Melinda Gordon walked through the cemetery, the cold wind blowing around her. She stopped when she saw a young woman bent over a tombstone. She walked towards her. "Can I help you?" she said. The woman turned and looked at her. "You can see me?" she said. Melinda nodded. She looked at the tombstone the woman had been looking at moments before. It read:

Caitlin Marie Todd
May 8, 1973- June 19, 2005
We will miss you

Melinda stared at the tombstone. She looked back at the woman.

"Is that you?" Melinda asked. The woman nodded.

"I didn't have to die." she said solemnly. Then, she jerked her head up. "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you my name. It's Kate." Melinda nodded. Kate sighed. Melinda stepped back and got a good look at her. She was about average height, with shoulder length mahogany hair and brown eyes. She was decidedly pretty. Kate turned around and looked at Melinda.

"Listen, I need you to do something for me. I need you to give someone a message for me." Melinda nodded. Kate pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down something. She handed it to Melinda. Melinda looked down and read it. On it were two addresses. One was for someone named Tony DiNozzo; the other was for a man named Jethro Gibbs. Kate cleared her throat.

"First of all, tell Tony that I'm sorry that we didn't go after what we knew was there. I'm sorry we missed our chance. It would have been nice. Second, tell Gibbs not to beat himself up over my death. It wasn't his fault. He shouldn't blame himself. I don't blame him either." Melinda looked at Kate and smiled.

"I'll let them know that." she said. Kate nodded and replied,

"I'll be around." she then vanished and Melinda was left alone.

Melinda walked up to the first address Kate had written on the paper. She rang the doorbell. After a few seconds, a tall man came to the door.

He looked to be about in his late twenties, with green eyes and short brown hair.

"Um... are you Tony DiNozzo?" she asked. His eyes widened in shock.

"How do you know me?" he said. Melinda sighed.

"It's a long story." she said nervously. Tony smiled.

"I've got time." he said, sweeping Melinda inside the door.

Melinda sat down on the chair Tony had indicated for her.

"My name's Melinda Gordon." she said before he had a chance to
open his mouth. He merely nodded and sat down on a chair opposite Melinda.

"So... what brings you here?" he asked. She looked at him.

"Um... I know you won't believe me, but here it goes. I have an ability, or gift you could call it. I can see ghosts, earthbound spirits who haven't crossed over yet. Usually they have unfinished business or revenge that enables them to cross over." Tony held up his hand to stop her.

"Is it Kate?" he asked quietly. Melinda nodded. Tony looked around. "Is she here right now?" he asked. Just then Kate appeared behind Tony.

"Tell him I am." she said. Melinda nodded.

"She's right behind you." she said. Tony looked bewildered.

"Kate, can you hear me?" he said.

"She can." Melinda replied. Tony turned around.

"Oh, Kate, I miss you." he said softly. Kate looked at Melinda.

"Tell him I miss him too, and I love him." Melinda repeated the information to Tony.

"I love you too." he replied. Melinda noticed that Kate smiled.

"Tell him I'm sorry that we never went after our chance to be together." Melinda said this to Tony. He immediately looked regretful.

"Kate, you don't know how I feel. I wish I had been the one that was shot by Ari that day, not you." Kate started to cry softly.

"I know Tony, I know. I wish no one had died." Tony turned to face Melinda.

"What did she say?" he asked her.

"She said she knows, and she wishes no one had died." Tony was
saddened by her answer.

"I wish no one had died either." he said glumly. Kate put her hand on his shoulder. Then she vanished. Tony looked up. "She left, didn't she?" Melinda nodded.

"But she didn't cross over." Tony breathed a small sigh of relief. "I need to talk to someone else." Melinda said. Tony looked at her.

"Who?" he asked.

"Jethro Gibbs." Melinda replied.

"You'll need to go to our work to talk with him. He's hardly ever home. If he is, he's in his basement, working on his boat." Tony said.

"Where does he work?" Melinda asked.

"Same place I do." Tony replied, "NCIS."

Melinda carefully maneuvered her car down the street. She was wondering how to get to the NCIS building Tony had mentioned.

"I can help you get to NCIS." said a familiar voice beside her. She jumped when she saw Kate beside her. Kate smiled. "Well, I can. I used to work there. That's how I died..."

*FLASHBACK*

Kate, Gibbs, and Tony were up on the roof, trying to find Ari.

"SHOOTER!" Kate yelled suddenly as she leaped in front of Gibbs to stop a bullet. She fell to the ground when she was hit.

