NCIS Navy Yard

Washington D.C., Capitol of the United States of America

"What have you got for me, Abbs?" Gibbs asked, entering a forensic’s lab from the hallway.

He jerked back when he got an earful of pounding rock music, then Abby poked her head up from behind her computer. "Hey, Gibbs!" she greeted him cheerfully. "I was wondering when you’d come."

"Then you’ve got something," Gibbs guessed.

Abby grinned. "That. And some other news."

She stood and walked over to her lab table. "Ducky managed to find me a bullet, and the round was from a twenty-four."

"Rifle?" Gibbs asked.

Abby shook her head. "No. A Glock 24 handgun."

"Rare."

"Not everywhere," Abby assured Gibbs. She turned to her computer and tapped a few keys. A few sites pulled up. "If this was a trained assassin, there are tons of operations everywhere that use Glocks for clean work."

"Not if they leave their bullets behind."

Abby snorted. "No kidding."

Gibbs turned to her. "And the other news?"

Abby’s smile vanished. "Not good news."

"Just tell me you know what killed Lieutenant Sears."

"I don’t," Abby replied sadly. She tapped more keys at her computer, and the image of the wound came up. "I ran a check throughout the country. There’s no knife or anything that could’ve caused this kind of damage."

"So the weapon that killed Sears doesn’t exist," Gibbs concluded.

Abby smiled sadly. "Sorry."

Gibbs shook his head, annoyed, then handed Abby a rather large cup with the name Caf-Pow on the side. "Thanks, Abbs."

He left, and Abby sucked the straw happily, but she still stared at the screen as if hoping the answer would fly out at her.

***

Tony looked up as the elevator dinged, and Natasha strode in, looking deep in thought. "Did Admiral Watson have anything?" he asked.

Natasha shook her head. "No," she replied. "Just some camera footage to see if I recognized any of them from the man I saw onboard."

"Was anyone him?" McGee asked.

"‘He,’ McGee," Ziva corrected him.

Natasha shook her head again. "None of them."

Tony leaned back in his chair. "We have no motive," he summed up, "and we still have no idea who tried to kill you."

Natasha nodded. "Basically."

"Well, I don’t like that," a voice announced, and Tony shot upright in his chair as Gibbs entered the bullpen. "Have Ryan Jenkins and Mark Sears been informed yet?"

"They’re both in separate conference rooms," Tony replied.

Gibbs nodded. "Tony and Ziva, talk to Jenkins," he ordered. "Nat, you have Sears."

Natasha nodded and was up out of her chair in an instant, heading off towards the conference rooms. Tony and Ziva were not that far behind.

***

McGee watched Natasha go, looking a little pensive.

"Something wrong, McGee?"

McGee looked up at Gibbs, who was looking right back at him. "No, boss," he assured him. "Just thinking . . . "

"Good or bad?"

McGee shrugged. "I was just wondering why Natasha’s talking to Sears all alone."

Gibbs leaned back in his chair, watching something on his screen. "We identified the weapon used to kill Commander Jenkins. We don’t know anything about the weapon used to kill Lieutenant Sears. And I get the feeling Natasha is hiding something."

"You think she’ll spill to Mark Sears?" McGee asked, surprised.

"She might’ve already spilled to Admiral Watson," Gibbs countered, reaching over to his phone and dialing a number. "And I’m about ready to bring Fornell in on this."

"The FBI?" McGee asked. "Why not Borin?"

"CGIS?" Gibbs asked, looking thoughtful. "If this case gets too much to handle with Natasha, I’m going to have Borin replace her. Fornell . . . just the background."

McGee snorted into his bottle of Coke. "Oh, Fornell’s not going to like that."

"Of course he’s not," Gibbs replied. "It’s time he realized he’s not the number one go-to guy."

***

Ziva sat down in front of Ryan Jenkins, who was staring mutely out of the window. "Ryan Jenkins?" she prompted.

Ryan started, then looked over at Ziva. He grinned weakly. "Sorry," he apologized. "It’s just hard to believe she’s . . . "

He looked down at the table. "Dead," Tony finished for him.

Ziva glared at Tony, then looked back to Ryan. "Did the Commander ever mention a Lieutenant Mariana Sears to you?" she asked.

Ryan nodded. "Marie?" he acknowledged. "Yes, Rosie was her commanding officer."

"Lieutenant Sears is dead as well," Tony told him, sitting down next to Ziva. "She died a little while after the Commander."

What little color Ryan had left in his face drained out entirely. "Marie’s dead, too?" he whispered.

"Were you two close?" Ziva asked.

Ryan swallowed, but shook his head. "No. Sometimes when Marie’s husband was out on a business thing, Marie came to stay with Rosie. She was extremely nice to me. She was nice to everyone she knew."

