Kill Gibbs

Kill Ari
Expanded Scene
by Gale Force

fan fiction. No copyright infringement intended.

Gibbs sat in his car listening to the rain beat down on the roof. Normally he liked the sound of rain, but now, they were all heartbeats. Abby. McGee. Ducky. Tony. Jenny. Only Cait's was missing. Cait, whose heart would never beat again.

The rain on the windshield...those were his tears...

Somewhere out there, in the rain, intent on stopping all those heartbeats....Ari.

And in his hand...cold, cooly functional, fully loaded....perhaps a way to prevent it.

The bastard was winning. He had everyone convinced he wasn't the sniper...wasn't the one who had murdered Cait. Even Ducky believed him. And so now they were as vulnerable as they'd ever been. More so.

He couldn't help them.

He felt cold. So cold. But not as cold as Cait.

"Why me, Gibbs?" she'd said to him, when he'd sat in his office just twenty-four hours ago. A lifetime ago. "Wasn't stopping one bullet enough for you? Why did I have to take two?"

He'd stared at her, through eyes bright with unshed tears, stared at her image in front of him, that horrible third eye in the middle of her forehead and the knowledge of what the back of her head looked like. "I..I... don't know."

"You don't know?" she'd scoffed at him. "C'mon, Gibbs. What's that famous gut tell you? Why did I die instead of you."

Of course he'd known, he just hadn't wanted to put it into words.

And then the bastard had shot at Abby.

He'd sat next to her...hugged her, provided what comfort he could. He could still feel her shivering.

She'd known. "Ari didn't shoot at you and hit Cait by mistake, did he. He's after me now."
And he'd promised her, "I'll keep you safe, Abby." And she'd trusted him. She believed in him.
Like Shannon had believed in him. Like little Kelly. And he hadn't been around to protect them when they'd needed him most.

He'd gone down to the autopsy room. He owed it to Cait, to look at her lifeless body, her beautiful face, marred only slightly by that third eye. But secretly he'd thanked god that Ducky had her body covered, even her face.

"I've lost men in combat," he'd told Ducky. "You hope you won't. You know you will."
"This is different," Ducky had said.

"But it shouldn't be," Gibbs had replied, desperately. "Cait was an agent. She knew she had to lay her life on the line." She'd known. But that didn't help the sick feeling in his gut. "But you're right" he told Ducky. "It's different." Because Cait had died because of him, and for no other reason than that.

Ducky had smiled, sadly, but his words showed he wasn't on the same page. "You just said it. You've lost men. Have you ever lost a woman? Face it, Jethro. You and I are a couple of old chauvinists. Women will never be equal in our eyes until they're equal in death."

What about Ducky's thoughts on Ari, though? Ducky was a profiler, and if ever he had needed a profiler, it was then. He wanted Ducky to give him options, other things to consider.

"Why, Ducky. Why Cait. Why not me?"

"Well, maybe he meant to hit you!"

"No, no." Jethro spoke with absolute conviction. "Him sniping Abby means he's after my people. Women first."

"Then he's torturing you."

And Gibbs knew he was right. That was what this was all about. Ari was going to kill all of his people, one by one, to put him through hell. He didn't care about them, didn't need to kill them. The only reason Ari was targeting them was to exact revenge on him.

He'd tried to convince Jenny, and despite how well she knew him, Jenny hadn't believed him. He'd tried, desperately, but she'd scoffed. She was going to do interviews...where she'd be an easy target...and even if she wasn't an easy target...anybody's safety really depended on the fact that nobody wanted to kill them. No matter how many precautions they took, Ari would find a way.

And now he'd succeeded in making it easy, Gibbs thought. With the death of that low-level suicidal moron, Jenny thought the threat was over and she'd told all his people they could go home.

Cait's funeral was tomorrow. They'd all be there, for the service, standing around that empty, gaping six foot hole in the earth. Ari wouldn't be able to pass that up.

There was only one way to stop Ari.

Cait had articulated it, the last time he'd seen her. He'd told her shade that Ari wouldn't kill Ducky...

"Why not?" she'd demanded. Because you couldn't live with the guilt? Maybe Ari knows that. Maybe that's his plan. Maybe the only way to save Ducky, Abby and McGee is to kill yourself."

She'd put into words what he was thinking. Well, of course she had. It wasn't really Cait talking to him. It was his subconscious, putting his words, his thoughts into Cait's accusing form. Not even letting her eyes be forgiving to him.

He wasn't afraid of death. He faced death every day. It held no terrors for him. And he wasn't afraid of suicide. He'd thought about that, once before, many years ago, when the pain of the loss of Kelly and Shannon had become nearly unbearable. He'd even gone so far as to hold a gun six inches from his head.

It wasn't religious scruples that had stopped him. No one had the right to tell anyone how much pain they should have to bear, how much suffering they should have to endure in this life.
He'd stopped then, because he couldn't die without punishing the man who'd killed his beautiful family...

And now...now?

Ari was brilliant...he wouldn't be found, not until he'd butchered all of Gibb's team. But if he were dead, Ari would stop. He had no reason to kill Abby, McGee, Jenny, Tony...no reason to kill any of them if he were dead.

The gun was in his hand. All he had to do was lift it up, aim...pull the trigger.

The heartbeats were pounding heavier on the roof, the tears flowing faster on the windshield.
Gibbs lifted the pistol, holding it so that the barrel of the gun faced his forehead, his thumb on the trigger. He closed his eyes.

A cold, viselike hand gripped his wrist. "Gibbs! What the hell are you doing!" barked Cait.

Gibbs' eyes snapped open. He dropped the gun. He looked around, desperately.

"Cait?" he whispered. "Please come back, Cait."

But there was nothing.

Windshield must be leaking. Raindrops were falling on his face now.

It had been Cait this time, not his subconscious. Who else could have grabbed his wrist...for he'd felt a human hand grab his wrist.

Yes, killing himself was exactly what Ari wanted, but that was abrogating all responsibility. Ari might keep on with his killing spree, taking his team down regardless. He couldn't be sure that Ari would stop, and without him around Ari was guaranteed to succeed.

And without him around...how many other souls would Ari kill in his twisted way? Hundreds, perhaps.

No, Ari had to be stopped dead, and by god he'd be the one to do it.

Gibbs fished the gun out of his lap and placed it back where it belonged, in his side holster. Then he wiped the rain out of his eyes, and started the car. He had stuff to do, and time was wasting.