TWO IN ONE

By

Ashleigh Anpilova

Fornell's case is over.

A Fornell-centric gen story.

Written: August 2009. Word count: 300.

Fornell sighed, rubbed his eyes and drained yet another cup of coffee. He tossed the empty container into the trashcan to join the other three. If he went on drinking coffee at this rate, he'd end up as bad as Gibbs.

It was Gibbs he was watching through the interrogation window. Gibbs he was listening to as he went on asking question after question to the man who switched from sully silence to frenetic talking and back again.

They'd finally caught him. The man who had caused both agencies to join together to track him down.

Multiple killer and devoted father.

Loving son and torturer.

Evil incarnate and Scout leader.

Besotted gentle husband and hideous wild animal.

That was the man who sat across the table from Gibbs. The man even Gibbs wasn't getting too close too.

Two people in one?

Or one person with two personalities?

Medical tests would show if he was certifiably crazy. But looking at him, Fornell didn't think he was. You might argue to do what he'd done, he had to be, but Fornell didn't believe that. The man was a sane as he was.

It was simply that he'd fooled everyone for so long; his wife, his kids, his parents, the boys in his care. They'd all seen the good man, the honest man, the loving man, the compassionate man.

And yet suddenly as he stood and watched the man, mentally tuning out Gibbs's voice, Fornell saw it: he saw the beast inside the man. He saw the other side of him. It was there. It was there, for all to see. It was incompletely hidden; visible to anyone who looked hard enough.

And suddenly Fornell knew what the man reminded him off: a palimpsest. This man had spent his life as a palimpsest.

Feedback is always appreciated

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