One Man's Poison
by Sammie

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. If they were, would Kate be dead? (bares fangs) All the NCIS agents, Ducky, Abby, Gerald, Major Doherty are canon (including Balboa of "Bete Noire" and Axelrod, who's mentioned in "Yankee White"). The others are not.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of my "eh, not so good but I'm posting it anyhow" stories.

With much thanks to my beta, Em. Speaks to her great patience that I had her beta this story in full last fall (Fall 2005), and am only putting it online (plus a sixth chapter by request) now. Thanks, Em!

For me, Kate lives, Gerald works for Ducky, and Morrow is director. Period.

Shoutout to all the fans on the Kate and Gibbs fanfic lists for allowing me to use their names in these stories. ;-) Which characters got whose names was pretty random and entirely not a reflection on the person him/herself. I do apologize for making y'all wait that long, having asked your permission over a year ago and not putting it up until now.

---

NIGHTTIME
MOTEL

"Hey Cass," Balboa greeted as he opened the car door and she got out. "Thanks for coming. I could really use your help," Balboa replied as he walked with her up the motel stairway. "This was boss's last open case. You know how he is about his notes; about how the Chris Pacci brain works."

"For an agent who was a neat freak," Cassie agreed, "his logic wasn't so neat."

"Well, he was distracted by the reopened Voss case when this one began," Balboa replied. "So he's got a pile of notes, but nothing solid." He waved to another NCIS agent. "Been working with Agent Axelord. You know him?"

"Hi," the other man greeted. "People just call me 'Rod'."

"Cassie Yates," she replied, shaking his hand.

"Cassie was Agent Pacci's probie a couple years ago," Balboa replied. "Rod was the one who drew the lucky straw in the Air Force One case - Gibbs'."

"Lucky?" Axelrod laughed. "I was the one trailing the FBI truck to pick up Tony in the body bag." His eyes twinkled. "I still have the photos of them throwing his butt out on the highway. Those pictures were worth Tony's whining all the way back to headquarters."

Cassie laughed. "Pleasure to meet you." She entered the motel room with the others. "Hey Ducky, Gerald."

"Cassie, my dear!" the NCIS medical examiner straightened and greeted her warmly. "So delighted to see you again. Surprised you found this remote location so easily." He looked over at Gerald meaningfully.

"Hey," Gerald held up his hands. "You were carrying the map." He turned to Cassie, a huge grin on his face. "Hey, Cass!"

"The killings began late March 2004," Balboa began as they walked through the crime scene. "Pacci and I covered two before Voss - well, whatever - killed him. Since then, Rod and I have done three more. This one is number six. Same MO: woman poisoned, Marine shot point-blank through the heart."

"Well, we cannot be sure this one was the same poison," Ducky commented.

"Set number six, but total twelve dead?"

"Actually, murder #1 was just a woman shot point-blank," Axelrod replied as he continued to snap photos. "#2 through #6 have been doubles. Eleven dead."

"Murder-suicide?" Cassie asked.

"Doesn't seem like it. The general suicide method for men is a shot to the head, not to the heart," Gerald pointed out. "And if the woman had a gun, it would seem more likely she'd shoot him and then shoot herself instead of taking the longer poisoning method."

Cassie held up the dead woman's hand, the fingertips bluish against her white gloved hand. Axelrod snapped a photo.

"I asked if Norfolk could send you by, not just to help with Pacci's notes, but also to talk to them." Balboa led her to a window and pointed down, where three women were sitting on a motel bench, police cars around them. "They found this pair dead. Each woman has been a a waitress at the local watering hole: Rade's. Every time I talk to the women, I can never get a lot out of them."

"One of them did it?" Cassie asked.

"That's what we thought at first, but we checked. Only two of them carry small arms, and neither are the right make - generic Sig Sauer." Cassie nodded. "Look," Balboa sighed. "Rod and I are really stumped. We don't know where else to turn. We can't get into this killer's head - can't even tell if it's male or female. I've looked at the boss's notes so much I could recite them in my sleep," he said, referring to the late senior agent. "I need a fresh pair of eyes looking at them."

Cassie shook her head. "I'll do what I can, but have you considered talking to Gibbs? In the very least, he and Pacci were close."

"Ah," Ducky stood up, and motioned to Gerald to put the bodies on the gurneys. "And I think Jethro can be of help in another fashion." The agents turned to him. "Agent Todd is a profiler."

---

NEXT MORNING
NCIS HQ

"NOOOO boss," Tony groaned as he looked down at his report. "NOOOOO."

"You should have spell checked before you rushed out on that date," Gibbs replied pointedly, returning to his desk.

Kate picked up the report and skimmed quickly. "It's not just the spell check," she replied, barely suppressing a grin. "McGee." The woman turned to him. "What's wrong with 'He was determined to completely demolish the building'?"

"Split infinitive. Shouldn't divide the 'to' from the 'demolish'."

"And 'fearing the worst, the safe was left behind'?"

"Dangling modifier: the safe wasn't the one fearing, it was the person who left it behind."

"Very good, McGee," Kate replied, impressed, as McGee grinned. Tony glared at them both.

"Right now," Gibbs cut in, "I'd just settle for the spell check."

Tony groaned. "I really wish we had a hot case right now."

"You're wishing a sailor or a Marine were dead or committing crimes?" Gibbs asked pointedly.

Tony dropped his head to his desk.

"Hey Gibbs," came a voice, and Balboa came around, trailed by Cassie and Ken Axelrod. "We could really use your help on this case."

"Yes!" Tony exclaimed, jumping up. "I could kiss you, Bal."

The agent grinned. "Like Voss/Reed?" Kate and McGee burst out laughing as Tony glared murderously at them. "No thanks, I'll pass."

---

MARINE BASE

Gunnery Sergeant Howe watched as the MPs again dug through all the trainees' lockers. If it wasn't bad enough that Mike Caywood had died - shot - the MPs and the NCIS were stumped again as to who was doing the killing. So they were being thorough and going through everyone's things. Again.

"Nothing, sir," came the first call, and it was repeated several times.

Howe watched as Isaac Mathis rubbed his face tiredly. He and the MP were on cordial terms - not friends, but the murders stalking the base had brought everyone closer.

This job didn't get any easier. If the killer were a Marine - and who would shoot his fellow Marines? - then the MPs went looking for recently fired weapons.

Which was EVERYBODY.

---

NCIS HQ

"This" Balboa cued up the picture "is Jessica Milner. She was the first death, late March 2004. Shot," he replied, waving at the file in Gibbs' hand.

He clicked again, and the first couple came up on the screen. "The next five come in pairs; their names and designations - ranks, jobs, all that - are all in the folder. In each instance, the woman is a waitress at the local watering hole - Rade's - between the ages of 18 through 41. Each Marine was from the local base.

"They range from two recruits - PFCs - to a Colonel, a gunnery sergeant, and a corporal. The corporal was the only married one - yes, he was having an affair. They covered everything from admin to firing range sergeant. Each Marine is killed with a single shot through the heart. PFC Winter was with his girlfriend - they were found together - as was Gunny Caywood, the most recent one."

"Three of the Marines showed signs of impaired reflexes," Ducky supplied.

Abby explained, "One PFC was really drunk, and the other PFC and the Colonel had a tinge of sleep medication in their blood. Not enough to knock them out, but, you know. Caywood's blood test still hasn't come in."

Balboa cued up a map of the area. "That's the base there, on the right. It's about three miles to Rade's - hence the popularity of the place. About 2 miles out, forming a triangle, is the local logging company. They've been working the area, surveying and logging."

"Problems?" Tony asked.

Balboa nodded. "Yup. Couple bar brawls. The base's MPs are kept fairly busy, at least on their own guys. One Marine told me that the guys aren't really happy about it - they obviously get more brig time and punishment than do the civvie loggers when something happens."

"The loggers tied to the waitresses?" Kate asked.

"Five of the six. Only murder #3 did not have any tie to the loggers. Some of them were tenuous, though. Between talking to the girls, and the Marines, and the loggers, the waitress who died alone - #1 - actually was dating a Marine, but broke up with a logger just two weeks before. #2 and the most recent, #6 - there was only guys mildly interested - light flirting, nothing more. #4 was a real case: that corporal cheating on his wife found out his girlfriend was cheating with a logger. And #5 ... like #1, recent break-up, but in reverse: the logger was the new boyfriend, just a day after she dumped the Marine."

"Lovely," Kate muttered.

"Well," Axelrod said somberly, "You have got to see that place. I got the sense that a lot of those women are desperate to marry out. The loggers come in for eight-month shifts, with four months back at the main factory or a temporary break - and that's if the logger doesn't leave earlier because of injury. Only supervisors stay on. And the Marines, the minute they ship out, well, they move off the base. It's those poor girls stuck in that piss-ant town."

Balboa added, "Couple #3 and couple #6 - they were the couples that lasted longest. Couple #3 had been dating for eight months and were engaged for two when they died. Couple #6 - six months, engaged for six weeks when they died. The others - they'd been dating only a few months."

"Did you question the loggers?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, we talked to everyone," Balboa replied, pointing at the box of papers Axelrod thumped on to Gibbs' desk. "Our best bet is that it was a logger, but again we can't be sure. They were the most defensive, though."

"Not that it was easy to crack anything," Axelrod added. "The Marines and the loggers aren't talking, although at least for Bal and me we got more out of the Marines and the MPs. Until Cassie came, we could barely get a peep out of the waitresses."

"Well, I got a max of two peeps," Cassie replied. "They're more comfortable with me, but to use Abby's word, there's something hinky going on in that dive they call a bar and restaurant they're not telling me about."

"Boss, we're not working a hot case," Tony said eagerly. "Send Kate and me in. We'll break 'em."

"Why am I included in this?" Kate protested.

"Kate can play a waitress at a bar," Tony insisted, and Kate narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm sure she's experienced with the bar scene and any possible wet t - " Gibbs bopped him on the head, and Tony winced. "I can go in as a logger, boss."

Balboa turned to Kate, who frowned at Tony but said to Gibbs, "Gibbs, I can do this. If that's what it takes."

Gibbs nodded. "You can have 'em," he replied to Balboa. "Just remember what I do if I don't get my agents back in one piece."

Tony was already whooping his way out the door.

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

"Did you see the new girl?" Lissa raised an eyebrow at her old friend.

"Hired already?" Erin turned, surprised, and looked over at the office door to the restaurant owner and manager. "Nancy's barely cold."

"Like Kennedy'd care," Lissa muttered as she piled her tray high with the drinks, then continued, "She's pretty, somewhat petite brunette, brown eyes." She shook her head. "I'm not so sure she's ready to be in this place."

Just then their boss reappeared, the new waitress following him as she got her brief tour of the place.

Erin snorted. "No kidding on the last one. Pretty and innocent face. Those loggers are going to eat her alive."



Scott tried not to laugh at the newest recruit. After Johnson had gotten injured, their own team of ten had a hole, not to mention a few other newbies getting hurt on the job. He'd rotated in for his eight-month shifts and four-month breaks long enough to know that a lot of the teams worked short-handed.

His team got lucky when Gus Logan came in, just a week ago. Most teams didn't get to fill holes.

And Logan was as much fun as he was a good worker. He had a great sense of humor - well, they generally thought so. He could bong beer pretty well for a guy in his thirties. Mostly, though, he was a shameless but harmless flirt, and in all reality, he seemed to have all the bad luck with women: attracting the scary ones and getting turned down by the pretty ones. It was part of the fun, really; Logan was a good looking guy as far as guys went, and it was just funny to watch him get shut down.

Scott looked up to see an unfamiliar face come over, and was briefly startled to think that they had replaced Nancy so soon after her death.

'Not that Kennedy would care,' came the disgusted little voice in his head.

Scott had to agree. Kennedy was a bonafide jerk; if Scott agreed with the Marines on nothing else, it was that. But Rade's was the only place open late for miles, and the only way they could try to counter it was to slip the waitresses some extra cash on the side or try to help them out other ways. They were great, and none of the men who visited ever wanted Kennedy to make their buck.

Now he had a new victim. She was a beautiful, petite brunette who looked...rather innocent for this town. Scott winced inwardly. She was coming towards them, tray in hand.

He saw Logan come alive, like a lion at zoo feeding time. Scott tried to suppress a smile: three, two, o -

"Well hey," Logan grinned. "I've never met you." Scott tried not to snicker as Logan managed to hit on the newest face in record time. "Gus Logan," he introduced himself.

"Nina Sutton," the petite brunette replied with a smile, her dimples appearing. "Just hired." She put the mugs in front of the men, getting a couple "thank you"s and "welcome"s from the men.

"Let me buy YOU a 'welcome' drink," Gus tried, and Scott wasn't the only one trying not to laugh.

"Let me think about that. No thanks." The waitress at least had the grace to smile at him, then tucked the tray under her arm. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

There were a couple headshakes 'no,' and Logan grinned at her. "Your number?"

She gave him a small smile matched with a 'over my dead body' look.



Lissa watched as Scott - a regular whenever he was in town - patted Gus on the shoulder. "It's OK. Your time and your gal'll come. Just not today. And not her."

"Hey," Erin called, stepping away from her old friend and coworker to intercept the new waitress as she came towards them. "Hi, I'm Erin," she said warmly. "Welcome."

"Nina," she replied, extending a hand formally but wearing a friendly smile.

"Melissa," the other replied, coming over to join Emily. "You can just call me 'Lissa'. Well, if anything, you passed the first test," she joked, her eyes dancing. Nina blushed but smiled, and Lissa returned a grin. "You, uh, have a place to stay yet?"

"No...not yet. I'm, uh, living out of the motel about a mile out."

Erin winced. "A whole bunch of us live together out in an apartment complex two miles away," she replied. "They give us a discount. The unit next to Lissa's is open, and there are a few others."

Seeing her pause, Lissa said quietly, "If you're wondering, the unit was Nancy's, the one who was found poisoned. She moved out three weeks before she died."

The new waitress paused a minute. "Yeah, I'd love to take a look, thanks." A genuine smile crossed her face.

---

NCIS HQ

"What was that?" Cassie asked, looking up from her file as Balboa finished his call from Tony.

"According to 'Gus Logan,'" Balboa replied, referring to the agent who had just called, "the bad blood between the loggers and the Marines were worse than we thought. It's almost an unspoken competition to see which one of them can attract more of the women in town."

"DiNozzo must be having a ball," McGee muttered.

"Women in town includes the waitresses at Rade's," Cassie replied.

"Yeah. So while there might be specific loggers tied directly to the dead women - "

" - there were likely a whole bunch of others hitting on the waitresses just to compete with the Marines," Axelrod finished.

"Poor Kate," Cassie muttered. "This Nina Sutton business must be driving her up a wall."

"That just opened up our murder pool," Balboa groaned.

---

APARTMENT COMPLEX

Kate looked around the unit, looking up at the ceiling and breathing in deeply. No weird smells. That was good. She wasn't too good with the smell of smoke, and Rade's was bothering her enough with that without her apartment having to be like this, too.

"Nancy was a stickler for cleanliness," Lissa replied as she watched the brunette walk around, looking at the walls and the floor carefully.

"She must've been really good," Kate chuckled at her fellow waitress. "This place is immaculate."

"Well, management must have cleaned after she moved out."

"Who did you say was on the other side of me?"

"I'm on your left when you're entering the unit, and Em's on the right. Kim's caddy-corner. You'll meet them soon enough. I think they're at work."

Kate turned and paused a minute, then asked as gently and softly as she could, "Do you mind me asking...what...what Nancy was like?"

The other woman was taken aback for a moment, then shrugged. "Nancy...Nancy is - was - great," she replied slowly. "Like most of us, she was pretty enduring of a lot of the stuff that goes on at Rade's. She was a hard worker and made the best hard lemonades." Kate smiled, and Lissa chuckled. "She was serious, but she liked a good time. She let maybe two or three of the loggers and the Marines buy her a drink - just chatted. It was never really serious...at first."

Kate frowned. "Does Kennedy have a problem with us...seeing them?" she asked innocently.

Lissa shook her head. "That's not the problem. This town is small - it's sustained by the logging company and the Marine base. Tons of men, and the town has few women. So, you know." She nearly laughed at the exasperated eye-roll the newest waitress gave at that. "Yeah, alpha males getting together. It's like watching National Geographic antelopes or something."

Kate chuckled. "Is it that bad?"

Lissa shrugged. "Most of the time it just simmers. Kennedy likes it because it draws guys to the bar." She waved a hand in disdain. "Notice that all the waiters are female except two - and it's only women at night, when the loggers and the Marines come in."

---

NCIS HQ, AUTOPSY

"Ah, Jethro! Timothy," Ducky greeted as the doors opened to autopsy.

"You here for your sailor, or Bal's dead Romeo and Juliet?" Gerald asked.

"Agent Balboa thought you might like to know the autopsy reports for Gunnery Sergeant Michael Caywood and Nancy Koenig," Ducky said, handing Gibbs a file.

"Same MO as the others, isn't that what you said?" McGee asked.

"Yes, indeed. The young woman died from formaldehyde poisoning and the gunnery sergeant from a point-blank shot to the heart."

"What's that," McGee asked, wincing at the pictures on the plasma.

"Oh. We dug up the other bodies. Those are the waitresses' insides," Gerald replied. "They all kind of look the same - very oxygen-starved. The picture on the left is the picture taken during autopsy, and the picture on the right is from the body now. I think this one's #3."

