Being Part of the NCIS Family

Thirteen

FOUR MONTHS LATER

McGee POV

"What the hell do you mean? I shouldn't have to wait for his body because you haven't solved his murder!" Tony shouted angrily into his desk phone. "I work for NCIS. I know protocol, and I'm pretty sure that's not it. I want his body before it rots!" he yelled, then slammed down the phone.

"Still can't get Senior's body?" Liv asked. She looked concerned, but she also had a pained look on her face. Her past injuries must've been giving her trouble.

"Yeah, and I don't know why the hell not." Tony said, still angry. Liv got up, with a little more difficulty than usual, and walked over to Tony. "Hey, take it easy." he told Liv, the anger slowly giving way to concern. Liv brushed his advice off and went to the side of Tony's desk, which was a little farther away than it used to be with the new big circle with all of Liv's brothers.

"Tony, I will go down to MPD and rip their faces off if it makes you feel better. But for now, just give it a little time, okay?"

"I've given it four months! You just got a permanent prosthetic, which takes time. Shouldn't that say something? Ziva's almost healed, too. It's taken too long." Tony said, getting mad all over again. SMACK! "Yow! What was that for?"

"Calm. The. Hell. Down." Liv growled. "Give it time like a grown man." Then she walked back to her desk, smirking like Gibbs does. She grinned over at me, hearing my quiet laughter and then bust out laughing. "Your face!" she cried, looking at Tony. Then she tried to compose herself. "Wait. Sorry. Dead dad, body held. Sorry."

"Rule number six." Gibbs said, walking into the bullpen.

"Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness. Right, Boss." Liv said.

"Whaddaya got?" Gibbs asked. We'd just picked up a case. A dead Navy Chaplain with his eyes sewn shut. We suspected it was someone who had worked with the killer of the Marine in the park with a gag around his mouth. Like Liv had said. Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil.

"Navy Chaplain Randy Davidson. According to his mother, he was home visiting for her birthday. Except, I got phone records and we looked through his texts, and they're focused on something that is most definitely not his mother's birthday." Liv said. She clicked a button on the clicker and his phone records and texts popped up onto the three monitors in the big circle.

"Can't wait to see your-" Liv's brother Derek started, then cut himself off. "OOOH-kay." (looks kind of awkward, but I think you know what I mean, like that surprised thing you do where you emphasize the first part...) Derek cut himself off. "None of us needed to see that. Even DiNozzo's not that perverted."

"Of course not. I tell girls I want to see their naked asses in person, not over text. What kind of asshat do you think I am?" SMACK! "Sorry Liv." he said. Liv stuck her hand up and Derek gave her a high five.

"Well. Most of the others are of that nature." Liv said, taking the texts down. The phone records stayed up. "The name in his phone tells us nothing, but the number belongs to one Victoria O'Malley." she said. "Derek, Monty, go pick her up, I'll send you her address." she said, typing something into her phone. Monty's phone buzzed. He pulled it out and checked it.

"Got it." he said. He and Derek headed off towards the elevator after grabbing their gear.

"Ziver." Gibbs said.

"Emails and other texts." she said.

"Reynolds."

"I'll go down to see Abby." Liv said, marching to the elevator that would take her to Abby's lab. I still couldn't believe she had a prosthetic leg. She walked so well and so fluidly now.

"McGee." Gibbs turned to me.

"I'll see if I can pull anything off his computer."

"The rest of you Reynolds boys see what you can do with ballistics. I'm going to autopsy." Gibbs said, striding in the direction that Liv had gone followed by the rest of Liv's brothers.

Gibbs POV

"How long have you been with NCIS?" Aaron asked me.

"Long enough." I replied.

"Y'know, between us, you, and DiNozzo and McGee, Liv is pretty well protected." Andrew said. Josh laughed.

"And yet she's been in the hospital most of the last couple years." he said. A shadow of worry passed over his scarred and weather-beaten face.

"Hey." I said. "I know Liv hates it when you worry about her." I said. "Not that it stops you or me, but she can hold her own, even with her new leg." I said.

"Well, yeah, but-" I cut Josh off with a sharp headslap. He made the same squeaking sound that DiNozzo always makes.

"Your sister's a Marine, and a damn good one. You are too. So don't hold her back because you're worried about her." I said. "Rule number five."

"You don't waste good." Josh said. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"According to Abby, I always am." I said. Josh smirked and turned to face the elevator doors again as they dinged and opened. I got off and Liv's brothers stayed on, going back up to Abby's lab.

Liv POV

"-and there's a foreign substance in the holes made from stitching the eyes shut." Abby was telling me as my brothers walked in. "Hey boys, need something?" Abby asked. "I was just telling Liv that we found something in the little puncture wounds from the stitches. There's high concentrations of alcohol, but also fluids used in embalming. Not sure what the mix is, but our latest theory is an alcoholic mortician." I laughed.

"That one's all you." I said, trying to stop laughing. "I just got here."

"So what can we do for you boys?" Abby asked.

"You can tell us if you need any ballistics work done." Aaron said. Abby led him and Josh off. Andrew stayed back to talk to me.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked.

"Fine, why?" I replied.

"Because you've been looking worse than usual today. You're having difficulty getting around."

"I'm fine. I took Advil a couple hours ago, nothing's giving me severe trouble. I'm fine." I said. That's when things got decidedly not fine.