It's a Small World After All

DiNozzo’s phone rang “DiNozzo?” he answered.

“The two of you need to get to General Memorial Now” Gibbs barked into his phone as he raced down the street- keeping up with the ambulance.

“What’s going on Boss?” Tony asked.

“Genevieve been shot-she’s lost a lot of blood” Gibbs continued.

“Damn -ok on our way” Tony said.

Tony hung up and immediately made a U-turn and headed for the hospital. Bruce looked at him with a questioning glance.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asked.

“That was Gibbs-we need to get to the hospital-now” Tony said.

“Why?” he asked again-waiting.

“Apparently Genevieve’s been shot” Tony said glancing at his friend.

“WHAT!” he exclaimed.

Bruce could hear the other guy roaring in his head. He would SMASH anyone who hurt her. Bruce was trying to calm him down. Gibbs is there-Tin Man is there. Please don’t SMASH-not yet. Let’s see her first. Let me see her first.

“Bruce?” Tony asked.

“You need to get us there” Bruce responded-voice a tad deeper than usual-meaning the Hulk must be close to the surface.

Tony looked at his friend “I can get us there in 15 minutes” he said stepping on the gas and getting there in ten. Once they got in the lobby they saw Clint and Sam standing off to the side-so they headed toward them.

Clint took a step to them hands out “Bruce got to breath man” he said quietly.

Tony had been in the lead, he turned and realized Bruce looked manic. He was breathing so hard-Tony was surprised he hadn’t hyperventilated yet. Bruce looked at him and he realized his eyes were green.

“B?” Tony asked worried-knowing his friend had brown eyes.

Bruce stood there trying to calm his breathing-he knew if he didn’t no one would let him any further. It took him longer than usual-but he finally got his breathing under control. Once the three men determined he was calm Sam started to talk.

“Jen is in surgery now. She got shot” Sam said gently.

Bruce dropped into a seat in shock. After a few minutes he looked up expectedly waiting for Sam to continue.

“We were fighting the bad guys-not sure who they are. We split up and from what we can tell from the coms she was ambushed and shot with a high caliber gun-it went through two walls to get to her” Sam finished quietly.

“She was shot through two walls?” Tony asked surprised.

“Yep” Clint said. “Nat and Steve went after them-we don’t have anyone to interrogate to get information from yet. Fury, Phil, Gibbs and Henrietta are in one of the conference rooms over there” he added.

“For what?” Bruce asked confused.

“Portable command central” Clint said.

“In a hospital?” Bruce asked in disgust.

“Fury needs to know the second someone is captured or so he says” came Stark’s voice from behind DiNozzo.

Bruce felt the Hulk calm slightly at hearing Tony’s voice. He looked up at his friend silently asking for any news.

“Sorry big guy-no news yet” he said apologetically.

“If she was ambushed-she was the target then?” DiNozzo asked.

“No proof of that” Clint said. “Could have just been a stroke of luck-or coincidence” he added.

“Rule 39” Gibbs said as he walked up to the group. “It means-“he began.

“I know what it means-sorry won’t say it again” Clint said with his hands up.

Bruce couldn’t help the snort that bubbled up.

Gibbs just stared at Clint in surprise. Clint smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Already heard it-there’s no such thing as coincidences” he stated.

Gibbs smiled and nodded but then his phone rang so he stepped away to answer it. Then Stark’s phone rang-he also stepped away to take the call.

“How long has she been in surgery?” DiNozzo asked as he sat down next to Bruce.

“Not that long” Sam replied.

“Might as well get comfortable-probably will be here for a while” he commented.

Steve and Natasha had followed a lead to a warehouse in the edge of D.C. Shield had pinpointed this particular building as a hot bed of activity-within the last 12 hours-it was supposed to be an abandoned warehouse. Steve figured it was the best shot they had at the moment. Neither Steve nor Natasha had spoken since they had set out on their own. Both shaken by the image of Jen laying in a pool of her blood-waiting to die. They knew they needed to get the gun men or one of their accomplices-someone to get information and more importantly justice-or revenge-depending on which of two you asked.

“Do you want me to go in first?” Natasha asked quietly causing Steve to jump.

“No-we go in together or we don’t go in at all” he snapped.

Natasha raised her brow at him but decided not to argue at the moment. Everyone has had a hard day-especially him-well-and Bruce. She just stared at him-waiting for him to give orders on what their next play was. Steve took a few breaths trying to decide how to continue.

“Send a message to Fury telling him where we are. Then we go in and collect evidence-or people-whatever we find” he said.

“Where do we go in?” she asked.

“We knock and go in front door” he says standing up and throwing his shield at the front door.