"Agent Axelrod got a court-order to have the other bodies exhumed," Ducky explained. "The women obviously appeared to have decomposed marginally less than their male counterparts."

"Yeah, formaldehyde tends to do that," Gerald replied dryly. "Only people generally apply the formaldehyde for preservation AFTER death."

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

Scott watched in amusement as the headstrong brunette thumped Gus's drink down in front of him, hard, causing some of it to splash out over the ladies' man.

"Aw," he replied, but looked up at her with as charming a grin as he could muster. "You could serve a smile with that splash."

"A good tip would make me smile," she sassed back, the amusement in her voice taking some of the bite of her comment.

"Let me buy you a drink," Gus tried for the tenth time that week alone, and the waitress just rolled her eyes.

"She knows you like the back of her hand," Scott chuckled as she left.

"No she doesn't. The point of buying her a drink is so she can get to know the real me."

Scott rolled his eyes in amusement. Gus never gave up. "Yeah, and that's when she'll just pour the beer on you. I think she's got your number, Gus."

"Trust me, Scott, if she had my number, my phone would be ringing off the hook."

---

NCIS HQ

"In case Kate and Tony don't have anything," Balboa replied as he led the three of them toward Gibbs' team's area, "you remember our proposal, right? Cassie?"

Cassie narrowed her eyes at Balboa and Axelrod. "I don't understand why you two can't ask Kate. She's not going to do anything to you. She'd likely agree to it in the blink of an eye."

Axelrod made face. "It's not Kate we're worried about. It's the guy who has the desk next to hers."

"We never had to suggest something like this before," Balboa added. "Gibbs has qualms about hitting women - hitting Kate, at least - and you're the only woman among the three of us."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You owe me."

"Lunch at Cafe Atlantico. We remember." Balboa waved them quiet as they neared to hear the team talking.

"You've been there a month now," Gibbs was saying impatiently as the others entered.

McGee waved to them in silent greeting, and the other three slipped in silently so as not to disturb the chow-down Gibbs was giving DiNozzo and Todd.

"Gibbs, I know that," Kate retorted. "But I'm telling you, those waitresses are as in the dark as we are about who the killer is. And as much as I hate my boss - " Gibbs frowned " - at the bar-restaurant, Gibbs - I honestly do not think he knows, either."

"Kate," came Tony's voice over the speakerphone. "Kennedy is a huge jerk. He doesn't care about you guys. I don't see why he couldn't be the killer."

"Because he wouldn't waste the time, the money, or the energy to do that," Kate replied sharply. She turned to Balboa. "Look. He sees us all as pieces of meat. That's why he could replace Nancy Koenig so fast. He doesn't care. He wouldn't waste a phone call to 911 to save one of his girls. He certainly wouldn't take the time to plan out something this complicated or kill his own customers - the Marines."

"That's rougher conditions there than we thought," Axelrod muttered, stepping in for the first time. "Why do the waitresses stay?"

"Well, Kennedy isn't there but two days out of the week. His manager is Rick Quincy."

"We met him," Balboa nodded. "Nice guy."

"He is. He makes most of...everything more bearable."

"Could he be the killer?" McGee asked.

"I doubt it. I don't think he's even seen a real gun ever, much less shot one. He's a business mind."

"What about you, Tony?" Cassie Yates asked.

"I highly doubt it's one of the loggers," came Tony's voice over the speakerphone. "They don't like the Marines, but their competition with them is more a Cold War thing than anything. They don't even have problems with all the Marines. As for the waitresses, most of the guys here wouldn't do anything. They're on pretty friendly terms."

"We're not looking for the majority, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied. "We're looking for one killer. Or maybe two."

"There are some irritating loudmouths here, but I don't think any of them are killer quality."

"So, that has been entirely fruitless," Kate groaned. "And my clothes smell like smoke to boot."

"Maybe not entirely fruitless," Cassie murmured. She looked over at Balboa and Axelrod, who stared hard back at her. "If you're willing, Kate." She paused a minute. "It's been proposed...that...we could turn into you into bait." She noticed Axelrod and Balboa carefully avoiding the instant frowns appearing on Gibbs' and McGee's faces.

The woman in question, however, sat up suddenly. "That's a good idea," Kate said thoughtfully. "It's a good idea. Set up enough surveillance, and let the killer come after me."

"We'll monitor all your food, the air in your apartment, everything," Cassie replied, nodding. "And hopefully the killer'll come after you."

"You're forgetting a key component," McGee pointed out. "All the waitresses were seeing Marines. We'd have to get one to pursue Kate."

A laugh came over the speakerphone. "The way they were looking at you," Tony chortled. "It won't be a problem. Didn't I say before it's possible to work a field in high heels?"

---

TWO WEEKS LATER
NCIS HQ

"How hard is it for a beautiful woman to get a guy to do what she wants?" Gibbs barked as he leaned forward to put his elbows on his desk, rubbing his eyes.

Kate's eyes shot daggers at his head, and the brunette retorted, "Gibbs, short of throwing myself at every Marine that walks in the door and paying them to buy me a drink, I've tried everything." When a snort escaped Tony, she turned the death glare on him.

Balboa looked over at the other men - Gibbs not included - and could see them all trying to suppress their laughter. Even Cassie was having a little trouble trying not to smile at the scene before them.

It had been a few weeks, and while (according to Tony) every logger and unmarried Marine on the base had flirted with Kate's 'Nina Sutton,' no Marine was willing to go beyond that. Even by Tony's colorful descriptions - punctuated with Kate's pained looks - Kate had gone above and far beyond her usual level of public decorum to try to secure any possible interest from a Marine - interest that might draw the killer out again.

Axelrod had spent two days in town ostensibly to talk to the MPs again and retrod the murder scenes - but was really there to set up surveillance around Kate. Even he said that the normally proper Kate had been tossed aside - within reason, of course, given the nature of 'Nina Sutton.' Even so, nothing.

"My guess is that most of those Marines are gun shy because of what happened," Axelrod explained. "They just lost another guy to this psycho; they're not going to get involved with ANYBODY for awhile. Considering that dictator MP Mathis? He's most likely got surveillance on every Marine down there hoping to keep them from getting involved with a girl at the bar - and thus keep 'em alive."

"So, we're going to be stuck there for how long?" Kate asked, frowning.

"Not long, if our plan works," Balboa answered both questions. "Quite frankly we can't wait for this guy to kill again before we manage to catch him. The base is having enough trouble staying open - needless to say, there's been a mass exodus of residents since the murders began."

"Plan," Gibbs ordered, bringing them back to the topic.

"Well," Cassie began, before looking over at her two teammates. As before, Axelrod shook his head slightly as his eyes drifted nervously to Gibbs, and Balboa stared hard back. "Chickens," she muttered under her breath. She straightened and said to the team, "We...supply...the Marine who hooks up permanently with Nina Sutton. We set everything up."

Tony paused, a minute, his brow furrowed. "Run this by me again?"

"We set up the circumstances mirroring every murder we have, or the most common pattern," Balboa replied. "Marine dating one of the waitresses, logger who had shown interest in her. 'Gus Logan' already spent the last month trying to charm up every waitress in the bar - including 'Nina Sutton'."

"And failed miserably," Kate added sweetly. Tony made a face.

"Now, all we do is supply the Marine."

"Where are we going to get a Marine?" McGee asked.

"Well, if you had to get somebody to play a Marine, who would YOU get?" Cassie replied pointedly. Even she wasn't stupid enough to suggest her old boss' close friend play the role. Gibbs didn't have THAT many scruples about shooting women who annoyed him.

"Gibbs. He used to be a Marine," McGee replied without thinking. When Gibbs pinned him with a patented stare, he gulped. "I mean, I was...speaking...generally. Not...necessarily...for this case. Or...ever." He didn't seem to realize how deep he was digging his own grave. "I...just...meant...that...I'm sure you'd be...a good Marine. Like...you were before."

Tony snickered and reached over to pat McGee on the shoulder. "Quit while you're ahead, probie."

MARINE BASE

Sgt. Paul Stultz wiped the sweat from his forehead, finished out his bottle of water, and tossed it into the nearby trashcan, then continued towards his bunk. He stopped short when he saw the door open, then rushed in. "What the h-ll!" he shouted angrily.

Mathis turned around. "Sgt. Stultz."

"Master Sergeant Mathis," he replied in clipped but coldly polite tones. "I did not kill anybody."

"You were gone the weekend Caywood and his girlfriend got killed," Mathis replied shortly.

"I had leave that day that was on the books for months!" Stultz replied. "I had no idea Gunny Caywood was leaving with Nancy. Plus I have solid alibis for each other murder. You're looking for a serial killer."

Mathis whipped around and stepped straight into Stultz's face. "I am looking for killers, plural, SERGEANT," he said shortly. "Whether or not they happen to be the same man will come later."

---

NCIS HQ

"Major," Gibbs greeted with an extended hand as he appeared. "Glad you could make it."

"Anything for NCIS," Doherty replied with a big, friendly smile.

Gibbs chuckled. "It's rare we get that kind of cooperation."

Doherty grinned. "Well, then, let me rephrase that. I owe NCIS a favor."

"Major," came a familiar voice, and the tall Marine turned to see Kate's friendly smile, shaking her proffered hand. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise, Captain," the man replied, a twinkle in his eye as he shook her hand. The title got a smile out of her. "So, what can I do for NCIS?"

"You hear about the Caywood murder?" Gibbs asked.

Doherty sighed, the smile falling off his face. "Yes. It's been a huge problem, the deaths over there. That base is one of the best for training new Marines for wilderness and jungle training, but no one wants to go if Marines keep dying." He paused. "They put you on the case?" he asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

"We were asked by the team in charge to go undercover," Kate replied. "Agent DiNozzo and I have been vetted there for a few weeks now."

Doherty blinked. "Agent DiNozzo's undercover as a Marine?" he asked incredulously.

Both Kate and Gibbs chuckled at that. "No, no. Not with his hair," Gibbs replied, smiling. "We believed at the time one of the loggers from the logging company stationed nearby might have been the killer, but DiNozzo's time with them seems to say otherwise. Agent Todd is undercover as a waitress at the bar."

The Marine recruiters' CO winced in sympathy. "You're aware of this bar, I see," Kate replied lightly.

Doherty shook his head. "I don't envy you. I was down there a year ago, after one of our new recruits - out of boot camp a year - got sent there. He wasn't there but a few months, got involved with one of the girls there, and got killed. They took us to that restaurant. It's fine enough during the day, but it's seedy at night."

"To put it lightly," Kate smiled.

"To put it exceedingly lightly," Doherty replied, shaking his head. He saw Gibbs frown and then look at Kate. "I don't know if it's been cleaned up since then. Rumor has it the owner was pimping out some of his girls, and the 'waitress' front was just a front for illegal prostitution." He saw the former Marine's frown deepen and had to admit surprise that this bit of information had escaped the silver-haired agent's notice. "You didn't know?" He looked between Gibbs and Kate quickly.

"I know," Kate replied, and turned to feel Gibbs' frown on her. "Gibbs. I'm fine. I'm not going to screw up your case," she replied shortly.

Doherty frowned as he looked from one agent to another. He didn't think that's what the NCIS agent was thinking when he looked at her, but he let it go. "So, now?"

"I'm going to the base," Gibbs replied. "As a Marine. I need a cover story. Considering that some of the recruits who are there now could have been from any of those I saw that one day I was playing recruiter - I was hoping to play it safe. I need you to help me with my ID and my cover story."

"And Agent Todd?"

"I didn't speak with any of the recruits - didn't even face them. It shouldn't be a problem. It hasn't been."

Doherty nodded. "It would be my pleasure."

---

MARINE BASE

Howe sighed as Mathis began another long explanation. "Master Sergeant, all I'm asking is if it was necessary to go through Sgt. Stultz's things. You know most days he'd rather set a mouse in the office free instead of killing it."

"Gunnery Sergeant Howe. I do not care."

"I know you have a job to do," Howe countered. "But setting all these guys on permanent edge isn't going to help."

"You do your job, and I'll do mine," Mathis replied sharply as he flipped over the last sheet of Howe's roll. "Here. Have you found somebody to take over Caywood's place yet?"

"Washington will send somebody."

"Good." Mathis started heading out, then stopped at the doorway. "Let's just hope he leaves here alive."

Howe sighed as Mathis left.

---

NCIS HQ

"What is going on?" Gibbs replied, stepping in front of Kate as she started to leave his desk.

"What?" Kate replied, looking up.

"Why didn't you tell me about the bar."

"I thought you knew."

"You were there when Balboa told us about the case," Gibbs replied sharply. "He didn't tell us about the prostitution part."

"I didn't think it was that important," Kate said defensively. "The girls said it hasn't happened in almost half a year."

"It's still an unknown in the case," Gibbs replied, more sharply than he intended. Her laissez-faire attitude was agitating him more and more, and he wasn't even sure why. "I should have known about it."

"Gibbs," she retorted. "This is a problem on my side of the case. And don't worry, I'm not going to screw up the case, all right?" She moved around him and headed downstairs, most likely to Abby's lab.

He sighed and ran a frustrated hand over his face, then went down after her.



"No, no, Minnesota," Doherty replied. "Make Thomas' usual base of recruitment is Minnesota. We don't send any of those recruits to this base, so we won't have to contend with any Minnesotan recruits saying they don't remember him."

"Great," Abby nodded, bouncing in her chair as she continued making up the ID. "Is there anything else?"

"No, I think that's it."

"Cover story?" Kate asked as the doors opened and she came in. She handed the Marine recruiter a list of names. "These are all the names and recruiters who signed the Marines at the base."

Doherty scanned it quickly. "We're good. Where is Agent Gibbs, anyhow?"

"Right here," Gibbs replied. "Thanks for the ID, Abs. Major, what's the excuse going to be?"

Doherty shrugged. "I can tell them that we're sending you down there to check on morale since the killings. That's the best I've been able to come up with."

Gibbs nodded. "I'll have the commandant write me in for filling in Caywood's position until further notice." With that, he left with the Marine, leaving Kate behind without so much a word.

Kate shot a glare at his back. "He's like the Grinch sometimes, only worse," she grumbled.

Abby bounched in her chair a little. "Kaaaate, please?"

"What?"

"Shoulder rub!" Abby turned her back to her friend and sat and waited. Kate sighed but rubbed her hands together and started kneading out the knots in Abby's shoulders. "You've been gone so long that it's all been building up!"

---

NEXT DAY
MARINE BASE

"I can't believe he actually agreed to this," murmured Balboa from where he, Axelrod, McGee, and Cassie sat at the Marine base, eating lunch.

Kate and Tony had returned already, and now Gibbs was arriving. McGee didn't seem to mind much not being tossed in to the whirlpool, content to return with the other agents to Washington in two days. Balboa had brought him down to check the listening devices they had set up around Kate's apartment building and around the bar-restaurant.

"Who're those two guys?" McGee asked quietly.

"That's Sergeant Major Isaac Mathis," Balboa replied in a low voice. "He's the chief MP on the case. Needless to say, even if he wasn't such a stickler before, this case has him on permanent edge. The other one's Gunnery Sergeant Sam Howe. He's one of the DIs. Good guy. From what I understand, the recruits love him. He's a mainstay - his wife Theodora and his three kids are living fairly close by to the base, although he did mention thinking about moving after the murders started."

"Can't say I blame him," Cassie muttered.



"Alvin Thomas," Howe said slowly. "You were on the news just about a year or two ago? The recruiters. I knew your name sounded familiar." He shook hands with the gunny, who just smiled a little in reply. "We used to get recruits from Staff Sergeant Allen and from Gunnery Sergeant Alvarez all the time."

"They were good men," Thomas nodded.

"Did you stay in the area long?" Mathis asked, almost pointedly.

"No," Major Doherty replied, cutting in carefully as he looked at Mathis. "He volunteered to continue recruiting in Alvarez's office, and after we caught the sniper, he returned to his usual recruiting base in Minnesota."

"So what brings you back to the East Coast?" Howe asked in as friendly a manner as he could, trying not to snap at Mathis. The serial killings had made the man too paranoid. It would do no good to make a major and one of the Corps' best recruiters mad, particularly during evaluation time.

"I was asked to look into recruit morale," Thomas replied. "Drew random names out of a hat for which bases to visit."

"I also informed Gunny Thomas that the base could use some temporary administrative help after talking to your base CO," Major Doherty replied pointedly, pulling officer's rank. "Thomas agreed to take over what he can of...Gunnery Sergeant Caywood's paperwork while he's here."

Mathis looked suspicious, but Howe kept his emotions in check. "Never met a Marine who wanted to push papers," he replied lightly. "But welcome."

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

"He's a fine Marine. If all Marines looked like him, I would've joined."

"No you wouldn't. You couldn't take those starched uniforms. But he is easy on the eyes."

"He's like an eye-fest!"

Kim just rolled her eyes in amusement. "You are a piece of work," she replied to Jaime, then turned when in stepped the newest waitress. "Hey Nina," she greeted.

"Hey, Nina!" Jaime greeted. "You see the hot new Marine?"

"That would be the first thing out of your mouth," Erin replied, giving Jaime a playfully stern look and shoving a tray into her hands.

"There's a new Marine on the base," Kim explained to Kate as she headed out with her full tray. "Gunny Howe brought him in to lunch today. He's been in town two days, I think, and Jaime's got enough drool on her tray to swim in."

