Work Text:
Conversations With Caitlin
Silver War
Written by Lizabeth S Tucker
Abby Scuito was ticked and needed to vent to someone. Unfortunately, the people she could normally talk to were all enamored of the very person she wanted to complain about. So she decided to visit her best friend.
She stalked across the grounds, stopping at the shady tree that overlooked the grave. “Hiya, Kate! I see Tony’s been here again.” Abby gently touched the yellow roses placed in the vase at the base of the marble headstone.
“I didn’t bring anything this time, but I didn’t think you’d mind.” She grimaced as she plopped onto the ground beside Kate’s grave.
“Did Tony tell you about Ziva David? Snotty little…” Abby’s grimace faded. “Yeah, I know I usually don’t talk like that, but she’s just so…arghhh!”
Abby lay back onto the grass, her arm stretched out to rest on the soft mound. “She thinks she can just come in and take over. Timmy thinks she’s the best thing since sliced bread! And Tony…”
Abby was distracted by a flock of crows flying overhead, their caws filling the air. Once they were gone, Abby rolled onto her side, facing Kate. “He’s intrigued by her, I think. She’s always making little digs at him, but it isn’t the same as when you’d tease him. He thinks she’s kinda creepy, but I can tell that he’s interested. Of course, she’s female so that is a given. And Gibbs? Well I just don’t understand him at all. Sometimes it’s like he and Ziva know something that no one else does.”
The Goth rolled back onto her back. “I don’t like her at all, Kate. And I don’t trust her. I’ve heard stories about Mossad, how vicious they can be. And I can definitely see David being dangerous. I tried to talk to Gibbs about it, how she might hurt Tim or Tony. He just looked at me and smiled. You know the one that I mean?”
“His ‘I’m not taking you seriously’ one?” Kate asked, suddenly sitting cross-legged and leaning back against her headstone.
“Yeah. And then there’s the way she was foisted on us, on the team. Oh, and I didn’t tell you the rest.”
“What, Abs?”
“We have this new director, a woman!”
Kate grinned. “A female director? Wonderful.”
“Not so wonderful. So far she’s assigned Officer David to the team without telling Gibbs first.”
“Oh, bad form.”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Director Jen Shepard. She and Gibbs have some sort of past together.”
Kate looked up at that. “What kind of past?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I know they were partners once and she’s a redhead!” Abby said archly.
“Ah, really?”
“The Director actually sent a memo about my not following some stupid dress code!”
Kate started giggling.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Abby protested, before breaking out into giggles herself. “Tony said I looked like Career Girl Barbie.”
“His tongue was probably hanging out onto the floor.”
“It was!”
Kate looked at her friend with a fond smile. “It isn’t that you don’t like Ziva, Abby, it’s that she’s replacing me.”
“She can’t replace you, she can’t!” Abby said fiercely.
“No, she can’t. But she might turn out to be a friend, if you’d give her a chance. It’s got to be hard for her.”
Abby shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I’m not asking you to pretend to like her, Abs. But it isn’t like you to judge someone without getting to know them.”
Abby made a face, sticking her tongue out at the ghost of her best friend. “Okay, Miss Smarty-pants, I’ll give her a chance. But I’m telling you right now, she won’t ever take your place.”
“No, I wouldn’t expect her to. But she might have her own place in your so warm heart.”
Abby sighed with contentment, before climbing to her feet. “Thanks, Kate. I’m glad I came out here.” She leaned over and touched the photograph inlaid into the stone. “I miss you, my friend.”
As she walked away, Abby heard the whisper of a voice in the wind. “I miss you as well.”
December 2006