Chapter 1

Fran Tucker was in Anchorage, Alaska. Three weeks after she'd last seen Damon Garth, Fran had been offered a position at the NCIS branch in Anchorage, thanks to some strings Gibbs had pulled. His reason being was that he knew Fran's ex-boyfriend had made a few threats towards the probie agent during his sentencing and had made it very plain that Fran would be in serious trouble the moment he got out of jail. Sending Fran to Alaska, where she could disappear if she needed to, was his way of protecting her, and perhaps giving her a real chance with a real guy.

Fran had agonized over the decision for two days before talking to Dabi about it.

"Go. I'll be okay. Damon seems like a really good guy and you have an incredible opportunity to expand your experience as an agent. As for us, there's text messages and e-mails and good old fashioned letters," Dabi assured her. "I promise you, you'll always be welcome here. Besides, it'll give me an excuse to come and see Alaska some time."

Damon was a good man, according to what he'd told Fran, who had told Dabi. He'd been born and raised in Pascagoula, Mississippi, an area that had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As a result of the aftermath, and with his home destroyed and family scattered, Damon had simply gotten on a fishing boat and gradually made his way up the coast to Alaska.

While there, one of his buddies, to quote Damon, got drunk and got stupid and when Damon tried to stop him, State Troopers wound up getting called in. While Damon was sitting in a jail cell, waiting to be released, Trooper John Keats came in and spoke to him at length. After some serious soul-searching, Damon decided to clean himself up and enroll in the nearest college that would help him become an Alaskan State Trooper. If he was going to try and help people, it would help a lot if he was doing it from the right side of the law.

Two weeks before Damon was due to graduate with honors, Keats was killed while enroute to a domestic disturbance. His car had slammed headfirst into a semi trailer that had lost control on the wet highways. It was in Keats' memory that Damon put his uniform on every day and continued to try and help people, the way Keats once helped him.

As for him and Fran, well, according to Gibbs, Damon was building a log cabin and was hoping to share it with someone some day.

Before Fran had landed in Anchorage, Dabi had sent Damon a message, letting him know Fran was on her way. Her message had included a warning.

"Hurt her, and you'll be going on a hunting trip you'll never come back from."

A week later, Dabi was in New Orleans. She had been invited by Dwayne Pride, and encouraged by her father, Gibbs. Badly needing a break from recent events at the bakery and in her life, she had agreed to go, but only for a few days.

That was how she wound up crashing on Pride's couch and commandeering his kitchen.

Chris LaSalle and Merri Brody walked into the headquarters, sniffing the air appreciatively.

"Something sure smells good," said Chris. "I know you can cook great, King, but I'll gladly take two servings of whatever it is you're baking."

"Not me, Dabi," said Pride, coming from the kitchen, a steaming muffin in one hand.

"Dabi, as in Dabi Moore-Gibbs?" Brody asked.

"One and the same. She's staying with me for a few days. Got something to show you," said Pride, gesturing towards the flatscreen. He hit a button and a video began playing. It was a fight between Dabi and some unknown assailant in what appeared to be a bakery. "This was taken about a month ago. The guy is a now-deceased Mexican hitman for a major Mexican drug cartel."

"Okay. Fight looks pretty serious," said Chris, wincing at some of Dabi's hits.

"It was. Dabi was protecting this pretty little lady, who's mother, Camila, had given birth to her prematurely then died near Dabi's bakery, trying to protect her daughter," said Pride, throwing up a picture of a baby girl, tucked snuggly in the arms of a dark-haired man, with a dark-haired woman who had her arms around both of them. "That's Sara Rivens, and her adoptive parents, Mary and Owen Rivens. Owen is Dabi's business partner and Mary owns her own construction company. They have an apartment next to Dabi's, above the bakery. The hitman tried to finish the job of killing Sara and, according to Gibbs, Dabi damn near finished him."

"She's a cutie," said Chris.

"She said she's killed before," said Brody, watching Dabi's face. "Has she?"

"I asked Gibbs that, and he said yes, she has. She apparently planted a knife in the base of a guy's head while in Hawaii, after being kidnapped by a very dangerous weapons dealer, who was going to sell her on the sex trade market as retribution for NCIS and Gibbs investigating him in L.A., which is where she was when the investigation started," said Pride. He huffed, then said, "Try saying that three times fast."

"Okay, so why is she here?" Chris asked.

"Apparently taking a break from everything. Her business is expanding, she has a new goddaughter, her best friend moved to Anchorage to further her career as an NCIS agent and get away from an ex-boyfriend who made some serious threats against her while in court for assault," said Pride. "According to Gibbs, Owen, Sharee, who is her grandmother, and Leo, her live-in boyfriend, Dabi's been under a lot of stress and it was decided she needed to get away and since she had fun the last time she was with us, she got booted our way."

"So what do we do?" Brody asked.

"Have fun. She's an excellent baker, a good shot with a gun and a rifle, and well-trained in kick boxing and Marine fighting," said Pride. "She loved it the last time she was down here. But she's going to need help coming to terms with the side that scares her, according to Leo; the side that comes out when she's in a fight like the one she was in. Gibbs said she doesn't remember much of the fight after throwing the first punch, only having the fog lift seconds after she placed the pastry knife to the guy's throat. The fight actually started in Sara's nursery, in the upstairs apartment, and that was a full three minutes before we see them on the bakery camera."

"Emotional shock," said Brody. "I've heard of Marines doing that in a fight, especially when it's a fight to the death. The conscious mind just shuts down as a way of protecting itself."

"So what do we do?" Chris asked.

"We help her work her way through it," said Pride. "Maybe do a few chat and chows."

"Or bake and blab, as the case may be," said Brody thoughtfully.

"Sounds like my belt's going to need loosening in the near future," said Chris, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

"She's got a fresh batch of cranberry blueberry muffins with glazed lemon icing ready," said Pride.

"Mine!" Chris yelped, diving for the kitchen.