Kate nodded as she tucked her order notepad into her apron pocket. "Is he really as hot as Jaime says?" she replied, her eyes dancing in merriment. "Or is it along the lines of 'PFC Boder is hot'."

"PFC Boder is cute," Jaime protested.

"He's a stick with hair," Kim retorted. "He looks like a mop turned upside down."

The other women laughed as Jaime made a face. "You know Jaime," Erin said to Kate. "She gets excited about pink smoothies." She smiled when the other woman laughed as she picked up her tray.



Howe leaned back in his chair and grinned. It has been a busy week of adjustments, including having a new face in Caywood's old desk. He still missed Mike's quips and great humor, and Thomas was nowhere like Mike. But he had his own, subtle sense of humor he so rarely voiced. It took one watching him closely to see the amusement in his eyes at something funny - eyes which so rarely missed anything.

It was hard not to like a guy like Thomas, despite the whole evaluation thing. He was really a Marine's Marine and not prone to being picky. Howe had discovered that Thomas had served briefly in the Gulf, so he wasn't entirely a paper-pusher; it was a lot easier to feel less antsy about Thomas' evals now that he knew the man understood combat. So it didn't take much for Howe to invite the newest guy on base to lunch that Tuesday, and then again to Rade's today after work. They could all afford to kick back on Friday.

"Hi guys," greeted a cheerful voice, and the men looked up to see Emily. "See you all cut out work early today."

Howe chuckled and nodded. "Thomas, Emily Cantrell," he introduced. "Em's been working here a coupla years. Em, this is Gunny Alvin Thomas."

"Your rep precedes you," she kidded. "One of the Marines who comes in here, he said his buddy at Quantico knew you - joined up because 'The Corps must be awesome if all guys were as cool as Thomas and and as hot as his CO.' Your CO must've been something."

Thomas laughed at that. "Yeah," he chuckled. "She could be counted as a 'hottie.'"

"You could recruit me for the Corps," she replied, laughing, bouncing an eyebrow as she extended a hand to shake his. "If all guys in the Corps looked like you."

Howe chuckled. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Em."

Cantrell laughed. "What can I get you guys today?"

"Jack Daniels," Howe replied, "and Stultz is in the head.... Uh, get him a regular beer." He looked at Thomas. "You?"

"Coffee, black." Thomas nodded. "Thank you."

"Polite, too," Cantrell half-oohed in a laughing tone as she left.

Howe chuckled as he looked over at Thomas. The man didn't looked embarrassed, but he certainly wasn't gloating or anything at the attention lavished on him. It was amusing. "Em's harmless," he said quietly. "She's not one of the ones I said was trying to marry out."

"Why do they want to?"

Howe's eyes drifted over the bar owner, and he saw Thomas' follow his. "Bar owner? Kennedy gives me the creeps, and I'm a DI." He shook his head. "He abuses his waitresses." At Thomas' frown, Howe continued, "He pimps them out to customers who pay. Less than half a year ago the entire restaurant was shut down for a month. They lost half their staff to charges of prostitution."

"What about Kennedy?"

"Got off scot-free. His old manager took the rap. With this new guy - Rick Quincy - he won't tolerate it. Kennedy can't get rid of him, because Quincy managed to recover the financial losses turning the place into this semi-respectable bar, so the pimping's stopped." He paused. "For now. If Kennedy can do it without Quincy's knowledge, though, you bet he'll do it."

He sighed. "A lot of the girls are here because that's the only well-paying job around here for miles. And I understand it pays VERY well. Most of these are good women. They need the money. I know a couple of the Marines, a logger or two, who'll slip them extra money for those who might be in a pinch. Theodora has done it too, when I've brought her here."

"You bring her here?" Thomas looked surprised.

"Not until four months ago," Howe replied. "When Rick Quincy came, he began this vigorous campaign to right the place, make it respectable. He's here every day during the day, and he's made it a really nice place, especially in the day time. The waitresses deeply appreciate him for it. Sometimes it gets a little rowdy at night, though. I only bring my family before 5 pm."

"Sounds rough for the workers here."

"Once they have what they need, they're out."

"Kennedy can't like losing his waitresses like that."

Howe snorted. "He treats them like meat. He doesn't care. He most likely wouldn't even waste breath to reprimand a guy who smacked one." He shook his head. "You can tell why most of these women want to leave."

The DI continued, "Common knowledge that most of these women aren't happy here, but most are too proud to...try to con a guy into marriage. They'll accept help, but that's it. Some of girls are determined to marry out. One was determined to catch an officer. We had one or two Marines suckered over the last few years."

"That can't be fun," Thomas muttered.

"Some of these guys - they see a pretty woman and their brains drop below their belts." He shook his head. "The MPs have gotten calls about fistfights over women. Marines and Marines, Marines and loggers."

"And the women?"

"Well, they're not fighting, if that's what you're asking." Thomas chuckled, and Howe grinned. "No, they just let it go. Some just want to get their job done. They come in, they go, that's it. A precious few are here to marry out. Some are here to have a good time...they bounce from Marine to logger and back. Those are the real problems."

"Problems?"

"The Marines who get involved with the girls here? End up murdered." He looked up to see the newest waitress approaching them, their order on her tray, and shot a look at Thomas that they would discuss this later. "Nina?"

She looked a little surprised, then smiled at being remembered. "Yes. You are...Gunny Howe." She smiled when she remembered correctly, then moved aside to let Stultz sit down. "I met your wife a few days ago - Theodora?"

"Yes," Howe replied, nodding, and quite impressed at her memory. "You're good with names." She laughed a little. "This is Alvin Thomas. He just started here this week."

"Gunny," the brunette said firmly after a moment, looking at the stripes on the sleeve of the jacket sitting on the chair.

"You know your ranks," Howe chuckled, and Sutton smiled.

"New kid on the block's been doing her homework?" came the soft voice, tinged with laughter.

Howe's amused glance dropped instantly from the waitress to the new Marine. He watched, completely surprised, as the Marine recruiter looked up at the new waitress with an expression Howe had not seen in the whole week the man had been there. Apparently Stultz hadn't, either, as the man turned a slightly shocked look on the new gunny until he saw Howe looking at him, and then he quickly cleared his throat and sipped some water.

It wasn't amusement, but it wasn't displeasure. He had a tiny smile on his face, his look intense yet soft and gentle - things Howe would have never associated with the Gunnery Sergeant Thomas he had known for the past week. Surprising, to say the least. This from the recruiter who amused himself by making underlings - Marines, no less - scuttle from his office looking ready to wet their pants.

Sutton looked slightly taken aback. To her credit, she didn't break eye contact, just looking back at him steadily but looking slightly puzzled and curious. After what seemed to Howe an interminable silence, a shy smile peeked out. The DI's mind scanned through every 'war story' he'd heard from the Marines on base about the newest waitress - no, nothing close to resembling 'shy' on the list. What the h-ll....

Thomas' smile then widened slightly at her, and Nina blushed just the tiniest bit. "Working this close to a Marine base, I think it would be to my benefit to pick up on these things," she replied as lightly as she could. "I think I've seen you here a few times?"

"I've come twice."

"And served by those more experienced than I," she replied, her eyes twinkling. "I'm afraid you'll have to put up with me this time around."

"I can live with that," he replied in a tone that indicated he was hardly at all put-upon that she was serving them. He smiled up at her.

Her big brown eyes smiled briefly down at the recruiter before she carefully as she set their beverages before them, a few murmured and smiled thanks. "Jack Daniels, regular beer, and a coffee, black."

Howe then turned his gaze back on the recruiter; Thomas hadn't taken his eyes of the waitress yet, even as his hands closed over the coffee mug and he murmured a soft "thank you."

"I'd taste it before I said anything," Nina replied with a teasing smile. "Some days, it tastes like the cook ran out of coffee filters." There were a couple chuckles.

Howe saw her pause momentarily, and the gunny soon gave her a reason not to leave immediately. Holding her gaze, he lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip. "It's very good," he said with a tiny smile, still watching her for a reaction as he lowered the mug.

She blinked in disbelief. "Really."

Howe nearly choked on his Daniels as Thomas stood up, holding the mug in his hands and still looking down at her, a serious expression on his face, but his eyes soft. He offered the mug to her.

Nina let out a nervous laugh, and it disappeared as she looked at him puzzledly, then carefully tucked her tray under her arm. Her hands began to reach for the mug, and she obviously expected him to let go of it. Instead, he lifted the mug to her lips, his other hand closing over hers as he did. For a moment they just stood there, with her looking at him just slightly curiously as he smiled gently at her.

She then sipped a little, and blinked, her eyes widening at the taste. "Whew," she commented hoarsely, still reacting to the sip, but she didn't step away. "No thanks."

The Marines chuckled, and the recruiter continued to watch her, the corner of his lips twitching slightly into a soft smile, his eyes twinkling at her.

Howe watched as the waitress smiled genuinely back at him for a moment, her hands still hovering over the cup he held before her, before she suddenly seemed to realize that there were others there. She quickly turned back, blushing, and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. "Can I get you guys anything else?"

"We're good," Howe replied quickly. "Thanks, Nina." The DI returned her smile and nod of acknowledgment as she walked away, then turned his gaze to the gunny. The silver-haired man didn't watch her leave, but seemed to smile ever so slightly at his mug before sitting down.

Howe had the instincts to look away before Thomas looked up, but Stultz was caught redhanded by the recruiter. "Something wrong, Sergeant?"

"No. No, sir."

---

TWO DAYS LATER
NCIS HQ

"Hey!" Abby greeted as the team finally came to her lab, looking weary. "You've been gone for days. Director Morrow was starting to wonder."

"It's going to suck to be you," Cassie muttered. "They wired the whole town, including the fat pigeon sitting on the power line above the bar."

Balboa spread three large floorplans onto the desk, McGee, Axelrod, and Cassie on the other side of the table. "Rade's. We put up bugs here, here, and here. McGee even got into Kennedy's office."

"Wow," Abby grinned proudly. "Nice, McGee."

"In the apartment complex, we bugged up some of the hallways, right here, here, and here." He pointed. "We're going to tie everything into MTAC for McGee to monitor."

"And we put several cases of those tiny little tube testers in Kate's closet," McGee replied. "She can use them to test her water, since that's where you figured they were getting the formaldehyde into their systems," he said to Abby.

"On base, MP Mathis set up bugs all over the place. I think he's got listening devices on his listening devices."

"So now we just sit and wait," Axelrod said.

---

LOGGING AREA

"You hear about the new Marine?" Scott asked as Gus Logan hopped down from the machine. It had been a few weeks since the man had arrived in town, but their logging team had been working round-the-clock that whole time.

"Recruiter," Gus replied as he squirted water from his bottle onto his face.

Scott nodded. "Seems to me a Marine recruiter on a Marine base is preaching to the choir." Gus nodded, and then Scott chuckled. "Want to know what Greg said?"

Gus grinned in anticipation of the story, and Scott couldn't blame him. Greg Worth was excitable, to say the least. "He said the waitresses have been swooning at the new guy's feet so much they ought to wear helmets."

For some reason, Gus Logan found this far funnier than Scott would have suspected - the man was almost wiping tears from his eyes. It wasn't THAT funny. Scott looked at him, slightly puzzled, and Logan finally quieted. "Worth's a character. But hey," Gus replied, turning his grin back on. "Can you blame those poor girls?"

Scott blinked. "What?"

"With our team working 'round the clock, they're in desperate need of even semi-ruggedly handsome faces," Logan replied with a huge grin. "When we finally get some time off and head back there and they see us, it'll all be back to normal."

Scott shook his head with an amused grin, in spite of himself. "You're terrible."

Gus Logan grinned wide.

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

Lissa loaded up her tray again - her last before her break - and started to work the room again.

She heard the voices before she saw them - they were sitting in a corner, trying to avoid prying eyes, but it was difficult not to see.

Nina was smiling, amused by something. Her eyes laughed, and Lissa thought her smile was different. Beneath the tough, brassy waitress image, she had a soft, vulnerable side which so rarely peeked out. Lissa had only seen it a few times over the roughly two months she had been here, when they had talked about one of the murders. But Lissa had never seen it at work. Nina's smiles here were always that of the confident, snarky, Nina - not this.

She never smiled at any other man like that. Only Thomas.

Nina seemed, in the very least, less comfortable in the seedy surroundings; Erin, Lissa herself, and the others tried to help her ease into her new job. She was willing to learn and properly respectful of them when Nancy was mentioned - neither being flippant or cheaply sympathetic. That had endeared her to the others quickly.

Nina had SAID she understood Lissa's warning.

It was the new cardinal and unspoken rule at Rade's that Nancy had stupidly violated: one did not get involved with the Marines. Nothing wrong with them, but considering the deaths over the last year.... Nancy's relationship with Michael Caywood had ended up with them dead and had NCIS and the local police swarming all over the place again.

One did not fall for Marines. Period.

Lissa understood that Nancy was falling for Sgt. Caywood; who wouldn't? He was kind to her, a good guy overall, and he had a devastating sense of humor to boot. He had always treated all the waitresses with respect, more than could be said of some of the other Marines and of some of the loggers.

Nancy and Mike knew the score. Mike was leaving with his new orders in two weeks, and Nancy had actually already quit and moved out of the general apartment complex where a lot of the girls had lived. They had hoped to beat the odds - and ended up one of them.

Lissa flinched as she remembered banging on Nancy's hotel room door, and picking the lock and going in to find Nancy and Mike dead, Nancy blue in her fingers and lips and Mike shot in the heart. She heard Nina laugh softly and turned to see the corners of Thomas' eyes crinkle slightly as he smiled at her.

Lissa saw red. She shoved her tray into Kim's hands. "The last four are at that table," she said, pointing.

"Lissa, this is Nina's choice."

"She's going to be poisoned to death," Lissa hissed.

"She's happy," Kim whispered.

"Not if she's dead," Lissa snapped. "And she's not going to be happy when he dies, either." She left the other woman behind, took a deep breath, and headed over to the corner booth. "Gunny Thomas," she greeted with as much grace as she could muster. "Nina, come on."

She blinked. "But I still have a couple minutes left on my break."

"Now, Nina." Lissa reached down and picked her up by her arm. "Let's go. Excuse us, Gunny."

He nodded, but Lissa could still feel the sharp blue eyes following them as they left the room. She doubted they missed anything.

"Nina," Lissa snapped when they were out of earshot. "What is wrong with you? What did I tell you about dating Marines?"

"We're not dating," Nina snapped. "We were talking. He happened to be in here when I was on break."

"Right. He happens to come in right when you're working...and close enough to your break times."

"I work every night, Lissa. It's not like I don't see some people here very night."

"You've fallen for him, Nina," Lissa said quietly. For some reason, Nina looked so much more shocked than the other waitress had expected, and for a moment Lissa wondered if she had hit another nerve elsewhere. "And for his safety you need to avoid him."

"Look," Nina shook her head. "It's not mutual, and for that - "

"Are you stupid?" Lissa snapped. "Just because he doesn't do anything publicly, you think that we haven't seen it? I've overhead the loggers taking bets about when he jumps you. And if you were any indication, I don't think Gunny Thomas realizes it, either. But everyone else sees it, and since somebody who is neither you nor Gunny Thomas is killing people, they see it, too. And both of you are going to die for it." She sighed and opened the door to go back inside. "You need to decide if it's worth it."

CARNIVAL

"Town this small," Em began, "we don't get a lot of entertainment beyond that local movie theater and the bowling alley. Every year when they have this festival it's a pretty big to do."

"It's kind of nice," Nina replied, looking around. "Not having the insane bustle of the city."

"It's nice to be out," Kim sighed happily, looking around the fairgrounds. "Even if it's just the five of us."

"The other shift will get to come tomorrow," Erin replied mildly, pulling her purse higher up on her shoulder. "I'm all for funnel cake. Who's with me?"

Nina laughed, and Kim smiled. She hadn't seen their newest coworker looking so happy and carefree in a long while. Nina was still uncomfortable with the generally rowdy, loud, and sometimes bawdy atmosphere in Rade's at night, even after three months, and that seemed to wear on her a lot more than the work itself. The respite was nice for her, and it was nice for them to see her feeling better.

As they were walking on the boardwalk, they heard the man in the dunk tank start heckling somebody nearby. "Hey old man! Betcha ten you couldn't see the target to hit it!" There was a pause, and then, "Are you serving with them Marines or are you their father?"

Em pointed - lounging in chairs close to the dunking booth were a group of Marines from the base, the silver-haired recruiter included. "Must be them."

"Thomas is even hotter in civvies than he is in uniform," Jaime sighed happily, and Em rolled her eyes.

"They got him riled up," Kim chuckled as they went over to greet their usual customers. The Marines began to cheer when Thomas got up.

As he approached the line, Stultz grinned up at the waitresses. "You're just in time to watch the show."

"Make sure you take a Bayer before you try to throw!" the dunk tank man heckled. "Don't want you to hurt a muscle or nothing!"

"He's going to kill 'im," Elmore snickered.

The teen handling the exhibit handed Gibbs three balls. "Go ahead, sir."

One.

There was a huge splash as the man went into the tank.

"Lucky shot, lucky shot!" he laughed as he climbed out, dripping wet.

The baseballs pinged two more times against the metal target, sending the man plunging into the water twice more.

The others standing around started laughing as Thomas straightened, the man thoroughly soaked. He good-naturedly held up his hands, laughing as he conceded. "Great shots."