Natasha watched as it made the door bust open and break apart with a loud crash. Her guns were out and they rushed in the front. Men were running and trying to scramble to get away. Steve easily grabbed his shield and threw it again-ricocheting and knocking three men unconscious to the ground. Natasha had her widow bites out and hit three other men-making them drop as well. She searched the other rooms and determined that a few had escaped in the chaos. She turned to run after them when Steve caught her arm.

“Natasha call it in-let Shield handle it” He said.

“But” she began.

“Tasha-I need your help getting certain information from them” he said “Please call Fury” he added.

Natasha nodded her head and called Fury telling him about the outcome. Fury decided to send a few agents out to see if they could apprehend the few that escaped. Then he sent Coulson with a van to collect Natasha, Steve and those they apprehended. Coulson would transport them back to Shield D.C. headquarters where they would be interrogated for information. After he relayed the information to both Natasha and Coulson-he realized he was going to have to tell Henrietta -there was no way he would be able to leave the hospital without telling her something-he knew it. He left the conference room and cleared his throat-catching both Gibbs and Hetty’s attention. He motioned for them to come in-lucky for him Stark didn’t seem to be in the waiting room-or else he would be barreling in too. Once they were inside and he had barely closed the door-he started talking.

“Natasha and Steve apprehended six men in a warehouse. We are going to transport them back to headquarters to interrogate them” he stated matter of fact.

“Leon will probably want-someone-from NCIS to interview him as well-since Jen is an agent” Hetty said.

Fury sighed “Just have him call me-or the councilmen-or whatever his name really is-if they really need to” he said turning and leaving the room without another word.

Gibbs looked around in surprise “He just left all of this here?” he asked.

Hetty looked around also “Nicholas will send his cleaners here to take all of this away momentarily I am sure. The question is do you think he will miss one-small tablet? So we can watch the interrogation that will happen BEFORE Leon is even called?” Hetty said as she walked toward a table in the back that one lone tablet was sitting-forgotten by someone.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her then smiled “bending the line-not breaking it” he said.

“Is that another rule?” she asked.

“Yes rule 14” he said with a smile watching as she discreetly put the tablet in her bag.

“How do we watch it?” he asked.

“I think between Mr. Beal, Mr. McGee and Mr. Stark-we should have no problem hacking in” she said with a smile then looked at him. “Call Leon” she added.

Gibbs laughed and called Vance relaying the information to their boss. There was a knock on the door-Clint opening it.

“Sorry to interrupt but the doctor wants to talk to you two” He said.

As they walked out to meet the doctor Hetty noticed that Mr. Stark had reappeared. She derailed her route and handed the tablet to him.

“Mr. Stark-I need you to hack in and see what Nicholas is doing-Thank you” she said and continued to the doctor who was waiting for her-ignoring the looks of confusion from everyone else.

“Ms. Lange Mr. Gibbs I am Doctor Charlie” he says. “You two are the next of kin to contact in Ms. Gibbs file so I am glad you are both here. As you may know she suffered numerous bruises and a gunshot to the abdomen causing her to lose a lot of blood. We have closed her wound but we unfortunately we are a few pints short of her type of blood at the moment and was wondering if either of you would donate some blood-if you are the correct blood type that is” he said.

They both agreed and followed a nurse to another room where do took a pint of their blood. Gibbs felt guilty at leaving the men out in the cold any longer than they needed to-but the blood was more important at the moment. Once their blood was drawn they asked the doctor what was going to happen next.

“Well Mr. Gibbs that all depends on Genevieve. If her body doesn’t reject the blood after the transfusion-and no other complications arise from her bruises-she just needs to wake up” the doctor said as he shook their hands and walked back into surgery.

Gibbs and Hetty sighed and walked back into the waiting room to relay the information to Bruce and the others. Bruce looked like he was trying to meditate-but cracked an eye when he heard them.

“What did he say” he asked.

“We had to donate blood for her-since the hospital is short a few pints of her blood. He says they’ve closed the wound and if her body doesn’t reject the blood-it’s up to her to wake up” Hetty said.

Bruce sighed-relieved at the good news. Tony’s hand came and squeezed his shoulder in reaction to the news. Now all he had to do was wait for her to wake up.

Why was the sun in her eyes? She’s trying to sleep damn it! She cracked an eye open and was surprised to find she was on a beach-sitting next to Mike Franks.

“Hey sugar” he said talking the cigarette out of his mouth.

She smiled-then remembered Mike was dead!

“Oh god-am I dead?” she asked looking around at the beautiful beach.

That made him laugh “No-not yet anyway-don’t worry. Keep your panties on” he said laughing.

“So why am I here?” she demanded.

