Vanessa opened the door to the hotel room and rubbed her eyes. She had both kids on her hip. Carrying two three year olds was harder than it looked. Nina squirmed down and Bryce wanted to follow. Kicking and squealing they ran to the bed in the corner and jumped on the bed. "Settle down. Settle down." She had resigned herself to the fact that this was a work trip but her family had come with her to Norfolk. The whole reason she was here was a little out there. She was still trying to come with grips why some idiot would launch someone out of a torpedo tube and in the process committing murder and making NCIS stick their nose into her prototypes.

She sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the ceiling before looking over at the clock. Her dad still lived near Norfolk and was coming over to get the children. "I swear if NCIS screws up everything I have worked on for this project." Vanessa was in a mood. NCIS was mid investigation and she was trying to keep the details of her project from leaking to the media. It was hard to avoid the media when it came to someone firing someone out of a torpedo essentially dismembering them in the process. Her design was wider than most launch designs to hold more fire power but wasn't designed to go as far. She had managed to get NCIS to put Mark on the investigation so that she could establish a bit more of a trust line.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

Mark followed Vanessa into the hotel room as he used his foot to shut the door behind them, bags in hand for the four of them. Just another day living out of a go bag which when he started with NCIS he found it easy to adjust to. A bag that had several changes of clothes and everything he needed for a stay away much like the military but instead of carrying all the kit it was just a weekend bag of sorts. Hearing the kids squealing and watching them run to the bed in the corner at least that made two people happy to have their plans disturbed.

Under normal circumstances Mark would have been right there with the kids, jumping on the bed and generally acting like he was four years old too but given Vanessa had asked them to settle down. No it was a bad idea to go against that advice as he placed their bags down next to the bed. He could sort them out later he thought as he watched Vanessa for a moment. He was still trying to work out if he was super excited to work on the case or if it was going to be nightmare and he just hadn’t seen it yet.

Mark climbed on the bed behind Vanessa as he went to rest his chin on her shoulder. “If NCIS screws up then it’s an instant divorce right? I mean you can blame the whole agency just remember I did work on the good side at one point.” He teased nudging at her side lightly, when really yeah that was no laughing matter. “I promise not to screw everything up, for the rest of the NCIS team I make no promise but I’ll do what I can.” He said knowing it wasn’t exactly something he could promise for the entire agency as well it had gone so well the first time NCIS was involved with a prototype.

“So just so I’m mostly clear on this, you weren’t coming up with a super torpedo to fire out Navy Seals toward the enemy ships at speed right? Not quite at the human test phase yet?” Mark asked, he knew the answer but well he was trying to make an awful situation better though he knew if he went and asked the entire R & D department that question they would think he was mad. At least Vanessa knew he was already mad he just managed it better than some others did at times.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

NCIS had almost screwed up her career last time. She trusted the agency about as far as she could throw it. Sighing she listened to her husband’s antics. “I pulled a few strings. This project isn’t ready for the spotlight.” Usually his antics would be appreciated but she hardly liked the idea that she was going to have to answer questions about it. Mark had fixed what NCIS had screwed up last time. Maybe he could keep them from face planting this time?

She curled up into his arms and sighed. Her dad knocking at the door did little to persuade her to get up from her husband’s arms. The kids flocked to him so he had his hands full anyway. Cue comment from Mark about super torpedoes. “You really are trying to land yourself in Kipper’s Kennel aren’t you?” Kipper was Vanessa’s American Eskimo puppy. If her husband wanted to be a pita then he could be a pita in the dog house.

Vanessa got up grabbing her stuff before quickly hugging her dad. Somewhere between giving him instructions and thanking him, she finally managed to get out of the hotel room. Tossing her keys to Mark, she knew she was in no condition to drive. Vanessa was angry and when she drove angry, something usually ended up smacking into the car. It was not normally that something’s fault either. It was just safer to let Mark drive.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

Mark nodded hearing that the project wasnt ready for the spotlight just yet. Well if Vanessa was working on it he was sure it would be soon enough. “Then we’ll keep it the best kept secret in the navy.” He stated though given what had happened already he doubted it would be possible but then it could be any torpedo tube. Mark knew that he had to keep NCIS from screwing up again, he had seen what happened last time and this time at least he was on the team that could eventually do something about it.