There was good-natured ribbing as Thomas rejoined them, and he smiled at all of them, but Erin watched as his eyes lingered on Nina for just a fraction longer. The veteran waitress thought it was just her imagination, and then she watched as his smile softened just slightly as he greeted the newcomer.

Her small blush and returned smile was quickly cut off when Stultz grinned and challenged, "How 'bout one of you do it?"

---

NCIS HQ

"Hey guys." Abby bounced in. "I tested everything you brought up from this past weekend and compared it with everything from the few weeks' before. You know that sandwich meat that Kate's consistently nervous about, week after week after week?"

"Yeah?"

"It's got enough preservatives to make her insides last for years, but it's not formaldehyde."

"Not that that makes me feel any better," Cassie muttered, looking at her sandwich and suddenly feeling a little nauseated.

"Anything from Master Sergeant Mathis?" Balboa asked, trotting in and dropping his coat on his chair.

Axelrod snorted. "Besides a bad case of stomach ulcers?"

"Cute. No, really."

"He sent us 'suspicious contents' of one private's locker," Abby explained, "but it turns out the hinky stuff in the scary black bottle that the private kept in his locker was an antibiotic for his ear infection. Boy, was his DI mad when he found out that the private had gone to an off-base doctor so he could hide his condition."

---

CARNIVAL

"They're cheatin'," was the first thing out of Stultz's mouth.

Kim frowned, watching as each competitor walked away without success. The man running the booth called out encouragingly after each, his shooting partner taking the time to reload his revolver. She watched them go through ten competitors and then her suspicious nature kicked in. She knew they were running some kind of scam, but she wasn't sure what.

A young man stepped up, his friends standing nearby. The boy then stepped up nervously to the range and put down a dollar before letting the man clap down the mufflers over his ears.

She was puzzled - the boy's stance seemed good, and he was calm. Quite frankly, she didn't understand that well how the booth shooter kept winning, but then again, the only thing she knew about guns was what she saw on TV.

He's cheating somehow," Stultz repeated to the group of Marines and waitresses, watching from a distance. "I just know it. I'll bet those targets are rigged - that every time they load up new targets for a new shooter, they're putting up a target with holes in the center for that booth shooter."

"There's no way anybody who knows their way around a rifle can lose to a guy shooting a handgun," Elmore explained to the gathered waitresses. "The cards are stacked against the handgun shooter. That's how they're getting so many people to come and play. I'll bet they all think he's cheating, they just can't prove it."

"The handgun barrel is kind of long," Nina said softly. "Wouldn't that help?" At the surprised looks she got, she seemed slightly caught, then explained, "I shot rifle in high school."

"That would help," Thomas murmured. "But not that much." He paused. "I think he's shooting blanks at his targets."

Elmore looked at the older man in awe. "You can hear the difference?"

"Blanks," Erin cut in, looking at the recruiter questioningly.

"That second shooter we saw - his shots were all louder than the booth shooters, and they were using the same type of gun," Thomas said quietly. "Blanks shoot less loudly."

"D-ng," Stultz breathed. "They've got a good rig up! They shoot six rounds, it sounds like they fired off all the shots."

Thomas nodded. "It's a good scam." He paused a minute, then turned to Nina.

Lissa watched warily as Thomas leaned over, whispering intimately into Nina's ear. Over Thomas' back and shoulder she could see Nina's face, shadowed by his broad chest, and the growing dimpled smile was unmistakable. She nodded, and Thomas chuckled before turning to the Marines. "Want to have some fun?"



"Do we have another taker?" The booth manager grinned. "Step right up!"

A young couple came up to shoot, the guy cockily handing his girlfriend his jacket and smirking at the booth shooter. From a distance, she could still see the young man who'd just shot disappear into the crowd with his friends.

Lissa almost hoped that Thomas wouldn't say anything until after this jerk at the range got shown up.

Firing - and again the booth shooter won, this time with all six punched together in what looked like one giant hole.

As the young couple walked away, the boyfriend claiming it was just "bad luck" and so on, Thomas made his move. He looked at the booth's shooter and said quietly, "Your shots weren't as loud as those you were shooting against."

The booth shooter looked up instantly. "Excuse me?"

"Your shots weren't as loud as those you were shooting against," Thomas repeated. He watched with satisfaction as the booth manager's face drained of all color. He then turned to the hardened booth shooter. "They're actually firing real bullets. You're firing blanks at a rigged target. You let me load the weapons."

From a few feet away, Stultz, listening to every word, chuckled. He let a competitor go first - who unfortunately was that poor of a shot and would have lost anyhow. The booth shooter gave Thomas a "See?" smirk.

It was time to show them up. Stultz, hidden on the side of the booth, waved to Nina. He hoped Thomas knew what he was doing, giving a green waitress - even one who had shot rifle in high school - the task of showing up the shooter.

The Marine felt his mouth drop as Nina fairly skipped up, twirling a lock of hair around a finger nervously. "Hi," she cooed coyly when she approached. "Oh, this just looks like so much fun!" she gushed.

Thomas rolled his eyes at her for good measure.

"Pick your weapon of choice," the booth manager welcomed. "You can use a handgun, a rifle, or shotgun."

"Oh...." Nina's face fell in mock confusion. "Well, I'll use whatever you use!" she said brightly.

Cpl. Elmore was standing a few feet away, his mouth hanging open at the complete ditziness being exuded. He'd never seen her behave like this before. The hair twirled around a finger had to be the straw that broke the camel's back - his sister had done that when she was thirteen. It was like watching a teenybopper.

"Well, we use a handgun, but a rifle will give you better accuracy," the manager cooed, obviously completely taken by her act.

"Oh, no, no," Nina shook her head. "If I use a rifle, then we all do!" She handed the booth shooter a rifle, who handed it to Thomas - looking rather unimpressed - to load the bullets.

The booth shooter shot first, and then Kate daintily skipped up to the booth. "Can you help me with these...thingies?" she asked with mock puzzlement, holding up between her thumb and her forefinger the muffs by the strap connecting them, acting as though she were holding up a dirty handkerchief or something.

"Sure, babe," the booth shooter replied, half-leering. Nina just beamed back at him like an innocent fool, and Thomas snorted impatiently.

"I don't know whether to be utterly impressed that Nina can play the dumbest floozy I've ever seen," Erin whispered, "or be horrified that she can."

"Those cheats'll get what they deserve when she outshoots them."

Both men were falling over their feet to help her with her muffs, and then they handed her the gun.

Nina gave them one last, flirty smile, then turned to the target, tossing in a last dumb comment. "Which target is mine?" she asked, swinging the gun around with her at the same time, the barrel nearly hitting the shooter in the chest. "Oh," she replied, nodding and flashing another fakely grateful smile as they pointed it out. "This is cool!" she announced loudly.

She carefully took the gun, nodding eagerly at the last minute directions given to her.

Thomas watched with pretended disinterest as she stepped up to the line. He watched as Nina straightened and brought the gun up with expertise, then fired off a quick round of shots.

He tried not to smirk as the manager's face fell. The targets moved up slowly on their mechanically pulley; the booth's shooter had gotten only two in the center, the other four scattered around in the next ring out. Nina's shots were all nestled neatly in the center of the target. "Did I win?" she shrieked, bouncing up and down. "Aw, look at that!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I'll take that one," she replied, pointing at the largest stuffed animal on display and giving each man a peck on the cheek as she danced off with the huge, soft toy, leaving behind in her whirlwind wake the two stunned men.

Elmore and the waitresses were laughing so hard they had to lean on each other for support. Stultz tried not to chuckle out loud, and Thomas just grinned.



They were all sitting in the back seat of a music concert tent when Lissa felt somebody standing behind them. She stood up, a grin as wide as his. "Took you awhile, Gunny Thomas," she commented, standing up.

"I sat through two more rounds just not to raise suspicion," Thomas replied, his eyes dancing. "Nice shooting, Nina."

"I learned well," she smiled in amusement.

"Nice acting, too," Thomas chuckled.

At that, Nina rolled her eyes. "I felt so stupid doing that," she muttered. "I feel like I need to shower to wash that idiocy off of me."

Thomas smiled, and Kim wondered if she was the only one who noticed him unconsciously slipping a protective arm around Nina's waist, protecting her from the bustling line trying to get out from the tent. "Well, it was pretty amusing. You should've seen their faces after you beat them."

"That's why I did it," Nina admitted. "They so needed to be taught a good lesson." She pointed to the gigantic animal. "You want it?" She turned to the other Marines. "Any of you? You guys took the booth down."

"No way," Stultz shook his head. "I show up on base carrying a four-foot tall pink rabbit and I'll never hear the end of it." He grinned as the others laughed, then added, "You could make him Rade's mascot."

Nina chuckled. "Perhaps. I just don't relish carrying it all day."

"Let's put it out in the car, then," Lissa proposed.

"I'll do it," Nina replied, holding her hand out of the keys. "I'll catch up with you guys in just a few minutes." She started to reach for the rabbit, only to see the recruiter carefully tuck it under an arm. "Vin, I can get it."

Lissa looked up instantly at the use of the nickname, and seeing the startled looks on the others' faces, she wasn't the only one who'd noticed. She'd heard him called 'Al' once or twice, but Nina's easy use of her own nickname for him was surprising - to all of them but Thomas. "I got it," he insisted quietly, following her out.

The two disappeared into the crowds, the Marine's free hand hovering at the small of Nina's back. The group stood at the opening to the tent, watching warily, forlornly until they were out of sight. Erin finally spoke: "It's not just me seeing things between them, is it?"

"No," Stultz replied glumly. "It's not just you."



They were strolling comfortably between the cars in the quiet parking lot. "Nice catch on the handgun thing - saying that you shot rifle in high school." He grinned. "It also gave me a good excuse to use you in beating their scam."

Kate just chuckled. "Thank God. I kind of panicked when they caught me in that slip."

They made their way to the car, Kate unlocking the door to the back. Gibbs held out the rabbit at arm's length. "You had to choose their biggest prize."

"That's part of the humiliation," Kate smiled. "Maybe I'll glue him into DiNozzo's chair." Gibbs chuckled, and then Kate smirked, "I think you enjoyed getting even."

"Did I?" Gibbs replied innocently, amsuement written all over his face.

"You did."

"And you didn't?"

Kate chuckled. "It was fun."

"I was getting concerned when you picked up those muffs the way you did," he admitted.

"Oh, come now, don't you trust me?"

"You're a good actress," he smiled, and she laughed.

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

Kate was still standing with her back to the door as she wiped down the tables to wait for the early lunch rush. At the knock, she called without looking up, "We don't open for another hour."

She folded up her rag and tensed, then turned quickly to see MP Mathis a couple feet away - inside. Kate bit back her gasp and had to stifle her immediate impulse to reach for her (now non-existent) gun. "Master Sergeant," she said as calmly as she could. "Our cook is...just firing his stove up. He won't be ready for another half hour. You're welcome to sit if you like."

"I'm not here to eat." He walked around to face her.

Kate had to admit, she'd never been interrogated as part of a case before. Oh, sure, they had asked her questions about Cmdr. Trapp on Air Force One, and Gibbs had shoved her into the bathroom for what was more a mean beatdown than a questioning, but she was generally the questioner.

She straightened, determined not to let the MP scare her. She smiled graciously and nodded. "What can I do for you, Master Sergeant?"

"Why are you here?" He sure didn't waste time with pleasantries.

"Excuse me?"

"The entire base is talking about you and Thomas," the Marine replied shortly. Well, Kate had to admit, he certainly was blunt and honest. "I want to know why you are here. This isn't exactly the best job, and no offense, ma'am, but you're not exactly the type who'd fit into this kind of environment."

Kate straightened. "Not that it's any of your business," she retorted, "but I am here because my mother took ill. Among those of us still at home, somebody had to come out to work. I was not about to let my sister be the one to do so."

"You're not from around here."

"No, I'm not. We recently moved two hours away. Since they have no better jobs than do here, I went as far as I could. Without my complete college degree, jobs are a little difficult to come by," she replied sharply, following the script. "I needed one that would pay well and quickly. This job has more flexible hours with higher pay, and it didn't have a problem with the fact that I didn't have waitressing experience."

"Do you know why?"

Kate didn't say anything.

"Do you wish you were out yet?" Mathis asked in a small hiss, raising an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You've been here a few weeks. It can't be the best job you've had."

"No, it hasn't," she replied firmly. "But it pays well." She thought for a moment and remembered Gibbs' statement from Howe - that some of the girls tried to marry out for financial needs. "And when my family circumstances stabilizes financially, I will go."

Mathis' eyes shot up to her face at that.

---

MARINE BASE

"...was doing all different things," MacDow replied to Thomas' question as he stapled a packet and set it aside. "I was on a mobile training team in South America for awhile - Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Peru."

"Beats sitting all day," Thomas replied with the slightest bit of envy. "I hate riding a desk."

MacDow chuckled. "Easier to date and marry, I guess, if you're stable, though."

"Yes sir. But if women marry Marines, they ought to know what they're getting into."

"There's a reason they say love is blind." Capt. MacDow stapled another packet.

"You're all heart, sir," Thomas commented, trying not to laugh.

MacDow gave him a slightly puzzled look. "You still believe in it?" he asked, dropping the enlisted-officer tone he used when on base.

"Sure. Marriage, kids, everything." MacDow looked at him, his mouth hanging open. "I'm not good at it, but it's a good thing. Look at Gunnery Sergeant Howe. It's worked well for him."

MacDow looked at him, still slightly stunned. "Gunny, purely as a younger guy asking somebody with more experience, no ranks, nothing: are you serious about what you just said?"

"Sure."

MacDow clamped his mouth shut, still looking at the older man in surprise. "Somebody change your mind?" At Thomas' raised eyebrow, the captain just stopped and smiled, shaking his head. "Never mind."

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

He appeared out of nowhere the minute her tray was put down. "You all right?" he murmured, looking at her.

Kate was sure she looked a mess. The day had started pretty badly with Mathis' visit and just gone downhill from there, and she was completely exhausted. The loggers had gotten their paychecks at the end of the day, and while a few had run out the minute they were free, others were in for a weekend of just partying. Tony had thankfully warned her when he came in and managed to glare down a few who were getting too free with her, but it had been a long day.

Then the Marines had come in and apparently the swamp training had been particularly bad because of the rain, and so a lot of the recruits had not been in a good mood. One fight had nearly escalated into a brawl until Lissa had thrown a beer across the room, followed by Erin screaming angrily at the top of her lungs. She had had her fair share of yanking up the fighters and throwing them into tables far away from each other.

That's what had been missing - bouncers. When she asked after the brawl, Emi just shook her head derisively. Kennedy didn't believe in hiring bouncers - that's what cops were paid for. "Do you think any of us got to be the way we are by accident?"

"I'm a little tired," she admitted. Gibbs wasn't buying the 'little' part. He grabbed his coat and gently tugged on her wrist. When they got to the back door, he plucked her coat off the rack and handed it to her. "I've only got a fifteen minute break," she replied, and she was sure she must have sounded exhausted.

"I know." He opened up to the back, which faced the back woods area and was relatively quiet and private. He sat down on top step. "Take a nap."

"If I close my eyes I won't wake up until tomorrow."

"I'll wake you up."

Kate mumbled, rubbing her eyes, "I thought we had to do something to sell this story to all those people in there."

Cars pulled up into the parking lot, and Gibbs watched as Howe and some of the Marines came out. He quickly pulled Kate down to him. She stumbled a bit, her exhaustion getting to her. "Go to sleep," he said quietly, sitting her down on the step and seating himself around her. He covered her legs with his jacket before quietly repeating, "I'll wake you up."

She didn't need to be told twice. Within seconds she was asleep, leaning against him.



Paul Stultz was so glad to be out of camp for even just a few hours. Everyone had split up as fast as they could after that lousy week of all rain, and tempers had been running high. It didn't help when the MPs came barging in two hours ago when they heard there had been a brawl.

He saw the light in the back porch darken slightly and looked back quickly to see Gunny Thomas stand under the light, and Nina Sutton drop into his arms and fall asleep almost instantly. She shifted slightly, and he moved her so her head was resting against his shoulder.

D-mn. He had been hoping for a stress free weekend, and the last thing he wanted to think about was yet another pair tempting a serial killer.

As he crossed into Rade's, he noticed Isaac Mathis standing there, watching the couple in the back with a frown.



He should not have offered to do this.

Kate gave a soft little sigh in her sleep, her breath brushing lightly against his neck. She curled up tighter, and his hands automatically went to pull up her jacket around her shoulders.

When he had seen Kate's expression, and when he had brought her out for some peace and quiet, and when he had seen the cars pull up and remembered his cover story - he had all been thinking about the job. Kate looking like that was bad for the case - she might slip and say something she shouldn't; she might let down her guard from sheer exhaustion. The Marines in those cars needed to believe Alvin Thomas' story. Case, case, case.

He was not thinking about the case now.

She was curled up, asleep. She most likely would kill him if she knew what was going through his mind now.

Why hadn't he proposed that somebody else do this assignment? He had objected, he reminded himself. Just not vigorously enough.

She was warm and light in his arms, and the soft exhales kept blowing ever so slightly against his neck. Her hair fell forward against his collarbone. She had shifted slightly to get more comfortable, and now with her head against his shoulder, he could feel the heat rising from her body against his.