“You need to see a few things-talk with a few people-then it’s up to you” he said cryptically.

“So what am I supposed to have an It’s a Wonderful Life moment or a Christmas Carol moment?” she asked amused.

Mike thought for a minute “more of a Christmas Carol” he said.

“So are you one of the ghosts? Or are you supposed to be Jacob Marley?” she asked.

He barked a laugh “We are skipping Marley-I am one of the ghost” he said with a snicker.

“Ok-good” she said leaning back and waiting.

He looked over at the horizon and smiled then got up and grabbed her hand.

“Come on girly-it’s about to begin” he said and then suddenly they were in a hospital.

She saw both Tony’s, Gibbs, Hetty, Bruce, Clint and Sam sitting in the waiting room-all were looking at magazines-except for Tony and Bruce. Tony was fiddling with a tablet-and Bruce with his head in his hands-waiting. The doors flung open and Thor came with a small brunette women. He noticed his friends and guided the women over to them.

“Bruce-my-friend-I am sorry I am late” he said sadly.

“It’s my fault Bruce-my plane was late” the women said.

Bruce looked up surprised at the women’s voice “Jane? It’s ok-um you haven’t missed anything” he said quietly.

Jane? Oh that’s right Thor was dating Jane Foster! She must have been coming for the gala.

“Watch this Sugar-you’ll miss it” Mike says from beside her.

They watched as a nurse came up to the group. She was smiling and obviously didn’t know she was about to walk into the Lion’s Den.

“Are you the family for Genevieve Gibbs?” she asked perkily.

“Yes we are” came Natasha’s voice from behind the nurse-causing her to spin around –clutching her chest.

“She do that all the time-sneak up out of nowhere like that?” Mike asked.

“Yes” Jen said with a smile.

The nurse found her footing again turning back around –making sure to keep Natasha in the corner of her vision. Breathed then smiled.

“Yes-well-Genevieve is out of surgery. She will be placed in ICU for the time being because of the severity of her injury. Normally there is a limit to the number of family that can see the patient. But the administration has decided to waive that because of the fact that government and other Agencies will probably need to see her” the nurse said cutting her eyes at the group. “Give the nurses 20minutes to get her into her room then you all could go see her-and again Ms. Lange and Mr. Gibbs we would like to thank you for giving blood. It’s always refreshing when a father comes and gives blood-you wouldn’t believe how many family wouldn’t do that” the nurse finished with her smile-then read the room and her smile fell.

“Excuse me” Gibbs said slowly staring at the nurse.

“Thank you Nurse Sara” Hetty said jumping in after reading her badge “If we could be notified somehow when she is on the room that would be wonderful” she added with a smile.

“Yes thank you” the nurse said and turned to run away.

“No-No wait” Gibbs said going to grab the nurse’s arm to stop her retreat.

“Boss Don’t!” Tony said warning.

“Gibbs!” Hetty barked at the same time.

 Gibbs froze taking his hands away and balling them into fist at his sides. He turned and glared at the group-everyone had looks of shock on their faces after hearing the nurse’s comment. His eyes landed on Hetty-who didn’t look as surprised but more guilty.

“What the hell did she mean?” he growled.

Hetty sighed and looked at the group “Jethro- Genevieve is your child-she was rescued when her mother was trying to be rescue but she died before Margaret could get her out” She said simply.

Gibbs paused “when her mother was trying to be rescued? Who is her mother?” he asked.

“Joan Matteson” Hetty said.

Gibbs legs almost buckled out from under him. “Mack is her mother-no-that’s not possible-she died in the plane crash” he said grasping at straws.

“She was the only survivor-was captured by some bad people. Shield was called in-Margaret specifically for reasons I am still not sure about-I was called to be the get- away driver-well pilot” she said eyes never leaving Gibbs.

“Why wasn’t I ever told! We’ve basically co-raised her together for years!” he snapped.

“That’s exactly the reason-you had plenty of opportunities to raise her-with Shannon and after them. You couldn’t deal with it-with her. Being the sometimes uncle was hard for you most times. If you can look me in the eye and tell me you would have treated her different-better? I did what I thought was best at the time. You were so distraught obviously over Shannon’s death-there was no way you could have raised a pre-teen or teenager with powers” she said sitting down in the seat.

Gibbs was furious-but he thought of what Hetty had said. What angered him more is that she was right. If he had known-he would love to think he would have acted differently-but if he was honest with himself he probably wouldn’t have been able to. He looked around and realized everyone was trying to look other places-allowing them privacy. He had to get out of here-get some fresh air-walk-something. He was pushing the front doors open before he even realized he had moved and continued down the sidewalk.

DiNozzo had stood up as the man went by him-trying to decide if he should follow or not.

