We're All Mad Here - Part 1

Tim looked at the body that the panicked staff were pointing at, their faces pale, jumpers pulled up high over their mouths and noses.

Well this was just great.

A body in a tub of acid.

Just how was she supposed to react to this?

She had called the Navy Yard and been told to secure the scene.

While waiting for the team to arrive she had decided how to act for when they did show up.

People were freaked out by bodies. Especially gruesome bodies. Kinda like this one that was laying half out of a container - although she was sure there were more icky ways to go. She had seen a couple. But she had to react accordingly.

Armed with a white mask to cover her mouth she practiced her gasping and gagging while she waited.

They arrived. Which meant this was not her responsibility anymore. Which meant she could return to her nice safe, no people to worry about, paperwork filled office.

But her eyes were glued to the team. Watching as the Medical Examiner and his assistant removed the body completely from the drum and laid it out to be examined closer and to be transported easier.

She was fascinated as she watched the way that all the team worked around each other, all the while she kept her breathing steady and gagged occasionally, and then Agent Gibbs (the agent Gibbs) seemed to finally pay her some attention during a particularly good gag and told one of his underlings to get her out of the way before she 'ralphed'. Tim couldn't help but look back at the scene in some disappointment as DiNozzo had her help with scene sketches. Next time she would downplay her acting.

Jack Ass. Thats what Agent DiNozzo was. She wasn't stupid. They had all they needed from the scene. They did not need her here.

Still, she had been given an order (technically by a superior) and she wouldn't shirk her responsibility, no matter how fictional it was. But if he expected her to just stand around all night he had another thing coming.

Tim closed her office door with a click and trod the well known path through the hallway down the stairs, across the parking lot and to her car.

She climbed in and prepared herself to settle in for the night.

Heating - on.

Food - she dragged her emergency stash bag from under the passenger seat and tipped it upside down, wrappers crinkled as they hit the seat. Pretzels, chocolate and an assortment of other goodies filled her vision. Excellent.

Coffee - she pulled her lunchtime flask (refilled) from her bag and opened it, sighing happily as the scent filled steam drifted to her nose.

She looked up and studied the once-crime-scene through her now fogging window.

Nothing. Not so much as a tumbling leaf across the concrete.

Tim adjusted her seat, pulling up the lever beneath her and sliding the chair back as far as it would go. This accomplished she stretched out her legs, enjoying the relief that came to her tired muscles as she tensed and then relaxed.

An hour into her vigil and the alarm on her phone chimed obnoxiously into the stillness. She picked it up, 'ok-ing' the reminder that flashed on the screen.

She found the contact she needed and dialed.

After a couple of minutes of being passed from one line to another - and answering the same questions at each new stop - she eventually landed with the person she intended to call.

"Hey sweet-cheeks," a rough voice greeted her from hundreds of miles away.

"Hi," she replied, these conversations always were a little awkward, you never did know exactly who you were going to be dealing with.

She scanned the 'crime scene' and her mind immediately latched onto a conversation she knew would be right up his ally no matter who she was talking to.

"Have you ever gone for the body-in-a-vat-of-acid trick?" she asked conversationally, lifting her cooling cup of coffee from the dash and taking a sip. She couldn't help but pull a face at the chilled liquid, but glancing down at it thoughtfully she shrugged and gulped down the rest of it.

"I plead the fifth,"

"You and everyone else," she scoffed and continued as though he had never spoken, putting the cup back on the dash with a sigh, "Hydrochloric acid, to be precise,"

"I thought you were a paper pusher?""

Tim chose to ignore that comment - she was proud of her little office thank you very much!

"Well, someone decided to dump a body in a barrel of acid and that barrel just happened to be knocked over," she took a second to put her phone onto speaker and placed it next to the now empty coffee cup, "Sucks to be the murderer huh?" she muttered as she raided her emergency stash in search of something to eat - she should have brought some paperwork out with her.

"Identity,"

"Huh?"

"The acid trick. No better way of getting rid of someones identity. Just dissolve it away,"

And what were reasons to want to rid a corpse of all identifying features?

If you didn't want it known that specific person was the one who was dead…

"The ME thinks it may have been in the barrel for only twenty-four hours," she explained.

"Then you're right, sucks to be the murderer," he told her dryly, "Depending on conditions there may be some identifying marks left,"

Tim thought back to the fragments of conversation she had heard between the team members before they left. Something about a birthmark…but what about a -

"Like a tattoo?"

"Sure,"

She nodded her head in silent though while she unwrapped a chocolate bar and took a bite. She closed her eyes more a moment, savoring the heavenly taste. She would never get used to having unfettered access to such wonderful treats.

"So," she finished chewing a swallowed, teasing the wrapper further down the sweet in preparation for her next bite, "You have done it then,"

"Doll," there was a gritty chuckled, "Wouldn't you like to know,"

Hello everyone!

Welcome to part one of this new collection!

All a bit cryptic at the moment but welcome to the Batman/NCIS universe for Fem Tim. Remember that this storyline isn't connected in anyway with the previous ones - so a nice clean slate :)

More will be revealed through the chapters and eventually there will be a trip to Gotham - EXCITING!

Virtual cookies for correct guesses on the identity of who Tim is calling :)

Take care!

:)