tales of the multifandom

126. never the same - ncis

summary
after being kidnapped, jimmy palmer refused to be that weak man he was and wait for a rescue he knew wasn't coming, and got himself out

relationships
breena slater x jimmy palmer

cast
brian dietzen as jimmy palmer
mark harmon as leroy jethro gibbs
michael weatherly as tony dinozzo
david mccallum as donald 'ducky' mallard

fandoms
ncis

—

He'd been twisting his wrists, loosening off the ropes tied around them for almost an hour now, and almost had them off. He'd remembered some of the tips Tony had given him after Kate had died, basic tips on how to stay alive in the event of any situation. So far they were working. His captors were outside, and had foolishly left their guns over chairs and on top of the table and his phone there as well. It was obvious they didn't expect him to be trained in escaping ties or handcuffs. He silently cheered when his wrists slipped free, and quickly untied his legs and removed the gag before scrambling to his feet and quickly as possible, ignoring the weakness in his legs and pain in his wrists. Shoving his phone into his pocket, he checked that the hand guns were loaded and shoved two into his jeans, one front one back, and picked up one of the automatics and put it over his shoulder - it was more of a last resort weapon. He checked both exits, and upon finding the back door clear he quietly left, silently scaling the forestry hill until the cabin was out of sight. He quickly found cover, somewhere he could defend and kept low, pulling out his phone. The battery was almost dead, but he could make one phone call.

"Mr Palmer, what can I do for you?" And then he remembered that he was supposed to be having a long weekend for himself, to go to his high school reunion. "Aren't you at your high school reunion?"

"Yeah about that, so I got kidnapped by some seriously scary men and i have no idea why."

"What?" Ducky spluttered in disbelief.

"Three men, big guns, stupid though." Palmer rambled as fast as he could. "I'm in the woods somewhere, I think they drove me here but I was knocked out or drugged I think so I really am not sure, and I am terrified."

"Are you still in the cabin?"

"No. I used a trick Tony taught me to get out of the ties, grabbed my phone, service weapon and like three of theirs and bolted."

"I'm getting Jethro now." Ducky promised. "We'll find you-" And then his phone died. Just then gunshots rang out, and Jimmy flinched and lowered himself while pulling out one of the guns on him and peeking over the ridge, finding the three guys who'd grabbed him out of his car park on his way to meet with his girlfriend Breena.

"Here we go." Jimmy muttered to himself, and raised himself up and started shooting.

When the team finally ran into him, Jimmy was stumbling through the woods, blood covering most of his left arm with his tie tied around his arm above the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He had a gun in his hands, and looked a little angry.

"Head five miles east. You'll find them." Is all Jimmy said as he passed Gibbs, who was quick to grab his uninjured arm and stop him.

"Palmer." Gibbs said in his authoritative voice, and Jimmy looked at Gibbs. "I need you to tell me what happened."

"Right right." Palmer looked a little bit shaky, and Gibbs directed the team with the directions Jimmy gave him before leading him back to the road. "I was heading to my car, to meet Breena for dinner. I-I think he hit me." Gibbs touched the back of Palmer's head and confirmed he'd been knocked unconscious and probably had a concussion. "Tony, he taught me how to untie myself, if I ever found myself in a situation like that." Jimmy mentally thanked DiNozzo, as did Gibbs. "I untied myself, grabbed my gun - it's legal I promise - and two of the other ones, and one of their big machine guns and ran."

"What happened to the guns?" Gibbs asked, only seeing one hand gun that looked custom-made - silver and black with a blue handgrip.

"I ditched them when they ran out of bullets. I killed them." Jimmy said faintly, only now realizing what he'd done. "Oh my god, Gibbs I killed those men."

"Palmer." Gibbs said sternly, catching his face in one of his hands and making him look at him. "You did what you had to do, alright?"

"Okay." Jimmy nodded. "Gibbs?"

"Yeah?"

"I think i'm going to pass out now." And he did exactly that, eyes rolling into the back of his head and letting the oblivion take over.

Palmer spent three days in the hospital, got his arm stitched up and was told it would scar. He didn't mind, he told her it was a reminder of what he'd endured and survived. Breena had visited him the second day, and they'd re-scheduled their date for that coming Saturday night, something Jimmy was glad for. When he was discharged, a sling for his arm and an appointment for the following week to have the stitches removed from his arm, he was surprised to find Tony waiting for him.

"Tony." Jimmy said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking you up, obviously." Tony opened the passenger side door, gesturing for the Assistant Medical Examiner to get in. He did, settling into the seat comfortably, so he didn't aggravate his arm further while Tony got in the drivers seat.

"I wanted to thank you." Jimmy said suddenly, ten minutes into the drive back to NCIS, because Jimmy had to write a report because he was the victim and had killed those three men. "For teaching me how to escape cuffs and ties, and how to shoot damn good and helped me get a gun."

"Anytime, Palmer." Jimmy sat back in his seat, satisfied. Jimmy knew that he'd never quite be the same after being kidnapped and then killing his captors, but he knew that if he let it, the experience would only make him stronger in the long run. And after all, you have to be pretty strong to work on dead bodies all the time.

—

authors note
i love jimmy palmer and i feel like there isn't enough fics about him. i made this one pretty sad tbh, but jimmy palmer can handle his own, and it only makes sense that tony would teach him to defend himself since he worked at ncis