The Life Of The Daughter Of NCIS

Chapter 19: Boat No.7

Gibbs

I took a step back to survey the large wooden boat, I smiled slightly, and swapped the brush in my hand for a smaller one. I scanned the paint tins until I found the black one and took that with me too. I dipped the brush and began to fill in the space between the pencilled lines, careful not to smudge any of the inscription. The bold, black italic letters stood out from the honey coloured wood, I stared at them for a long time.

Azalea

'Naming this boat a little prematurely, Probie. Keep your hopes up and she'll come home.' A voice, that sounded uncannily like Mike Franks, echoed inside of my head "I was naming it Azalea anyway." I replied to the voice, shaking my head with a smile when I realised how mad I sounded.

I picked my way over planks of wood and the large vessel taking up the majority of my basement, I dropped onto the stall and gulped the dregs of my bourbon, I glanced at the half full bottle and scolded myself, I shouldn't of drunk that much.

Reaching under the worktop, I groped for the object that I needed, pulling my hand back when it met with the cold metal surface, clutched in my fist was my first gun- a Wesson. I inspected the powerful weapon, checking that everything was working well, I turned it so I could see if anything was obstructing the barrel when I heard a sharp crack followed by a loud bang.

Shocked, I dropped the gun on the bench and covered my ears with my hands as they continued to ring, slowly, I moved them away and winced. I glared at the person currently standing at the top of the stairs, who had their gun pointed at the far corner of the room.

"I think you just shattered my eardrums DiNozzo." I growled, flipping out the barrel chamber of the gun and filling each empty space with a bullet. "There was a camera in the corner," Tony protested "I know." I replied simply "sorry, Boss, that was stupid." He apologised, I rolled my eyes "ya think?" I told him sarcastically, reaching for the large bottle and a jar, I poured the screws out and blew away the dust and served Tony a drink.

He took it gratefully and had a sip. I double checked the safety before tucking it in my rucksack that helped me in many missions with the core, it contained clothes, a couple of boxes of bullets and other necessities. I ran my finger along the name stitched onto the front and smiled. Those were the days.

"I remember you checking that bag the night before your deployments, Kell and I thought if we took stuff out you wouldn't be able to go and you'd stay home with us and Shannon." DiNozzo mused. I smiled, and looked over at Tony, seeing the characteristics he kept from his ten year old self, "if I take your bullets out won't you go?"

I spun around, a small key between my fingers, I unlocked the hidden drawer and tugged at the handle, the slide rolled out to reveal my Marine M40A1 sniper rifle. I grinned as I pulled it out, it seemed to hum in my hands as I stared through the sight and imagined myself doing the same thing in Desert Storm before resting the gun on a soft cloth and grabbed everything I needed to clean the sniper.

With gentle precision I rubbed a wire cleaning brush and rag along the mechanisms, freeing them of dust and grime.

I was securing everything in place after cleaning it,"spit it out DiNozzo." I ordered, "where you going, Gibbs?" He asked as I secured it in the hard travel case, followed by another couple boxes of .308 bullets: Lapua boat-tail, full metal jacket, moly-coated. "Back to the beginning." I shouldered the backpack and then the rifle carrier.

I slipped past Tony and made my way upstairs though it wasn't long before I heard him scamper after me as he finally worked it out. "Boss, wait for the team." He begged as I switched off everything downstairs. I picked up the carrier as I made my way back through, "no, Tony," I refused "this is something I need to do on my own." DiNozzo gave me a ludicrous look "that's a suicide mission." He stated. I dropped the bags in the back of the pickup and shrugged.