"Kate!" Tony and Gibbs yelled. They ran over to her and were relieved to see that the bullet was caught in her bullet proof vest. Tony looked at her concerned.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Ow. I just got shot at point-blank range, DiNozzo, what do you think?"

"Protection detail's over, Kate." Gibbs said.

"You did good." Tony added as he helped Kate up.

"For once, DiNozzo's right." Gibbs remarked. Kate smiled.

"I thought I'd die before I heard-" Kate never finished her sentence. The agents heard a crack as a shot rang out. They watched in horror as Kate fell to the ground, a bullet hole in her forehead.

*END FLASH BACK*

Melinda looked at Kate sympathetically.
"I'm...I'm sorry." she said. Kate sighed,
"I am too."



15 minutes later, with Kate giving directions, Melinda reached NCIS. As she parked, she was surprised when Kate got out of the car.
"I want to see the place. But, I think you can find your way in on your own. I'll be back later." she said. Then Kate vanished.

Melinda stepped into the NCIS building. She waved at Tony and he waved back. Melinda noticed he was talking to a woman with dark brown, curly hair. Tony was laughing with her. "She's at my desk." a cold voice came from behind Melinda. "MY DESK. And he's laughing with her. Flirting." Kate said angrily. Melinda paid her no attention and instead walked over to Tony.

"Hey." he said to her. "Melinda, I want to introduce you to my co-worker, Officer Ziva David." Ziva stood up.

"It's nice to meet you." she said with a distinct Israeli accent. Melinda smiled at her. She then leaned over and whispered to Tony

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he nodded and walked away. Melinda pulled him over.

"Kate's here." she hissed. Tony immediately looked guilty.

"I'm sorry if that made her angry."

"YOU'D BETTER BE!" Kate yelled. Somewhere behind her a glass paperweight busted. Tony jumped.

"Kate's angry." Melinda said to him. "Sometimes the mood of spirits affects their energy field, like now." Tony nodded.

"Yeah, or some people just think someone else did it." he said. Just then a voice yelled out from above.

"MCGEE!!!" Tony, Melinda, and Kate turned and saw a man with silver hair and icy blue eyes come down the stairs.

"That's Gibbs." Tony and Kate said in unison.

"You might want to talk to him now, or else he'll kick you out of the building." Kate advised. Melinda said nothing and instead walked over to where Gibbs was sitting at his desk.

"Um... Gibbs?" Melinda inquired.

"Yeah?" he looked up, "Who are you?"

"Um, my name's Melinda Gordon. This might sound strange, but, I have a gift to see spirits who haven't crossed over yet. One of them knows you, her name is Kate Todd." The mentioning of Kate's name made Gibbs' head snap up.

"I don't believe in ghost stories. I don't know how you found out about Kate, but get out of this offi-"

"GIBBS, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" Melinda and Gibbs turned in time to see a Goth girl in a lab coat come racing in. Gibbs looked at her.

"Abby, in a minute." he said exasperated.

"But I found something really, REALLY important." her gaze shifted to Melinda. "Who's this?"

"Melinda Gordon. Abby, would you show her the way out?" Gibbs said curtly. Abby merely nodded and told Melinda to follow her.

"What did you say to piss off Gibbs?" she asked once they were in the elevator.

"Um...I just told him that I could see Kate. See, I have this gift to see spirits that haven't crossed over yet. I told him I saw Kate, and he got all mad." Abby looked at Melinda with interest.

"I think it's neat that you can see dead people. I miss Kate. Oh, you shouldn't have said that to Gibbs. He's been all moody lately since Kate died. He kind of blames himself for it." Melinda nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind." she said. All of a sudden Kate appeared in the elevator with them.

"Tell Abby I miss her." Kate said. Melinda smiled.

"What?" Abby said.

"Kate's here." Melinda replied. Abby grinned.

"Hey Kate!" she said. There was only a hint of dismay in her voice. "How is it being dead?" Melinda knew that Abby was trying to make a joke, buy she sounded a little sad.

"OK Abby. How're you?" Melinda told Abby what Kate said. As she listened to the conversation between the two, and told Abby what Kate said, she marveled at the Goth girl's calm composure, as if there was nothing wrong with talking to her dead best friend. Most people would have cried their eyes out, but Melinda supposed that since Abby had to endure loss in her work daily, it had taught her to be strong. They were both surprised at the ding of the elevator door, and Melinda noticed that both Kate and Abby shut up. The doors opened and Ziva stepped in the elevator. Melinda noticed that Abby immediately tensed up, and she wondered what was up between the two agents. Kate walked over and whispered in Melinda's ear.

