Hello, again! I'm presenting a new, longer story, with an actual plot! The crime isn't really the important part of this fic so please, don't flame if I'm not able to be true to actual police work. I'm no federal agent!

Disclaimer- They're not mine. Oh, how I wish they were!

THANKS to my beta bethellie!

This is told from Kate's POV, remembering her first weeks working for NCIS.

Caring

"On it, boss."

Tony cringed when Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head and I heard his grunt even with the distance between us. He squinted his eyes and although he gave me a brave smile and ground out a 'C'mon Kate, let's go', I could tell that one had really stung.

Not that he didn't deserve it, I guess. Being a smartass in the presence of the deceased and all. Still, he looked a little more shook up than usual after the blow.

We were securing a crime scene and he'd made his highly inappropriate remark, as usual, just to alleviate the tension. Gibbs wasn't amused and let him know it. I had just started getting used to seeing the head slaps and had begun to wonder when I would be at the receiving end.

The three of us were currently in the home of one very young Petty Officer Ruth Anderson, reported missing from duty this morning. She had been found a few hours ago. Cut into little pieces in her own bedroom. Mrs. Brown, the friendly neighbor with an extra key, was the one who stumbled onto what was left of her. Poor woman.

Gibbs was in one of his inexplicably foul moods this afternoon, and we were the ones bearing the brunt. He had given me a snarl or two, but Tony was the one who always seemed to get in his way when things didn't run as smoothly as could be expected. The local LEO's initial bad handling of the crime scene, being just one example. The ever-present reporters from the nearby TV stations, another.

"C'mon, people, back up!" The police officer sounded tired and weary. The reporters couldn't care less, yelling out their questions at us with unyielding energy, as soon as we showed our faces outside the victim's house. Gibbs hated that, we both knew. I am sure he would rewrite some of the articles in the first amendment, if given the chance.

"Mrs. Brown, could you please tell us what happened today?", Tony asked in a very friendly voice, sitting across from our star witness in her neat and spotless kitchen. I could tell she had been crying and she was very pale, her hands trembling as she pressed a handkerchief to her nose. She unexpectedly started bawling again and Tony sat back.

"Take your time, ma'am." I could sense his inward sigh.

"I…I don't know if I can do this", she sobbed and looked at me with red rimmed eyes, as if to seek female support. "Poor, poor Ruth, who could have done this to her?"

"It's alright, Mrs. Brown", I soothed. "Please just tell us what you saw." I gave Tony a quick glance, and he nodded almost imperceptibly at me to go on. I moved to Mrs. Brown's side. "When did you last see Petty Officer Anderson…Ruth?"

"It was yesterday morning, I guess", she sniveled, calmer now. "She's a very private person, you see. We don't talk every day."

When she started talking in a firmer voice, with more confidence, Tony quietly got up from his chair to blend into the background. Not an easy task for a man of his height, but he managed expertly. Even in those early days, I got the feeling that DiNozzo would prove to be a very gifted undercover agent.

Mrs. Brown looked only at me as she told us about a young man that she had seen at her neighbor's house several weeks ago. Presumably a new boyfriend.

"I hadn't seen him for a long time since then, with his big car and all, but last week he was here. I saw him from my window. I just figured they were dating again."
She didn't know his name, but gave a vague description of both him and the SUV he was driving.

Tony gave me a glance that I returned to let him know I was all right with finishing the interview by myself, and then he left.
I sat with Mrs. Brown for a good fifteen minutes. I let her talk, to get it off her chest, but she had no more vital information to share. It seemed the petty officer had been a nice young lady and a good neighbor.

I thanked her for her help, before stepping outside to see Tony smiling and talking with one of the local reporters over the police tape. He looked relaxed and seemed to be in his element. The under cover skills seeping through again, no doubt.

"DiNozzo!" bellowed a voice from the Anderson house, and Tony cringed yet again, this time not from a blow, but from the sheer force of the anger in Gibbs' voice.

"Yes, boss?" he offered while jogging up to him.

"What the hell are you doing, DiNozzo?! Didn't I tell you to interview the neighbor?"

"Yeah, but, boss…"

"Save it!" As he turned to me, I could see he was very angry indeed. "Kate?"

"I've got a description of a man Anderson apparently dated a while back. Mrs. Brown, the neighbor, saw him here last Tuesday. He's our best lead so far."

"Name?"

"She didn't know it."

