Caitlin Todd laid on her back in bed thinking about the dream she'd just had. It had involved her and her fellow colleague and a very compromising situation. She'd been having a lot of dreams that included DiNozzo lately and she was finding it harder and harder to be around him each day without blurting out her feelings for him and what's more, she had began to dread work each day. This was annoying because she loved the job she did and the results that it produced and hated that this was being changed by one simple man. Not only that, but by a womanising jerk who was inconsiderate, lazy, smarmy, had an ego the size of the sun, but he was also caring, funny, protective and he was hot goddamnit! She kept catching herself staring at him when he wasn't looking and getting lost in his eyes. He had good eyes she had to give him that, she loved just looking deep into them, thinking about what it would be like if he felt the same for her as she did for him. She had to keep reminding herself that that was unlikely and that upset her. She was so angry at how had she let herself fall this hard for a guy. She was stronger than this. Kate pulled herself out of bed and went to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, God she looked awful. She always looked awful in the morning. ‘If Tony could see her now' she chuckled to herself and splashed cold water over her face fully awakening her. With this newfound energy she went to the bedroom and pulled on a black knee length skirt and a dark blue t-shirt. She laced her lashes with the tiniest trace of black mascara and her lips with the faintest bit of cherry lip-gloss. The lip-gloss made her feel a bit like a little girl but hey she liked the taste and the colour and if anyone made a comment they'd feel the force of her hand. With one last look in the mirror, Kate smiled, picked up her gun and her badge, put them in her bag and left her apartment.

***

Tony DiNozzo was often the first to arrive at NCIS and today was no exception. It was 6.00am as Tony made his way up the steps towards the entrance of the NCIS building where Bill the night guard always stood. Tony showed him his I.D. and Bill let him into the building.

"You should really get some help with your sleeping patterns you know" Bill said.

"With all the woman that want a piece of DiNozzo how can I" Tony laughed. Bill smiled and tipped his cap to Tony as he went through the glass doors.
As Tony exited the elevator at the usual floor he walked out onto the deserted desert that was the NCIS building at 6.00am in the morning. He walked over to his desk, pulled out his gun and put it on the desk as he sat down. As he stared at the gun he remembered when he had used it shoot Ari through the head. God that had felt good.

*Flashback*

It was a dark night as there was hardly any moon. A darkness surrounded Gibbs house as well as the dark shapes of several men. Tony was one of them and he was adrenaline shot, knowing that Ari was in there with his boss. They had to work quickly.

"McGee you take back, I'll go in front."

McGee signalled to two swat members beside him and they followed him round to the back door. Tony and the two swat members that were left proceeded to the front door.

"On my count McGee" said Tony through the earpiece. "One, two, three…FREEZE NCIS!" They clattered through the door guns drawn as they swept the first few rooms.

"The back of the house is clear Tony" came McGee's voice through the earpiece.

"So is the front McGee" Both Tony and McGee came at the same time to the door that lead down to Gibbs sanctuary; his workshop and his boat. Tony put his hand on the doorknob. "If anything happens to me, you come straight in OK probie" McGee nodded silently. Tony twisted the knob and entered the room gun drawn. He was confronted with Ari standing behind Gibbs, holding a gun to Tony's boss's head.

"Move an inch, and good old Gibbs here gets a bullet through his brain" said Ari calmly

"OK Ari, what do you want to do next?" said Tony

"Caitlin was just the beginning, a teaser if you will. The main object of my anger was Gibbs here. Killing Caitlin was a shame, she was a beautiful woman but it had to be done. It was the only way that I could hurt Gibbs."

"So what do you want to do know?" repeated Tony

"I want you to come down the steps slowly, put your weapon on the floor and your hands in the air. Then Gibbs is going to see another one of his Colleagues die."

"OK" said Tony simply and started to walk down the stairs. "Why Kate though? Why not me or McGee?"

"Caitlin meant a great deal to Gibbs. I saw that when I was at NCIS the first time I was there. Her death would have had the most impact so she had to die first." By now Tony had made it halfway down the steps.

"You were right to have used the words ‘would have' Ari," said Tony.

"What do you mean by that agent DiNozzo?" said Ari, now with a trace of puzzlement in his before calm voice.

"It would have had the most impact for Kate to die first," replied Tony.

"What are you talking about?" said Ari now beginning to lose his calm tone. This new tone was unbecoming of Ari and didn't suit him at all. He was usually so in control but this information was new to Ari so Tony knew he had to be careful.

"You missed," said Tony plainly.

"What?" said Ari

"You missed. When you shot across those roof tops you missed Kate," said Tony

"That is not possible. This is a trick" said Ari. "I saw her fall. I saw the blood drip from for forehead and her lifeless body fall." Ari seemed to be enjoying recounting this story and he began to smile. This angered Tony further but he had to remain calm for everyone involved. He had to do this right.

"You used Gibbs sniper and his scope."

"Yes and I hit Caitlin straight between the eyes"

"No, you didn't. We faked it; the scope was off."

"Not possible, I would have noticed"

"Well it was and you didn't, so maybe you not as good as you think you are" Tony had now reached the bottom of the stairs and had stopped moving. Ari was now noticeably agitated and had become restless, swaying a little from behind Gibbs.

"You're lying to me, tricking me, trying to get me to let Gibbs go."

"Its true" said Gibbs from within Ari's grasp. "The blood you saw was fake, prosthetics can go along way now you know"

"SHUT UP!" said Ari pushing the gun harder into Gibbs temple.

"You want proof?" said Tony. At that moment a figure appeared at the top of the stairs. It was Kate. Ari just stared in astonishment and horror.

"Pleased to see me Ari?" said Kate "a fake blood packet was taped and covered up on my forehead, and rigged to explode when you pulled the trigger. So you pulled the trigger and I fell to the ground covered in blood. Simple yet so realistic."

"This can't be happening" said Ari "I killed you" Ari was really jumpy now, swaying and fidgeting badly behind Gibbs. ‘Almost' thought Tony.

"How does it feel to see a ghost Ari?" said Kate

"YOU'RE DEAD!" shouted Ari and moved out from behind Gibbs. BANG!

A single red circle marked Ari's forehead, right between the eyes. His body slumped and his eyes glazed over. He slid to the floor and Gibbs bent down and put two fingers to his neck.

"Nice shot DiNozzo" said Gibbs "he's dead"

*End flashback*
Tony still remembered the slap on the back of the head Gibbs had given him that night after it had all happened saying:

"Two more inches to the left DiNozzo and your life would not have been worth living"

Tony didn't think anything would ever make Gibbs say thank you. Not if his life depended on it. Tony laughed to himself and at that moment Kate walked in.

"What's so funny DiNozzo?"

"Nothing. Why are you in so early?"

"Couldn't sleep, you?"

"Same" replied Tony. Kate walked round the front of her desk and Tony caught the scent of her perfume. He loved that smell, so typically Kate. Beautiful and elegant yet it had a kick to it that said ‘Don't mess with me'. Tony noticed the skirt that Kate was wearing. Knee length, so it showed just enough leg to show the slimness of her legs but left enough so that Tony was left fantasizing about what was further up. "I was just thinking about the night I shot Ari"

"That was 6 months ago Tony. Let it drop. The shot wasn't that good, you were only 10 foot away"

"But still" said Tony. "One of my finest moments" he grinned.

"Whatever" said Kate and started emptying things from her bag onto the table. Tony watched her thinking what it would have been like if they hadn't have known of Ari's plan before the rooftop scene and his shot had been real. He didn't think he would of coped if it had. That night had made him realise how much Kate meant to him. Looking down at her body after she fell, even though he knew it was fake, shocked him to the core. It had looked so realistic and he had had to tell himself that it wasn't real. The funeral was the worst bit. Looking at that coffin with her name on it had been hard on him. That was the day that he swore he would take revenge on that son of a bitch and he had meant it; right up until the second that bullet had left the barrel of the Tony's gun and burrowed cleanly into the front of Ari's skull.
At that moment Tony was roused from reminiscing about the past as Kate brought out her sketchbook and laid it on the table.

"Please, please, please let me have a look" said Tony

"No!" said Kate "how many times do I have to tell you that Tony. Its private."

"Pretty please" said Tony with what he supposed was a sweet grin on his face.

"That is sickening Tony. I think I now need to go throw up"

"Sickness early in the morning, you know what that means Kate" Tony smirked

"Oh grow up Tony," said Kate. Tony's gleeful look was broken only by a sharp slap across the back of the head.

"Boss" said Tony jumping to his feet.

