Ellick "Painless"

Chapter 44- Cheating?

30 Minutes Later: Police Station: General

Jack is sitting, still handcuffed, in a chair at the police station. The front desk is running her image through their data base, but it's taking a long time. Apparently the technology at NCIS is pretty fast, even if Gibbs complains it takes too long.

The door flies open, startling Sloane and sending a surprisingly strong gust of cool air through the room. Gibbs storms in and looks around.

"Jack! What the h*ll happened?! All you had to do was get Bishop to the hospital, and now Bishop and Torres are both in emergency surgery and you're arrested?!" He yells at Jack.

She's not used to getting scolded by Gibbs. He's usually pretty cool tempered around Jack, but now it seems like his head is going to explode. Of course she can can understand where the emotions are coming from of course. She's mad too. And they're both worried about the team.

"Can you just get me out of these stupid handcuffs and I'll tell you later?" She proposes, because her wrists are killing her.

After Gibbs shows his badge to the receptionist and a little yelling and banging, they finally hear the click of the cuffs unlocking.

Gibbs sets the cuffs and key on the desk and pulls her to the back of the room.

"Explain." He huffs, looking at Jack angrily. She can see worry in his eyes too, and it makes her want to smile. She knows now isn't the right time for that though.

"Nick was speeding to get to the hospital and we got pulled over. The cop, Green, was..." Sloane trails off, trying to think of the right word. A few come to mind, but aren't appropriate to say them out loud.

"She was flustered? I guess?" She thinks whether that was the right word. It wasn't.

"No. She was a stupid idiot. She overreacted in a near fatal way. Nick couldn't find his badge but we kept telling her we needed to get to the hospital. She wouldn't let us, and forced Nick out of the car. He pulled away from her and opened the back door to show Ellie inside, and show her why we needed to go. Then Green pulled out her gun, yelled 'murderer!' And shot Nick. And she kept saying we were drug dealers!"

Gibbs face turns so red it looks like his eyes change color too. The icy blue seems to heat into a deep red, but Jack blinks and the color goes away.

"Green you said?" He asks her, and she nods.

He turns and stomps up to the desk. The man behind it is in the phone.

"Yes! Yes he actually was a cop!...No, Green! NO! He was not a drug dealer! He works for NCIS!... Yes, the lady did too!... yeah, I think calling your lawyer would be a good idea-"

Gibbs interrupts him by smacking the desk.

"Is that officer Green? As in the officer Green that shot one of my agents and then arrested another?" He asks furiously.

The man looks at him with nervousness in his eyes.

"Yes sir."

"Give me the phone."

"Um... yes Agent Gibbs."

With that, he hands the phone to Gibbs, who begins yelling into the speaker.

"Give me one good reason why you shot my agent! And I don't want any of your drug ring bull crap you've been telling everyone else."

"You must not know your team very well Agent Gibbs," she says each part of his name with disgust in her voice. "Because that man is leading a double life. He is a hardened criminal!"

"And what fairy tale land did your brain have to travel to for you to get that piece of oh so genuine information?" Gibbs replies, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Well I'm at his place right now, and-"

"You're in his apartment?!" Gibbs yells at her.

"Of course! I can't let a drug dealer get free. Anyway, this guy has pictures of someone all over his house! He said he had a girlfriend, but then who's this girl?"

Gibbs wants to scream at this idiot, but also to protect Bishop. Is Torres cheating on her?

"What's the girl look like?" He inquires.

"Well she's blonde and skinny, hazel eyes. Smiling, but everyone smiles for a picture. He has a secret lover. It's pretty obvious, don't you think Gibbs?"

"I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong."

Gibbs hangs up the phone, unable to comprehend or deal with her level of stupidity anymore.

He tells the receptionist to send officers to Nick's address, and that an intruder will be there.

As Gibbs and Sloane are leaving, Jack looks at him.

"Is Torres really cheating on Ellie?"

"Of course he isn't. He loves her too much."

"Then who's the girl in the photos? And why does he have so many of them?"

"Well let's think." He says exasperatedly. "Do we know any blondes with brown eyes who's skinny and constantly happy?"

"Well there's Ellie, but Green would have recognized her from the car." Sloane answers.

"Was Bishop looking herself when she was unconscious, bloody and muddy in the backseat? Or did she look a little different?" They sit in the car and Gibbs starts to wheel off to the hospital.

"That's true." Jack says quietly.

It's so strange for Gibbs to be giving this much attitude to her. He is usually acts like he... well that he likes her a little differently than anyone else. But now he's just mad at her. She doesn't like it.

"Come on." Gibbs slams the car door and gestures harshly for Jack to follow him into the hospital.

"Gibbs! I'm coming. You need to take a deep breath. I am right here, you do not need to yell. I understand you're worried, I'm worried too."

"But I'm the one that keeps sending my agents into these hostile situations! If they don't make it through surgery, it's all my fault they're dead!" Gibbs speaks angrily.

"They're in the hospital! Whatever happens is out of our hands! We just have to wait and hope for the best! You can't order them to get better!" She puts her hands on his shoulders to make sure he's listening to her. "There's nothing you can do. Okay?"

Gibs tries to just walk away, but she doesn't let him.

"Okay?" She repeats.

"Yeah, hmm." Gibbs grunts, and Jack is satisfied. That's probably the best she's going to get out of him.