Leroy Jethro Gibbs leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head. He yawned widely and peered over at his computer screen trying to make out the time. ‘Damn, what are those numbers?' He leaned forwards, closer to the screen, and managed to make out ‘23.30' written in small black lettering.

"Why do they have to make the numbers so damn small and hard to read?" he said out loud.

"I don't know," came a quiet voice from the shadows over by the elevator. The voice was definitely a woman's; sultry and extremely sexual. He thought he recognized it, but just couldn't place it. Whoever it was, there was something different in their voice; something implied but not actually said. Even so, Gibbs was put slightly on edge by the arrival of this woman. There wasn't meant to be anyone here at this time. Tony, Ziva and McGee had all gone home, and Abby had definitely left as she had come upstairs to say goodbye. Gibbs leaned forward, his fingertips brushing the handle to the drawer where he kept his gun.

"Who's there?" he called out into the darkness.

"Don't you recognize me, Jethro?" again the voice soft and overflowing with sexuality. He definitely recognized that voice, but who was it?

"Come forward so I can see you," he said, his hand still resting near the gun drawer.

"Of course," was all that came as a reply. The figure moved forward out of the shadows revealing herself. Gibbs eyes widened in surprise and his body went still. Long, dark hair hung in loose curls, bouncing off her shoulders, and dark brown eyes sparkled towards him. She cocked her head slightly and smiled flirtatiously. Gibbs couldn't help but smile towards the intruder. She was dressed in a blue chequered shirt that Gibbs recognized as one of his own, and nothing else. The light material hung high on her thighs revealing long slender legs that didn't seem to want to end. The shirt was buttoned only halfway up, revealing a black lace bra enticing him to come nearer. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him by raising a finger softly to her lips.

"Shhh," she whispered, her voice washing over him making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Gibbs closed his mouth and watched intently as she walked towards him, the shirt flowing against the movement of her body. She reached the desk and pushed everything off of it. The computer screen fell and smashed on the floor, but Gibbs didn't even flinch. He was too interested in the scene before him. The woman was now leaning onto the desk her hands placed firmly on the hard wood. She smiled playfully, her eyes teasing ad inviting. Gibbs didn't take his eyes from hers as she climbed on to the desk and leaned in close to him. In the corner of his eye, he had a clean look straight down the revealing shirt and the hollow of his back tingled with pleasure at what he saw. Her lips brushed his and he immediately sat up straight in his chair. She laughed mischievously and wrapped her arms around his neck. Gibbs looked deep into her dark eyes and surrendered; she smiled knowingly and climbed onto him, pressing her body against his. He rested his hands on her thighs as their lips locked, the kiss hot and intense. His fingers slid up her waist underneath the loose shirt, finding the smooth firmness of her stomach. She tensed under his gentle touch, but it excited her. Their bodies rubbed against each other and they deepened the kiss, each of them exploring the other's body.

‘BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP'

Gibbs opened his eyes with a start and quickly brought his hand down on the alarm clock beside him. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, and then fell silent, staring up at the ceiling. He lay there for while trying to recollect his dream; he couldn't remember exactly what it was about. but he still had this feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was something exciting, something…good. As he lay in silence his eyes suddenly widened; shock flooded his face, but there was also the tiniest flicker of a smile as the memory hit him. His mouth opened and uttered one small word.

"Ziva."

***

Ziva hopped out of the shower, her already dark hair darkened further by the water dripping from the loose curls. Tiny streams of water flowed down her body, following the smooth curves. Ziva grabbed the fluffy white towel from the nearby rail and wrapped it around her. She hugged her self tightly, smiling as the snug material warmed her body. She loved the feeling of a clean, fluffy towel after a shower; a little bit of comfort before a long hard day. She grabbed another towel from the same rail and moved into the next room. She looked up at the T.V. that was blaring away in the corner. She always left the 24-hour news channel on just in case something came up; right now it was talking about an oil spillage that had occurred in the Atlantic.

"When will these American people learn?" she asked herself.

She started to towel-dry her dark locks as the news flashed to a different story. A woman with short red hair was brought up onto the screen. She was standing on a podium, obviously making some sort of statement. Ziva reached over and picked up the remote, turning up the volume.

"Today Director of NCIS, Jennifer Shepard released a statement to the public saying that they have yet to make an arrest in the recent killings of Petty Officers Matthew Gray, Stephen Thompson and Jacob Kingsley. Our team was there earlier today and we bring to you the following footage -

As Director of NCIS I regret to inform you that so far we have been unable to arrest anyone in connection with the recent killings of Petty Officers Matthew Gray, Stephen Thompson and Jacob Kingsley. We are however following a number of leads…"

Ziva snorted loudly, they had come to a dead end in every direction they turned, and as of yet there were no new leads to follow.