"C'mon we've got a case"

***

"DiNozzo, you drive" Gibbs said throwing the keys in his direction. "Kate, ring McGee"

"On it" replied Kate. All three of them marched quickly up to the elevator and got in. Kate already had her phone to her ear and was waiting for a connection. As the doors to the elevator closed McGee answered. "McGee, wake up. We've got a case," said Kate.

As Tony pulled the truck up to the side of the house, he could see that McGee was already there.

"How the hell did you get here already probie?" said Tony as he jumped out of the truck.

"I was already up and I don't live far from here," replied McGee. "And besides, I've only just got here. I haven't been inside yet"

"Why were you up this early" said Tony smiling, "did you have a girl in your bed?!"

"Its none of your business Tony"

"Ooh, he did!" said Tony laughing.

"If I did, its still none of your business" said McGee slightly irritated.

"What's her name probie?" said Tony smiling, but he didn't get an answer. Tony felt a sharp smack to the back of his head. "Didn't see you there boss" said Tony.

"Kate, you sketch, Tony collect evidence, and McGee photos" said Gibbs and the four of them entered the house. A blonde woman stood just inside the living room, her hair cascading down to chest length and shining in the light. She stood at about 5'8" and was wearing a black skirt the same as Kate. She had on a white blouse buttoned halfway up, just far enough to be respectable but also showing the beginning of what as far as Tony could see was one hell of a cleavage. "heh, heh, heh" thought Tony to himself. He was first up to her shaking her hand.

"Hi, I'm Tony DiNozzo. Nice to meet you." Tony smiled "And you are?"

"Carrie Lockhart. In charge of this investigation until we found out he was a sailor," replied the blonde. Her voice was deep and kind of raspy like when you first get out of bed, very sexy. ‘Great, just what we need, another blonde bimbo for Tony to drool over' Kate thought to herself. She was trying hard not become jealous, and shout something at the woman.

"DiNozzo move aside" said Gibbs which Tony did quickly. "I'm Jethro Gibbs. I'm now in charge of this operation and this is my team. You've already met DiNozzo, this is Kate Todd and this is…" said Gibbs but he never got the chance to finish that sentence.

"Tim!" said Carrie and quick walked over to McGee to give him a big hug.

"Carrie!" said McGee "I thought I recognized that name" looking at the startled faces of his colleagues; McGee thought he'd better explain. "We went to MIT together," said McGee "Carrie was in a lot of the same classes as me"

"McGee here was top of every class! But that's enough getting to know each other," said Carrie "The real case is upstairs." Everyone followed Carrie as she walked over and climbed the stairs on the left side of the room, Tony fighting to get to the front so he could be just behind Carrie when she went up the stairs. Gibbs got there first though and Tony had to settle for next in line. " The vic is 23 year old Adam Carter. We found out that he was a sailor with the navy from his wallet with his ID but you already know that otherwise you wouldn't be here" Carrie explained as they went up the stairs. "From what I can see its blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but I'll wait for your ME to make it official. No signs of struggle again from what I can see but your welcome to come to your own conclusions."

"We will," said Kate somewhat coldly. She hadn't known this woman very long but she was already starting to dislike her. Maybe it was selfish on her part but she was used to being the only female on the team, well apart from Abby. This Woman had already got Tony's attention and had a good friendship with McGee. Gibbs didn't seem all that cold towards her either. Truth be told, Kate was feeling a little sidelined. The team reached the bedroom and filed in one by one. The vic was laid out on the bed face down with his head at the pillow end. The sheets had now been stained a deep red by the surprising amount of blood that looked like it had flown from the victim's head where a massive crater had been embedded. Even Tony was surprised.

"Wow, whoever hit him meant to kill him," said Tony "That's one hell of a hit, not just your average tap to the back of the head" It was just then that Ducky came through the door.

"Sorry we're late Gibbs, As well as being woken up early in the morning, Palmer felt the need to get us lost again"

"We weren't exactly lost" came a voice from along the corridor. A young boy peeped his head around the door. He was holding a case that held Ducky's bits and bobs. "We were just misguided"

"Palmer, I think misguided is a little of an understatement when you cross state borders" said Ducky somewhat cheerfully. "Still it doesn't matter we're here now. Hello my dear" Ducky said holding his hand out to Carrie "My name is Donald Mallard, but you can call my Ducky. I'm the ME with NCIS."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Carrie Lockhart" replied Carrie "From what I can see its blunt force trauma to the back of the head but I will leave it in your very capable hands" Ducky moved towards the body and started to look over it.

"Thank you my dear. I won't be able to be 100% positive until we get the body back to the lab but I think the dear girl is right" said Ducky and looked at Carrie smiling. "Palmer, come over here with my box" Palmer moved over and gave the box to Ducky from which Ducky extracted a liver probe. "From liver temperature I think I can deduce that this poor lad has been dead for about 9 hours, so he was probably killed between 10pm and midnight last night"

"Thanks Duck" said Gibbs "now the rest of you get to work"

***

You could hear the loud music before the elevator doors opened on the Evidence Processing floor. Gibbs, Tony, Kate and McGee steeped out of the elevator and walked towards the lab. Tony entered first and crept up behind their gothic resident forensic specialist.

"Do it and lose a limb Tony," said Abby loudly. Gibbs laughed to himself at this moment. There were times when Abby reminded him of himself. He counted her as a daughter and loved her like one too. He took the Caff Pow that he was hiding behind his back and gave it to Abby.

"Aww Gibbs" said Abby as she walked over to the CD player and turned of the music.

"How did you know I was there?" said Tony. Abby turned around and smiled seductively at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know" Abby laughed

"But…Oww" howled Tony "What did you do that for Boss" as Gibbs smacked him round the back of the head for the third time that day.

"Wow" said Kate, "Three times and its not even lunch time yet, you must be going for some kind of record Tony"

"You were stopping Abby from telling me what she's got on the case" said Gibbs answering Tony's question, and turned to look at Abby.

"Right, yes the case," said Abby putting down her Caff Pow and turning towards her computer. She pulled up some pictures onto the screen. "This is Agent Carters Navy information sheet and it says here that Agent Carter was married"

"But he lived alone in that house" said Tony, "there were no female items in that house, I think I would have noticed"

"He's right" said Kate "there was one toothbrush, only male clothes in the wardrobe, he was definitely the only one living there"

"I said he was married, and he is… to a Chloe Carter," said Abby "He has a one year old son too and the address that's listed here is not the address you found the body at"

"Right Tony, Kate I want you two to go and interview the wife" said Gibbs

"Wait I haven't finished yet" said Abby "the computer you gave me has a coded inbox. Its gonna take a while for me to crack it but it looks like Officer Carter has a lot of mail"

"Thanks Abs" said Gibbs "McGee, I want you to talk to Ms Lockhart and see what else she has found out"

"Ooh, McGee's got to go and talk to his girlfriend!" laughed Tony

"Shut up Tony" replied McGee

"McGee's got a girlfriend?" said Abby surprised

"No I haven't" said McGee. Abby relaxed inside but didn't show her relief to the others. "Its just an old friend from school"

"I wouldn't call her old McGee and if I went to school with her, she wouldn't be just my friend either" said Tony

"No" said McGee "She would have kicked your ass for annoying her"

"Why are we all still standing here," said Gibbs loudly "get moving". Everyone except Abby moved quickly towards the elevator.

"Annoying huh?" said Tony as the doors closed

***

After the others had left Abby took the lift down to the basement were Ducky was working on Agent Carter.

"Did you meet this friend of McGee's Ducky?" said Abby as she entered the lab.

"Ah" said Ducky "quick and to the point. You have nothing to worry about Abigail, the boy is clearly infatuated with you still"

"Really" said Abby feeling a little better. She liked the chats she had with Ducky. He may have been old but Ducky always knew how to cheer her up and she valued what he said.

"Really" said Ducky "anyway, you would like her. She's a very nice woman but I get the feeling that she's a strong lady and not to be messed with. Much like yourself"

"Thanks Ducky" said Abby feeling much better now "You always manage to reassure me when I need it" she smiled. Ducky returned the smile.

***

Tony and Kate got into Tony's car and set off for the wife's address.

"You were weird this morning when we were at the vic's house" said Tony to Kate "Are you alright? You didn't seem to like Carrie"

"I'm just tired," said Kate covering "Carrie seemed nice"

"She did," replied Tony. They both sat in silence for the next ten minutes ‘Say something DiNozzo you coward' Tony thought to himself. ‘If you don't tell Kate soon enough then she'll find someone else, and it will all be your fault.' Kate was thinking the same too. ‘If you don't say something Kate then Tony will get together with this new hotshot blonde Carrie and you'll be left behind. Then you'll be sorry'

"Kate" "Tony" they said in unison. They both laughed.