Ziva nodded, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling Marie had been something more to Ryan.

"Do you know if there would be anyone who would have something against either the Commander or the Lieutenant?" Tony asked.

Ryan shook his head. "They were role models for everyone," he sniffed. "Every year, they went to schools everywhere to tell the kids about life in the Navy. No one would ever want to kill them."

Ziva patted his arm. "We will find your sister’s killer," she assured him.

"Please," Ryan whispered as he stood.

The two other agents did, too. "Right this way," Ziva heard Tony tell Ryan as they disappeared out of the door.

Ziva leaned back in her chair, thinking. I hope Natasha has more luck with Mr. Sears.

***

Natasha watched Mark Sears looking at an image of his wife from a picture in his wallet. He truly cared about her, she thought, smiling. She gently knocked, then opened the door.

Mark started, then stood, watching as Natasha came around the other side of the table. "Is my wife – ?" he started.

Natasha nodded. "I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Sears. From what I’ve heard, the Lieutenant was a role model for many."

Mark swallowed, then sat back down. "She’s really gone," he murmured, as if he was trying to convince himself. Then he blinked. "I’m Mark Sears, by the way," he introduced himself.

Natasha smiled, despite herself. His wife is dead, but he still remembers formalities, she thought. "Agent Romanoff," she introduced herself, reaching across to shake his hand before sitting down. "I just have a few simple questions."

"Anything."

Natasha looked down into her folder to avoid letting Mark see her smiling again. "Did Lieutenant Sears ever mention a Commander Rosalie Jenkins in the house?" she asked.

Mark nodded. "Commander Jenkins was her C.O., wasn’t she?" he asked. When Natasha nodded, he smiled. "Marie always talked about Rosalie. She always wanted to follow in Rosalie’s footsteps. When she was admitted to the SEALs, she was thrilled."

Natasha nodded. "I could imagine. Not many SEALs get admitted so young."

Mark smiled. "Yes. And whenever Commander Jenkins had troubles around the house, she always came over to our place. Usually, when at work, people always said they would never see Marie without Rosalie close by her side."

"Peas of a pod," Natasha guessed.

Mark nodded. "Exactly."

"I can relate." A quick image flashed through Natasha’s mind as she remembered a brown-haired man with light blue eyes that was as quick on his feet as she was, and just as accurate of a marksman, perhaps even better. She cleared her throat, then looked back through her files. "Did the Lieutenant ever seem to have any . . . enemies?" she asked. Her heart pounded; if she was right about what was going on . . .

Mark shook his head. "If she did, she never told me about it, and no one else did, either," he replied. "She did talk about Rosalie’s brother a lot, though."

Natasha’s head shot up. "Ryan?" she asked.

Mark nodded. "That’s him."

"Were they close?"

Mark’s expression darkened. "If she was with him, she never showed it," he replied stiffly. "She wouldn’t cheat on me. Never."

Natasha nodded. "I just have one more thing to ask."

Mark looked back at her. "Ask."

Natasha pulled a photo out from the folder and placed it in front of Mark: the security photo of Loki with Commander Jenkins and Lieutenant Sears. "Does this man look familiar to you?"

Mark eyed the photo for a second, shook his head, but stopped midway. He narrowed his eyes, looked closer at Loki, then raised his view to Natasha. "Was this taken onboard the Blackhawk?"

"Yes," Natasha replied. "Why?"

Mark swallowed, pushing the picture back to her. "I had seen this man before, when Marie was talking about her days at work. Apparently, he had been her co-worker."

Natasha’s eyes widened before she could stop herself. Loki? With a co-worker?

After an effort, she put on a neutral face and stood. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Sears. We will let you know when we have caught your wife’s killer."

"Make sure this bastard pays, Agent Romanoff," Mark growled as he stood as well. "Make him pay."

Natasha felt a smile break over her face despite herself. Oh, to think of the ways I could twist Loki into a knot . . . "I will, sir."

As Agent Balboa led Mark away, she sighed, looked back at the photo of Loki, Rosalie, and Mariana. "But what did you need the Lieutenant for, my green-robed demigod?" she asked aloud.

Even in the picture, Loki seemed to be making fun of her.

 So here's the third chapter of Remember! I couldn't help myself . . . I had to do it! And I will say that all of the Avengers will be introduced at least some point in time in this story . . . you just have to look for them! *Hint hint: the unknown POVs! And if you can figure out which one of them it is, I will dedicate a chapter to you!*

Speaking of which, congrats to marvel_struckk to figuring out who the unknown POVs were for  the previous chapter, even though she mentions them in this chapter here. Good going, girl!

Anyway, toodles!