"I think I'll stick around to watch this." Melinda responded with a mere shake of her head. Ziva turned to look at Melinda.

"I am sorry about Gibbs. I know it has been hard for him to lose Kate." Abby rounded on Ziva.

"You don't know. You don't. You don't know how hard it has been for Gibbs, for all of us. How can you know? You didn't know Kate; you don't know the pain of losing someone close to you. So, Miss David, shut up, and don't say you know." Ziva stiffened.

"I was only trying to help." she said.

"Too bad." Abby snarled. Ziva opened her mouth to retort when the elevator doors opened and Abby, Melinda, and Kate stepped out.

Ziva David got in her car and drove home. She was still pondering over what had happened in the office that day. She'd overheard Melinda talking to Gibbs, and wondered what she meant when she'd said she could see the dead. Ziva hadn't known Kate, as Abby had pointed out in the elevator, but that hadn't stopped her form being curious about the woman whose place she had taken. She noticed that while everyone seemed to be recovering from losing her, they still missed her. Ziva sometimes caught Abby down in her lab staring at a picture. It was a picture of a bat, with Abby's face. Ziva suspected that Kate had drawn it. And when she'd first started at NCIS, Gibbs and Tony hadn't let her sit at Kate's desk. It was as if they expected her to walk out of the elevator and sit down. Ziva had changed that when she'd found Kate's sketchbook with pictures she'd drawn in it and given it to Gibbs. She was jolted out of her thoughts when she arrived home, but that didn't stop her from thinking about it. As Ziva walked through her door, she never noticed that Kate followed her inside.

As Ziva started to cook her dinner, Kate got a good look around her house. She noticed a piano in the living room, and a couple of doors down her hallway. Other than that, her house seemed totally normal. Kate walked back over to where Ziva was standing and watched her cooking. She seemed good at it. Kate guessed her food was Italian. She watched the agent for a few more minutes, and then decided it was time to make her presence known.

Ziva decided to not think about what happened at the office while she was cooking. Cooking was something she was good at, and it took her mind off of her troubles. All of a sudden the water in the pot in front of her splashed. She stepped back, relieved that she hadn't gotten burned. Then the lights in her house started flickering on and off, slowly at first then faster. Ziva was starting to get a bit freaked. She pulled out her gun.

"I know you're there! Come out or I'll shoot!" She yelled. Kate smiled at the agent's fear. She kept up the light show for a few minutes, then stopped. Ziva sighed. She remembered that Melinda had said spirit's energy affected their surroundings. Without thinking through the why of it, Ziva pulled out her phone book. She remembered that Melinda's last name was Gordon. There was a listing for a Jim and Melinda Gordon. Ziva picked up her phone and dialed, hoping someone would pick up.

"Hello?" Melinda said as she picked up the phone.

"Yes, is this Melinda?" a voice on the other end of the phone said.

"Yeah. Who is this?"

"Ziva David, from NCIS." Ziva said.

"Oh! Hey what's going on?" Melinda asked.

"I'm being…hunted? No, no, no, no, no. Haunted? Yes, that's it. Um, I think I'm being haunted. Could you come over please?" Ziva replied.

"Uh, yeah sure, give me the address. OK, thanks. I'll be there in 20 minutes." Melinda said. She told Jim she would be out for a while, assuring him that she would eat somewhere, then got in her car and drove to Ziva's.


Half an hour later, Melinda was sitting in Ziva's living room while the agent put on some tea for her.

"Would you like dinner?" Ziva's voice called from the kitchen.

"Sure." Melinda replied. When Ziva walked back into the living room, Melinda motioned for her to sit down. "So, who do you think is haunting you?" Melinda asked.

"I don't really know. I have my guesses. My half-brother, for instance. But I doubt it. He wasn't really the haunting type." Ziva said. Melinda nodded. Her glance fell on a spot near Ziva's shoulder. "What are you looking at?" Ziva asked.

"Your ghost." Melinda replied.

"Who is it?" Ziva asked earnestly. Melinda looked at her.

"Kate."

------------------

"Why would Kate be haunting me?" Ziva asked.

"Ask her." Melinda replied. Kate shrugged.
"Curiosity. There was something about you that was familiar." She said. Melinda relayed the information for Ziva, who closed her eyes.