He looked down at his watch. She had just a few minutes left, and he knew she'd want to freshen up - whatever women DID when they were "freshening up". "Kate," he murmured. He turned his head slightly towards his left, where she was snuggled against him. "Kate, get up." He tugged at her arm gently.

He barely had to move his head to touch her. She was mere inches away from him, and he could feel as the corners of her mouth turned down into a small pout that was for inexplicable reasons terribly enticing. He fought down his impulses and shook her a little. "Break's just about over."

She wiggled more deeply against him, not seeming to realize where she was, and the pout grew. "'M sleepin'. Go 'way."

"Kate." His voice was sharper this time.

She sighed and he could feel the light air on his skin as her eyes slowly blinked open. He was looking down at her, much like he had on that sub when he held her, mesmerized. For a long moment she was just staring up at him, her head tilted back against his shoulder, her face just inches from his, all warm and soft.

Kate suddenly seemed to realize her position, and a deep blush fell over her face as she quickly pulled away. He almost wasn't listening as she gathered herself up, thanking him a couple times for waking her.

She disappeared inside after he promised not to stay outside too long. He folded his coat over his arm and sighed, rubbing a long, tired hand down his face.

---

APARTMENT COMPLEX

"'lo?" Kim sat up in bed. "Hey Erin. No, I got in fine last night. Half-asleep, but I'm OK. ... No way!" she sat up, laughter in her tone. "Are you serious?" There was a loud bang from the room next to her. "Erin, I'll call you back. There's something going on in Nina's apartment. ... I just want to make sure she's OK."

Kim jumped out of bed, throwing on a pair of shorts as she sprinted out of her apartment. In the hallway, she saw Lissa and Em poking their heads out nervously. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. There were voices inside, and then the door opened to reveal Thomas.

She should've known.

He looked different without his hair slicked back, and while they had all seen him dressed in civilian clothes before, they'd never seen him this casual. His short hair looked soft without the usual gel, and slightly mussed; Kim didn't want to think about who had done that. He was dressed simply in a pair of worn, faded jeans and a dark blue tee-shirt with "Marines" across it in white letters. A chair fallen on its back explained the bang.

Jaime would drool right there on Nina's doorstep if she were here. Even Lissa would have stopped to admire...right before she took Nina to task for taking this relationship too far. Gone too far was true. "Gunny," Kim said, a little more coldly than she intended.

"Kim," he greeted guardedly, and Kim took pride in the fact that she had managed to make a Marine suspicious. "Nina's inside."

Just then, the brunette appeared. "Kim!" Nina greeted in surprise as she came to the door, the Marine heading back inside. "Do you want to come in and have lunch with us?" she invited.

For a brief moment, Kim seriously wanted to strangle Nina right then and there. She was generally so nice and reasonable - why couldn't she be amenable about this? She said sharply, "I heard something, just wanted to check if you were OK." She shot a pointed look at the petite brunette.

"Oh." Nina turned red a little, now more subdued. "I knocked over the chair."

"Just checking," Kim replied, and her tone must have been cold enough because Nina's expression was one of sincere apology. She couldn't stay mad at her; Nina at the moment reminded her too much of her headstrong younger sister. "Thank you for the invite," she continued, softening her tone. "but you go ahead. I...I was actually in the middle of a phone call."

Nina followed her out, and closed the door slowly behind her. "Kim, I'm sorry."

"I don't understand why you can't wait," Kim said defeatedly, almost helplessly. "If you cared about him, you'd realize that he's as much a target as you are."

---

MARINE BASE

"Howe." Mathis dropped uninvited into the chair in front of the gunny. "You have to reign him in."

Howe ground his teeth mentally and tried not to snap. He'd fought with Theodora in the morning, then had a bad day in the field, and then had come to a desk full of paperwork his CO had dumped on him. He didn't want to SEE Mathis, much less talk to him about anything. Howe knew Mathis meant Thomas, but just to be ornery, he asked, "Who?"

"Thomas," Mathis replied sharply. At Howe's sigh, Mathis replied, "See? Even you know what I'm talking about."

"It's just a fascination," Howe replied, turning another page in his file.

"It's not a fascination," Mathis retorted sharply. "You know it. You saw it."

"Mathis, come on. He buys her a coffee, talks to her on her breaks. It's nothing compared to what some of the other guys do for the waitresses. That logger Logan was hitting on her for weeks: flowers, trying to buy her drinks, good tips."

"Howe, did you notice that he doesn't even try anymore?"

At that, Howe stopped. "You've been keeping tabs on Nina Sutton?"

"I keep tabs on every new girl in the bar, Howe," Mathis retorted. "You think I go to that bar to kick back and relax? How many of our guys were murdered with waitresses from that bar?"

He sighed. "So, yeah, when Sutton came on board I started watching her. And let me tell you something - Logan has backed off. It's not what Thomas does in comparison to what the others do. It's what he does for Nina Sutton in comparison to what he does for the other waitresses." He waved a hand impatiently.

Howe frowned into his file. He didn't want the MP to notice how that comment had affected him, because it did lay things out. Thomas was always reservedly warm and polite, always the gentleman, but it didn't come anywhere near the kind of attention he paid to Sutton.

He knew her shoe size. Where would he have gotten that kind of information?

"You know what I'm talking about. If that killer's still here, Sutton and Thomas are dead."

Howe rolled his eyes at the file in irritation and finally looked up. "Mathis. I know you don't like Thomas, but in all reality, this is stupid. He's a recruiter temporary TAD here to push papers, and then he'll be gone."

Mathis gritted his teeth. "Look. NCIS said they think the killer's still in town; they don't think he ever left. It's just that the girls here stopped dating Marines. The gunny is not the kind of guy I'd hang out with regularly," he replied shortly. "But he's a good Marine, and I know that, and I do not want to have another dead Marine on my hands." The door slammed behind him on the way out.

MARINE BASE

"Who's on the range?" Howe asked as he and his trainees approached and heard the rapid report of a sidearm.

"Thomas," Mathis replied shortly as he came out and drew Howe aside. "You told him about the murders?"

"I...mentioned it," Howe replied, squinting onto the field.

"Well, that's his solution," Mathis replied in irritation, waving toward the field.

Howe watched as recruiter stood behind the waitress, looking far more lethal than she generally did: mufflers on her ears, dressed in jeans and a jacket and wielding a small handgun. She could look pretty lethal when she was angry and carrying just a tray. "She's pretty good."

"The whole base was buzzing about her ability with a rifle." Mathis grumbled. "Seems Thomas got her to help him and a few others take down a cheating riflery booth when the carnival hit Grape Hills last month."

"She can use a rifle?" Howe was surprised.

"And a shotgun. She shot rifles on her high school team."

"Wouldn't take much to translate to small arms," Howe muttered. He watched as the recruiter shook his head briefly and said something; she paused and he came up behind her and pushed on her shoulders a little bit. She shot off a round, and there were a few mutters from the recruits as the two went to look at her target. Howe raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes...she was a pretty good shot. Not perfect, but very good.

As his arm came down, his lips pressed into a thin line, the MP raised an eyebrow at him and gestured slightly at the scene. "He's teaching her how to shoot."

"I can see that, Mathis." Howe set the binoculars aside. "I taught Theodora. Most of the guys here teach their girlfriends and wives."

"Yeah, when they're very serious - generally married." Mathis shook his head. "I hope NCIS catches their guy fast, because trust me - " he waved at the Marine and the waitresss heading back to the firing line " - a gun isn't going to stop formaldehyde poisoning."

---

HOWE HOME

Theodora chuckled as she watched her oldest in the driveway, playing pickup basketball with some of the Marines and the waitresses. Her husband had asked if she would take a look at something for him, and she'd unwittingly said yes before she realized the favor. She'd always trusted Sam's gut, and he was particularly upset that his newest friend - a Marine recruiter - had fallen for a waitress at Rade's. Sam Howe, for all his tough Marine DI exterior, felt things deeply, and Dora wasn't sure her husband could take yet another murder of a friend.

So she'd agreed. Once she'd even brought along their oldest daughter, Leilani, to check out the waitress, and this cookout was as much for both the Marines and the waitresses to relax as it was for her to see what her husband kept worrying about.

Leilani shot a quick pass to Nina, who dribbled expertly as she sought for an open teammate, Thomas' long arms nearly wrapped around her, blocking her on both sides. A quick snap pass behind her sent the ball back into Lani's hands, and she shot and scored.

The cheers and the groans went up, and Erin ran in while Nina came off the court, taking time to talk to little Jamie Howe. Thomas wasn't far behind, lifting Jamie onto his shoulders as Stultz handed up the basketball to the four-year-old, who dunked it into the basket to applause and cheering. A few minutes later, the kitchen door opened, and Kim chuckled to Nina, "You're pretty competitive out on the court."

The brunette blushed. "Yeah, I guess so. I had three older brothers," she explained, and Dora and Kim laughed. She paused a moment, then asked, "Is there anything I can help you with, Mrs. Howe?"

Dora snorted. "Mrs. Howe's my mother-in-law. I'm just Theo, or Dora. And actually, if you could just cut those ham rolls, I'd be grateful."

She took that time to watch as the young waitress grabbed a large knife and a cutting board and began to slice the rolls. Kerrie, Jamie's twin, leaned over to watch and Theo couldn't help smiling a little as Nina managed to pull Kerrie out of her shell. She could hear her small daughter chattering away within a couple minutes.



Lani came into the kitchen, shaking her head. "What?" her mother asked.

"Jamie and Kerrie won't listen to reason," she muttered. "I keep telling them to come away, but all they want to do is sit wedged between Miss Sutton and Gunny Thomas and bug them."

Theodora quietly headed into the now dark dining room and looked out towards the front porch, where the four were seated. Kerrie was snuggled into Nina's lap, and Jamie was wedged happily between the two adults. Thomas made a few cuts on a small block of wood with his pocketknife and then held up the carving to the fading evening light. Jamie clapped delightedly. "Horse!"

"It's yours." The Marine smiled down at the little boy, who beamed and took the new toy into his hand.

"I want a horse too," Kerrie begged.

"Give me some time, OK?" He smiled at the little girl, who nodded and purposefully put her hands back into her lap as she watched her brother trot his horse across an invisible road. The Marine picked up the other chunk of wood by him, the bark already peeled off, and began making a few cuts. "You like horses?"

Both nodded.

"Did you know Gunny Thomas' ancestors used to sell and buy horses?" Nina's eyes fairly twinkled at her comment. Theodora could see the gunny's smile even in the dim light. "Sales is in his blood."

"'Sales'?" he asked mildly, raising an eyebrow.

"You recruit, don't you?"

The man grunted a little in agreement, then scraped off the last of the bark. He held up the block of wood to the little girl. "Look like a horse yet?" he asked with a straight face. The little girl shook her head. The man smiled as he took back the block and began to cut it.

Kerrie snuggled up against Nina and inhaled deeply. "You smell good, Miz Sutton," she announced out of the blue. Nina just laughed.

Jamie leaned over and sniffed deeply. "Like peaches!" he gave his expert opinion. He poked the Marine. "Wanna smell?"

Inside, Theodora tried not to laugh as Nina blushed furiously. The Marine - the woman wondered if anything could faze him - merely looked surprised but answered, "I'm not sure Miss Sutton wants me sniffing her."

"She won't care," Jamie replied for her. He tugged on his arm. "She smells good!"

Theodora watched in surprise as the Marine tilted his head at Nina. He leaned close to her, their faces just inches apart. He breathed deeply, and the two just watched each other. "You smell beautiful," he murmured softly, intimately into her ear. She blushed, but even in the dim light, Theodora could see the small smile turned towards him.

The moment was instantly broken by Kerrie's indignant, "You can't SMELL beautiful." She made a face. "People only LOOK beautiful."

"Is that so," the Marine replied, his eyes twinkling down at the little four-year-old, both adults relieved at the interjection.

Kerrie nodded, then pointed back at the wood. "Horse, Gunny Thomas!" she protested.

"Didn't I tell you?" came her husband's whisper from behind her, looking out the window with her. "The man's like his brain fell out his head."

"I wouldn't say that," Theodora replied. "Just because Thomas has taken to Nina Sutton. She's pretty, tough, and smart." She shook her head. "It might just be me, seeing what I see. But I don't think that your Gunnery Sergeant Thomas even realizes how deeply he's in over his head." At her husband's look, she replied, "He merely thinks that he's minorly attracted to her. I don't think he even realizes how far gone he is. Yet."

---

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

"Well, aren't you a purty little thing."

Erin, still hooking on her bartender's vest, whirled around at the familiar voice. She figured going for Rick was too late, and she could only watch the train wreck that was about to happen.

Here it came. "No kiss, no money," the man smirked, holding out the bills.

"I'm a waitress, sir. Nothing else." Nina's voice was sharp.

Bentley just snorted. "Feisty. Well," he replied, starting to put his money away. "Guess this drink's on the house. Like the three others."

Erin wasn't sure what happened, and it was obvious Karl Bentley didn't either, except there was a sudden crash and the beer mug was smashed on the table and a seething Nina walked away, bills in hand. Bentley seemed almost puzzled, still patting his pockets for his money.

When he realized it was gone, he started up after her, obscenities pouring from his mouth. He was intercepted only by Rick Quincy, who appeared suddenly, having heard the commotion. "Mr. Bentley. Let me call you a cab back to your hotel." His tone allowed for no argument.

Nina gritted her teeth, biting back a retort. Quincy then plucked the money out of her hand, returned to the man, and ushered him out the door. "Hey! What - " she called after them.

"Let it go. Let it go," Erin cut in, watching the door carefully, pushing her towards the back.

Quincy returned, his voice firm and urgent. "Nina, don't worry. That mug and drink money won't come out of your paycheck. You stay in the kitchen the rest of today. Trade with one of the girls for the weekend; Erin, make sure she gets off tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Make sure Lissa doesn't come in, either. Bentley leaves Monday. I'll watch the bar."

Erin nodded, quickly tugging Nina to the back workers' room. "What is going on?" the new waitress finally insisted, shaking herself free and standing her ground. "What is going on?"

Erin shut the door and quickly flipped through the girls' schedules. "Remember I told you about Kennedy pimping a lot of us out? How we lost a lot our staff about six months or so ago?" Nina nodded. "Bentley was the worst customer. He's pretty rich - rich enough, anyhow, to hire Kennedy and himself lawyers to get them off that prostitution charge. Our girls and most of those soliciting jerks got in trouble, but they didn't."

She sighed. "Quincy has strict orders with us to let him serve Bentley, to keep us - 'specially Lissa and now you - away from him. Bentley just hadn't come back on so long, we forgot to tell you, and no one was here to stop you from serving him. I'm sorry."

Nina was unconcerned with that part. "How many of our people did Bentley touch?"

"Several." Erin sighed. "Only Lissa's still here. Two of those who died - one he paid for a night. The other he tried. Her Marine went UA that weekend to get her out of town. Fat lot of good that did. MPs found 'em dead in their car the next morning."

---

THAT EVENING

"What's wrong with you?"

Scott looked up at Gus's question, directed at Greg Worth, who was frowning. Worth shook his head at Gus. "That new waitress you took a shine to when you started here?"

Gus chortled. "Nina? She turns down everybody."

"Well, she just said yes to somebody else."

At that, the entire table turned to stare as Sutton slid into a dark corner booth seat across from the Marine recruiter, Alvin Thomas, her hands pulling a cup of coffee over before her and warming themselves on it. It wasn't easy to see them, and anybody just coming in for some fun would never see them.

Nina had oddly been absent that entire night. This was the first prolonged appearance she'd made in the main room, if one could call it that - anybody not paying attention wouldn't see them in the corner. It wasn't just her; something had happened that morning that had set the staff on edge. It had been forced smiles all night.

The smile he was looking at now wasn't.

For the first time all night her exhaustion showed on her face, and her smile was tired but genuine. After a moment, Thomas pushed his coffee cup over towards her side, and Scott watched as the Marine slid out of his seat and moved into the booth seat next to her, sliding up close. "Maybe he's just being friendly," he said somberly, grasping at a last straw.

"Oh, c'mon," Greg exclaimed. "And maybe we'll read their obits in the paper."

The entire table fell silent, and Scott rolled his eyes and gave a mental groan. What a completely senseless, tactless idiot.

Still, there were shocked looks all around when a disgusted Gus delivered a huge, head-ringing slap to the back of Greg's skull that made Greg's head bounce. "H-ll, man," he spat angrily, to the shock of the others. "Just because those Marines don't know their place doesn't mean any of us ought to wish 'em dead."

"I...I didn't mean it like that," Greg mumbled, as shocked as the others at the head blow. "I'm just saying...with all those Marines and their girlfriends dying and stuff.... I didn't mean to say - "

"Mean what you say," Gus snapped.

Scott looked at him, a little puzzled. It was like Gus was talking about friends or something. "Well?" Scott asked mildly, trying to ease the tension. "Are you going to do anything about?"

"First of all, Nina's not mine and she'd whack me with that tray if I ever said that. Second, if pretty little Nina isn't smart enough to want this" Gus gestured at himself with a big grin, his anger quickly dissipating "she can't be that smart."

The table erupted, the laughter dispelling the tension.

"And lastly, he's a Marine. He could twist off my neck with his bare hands - sixty-six pounds of torque and my eyes are on the back of my head." Gus Logan shuddered. "Ugh. No thanks. I like my head where it is, and so do all the ladies. Right, hon?" he grinned at their waitress.