That plus the fact he had engineering knowledge might help given that it wasnt just a case of sticking things together and hoping they didnt fall apart. Usually he hoped to make Vanessa laugh or at least crack a smile though when he heard her dad at the door he smiled watching the kids flock to him. At least they had one set of grandparents he thought glad that the family had nothing to do with his. “Hang on I get to spend the night with Kipper?” Mark asked grinning at her, “Well if super torpedo’s were all it took then I’d have gone there before we left.” He said with a sigh as he grinned.

So sure landing himself literally in the dogs house wasnt the best plan but then he wasnt exactly the main stream and appropriate kind of guy. Once they were out of the hotel room Mark had his bag in one hand, well this wasnt a holiday that was fore sure as he caught the keys that were tossed to him. Vanessa driving when angry was a nope I’ll take a cab situation before anyone gets hurt. “Thanks, nice throw and thanks for letting me drive.” He said as he took a breath appreciative of the gesture, “So where to first Chief?” He asked her grinning as he nudged her lightly before saluting her.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa angry and driving was a stone throw away from a disaster. Totally safer to let Mark drive. Vanessa just put coordinates into the GPS and fixed it up in the car and pointed to it. Vanessa wasn’t talking because she was trying to think. She wasn’t really angry at Mark but he was starting to push buttons. Her hand went up to the back of his neck and she massaged it lightly near the base.

If NCIS blamed her for this mistake, then there would be hell and then some to pay. Vanessa hated NCIS, she hated them with a burning passion. Mark had somehow managed to wittle through to her years ago; but he couldn’t make up for the whole agency. She didn’t want to explain to him that she was afraid of this ruining her career either.

Vanessa was silent on the drive and when they got to where they were going she tried to find the engineer who had been putting the prototype together into something that actually worked. “What the hell happened?” The first words out of Vanessa’s mouth since she’d left the hotel and they were pretty hostile sounding.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

(Feel free to rag doll the other npc if you want. I couldn't think of what to have him say)

Vanessa’s silence was enough to tell him that he was pushing her buttons, under any other circumstances he might have gone a little longer but not today. He was content to drive and feel her hand massage lightly near the base of his neck. He didnt want to start a fight or argue with her especially when he knew that everything else that went along with the case wasnt going to be easy for either one of them.

He understood why she blamed NCIS, he did too in some way but he was on their team now and he wanted to do right by Vanessa which was awkward when he knew he had to investigate too. Likely with a fine tooth comb just in case anything was mentioned to do with conflicts and so on. The drive was a little longer than he had expected as he managed to get his head together and not to be too annoyed about their disturbed morning.

Mark wanted to make a job about the fact they got a hotel room out of it but then, yeah better not to start joking around when his wife was being serious. Mark parked up and grabbed his gear when they got there as he followed Vanessa, flashing his badge occasionally for him to get past the obstacles. Hearing his wife talk to the engineer Mark winced, yeah this guy was a dead guy walking he thought watching the two of them.

The engineer just looked at Vanessa, he was frazzled and harassed and some idiot had decided to fire a person out of something that was meant for steel containers. “Ma’am.” He said as he saluted her, “I believe a few of the team thought it would be funny to fire a person out of our prototype. It wasnt meant for humans so... yeah we have a big problem and better get the prototype isn’t in great shape either. That’s what the hell happened... Ma’am.” The engineer was trying to be polite and courteous but he hadn’t time for some crazy Chief to come in and start asking questions, he needed to fix it before his head was on the chopping block for what happened.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

(No worries and hope what I've done is okay.)

Vanessa trained her voice to a sigh rather than chewing out the engineer. “I’d hope you have a list of those who have been in the area today. NCIS has already stepped into the investigation. It’s out of my hands.” There was a firm glare from Vanessa. “Anyone who was on premise can and will be held accountable, if it was up to me.” She didn’t like the fact that someone had stepped out of line. Sure not everyone was responsible but someone left security a little lax and that always ended up well.

The Chief moved passed and started gathering documents without another word. Vanessa started getting information she knew that NCIS would need. Turning it over without a warrant just showed that she had nothing to hide. Since it was her project, there was nothing anyone else on the project could do to stop her. So whomever was responsible for this… she was sure may come crawling out of the woodwork shortly. Probably targeting her.

Vanessa was uncertain about turning the information over to anyone but Mark. The only issue was that this created a conflict of interest. She’d had to figure out what to do in this case. Thankfully the information would take awhile to get. It would give her time to get her gears moving.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

The engineer nodded to Vanessa. “Yes Ma’am beyond who we already know, I’ve given it to another agent that was here.” He said motioning around trying to spot the guy who had walked off with his list. Not that he didnt have copies but still NCIS had the list which was all that mattered. “You’re telling me, those guys are walking around here like they own this place. Can’t we pull rank or national secrets with these guys?” The engineer asked glaring at Mark for a second. “Damn straight, I’m sick of our stuff getting destroyed by people who don’t care, do they know how many man hours it will take to fix it.” He grumbled visibly annoyed.

