Chapter Text
The grass was cool and wet under his bare feet, and he took a moment to glare accusedly at the ground, as if it was its own fault and not the heavy rain that had ended half an hour ago.
There was a full moon tonight so he used that to light his path, instead of using a flashlight which would draw attention to him.
He came across the now familiar cottage and rapped his knuckles against the door three times and wiped his feet off on the porch to get any mud or grass off his feet.
He had wanted to keep his boots on but she had said that he needed to keep them off the minute he stepped on her property. So after traveling the couple miles out of Stillwater on bike, and heading to the woods - that separated his home town from every other town - he came across the only Birch tree, about a mile deep into the forest and took off his shoes, carrying them in his hand.
The door opened slowly and he was hit with the smell of cinnamon and sawdust. It was much warmer inside, so he quickly shut the door once he was in, so the chill from outside wouldn’t come follow him.
“Oh darling, I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”
There was a clatter from the upstairs part of the cottage and then the sound of feet slamming down the wooden stairs.
The woman in front of him skidded to a stop a few feet away, her grin blinding. He could see the gold aura that surrounded her body intensifying. There was a time that he would ignore that gold glow, or any other glow that crossed his path. There was a time where he forced himself to avoid any and all who claimed they had a spiritual sense, just in case they weren’t fakes and would be able to tell he had the gift as well.
“How could I?” He said cheekily, smirking a little when she bounced in place with excitement. He winced when the bruise on his jaw twinged at the sudden quirk of his mouth.
She was immediately frowning, and her gold aura flashed with red.
“They hurt you again.” She growled. In the beginning he hadn’t been able to keep up with her mood swings. She was awfully protective of those that she cared for and he wasn’t used to that kind of affection since his mother died.
“Jack scared them off with the shotgun again,” he started to wave off her worry, but she was stubborn and he reluctantly let her place her hand against his jaw. It instantly felt warm and the smell of cinnamon and sawdust intensified, as did her aura, and he knew without having to look that the bruise was gone. She nodded her approval and motioned for him to sit down on a high backed purple chair that was nestled into the corner where the fireplace was.
“Let’s get started then Jethro.” She walked towards the stairs and opened the door that was under them.
He flushed slightly. Only she and his mother had called him Jethro, and in all honesty he preferred that much more than Leroy.
Jethro made himself comfortable in the chair and set his shoes down beside the fire. He watched with amusement as the woman stood on her tiptoes to reach at the far back of the highest shelf inside the closet.
She was a strangely built girl, not that he minded, it made her more endearing to him. She was maybe three inches taller than him - but that was mostly due to the shoes she always wore, he couldn’t tell how high the heels were because they were always covered by her long skirts or dresses, so her actual height was a mystery - which made a lot of the other townspeople weary of her. Add in two different colored eyes - one green the other yellow - her dark skin tone, and sharp teeth and you get the reason why she was living on the outskirts of town.
There was also the fact that she was a witch.
And those teeth were actually really sharp; shark sharp.
She walked over to him with a large grin and sat crisscrossed down on the woven rug that covered most of the cottages front room.
She gently set down all the things she’d grabbed from the closet, some things he recognized; a jar of Marigold petals, two feathers, and a silver chain that had a symbol that he’d seen tattooed on her thigh . There was also a small stone mortar and pestle. The stuff he didn’t recognize were various colored liquids in different shapes of vials, and a jar of strange white pieces that he had a bad feeling were bones.
She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a crumpled, yellowed piece of paper, and a pen. She unfolded it and set it between them and pointed at the spot next to her. Jethro moved to sit beside her, copying her position.
“Now this is going to hurt, I warned you before.” She made him roll up the sleeves of his flannel shirt and he gritted his teeth as she poured some foul smelling liquid from one of the vials onto his forearms. The cherry red liquid spilled on his clothing and the floor as she gave no care to how she applied the liquid. The red substance vanished as soon as it touched anything but his skin, and the smell disappeared just as quickly.
Jethro stared at his forearms that were now dyed red, and then turned his attention to watch her apply the same treatment to her own forearms.
“Last chance to back out.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I had doubts.”
She pointed at the paper and explained that he was to say the lines written in black and she would say the ones in red. She also told him that finding a spell for a human was very hard and he better not mess it up.
He scoffed and waited patiently as she took the pen and started drawing the symbol he’d become associated to seeing on her, onto his forearms, right in the middle of the red dye. It was a simplistic sigil but he knew it was important to her.