Kim patted him consolingly on the shoulder, laughing. "You keep thinking that, sweetie."



The door to the kitchen burst open, and Kennedy yelled into the room, "Sutton!" The cook began to push the waitress out the back when the owner screamed again, "I know they hid you back here!"

A few minutes later, the cook came running out, headed for the bar. A few whispers sent Erin running out the front door, stripping off her apron as she went and yelling at Em to call Quincy.

Isaac Mathis tore out of the room, everyone else hot on his heels. They got outside to see Nina Sutton angrily yelling. A butch man grabbed her roughly, leering, and started to pull her along; she slipped out of his grasp, her sleeve ripping in his hand, and twisted his arm behind his back, forcing the now-howling man to his knees. Erin grinned a second, stopping. Some of the men started applauding, and Gus Logan let out a loud whistle of approval.

Then Kennedy sucker-punched her in the back as she was turned, catching her off-guard and sending her reeling to the ground.

Kim was the first to recover, sprinting towards Nina, and didn't notice the long legs passing her. She arrived at her friend's side, starting to pull her to her feet. Before she could look up, she saw Kennedy hit the ground, still screaming obscenities. Thomas, a head shorter than the bar owner, stood over him. The Marine's cheek was bleeding from a cut, and his lip was busted; there was a look of murder on his face.

Kennedy screamed for Mathis to do something, but the MP refused to budge.

Thomas silently stepped away, a deathly glare quickly shutting up Bentley, who was screaming that he'd paid Kennedy for Nina that night and that he planned to "teach that witch" a lesson for that morning. Thomas' hand was at Nina's elbow, firm as he guided her away. Two minutes later, a car squealed out of the parking lot.

The customers sat staring for a long moment. "D-mn," Logan muttered. "That was one huge claiming stake Thomas just put up."

---

NCIS HQ

"Heya, Tim!" Tony's voice boomed over the bar noise. "My brother," they could hear him saying to someone by him. "I'm going outside to take this."

The four agents sat crowded around the speakerphone, listening to the slowly ebbing noise. Then came Tony's sharp, worried whisper: "Did Gibbs or Kate call?"

"No, not yet," McGee exclaimed. "What the h-ll happened down there?! Mathis calls us, yelling that he's got another Marine gone UA with his waitress girlfriend and I don't know what. Their cell phones are off right now, but we're hoping to pick up the trail when we find them."

Tony sighed. "I don't know. All I got out of the waitresses was that some guy went to Kennedy, tried to get him to pimp Kate out to him for tonight. They got into it in the parking lot, and that jerk of a boss sucker-punched her in the back. Have you heard from them?"

"All Mathis said was that Gibbs yanked the base doctor out of bed to look at Kate's back. The base doctor thinks they're headed out of town, but they wouldn't say. Did anything happen to Gibbs?"

"He's busted up a little himself. He decked the guy, but nothing bad." Tony stopped as there was noise on the other end. "Hey, McGee?" he asked quietly. "When they call, let me know, all right?"

McGee nodded. "You'll be the first."

---

ROADSIDE MOTEL

Gibbs sat silently in the motel room, his loaded gun nearby. The light was on outside, the windows drawn. A chair was hooked under the doorknob. Two small bags sat off to the side; one Kate's, one his.

His cheek stung, and his lip was beginning to hurt. He carefully applied the crushed ice makeshift icepack Kate had made for him.

For some reason, he was angrier than he thought he could be over this. The prostitution angle wasn't unexpected, but he'd assumed it was in the past, given what everyone had said.

Two on one wasn't fair, and that sucker-punch was low, but neither had really done it. He had to admit he was already seething when Kate finally told him what happened that morning, explaining why she wasn't waitressing that night and was helping in the kitchen. Then, it hadn't taken him but a second to figure out what was happening in that parking lot. He was out for Kennedy's blood before the man had thrown that sucker-punch.

Kate turned on the bed restlessly. Her back was beginning to bruise badly. The on-base doctor had done what he could, but he said it was going to hurt. Her normally peaceful sleeping face was drawn and taut, but she didn't make noise.

He picked up his cell phone. After turning on their phones to discover a million worried voice mail messages, he and Kate had promised to call every hour through that night until they reached Washington, hopefully by noon the next day. It would be good to get home, even for a little bit, after four months undercover. They could both use the rest.

---

NCIS HQ

"Look, we've tread and retread this ground a million times. We're not getting anywhere," Balboa replied in exasperation, cutting into the argument the agents were having. "A logger isn't a likely killer because he kills the woman and we've got women dying who weren't dating them. Kennedy can't be bothered to waste money or time on any of his girls, including to kill them. A Marine or a waitress killer just doesn't make sense. Plus we've got tons of evidence that doesn't seem to point to anybody."

"So we're back to square one," McGee moaned.

The argument continued, and then Gibbs looked over at his right. "You feeling OK?"

Kate nodded, but continued to tap her pencil on her notepad and draw little circles on it as the discussion continued. Finally, she said softly, "The killer's not trying to inflict pain on the Marines."

The argument went on, the others not having heard her, until Gibbs frowned. "The killer shot them, Kate. How is that not pain."

"He put one shot in them, through their hearts," Kate said. "It's not execution, in the back of the head or between the eyes, but it's still instantaneous." The others fell silent, now listening intently. "There is no sign of a struggle," she explained. "Ducky said a few were likely shot while they were asleep, or even lightly drugged so there was no resistance. He's...not trying to hurt them. He's...most likely trying to...he thinks...maybe put them out of their misery."

"None of them were sick," McGee pointed out.

"Look, I'm not saying he's thinking wholly rationally," Kate replied. "In our terms, I mean. But in his mind, he's doing what's best for his victims."

"So, the women and the formaldehyde?" Cassie asked, leaning forward.

"His anger is at the women," Kate replied. "So they are poisoned, and they can die more slowly. Painfully."

"The first woman?" Balboa leans forward. "What's her significance? She was killed differently from the others."

"Maybe she was the one involved with the killer," Kate suggested.

"He...cared about her too much to poison her," Cassie replied, catching on.

"Yeah, but what if," McGee supplied. "Let's say his anger is at the women. The Marines are just in the way. He kills them because they happen to be there, or because they'd be the first to look for their dead girlfriends. You kill them, and you kill the eyewitnesses. Isn't that another possibility?"

"It works, except for two things: if poisoning doesn't cause immediate death, then why kill an eyewitness?" Axelrod pointed out. "He'd be gone before the waitress died. Second, one would expect that the shot wouldn't be so carefully planned; more than one bullet, in a few different positions."

Gibbs pointed at Bentley's picture on the plasma. "Catch us up on Bentley."

"He certainly fits the pattern of hating women," Kate muttered.

"63. Businessman. Divorced four times, each time the wife citing infidelity - caught him with call girls, other women. He was on trial, as Kate said, for prostitution," Yates reported. "Not murder, though."

"Pacci cleared him - his alibi check out for every murder, and since we've never caught the killer, he can't be tied to him. Or her. Or them." Balboa paused.

"We cross checked his financial records with Kennedy's. Basically all we've got evidence of is his paying Kennedy for his waitresses, but that's all. We knew Kennedy was prostituting them out."

"We checked what your waitress friend told us, about Bentley trying to pay for the Marine's girlfriend and the Marine taking her and going UA," McGee began. "We called up the MPs. They found the pair less than twenty-four hours after he took her and ran from Bentley. Mathis had found out about Bentley, so he decided to hold off on the UA charge until he could talk to the Marine himself. When they found him dead, he decided to leave the charge off the guy's record entirely. It was impeccable otherwise, and he didn't want him to have that UA charge tainting it, especially since the guy was dead."

"Isaac Mathis has a heart," Kate laughed softly.

"Bentley's got a couple thousand dollar expenditures that we can't tie to anything," Yates continued. "A lot of them are for call girls, alimonies." There were a couple chuckles which quickly died when Gibbs glared. "We're pretty sure it's not him. We'll check on his ATM withdrawals, but he doesn't fit the profile."

---

Ducky winced as he carefully lifted the sheet covering Kate's back. The bruise was nearly five inches in diameter, with a roughtly quarter-inch yellow ring about the direct impact point, which was turning an ugly, splotchy purple. "This may hurt a little, Caitlin," he warned as he probed gently around the bruise. "Nothing seems to be broken."

"That's what the base doctor told Gibbs," came Kate's muffled grumble. Ducky just smiled.

"Oh Kate, doesn't it hurt?" Abby exclaimed, her face contorted as she looked at the bruise.

"It's fine, Abby," Kate replied reassuringly, lifting her head from her supine position on the table. "What about the DNA samples we brought back?"

"Oh, right," Abby replied, quickly straightening. "You and Gibbs took about nine swabs with a little blood of of your hands, your back, and a little part of your shirt, and from Gibbs' cheek and lip and knuckles. There were four DNA samples, and we ruled out yours and Gibbs', of course. There was a blood drop on your back that wasn't yours, and a hair on your hands that wasn't yours. The blood drop matches the blood you swabbed off Gibbs' hands."

"Kennedy's, since he punched me in the back and Gibbs punched him."

"Right. The hair which came from your hand I'm guessing is Bentley's."

"Guessing won't help us, Abs."

Abby smiled apologetically. "I'm not sure it would help you even if I had DNA samples to match them to. Of all the murders, only one yielded some DNA - a Sdrop of blood that wasn't either victim's or any of their coworkers' - and it doesn't match either Kennedy's or Bentley's. Sorry, Kate."

---

APARTMENT COMPLEX

"She's back," Kim announced, jumping from where she was watching from her living room and bounding into the hallway. "Em, Lissa!" she called to the others as she knocked on Nina's door.

The door opened, and the first thing Kim saw was Thomas in the living room - and Nina, fine and well. "Thank God," she breathed. "Where did you two disappear to, anyhow?"

Nina smiled. "Washington. When Vin's assignment here ends - he was hoping I'd go with him to Washington," she said softly. "We looked at apartments for me to live in while we were there as well as some job openings."

"Sounds serious," Em said said quietly.

"Explains this," Lissa spoke for the first time, pointing at the diamond ring, which dangled out on the thin silver chain around Nina's neck.

Nina's eyes flickered up to her three friends' faces, and there was a long silence. The door began to open, and she quickly tucked her necklace back under her shirt as Thomas came out, looking slightly puzzled at their serious faces. He looked at Nina, his hand moving to the small of her back to guide her some distance away.

The three waitresses exchanged looks among themselves, and Lissa straightened and said in a whisper, "I don't know whether to be all excited for Nina or worried sick they'll get killed."

They looked over at the pair, standing several feet away, and saw him reach into his pants pocket and slip something into her hand. He started to reach for her, then turned his head slightly to the side, most likely remembering that her coworkers were there. He stopped, then shoved his hands back into his pockets. The Marine paused for a moment, staring at the brunette intently.

He looked ready to go - reluctantly - before Emily finally said in a normal voice, "We saw the ring, Gunny." He looked up at them in surprise, seeing them watching the pair. "We know." She smiled weakly. "Congratulations," she offered without enthusiasm.

Nina gave a nervous laugh.

He leaned over, his large hands pulling her to him by her upper arms, and pressed his mouth to hers, firm and all barely contained fire. The three waitresses looked away to give them privacy, but even in that split second, they saw Nina melt.

It was clear to all three why Nina and Gunnery Sergeant Thomas continued to see each other, despite all discouragement. For a woman wary of the usual tricks, it was no wonder she had fallen for him. The Marine was always polite, and in those rare times he decided he wanted to be charming, he could outdo Gus Logan. In addition, well, he was awfully considerate of Nina's needs - he wasn't a flowers person, but he was well aware of what she lacked, wanted, and liked.

It was obvious, too, why Thomas was so drawn to her: she touched off in him the very things he generally kept hidden so guardedly. The charm and gentle consideration they saw so rarely was nearly always turned on her, and she had managed to torch that simmering intensity he kept so tightly reined. She was his equal in many ways, and his careful counterpart in others. Thomas most likely didn't even realize how deep in over his head he was until it was too late.

All this ran through Em's mind in just seconds; just as quickly as the Marine had kissed the brunette, he was pulling away, just stopping briefly to whisper a good-bye in her ear before turning and disappearing out the door.

Oddly, Nina Sutton looked far more surprised than any of the women expected.

---

NEXT EVENING
RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

As the other waitress exited from the waitresses' backroom, he slid in quietly. He'd seen the new chain around Nina Sutton's neck and had noticed when one of the waitresses had quietly told her to slip it off.

As he entered, he saw the small locker assigned to her, and he slipped his hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out the chain - with an engagement ring on it.

He never figured Thomas would be the type who would lose his head over a beautiful woman. Apparently he was wrong, and it was a shame - Thomas was a huge asset to the Corps.

He sighed. He liked Nina, albeit platonically. While he couldn't fault the others for having become inured to their working environment, Nina was still untouched. Plus, he'd never move in on another Marine's girl. But he couldn't let her do to Thomas what Jessie had done to him, or what those other girls had been planning to do to those other Marines.



"Hey gunny," Stultz greeted as Howe dropped into his chair. "Head call?" He pushed over the Daniels toward the older Marine.

"Thanks."

Stultz sighed and then turned slightly before lowering his voice. "Gunny, did you hear the rumor about Sutton? Some of the Marines said she's wearing Thomas' ring on a necklace."

Howe sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, it's true."

RADE'S BAR AND RESTAURANT

Lissa hung up her apron in her small locker, glad to be done for the day but still with energy to burn. Maybe she'd ask Nina to go to the ice cream parlor downtown. They'd been testy recently towards the new waitress, worrying they'd wake up one day and find Nina dead, but perhaps it wasn't so fair to take it out on Nina herself.

She plopped on the worn old couch to wait for the brunette to finish her shift, and her eyes drifted shut even as she looked around the room. It registered that Nina's locker was oddly unkempt.

Lissa sat up, her eyes wide open. Nina's apron was on the floor - this from the woman who was always neat and tidy. She hurried over and picked it up, now wide awake. Nina's engagement ring and chain were in the bottom of the locker; she generally kept it in a pocket after the waitresses had warned her not to wear it on night shifts. Her jacket was still there, too.

Lissa panicked, slamming the locker door shut and running into the bathroom. "Nina!"

The door swung open as she was heading out. "Lissa?" Kim frowned at her expression.

"Where's Nina?" Lissa asked sharply.

"I don't know," Kim replied. "I thought you two were going to the ice cream place."

Lissa banged on Kennedy's door, then opened it without waiting for an answer. She nearly tripped going in and stopped short. Her eyes widened, and behind her, Kim gasped.

Kennedy lay on the ground, shot dead execution-style.

Both women swallowed hard, momentarily stunned. He had been cuffed and appeared to have been kneeling, and now was just lying on his side, blood everywhere. Lissa dry-gagged, and Kim looked like she was going to retch. "Call 911. I'm going to find Nina."

"You don't think she did this, do you?" Kim whispered.

"Just call!"

As the other woman rushed out, Lissa ran into the serving area, her eyes quickly brushing over the few patrons there. Theodora and Leilani Howe were eating in the dining area, and they jumped up when Lissa rushed out. "Lissa?" Lani asked.

"Nina - did you see Nina?"

Theodora paused. "I saw her head out the back with MacDow."

Lissa stopped short. "Capt. MacDow?" she asked in disbelief.

"What's wrong?" Lani asked.

Lissa shook her head. "Nina's gone. She left all her things, dropped all over the floor." She quickly dialed Nina's number.

Just then a cell phone on the bar counter began to ring. "She left her phone," Lani murmured with sinking dread.

Kim came running out. "The police are coming." She saw the phone. "Nina's phone."

Theodora tossed her own cell phone to her daughter. "Call your father," she ordered. She handed Nina's phone to Lissa. "You call Thomas."

---

"She's not answering her apartment phone, boss," Tony replied over his phone, currently on conferencing.

"Hey, Gus!" shouted one of the loggers. "We're just heading over to the bar, do you want - "

"McGee! Where is she?" Tony shouted into his mouthpiece.

"I...I can't find her. I don't know where she is."

"Who's McGee?" spoke up one.

"You going to the bar?" Tony asked sharply.

"Yeah. We were going to stop to pick up Dan's team along the way, but - "

"We're not stopping," Tony exclaimed, grabbing Scott. "The others of you will have to take another car. Scott!" He shoved him toward the car. "Drive!"

"Gus, what the h - "

"Tony DiNozzo," Tony snapped, flashing his badge and ID and showing his Sig Sauer. "NCIS. One of my coworkers is missing. You drive. Now."

The others quickly stepped out of the way as the car roared out of the lot.

"NCIS?" puzzled one. "GUS works for NCIS?"



Gibbs swore, snapping his phone shut and running towards his car.

"Thomas!" Howe sprinted towards him. "My daughter just called. She said that Nina's missing - she left with MacDow. Why would she go with MacDow?"

Gibbs shook his head. MacDow....

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"...was doing all different things," MacDow replied to Thomas' question as he stapled a packet and set it aside. "I was on a mobile training team in South America for awhile - Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Peru."



"You familiar with mobile training teams?" 'Col. Walsh'/Jack Canton asked.

"Sure," Tony replied. "They serve as military advisors in foreign countries."

"Among other things. Kidwell and Peary were working out of country," the fake colonel replied. "The op was classified, but it had nothing to do with their deaths."

"Why seal their records, then?" Gibbs asked.