Mark glanced at the engineer, “Present company accepted not all agent’s are the bad guys here.” Mark stated, “I used to be you and I know what it’s like to be on the wrong end of this.” He had seen what they had done to Vanessa the last time and he wasnt about to make it a repeat of that if he could help it though he was trying to work out what he could do without tainting evidence. He knew he would need a shadow to make sure he was beyond reproach for everything but that didnt sit well with him either.

Mark watched Vanessa start gathering documents as he glanced over what he could without touching it. “Seeing anything good over there Chief?” Mark asked smiling though he knew this could go all shades of wrong. “Anyone want to rail road the project? Rival or rail road you?” Mark asked figuring that a second run in with NCIS was well either really bad luck or by design for the reason it would upset her and of course ruin her project. Not to mention the career implications all of it had. “Or anyone else on your team have issues you’re aware of?” He asked deciding that he could question because the spoken word wasnt off limits.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa didn’t like the fact that the engineer wasn’t fully cooperative. Then again who was when NCIS got involved. Vanessa would not be cooperative herself but the fact he was asking her to pull some sort of wool over their eyes didn’t sit right with her. Then he mentioned the time taken to fix it. Oh well, yeah he wasn’t the only one annoyed at that. Vanessa was here in Norfolk instead of back home.

Vanessa was looking for stuff when Mark started questioning her. “I’ve always had people looking to railroad me. That never changes.” She pointed out. Mark didn’t know about all of her enemies and she liked to keep it that way. “But nothing on this particular project.” She sighed rolling her eyes. “If you ask me? I think it’s people being stupid.” She pointed out. Shuffling papers around she grabbed a large manilla envelope.

“Others, I don’t work with them close enough to know if they have any enemies that might want to toss this on them.” Vanessa admitted. The other agent was present so it made Vanessa’s answers admissable. When she got the files all together she handed them to the other agent. “That’s everything I can release on the project. Who was involved mostly, and where they are stationed.” She stated shaking her head.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

Mark nodded to Vanessa, “No it doesn’t but this is a step too far to kill someone, harm the project and you in the process.” Mark was trying to keep personal out of it as far as he could but then when people messed with the woman he loved. It was kind of hard not to take that personally. “People being stupider than normal you mean.” He said almost wanting to point out that they had been fired out of torpedo tube, second to that if he was about fifteen years younger he might have even attempted something similar of course never with humans but potatoes or actual torpedoes.

“Okay so we could have a long list on this one, shouldn’t take too long to figure out who had issues with who though.” Mark said thoughtfully as he watched Vanessa hand the envelope to the other agent, he hated to be kept out of the loop but then with this it was probably better given he didnt want thing to implode because he had messed up on his end. “Mostly?” Mark asked Vanessa as he glanced at the envelope, mostly wasnt really what they needed the whole picture was a better option.

“Chief Wilson, come on you know better than to keep information tied up right now.” Mark asked her trying to keep thing professional, “We can get the answers the hard way and I don’t think having this project tied up in paperwork would be good for anyone.” He added, especially not dinner later that week he thought as he could see they might get on the wrong end of things for a while. “We need all the information on this, I’ve clearance to be around this stuff.” Mark added, sure his navy clearance might have ended when his time working for them did but still he had been cleared for projects like this. Small grey area of red tape but all in all he was only trying to help out.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

Right because her husband thought she would just not cooperate. “The data you don’t have Agent Wilson is either irrelevant, or not stored here.” She pointed out flatly. “So until I have access to my own personal files, which is not right this moment; this is what you have.” Vanessa shot him a look. “And clearance levels have NOTHING to do with this.” She warned him. This was still NCIS prying into her projects and everything else. For them to think she wasn’t forthcoming with information, it stung. Then again, she didn’t trust NCIS. It made her want to crawl at a snail’s pace rather than jump when NCIS said jump or give them information the second they felt it should apparate in front of them.

Vanessa kept walking. Vanessa pushed her way past the crime scene to see what was going on. “Get her off this scene. Agent Wilson!” One of the agents gave him a stern look as Vanessa moved about not touching anything. Even her own people were looking at her like she had just made a deal with the devil. Women didn’t go on submarines. It was just an unwritten rule.