"…and we do have a suspect we are looking into. At the moment we are unable to reveal names, but I can assure you that we are doing our very best here at NCIS to apprehend the culprit before any more killings occur. Special Agent Gibbs and his team…" Jen motioned to the man stood behind her, "…are exceptionably capable and I trust them completely to close this case and apprehend the culprit of these hideous crimes…"

Ziva tuned out after that. She would only go on and on about how we were doing our best, etc…, so that we sounded like we were somehow near to solving the case. Instead, Ziva stared at the figure standing behind the red haired woman. He was a handsome man, with silver hair lapping his forehead. Ziva paused in drying her hair and sat down in the armchair focusing on the man's expression. She laughed quietly to herself; he clearly didn't want to be there. No doubt he had been dragged along to make a good impression on the public. If they saw who was investigating, then they might be more confident that the investigation was going to a success. It seemed like dumb logic to Ziva but that is what comes from the public relations department.

She watched as Gibbs fidgeted behind Director Shepard and a pang of affection ran across her stomach. She just wanted to get him out of there; he just looked so uncomfortable. The big brave man she knew was looking lost, like a small puppy and she just wanted to scoop him up into her arms and…she stopped herself; it hit her that what she was feeling in her stomach may be more than just friendly affection.

"That's just stupid, Ziva" she said to herself, "he's your Boss, nothing more."

Her mind went back to when she first met him. He'd walked into the bullpen, so tall and mighty, the light shining off his hair. The first thing she had noticed was his figure; even through the shirt he was wearing she could make out the hard outline of his muscular chest. She remembered thinking that he must have worked out somehow, and he looked all the better for it. The main thing that had struck her was his eyes, those eyes; an icy blue that sparkled with veracity and integrity.

A breeze swept through the room, sending a chill over Ziva's damp skin. She hugged herself in an effort to keep warm and the image of Gibbs striking gaze was gone. She stood up and walked through to the bathroom; she was damned if she was going to be late for work.

***

Gibbs walked into the bullpen to find Tony, McGee and Ziva already there. He walked past them to his desk, his fingers reaching out slightly as he passed her desk. He clenched his fist as he rounded his desk and sat down. He looked around the room to find everybody concentrating hard on the work in front of them. In recognition of recent dead ends with the investigation, Jenny was becoming almost unbearable from the pressure upon her for results. She was pushing everybody to keep re-examining all the evidence over and over until they got a lead. So far, they had drawn a blank, but everybody kept trying. They all wanted to get this guy, or woman, he reminded himself.

He looked over towards Ziva and watched as her hair fell across her face. She hastily swept it away as she concentrated on the pieces of paper in front of her. Gibbs smiled as he watched her talk to herself, her lips moving rapidly as she worked. He would dearly love to know what she was saying to herself; she did this every time she was deep in thought. He resisted the urge to say something to her and just watched her. The floor became empty and the only two in the room were Ziva and him. Images flashed in front of his eyes from the dream earlier. The loose curls bouncing off her shoulders; the dark inviting eyes; the flirtatious smile; his shirt on her body; her long slender legs; her climbing over the desk; her curvaceous figure as he had looked down at the shirt that fell so perfectly off her body; her body against his; her lips brushing his; the firmness of her stomach, and the kiss, deep, hot, intense…

Ziva looked up at Gibbs and their eyes connected, unspoken words flowing between them. Ziva's face coloured a little at the cheeks and she quickly hid it by looking down and hiding behind the veil of dark hair that fell across her face. Gibbs awoke from his memories, and took time to realize the moment that had just happened. His eyes widened as it hit him that Ziva had probably seen the way he was looking at her as he remembered her from the dream. He quickly copied Ziva by looking down at the papers in front of him, thoughts buzzing around in his head. This wasn't happening; she was a colleague, and a junior one at that. He was her boss! Heck, it was wrong on so many levels; and there was rule 12 to remember. How could he disobey one of his own rules?

It took him time to realize that the phone was ringing in front of him. As he picked it up, everyone in the room was looking at him, except Ziva who still had her face hidden.