"Because of how they died." Canton turned back when he realized the agents were no longer following him. "We found them at a local brothel. They had a dispute with one of the local prostitutes. She poisoned them."

"With what?"

"The local police said formaldehyde." *



"The killer's not trying to inflict pain on the Marines. ... He's...not trying to hurt them. He's...most likely trying to...he thinks...maybe put them out of their misery."

"None of them were sick," McGee pointed out.

"Look, I'm not saying he's thinking wholly rationally," Kate replied. "In our terms, I mean. But in his mind, he's doing what's best for his victims."

"So, the women and the formaldehyde?" Cassie asked, leaning forward.

"His anger is at the women," Kate replied. "So they are poisoned, and they can die more slowly. Painfully."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"MacDow," Gibbs murmured. He turned to Howe. "Where is he." When Howe shrugged, Gibbs grabbed his arm. "Where. Is. MacDow!"

"He said he had business to take care of for a friend," Howe replied, now suspicious. "Why?"

Gibbs swore again. "It wasn't Bentley. It's MacDow. He's got her. That bastard's got her!" He threw open the car door and jumped in, slamming his door shut.

"Thomas!" Howe banged on the window. "What the h-ll is wrong with you!"

"MacDow," Gibbs replied, as the window started coming down. "MacDow's the killer, and Lissa from the restaurant just called me. Somebody shot and killed Kennedy - had to have been MacDow. And now he's got Kate."

In seconds, Howe was on the other side of the car, pounding on the passenger side door. "Unlock it. Unlock it, Thomas!" Gibbs leaned over and unlocked the door, and the Marine jumped in. "You need backup, and I have my service weapon. Who is Kate?"

The car wheeled out of the parking lot. "Tony, where are you?" Gibbs radioed.

"Who's Tony?" Howe exclaimed.

"We're on the highway towards the bar now. McGee, have Abby call the bar," Gibbs snapped. "Ask them where they think Kate would go - where did they find the dead women."

"WHO IS KATE," Howe insisted as the car weaved in and out of the cars driving on that street.

"Nina Sutton is...actually an undercover agent. NCIS."

"Kate?" Howe exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Oh boy," Howe muttered. "So who are you?"



"G - Agent DiNozzo, what the h-ll is going on?" Scott exclaimed.

"Hold on," Tony muttered. "Abby! What did they say?"

"Kate's gone," Abby said urgently. "They said Kate was being walked out with MacDow."

"Put a trace on Kate's cell phone," Gibbs' voice crackled over the line.

"We...we, uh, did boss," McGee murmured. "It's sitting on the bar at Rade's."

The swear was so loud Scott could hear it over Tony's headset. "Agent DiNozzo, what is going on?"

"Probie!" Tony said sharply. "Can you trace MacDow's number?"



"MacDow," Gibbs turned to Howe. "Does he have cell phone?"

"Yeah, I've got - " he caught the earpiece Gibbs had ripped out of his ear and put it in his own. "This is Gunny Howe. I've got MacDow's cell phone number. Hold on a sec. All right, I'm going to read it to you."

"We got a trace!" Abby and McGee shouted simultaneously. "He's heading on the main state road, south...hold on, he just turned off - "

"Between exits 419 and 421," Abby added.

"That's a wasteland," Howe murmured. "Swampy."

"Where is it?" Gibbs asked sharply.

"Swing around at this - " Howe slammed his feet on the dashboard and grabbed the handle above his passenger side window as the car spun around and drove straight through the tall grass of the median.



"H-LL!" Scott shouted, swerving to miss the car which appeared right off the median.

Tony grinned as he looked over into the left lane. "Hey boss!" he radioed wth a grin. "Glad you caught up."

"Your boss drives like a manaic!" Scott exclaimed, his heart still pounding over the whole thing.

"Oh, this is on a good day," Tony grinned. "Gunny Howe," he radioed, "this is Special Agent DiNozzo." He waved, smirking at the Marine's shocked look at having seen the familiar face. "Agent Gibbs is my boss."



"You Gibbs?" Howe asked.

"Yeah."

"Go ahead, Agent DiNozzo," Howe continued.

"Where Kate's being taken - what's the layout, how should we go in? Between you and Scott, we should be able to find her fast."

"There's only one car-accessible turn off into that field," Howe said. "When we train there, we have to go in one truck at a time."

"Would MacDow know of somewhere else?" Tony asked sharply.

"Not unless your logger friend knows of another entrance somebody might have told MacDow."

"There's a back route in," Scott could be heard saying. "It just opened two weeks ago when we cleared the area. It comes out on the same plain, but we can go from the back."

With that, Tony's car sped up and disappeared over the hill. Howe pointed out the clearing, and Gibbs whirled in. "That's MacDow's car."

The two men jumped out, and Howe ran over to the car, peering in. He picked open the trunk lock. "She's not in here." He watched as the NCIS agent turned and started heading into the field when Howe stopped him. "Thom - Agent Gibbs. I think it's better if I go."

The narrowed eyes would have made a less man back down, but Howe brushed it off. "MacDow isn't stupid," Howe said quietly as he handed the earpiece back to the silver-haired agent. "Anybody with brains would know that you would come looking for her. Let me talk to him." At the pause, he sighed. "If necessary - IF - you may...protect your agent. But let me talk to him. It'll go better this way. For her."



Kate groaned, then coughed, her eyes watering. "Uh." She coughed, her eyes barely opening. She was freezing. Her head pounded as she raised it up just the slightest.

"Hi," said a soft voice, and Kate looked up to see Capt. MacDow. Her eyes widened slightly but didn't dilate quickly enough because of the drugs. "Don't try to talk, OK?"

"Captain," she said, her voice scratchy and hoarse.

"Shh," MacDow said impatiently, sitting on the ground, his knees up to his chest, his service weapon in hand. "I have to do this."

"No," she said softly. "Please don't."

"You'll destroy him," MacDow said sharply. "Gunny Thomas is a fine Marine. You'll kill him."

"No, I won't."

"He cares about you," MacDow hissed, his voice rising. "He likes you. And you're going to poison him, just like those women poisoned Craig and Jim."

"No, I promise you I won't," Kate whispered.

"You're only saying that now," MacDow growled. He sighed. "And you know, I thought you liked him."

"I do," she said automatically, and then MacDow watched as she paused for a moment. "I do," she said softly.

MacDow just snorted. Her hesitation was enough. "I thought you were different from the others. I thought you weren't using him."

"I'm not, Captain."

"Everybody knows you're trying to get out of that hellhole. Get enough money to get out, or marry out."

"Captain," she said softly. "The Marines help a lot of people get out of their bad neighborhoods. A lot of those waitresses - did you know that Kennedy sells them? He prostitutes them out to men who pay enough. They can't say anything because they need those jobs."

For a minute, MacDow stopped. He had heard of the pimping Kennedy was doing, but to see it from a different angle.... "I know. I know he makes it miserable for you," he replied quietly.

"Can you blame them, then?" she asked gently.

"I solved that problem," MacDow said. "He won't be doing it anymore." He fingered his weapon.

For a moment, she looked shocked. "What?"

"He was slime, but those women are still partly responsible for their own decisions," MacDow replied almost half-heartedly, trying to steel his resolve. "I heard Gunny Thomas and Gunny Howe talking about you. About the gunny getting you out of there. You're just using him. You'll marry him...then you'll clean out his bank account. Maybe kill him."

For a minute, he puzzled at the slightly amused smile on her face. For a woman about to die for lying to a good man, she was smiling? "Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing, nothing. His...his second wife cleaned out his bank account," she chuckled softly. "And cleaned out the poor man she married after him."

"He told you that?" MacDow asked, surprised. When the brunette nodded, he murmured, "What else do you know about the gunny?"

"He...takes his coffee black, won't drink the office coffee," the brunette said softly. "He thinks scotch is a better way to feel warm," she chuckled. "He drinks a 125 proof bourbon when he does wood work. Drinks it out of a mug."

She paused a moment, then chuckled a little, and winced at the pain from that movement. "He hates peas, and he hates healthy food...like tofu. Cooking healthy for him is going to take creativity."

MacDow blinked. It was too late to use the formaldehyde, as it would take a little bit more time to work anyhow, and he was sure Thomas would be on his trail by now. And for the first time since this started, he hesitated.

She knew he didn't like peas.

MacDow almost wanted to laugh aloud at that. She had already thought about how she was going to keep him healthy. As much torture as that would be for the gunny, who he knew liked sausage and pizza and all the usual food, he would be in good hands with her.

Would have been, he corrected himself. Would have been. Nina Sutton couldn't be perfect. What was the catch that would make her kill him?

MacDow flinched, and his gun hand dropped a little. The brunette groaned from pain and curled onto her side. "Captain," she said softly. "Why are you doing this?"

"Those women were going to kill them," he whispered. "They put formaldehyde in their drinks, and I couldn't bear to see them in pain while they died."

"Who started it?" she asked hoarsely. "I'll turn her in. I will."

"I don't know, I don't know!" MacDow groaned, grabbing at his temples. "She poisoned them. They had children. They had wives - Lisa and Sarah were wonderful women. They were good Marines, they made a mistake. And she poisoned them. I know what it does...the stomach pains, the breathing."

"Did that happen here?" she asked softly. "Capt. MacDow, I promise, you tell me who did it, and I'll turn her in."

There was a minute of debating, and then MacDow said, almost confusedly, "It was in Colombia."

"Captain?" came the shout. "It's Gunny Howe!"

The corporal instantly tensed and his gun hand came back up. "What's he doing here?" he asked, scooting nearer to the waitress, tense.

"Captain, the bar called Gunny Thomas to say that Nina Sutton is missing, and so we've been looking for her. We saw your car here. Did Gunny Thomas call you? Ask you to help look for her?"

"It'll be better if you answer him," Sutton whispered. "Go ahead."



They could hear the Marine's call from where they were - Gibbs and Howe were straight ahead...somewhere in the grass. Scott pointed. "There's a small clearing about ten feet from here," he whispered. "That's most likely where your boss is headed, and where your coworker is."

Tony blinked. "How can you tell?" he asked. The grass was so high.

"Trust me on this one."



"We're here, Gunny," MacDow's voice, sounding tired and sad, carried. The two Marines appeared first, weapons drawn. "You didn't tell me Gunny Thomas was here!" MacDow' s voice went up, and his weapon came dangerously near the brunette.

"Mac, I'm going to put my gun down," Howe said gently. "Put yours aside."

"I wasn't going to kill her," MacDow said. "Not...not then."

"You brought her here with that intent." At that statement, MacDow looked sadly at the silver-haired gunny, whose cold expression barely covered fury. "You were going to kill her."

"No, not after awhile," MacDow said quietly. He shook his head, and then he put his gun to the side and blinked, as if not sure what to do. There was a long silence, and then he said, almost as if he didn't know what else to say, "I think Nina's cold."

He watched as the recruiter holstered his gun. He looked different in civilian clothes but still wore his service weapon. Thomas approached, and MacDow sat across from them as the man crouched beside her and then pulled her limp body up, sitting her up against his chest. "You OK?"

"I think you owe Abby and me that spa visit you cancelled," she groaned, then sneezed.

MacDow smiled at them, sadly. He watched as the Marine shook off his long brown duster and wrapped her securely in it, tucking her legs in for her when she couldn't move them. He rubbed her arms to try to warm her up. MacDow thought she looked so small inside his coat, swimming in it.

"Why did you do it?" came a quiet voice from next to him.

MacDow shook his head at the voice, and the Marine began breaking down. He couldn't answer. The gun slowly came up toward his temple when a strong hand gripped his wrist. A tiny pinch, and the weapon fell from his hand into the hand of his captor.

They looked up to see two dirt-covered men, one looking shocked and the other carefully unloading the Marine's service weapon. "Captain," said 'Gus Logan' - NCIS Agent Tony DiNozzo, Howe corrected himself mentally. "You're under arrest."

---

The Marine and the logger stood side by side and watched silently as Agent DiNozzo cuffed the Marine and led him a couple feet away to call for MP backup.

It appeared that the waitress/NCIS agent, Nina/Kate, had been drugged up something good; MacDow had injected her with a heavy dose of tranquilizer. Her boss had to help her into a sitting position; some of her limbs still hung limply. As the senior agent pressed his fingers along her arms and legs every half-foot, she shook her head.

"You can't feel anything?" Scott suddenly blurted, quickly moving over and kneeling down beside her, his concern taking over first.

"It's likely with whatever tranquilizer he knocked me out with," she said hoarsely. "Temporary, I hope."

"C'mon." Scott watched as the older NCIS agent picked her up, tucking a secure arm around her shoulders and under her knees. The man then turned to the logger. "Where's your car? Your and Tony's car?"

"We're really close," Scott said carefully. "We had to drive more than you did, but we should be closer to here than you and Howe got. Come on."

Scott stepped carefully in front of them both, making sure to separate the grass and tromp it down. He didn't look back at them, and when he got to the car, he quickly unlocked as many doors as he could. "Do you want to put her in the front, or lay her in the backseat?"

"I can decide myself," Nin - Kate, Scott corrected himself - said, and the logger almost chuckled at the spirited response he'd learn to expect from the brunette. "Put me by the door," she instructed. "It'll be easier when I throw up." She looked queasy then, holding on to the other NCIS agent. "Set me down," she gasped, and leaning hard against the truck, she retched violently.

Scott watched as the gunny - the other NCIS agent, Gibbs - held her in a bent position, pulling her hair back in his large hand and holding it back as she threw up again.

When she was finally finished, he gently wiped her mouth for her. She was trembling now, looking too white. "You going to be all right for a ride, ma'am?" Scott asked.

"I'll be fine," she replied. "I'm good," she insisted when both men looked at her concernedly. "Just...I can't move my legs. Put me in the truck."

---

MARINE BASE

"Where's Kate?" McGee called as he jumped out of the sedan first, Ducky close behind.

"She's fine, probie," Tony replied. "Gibbs and Scott took her to the hospital." He nodded to the medical examiner. "Hey Ducky. They're at the municipal hospital. Sgt. Stultz here has offered to take you."

As the two men disappeared, Tony turned to the other agents. "Sgt. Maj. Mathis is inside with MacDow. MacDow waived his rights to a lawyer three times. He wants to give a statement."

"You're kidding," Balboa replied, stunned.

"Mathis just came from the hospital, where he and Gibbs were taking Kate's statement. MacDow pretty much confessed to her about the killings on the way to the swamp, then the 'why' came out in bits and pieces later. I was here with the other MPs, and he waived his rights and told us everything, then he said he wanted to talk to the NCIS agents who were taking care of the other cases."

"Is he insane? Literally?" Cassie asked.

"Kate thinks that he snapped after his friends' supposed deaths. From what MacDow told us, it seemed that Kate pressed the issue and managed to show him that the women who supposedly killed them were unrelated to the ones here. When he figured that out, he almost went beserk with guilt."

"Have we identified those friends yet?" Axelrod asked.

Tony sighed. "He's actually tied to one of our old cases. We had two Marines who supposedly died in the line of duty. In reality, they had been taken hostage, and the CIA agent in charge of paying their ransom decided to keep the two million dollars instead."

McGee shook his head. "I don't remember this case."

"Before you joined up with us, probie. The CIA turncoat told his agency the insurgents killed the Marines anyhow and sent home two empty coffins. He told us - and apparently he told those Marines - that a prostitute poisoned their drinks with formaldehyde. In case MacDow mentions it, one Marine was James Kidwell, wife Sara. Second was Craig Peary, wife Lisa."

"What happened to them?" Balboa frowned.

"Neither were actually dead at the time of their 'funerals'. Canton took the money and hoped Kidwell and Peary would get killed by the insurgents. They escaped, and Kidwell called his wife the day of his funeral. We got suspicious, went to dig Kidwell up, but Canton killed him and slipped him into his coffin beforehand."

"Sick bastard," Axelrod muttered.

"We managed to save Peary before Jack Canton killed him, too."

"So neither of those men were really killed by formaldehyde poisoning?" McGee asked, and got a nod. "So MacDow went on a killing spree over something that never actually happened?"

"Kate and Gibbs think MacDow is reliving Kidwell and Peary's deaths - at least, what he knows of their deaths from Canton," Yates said thoughtfully. "He poisons the girls with formaldehyde - a dose of their own medicine - and then he shoots the Marine in the heart once to prevent him from getting hooked by her, a quick death if MacDow thinks he's already been poisoned, or any other number of things."

"If I could shoot Canton one more time for causing this," Tony muttered, "I would."

---

LOCAL HOSPITAL

Howe rubbed his hands over his face tiredly as he sat next to the logger friend of 'Gus''s - Scott. Both men remained quiet - but comfortably so. The trying chase and the shocking revelations - Gus Logan, Nina Sutton, and Gunnery Sergeant Alvin Thomas all NCIS agents?! - had done a number on them both.

Just then the Rade's waitresses entered, dressed in normal clothes and not their usual uniforms, and Scott had to admit that they actually looked...almost scary. The determination mixed with concern - he wasn't stupid enough to get in their way. They came down the hall in a large group, stopping a nurse along the way to ask something. He got up out of his chair. "Hey."

"Scott, Gunny." Em immediately went to the two men. "What happened? Is she OK?" She looked at Scott, dusty and dirty. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," he said. "And so's your friend. She's inside - Agen...her...he's with her."

They were about to head in when Erin suddenly said, her eyes looking at the men intently. "What aren't you telling us?"

Howe stated bluntly, "They're NCIS." He waited for a moment as they stared at him in shock.