"You first" said Tony laughing,

"Um…" said Kate "well, the thing is…that…"

"We're here," said Tony.

"What?" said Kate.

"This is the address," said Tony "What we're you going to say Kate?"

"Oh" said Kate, "just that. That we're here"

"Oh" said Tony and they both got out of the car and walked up to the front of the house. Tony rung the doorbell and a woman came to the door. They could hear a child crying in the next room.

"Hold on Tommy I'm coming, Mummy just has to answer the door. Hello?" said the Woman.

"Chloe Carter?" said Tony

"Yes?" replied the woman "what is it?"

"We're with NCIS; the Naval Criminal…" Said Tony but he was cut off.

"I'm a navy wife, I know what it stands for. What's happened?" She said, "Where's Adam?"

"I think we'd better come in Mrs Carter" said Kate. She hated these types of house calls. Mrs Carter let them in and they were shown through to the living room where a little boy about one year old was crying in a playpen. Mrs Carter went over, picked up the little boy and sat down the chair behind her.

"Its ok honey, don't be scared of the nice NCIS officers"

"I'm really sorry to have to tell you this but your husband Adam is dead," said Kate as softly as she could. Mrs Carter didn't seem to hear her and just rocked in her chair clutching the baby to her chest. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm really sorry," said Tony. Mrs Carter just ignored him.

"How?" she asked

"We think he was murdered in a house in Greentown" said Tony. Another tear rolled down Mrs Carters other cheek. She wasn't looking at either of them, her gaze was fixed on a patch of carpet in front of her.

"I'm sorry to have to ask you this but do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your husband?" asked Tony

"No, my husband is…was a good man" she replied. She raised her head and looked straight at Tony now "How was he killed?" she said. You could hear the trembling in her voice now.

"Um…" said Tony. He didn't quite know how to tell her that he had had the back of his head completely bashed in. "We think he was hit over the back of the head" he said sorrowfully.

"Oh…" she said and her gaze returned to the same patch of carpet on the floor.

"One last thing and then we'll leave you for this to sink in" said Kate "Do you recognise this address?" Kate handed a piece of paper with the address of were they found the body to Mrs Carter.

"No. Sorry I don't" Her voice was noticeably cracking now and Tony thought that this was a good time to leave.

"Once again Mrs Carter I'm sorry for your loss" said Tony standing up "We'll be in touch again if we need to ask you anymore questions."

"If you have any questions to ask us, or any information that you might remember please call us" said Kate "Here's my card" and handed her a small card that she had taken out of her bag.

"Thank you" said Mrs Carter as she took the card and put it on the table next to her, never once looking up but still looking at the same bit of carpet.

"We'll let ourselves out," said Tony, Mrs Carter didn't answer. Kate and Tony went out the house and closed the front door.

"That never gets easier," said Tony. Kate just nodded in agreement and they both walked silently to the car.

***

McGee pulled up to the precinct. ‘Why did Tony have to say that about Carrie making it seem like there was something going on especially in front of Abby. Now Abby's going to think that he has a thing for Carrie and him and Abby will never happen. ‘Damn you Tony' McGee got out of the car and walked up the steps at the front of the building. He opened the door and walked up to the front desk.

"I'm here to see Officer Lockhart," said McGee showing the girl her badge.

"Right through that door there, sir," said the girl behind the desk. McGee smiled and headed for the door. He knocked and entered the room. Carrie was sitting behind a large desk and a younger officer was sitting in front of it.

"Sorry to disturb you Carrie, I'll come back later," said McGee edging back out the door.

"No, wait, I'm finished here anyway Tim" replied Carrie. "Officer Collins you can go"

"Yes mam" said the junior officer and got up and left. Carrie walked over to Tim and hugged him.

"It's been great seeing you again Tim. I never thought I'd see any of us lot again after we left"

"Neither did I" said Tim smiling "Gibbs sent me over to see if you'd found out anything yet" Carrie smiled

"So he still wants my help does he? Only to do the legwork though I bet" she said laughing

"No…" Tim began sounding awkward. Carrie laughed again

"I'm joking Tim!" said Carrie still laughing, "You're still as gullible as ever! Actually I have found out something new. A couple of the neighbours said that the house belonged to a Alex Parker and when I showed them a picture of Adam, they all replied that he was this Alex character."

"Maybe we mis-IDed the vic" said McGee

"Maybe," replied Carrie "but I think there is more to this than meets the eye, I'm willing to bet my life on it"

"Well I'd better be getting back to Gibbs with the new info, Its been nice seeing you again" said McGee

"Wait two sec's and I'll come with you," said Carrie "I'll just grab my coat, I want to meet the team again" she said smiling. McGee smiled back and they both left the building and headed back to NCIS.

***

Kate and Tony were already back by the Time McGee and Carrie stepped of the elevator.

"Probie, how was the visit to your girlfri…Carrie, Hi" said Tony jumping out of his seat. Kate laughed at this, which got a dirty look from Tony in return and she turned round in her chair.

"Hi guys," said Carrie as she walked up to the bullpen, "Where's Gibbs?"

"I'm here," said Gibbs from behind her

"Do you always sneak up on people Gibbs?" said Carrie

"Yep" came the reply from Tony, Kate and McGee in unison. Carrie laughed.

"So, what you got for us," said Gibbs

"What makes you think I've go something Gibbs?" said Carrie

"Why would you be down here unless you had something to say?"

"I suppose, but how do you know its not just to see you guys?"

"That and the fact that McGee is dying from wanting to tell me something" replied Gibbs. Carrie looked round and discovered that McGee was indeed desperate to tell Gibbs about the Alex Parker thing.

"Tim, you are so bad at keeping a straight face!" said Carrie smiling

"Yeah" said Tony "he never wins at poker". Carrie laughed again and turned to Gibbs.

"We showed the photo to neighbours who said that the vic's name was Alex Parker" said Carrie

"And the licence says that the house belongs to one Alex Parker" continued McGee

"So we mis-IDed the vic?" said Kate

"That's what McGee thinks" said Carrie "but I think there's more to it"

"I agree," said Tony

"You would" scoffed Kate

"No" said Tony shooting a look at Kate, "There are lots of reasons that someone would create a secret identity, for example if they were committing bigamy, or sleeping around or" he said getting excited "If they were secretly into bondage and wanted a dungeon or something!"

"Only in your world Tony, and besides there were no leather straps lying around" joked Kate

"Ha, ha" replied Tony

"Actually Tony could be right Kate" said McGee, "after all Alex Parker isn't that far away from Adam Carter"

"Maybe" said Kate getting a smug look from Tony

"Maybe isn't good enough" said Gibbs "Find out of Adam Carter is our Alex Parker" Nobody moved. "MOVE" said Gibbs louder. This time every jumped to it.

"I'll go and interview his fellow officers, see what they have to say" said Tony

"I'll help you" said Kate and they both left for the elevator. Gibbs looked straight at McGee.

"I'll um…" said McGee

"We'll go and see what we can find on his computer" said Carrie finishing McGee sentence.

"Yep, we'll do that," said McGee. "C'mon I'll take you to meet our forensic specialist Abby, I'll think you'll like her" he said wanting to get out of Gibbs gaze quickly

"OK" said Carrie, "sounds like a plan" and the two of them left for the elevator.

***

Tony and Kate took Tony's car again. Kate didn't mind not driving and besides she liked watching Tony drive. It calmed and her and also gave her an opportunity to think. She had to tell him eventually. If she didn't then him and Carrie… Well, him and anyone would happen, anyone except her. Why was this so hard for her?

"What you thinking about?" said Tony

"Um… the case" said Kate "I'm coming round to your secret identity idea"

"Really?" smirked Tony

"Oh, shut up," said Kate but her voice let on that she didn't mean it as sternly as it sounded. "It would be great to have an identity that no-one knew about, and then you could do an say whatever you wanted without the consequences"

"Yeah, but that also means that you miss out on the good consequences" momentarily taking his eyes off the road and looking at Kate, there eyes locked.

"Tony! Road!"

"Sorry" said Tony and they sat in silence for the rest of the journey.

***

McGee and Carrie made their way down to Abby's lab and McGee heard the familiar sound of Abby's music bellowing from the lab.

"You'll have to excuse Abby's music, she likes it loud" said McGee

"Don't worry, I LOVE plastic death music!" replied Carrie, leaving a shocked McGee dawdling in the corridor.

"Hi," said Carrie loudly upon entering Abby's lab. Abby went and turned of the CD. "You must be Abby"

"Yeah" said Abby, "and you are?" sounding suspicious.

"This," said McGee entering the lab "is Carrie Lockhart. She'll be assisting us in this case."