He spoke into the receiver, "Gibbs…Where…We're on it." He slammed down the phone and threw a set of keys in Tony's direction. "DiNozzo gas the truck." He reached into the drawer pulling out his badge and holstering his gun. He rushed from the bullpen following an already moving Tony and McGee. Ziva, usually quickest to respond, was dawdling somewhat behind her desk. Gibbs thought it was best to ignore this and stepped quickly into the elevator. As the doors started to shut, Ziva slipped through the closing gap and turned her back to him, facing the huge metal doors. Gibbs sighed a little too heavily; he would have given anything to see the expression on her face.

***

The car journey over to the crime scene was a silent one. Nobody wanted another victim but with another body came the possibility of more leads. Owning up to the fact that you were secretly praying for another dead body so that you could get a lead was not something that any of them wanted to do. So everyone kept quiet.

From the back of the truck, Ziva could just about make out Gibbs' outline. He was sitting exactly still, eyes forward so Ziva couldn't make out his expression. ‘What the hell had been that look he had given her earlier? He couldn't possibly know about this morning, could he? Had she given it away some how?' But even so, there had been something there, in that look; something unsaid but definitely there. He had been staring at her, and not in a ‘you should be doing something' kind of way; more of a ‘I should be doing something' kind of way.'

Ziva's face frowned as she as her mind fought over reasons for that look, trying frantically to find something that would fit. She already knew the reason of course, deep down; but her subconscious was ignoring it. She had been trained to keep those kinds of feelings hidden, even from herself; but that didn't mean they weren't there. Her strives to find a suitable explanation, free from the obvious, came to an abrupt end as they pulled up at the victim's house.

Tony turned the ignition off and everybody disembarked. Gibbs was immediately in control, marching up to the scene, looking for anybody that looked vaguely in charge. He found her.

"I'm Special Agent Gi…" he began.

"Not necessary, I know who you are," the woman stated coldly.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't repay the compliment," said Gibbs with not even the slightest whisper of warmth in the statement.

The woman stared hard at Gibbs and spoke loudly and in perfect syllables, "Detective Joanne Went."

Gibbs gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod and carried on, "Well we are from NCIS and…"

"Here to take over the investigation and blah blah blah; I said I knew who you were."

Gibbs's eye twitched slightly in its socket. "Then why do I not see your people leaving this site?"

"Oh they are Special agent Gibbs," she said with a distinct sneer. "Then you will be free to mess up yet another crime scene from this guy," she said but this time whispered under her breath.

"Excuse me?!" Gibbs said loudly, his hands clenched but remaining by his side.

The woman seemed to gain confidence and stood up straighter, asserting her self. She looked Gibbs in the eye for a second, then put her hands on her hips and answered, "How many crime scenes is this now?"

"If you inclu…include this one…then…four?" piped up a small man from behind her. She whipped round and glared at the poor man.

"Shut up Wren," she turned back around to Gibbs who looked livid.

Ziva watched this entire scene with a mixture of emotions including shock, anger and a small amount of humour. She was shocked, if a little in awe of this woman's immense confidence and her ability to stare right back at Gibbs with equal intensity. The anger was well deserved; after all, this woman wasn't just insulting Gibbs, she was insulting the team. Lastly, even Ziva had to admit it was quite amusing at how stupid this woman was to actually think she had a chance of beating down Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She watched as Gibbs held himself back and the woman continued to raise the game.

"And the rest," the woman spat at Gibbs, "it's only four bodies here, but five over at Baltimore, two in new Jersey and who knows how many more?!"

"They are not under my jurisdiction." Gibbs said plainly, his teeth gritted together.

"This killer is going loose and you," she scoffed, "are doing absolutely nothing to stop it except sit on your asses all day and…" The woman was left hanging as Gibbs leered up in front of her, his eyes small and tight, but still gleaming in the morning light.

"MY TEAM IS DOING THEIR DAMN BEST TO CATCH THIS KILLER, AND I AM NOT GOING TO STAND HERE AND LISTEN TO ANY MORE OF YOUR CRAP! NOW MOVE ASIDE."

The woman swallowed hard and hesitated before moving aside, the color drained from her face. She had cowered under Gibbs, as Ziva knew she would, as she knew anybody would. Ziva looked left at McGee and Tony, both of them with their mouths hanging open. McGee looked petrified, but Ziva only had to glimpse at Tony to know he was laughing hysterically on the inside. Ziva smirked and set foot after a storming Gibbs. As she passed the woman, she smiled at the woman who did not return the pleasure, and laughed to her self. Gibbs was definitely someone she admired; he was strong, confident, and boy could he win a fight. Ziva silently reminded her self to never cross over to Gibbs' bad side and stepped into the dark hallway of the house.