"Your Nina, our Gus, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas," Scott explained. "They're all NCIS. They came down here to set up an elaborate trap for the killer."

"A dangerous one," Kim snorted.



Howe's wife and his daughter came running in at that moment, and he stood to greet them. Scott gave him a small smile and took that opportunity to go, leaving him to talk to his family privately. Lani threw her arms around her father, and he hugged her fiercely. Theodora looked at him expectantly. "They're fine," he said tiredly. "Ni - MacDow shot her up with some drugs and she got got pretty sick, but she's alive and fine."

Lani sighed and nodded. "Trust me, I don't think Kerrie and Jamie need to know about Miss Sutton," she muttered.

"It's not just that." Howe sighed and he straightened. "They're not Miss Sutton and Gunny Thomas."

Theodora blinked. "What?"

"They're NCIS agents," he said quietly. "Sutton, Thomas, and the logger Gus Logan. They're all NCIS agents. They set up this in order to catch MacDow." When his wife and his daughter stood there staring at him, stunned.



Lissa opened the door as silently as possible; they could hear the soft rustling of the bed, and then a murmur. The others behind her, she peeked in, watching as the Marine - the NCIS agent, she corrected herself - stood near the bed, his back to them, his eyes ever watchful.

He looked up at them, and Lissa smiled and finally stepped inside, the others behind her. He moved out of their way silently.

"Hey," she said quietly as they entered, and the brunette turned to look at them. "You don't look so good."

"I've felt better," Nina - or whoever she was - replied. "Hey, I, uh, ought to explain about - "

"That's OK," Em cut in. "Scott and Gunny told us...about the NCIS stuff."

She smiled, and then said, "Kate. Kate Todd," she said, and for some reason it seemed very important to her that she tell them who she was. "And this is my boss, Agent Gibbs. I'm guessing...you know Gus Logan is a NCIS agent, too. He's my colleague. Tony DiNozzo."

"I'll leave you to catch up," the silver-haired agent murmured, looking at Kate to make sure she was all right, and then carefully making his way past them, smiling slightly in acknowledgment as he passed.

Jaime looked like she was about to drool, and Em poked her sharply in the side. She came around to Kate, and with deadpan seriousness, said, "Please tell me I can sign up to join NCIS."

The tension broke, laughter ringing throughout the crowded little hospital room.

"Well," Kate replied, her eyes twinkling. "Gibbs has rules...number twelve is never date a coworker."

"Puts a crimp in his plans," Kim muttered in the back, looking at Kate. Em snickered.

Erin smiled. "How're you feeling?"

"Tired. MacDow shot me up with enough tranquilizer to knock out an elephant," Kate sighed. "Among other things. I've been carried back and forth like some helpless doll. Doctor says the tranquilizer ought to wear off within the next few hours, but to get everything out of my system...."

There was a moment, and then Kate then said quietly, "So...you know about MacDow, I guess," and silence fell on them for awhile.

"Yeah," Lissa replied finally, taking a deep breath. "I think most of us want to be really angry with him, but." She shrugged. "I think we are, in a sense, but at the same time - " she sighed. "We don't know quite how we're feeling yet. He killed Kennedy, and as brutal as it was.... It's a relief to have that guy gone. MacDow killed our friends, our coworkers, but at the same time - " Lissa shrugged helplessly.

"Well, I don't think the Marines are sure what to feel, either," Kate replied quietly. "Just glad it's over." After a companionable silence, she asked, "So, what's happening now?"

"Quincy's taking over temporarily," Em replied. "And we're staying on. Quincy won't put up with the crap Kennedy pulled, and he's a good boss. If we had had our way, he would have been in charge the whole time." Her eyes twinkled. "Kennedy just fired our bartender two days ago, so guess who's taking over there."

Erin's wide grin caused Kate to laugh. "You could. You certainly could."

There was a knock, and Lissa frowned. "Hey, uh, we can't stay. The nurse was pretty irritated at us coming in this late."

"Hey, I just." Kate paused. "I really wanted to thank you for taking care of me these past couple months," she said softly. "I was really happy to be working with you."

The women grinned. "You and the NCIS will always be welcome. Drop by," Em replied.

"First round, house'll buy." Erin winked.

"Yeah, and, uh." Kim's eyes twinkling deviously. "Bring your man." The other waitresses laughed.

Kate blinked. "I'm...I'm not dating," she said slowly, puzzled by the amused looks she was getting.

Erin just chuckled, her eyes dancing. "Em means it," she replied, her voice full of laughter. "When you come on down to visit, bring your guy. I'm sure the Marines'll be happy to see Agent Gibbs again, too."

With that, they left, the door closing behind them.

* Season 1, episode 9: "Marine Down"

"JAG is looking for him to plead guilty, maybe get life or less because of paranoia, mental disturbance," Yates finally said, stopping to take a sip of her coffee.

They were sitting in Gibbs' living room, Gibbs and his team and Cassie and Balboa and Axelrod. Cassie had to admit Kate looked a lot better than she did when she'd been released from the hospital, but she still looked tired and pale, and she'd lost a lot of weight. Nothing sat well on her stomach, even now.

As soon as Kate could go, the hospital had suggested that she return to Washington, where the better hospitals could monitor her condition. Without another word, they'd bundled Kate into Gibbs' car and they'd left.

Cassie had gone to her apartment and with 'Nina''s old coworkers had cleaned up her apartment and packed it up. The waitresses had been more than willing to help out and promised to file the paperwork to turn the apartment back over to management. Gunnery Sergeant Howe and the Marines had packed Gibbs' space up, loaded up the NCIS truck with his things, putting them next to Tony's. There was a sense of relief that the killer was caught, albeit a sober one - news of Kate's near miss had made the rounds of the town pretty fast.

Kate had spent two more days in a DC hospital as doctors tried to figure out if there was any way they could speed up her recovery besides using an IV drip to give her the nutrients she needed. Cassie had to admit some surprise when she'd called Abby to find out where Gibbs was and was told that he was at the hospital with Kate - still. He only came in to the office when Abby had something for him, since Ducky was spending most of his time at the hospital with Kate.

Ducky Cassie could see; he was such a soft-hearted man. Gibbs? Cassie had to admit some surprise.

Kate was released two days later to go home, and there had been a fight about where she was to go. She'd won out and got to go home, back to her own Georgetown apartment, but she'd had a bad spell just an hour after she got inside. Thankfully Gibbs - like some d-mn stalker, Kate had muttered disapprovingly - had been nearby and immediately taken her to his home, where she'd been for two harrowing days.

According to Tony, who'd been witness to it - Kate would try to hide the vomiting, going upstairs when she felt sick so Gibbs wouldn't hear her. He'd hear - man heard like a bat, Tony claimed - and then Kate would get coddled more, and that would drive her insane. It was like watching TV to see them fight, Tony had said with glee. Tony wasn't averse to throwing wood on the fire to keep himself entertained, either.

Cassie wasn't sure that Gibbs' anger was just about Kate's intractability involving her care. Gibbs had a dark expression on his face when she'd delivered JAG's decision about MacDow. The man had killed many people, and there was no excuse for it, but he seemed genuinely disturbed and mentally ill. The psychiatrist who evaluated him had advised them not to tell MacDow how Kidwell had really died - at Jack Canton's hand and not because of formaldehyde poisoning. MacDow was already horrified when, after much counseling, he came to realize that he had killed women who were not threatening his Marine friends and that he had been unduly influenced and blinded by his past. Finding out that his "past experience" - Kidwell and Peary supposedly poisoned by women - wasn't even true.... The psychiatrist didn't think he could take it.

Considering all that, a little compassion would be nice. "Anyhow," Cassie said, "we figured you'd want to know."

---

"I'll do the talking."

"You think I can't do it?"

"I don't want a star witness to end up helping the other side, Jack," Coleman replied with all innocence although her tiny smirk and twinkling eyes gave her away.

"Touché," MacBurney muttered, but returned her amused smile. He pressed the doorbell, and after a moment, an unfamiliar female face appeared.

"Agent Todd," Coleman greeted.

"Cmdr. Coleman," came the friendly reply, and then a hand extended out for a handshake to MacBurney. "Kate Todd."

MacBurney took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Jack MacBurney. Now I see why Gibbs has never asked me to NCIS again," he said charmingly. "I'd keep you to myself too."

Coleman rolled her eyes, and Kate laughed, apparently amused but not impressed. "You're better than Tony at this."

"Hey!" came the protest from inside. "He is not."

"Have you ever considered that Gibbs asked for me because I'm a better lawyer?" Coleman pointed out, looking at her colleague in amusement.

MacBurney looked at his colleague thoughtfully. "Eeeehhh...that's not it."

Coleman just shook her head, an amused smile as Kate chuckled, letting them in. "Have you considered the possibility that the men ask for Cmdr. Coleman so they can see HER?" Kate proposed with a grin, to a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, it's certainly not that."

Coleman rolled her eyes. "Thank you. Every woman loves to hear she's stupid and unattractive to other men. Especially in her hearing."

"Now, Faith," MacBurney replied, stepping forward so he was toe-to-toe with his JAG colleague, a flirtatious twinkle in his eye. "You know I didn't mean you were ugly and stupid. You should hear yourself complain when you get called, and if they complain anything like the way you do, it's a wonder they ever call you."

"Hey!" Tony protested. "You complain about us?"

"I think you wouldn't be able to spend more than an hour outside of the office with either of them," MacBurney chuckled.

Coleman conceded. "True."

"But at least," MacBurney grinned, "you wouldn't have to hire a slick defense lawyer after you killed Gibbs - well, or DiNozzo - for, I don't know, pushing the toothpaste tube in the middle instead of from the bottom up."

Kate just shrugged at Coleman, smiling, as the lawyer shook her head and sat down. After a moment she turned sharply to him. "You! That trip we had to take to Pensacola with Petty Officer Coates. YOU were the one who turned my toothbrush upside down in my cup. And you tried to blame that on her."

MacBurney just grinned to himself as he nodded his thanks to Kate, taking a cup of coffee from the tray and sipping from it. He started to set down on the coffee table when Coleman slid a coaster across at him.

"Agent Yates informed us you're going to plea," Gibbs replied sharply, sitting down.

"Prosecution has offered it, yes. Capt. MacDow is no position to stand trial," Coleman replied, unlocking her briefcase and taking out a pad and a pencil. "He suffers from deep paranoia."

"That's not an excuse for killing people," Tony pointed out.

"You wanted us to plead that for Col. Ryan," MacBurney replied. He patted his pockets, looking for a pen. Next to him, Coleman held out her pencil to him without looking up.

Kate smiled to herself in amusement; Tony chuckled outright. Gibbs shook his head. "Col. Ryan didn't kill anybody," he pointed out.

"He almost did," Coleman agreed with her colleague. A second later, she held out a small notepad. MacBurney smiled gratefully, taking it. "We want to hear from you yourselves what happened the five months you were down there."

---

"Gibbs, the man was genuinely disturbed," Kate argued. "He didn't do it out of malicious intent."

"You seem to forget he was targeting the very people you worked with," Gibbs replied sharply. "He shot Marines and poisoned women to death."

"He in his sick way was trying to protect the men he worked with! He could get death for what he did."

"Well, that's what most serial killers get."

"Gibbs! Have a heart," Kate exclaimed. "Like you don't get obsessed about cases and let it build up."

"He tried to kill you, Kate," Gibbs snapped.

"He was trying to protect you, Gibbs!"

"I don't need protecting."

"He didn't succeed in killing me or you," Kate pointed out.

"Because we found it out," Gibbs replied.

"Jeffrey White tried to kill Tony to protect himself, and you didn't get this het up about White's sentence!" Kate exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "For once, could I be counted as the same as Tony or McGee?! You do this just to me, or to all the female agents?"

Kate stared at Gibbs pointedly, waiting for an answer, gearing up to counter whatever glib response he'd toss at her. He just looked back at her steadily, for a long time, not saying a word. Then he turned on his heel and left, the door to his basement slamming distantly.

---

She stood at the closed door to his basement, a little nervous about knocking.

The two hours apart had been needed, and Kate had calmed down a little. She had started to think of it as if somebody else had been in her position - if it had been Tony, McGee, Abby - and she had to admit that she wouldn't want MacDow off so easily. She remembered when she had finally come face to face with the crazy psychos who had kidnapped Ducky right out from under her, and Tony and McGee barely got in between her and that mother.

Gibbs - Kate shuddered. She didn't want to think about him. She remembered her brief panic back at Rade's when MacDow had stuck a gun to her back and walked her out; he'd said something that led her to think MacDow had broken his pattern and killed Gibbs first. The feeling of shock and dread.... Luckily she hadn't had time at all for her mind to deal with that possibility before MacDow had said that Gibbs was alive and fine.

Still, once she'd had time to dwell on it....

She'd finally discovered for the first time how in the world Gibbs'd ever managed to be married in the first place. As Thomas, he could be sweet and charming if he wanted to be - which was rarely - and he was observant and watchful of her needs. It was easy to forget oneself, being the center of Gibbs' attention....

She'd tried to convince herself that Gibbs was just acting, but deep down, she wasn't so sure she wanted to hear that.

But reality was reality, and she wasn't about to go flirting and running after a man who wasn't really interested in her. She'd never done it before, and she wasn't going to do it now. She had her dignity. So Kate had resigned herself to trying (fruitlessly) to keep her mind off of him and back on her cases and her own friends.

That's what she resolved, anyhow. Now to see how well she was going to do while facing him.

Taking a deep breath, she finally rapped on the door.

"Unlocked."

She opened the door and stood above the stairs. After a moment, she blurted, "Major MacBurney called again. Said that we're to be in court in three days."

He stopped sanding long enough for her to finish, and without acknowledging what she had said, started up again.

She came down the stairs halfway, standing primly on the stair, not venturing further into the basement. "I want to - apologize for earlier," she said calmly and clearly, her confident tone masking her nervousness. "I thought about it, and I think I would be less forgiving if MacDow had drugged up...one of you." She thought a moment, then added, "I still think that he needs to get help first. But I do understand."

Gibbs just stopped to look at her, and after a moment of silence, both just staring at each other, she gave him a small smile and turned to go.

"The boat."

Kate turned on the step. "What?"

"The boat," he said finally, quietly. "When a case frustrates me, when I start to get obsessed. I work on my boat."

She hovered on the step, still, looking at him between the ribs of the boat. He crooked his finger at her, with almost a nervous smile, and hovered on her right as she carefully gripped the handlebar of the stairs and descended the rest of the stairs slowly, eyes still on the boat. She stepped close to it and ran a slim finger up a rib. "It's as smooth as silk," she said a soft, reverent voice. "You did this?"

Gibbs nodded.

"My mom and dad would be so impressed," she smiled, almost to herself as she slowly circled the boat.

"Your parents?"

Kate nodded, still continuing around the boat, marveling at it and almost talking to herself rather than to him. "My dad - his hobby was building stuff, and my mother's father had started in carpentry." She smiled a little shyly as she came full circle, back to where he was standing. "As kids, my older sister and my older brothers and me - there was a small playpen downstairs where they could watch us when they worked."

Gibbs smiled. "They do it a lot?"

"There were five of us kids, and we weren't well off. Dad worked hard, but there wasn't ever that much money." She paused, looking at the boat. "Most of the stuff in our house they made, or they had passed down to them. The extra rocker in the living room - Dad and Mom made it when she was pregnant with my sister - their first. All the little nightstands, the bureaus, the shelving - they made those. It was their together time." She smiled a little wistfully as she thought about it.

Kate nodded, sticking her hands in her jeans pockets. "That was their special hobby together," she said with a quiet smile as she continued to look at the boat. "Mom always joked that she thought the smell of sawdust on my father was really sexy."

Gibbs held up a file. "You know how to use one?"

Kate looked up, startled. "Sure, but I've never worked on a boat."

Gibbs held it out to her, and Kate picked it up expertly. She turned towards the rib, and then she felt the gentle pressure against her back as Gibbs pressed her into the rib. His hands covered hers, as he leaned into her, and Kate swallowed hard.

"Just file up the rib," came Gibbs' low, almost hoarse voice as he guided the file up the side of the wood. "Just slow and easy-like." The breath tickled her ear.

Kate was determined not to fall all mooney-eyed at his feet, and she nodded as professionally as she could, pulling the file down towards her and then carefully filing up the rib. She concentrated as hard as she could on the task at hand.

And then she realized his hands had dropped from the file to her waist. His mouth was hovering about her right ear, and she could feel the soft breaths as he inhaled and exhaled. Her hands stilled, and she brought the file slowly down and turned her head just the tiny fraction of a bit. His face was close to hers, and Kate tried to take slow, calm breaths.

"Your mother thought the smell of sawdust was sexy," Gibbs said softly into her ear. "What does her younger daughter think?"

Kate could almost hear the hesitation in his voice. Her fingers closed around the file, her knuckles turning white as she felt the edge dig into her palm. "I think she'd agree," Kate murmured.

"Really?" Gibbs breathed into her ear, soft, warm, teasing - and hesitantly hopeful.

Kate tried not to sigh at the warmth enveloping her. She turned to look at him, her face just inches from his, looking at his hardened and worn but quietly patient, almost nervously hesitant eyes. She could see his relief when she nodded a small yes to his question.

"Good," Gibbs murmured, his arms wrapping around her from behind, enveloping her tightly in his embrace. "Good."

END