“Give him a little while to cool down Mr. DiNozzo” Hetty said primly.

“Sure” Tony said as he sat back down.

Stark raised an eyebrow at Hetty “well you know how to clear a room. So you knew Aunt Peggy? Were you part of Shield?” he asked.

“Tony” Bruce groaned.

“What?” he asked.

Hetty sighed “Yes I Know Margret-not knew-she’s not dead yet. I was part of Shield in the early days -I actually met you when you were six-I came to give a file to Edwin” she said looking at a stunned Tony.

Just then the nurse came to collect them and it was decided that Hetty would go in first. Then the others would follow.

Jen could barely stand with the shock of what she had heard. Gibbs was her father-not her Uncle? Shouldn’t she be angry at Hetty for keeping it a secret? Her mind was in turmoil. She turned to Mike with a lost expression on her face.

“That wasn’t supposed to upset you” he said.

“Well please explain how I was supposed to take that” she snapped.

“Probie would never have been able to deal-raise-you. You know how he was before-we both know how he was after. He’s never been able to get over the past. We all see ghost” he said with a smirk at her. “Some more than others-but it was better for you to go between all of us” he said. “And if this never happened-the old girl would have taken it to her grave” he said nodding to where Hetty was walking through a door.

“So what happens now?” she asked.

Mike smiled “the next ghost is coming soon-so close your eyes” he said as he hugged her sideways-the most affection Mike could give a child before his grand-daughter came along.

She opened her eyes and she was in front of cabin in the woods-snow on the ground and mountains in the background. Jen shrugged and decided she was supposed to walk through the front door. She walked into the living room and a little girl was looking out the window at the snow.

“Hi” the little girl said turning when she entered.

“Kelly?” she asked surprised and confused-running up and hugging her.

Kelly hugged her back and giggled grabbing her hand.

“What?” Jen asked.

The girl just smiled at her ‘Come with me-I want to show you something”

She nodded “ok”

Suddenly they were outside of her hospital room-watching the team pace. They watched as DiNozzo lead Bruce inside. They walked in after him and watched as he seemed to curl into himself-sitting in the chair-trying to take up as least amount of space as humanly possible. He looked miserable-red puffy eyes-dark circles under his eyes. Jen just stared at him.

“I always seem to hurt him” she spoke out loud-to who she wasn’t sure.

“You didn’t mean to hurt him-you were protecting him.” Kelly said.

“Protecting a man that can’t seem to die” She countered.

“Everyone can die” Kelly said quietly.

Jen laughed “That’s what I am always saying” she said.

DiNozzo stood by the door for a few minute just watching at Bruce.

“Bruce do you need me to stay-I can step outside for a little bit-give you some privacy?” he asked.

“I did this to her-this is my fault” he says miserably.

“No she did this to herself” DiNozzo said earning a glare from his friend.

“She had a job-she could have said no-she could have left. If it’s anyone’s fault-it those who couldn’t get her right away-and those who shot her” Tony said then nodded and left Bruce alone for a few minutes.

Bruce got up and grabbed her hand lying on the bed. He held it in his palm and brought it to his lips giving each knuckle a soft kiss.

“Jen-baby you need to wake up. Please-I –I can’t do this on my own. I was so lonely before-please-please wake up.” Bruce whispered as silent tears started to fall.

Jen just stared at Bruce cry-shouldn’t she be upset? I mean she KNOWS she should be upset-but the EMOTION isn’t coming. She turned to ask Kelly why she couldn’t feel any emotion and noticed Kelly was just staring at Bruce.

“Do you love him?” she asked turning to Jen.

“Yes-I do” she answered without thinking.

She stared at Bruce like she was trying to figure him out.

“He’s not like Daddy” she commented.

That caused Jen to snort “no he’s definitely not” she said,

“He’s quiet and smart and he’s scared a lot” Kelly said.

“Yes he is” Jen said.

“Is that because he had a bad daddy?” Kelly asked.

Jen nodded “Yes it is-well part of it” she said.

Kelly looked him again “I like him” she decided out loud.

Jen smiled “I am glad” she replied.

Kelly nodded “I do-even though…” she trailed off afraid to say the next part.

“Even though what?” Jen asked.

Kelly looked sheepish then said quietly “Even though he’s kind of hairy”.

Jen looked at her cousin and busted out laughing. Of course an eight year old wouldn’t like all that hair.

“He is isn’t he? Oh Kelly I’ve missed you” Jen said laughing some more.

Kelly giggled and dragged her out of the room.

“Where are we going now?” Jen asked but allowing the girl to lead the way.

“She’s ready to see you now” was all Kelly said as she pointed to the door.