***

The team traipsed into the bullpen at around 1600, a tired look on each one of them. After the aftermath of meeting ‘Detective Joanne Went', Gibbs had gone into overdrive making them do everything at least three times. Other than barking orders at everyone, he had remained deathly quiet, fury painted all over his face. The moment he set foot off the elevator he marched over to the stairs at the other end of the room, climbing them three at a time before the echo of a slamming door resonated off all four walls of the room. Ziva, Tony and McGee shuddered walking over to their desks as they sat down in silence to begin going over everything. This was not going to be an easy day.

***

It was nearing 2030 when the elevator pinged to reveal a rather chirpy Abby bouncing out onto the floor. She waved a Caf Pow in one hand and leaped over to the middle of the bullpen where she paused. At the lack of notice from the others around her, she gave a small cough. Still, everyone was focused on the work in front of them; well not everyone. Abby could see McGee struggling with his conscience on whether or not to risk looking up to view her and risk Gibbs seeing him take his eyes off the work. He had resulted in a sort of slanted look, as he tilted his head and looked up at Abby. Abby winked and McGee smiled, lifting his head up.

"McGee! Work!" shouted Gibbs. Abby jumped back a little in shock at the ferocity in Gibbs's voice.

"Gibbs?" she began quietly.

"What have you got for me, Abby," he said flatly.

"What happened? Are you all…"

"Don't make me ask you again Abs," Gibbs said, but this time with less anger in his voice after seeing Abby's concerned face.

"Okay," Abby said going into case mode, "As with the other cases, cause of death was poisoning from a jab to the right side of the neck; Ducky established that. Toxicology shows it was the same poison as the other vics and, as with the other case, there was very little to go on, however…" Abby paused, a grin from ear to ear as she hopped from foot to foot in excitement.

"What?" Gibbs asked. Abby now had the undivided attention of every single person in the room.

"The hair that McGee found on the carpet," She looked fondly over at McGee who blushed slightly as he smiled, "Was not the vic's. I ran it against some previous samples and I got a hit!" Abby was now positively beaming as she fidgeted excitedly.

"Who was it?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"A Mr. Calvin Borley," she announced to the happy grins of her colleagues.

Gibbs rose from his seat, grabbing his badge and gun from the drawer. He marched forwards, only stopping a moment to kiss Abby lightly on the top of the forehead and give her the first smile since the encounter with Detective Went. Abby bounced in happiness as everyone followed Gibbs with various looks of adoration and appraisal. She got a full-blown grin from Tony as he gave her a quick hug on his way out.

"Knew you could do it! "he whispered softly in her ear.

Abby only continued to smile as McGee passed and gave her his cute smile. In Ziva's eyes however, Abby swore she saw the faintest trace of… was that jealousy? She shook the thought away, too happy with herself to care, as she waltzed herself round on the spot.

***

The car pulled up to the outside of the house and the engine cut out, throwing them all into complete darkness as the headlights dimmed and disappeared.

"McGee, David, you take the back. DiNozzo and I will go in the front." Gibbs was answered by a set of solemn nods. Each one of the team was excited at the thought of a take down, but cautious as well; you'd be stupid to go into a situation like this without it. Nervous adrenaline pumped round their bodies as they stepped out onto the street. Accompanied with a team of SWAT members, they each took their places. The leader of the SWAT team and Gibbs silently communicated the sound of the T.V in the front room, and with a slow countdown they stormed the building.

"FREEZE NCIS!" came from all angles as bodies crashed into the house. Gibbs and two other SWAT members burst into the front room only to find it empty. They retreated to find that Tony and the other two SWAT members that had come in the front had disappeared down the corridor. Gibbs moved swiftly after them making his way through the house. He froze at the sound of a female scream. His heart caught in his mouth and his stomach tightened. Was that Ziva's scream? He ran through the house, gun twitching from side to side as he past doors lead him to the origin of the scream. He reached a door swinging open to reveal a set of stairs leading downwards. With the sound of a scuffle occurring from down in depths of that stairwell, he descended quickly, taking each step in his stride.

***

McGee burst in the backdoor with Ziva and a couple of SWAT officers beside him. Once inside Ziva went one way and he went the other entering into the kitchen. He swept it quickly and easily, making his way through a door that revealed a conservatory, now eerily highlighted by moonlight pouring through the broad glass panes. A scream echoed into the room from behind him. McGee returned quickly to the kitchen and through the next door making his way into a narrow corridor. He was just in time to see a figure enter a side door and descend quickly. McGee followed gun drawn into the darkness.

