Being Part of the NCIS Family

Twenty-Seven

Liv POV

"It's not Reagan." Leah sobbed with relief. DiNozzo, Ziva, McGee, and I looked at each other, confusion scrawled across each of our faces.

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" I asked. Leah looked at the body again.

"I'm not sure." she said after a moment. "I'm sorry." she said.

"It's alright!" I assured her. "You can go back home. I'll take you." I said. I was still holding one of the dogs' leashes. Leah nodded her consent, and we turned to walk back to her house.

"Do you have any dogs of your own?" Leah asked. I nodded.

"I've got a pitbull named Mason and two Rottweilers, Athena and Poseidon."

"You a fan of Greek mythology?" Leah asked, smiling.

"Actually, I got the two Rottweilers from another NCIS job. The husband of the victim refused to take them, so I took two and a good friend took the other two. They always hang out at the office together, along with Mason, then Athena and Poseidon come home with me and Mason, and Abby takes the other two, Clifford and Luna, home with her." I said.

"That's a lot of dogs." Leah said, laughing. I laughed, too.

"It's also just a lot of dog. Mason comes up to a little higher than Agent DiNozzo's waist, and the two Rottweilers come up to about my waistline." I said. Leah's eyes went wide with surprise.

"Wow." she said. "Hey, do you take them to the dog park near here?" I nodded.

"Abby and I take any break we get and take the dogs." I said. Then I laughed. "It must be some sight to see." Leah seemed to understand.

"It's a sight even with just one big dog." Leah laughed. "You're a pretty small person."

"Now imagine me with three huge dogs and a super skinny woman about Tony's height with two, and that's me and Abby." Leah thought for a moment, then giggled.

"Oh wow." I nodded, laughing.

"Hey, how about I give you my cell phone number, and we can hang out with our dogs sometimes." I said. In my head, I was crossing my fingers and fervently hoping she agreed. Much to my delight, she agreed emphatically.

"I was thinking the same thing!" she exclaimed as we pulled our phones out. We exchanged phones and put in our names and numbers, then traded back.

"I'll let you know if I'm at the dog park during the day, and Thor and Winnie can come join us!" I said. "If they get along, which I'm sure they will, you can let me know if you ever need a dogsitter."

"Oh, likewise!" Leah said.

"Oh, and if I'm not available," I added, "I have five brothers that all live with me, so one of them should be able to spare some time." Leah's eyes widened. "Although, if your dogs are scared of really big things, that may not be a good idea, because all five of them are 6'5" or taller." I said.

"Um." Leah said. "Wow." I grinned. "The dogs should be fine, but I hope I'm not too intimidated." Leah said, chuckling nervously. I grinned.

"Aw, they're sweet guys. They're all former military like me." Immediately, I regretted mentioning the military bit. People always treat me like some sort of hero, but really I'm just a girl who decided to go serve her country.  As soon as I had said 'military,' Leah snapped into a salute. Out of instinct, I snapped into a salute in response. After the salute, I looked at Leah quizzically.
"I was in the Navy for a few years and the Marines for another couple."

"Really?" I asked. "Me too." Leah grinned.

"When did you leave the military?" she asked.

"I think it was a year or two ago." I said. "I've lost track of time from all my hospital visits." I added reluctantly. Leah's eyes gave away her surprise.

"Hey, did you know the woman who disappeared for almost five months?" she asked. "Nobody would tell us who it was." she said. I considered lying, but the truth came out.

"I was the missing Marine." I said. Leah stopped dead in her tracks.

"That was you?" she asked. "I'm so sorry." she said. "I'm really, really sorry."

"For what?" I asked, puzzled.

"I was one of the soldiers who barely missed rescuing you." Leah said, her face dark. I turned all the way to Leah and wrapped her in a bear hug. After a surprised moment, Leah hugged back.

"It's not your fault." I said. "And the information you provided led to my rescue a little while later." I said, pulling away to look Leah in the eye. Leah laughed bitterly.

"You call two months a little while?" I took Leah by the shoulders.

"You can't beat yourself up over this." I said. "Instead of telling yourself that you missed me, tell yourself that you helped me get rescued." Leah smiled wryly at me.

"I guess I can do that." she said. I smiled, and we continued on to her house. A minute or two later, my leg suddenly gave out again.

"Holy-" I yelled, startled.

"Liv!" Leah cried. "Liv, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah." I groaned. "My prosthetic just gave out again."

"Prosthetic?" Liv asked. "From your captivity?" she asked, her eyes dark and sad.

"No, no." I assured her. "No, I got into a bad car accident a while ago. Someone came after me and almost killed me. I survived, but without a leg." Leah looked relieved. "Gosh, I could tell you stories about all the times I've almost died." Leah shook her head. Thor and Winnie were snuffling around my face, making sure I was okay. I pulled my pants leg up and fiddled with a few things to fix my leg. "Help me up?" I asked. Leah heaved me up with no problem. "Ow.." I grunted as she pulled me up.

"You alright?" Leah asked, alarmed.

"Yeah." I muttered. "Broken rib's still healing from the last time someone tried to kill me and the team." Leah rolled her eyes.

"You really need to calm down with the almost getting murdered thing." Leah said, chuckling. I laughed.

"You have no idea." I said.