"Oh" replied Abby, "Hi" Abby was still suspicious. If this is the ‘old school friend' that Tony was talking about earlier then Tony was right. She was a knockout! What did she have that this girl didn't. A big fat nothing that's what. If McGee decided that he liked this girl then there was nothing Abby could do about it.

"Did you get to have a look at the computer that we found at the house where officer Carter was found?"

"What?" said Abby coming out of her daydream, "Oh, the computer, Well yes actually" she said turning towards her own computer. "I decoded is email box and it was filled with emails to a Mandi King. I've put her name through every database I can think of and got a big fat nothing in return. The emails are quite hot really, love letters extreme kinda thing. In fact this ones quite good…" Abby began to read out one of the emails.

"Abby I think we get the gist of it, you don't have to read the whole letter out" said McGee

"Sorry" laughed Abby. Carrie was laughing too.

"Aww, McGee your going red" Carrie said and both Abby and Carrie laughed.

"Did you find out anything else Abby?" said McGee trying to ignore the last comment.

"Nope, I can't find anything about this Mandi anywhere!" replied Abby. "I'm telling you McGee, this feels hinky"

"That's enough for me" said McGee and Carrie noticed the shared smile that McGee and Abby then shared.

"I'm going back up to Gibbs to tell him about this" said Carrie "You stay here McGee and help Abby search for Mandi King"

"Since when were you in charge Carrie?" sad McGee

"Do you want to come with me to see Gibbs?" said Carrie moving towards the door

"Well not really…"McGee started

"See you soon then" and Carrie was in the elevator, "Someone needs to bang their heads together" she said to herself and laughed gently as the lift ascended.

***

As the doors closed on Carrie, McGee moved over to where Abby was standing at her computer and stood behind her.

"So, what do you think of Carrie?" said McGee. ‘Great' thought Abby, not only does he like Carrie, he's going to rub it in my face as well.

"She seems nice," returned Abby. It was probably best not to let on her wariness of Carrie in case it put a wedge between him and her self. On the other hand she didn't want to be too enthusiastic and encourage McGee into Carries arms. She had decided on a neutral answer.

"She is nice," replied McGee. Truth be told, he didn't really know what he'd wanted the answer to be. Abby could never feel for him. All of Abby past boyfriends had been exciting and knew about plastic death etc. McGee was a nerd who's life involved going home and engrossing in a game of dungeons and dragons. There was no way Abby would ever even look at McGee. "Here, let me have a go at trying to pull up something on Mandi King" McGee said as he reached around Abby and put his hand on the keyboard. They stood like that for a couple of seconds, as Abby didn't want to move. She enjoyed being this close to McGee she could smell his aftershave. It was an odd scent for a man like McGee to have. It was strong and reminded Abby of the men's changing room at a boxing arena. She had visited that place a lot with one of her past boyfriends who was a boxer, but never quite saw McGee fitting in there. She liked it though, it suited McGee in her eyes. Abby suddenly realised that she had not moved out of the way and quickly hopped to the side.

"Sorry" she said, fearing that McGee would have guessed and things would become weird.

"For what" said McGee innocently, turning his head to look at Abby. He had enjoyed that moment, being that close to her. He enjoyed all the little moments that they had. It made him feel attached to Abby in some way and that was comforting.

"Nothing" said Abby trying to play the while thing down and turned to watch the screen as McGee did his thing. "I'm telling you there is nothing on a Mandi King anywhere"

***

Now he'd managed to get everyone out of the room, Gibbs took the stairs to the directors office two at a time. He burst through her door to find an empty office. He backtracked a few steps and walked towards and lent over Director Sheppard's assistant's desk.

"Where is she?"

"She's in MTAC at the moment sir, if you'd wait…" Gibbs was gone. He paced himself over to MTAC's door and let himself in. He walked down the aisle and sat in the seat behind Director Sheppard.

"Good afternoon Jethro" She said before Gibbs had a chance to talk. He smiled, just like himself she was a damn good agent.

"Morning Jen"

"What can I do for you?" said Jen. Gibbs laughed quietly

"I mean what can I do for you right now Jethro" she repeated smiling.

"I want info on Carrie Lockhart. I would ask the team but I don't want them to know just yet and you know me and computers…"

"Carrie Lockhart?" said Jen

"She's assisting us on the case and there's something about her"

"She's dodgy you mean"

"No, quite the opposite in fact. There's something about her that tells me that she's better than her job allows her to be" said Gibbs. This turn it was Jens turn to laugh quietly.

"I see where this going Jethro, you've taken a shine to her"

"So what if I have?" said Gibbs

"I'll see what I can do," said Jen still quietly laughing.

"Oh and you left this at mine" said Gibbs smiling as he handed Jen a small silver earring in the shape of a heart.

"I was wondering where I'd left that," she said smiling as she slipped it into the front pocket of her jacket.

***

When Gibbs returned to the bullpen, Carrie was sitting behind his desk. He threw her a stern look and she stood up.

"I was warming it up for you Gibbs" said Carrie innocently. Gibbs said nothing but his face softened slightly.

"Got anything for me?"

"Yep, love letters sent by email between Alex Parker and a woman named Mandi King"

"Who's that?" said Gibbs

"Abby and Tim are working on that now Gibbs" As she said that, the doors to the elevator opened and McGee and Abby walked out.

"We can't find Mandi King because there is no Mandi King," said McGee. McGee paused but Gibbs didn't say anything. He gave up on McGee and turned to Abby.

"What McGee meant was that we searched all records and there is no records of any Mandi King ever being born, married, going to school, owning a bank account etc. I could go on…" said Abby. Gibbs turned back to McGee

"We did however manage to track the place where these emails where coming from. We narrowed it down to an Internet café not far from here. If we could get the surveillance tapes from the café and cross reference them with the dates and times that the emails were sent then we could get a picture of who's pretending to be Mandi King" Gibbs was still looking at McGee and McGee hesitated "What…?" he said nervously "did I miss something out or mispronounce something" he said turning to Abby for support.

"I think he wants us to do what you just said," replied Abby and McGee turned to face Gibbs.

"Boss…?" Gibbs looked amazed.

"You think?" he said loudly.

"On it boss." said McGee and him and Abby quickly walked towards the elevator. Gibbs turned in his chair to face his computer screen, the look of amazement still on his face. As McGee and Abby entered the elevator they bumped into Kate and Tony coming out. Gibbs looked up to face them.

"Big fat zero Boss," said Tony.

"None of the other officers said anything unusual about Officer Carter. He was just a normal sailor. And, none of them knew who this Alex Parker guy was" continued Kate. Both her and Tony sat down at their desks.

"Don't know what else to do Boss" started Tony. Gibbs just looked at him. "On the other hand I'm sure I can find something to do here" he sad routing around his desk "I'm sure there's some paperwork or something…" Kate laughed at Tony and Gibbs turned to face her. Kat face straightened and she also rummaged around her desk.

"Yeah…paperwork" she said quietly and pulled out a small pile of papers. Gibbs returned to looking at his computer screen.

"And me?" said Carrie

"Go down and see Ducky," Said Gibbs "He's in the morgue on the bottom floor"

"Right" said Carrie as she headed to the elevator.

***

Carrie entered the morgue and saw Ducky leaning over a body. He was mid flow through one of his longwinded reminiscences to Palmer. Palmer held a fixed face, which he had practised to perfection; you could only tell that he had actually in fact stopped listening by looking at his eyes, which had glazed over. Carrie walked over to Ducky and decided to save Palmer from the rest of the inebriating speech.

"Ducky!" she said cheerfully. Ducky turned to see who had entered the lab and Palmer snapped out of his trance. "What have you got on the body?"

"Hello, my dear, its nice of you to come down here and save me a trip up to see Jethro" Carrie smiled at him. Ducky smiled back thinking how lovely that smile was. ‘Excellent dental work' he thought to himself ‘Quite remarkable'

"I aim to please" replied Carrie still smiling

"Well I've taken a close look at the body and come to the conclusion that officer Carter here was hit very powerfully with a large round glass object" said Ducky

"Like a massive crystal ball?" said Carrie not quite understanding

"Not really, more a glass bowl. There's were shards of glass in the wound and also what appeared to be dried orange peel"

"Orange peel?" said Carrie now really confused "there wasn't anything like that at the scene, maybe a fruit bowl?"

" Could be, the murderer must have taken it with them if there wasn't one at the scene. If I were you, I'd start looking for what was missing from the scene," replied Ducky.

"Thanks Ducky, anything else?"