***

Pit, Pat, Pit, Pat…

McGee heard his footsteps as he clambered down the stairs. His feet reached the bottom and he stared forward, his forefinger steady on the trigger of his gun. His eyes adjusted quickly from the already thick darkness in the rest of the house. His arms swung to the direction of a figure in the corner to find a slumped body. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the bright white letters, SWAT emblazoned on the front of the figures chest. He went to move over to check for life signs, but was distracted by a scuffle occurring on his right. He snapped his head around to see the unmistakable figure of Tony wrestling with, from what McGee could see, was Calvin Borley.

Tony was fighting to take control of a knife that was held in Borley's hand. McGee stepped forwards and with a crashed blow brought the hilt of the gun smashing down on the back on Borley's exposed neck. He went straight for the floor and the knife slipped from his grasp. Tony grabbed it throwing it away into the distance. He shoved Borley's face to the floor and pulled his arms behind his back. Borley screamed in pain and but Tony didn't loosen his grip.

"You didn't have to do that Probie, I almost had him," Tony said, but he was clearly thankful.

"He was right where you wanted him?" McGee mocked quietly.

"Yeah, something like that…" Tony trailed off.

McGee went to the slumped figure in the corner and was slightly surprised to find it was a woman; surprise that evidently had shown on his face because the woman replied in a somewhat joking tone, "What? You've never seen a woman SWAT officer before?"

"Well, no actually…" McGee started, embarrassed with himself.

The woman laughed, "It's okay, I get it a lot. Now could you…"

"Oh yeah," McGee said as he turned his gaze downwards to a bloody gash in the woman's side.

"Damn guy knifed me, I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay, this doesn't look that bad, you'll be fine," McGee said with an encouraging smile. The cut really wasn't that deep and looked a lot worse than it actually was.

At that moment they were interrupted by the arrival of Gibbs from the stairwell, "Ziva?" he shouted into the darkness.

"It wasn't her, Boss; I thought it was too…" McGee said dryly.

"Then where is she?" Gibbs replied to the clueless faces of McGee and Tony. He glanced down at Borley on the floor.

"He's not going anywhere Boss," Tony said, strengthening his hold on the flailing figure below him.

"McGee you stay here with him, help is on the way for…" he nodded in the direction of the woman SWAT member on the floor and then turned back up the stairs. He still wasn't satisfied. What if Ziva had been hurt before he stabbed the SWAT woman? He couldn't take that chance. He stepped out quickly into the corridor at the top of the stairs and nearly screamed out loud as he collided with some one. They both went down, Gibbs on top, only managing to stop himself last minute from crushing the person beneath him. He looked down to find Ziva staring back.

"Ziva? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I think so," she sad fidgeting. Her thigh had somehow managed to slip between his and her hands were clinging to the front of his chest, gun strewn to the side of them.

"I thought that scream was…"

"I had to check it wasn't me…" Ziva said jokingly.

Gibbs smiled but didn't move from the position. Ziva stared into those icy blue eyes she loved so much and blinked. Static passed between them and, just as both of them started to lean forwards into each other, someone stood above them.

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

It was the SWAT superior from earlier. Gibbs jumped to his feet, carefully untwining himself from Ziva. He leaned down and pulled her up. She landed inches from his body and for a second it was as if they were back on the floor.

"Are you all right?" asked the SWAT superior.

"Yes," said Gibbs distractedly, unwillingly tearing himself away from Ziva. "I'm fine. You have a member of your own downstairs with a knife wound that, from what I can see, is not that serious."

A silent nod from the SWAT superior and he disappeared down the stairs. Gibbs and Ziva were left alone again.

"I think I need some air," said Ziva quietly as she headed for the front door. Gibbs followed her. She chose a patch of dry wall from the front of the garden to sit down on and was accompanied by Gibbs next to her. "I'm sorry about…"

"Nothing to worry about…" Gibbs said nervously.

‘Wow,' thought Ziva to her self, ‘was this finally something that Gibbs couldn't handle?' She looked over at him and their eyes met again.

"Nothing happened," Ziva said smiling, comforted by the fact that this was just as big to Gibbs as it was to her.

"Nothing happened," Gibbs repeated looking back at her, a smile now edging its way onto his face.

They both laughed deeply as the success of tonight hit them. Like a wave of euphoria, the weight from their shoulders had now been lifted from them and the killer had been caught. They laughed for what seemed like hours before finally calming down.

"We got him," Gibbs said and the words drifted off like a happy breeze into the darkness of the night.

***

END