“This will mark you as mine, you are signing yourself over to me. As long as I am alive you will serve me and do my will. Do you consent?”
Jethro nodded as she finished the last swirl.
“Verbalize your answer.”
“I consent.”
“Now you must draw the sigil on my arms.”
He did just so and she hummed with satisfaction. He felt a slight sting and the lines of the sigils on his arms began to glow the same gold as her aura.
The smell of sawdust and cinnamon intensified between the two of them. He knew it was her magik. She had told him when they’d first met that every supernatural being had an aura, and any magik user had a specific smell when their magik was used. She also said the smell usually lingered without the use of magik, it became part of the user.
“Ok, now visualize this sigil where you want it.”
His first thought was having it on the inside of his right thigh. It would match hers, and in a way it was comforting to have something he knew was special in such an intimate place because only certain people would be able to see it.
“Now we shall begin.”
She shifted so they were touching knee to knee and grabbed his hands so she was holding over where their legs touched.
“I, Agatha Medea Demdike, take Leroy Jethro Gibbs as my familiar.”
“I Leroy Jethro Gibbs, take Agatha Medea Demdike as my only, she is my Witch and I her familiar.”
The slight sting was beginning to increase and Jethro gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to back out now, he hadn't spent an entire week reading all the nooks on familiars that Agatha owned to give up now.
“My magik is your magik, your actions are my thoughts, for now we shall be bound as one. I shall be your energy and life, and you shall be my will and be by my side.”
Their eyes met and he watched with fascination as her green eye became tinged with yellow, and her yellow eye became tinged with green. As if her eyes were mixing together.
“Do you take me as your Witch, as your mistress?”
“I do.”
“Do you allow me to care for you, protect you, love you.”
“I do.”
“Do you promise to care for me, protect me, and love me?”
“I do.”
There was no more stinging but a fire in his veins. The pain was building to a crescendo with each second and it was spreading.
She released their hands and grabbed the jar of Marigolds.
“Three flowers of my namesake.” She dumped three petals into the bowl and set the jar aside. She grabbed a vial with brown liquid in it that had little pieces that he recognized as wood shavings.
“A piece of me.”
She dumped the entire vial in and drenched the petals. She added a green jelly like substance and then the two feathers.
“Blood from a Dryad, and wings of a crow, to stay in tune with nature and your surroundings.”
She used the pestle and mashed everything together, into a red-orange paste. She then grabbed the jar with what he thought was bones and unscrewed it and took some time taking out and inspecting the bones.
“The canines of a dog and cat, for independence and protection. The tarsal of a rabbit, for secrecy. The thumb of a bat for skill, and finally, an owl’s talon for heightened senses and awareness.”
She mashed all the bones she’d placed into the mortar with no problem at all and the pain became even more intense. He could feel a headache forming as well.
She dipped her finger inside the paste and traced the sigils on his arms, she then scooped a larger portion and lifted her hand up to his mouth.
“You must eat it.”
He looked at her with a shocked and disgusted expression, but she just stared at him with her strangely mixed eyes that now stood out even more against her charcoal colored skin.
He ate the paste out of her palm, wanting to gag it all up as it went down his throat.
There was a moment where he felt nothing, he was numb. The pain had vanished and his vision tunneled and all he saw was Agatha. He didn’t need the paper anymore, he knew what to say.
“You are my familiar now, you are my protector and friend. We will love each other more than lovers, or a mother and her son.” She cupped his chin with the hand not covered in paste, and with the paste covered hand she tugged on his hair. He didn’t even feel it. She did the same to her own head and then she had two pieces of hair in her palm, mixing with the paste.
She licked the paste and hair all up and he inwardly shuddered.
“I am your familiar Agatha. Forever and always.”
She smiled, and ran her tongue over her sharp teeth before diving forward. She kissed him harshly, her lips tasted slightly of the paste and he felt some kind of energy crackling between them. She was now cupping his face with both hands and she pressed her tongue against his lips, and he opened willingly. He brushed his tongue against her sharp teeth and her grip tightened on him. She easily dominated the kiss, and the pain was slowly starting to begin again.
“Imagine where you want the sigil, just focus on that.” Agatha said as she pulled away. She placed her hand flat against his chest and pushed him slowly down so he was lying flat on his back. The pain was starting from the sigils on his arm, and was traveling upwards and onwards. Every part of his body was on fire, and he twisted his body, trying to rid the fire from his veins. He could feel her working her magik as his body began heating up, and he heard her soothing voice, which made him calm somewhat, but then the pain was back and blinding and he let out an agonizing scream.