"Well, find out!" He turned and left as Ducky and Gerald were pulling up with the truck.

"Yes, boss", Tony groused behind me.

I had the feeling then that something was not quite right.

"Well, he's in a sunny mood today", Tony snorted.

"Yeah", was all I could answer. "He sure is." He sure was.

"It's that time of the year", Tony muttered, almost to himself. "He hates it when they are this young. Anyway, I picked up a lead", he cheered before I had a chance to react to his odd remark. "One of the local reporters just told me about a bar down the road that is a well-known singles bar. Just your regular dating service. Boondocks style, of course." His smile was almost back to normal. "Figured they could have met there. Maybe someone'll recognize our lovebirds."

"Well, great. Let's go! I'll tell Gibbs."

"Kate, you go. I want DiNozzo here, where I can keep an eye on him."

"Gibbs, it was really Tony's lead and…", I half-heartedly tried to change his mind.

"Kate…" Death-stare was let loose and it was directed at me now. It really, truly burns!

"I'm going." One really shouldn't argue with Gibbs when he gets like that. Well, not ever, truth be told.

"Gibbs wants you here, Tony. Said I should go." I saw his face fall and almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "Bye!" I smirked as I snatched the car keys from his hand. I'd rather have him stay behind with a grumpy Gibbs, than me. 'Healthy competition' they call it.

"What? Why? Did he say what for?" he asked warily. "We took all the crime scene photos and did the sketching and…"

"Don't know, don't care, Tony." I opened the car door and smiled a triumphant smile at him.

I could see his head hung low as he started back towards the house.

As it turned out, the mysterious boyfriend was indeed well known at the bar down the road.

"Yes, he comes around. Think his name is Eric." The bartender polished some glasses and wiped the counter - the way they always do in those old Western movies - and he was sounding sure of what he had just told me.

"Is he a regular?" I asked, notebook ready.

"Oh, yeah. Famous Grouse, straight up. Two glasses, never more. Always flirts with the ladies. Occasionally leaves with one. Or two. Haven't seen him in a while, though. Figured he'd got himself a lady friend."

He didn't, however, know Eric's last name or where we could get hold of him right now. Neither did he recognize the petty officer from the sketch I had made. No need to show gruesome photos. I left my card with a request for him to call if anything came up. This 'Eric', for example.

So far, so good. After a quick call to Gibbs, I headed back to the office. They had finished up at the crime scene, he said.

I was the last one back; Anderson's body already downstairs with Ducky, her things with Abby and her loss with Gibbs. I could tell this one had shaken him up. I pondered over that for a moment before realizing; "Tony's not here yet?"

Gibbs gave me a quick glance over the top of his monitor, that had 'well, what do you think?' written all over it. I took the hint, and asked nothing more.

"I'll go down to Abby, see if she can help me run a list of SUVs in the area linking to someone with the given name Eric."

Gibbs nodded gravely.

"Do that."

Abby's music was making the floor shake as I entered her lab, and I smiled at the sight of her bobbing her head to the beat. I have never been able to hear the beat in her music, and I'm sure I never will.

"Hey, Kate!" she greeted me, big smile on her black lips.

"Hi, Abby. Do you know why Tony hasn't showed up, yet?" I tried not to sound worried. Her wicked smile grew wider.

"Gibbs had him stay at the scene."

"Why?" I couldn't think of a reason for that.

"I don't know, Kate. Bossman works in mysterious ways, y'know. Tony probably made him mad. It's not unheard of." She turned to her computer again.

"Probably", I agreed. He had been getting on Gibbs' nerves all afternoon, but so had everything else.

He finally showed up in the late hours of the evening, looking cold with a runny nose and red cheeks, carrying a pizza box.

"Have you found anything, yet?" he asked, as if pleading us not to comment on his previous engagement.

"We have 38 SUVs with a registered owner bearing the first name Eric in this area", Abby informed him, after giving him a quick hug and snatching a slice of pepperoni and cheese. "Six or seven matching our description are living in the area closest to PO Anderson's home."

"So let's go interview them! See if they've got alibis", he burst out as if to say 'What the hell are we waiting for?'.

"Well, Tony it is rather late at night…" I started.

"So?" he looked incredulously at me. "What's a little lost sleep in a murder investigation?" I stared at him for a while then smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Okay. Let's go."

And so we left. Without informing Gibbs. That turned out to be a major mistake.

TBC