"Not really, apart from the fact that he seemed too well groomed for a night in"

"What do you mean?" said Carrie again confused

"Well there are the clothes for a start. He was wearing a clean smart shirt and pressed black trousers, hardly sofa attire my dear is it. He was also freshly shaven around the time of his death and you can still smell a faint trace of aftershave even now! He must of put a lot of it on. In my opinion, I do believe this young chap had a lady friend that he was going to meet up with that night"

"Or did meet up with" said Carrie quietly

"What was that my dear, hearing not quite what it was I'm afraid," replied Ducky. Carrie looked up at him.

"No worry Ducky just thinking aloud" she said smiling

"Yes I often do that myself" said Ducky "I do fear that young Palmer here gets a little tired with me sometimes" Palmer just looked at Ducky

"Not tired Doc, …I find it quite informative actually…quite…"

"Yes alright Palmer" said Ducky. Carrie thought that this was perhaps a good time to leave.

"I'll just go and report to Gibbs" said Carrie backing towards the door. "Thanks Ducky" and she turned and left the morgue just slow enough to hear Ducky reply,

"It was nice to see you again my dear" as she the door shut behind her.

***

Tony was leant back in his chair watching Kate across the bullpen. The journey back from interviewing officer Carter's fellow officers had been a very quiet one, silent in fact. Tony mentally hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. ‘Why didn't I say something? I know why, because you're a big stupid idiot that's why. Kate must think you're a right loser now, well done. Well, even more of a loser than she already does' thought Tony miserably. He watched Kate as she sketched. He would love to look at that sketchpad one day. He had no doubt in the ability of Kate's sketching, as he had seen it before when she did murder scenes and head shots for the cases. But they say that the soul of an artist goes into every piece of work they create as well as their thoughts and dreams. Also that by just looking at one piece of art be it painting, sketch or sculpture, that you could instantly tell everything about it's artist and learn more about the them than could ever be learnt through simple conversation. Tony longed to know Kate's feelings towards him. He was certain that she thought he was an idiot. He thought he was an idiot. But there were some moments when their eyes connected and he could swear that he saw something in her eyes that wasn't total dislike towards him. Like in the car earlier. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just him. Kate coughed and pulled her hair out of eyes. He hated it when he couldn't see her face. It was the type of face that Tony thought would never lose its beauty. Even as age grew near; the subtle smile; the perfect nose and the inviting eyes would always remain. He could stare at her forever. Kate looked up.

"Why are you staring at me?" Kate said, a little harsher than she had meant to. Yep it was definitely just him. He could see nothing in her eyes at that moment and it convinced him that he was just fooling himself. Caitlin Todd would never see him the way he saw her. He was sure of it. At that moment the elevator doors slid open and Kate's question was left unanswered.

"Officer Carter was ready for a date" said Carrie walking towards the bullpen.

"Probably with that Mandi King" said Tony "While the cats away…" he laughed. Kate just looked at him like he was a child. "What…?" said Tony innocently.

"And ducky says that the murder weapon was a large glass bowl type object " said Carrie ignoring Tony's immature comments

"A bowl?" said Kate

"Well a bowl shaped object, I'm thinking fruit bowl since Ducky also found dried orange peel embedded in the vic's head" said Carrie

"There wasn't anything like that at the scene" said Tony

"Hang on a minute" said Kate typing something into her computer "look at the big screen" Kate had pulled up McGee's crime scene photos and was scrolling through them. "There" she said stopping at one photo in particular "There's dried leaves and what looks to me like dried orange peel under the dresser there. I noticed it when I was at the scene but I just thought it was a lazy man not clearing up after himself"

"Hmph" said Tony

"If it was your apartment Tony I would have been right" said Kate

"I'll have you know that…" Tony was cut short Gibbs slapping him on the back of the head.

"The case Tony"

"Sorry Gibbs" winced Tony

"Potpourri!" said Carrie

"What?" said Tony looking at Carrie.

"Potpourri. Dried leaves, orange peel, I think its potpourri"

"Makes sense" said Kate. She still hadn't made up her mind about Carrie. The more she got to know her the more she liked her. She was strong, not unlike her self, but that still didn't stop her feeling jealousy towards her. It hurt when Tony talked about girls when she was there, but full on flirting right in front of her eyes was not something Kate thought she would be able to handle. "So the murder weapon could be a glass potpourri bowl?"

"That's what I think" said Carrie looking at Kate. Tony got up and walked towards the big screen, everyone turned to watch him.

"Your eyesight going Tony?" said Kate

"No!" said Tony defensively turning quickly to look at Kate before returning his gaze to the screen. He was now a couple of foot from it. "What's that?"

"What's what Tony" said Kate "there is nothing there"

"There's a mark on the surface of the dresser" he looked closer "A ring. I think there was a bowl stood there" Everyone moved closer at squinted at the screen.

"He's right," said Gibbs "Good job DiNozzo" Tony turned and gave a smug look towards Kate. She tightened her gaze. Tony's face fell and he quickly turned back to the screen. "Why are we all still standing here? Get to work!" said Gibbs

"I'll go see the wife again, see if she knows anything about Mandi King" said Kate

"No" said Gibbs "Tony, you do that. I want you Kate to help Carrie and go back to the crime scene. See if you can find this bowl"

"Can't I do that" said Tony. Gibbs glared at him. "I'm on my way to the wife's now" replied Tony and grabbed his coat as he left the floor. Kate didn't look happy at her being paired with Carrie either.

"Your car or mine?" said Carrie smiling at Kate. Kate smiled back faintly.

***

Abby and McGee were now back at Abby's lab. McGee had got the tape and they were running the tapes on one of Abby's wide screens and had the times and dates of emails showing on a different one. They'd made there way through about half of the tapes so far and identified which woman it was.

"Its no use" said Abby "She's always wearing that black baseball cap. There's no way I can get even a half decent shot of her face."

"Be patient" said McGee, knowing this would anger Abby. She was cute when she got angry.

"Patient! Watch who you're calling impatient McGee, Do you want to have kids?" replied Abby angrily but with a hint of good humour.

"I don't know yet," said McGee feigning shock at Abby's remark. ‘Crap!' thought Abby, ‘We're not even together and I'm asking him if he wants children!' Mental head slap as she was tried frantically to find a way to take back what she had just said.

"Oh no McGee, I was just joking, meaning that I would kick your…"McGee had started to smile. "McGEE!!" she said hitting him on the arm. McGee instantly stopped smiling.

"Oww!" he said painfully.

"Serves you right" said Abby triumphantly but McGee noticed the trace of concern in her voice.

"THERE!" shouted McGee and Abby jumped

"Where?" she said looking around

"On the screen Abby, rewind that bit" Abby rewound the tape 30 seconds and played it again.

"There" said McGee again. The woman with the baseball cap had bumped into someone on her way out of the café and the jolt meant that she had lifted her head just enough to get a clear shot of her face.

"YES!" shouted Abby and enlarged the image. "Hi-five McGee" she said turning around on her stool and raising her hand. McGee returned the hi-five and they were both smiling

"I'll go upstairs and show Gibbs" said McGee and started walking towards the door. Abby smiled as McGee left the lab. Sometimes the man seemed so intelligent but at other times he could seem so stupid. Now was one of the intelligent times. ‘My kind of man' she thought happily to herself, and she span her self around on her chair several times smiling.

***

When McGee stepped into the bullpen, he was surprised to see only Gibbs there.

"Where's everyone else Boss?" questioned McGee

"Working," said Gibbs like it was a stupid question

"Right Boss" said McGee walking over to his computer. He pulled up the picture of Mandi King onto the big screen. "This is Mandi King," he said triumphantly

"Good work McGee" said Gibbs and looked at McGee

"I'll um…start scanning her picture through different databases," said McGee sitting down behind his computer screen so he could avoid Gibbs glare. Sometimes when Gibbs looked at you, you could almost feel it burning.

***

Kate and Carrie were cruising along in Carries car. They had been silent up until now.

"I think we've got off on the wrong foot" said Carrie "You seem a little cold towards me". ‘Great' thought Kate, she still hadn't decided on how she felt towards Carrie yet.

"Sorry" said Kate simply "Its just…"

"Just what?" said Carrie.

"Nothing" said Kate not wanting to get into this conversation.

"No, go on," said Carrie. ‘What the hell' Thought Kate ‘I'm gonna go for it'

"Me and Tony…" Carrie cut her off

"Aah, I see. You and Tony have this ‘thing' going and you think I'm going to be a threat to it"

"Umm, yeah kind of" replied Kate quietly embarrassed at how stupid that had sounded

"Let me tell you now" said Carrie almost laughing, "Tony is not the man for me. He's big headed, obnoxious, arrogant…"

"…sweet, caring, and he's good looking" continued Kate. Carrie laughed

"Ok. I'll give you the good looking part, he has got a certain charm I suppose" Kate felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"You mean that?" said Kate. Carrie had stopped laughing now and her face expression was soft.