_______________________________________________
“You got something Abs?” Gibbs asked the forensic scientist, coming up behind her with a Cafpow ready in his hand.
“That’s a silly question Gibbs, I always have something for you.” She gave him a megawatt smile and pointed to her screen.
“This is what killed our Petty Officer Williams. Guess what it is.”
He looked at the screen and back to Abby, his eyebrow raised with slight impatience.
“Just tell me Abby, or no Cafpow.” He moved his hand out of reach and her eyes followed the drink with a pout on her lips.
“You’re no fun, but to answer your question this is Ambrosia, or Ambrosia dumosa, not the food of the Gods but your typical Ragweed, the stuff of allergy nightmares.”
“He died from a common allergen?”
“Yup, that’s why his face and throat were so swollen. Ambrosia dumosa is usually found in Mojave desert, and the Sonoran desert, which should make it easier to trace on someone. Though the sample Ducky took from Williams throat and lungs had some weird stuff mixed with it.”
He waited patiently for her to explain and shook the Cafpow a little to get her on track.
“Well, there was the Ragweed of course, but also a mixture of charcoal, yew tree seeds, and moth wings.”
Gibbs struggled to maintain his composure as Abby clicked an image with her mouse.
“It was also found in his stomach, in a paste. So he ate this concoction and breathed it in. We found some traces of it in his nostrils as well. That is just bizarre.”
Abby turned to him and waited patiently for the Cafpow to reach her outstretched hand but Gibbs had a far off look on his face, and he was squeezing the drink tightly in his hand.
“Gibbs?” She asked, feeling uneasy at his lack of response.
He jerked backwards in a very unnatural way and thrust the Cafpow into her hand as if it had scalded his hand.
“Good work Abs.” He cleared his throat and leaned over to give her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the lab.
****
“And he just left.” Abby said, swirling a piece of spaghetti around her fork.
McGee furrowed his eyebrows. “Something got to him then, is he allergic to Ragweed?”
Tony gave a short and sharp laugh. “Gibbs!? Allergic to something? Allergens are allergic to him not the other way around probie.”
Kate smiled over her veggie wrap and took a generous bite. After she had swallowed she mentioned that she’d seen Gibbs with a worried expression on his face heading for Shepard’s office.
“How long ago was that?” McGee asked, setting down his meatball sub.
Tony also set down his own meatball sub -- with extra cheese -- and felt an uneasy pit in his stomach.
“Worried expression?” He asked. Gibbs showing any kind of emotion always put Tony on edge.
“About ten minutes ago, right before McGee appeared with lunch.” She took another bite from her veggie wrap, finishing it, and then busying herself with tidying up any crumbs that fell outside the wax paper that was spread out on the table.
“It shocked me too, to see him look worried. Something about this case is rubbing him wrong and I wish he could just tell us.” She frowned and ran a frustrated hand through her hair.
“The bossman will tell us, just give him time.” Abby said, placing a reassuring hand on her friends shoulder.
Tony stood abruptly and headed out of the breakroom. Kate hurried after, making sure she threw her food away first. Abby motioned for McGee to leave with them, telling him that she would clean up after everyone. He gave her a nod of thanks and rushed after the other agents.
_______________________________________________
Jethro walked out of the office with mixed feelings. On one hand he was pleased Jenny was trusting enough to let him consult someone outside the agency about the case, - he'd had to play twenty questions with her as per usual but luck was on his side and she'd still allowed his vague responses to be enough to warrant outside help - on the other hand he now had to consult this person and hope they would help.
He almost ran into his team, who were all hovering outside Shepard’s door. He threw Cynthia a look but she just shrugged her shoulders.
“Are you alright?” Tony asked, shocking Jethro. Was his unease that hard to hide?
“Fine DiNozzo.” He said gruffly, walking around the trio and towards the stairs. They all followed, clearly wanting to talk to him about something.
“Well, spit it out.” He said once he was sitting at his desk and his agents were hovering nervously around him.
He watched Kate jab Tony in the rib and hid his amused smile with a careful movement of his hand.
“Abby said you looked...worried earlier.”
Jethro gave Tony his best neutral look.
“Worried?”
