Genevieve

Chapter 26

Gibbs' POV

I look up from my case file as Genevieve begins to cry out in her sleep. I look at my watch and find that it is only midnight. I stand up and move to the side of her bed. I grab her shoulder and shake it lightly. "Genevieve, it's okay. It's only a dream." My attempts to calm her down don't seem to work as she begins to toss and turn violently. I grab both her shoulders and hold her down as she begins to scream and lash out. "Genevieve!" 

She opens her eyes and looks up at me with wide eyes. Her face is pale and she starts shaking. "Gibbs, I remembered." Her eyes water as she leans into my chest. 

I wrap my arms around her and sigh. "What did you remember?" 

"The night I almost killed June. I remember everything. That woman who came into the office this morning, she was there. Lowe brought her into my room after he drew my blood and told me he had an assignment for me. When he told me what it was, I refused to help him. He told me that he knew I would refuse, and he brought the woman to make me."

"Then they took you to June, and they forced you to kill her." 

She nods into my chest and wraps her arms around my waist. "It was so awful Gibbs. There was so much blood, I was covered in it. And there was a split second where I was in control, and I looked down at June's body, and I could feel everything in my world breaking. I knew I couldn't live with myself."

"It's okay. June is okay, and we both know you didn't mean to do anything."

"But I hurt her. I possibly hurt my own parents. If I hurt them too-"

"Don't you finish that sentence. You don't get to leave."

"Gibbs, it would be better for everyone."

"No, it wouldn't. You need to stop talking about this, or so help me." 

She doesn't respond, just sits there with her head on my chest. 

"I'm not going to let you out of my sight. I'm not going to let you do anything to hurt yourself, controlled or not. But for now, just try to get some sleep."

She nods and pulls away from me. She lays back down and sighs. "Gibbs, can you stay with me please?" 

I nod and wrap an arm around her. 

She closes her eyes and breathes slowly. She quickly falls asleep. 

An hour or two later, June comes into the room rubbing her eyes. "Alright, I'm ready to  relieve you from watching her." She stops when she sees Genevieve laying in my arms. "What happened?"

I look over at her and shrug. "She had a nightmare, and asked if I could stay with her. So I did."

"Did the nightmare start at midnight?"

I look over at her with narrowed eyes. "Yes...  How did you know that?" 

June rubs her arms and sighs, sitting in the chair where I sat. "One of the things about these girls, is that because of their lack of emotions, it is so easy for them to be wiped clean and re-programmed."

"These are children, not computer software."

"That's not how the project sees them. And eventually everyone could be subject to "reprogramming". Everyone has a breaking point, and when they reach it, it is amazing how easy it is to change them." 

I look down at the sleeping girl in my arms. "What was her breaking point?"

June sighs and looks down at her hands. "The story is actually very tragic. When she was young, before she was fostered, her biological father was an alcoholic. One night he got so drunk that when he threw his wife into the counter, he had no clue that when she hit her head it caused her to become brain dead. After her funeral, he continued to drink, going in and out of rehab centers, but none of them ever suceeding. Until one night he grabbed a gun and shot his children."

"Children? Genevieve has siblings?"

"Had. Killed them too. By the time to EMT showed up, only Genevieve was alive. The body count is up to four people by this point, and still he continues to drink. The next time he gets overly drunk, he goes into a bar, and kills six people. Once the cops catch up with him, he has no idea what he's done. But security footage was enough to put him away for life with no chance of parole."

I look over at June with narrowed eyes. "Then how did he hit her with a car?"

"I'm getting to that. So, he was suppose to get life in jail with no chance of parole, but some government people decided to strike a deal. He signs over his kid, he gets a reduced sentence with a chance of parole for good behaviour. The choice he made is obvious."

I shake my head. "That makes me sick. How can someone sign over his kid for government testing? And now the only way that she can legally get out of the project is for him to kill the contract." 

June sighs. "That isn't the only way Gibbs. We can take over the plans for her to fake her death." 

"She doesn't want that. And as long as these people exist, they will be able to track her. We have to take these people down. And I think I know how."

She tilts her head slightly. "She showed you the journals."

"Yeah, she did. I'm going to publish those. Even if people don't believe it, it has to create enough reasonable doubt to make the Project back off."

"Gibbs, it isn't that easy to take something this big down."

"We have to. For her sake, we have to." 

"I'll help in whatever way I can. Hey Gibbs, what was her nightmare about, do you know?" 

"She remembered what happened that night. She said that she couldn't live with herself if she had hurt her parents as well. Upon hearing that, I told her I have no intention on letting her out of my sight." 

"That's a good idea. After what we witnessed tonight, things could get extremely messy. But even then, I'm not sure it would stop whoever's doing this."

"What do you mean "whoever's doing this"? We know who is doing this, Lowe."

"Lowe is just a greedy bastard. There is someone else behind this." 

"Who? Who else could be behind this?"

She shakes her head. "I have no idea." 

"How are we suppose to protect her if we have no idea who we are protecting her from?" 

"Do what you've always done, protect her from everything and everyone that you can possibly protect her from." 

"That's a lot."

"That's why you have a team." She chuckles. "You have no intention on getting any sleep, do you?"

I shake my head and laugh. "Nope."

"Then I'm gonna go make some coffee." She stands up and gets to the door way before turning back towards me. "Gibbs, thank you for being what I couldn't." She turns back and goes down the stairs.