"You really like him don't you?" said Carrie. Kate blushed slightly

"Well…yeah" she said quietly. She hated that she'd gone all mushy and bashful. She was such a loser.

"Does he feel the same?"

"No!" said Kate, "He doesn't know how I feel and you can't tell him ok?"

"How will you know if he feels the same about you if you don't tell him?"

"Promise me you won't tell him" said Kate nervously "You just can't, If he doesn't…"

"Tell him" said Carrie "Otherwise…"

"Promise me!" said Kate loudly slightly panicking now

"OK. I promise!" said Carrie "I will carry it to my death"

"Good" said Kate and the car returned to silence

"You should defiantly tell him though," said Carrie but there was no reply. A couple of minutes later and they pulled up to the house. The front door still had the criss-cross of crime scene tape suck on the front of it. "We're here," she said and they both got out of the car. They walked up the path and let themselves through he door. "Right what are we looking for again?" said Carrie

"Glass bowl, potpourri, anything we missed first time around really" replied Kate

"I'll do a scout around the outside" said Carrie

"Tony did that" said Kate

"No harm in doing it twice though" said Carrie and went back out the front door. Kate started climbing up the stairs. Carrie walked around the side of the house and noticed a gate at the edge of the garden. She went through the gate and ended up in a wide alleyway, wide enough for a car to fit down. Wheelie bins littered each side of the alley, each one by its own gate. She lifted the lid of the one next to her own gate she had just come through. "Damn, trash collectors been here already" she said. She walked around the other side of the bin. "Hello!" she said and she bent down to find three dried leaves on the ground. She took the camera out of her bag and took a picture. Then she lifted one of the leaves to her a nose and smelt it. "Potpourri" she said. She raised her gaze and came head to head with a bush. As she looked deeper into the bush, she thought she saw something glint in the light. She reached into the bush and extracted a small rectangular metal object. "A phone!" she said cheerfully. Just as she said that Kate came through he gate.

"Nothing knew in the house. Now Tony's pointed it out, the dust ring on the dresser is really obvious. We should have noticed it before," said Kate

"We weren't looking for things that weren't there though remember?" said Carrie "Look what I've found here" she said as she flipped open the phone. "There's potpourri on the ground there" and she pointed to the ground "and I've just found this phone in the bush here"

"How the hell did Tony miss that?!" said Kate in amazement

"I only noticed it because we were looking for the potpourri" said Carrie "From up there they look like all the other dead leaves around here, the grounds covered with them. Plus the phone was really quite far into the bush. I only noticed it because I had already bent down to look at those dried leaves"

"Still…" replied Kate

"Hmm" replied Carrie. "There are a lot of text messages on this phone from a Mandi. I'm pretty sure this is the vic's. The last one reads… ‘I finish work at 10pm. I'll swing round yours at about 10.30. Be ready for a rough night! Mandi XXX'"

"Definitely our vic's" agreed Kate.

"It was sent the night of the murder and fits the time frame Ducky gave us. I think this is our woman" Said Carrie. Kate's phone buzzed.

"Picture message from Gibbs" she said. "McGee and Abby managed to get a picture of Mandi from the Internet café tapes" She scrolled down the message and a picture popped up.

"I know who that is!" exclaimed Kate with shock!

***

"Pick up the phone damn you" Kate said into her phone. "Come on…" The call connected.

"DiNozzo" came Tony's voice through Kate's phone

"Tony, where are you?" asked Kate

"I'm with Mrs Carter," said Tony "Why?"

"Listen Tony, Mrs Carter is Mandi King"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive, and we've got strong evidence here that's she's the murderer. A text was sent from Mandi to Officer Carter arranging to meet at the time of his death. Backup is on its way Tony. Stall her until it arrives"

"Got it" replied Tony and shut his phone. "Sorry about that Mrs Carter. You were saying that you had no idea who this Mandi King is?"

"No" said Mrs Carter "listen would you like a cup of tea or something?"

"Yes," said Tony "A cup of tea would be great. Do you have any biscuits?" he said telling himself he'd asked as a stalling tactic.

"I'll be two minutes" said Mrs Carter and went into the next room. Tony heard the sound of a kettle being turned on and starting to boil. He looked around the room and saw a handbag the other side of the armchair to the left of him. He looked round to the door where Mrs Carter had left from and crept slowly over to the armchair. He lifted the bag and looked inside. He pulled out two phones. One was an expensive looking one, and the other a cheap model. He took the cheap model and started fiddling about with the keypad. A text came up on the screen:

‘I finish work at 10pm. I'll swing round yours at about 10.30. Be ready for a rough night! Mandi XXX'

‘Gotcha' thought Tony as a shadow fell onto the phone from behind him. He turned to see Mrs Carter standing behind him with a kitchen knife raised in her hand.

***

The knife came swiftly down as Tony moved to the side. He felt the knife slice through his right arm.

"Ahh" winced Tony instinctively using him left hand to reach over and cover up his wound. He sprang to his feet and backed away. "Calm down Mrs Carter. Put the knife down and we can talk"

"I am not going to prison for what my husband did to me"

"What did he do Mrs Carter?" said Tony keeping his distance

"We've been married 5 years. We were college sweethearts" she said a tear rolling down her cheek. She brushed it aside quickly. "But I wasn't enough. 5 years of me loving and treasuring that man wasn't enough" another tear was brushed aside

"What did he do?" repeated Tony

"What did he do?" said Mrs Carter incredulously "He said that I was suffocating him and that he needed to get out. Needed time to think. He thought I was so bad he thought he needed to create a whole new identity to get away from me!" she said her voice wavering. "But I showed him" she said with a new found strength, "you don't just abandon five years of marriage. You don't just abandon your one year old kid!"

"Where is Tommy?" said Tony realising he'd forgotten all about the child.

"Upstairs" she said like she wasn't really listening "He's sleeping now. No one will ever do that to him again" Tony didn't like the sound of that

"Can I see him?"

"What?" she said like she coming out of a trance "If you want, he's upstairs" Tony moved towards the door. "Slowly" she said. Tony walked slowly through the door to the hallway and up the stairs. Mrs Carter had the knife to his back the entire time; he could feel the tip of the blade indenting into his spine. They reached the top of the stairs. "He's in that room there," she said motioning towards a door at the end of the hallway that was ajar. It had a little ceramic sign on the door that said ‘Tommy' decorated with tiny ceramic balloons. Tony moved towards this room and opened the door further. He saw Tommy lying in his cot. He looked peaceful, a little too peaceful thought Tony. He reached over and put two fingers against the side of Tommy's neck.
No pulse.

"Mrs Carter, I don't know how to tell you but your son is dead" said Tony

"Don't you think I know that?!" she replied her voice now totally broken "But he's better off that way" It was at this moment that Kate and Carrie pulled up to the outside of the house. Tony heard the car and turned a bit so he could see through the crack in the curtains.

"We should go downstairs now" said Tony

"Why?" she said curiously and moved closer to the curtains. ‘Damn' thought Tony, he hadn't been subtle enough. Mrs Carter saw the car.

"Your tricking me" she said angrily and pounced on Tony with the knife held high. Tony grabbed her wrists and tried to pull the knife away from her. Kate and Carrie knocked on the door. No answer. They heard a muffled shout from upstairs. Both Kate and Carrie kicked the door at the same time and it swung open. They entered the house guns drawn and moved quickly to the living room.

"Tony? Mrs Carter?" Kate's heart fell like a stone at the site of the sofa, her mouth turned dry.

"Blood" she said "On the sofa. TONY?" she shouted through the house. They heard a man's scream from upstairs and both of them turned and ran towards the stairs. Tony's hands had slipped and the knife had come down quickly making a three-inch cut at the base of his neck. ‘Crap' he thought, this woman was surprisingly strong. Blood had started to flow down the front of his shirt from his neck wound. Tony tried again to grab the knife from Mrs Carter but she was too quick. The door to the room crashed open and Carrie and Kate burst through guns drawn. Mrs Carter had moved behind Tony and had the knife to his neck. As Kate had burst through the doors she'd had a mixture of feelings. Relief upon finding that Tony was still alive, panic at the site of Tony with a knife at his throat and shock at how much blood there was down the front of his shirt were just some of the feelings. This sudden rush of so many feelings blurred her vision for a few seconds before she cleared her mind. ‘This is only a simple hostage situation' she thought ‘I've been in plenty of these before… but not with Tony as the hostage' she reminded her self. Still Kate was an excellent officer, she had been a bodyguard for the president god damn it. She was trained for these types of situation.