“Yeah, she said that you totally freaked out when she mentioned what they found in Petty officer Williams.” He was on a roll, Gibbs could feel it. “Made it sound like you were a pod person, showed actual emotions. You’ve seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers right Boss?”
“DiNozzo.” Jethro snapped. “I’m not a robot, I do have emotions.” He spat the words out like it was poison.
Tony had the decency to look a little ashamed. “Sorry boss, but you being worried is usually a big red flag for us.”
Jethro sighed and leaned his elbows on his desk. He would have to inform them about what was happening, he knew that but he didn’t want to have to do this. Doing so would change everything within their team.
“I’ll explain everything later tonight, I want you all at my house at 8pm.” He breezed past their shocked faces and gave them a pointed look. “Now, let’s go over everything that we have on Petty Officer Williams.”
His agents all snapped to it and headed to their desks to grab their notes. Tony lingered a second longer though and gave Jethro a calculated gaze.
“You sure you’re ok boss?” He asked softly.
Jethro didn’t want to admit it but he liked it when Tony worried about him. He might actually like it too much.
He nodded his head and Tony was back at his own desk in a flash.
McGee turned on the screen between his desk and Tony’s and handed the clicker over to Kate. The three agents stood in front of the screen and waited patiently for their boss. Once Jethro was standing beside Kate, McGee pressed another key and the Petty Officers face was on the screen.
“Petty Officer Henry Williams, 32, was found in his bed at 10am earlier this morning by his wife, Sharon, who had just returned from an overnight stay at her friend Bella Jackson’s house. Actual time of death was 3am.” Kate said.
Jethro frowned. Of course it was 3am. This witch was sticking with the cliches.
“Cause of death was an extreme allergic reaction to Ragweed. There were also trace amounts of charcoal, yew tree seeds and …..moth wings?” Tony stumbled on the last part.
Jethro grunted, not wanting to mention that moth wings were the least of the agents problems.
“If we look at this from a poisoning perspective, we know that the killer must have been planning this for a while. We’re looking for someone who’s self-centered, craves control, and has problems with authority", Kate said putting her profiler background to good use.
Jethro turned to McGee, signaling it was his turn. Kate had described multiple witches down to a T, so he was almost positive this was a witch killing. Though, rule number eight. Never assume.
“All her financial accords are set. No large cash withdrawals or strange deposits on his account. But that’s just his account and his joint account with his wife. His wife has an offshore account that’s all hers.”
Kate used the clicker and the screen showed Sharon’s account but it was under the name of Fiona de la Barthe.
Jethro paled at the name.
“de la Barthe? That has got to be the worst alias of all time, I mean what kind of idiot..” Tony trailed off when he looked at his boss.
“Boss?” He asked, his eyes widening with worry.
Jethro felt ill, this was all too much. No contact with anything connected to his familiar past for twelve years, and now there was a killer who was most likely from the clan of witch’s that despised Agatha. A large part of him severely hoped that whoever this witch was, was not actually Fiona and someone foolish enough to be impersonating her.
He had known since Abby had first mentioned the moth wings that he would have to talk to Agatha again, but their parting 12 years ago still felt fresh.
“I know you’re hurting, but you need to listen to me, it wasn’t your fault!”
“You're right, it wasn’t my fault...it was yours! You kept me away from them, you had me help you with that stupid nest of vampires that you could have easily taken care of yourself. You could have let me go home with the rest of the deployed soldiers and then I’d been there to keep them safe. They wouldn't be dead!”
“Do not forget your place!”
“My place? I have no place! I revoke our contract, I don’t want to be your familiar anymore.”
He winced at the memory and absent mindedly rubbed at the sigil on his inner thigh. Agatha had never actually removed his mark and he was glad for it. In all honesty he missed her terribly and her crest on his body was one of the few things that he had that reminded him of her.
After their terrible fight he’d been too stubborn to apologize and she had disappeared. He had wanted to contact her over the long twelve long years but had never had enough nerve to.
He looked to see that Tony was staring at how he was rubbing his inner thigh. He stopped what he was doing immediately but Tony kept on staring. Jethro felt his heart give a little flutter and he tried to hide his smirk. Maybe his feelings weren’t one sided.
“Tony!” Gibbs said.
Tony snapped out of it and looked away. Jethro then noticed that the other two agents were looking at him with similar distressed looks.
“What are you waiting for McGee?” Jethro snapped, making everyone stop staring at him as if he’d just told them he had a terminal illness.
“There are several large deposits from an unknown account. There have also been some strange purchases from the credit card used under the alias.”
