Chapter Text
As Lucy arrived in the bullpen after doing a little detour for her morning coffee, she noticed her coworkers were missing. She might have been a little late but not that late. She then heard someone calling her name and saw her boss gesturing for to come to her office.
She passed by her desk to put her bag down, before going into the office. Only Ernie was in the room beside Tennant, both waiting patiently for Lucy before explaining what was evidently a new case. A navy officer was found dead in the middle of the sea. Jane informed Lucy that Kai and Jesse were en route to the scene. She then told Ernie to get information on him and Lucy to come with her talk to the victim’s family.
As Ernie left, he gave Lucy a look, clearly meaning that he was worried about their boss. And with good reasons because since Maggie has been arrested a week prior, Jane has been quieter than usual. Even if Lucy has been working with Jane Tennant for quite a while now, she was still impressed by the woman. Even though, Jane had put her best friend in jail and second guessing all the moment she had in her life with said best friend since she found out she was a spy, she still managed to do her job, and do it well, with the same level of professionalism, always being calm and collected.
Lucy and the rest of the team were on their best behavior trying not to add to their boss’s growing problems. They have been patient and supporting of their boss, trying to give her space and at the same time show her she could count on them.
The ride to the victim’s house was quiet. Jane not feeling much like talking and Lucy not knowing what to say. She lasted a good few minutes before she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Did you know a person stranded in the ocean could only survive a few hours. I mean some can last days if they are trained but 50% of people die during the first 6 hours because of hypothermia. That must be a horrible way to die. Freezing up, slowly. Not being able to move your legs or arms after a while. And the desperation building up inside. I mean, you are alone in the middle of the ocean, no way to contact anyone. It’s terrifying right? I hope I’ll never be in a situation like that. I mean, you know, I tried to stay as far away from the sea as I can, but you never know what might happen. He certainly didn’t expect it and yet...” Lucy was rambling, she knew she was, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop. The tension taking place with their boss made her uncomfortable. And the one between her and a certain DIA officer wasn’t helping either. Anyway, it all made her uneasy and a rambling mess.
“Lucy, you do know, the victim was killed with a gun, right? He was probably already dead when he got in the water.”
“Yeah, no I know. Just thinking about being alone in the middle of the ocean that’s all.” As she said that, Lucy was looking out the window, not watching anything in particular, with a sad look on her face.
“You okay there Lucy?” Tennant was very aware what was probably going on with the younger agent, having witness it firsthand, but she wasn’t sure it was her place to say anything.
“Yeah fine. I’m great. Things have been so great lately." Well, it didn’t take a genius to detect the level of sarcasm in her voice, but usually Lucy wasn’t one to dwell on something. Or at least not to let it show like that. She would normally smile and pretend it was nothing. It was probably getting to her more than she realized.
“Okay, if you say so."
“No, I’m sorry. I know you’re going through a hard time. My problems are trivial compare to yours.” Delicacy, was not one of Lucy’s qualities. She was mindful that her boss was going through a tough time, but didn’t really know how to say it. Lucky for her, Jane was very considerate with her reply.
“What I’m going through and what you’re going through is not a competition. You can let yourself feel whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay.” When Lucy looked at Jane she had kind eyes, almost telling her that’s everything was going to be okay. Lucy wished she could believe that. “But can you maybe wait a little before feeling it because we're here." Sure enough, Tennant was pulling over in front of the house. She took a long breath in before getting out of the car, Lucy right behind her. It was never easy talking to a victim’s family member no matter how many times they do it.
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When Lucy and Jane got back at NCIS, Jesse and Kai were already there. The two female agents spend quite a long time talking to the victim’s wife, but they didn’t learn much, nothing going on out of the ordinary, except maybe that he had a fight in a bar a few days ago. Kai and Jesse learned more about said fight, finding out it was with another navy officer.
As the team were debriefing what they each had found out, Ernie came walking into the bullpen with fast strides, tablet in hand. He then told them it seemed the victim was killed because he was trying to steal confidential information, that he couldn’t get with his level of clearance.