"Put the knife down Mrs Carter," said Kate

"No" she screamed, "I won't let you take me"

"Just let agent DiNozzo go," she said

"I said no" she said and pressed the knife harder against Tony's neck. Kate could see by the look on Tony's face that he was in a lot of pain. That neck wound looked deep she told her self. They had to work fast.

"Come on" said Carrie calmly "Lets all calm down and we can talk"

"Talk?" said Mrs Carter backing away with Tony in her arms "Why would I want to talk?"

"We all just need to calm down," she repeated. Mrs Carter was still backing away towards the cot were a quiet Tommy lay.

"Let agent DiNozzo go and it will be better for you when your arrested" said Kate.

"Arrested?" said Mrs Carter and took a step backwards and knocked into the cot. It had taken her by surprise. Her legs buckled and the knife slipped away from Tony's throat. He swung round and grabbed her wrist with the knife in it. Carrie came over and managed to retrieve the knife while Kate grabbed Tony and pulled him backwards out of the scuffle.

"Are you alright," said Kate looking straight into Tony's eyes. He could hear the concern in her voice.

"Fine" said Tony, but as he spoke a burning sensation hit his neck and he winced hard. He closed his eyes and brought his hand to his neck. Kate felt as if she had felt the burn too. She grabbed a blanket from on top of a nearby table and moved Tony's hand away. She gently pressed the cloth into the side of his neck and then applied pressure.

"Don't try and talk" she said and manoeuvred him so that he sat down in a chair in the corner of the room. Kate knelt next to him.

"Thanks" he said croakily

"What did I say?" said Kate taking control "Don't talk. For once in your life Tony, do what I say" Tony smiled and this forced Kate to smile. Carrie had apprehended Mrs Carter and had her on the floor face down, hands cuffed behind her back. They could hear the sirens in the distance.

"Not long now" Kate told Tony, "Gibbs is almost here. You'd better think of a good excuse to tell Gibbs why you let her stab you" she smiled. Carrie laughed and Tony just gave a pained expression, this made the two girls laugh even more.

***

Later that night after Tony had been stitched up in the emergency room, him, Kate and Carrie were in a side ward.

"Thirteen stitches!" said Tony

"That's bad luck," said Carrie. Tony gave her a childish look

"I'm not superstitious" he replied

"Doesn't make it not unlucky though does it? Anyway I'm not wasting anymore time here with you arguing over nothing" she said smiling "That's it. Case solved. I've got to get back to the precinct. It was nice meeting you two, I hope we see each other again"

"We will, " replied Kate "You'll have to come and visit sometime" her impression of Carrie had drastically improved since their chat in the car. ‘Jealousy can do strange things to a persons mind' she thought. Kate was now genuinely saddened as she realised that Carrie indeed did have to go. She'd forgotten that she wasn't actually a member of the team. Carrie smiled and walked over to Tony. She gave him a hug and he screwed his face up with pain.

"Ow" he said

"Oh, be a big boy!" said Carrie laughing. She walked over and gave Kate a hug too. She put her mouth to Kate's ear

"Now's your chance, tell him how you feel" she whispered. And she winked at Kate as left room "Get better soon Tony" and she was gone. Kate moved towards Tony and sat on the side of the bed. She smiled

"Trust you to get stabbed in the neck"

"Oi, you're speaking to an invalid here. Be nice," replied Tony. Kate laughed and then her face turned to concern.

"But you are alright though?" she said, her voice had softened

"I was stabbed in the neck!" he reiterated, but as he saw her expression, his face softened as well. "Yeah, I'll be fine" he said, and motioned for Kate to move nearer to him. She slid up the bed and sat next to him as he wrapped his arm around her. He winced at the sudden rush of heat to his wound and Kate felt his body tense around her. She looked up at him. Their eyes locked and they both went silent. It was Kate who broke first. She looked down again

"Look Tony, there is something I've been meaning to say for a long time. Seeing you there with that knife at you neck and all that blood…" she trailed off

"Kate, its alright. I've been meaning to say something to you as well," said Tony. He tightened his hold on Kate and wrapped his other arm around her too. It had been a long time since he had held her in his arms. Too long. He was going to make the most of it.

"You have? What is it?" she said and looked up again to see Tony gazing back. This was one of the times when she could see right into his eyes, right into his soul and if she looked closely, into his heart.

"We've haven't known each other for a very long time I know, but I feel as though I've known you forever. I'd like to think you feel the same towards me" he stopped Kate from interrupting him. If he didn't say it now he didn't think he ever would. "I feel that we've become close and I enjoy your company. I really enjoy your company in fact…Ok I'm just gonna have to say it. Kate, I think I've fallen for you" It was Tony's turn to look away now. He couldn't bear to look as her face fell and things became awkward. Instead he was surprised to feel the softness of her hand gently touch the side of his face and pull him so he was facing her again.

"We haven't known each other for that long I agree, but I feel like I know you. We've become more than friends, and I think I've connected with you in a way that I never thought possible with another person. Tony, I feel exactly the same" Tony's face lit up and Kate giggled nervously

"So what now?" said Tony "because, we could go on a date and see what happens, or we could just sit here or we cou…" He was cut short as Kate placed her lips on his. His stomached folded as he felt the moistness of her lips cover his. He moved one hand up to the side of her face and stroked her velvety soft skin. She reciprocated by moving both her arms and wrapping them around his neck. She felt Tony grimace and pulled away.

"Oh god, did I hurt you?"

"No, it doesn't matter," he said smiling

"But…" this time it was Kate's turn to be silenced. He pulled her against him and returned his lips to hers. He felt the lightness of her fingers gently scrape the back of his neck and it tickled. There bodies seem to fit together perfectly, like all this time there bodies had been made to be like this. He felt Kate's lips part a little, and he tenderly moved his tongue nearer to her side of the kiss, not wanting to intrude. Kate beat him to it and he felt her tongue slide over his. He responded and their kiss deepened. ‘He could do this all night' thought Tony happily to himself. He had a feeling that Kate was thinking the exact same thing.

***

Carrie pulled up to the NCIS building and parked. In her short time here, she had never really fully appreciated the beauty of the building. It's tall ever standing grace, with its delicate decorations and the smoothness of the glass panels. She was saddened to think that this was the last time that she would see it. Well maybe not the last, but it would feel different if she came back again. It felt comfortable and safe at the moment, inviting her into the safety of its walls. It felt like home. ‘Still' she thought quietly ‘she could come and visit'. But somehow she didn't think it would be quite the same. She sighed and got out of the car. It was dark and absolutely tipping it down. "Just my luck" she said locking the car and she ran towards the cover of NCIS.

***

Abby was in her lab filling in the paperwork from the case when she heard Carrie burst through the door sopping wet. She was laughing

"Hey Abby" she giggled, "have you seen Tim?". ‘Great' thought Abby, ‘they've probably got a date planned'

"He's up in the Interview room" she replied glumly

"Its just I want to say goodbye before I leave"

"Leave?" questioned Abby

"Well the case is over and I'm not exactly a NCIS agent am I?"

"Oh" said Abby cheering up slightly, but this still didn't mean there wasn't a date. She thought she'd better be at least civil towards her at least. She wasn't a rude person after all. "Well, it was nice to meet you"

"I'm sure" said Carrie sensing the hostility of Abby's voice

"Pardon" said Abby

"Nothing" said Carrie

"No" said Abby getting angry "What did you say?"

"It doesn't matter" repeated Carrie

"It does" said Abby loudly "now what did you say! You can't just come in here out of the blue, steal McGee from me, flounce out and be rude to me" Carrie laughed

"How dare you laugh at me," said Abby now very angry

"Calm down Abby its just…" she said still laughing "Its just…I thought you said I stole Tim" she finished in a fit of giggles

"You did!" said Abby still outraged but now a little confused

"Now don't get me wrong Abby, Tim is a nice guy and all that but him and me?" she started a whole new set of giggles

"Its not that stupid" said Abby now getting defensive "He's smart, intelligent, kind, funny, cute…"

"Yeah but he's Timothy McGee! We will always be good friends but we could never be more. Besides he's totally in love with you for a start" Abby blushed

"He said that?" said Abby quietly

"No, but its blatantly obvious"

"How?"

"Why do you think I'm down here looking for him? He spends every minute he can down here, he can't bear to be away from his beloved Abby" Abby blushed deeper and smiled embarrassedly. "Why is it that no-one speaks their feeling around here. First Tony and Kate now you and Tim"

"Wait" said Abby "Tony and Kate got it on?"