"Are you OK?" Melinda asked.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I know what she's talking about. I know who I remind her of." Ziva said. Her eyes snapped open. "Look, there's something Kate needs to know. Whatever she may hear, she needs to know that Gibbs did not kill Ari Haswari." She took a deep breath, "I did. When the director called me in, all I knew about this team was that they'd just had an agent die. I was assigned to keep Gibbs from going after Ari. I failed. He was in his basement. Ari entered, and held him at gunpoint. I had followed Gibbs, and went inside his house. I went down to the basement, Ari was about to shoot Gibbs. I stood at the top of the stairs and shot him. They said Gibbs did it to protect my cover. Kate needs to know this, because I know that Ari was the one who killed her. Abby was wrong. I have lost someone close to me. I do know that pain. Ari was my half-brother. I killed him." Ziva's voice had been calm until she said this. She broke down, quietly sobbing. After a few minutes, Ziva collected herself and looked up at Melinda.
"I am sorry you had to hear that." She said. Kate walked over and looked at Ziva.

"If it wasn't for your half-brother, I'd still be alive." She said to Ziva. Melinda quickly told Ziva this. Ziva looked up at where Kate's spirit was.

"You think that was easy, to kill one of my own family? It wasn't. I am sorry that you had to die, I truly am, but do not blame me for what my brother did. It isn't my fault." She said. Kate looked back at Melinda.

"I'm going. I'll be back to talk to Gibbs. Tell Ziva I'm sorry, too." Kate said as she vanished, leaving Ziva and Melinda alone.

Gibbs was down in his basement, working on his boat as usual. The phone rang. Gibbs reached over and picked it up.

"Gibbs."

"Hey Gibbs, sorry to bother you."

"David? What are you doing calling at this time of night?"

"Gibbs, she was right."

"Who was?"

"Melinda Gordon. She can see spirits. Kate was over here. I could feel her, Gibbs."

"Why did she come to you? You didn't know her."

"Gibbs, she said I looked like someone she knew. She meant Ari. I told her…I told her what happened."

"Let me get this straight. You say my dead agent returned as a ghost, and you told her about you and Ari. You expect me to believe this, David?"

"I just thought that if you talked to Melinda, Gibbs. She's real, she's not a fake. Just give her a shot."

"I'm not going to have some psychic show up at my house claiming she can see Kate!" Gibbs said, slamming down the receiver. He began working on his boat again. About 30 minutes later the doorbell rang. Gibbs sighed and went upstairs. He flung open his door and saw Melinda standing in the doorway.
---------------------------------------------------
"What do you want?" Gibbs asked.

"To prove to you that I can see Kate. What's it going to take?" Melinda asked.

"A heck of a lot more than it took for you to prove to Ziva, Tony, and Abby."

"Just let me try."

"OK, but if you waste my time, you're not coming back." Gibbs warned. He let Melinda inside and let her sit down. Gibbs sat opposite her. Kate appeared next to Melinda and put a finger to her lips.

"OK where did Kate work before she came to NCIS?" Gibbs asked. Kate bent over and whispered in Melinda's ear.

"Secret Service, you met her on Air Force One" Melinda replied. Gibbs' eyes widened in shock. He continued questioning Melinda. When she got everything right, Gibbs sighed.

"You could've asked any of my other agents that, with the exception of Ziva." Gibbs said. He stood up and prepared to let Melinda out. Kate yelled "Wait!" She leaned over and told Melinda something.

"Wait, Gibbs" Melinda called, "That day in the coffee shop, Kate asked you why you brought her coffee from your dealer two blocks away. She said don't use rule number7. Rule number 7 is "Always be specific when you lie"

Gibbs turned around. "How do you know that?"

"Kate told me." Melinda said. Gibbs shut the door and sat back down.

"Ziva wasn't lying." He muttered. He looked up at Melinda. "You really can see Kate?" he said. Melinda nodded. Kate walked over to Gibbs and slapped him on the back of the head. Gibbs looked up. "What was that?" he said.

"I believe Kate just slapped you." Melinda said. Gibbs laughed.

"Geeze, Todd even when you're dead?" he said.

"Well that's for not believing Melinda." Melinda laughed and told Gibbs what Kate had said.

"Oh, Gibbs, don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault, you need to stop beating yourself up. Gibbs it's not going to do you any good. I'm dead, accept it. There was nothing you could have done. Ari planned it all along." Kate said. Melinda quickly relayed this to Gibbs.

"I'm so sorry, Katie." Gibbs murmured.

"You shouldn't be Gibbs. I'll miss you." Kate said. She turned and looked at Melinda. "I'm ready now."
Kate turned and looked at Gibbs one last time. "Bye Gibbs." She said softly. She then turned and crossed over, leaving Melinda and Gibbs behind.