Jane told Jesse and Kai to follow up on the other sailor that was involve in the fight. While Ernie and Lucy looked deeper into the information and why he was trying to steal it.
Thirty minutes later, Lucy was at her desk working when she heard the distinct clicking of heels coming toward her. And she instantly knew who it was.
It’s not that Lucy has been avoiding Kate. It’s just that she has been trying to not be in the DIA officer presence for anything other than professional matters. So yeah, okay, maybe she’s been avoiding her. But it was a few weeks after they… stopped whatever it was between them and Lucy was still hurt. She really thought things were going somewhere between them. Whistler was not always very open in their relationship and could be distant at work, but Lucy could see that past that she was a great person and she loved…liked being around her. Lucy was liking getting to know the other woman more than she realised and was willing to make the effort to crack the walls she had built up. Well, before she lied to her about having another girlfriend. The brunette was still pissed and hurt but they had to work together so she was trying really hard to be civil with the other woman, which was not always easy.
Whistler approached her and she could feel her eyes on her all the time it took for her to get to Tennant’s office, but Lucy was determined to not look at her. Well, maybe she looked once she passed her desk and opened Tennant’s office door, but nobody needed to know that.
Lucy was trying her best not to glance towards Tennant office. Saying to herself that she didn’t care what the DIA officer was doing here and praying she would leave soon. She tried not to think about the blonde, in her skirt, looking like she owned the place. She absolutely couldn’t think about things like that. It was over between them. Kate lied to her, she didn’t have time or the energy to deal with that. She was moving on.
While Lucy was debating internally with herself, Whistler and Tennant came out of the office. And this time Lucy couldn’t help herself but to look directly at Whistler. The other woman didn’t look at her at first but when their eyes met, the blonde stop talking and moving, like she froze. Lucy could see apology in her eyes, she had this sad look on her face, like she has seen multiple times on the officer’s face lately. The moment only lasted a few seconds before Kate turn back towards Jane, finishing their conversations. Lucy dropped her eyes to look at her computer screen but she was lost in her thoughts, berating herself for even looking at Kate like that. She was angry with the other woman, but more than that, she was mad at herself for still feeling something for Kate when she was supposed to forget about her and move on. It’s like her brain and her heart were at war and she didn’t like it one bit.
So lost in her thought she missed the longing look Whistler gave her as she left and Tennant concerned eyes.
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Lucy got to work earlier the next morning because Tennant call them in to talk about the case and the new information they discovered. When she arrived, she went directly into the war room. Tennant, Ernie and Kai were already there. And her breath got stuck in her throat when her eyes landed on a familiar blonde woman.
She didn't expect to see her there but as much as she wanted to never see the other woman again, they had to work together and Lucy was going to be very professional about it.
They waited for Jesse to arrive before starting which only took a couples of minutes. Tennant then explaining the situation.
“Okay, first of all thank you all for coming earlier than usual but we got news on the case that are relatively urgent.” She nodded to Ernie to put the information on the big screen. “We discovered what type of information was presumably stolen and there is a good probability for the intel to be already out. That’s why DIA said we could continue our investigation only if a DIA officer was going to be involved and overlooking the case.” She then gestured to whistler who was trying not to look out of place. “So, DIA officer Whistler will be working with us for the duration of the case." Tennant paused and Lucy could feel the other looking not so discretely at her, but she just held her head higher like it won’t be an issue for her to work with Kate. She suddenly hopped the case would be solved very quickly. She could work and be professional with the other woman, she just wished she didn’t have to.
Kai cut the silence. “So, what was the intel?”
Ernie then put other images and documents on the big screen and started explaining. “Our victim, Navy officer Kyle Reagan, discovered that one of the other officers was trying to get access to the new missile manufacturing program of the Navy."
“At least that’s what the other officers that were there during Reagan bar fight told us they fought about. But no sign of the officer who actually punched our victim, he wasn’t at his house." Jesse added.