The woman shoved off someone who touched her. “Don’t touch me.” She warned. “I came to get something that will help you that YOU can’t access.” She was clearly on a warpath and stopping her right now might be a little short of impossible. One of the agents was not going to have it and reached out restraining Vanessa only appropriate for the incident.

“You are trespassing Chief Wilson. You are not allowed on this scene. I don’t give a rat’s rear if your husband is NCIS or not. You are not to enter this restricted area.” He pointed out. “You can step off the crime scene or I can arrest you. Your choice.” The man just held her arms behind her to keep her from moving. He nodded to Mark. “Agent Wilson. You may escort your wife off the scene, please.” He added more courteous to Mark than he was being to Vanessa.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

“My point is nothing is irrelevant when it’s an investigation.” Mark said not wanting to argue with her but given that the date wasnt there, not stored or irrelevant Mark still needed to take a look. “Well thank you for what we have but like always, we going to need everything.” Mark added sure she had been through this before though this time it felt odd to be squaring against Vanessa even though he was trying to help her. It wasnt a perfect situation as he glanced at his shadow agent as he felt like he had just started NCIS which was far from the truth but yes he was on training wheels again because of it.

“You know I’m only trying to help you out Chief, just doing my job.” He said knowing that it was clashing but yeah home tonight was going to be an interesting thing he thought. He wondered if he was going to be needing a separate room but hey they were adults he was sure they could fix things in one way or another without much talking about it. Yeah because clearance was an issue now as much as anything else was.

Mark followed behind Vanessa as she pushed her way past the crime scene, he motioned for his shadow agent to hurry up behind him though when one of the other agents told him to get Vanessa off the scene he just glared right back. Vanessa didnt go on a submarine as he watched and followed his wife onto the thing. “Agent Wilson me once more and find out how bad a mood I’m in.” Mark warned the agent though really work had destroyed his day off because an idiot decided to do something stupid.

The words going to hell about applied to the entire thing when one of the other agents reached out and restrained Vanessa. Mark was still trying to fight the urge to fight the agent for man handling his wife in the first place though he knew enough that agent versus Chief was about to be more awkward than ever. Telling Vanessa no, yeah not the best idea the agent had he thought as Mark glanced over when he was asked to escort her off the scene. “Agent, I’ll ask you this once. Let her go or I’ll rip your arm off and hit you with the soggy end right now.” Mark grumbled clearly unhappy with what was going on.

“Chief Wilson knows more about this project than anyone and I can personally confirm her alibi for earlier today. Now I’m not escorting her off this scene until she has seen what she needs to see. Me and my shadow here will make sure she touches nothing, while he...” Mark pointed over his shoulder at the agent that was watching his every move. “He will make sure I don’t either. So your choice agent, let her go or deal with me and then I’ll have your gun and badge faster than you can say submarine.”

Mark was on a bit of a rant as he glared at the agent walking over as he reached out for Vanessa’s hand. “Until you have a degree in this, know what you’re doing or can tell the condenser from the sonar seriously think about your life choice here.” Mark added as he waited for them to unhand Vanessa and then he could maybe punch the agent for even touching her. This wasnt a normal case, too personal and Mark didnt like the fact that NCIS seemed to think they could waltz in and take on a case that clearly half the agents in the room didnt have a clue about. Even he didnt know what was going on unless he could look at the schematics for everything and then it depended entirely on understanding what he read for mechanics.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa felt like choking Mark for his persistence. She trusted NCIS very little and giving up everything she had on the project. No, that was hardly going to happen. She was just glad that she was being being deployed soon. Away from NCIS, away from all this project overhead crap. It was her project but it was no longer really in her hands. That’s what happened when you passed it off to engineers for testing. Not that she didn’t have the skill set to help them, it was just how it worked. Sighing, She just didn’t answer her husband’s NCIS attitude as she called it. Any other agent would have been slammed against the wall without any information from her. They should consider themselves lucky.

Things went from bad to worse at the crime scene. She found herself restrained for walking onto a crime scene to get them information. “It’s a crime scene. No one aside from NCIS is to be on this boat.” The man reiterated. Vanessa stopped fighting with the agent as the men argued with each other. “She can get what she needs at a later time, alibi or no alibi.” The man grabbed handcuffs. “I will ask one more time. Either you escort your wife off this submarine or she will be detained.” He knew there was nothing Mark could do. The man was doing his job.

