Title: Storm of the Centuries

2014 NFA Secret Santa exchange fic for McMhuirich
Genre: Case Fic, Supernatural, Mystery
Rating: FR 15
Word Count: 15,936

Characters: Tim McGee, Tony DiNozzo, LJ Gibbs, Ellie Bishop, Abby Sciuto, Ducky Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, OCs
Pairings: None. Tony/McGee friendship, McGee/OCs friendship

Warnings: OC deaths, war-related violence and disturbing imagery
Prompt: Remains discovered in an old building / superstition and/or supernatural / and maybe a snow storm of the century? Or, as it's the 100th anniversary of the Great War... Why not linking the past with the present?

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement intended. The original characters and places mentioned are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to those living, dead, or undead is completely coincidental.

Special thanks to Ceridwen for her assistance with the World War I information for this story. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Summary: A mysterious box of war memorabilia sends Tim McGee on an unexpected trip into the past.

The storm lashes us, out of the confusion of grey and yellow the hail of splinters whips forth the childlike cries of the wounded, and in the night shattered life groans painfully into silence. Our hands are earth, our bodies clay and our eyes pools of rain. We do not know whether we are still alive.

~ Erich Maria Remarque, in 'All Quiet on the Western Front'

Chapter 1

"I am so not going in there," Alyssa Maynard declared as she stared at the old house, its broken windows resembling the dead eyes of a long-moldering corpse.

"What's a matter, baby? Worried about ghosts?"

Alyssa glared at her boyfriend. "No, Taylor, I'm not going in there because it looks like a crack den."

"We're in the country. More likely to be a meth lab." The other boy in the group took a deep sniff. "Doesn't smell like one, though."

"How do you know what a meth lab smells like, Donnie?" The fourth member of the group, another teenage girl, asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well, Eva, my cousin lives in Missouri, and when I went to visit he pointed out a few of them. Smelled like—"

"I really don't care," Alyssa snapped. "I'm still not going in there. What are we doing here, anyway?"

"Re-enacting the plot of almost every horror movie ever made?" Eva replied with a grin, which earned her a dirty look from the rest of the group.

"It's an old house. There might be something cool inside," Donnie offered.

"I sincerely doubt that."

"Well, we won't know unless we go look."

Alyssa looked at the three expectant faces of her friends and sighed. "Fine. But we're sticking together."

"Until we make sure it's safe at least," Taylor added. "We can always do a little exploring later. On our own." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and Alyssa just rolled her eyes.

"Dream on, hot shot. Let's go."

They carefully approached the house and started searching for a way in. Taylor soon found an unlatched window at ground level that lead into the basement and they squeezed through, one at a time, until all four were standing in a dark, damp space. Donnie scanned the room with his flashlight, revealing a set of rickety-looking wooden stairs leading to the main floor and several piles of broken and tattered furniture in the corners. Otherwise the basement was empty.

"Oh, yeah, this was well worth the trip," Alyssa muttered as she rolled her eyes. "Can we go now?"

"Maybe there's something more interesting upstairs?" Eva suggested.

"Like what? More broken-down junk?"

"Don't be such a killjoy. There's something in this house worth finding, I'm sure of it. I can just feel it, can't you?"

"No." Taylor gave her his best pleading, puppy-dog-eyes expression. "OK, fine." Alyssa sighed and turned to glare critically at the staircase. "I'm not convinced those will hold someone, though."

"I'll go first," Taylor offered. He started towards the stairs and froze on the second step when the sound of footsteps moving across the floor above reached their ears.

"Who-?" Donnie clamped his hand over Eva's mouth to silence her.

"Shh…"

The group waited in silence as a second set of footsteps echoed through the house.

"We need to get out of here," Alyssa whispered, but made no move towards the window. Soon they heard muffled voices from the room above.

"Great," Eva muttered. "There's a drug deal or something going on right over our heads."

"Is that what they're saying? I can't tell." Donnie whispered back. Taylor quietly joined them, a worried look on his face.

"What is it?"

"Some kind of deal. I could hear a little of what they were saying."

"Now what?"

"Wait until they leave."

"And if they decide to come down here?"

Suddenly the voices above grew louder, followed by a pair of what sounded like gunshots and a loud crash that shook the floor directly above them. The group froze in place, too terrified to move. More footsteps, followed by a few thumps, and soon the footsteps retreated. The room above was silent as the teenagers waited for the sounds to return. Several minutes passed but the house remained silent.

"We should get out of here. Right now," Eva whispered. The rest nodded in agreement and started to inch their way towards the window.

Alyssa took two steps before she felt something wet drip on her face. She reached up to wipe it away and saw that her fingertips were dark. Her gaze slowly traveled upwards and she could see the same dark liquid seeping through the floor above. Another drop fell, landing on her forehead and she grabbed Donnie's flashlight from his grasp as she wiped off the offending drop and brought the light up to illuminate the ceiling. The liquid was dark red.

A split second later, the silence of the house was shattered by a terrified scream.

XXX

The cold, cloud-covered sky was just beginning to lighten as Tony pulled the MCRT van to a halt outside the barrier the local police had erected. Tim and Tony climbed out of the van, grabbed their kits from the back and joined Gibbs and Bishop as they approached the officer in charge of the scene.

"Sheriff Deakins?" Gibbs asked the tall, wiry woman dressed in a dark green uniform, who nodded as she eyed the group. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." He quickly introduced the rest of the team. "You called us in."

