Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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1- A Question

It was just one of these days. Paperwork, more paperwork and even more paperwork than that. Tony sighed and dropped another file onto the floor next to his desk. "This is ridiculous." He muttered and started searching his desk for a candy bar.

"Let´s wait until I have to sign your paycheck, Dinozzo. Maybe I´ll think that´s ridiculous as well." Gibbs´ voice sounded over from the elevator and Tony asked himself yet again if their boss had been crossed with a bat. He heard just about everything he wasn´t supposed to hear, it was like a curse. "Kate, anything new on that phone bill?"

Kate got up, a file in her hand. "She called her CO twice that day before she disappeared. Plus there are four calls made to another cell, but we don´t get anything on that number, it´s probably one of those pre-paid phones." She told him and immediately knew that her answers would not satisfy him.

"Find the company who has that number registered, find out where that card was sold. Geez, Kate, you weren´t that slow before, were you? Why was it that I got you this job?" He asked and she rolled her eyes. It was this talk again.

"Because you thought she was pretty?" Tony piped up, but immediately regretted it. Gibbs shot him a warning glance and he decided to duck behind his computer.

"Dinozzo, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it. Do you have all contacts printed and ready for interrogation?" Gibbs asked and looked at him. After a second, he shook his head again. "Thought so, get going on it. We don´t have all day."

Kate sighed and gave her partner a compassionate look. She hated paperwork and there was one thing about it that made it even worse. Whenever Dinozzo got bored, he would come up with something to set her off. That usually brought him a slap in the head from Gibbs and a grin from Kate, but somehow he kept trying. Last time they had been so bored, two very embarrassing pictures had found their way onto Gibbs´ computer. They were pretty sure that he hadn´t seen them yet, since opening an attachment was about as easy for him as speaking Chinese, but they had no chance to get those pictures off his computer again. It was just a matter of time until the big bang.

Half an hour later, Gibbs went out for some coffee. They knew he would need about 20 minutes, since he always went down the road to his favorite Starbuck´s store. When the elevator doors closed behind him, all three of them sighed. Eventhough McGee had managed without a major attack from his gruffness himself, he felt for his colleagues. After all, they were a team. "Hey, Tony, want to know a fun fact?" He asked Dinozzo, who looked over and nodded. "What´s the German definition of team?"

Kate put her pen down and looked over rather interested, while Tony just shrugged. "Don´t know? Lots of people doing one job?"

McGee grinned. "Not quite. If you pull the letters apart, it would read "Toll Ein Anderer Macht´s", that means "Great, someone else is doing it"." He said and waited for a laugh, but none came.

"You just made that one up, Probie. Nice try though." Tony threw a piece of paper into his trashcan and yawned. "Gee, this is so boring." He started to hop through some personal files on his computer. "Did you know that Gibbs missed his last three medical examinations?" He asked them as he scanned the file of their boss.

"Tony, if he catches you doing that again, he´ll kill you." Kate warned him and continued to work on a file. "He threatened you at least three times."

"He´s gone to get coffee -won´t be back for a few minutes. You know what´s funny? I mean, there´s just one person around here who actually does, but why is Ducky calling him Jethro?" Tony said and sat up straighter in his chair.

McGee looked puzzled. "That´s his first name, isn´t it? He and Ducky are friends, so what´s so unusual about it?" Tim hadn´t been with the team very long, so he didn´t know very much about the others, at least what concerned private life.

Kate frowned slightly. "His full first name is Leroy Jethro, McGee. You´re right, Tony, that´s a bit strange. I never really thought about it...Wow, it´s definetely boring today that we start thinking about something like that...strange." She replied and dropped her pen again. "Maybe we should ask Ducky."

All three of them jumped up the same moment and headed into the elevator. They didn´t bother with the questioning looks some other employees threw at them or with the fact that Gibbs was going to freak out when he returned into an empty bullpen. Dr. Donald Mallard looked up from the body he had just been working on when the three agents walked into the autopsy room. "Well, good afternoon to all of you. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He asked and threw his bloody gloves into a trashcan.

They looked at each other for a moment before Kate decided to get right to the point. "You know Gibbs pretty well, right, Ducky?" She said and he gave her a nod. "Why does everyone, who is allowed to, call him Jethro? I mean, his first name is actually Leroy, isn´t it?" The look on his face immediately changed, telling her that she had addressed something she shouldn´t have.

"My dear Caitlin, I believe that this is a thing that does not concern your work. And besides that, I should advise you not to ask him about it. It is a matter of privacy, you know?" He told them, which added fuel to their suspicions. "If you would excuse me, I do have to finish this body today and my mother does not like it when I get home late." He pulled on a new set of gloves and returned to the autopsy table.

They walked over to Abby´s lab and found her working on some bloodsamples. "Hey, gang." She greeted them and smiled. "What are you up to? Trying to get away from our boss-man?"

Kate looked over at the elevator. It was about the time that Gibbs would come back and find the bullpen empty. "A bit, maybe. Do you have any idea why Gibbs is not using his first name?" Kate asked, but Abby just shrugged.

"I actually never thought about it, interesting thing though. Did you ask Ducky?" She put a tray of bloodsamples into the thermocycler and started it.

Tony watched her for a moment. "Actually, yes, but he told us that it´s not our business and that we should not continue to ask questions about it." He stated and started to play with a piece of bone that lay around on her desk.

Abby sighed and snatched the bone from him. "This is a piece of evidence, Tony. Not a toy. I think it´s not really like Ducky to say something like that. Normally, he starts telling stories when you ask him something. Did you know that Director Shepard and Gibbs actually..."

"Don´t you have work to do?" Came a low voice from the elevator and they cringed. He had done it again. "NOW!" Gibbs barked at them and they fled towards the staircase, trying to knock each other over in the course of doing so.

Abby felt herself blush and returned her attention to the thermocycler. She heard steps leaving her lab and sighed. She couldn´t help thinking about what Kate had mentioned about his first name though. That really was odd, but she had someone in mind who owed her a favor and picked up her phone. The call was rather unsuccessful, but it gave her at least something new to share with her colleagues. She typed an e-mail and sent it to Kate.