Vanessa kept her mouth shut. She knew better than to shoot it off in front of NCIS agents. Anything she said at this point could be used against her, even if they weren’t arresting her but it could be used in the investigation and she wasn’t in the habit of leaking information that they didn’t need to know. But the information that NCIS needed was here. Even if she told them where it was, there was no way for them to access it.

When Mark reached for Vanessa the agent handed her over, he was being a hard ass but he was hardly in the wrong. Shaking her head Vanessa looked towards Mark. “I’ll get the information another way.” It wasn’t that Vanessa was giving up but she knew which battles to fight and when and this one wasn’t worth it. “Let’s go back to the hotel? I can make a few calls.” Vanessa lightly rubbed her arm walking away from the agent who had caught her and kept her from where she was going. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. Why was NCIS such a pain in the ass?

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson

Mark swore when he joined the agency that he wouldnt let anything happen like it had with Vanessa and there he was right back at what felt like the start. Wearing a different hat and trying to work things out from the sidelines. Then when the argument over the crime scene started, yeah Mark was husband Mark way before he was NCIS anything so having his wife man handled by an idiot in his head wasnt going to go down very well at all.

“Boat is your issue right there... do you think that his is just a boat?” Mark argued, as an engineer or ex engineer it was tough to hear something mislabelled. It was like having a weapons classed destroyer labelled as a yacht or ferry. “Yeah and how do you expect to do your job if she does that? Why dont you just shut up and leave her to work.” Mark stated glaring at the other agent, he was armed and yes he wanted to shoot someone on his own team. It was a new sensation but one he was all for pleading guilty to for a simply mercy vote.

Mark grumbled when he knew there was nothing he could do about it, it was bad enough he had adopted a shadow and now he couldnt even stop his wife getting chucked off the ‘boat’. Great talk about being useless for the day he thought though he was amazed Vanessa was keeping her mouth shut. Then again he didnt need much help with keeping his open. “The point is you shouldn’t have to. You’re not to blame for this.” Mark said still glaring at the agent for a moment. “I thought it might change but same old NCIS.” Mark was usually the cheerleader for the agency but today not so much, he couldnt make a difference if he was getting blocked too.

Sure he understood why, his wife was involved and it created a conflict but he was trying to smooth things over so this exact thing didnt happen. “Sure the hotel it is.” Mark nodded, going back to the hotel was likely the best idea until he saw her rubbing her arm. “Did he hurt you?” Mark demanded though he didnt wait to hear the answer as he spun on his heels and took a few steps back toward the agent. He was angry, no one hurt Vanessa she had gone through enough already. “You’d better hope you have a job after today.” Mark yelled before slipping into Russian, it wasnt normal for him but he felt more comfortable threatening the guy in the language he knew better than English.

Something about it had more of a punch when he was annoyed. Without thinking much about it he threatened to kill the guy, shoot him in specific places, something about a body bag and making his life a living misery if he touched Vanessa again. Things to that effect though Mark hadn’t a clue of any of them spoke Russian or not but then again the language wasnt the friendliest around so he hoped to have made the point. He knew once back at the hotel his boss was his first call to complain about the idiot agent and get something done.

Tag: Chief Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa tried to ignore the situation as Mark said they could head for the hotel. Then Mark was yelling in Russian at the the other agent. Vanessa moved into the way. “No, I’m not hurt Mark.” She was putting herself in a very dangerous position but she trusted Mark. “Enough.” Vanessa lightly tried to push Mark back, she didn’t need him getting into trouble because of her. It wasn’t until she had Mark’s attention that she took an exasperated breath.

If he got thrown out of this investigation, then things would go south fast. By the looks of it she was going to be on her own with handling NCIS. There wasn’t much else to say as she backed away and tried to sort everything out. Vanessa’s hand went to Mark’s bicep as she took a step away from the other agent.

Russian wasn’t something that Vanessa was fluent in but Mark didn’t sound to happy and she knew when Russian came out of his mouth that he was angry. She had a few guesses. Vanessa walked away picking up her cellphone and staring at the blank screen. There were a few calls she could make, and there were some she had to make that she didn’t want to make.

To be fair, she wanted to step away from this whole mess. Though Vanessa was skilled at holding her tongue when needed to do so. Right now there was so much she wanted to say but she didn’t feel like spending the night with NCIS or needing JAG to come out and keep her out of trouble. Dealing with Lieutenant Commander Bauer was not her idea of fun for the day.

Tag: Sp. Agt. Mark Wilson