“I want you to print a copy of the purchases.” Jethro ordered.
“And trace the unknown account, on it boss.” McGee replied. Jethro was glad McGee knew what he wanted without him having to say anything almost as well as Kate or Tony. McGee in the short amount of years he’d been here had shown a large improvement and growth and he knew that McGee would make an excellent lead agent one day.
“Kate, DiNozzo.”
“Find and bring in Sharon Williams for interrogation.” Kate cut in as she put on her backpack.
“On it boss.” Tony mock saluted him and grabbed his own gear, following Kate to the elevator.
As the elevator doors opened, Jethro called out to them.
“Be careful.” He added as much sincerity into his voice as he could muster. His senior agent and female agent regarded him with shocked and somewhat weary expressions before they disappeared into the elevator.
Jethro let out a long sigh, and sank against his desk, not noticing how McGee had stopped typing and was giving him a quizzical look.
He wondered why this was his life.
_______________________________________________
“Can I confess something Kate?” Tony asked quietly as he stared at the open road ahead of them. For 1 o’clock in the afternoon the streets were strangely deserted, which added to the unease in Tony’s stomach.
Kate looked up from her PDA and regarded her partner. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel tightly, and his tone was a serious one he didn't use often.
“Go ahead.” She said cautiously, her profiler instincts going crazy at this sudden switch of mood from her normally boisterous and energetic partner. She knew that Anthony DiNozzo wasn’t all the frat boy image he presented, but even when he got serious he didn’t look as grave as right now.
“I’m worried about him. In all the years I've worked with him I’ve never seen him look so worried, so out of sorts.” Tony pressed on the gas pedal to merge past a grey sedan and gave a shaky laugh.
“I know, I’m sounding dramatic. But zebras don’t change their stripes.”
“Or a leopard their spots.”
Tony nodded. “The boss obviously has emotions, hell I’ve spent time with him outside work and he’s actually really...nice.” He coughed uncomfortably and made a left onto the street of the William’s house.
“He just has control over his emotions at work ya know? So I’m kind of scared of what could make Jethro unable to keep his masks up.”
Kate blinked, not hiding her surprise at Tony’s casual use of their bosses first name. She guessed if they hung out after work maybe they used their first names, like friends did. Kate couldn’t imagine herself calling him Jethro though. It was like calling her dad by his first name, disrespectful and weird.
“Let’s go.” Tony turned off the car and pocketed the keys in his pocket.
They both stepped out of the car and headed towards the house. It was your typical two story, white picket fence house. The grass was trimmed neatly, and the bushes and hedges had been trimmed recently. An American flag hung over the porch and it flapped a little in the light breeze.
Kate and Tony stepped onto the woven welcome mat and gave each other a look. Kate knocked first, shaking her head at how they were acting. It wasn’t as if the house was going to eat them if they knocked.
There was no response, so Tony tried this time, knocking hard enough that the door shook. There was a muffled noise behind the door, and Kate and Tony reached for their guns.
“Open up, this is NCIS!” Tony yelled. There was an unmistakable noise of the locks clicking, and Sharon opened the door to the two agents raising their weapons.
“Oh god.” She squeaked out. Kate put away her weapon, and after a long look from her, Tony did the same.
“I apologize Mrs. Williams, there was no response so we had to take the next step.”
The woman nervously tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and accepted their apology.
“Did you come with news about my husband’s death?” She asked eagerly.
Kate shook her head. “Actually, we need you to come with us. We have some questions for you.”
Sharon’s eyes widened and she grabbed the door knob as she tried to steady herself.
“Do you think I did it?” There was hurt and something else in her voice, and she regarded them like a deer in the headlights. Something was definitely up, maybe something beyond the offshore account and the murder.
“Of course not.” Tony switched on his charm and extended an arm out to her. “It’s just some routine questions, we want to go over your statement again.” He lied smoothly.
“And it will be at the Navy Yard right?” She asked.
Tony and Kate exchanged a look before confirming her question. Kate could tell the woman wanted out of her house, as to why she had no idea.
Sharon was locking up the house when she turned over her shoulder and asked Tony if Agent Gibbs would be questioning her.
Kate frowned, she was certain Gibbs hadn’t actually met the woman yet.
Tony nodded hesitantly, and ushered Sharon towards the car, his hand on her lower back.
Kate couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching from the house, but she didn’t turn around, chalking the feelings up to nonsense.