

"I'm fine, McGee. Just ... that name the DiNozzo kept calling me is what ..." Aspen had to clear away a lump forming in her throat so she didn't just burst into tears right then and there on the phone with her coworker. "It's the name that my fiance called me right up to when he - when he died."

"I'm so sorry, Aspen." McGee's voice crackled through the phone. "I will make sure Tony doesn't call you that name again."

"It's okay, McGee. I have to just explain to DiNozzo why I cannot handle that nickname and suggest other names that would be equally annoying to be called but not as trauma-inducing." Aspen explained taking a bite of her burger. "Is there a break in the case?" McGee went on to tell her everything that happened when they visited Abby's lab.

"So, this family struggling on a military budget managed to get how many tickets to Wicked?"

"About 10, we think even though it was listed as such they might have gotten more with cash at the show and stuff."

"Or they could have been sold off on-site for a bigger price. McGee, are we able to run a background on Majorie's bank statements from that year? Cause as someone who has had friends go to Broadway shows with extra tickets, people outside the shows will pay extremely high amounts of money for them." Aspen said shoving a few fries into her mouth.

"We can, it would just have to be after lunch. I'm running to Jersey Mike's to get an order for the team. We have extra sandwiches and stuff if you would want to join us." McGee offered.

"Yeah, I'll come to join ya. Right after I finish my lunch and well, stop by the movie theatre in town to see what is showing."

"Okay. Well, see you back at NCIS then."

As Aspen hung up her phone, a shiver went up her spine. Something was off in her universe now. Something in her life was going to change. She didn't like that feeling.