Ernie continued. “Well, it seems what the officer told you is true because there was a security breach on one of the computer last Thursday on the base, a few days before the program was going to be erased after it was transferred. It’s impossible to know what information has been stolen exactly but this program was vulnerable during that time."
Lucy was still perplexed about what they discovered. “So, he was not the one trying to steal it but the one trying to stop it.”
Kai followed up. “Then who stole the information?”
“And why would they want that information." Kate added.
Tennant was the one to answer their questions. “Yes, it seems our victim was trying to expose the actual thief and we don’t know who stole it yet, but we have good reasons to believe that this intel might be stolen for another country intelligence department.”
Jesse asked the question everybody was wondering. “But then who would want that kind of information?”
Lucy had her hand on her chin, seeming in deep thought. “Well, it doesn’t seem to be the Chinese or the Japanese because they wouldn’t risk this much for so little information.”
Whistler was quick to follow up on what Lucy said, seeing where she was going. “Maybe it’s for the Russians.”
“Hmm that would make more sense, Russia might make more profit for gaining that kind of intel." At this point the others just watched them with a little surprised but Jane and Ernie were spotting knowing and amused smiles on their faces.
“Exactly, they could use it for their own resources, but they would also risk a lot.”
“Or sell the information, I bet they are a lot of people who would pay a lot of money for it and the Russian wouldn’t have to compromised themselves."
“We need to find out who was on the base the night of the breach."
“And look for officer who would have any kind of link with Russia or Russians operative."
After they were done everyone was looking at them with weird expressions on their faces. It took a second for Lucy to understand why they were looking at her like that. She hadn’t realized her and Whistler were in perfect sync, she was just trying to solve the case. As much as she didn’t like it, because she was mad at the other woman, she had to admit they work well together, which irritated her even more.
Tennant regain everyone attentions, giving everyone things to do. “Ernie, do a background check of everyone who was on the base the night of the breach and who would have a connection with Russia. Kai and Lucy try to find the buyers. It is more likely this information was always going to be sold one way or the other, find out who would unofficially pay for it."
Kai knew one of his old friends that could help. “I kwon a person who might know something about that."
“Okay go see them. Whistler and Jesse maybe you could go and see who could have access to this computer, what intel are on it, if there is any footage."
After everyone got their assignments, they all left the room, preparing to leave as soon as possible.
Lucy told kai to go wait for her at the car while she went to her desk to take her gun. She put the gun on her belt and checked her pocket. She felt something missing and realized she didn’t feel her phone. She put her hands in her front pockets but nothing, she checked her back pocket but her phone wasn’t there. She was trying to remember if she had it when she left this morning and she was almost certain she did. She started looking everywhere on her desk and searching in her drawers but nothing. Then she saw her phone appearing in front of her, someone holding it. When she looked up to thank the person, she saw a familiar blonde woman.
“I saw it on the table in the war room. Thought you might want it back.”
“Huh, thanks." Lucy took the phone from her and put it in her pocket, thinking the DIA officer would leave her alone but she didn’t move. However, she noticed the other woman was fidgeting, appearing nervous.
“So, huh, how are you?” Kate voice was small and unsure.
“Why do you care." Lucy knew she was being harsh but she couldn’t help it. She hated feeling like she had been used and that’s exactly how Kate made her feel when she found out she had someone else in her life.
Kate voice got softer. “Come on Lucy. I just want to know how you’re doing."
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business. Sorry but I need to go, Kai is waiting for me." She then left to join her colleague. She got lost in her thoughts, thinking that maybe she was being too harsh to Kate and maybe she needed to just ignore her. But she just couldn’t bring herself to forget the woman. She still thought about her day and night and maybe that’s why she was so on edge, especially around her, making her say hurtful thing. She couldn’t help it; Kate had a way of bringing up feelings she was trying very hard to bury.
She didn’t realize she was already at the car, being too lost in her thoughts. She opened the car door and closed it with maybe a little more force than necessary.
Kai must have felt it.
“Everything okay?”
Lucy tried to give a convincing smile “Yeah everything is great. Let’s go."