"Yep. Got a phone call about midnight. Bunch of kids think they heard someone being murdered. Checked out the scene, found the dog tags on the deceased, figured this one's your headache." Gibbs smiled thinly in response. "Rounded up the kids, they're back at the station house when you're ready to talk to 'em."

"We'll head over after we're done here. What can you tell me?"

"Not much. House has been deserted for years. Last resident died back in '08. Been up for sale ever since."

"Can't see why someone hasn't snapped this palace right up," Tony remarked as he studied the decaying ruin, earning him a glare from Gibbs and a chuckle from the sheriff.

"Anyway, the body's in the living room. Not much else in there, but I figure that's up to y'all to figure out. " Gibbs glanced at Tony and Tim, who nodded in unison, ducked under the barrier tape and headed for the house while Gibbs and Bishop moved off to talk to one of the other officers. Tony paused to glance up at the sky as they reached the front steps.

"Looks like snow. We better get going before we get stuck here."

"The big storm's not supposed to move in until tomorrow. We've got plenty of time."

"Whatever you say, McWeatherman. I'd rather not be stuck out in the boondocks any longer than necessary."

"Can't argue with that."

The two men entered the house and surveyed the scene in front of them. The body was in the center of the room, face up, with two dark red holes in its chest and a pool of blood underneath. The dog tags were visible on its chest, clearly having been pulled from the clothing during the sheriff's examination of the body.

"Ducky's not going to be happy about that," Tim muttered and Tony nodded in sympathy.

Further examination the room revealed a duffel bag a few feet from the body. It appeared to be empty.

"So what do you think? Drug deal gone bad? Buyer takes the product and runs?"

"Guess we'll find out." They set their kits just inside the room and started to process the scene. Tony took photos while Tim searched through his case for the alternate light source, which he used to scan the bag for prints. After finding none on the handles or interior of the bag, he retrieved a field drug test kit and swabbed the inside and outside of the handles and the inside of the bag before testing the swabs.

"I don't see any evidence of drugs. Stolen property, maybe?" He had seen a few loose fibers show up under the ALS, but nothing else.

"I guess we'll have to leave that up to Abby."

McGee nodded and resumed searching the bag as Ducky and Palmer walked into the house, kits in hand. Ducky knelt down next to the body and began examining it while Palmer helped Tony finish the pictures.

"Cause of death appears to be two close range gunshot wounds." He nodded at Palmer and the assistant helped him roll the body. "One exit wound." He retrieved the liver probe from his kit and checked the temperature of the body. "Time of death would have been seven to eight hours ago."

"Crime was reported around midnight," Tim repeated the information the sheriff had given them.

"Well, that fits. I think it's time to confirm his identification, Timothy."

Tim left the bag for a moment to retrieve the fingerprint scanner, which he carried over to the body and placed one of its fingers on the screen. "Petty Officer Third Class Marcus Edwards. Twenty-four years old, Machinist's Mate. He's stationed at Pax River."

"That matches the dog tags. Well, Petty Officer, let's see what else you can tell us." Ducky continued his examination as Tim returned his attention to the bag. He felt along the inside edges and stopped when he encountered a flat, solid object tucked deep within one of the exterior pockets. He carefully tugged the zipper open and reached in to remove the item: a wooden box, clearly handmade and well worn.

"What ya got there, McGee?"

He held it up for Tony's inspection and the older man snapped a picture of it before Tim gingerly lifted metal clasp and raised the lid. A puff of dust escaped, causing Tim to sneeze. He shook his head to clear it and examined the contents of the box.

"Looks like old photos… A button, probably from a uniform… A couple of letters." Tim squinted at the writing. "2 March, 1915. Huh. Looks like it was addressed to a soldier in the first World War." He studied the top photo in the stack. "A group of men in uniform, probably World War I as well. They look so young," Tim mused as he checked the other pictures.

Ducky rose to his feet and walked over to see what Tim was examining. "Probably not that young, although this lad…" He pointed to what looked like a teenaged boy standing stiffly next to the oldest man. "He could have been one of those who lied about his age to join up. It was a fairly common occurrence, you must understand. Why, Great Britain alone allowed over 250,000 teenagers to join the ranks."

"So why would Edwards have this with him?"

"A box of family mementos, perhaps. Other than that I couldn't venture to guess."

"I doubt it's related to our crime," Tony remarked. "Unless someone would kill for it."

"Bag it, McGee," Gibbs ordered as he stepped into the room.

"Yes, Boss. Where's Ellie?" Tim asked as he slipped the box into an evidence bag.

"Sent her to the sheriff's office to interview the kids. What else do you got?"

"No sign of drugs, but Abby will have to double check. No signs of a struggle, either, but there's not much here to go on."

"Found the second bullet," Tony called from the wall where he was eyeing a fresh hole in the crumbling plaster. "Looks like he was standing when he was shot."

"No signs of defensive wounds, and he was shot at close range. I can see evidence of gunshot residue, so no more than two feet away, more likely less than one," Ducky explained.

"So he knew his attacker…or he was forced here at gunpoint."

"Maybe the witnesses can help on that score," Tim added and Tony nodded in agreement.

"Let's hope so. There's not much else here."

"Then it shouldn't take you much longer to finish."

"Yes, Boss."

Gibbs left, presumably to check on Bishop. Ducky and Palmer finished their exam of the body and started to get it ready for transport while Tim and Tony went about completing their respective tasks.

As he worked, Tim's thoughts would occasionally wander to contemplate the contents of the box he had found, and the fate of the men whose pictures had been included among them.