"Well I watched for a bit when I left the hospital bed but they got very close"

"YES!" said Abby jumping in the air "I've been trying to convince her to tell him how she felt for ages"

"You should take your own advice and tell Tim how you feel"

"That's different" retorted Abby

"How?" said Carrie. Abby couldn't think of an answer to that. "I've really got to go but promise me you'll at least think about telling him"

"Maybe," said Abby. Carrie walked over and gave her a hug. ‘It was quite a good hug actually' thought Abby. Maybe she was wrong about Carrie after all.

"I'll see you around," said Carrie

"Bye," replied Abby and Carrie entered the lift.

***

Carrie knocked on the Interview observatory room and entered as she heard someone answer inside. Director Shepard had been the one that had called her in and apart from a tech guy taping the conversation; her and McGee were the ones in the room. McGee was standing near the two-way mirror watching the interrogation. He turned at the arrival of a new person and smiled when he saw it was Carrie.

"Carrie!" he said walking over to give her a hug "Gibbs is doing the interview now. She's admitting everything"

"Why did she do it?" replied Carrie

"She'd found out that her husband had a secret identity because someone had called him that in the street. Turns out he was in contact with almost every hooker in Washington. He thought that she was too controlling" McGee laughed "She put locks on the cupboard with the crisps in because she thought that he needed to watch his weight. She also had him calling her 40 times a day, to tell her where he was. He couldn't lie because she'd put a tracker on his phone that told her exactly where he was!"

"So she's mad then?" said Carrie

"Well the lawyer is trying to pull out the mentally unfit card and I think he's got a point," replied Director Shepard

"She put rat poison in the child's food and watched him eat it" said McGee "She thought it was best that he didn't know that his father had left him. It would have hurt him too much"

"Hmm" said Carrie "Definitely mad"

"She doesn't regret anything she's done," said McGee "that's the scariest part. She thinks she's done the right thing" Carrie shuddered

"How the hell did she pull it off? They couldn't have met up or anything because he would have recognised her straight away"

"Well she was quite clever actually. She used the Internet to search for the fake name that Officer Carter was called in the street and managed to come across a couple of online chat rooms. You know the kind, where you watch the girl in the web cam and talk dirty to her. Anyway, it must have taken a while because these websites weren't the ones you'd come across by accident. It wouldn't taken months to run across his name on one of those. She registered and contacted him by email and phone only. The night he was murdered was their first meeting. He'd already told her everything thinking she was this Mandi King. She'd gone there, just planning to confront him, but he had said that he wanted a divorce. She got real angry grabbed the potpourri bowl of the dresser and well, you know the rest"

"Wow, she was seriously obsessed. Like in a deranged unhinged sort of way" Carrie shuddered "On that note, its time for me to say my goodbyes" said Carrie

"What?" said McGee "Your leaving already?"

"I have too, the case is over. I have got another job you know. One I've been neglected recently"

"Well I've enjoyed meeting up with you again" said McGee

"So have I" said Carrie as she embraced McGee "I promise to email this time though," she laughed

"Me too" said McGee and they both laughed.

"Goodbye Director" said Carrie "You have an amazing team here"

"I know" beamed Director Shepard and Carrie turned towards the door

"See you all around" she said as she left the room.

"Bye" replied the Director and McGee simultaneously. Carrie shut the door behind her to find that Gibbs had exited the Interrogation room at the same time.

"Gibbs," said Carrie rather formally and extending her hand towards him "It's been a pleasure working with you and your team"

"Well I hope that pleasure will continue" said Gibbs as he reached out and shook her hand firmly.

"What?" said Carrie ‘Is he coming on to me or something' she thought panicking

"Come and work for us," replied Gibbs. Inward sigh from Carrie ‘Few! Dodged some awkwardness there but what the hell is he talking about?'

"What?!" repeated Carrie, God she must have looked stupid "But…"

"I've talked to Director Shepard and we both think that you would be an invaluable asset to our team"

"Really?" said Carrie her face brightening "Can I think about it?"

"Absolutely" replied Gibbs "Take a few days to let it sink in and then report back to me"

"Ok" smiled Carrie "I will!" Gibbs smiled back and the two walked down the corridor together.

***

Chapter Eleven

It was late at night when McGee entered Abby's lab and the rain was still splashing on the windows. McGee walked silently walked through the glass door that separated Abby's lab from her ‘office' and walked over to her desk. He took his arm from behind his back and deposited his present on the desk. She would find it in the morning. He looked down at it and smiled. It summed up Abby to the tee. Elegant and beautiful to a point where he was totally astounded. Prickly on the outside and had a cut like a razor blade but if you knew how to handle her, she could be the most wonderful gift to your life. Life was better just because she was near you, you could smell her sweet scent warming you and giving you hope that there was goodness in the world. Both the item and Abby were some of the rarest treasures in the world, invaluable to a point where currency was obsolete. And of course, both had in common the colour black. The biggest similarity was the most special. Both Abby and this item shared the fact that both of them even in their darkness; had the ability to light up an entire room just by looking at them.

"If only you knew" said McGee sadly

"Knew what" came a voice from the shadows. McGee spun round to see Abby step forwards into the light. His jaw dropped and his cheeks reddened.

"Its not polite to spy on people"

"Well its not polite to leave people presents without saying who they were from. So it was you all this time, leaving one on my desk every night?" All McGee could do was nod, he'd been caught red handed. How could he have been so stupid, he always checked to see of Abby's car was outside before sneaking into her lab. Today he hadn't done that because in all the commotion of Carrie leaving he'd completely forgotten.

"I'll leave now if you want"

"No!" said Abby a little too quick, her face cracked into a wide smile and she beamed from ear to ear. Her eyes quickly filled with tears, "I love them" she blubbed. McGee's hopes rose and he walked over to Abby. They were now standing very close. He took Abby's hands and held them together between them. Now the only thing between his and her body's were their tightly clasped hands. McGee looked into Abby's eyes and gave her a look that said ‘What I'm about to say, I mean with all of my heart'

"Abby I left you those presents because I was too cowardly to tell you my real feelings. Abby, I love you" Abby let a tear roll down her cheek "I love you now, and I have always loved you. Right from the first moment I saw you. I love you with all my heart and my soul and I am refusing to spend one more second of my life without letting you know that"

"McGee…" Abby croaked, the tears were falling thick and heavy now and Abby's whole body began to shudder. McGee folded his arms around her and pulled her in kissing her on the top of the head. Abby felt safe and comfortable in McGee's arms and he held her until she had stopped shaking. Abby nestled into McGee's neck and hugged him tightly. "Oh God I'm making a mess of this aren't I?" came the muffled voice of Abby from somewhere within McGee's neck region.

"No you're not" he said calming her. She pulled away slightly, but only enough so that she could look up and see into McGee's eyes.

"I love you too" she said clearly "I mean it", McGee pulled her close to him again and she rested her head on her shoulder

"I know you do Abs, I don't know why we didn't do this earlier" he said

"Because we're both idiots?" she said in reply and they both started laughing and for a long time they couldn't stop. They held each other and stayed like that, eternally comfortable in each other's arms. From where they stood Abby could see her desk where McGee's perfect gift lay on top and she smiled. It was a single black rose.

***

As Abby and McGee walked out of the building; Abby holding on to McGee's arm; Carrie was sitting in her car. She still hadn't left yet and was going over and over what Gibbs had said. She couldn't possibly leave the force. She'd worked her whole life to get where she was now, she couldn't let it all go to waste. ‘But it wouldn't be going to waste' the other side of her fought. NCIS was still law enforcement, just a step to the side, or maybe even a step up? She thought cheerfully. But it would mean that she had to leave her friends. At this point she looked out of her windscreen in time to see Abby and McGee running across the car par. They were both laughing and Abby was still holding his arm. McGee had his jacket pulled over his head and he was attempting to shield Abby from the downpour at the same time. His chivalry had come at a price though for as he was trying to protect Abby he was also failing in his attempt to shield himself and both were now equally drenched. Neither of them seemed to mind though, or notice come to think about. For that moment in time, both were completely content with each other's company and truly nothing else mattered. Carrie smiled at herself. She would make new friends, heck she already had thinking of the chats that she'd had with Abby and Kate. She'd also got quite friendly with DiNozzo but Gibbs? Gibbs she would have to work on although he didn't seem to dislike her in any way. He had offered her the job after all. Oh yes the job, the dilemma she'd been sat in her car for over an hour debating without conclusion. She started the engine. She'd go home, grab a mug of hot cocoa tuck her self in and carry on the heated debate there. She could always think straighter in the comfort of her own bed. "Sounds like a plan" she said before realising that no one could here her. "Talking to yourself again Carrie, it's the first sign of madness you know" and with that she pulled out of the parking lot and into the night.

***

END