Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters, they all are Donald. P Bellisario's.

All I own is the little plot bunny which wouldn't leave me alone and the OC's that go with it

A/N: This is my first story, English isn't my first language

A huge thanks to JibbsGal1 for her help and support

Season 8 episode 1: Spider and the Fly

Francks: "Do what you have to for family"

Gibbs: What rule is that?

Francks: The unspoken one

Chapter One: The case and the woman

January 18th, 2011 11:30 am

Lyon Village, Arlington, Virginia

First Sergeant Kyle Grand of the United States Marine Corps looked at his watch, he had another five minutes before he, his wife, Nancy and his son, Hugo, had to leave the park to go pick up his best friend, the Infantry Weapons Officer James Drenton. Today was his friend's birthday and they decided they would celebrate it at a new restaurant. James was living just two minutes away from the park and it was a fifteen minutes drive to the restaurant, they had plenty of time but James was punctual to a fault, had always been.

Kyle called his son and rolled his eyes when Hugo seemed very reluctant at the idea of leaving the redheaded little girl he was playing with, surely his son couldn't already have a girlfriend, he was barely five years old!

Sending Nancy and Hugo fetch the car, he walked to his friend's house and, arriving there, knocked, no answer, he tried again, still nothing, it wasn't like James. He tried the doorknob, it was open. Calling his friend's name, he looked for him in every room, not finding him anywhere, he arrived in front of the study: the door was ajar, he pushed it open and …

No matter how many times he was sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, how many men he saw getting killed in the line of duty, how many men he himself killed, nothing could have prepared him to the sight of his best friend lying in a pool of his own blood, in the middle of his study. Without thinking he went to check for any sign of life, his cell phone already out to call 911. It was useless, his friend was dead and if he could judge he would say it had been a while.

"Kyle, James, are you ready to go?" Nancy and Hugo were here, he couldn't let his family see that.

January 18th, 2011 11:45 am

Navy Yard, Washington D.C

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was lost in thoughts, had been since he arrived to work almost five hours ago, so lost in thoughts that he hadn't noticed Timothy McGee's arrival half an hour after him, even if he was staring at the young man's chair, or more like through it, so lost in thoughts that he hadn't noticed Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and probationary Special Agent Ziva David's arrivals either nor their bickering, so lost in thoughts that he hadn't moved from his chair for the past five hours, not even to get coffee. All of this was unusual, to say the least.

If Gibbs was so contemplative, it was because he hadn't slept well and no he hadn't slept well because he had spent the night sanding his boat while drinking bourbon and finally passed out on the cold and uncomfortable floor under said boat, no it wasn't that at all.

Yesterday evening, Gibbs was on security duty at the White House for the NCIS Director Leon Vance, who was coming back to work after several weeks of medical leave, following an explosion which almost killed him. SECNAV had decided that this ball at the White House was the best occasion to show to the alphabet soup that NCIS was still there and since Gibbs wasn't his favorite person in the world, he had been assigned to security without any chance to refuse.

It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last, the real problem wasn't this assignment, it was more the gut feeling he had had all evening, it wasn't an intestinal issue but a warning, something wasn't suiting well with this party and it took him a while to really understand what it was about. When he arrived with Vance, everything was in place, security from every agencies in the US, journalists, most of the other guests, everything was calm, even the photographers who seemed to be waiting for something.

Gibbs and Vance were in the middle of the red carpet taking them inside when the agitation began.

Another limo had stopped and another guest was getting out of it, the photographers tried to get his attention especially when he helped a woman out of the car, hearing them yelling and seeing them flashing their cameras you could have thought the man was a famous actor or something like that but no, as Gibbs learned during the party, this man was the Congressman Bob Sommers, a socialite who was expected to become Senator or maybe even Governor soon. However the attention he generated from the media was as much about his political career as it was about his mysterious companion, indeed for the past two months the single 47 years old Congressman had been seen attending various events with always the same woman on his arm. The fact that a single Congressman was seeing someone wasn't the important point, what was important was that no one had any idea about who this woman could be, at every events they were attending to she was wearing large sunglasses, which were hiding most of her face and she never said a word.

The press was amusing itself with the irony of a Congressman, who was fighting for the women's rights, having a trophy wife.

Gibbs wasn't someone who was interested in this kind of things but when he saw the woman in question, his gut clenched and he understood the strange impression which was following him since he get in the limo was in some way related to her.

It didn't make sense, he didn't know her or the Congressman, she wasn't even his type; of course one could object that his type was fluctuating lately, after a blond Colonel there had been a brown haired Madam and a brunette lawyer; a little different from the fiery, leggy redheads everyone was used to see him with! Looking at her more closely, he was starting to rethink his last point, she could be his type: leggy, check, curvy, always an added bonus, fiery, check that by the way she was clutching the arm of her companion to prevent herself from saying anything to the photographers who were trying to blind her, and redhead, well no but the ruby dress she was wearing and which was hugging her curves so well could count for something, right?

At that point Vance had decided that he had had enough and started moving again, Gibbs followed, and, at the sudden movement in front of them the woman lifted her head up and looked at him, even if her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, Gibbs was sure he had saw her before, he didn't know when or where but he had and he knew it was important. That's why he hadn't slept well, this woman's face was haunting him, all night he tried to remember how the hell he could knew her and he was still thinking about it when his desk phone rang and shook him out of his thoughts for the first time this morning.

Gibbs listened intently to his interlocutor and when the one sided conversation was over he mechanically stood up, took his weapon, his badge and said while walking towards the elevator: "Gear up, dead Marine Gunner in Arlington"

Everyone followed, the three agents fighting to be the one driving while their boss was wondering why his guts were acting up again and gave him the feeling he hadn't see the last of the woman haunting him.

So what do you think?