Author's Note: This is my first Fanfiction story ever. I got the idea for it months ago but I didn't want to start it until I had watched 'A Man Walks Into a Bar...' again, so after I finally got NCIS Season 8 on DVD, I watched it right away and started this. My goal is to post a chapter a day, but we'll see how that goes. Anyways, hope you enjoy, and please review! :)

"Hi." The entire Team Gibbs looked towards where the voice had come from, and immediately recognized who it was.

"Rachel. What brings you here?" Gibbs asked Dr. Rachel Cranston, who before had come to NCIS before to do psychological evaluations on the team. She was Kate Todd's sister, but only Tony and Gibbs knew that, and what she was really looking to find at NCIS was closure; she thought she could find it through getting to know the people Kate was closest to when she died. But that had been a long time ago, and all of the agents were wondering what she was doing back at NCIS.

Rachel looked around at Tony, Ziva, McGee, and back to Gibbs before answering. "My car blew up this morning. I was at the Wal-Mart, about thirty minutes ago, and as I was walking back towards it after shopping, when I was about twenty feet away, it just blew up. I'm okay, but I'm not entirely sure it was an accident."

"Doesn't sound like one at all." Gibbs replied. "McGee, get the security tapes from the store. Metro Police went to the scene, right?"

"Yeah." Rachel replied.

"Rachel, you're going to need to stay here until we figure this out." Gibbs ordered.

"Wait, what do you think happened?" Rachel asked.

"Someone wants you dead." Gibbs said bluntly.

"Why?"

"That's what we're going to find out." With that, Gibbs headed up to the Director's office, apparently with some sort of idea about what was going on.

"Why would someone want me dead?" Rachel questioned again, turning to Tony.

"I don't know. But we'll find out, I promise you." He responded.

"Do you think it has something to do with…"

"I hope not." Tony interrupted. "God, I hope not." Ziva looked at Tony and then at Rachel, wondering what Rachel had been about to say that made Tony respond the way he did.

Right then, Tony's desk phone rang, and he answered it with his standard greeting of "Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo" that made Ziva roll her eyes every time. "Okay, boss." He said to Gibbs, before turning to Rachel.

"Gibbs says him and Vance need you in Vance's office." Tony told her.

"Okay." She said before going up the stairs and into the director's office.

"Tony, what do you hope it doesn't have to do with?" Ziva asked, curious.

"I'm going to get coffee." Tony replied before heading towards the elevator, leaving Ziva confused and even worried about DiNozzo avoiding her simple question.

"Do you know what Tony was talking about, McGee?" Ziva asked him.

"No idea." McGee responded honestly, just as clueless as Ziva. "But I'm sure he'll tell us eventually."

"Or we will just find out ourselves, since it seems important and Rachel thinks it might be the reason someone wants to kill her." Ziva said.

"Yeah, maybe." McGee said dismissively before getting back to his paperwork. But Ziva didn't let it go that easily.

She absolutely hated when he kept things from her. He had done so numerous times, but the one time that really made her resent it was Jeanne. She had been worried sick about him, since she had no clue what was really going on, and he never confirmed nor denied what she suspected for a long time. And when she found out the truth about it, she was hurt beyond belief, having been completely blindsided by the person she thought would tell her something that important. She understood it was the director's orders, but still…didn't she matter more than that? Ziva had moved past that, though, but now because of it, she was extremely wary every time her partner hid something from her.

And she didn't have a good feeling about it.

Up in Director Vance's office, the mood was definitely not pleasant. Vance kept insisting that NCIS had no reason to be involved in the case since it was not in their jurisdiction at all, and Gibbs kept arguing that since it might have something to do with Kate they had a right to stay on the case, and neither one was about to budge. As for Rachel, she was kind of in shock and didn't really know what to say. She could hardly believe it was even happening.

"It's not in our jurisdiction, Gibbs! I can't have you working this case! It's completely Metro's case, and that's all there is to it!" Vance yelled.

"Fine. I'll ask Metro to hand the case over to us. I'm sure they'd understand and be more than willing to help out if needed." Gibbs responded, since the Metro detective that had been put in charge of the case was an acquaintance and he knew the guy would not hesitant to give the case to Gibbs and his team.

"If they agree to it, go ahead." Vance said, knowing Gibbs would definitely end up getting the case because he always seemed to be able to get what he wanted, especially when it was something personal like he knew this was.

"Good." Gibbs then flung open the door to the director's office and left, wanting to get started on his investigation as soon as possible. Rachel followed him after being told by Director Vance that she would need to give a witness statement, and they both arrived back in the bullpen at almost the exact same time Tony did.

"Taking a break, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked him.

"Actually, I…" Tony started to come up with an excuse, but Gibbs quickly shut him up with a head slap before walking over to his desk and making a quick phone call to the Metro detective in charge, who, as expected, told Gibbs he could have the case and would send over the evidence shortly. Right after Gibbs hung up the phone, he got an email of the crime scene photos, and he instantly put them up on the screen.

A look of recognition appeared on Ziva's face at the very first one, which was a shot of the bomb underneath Rachel's car.

"What is it, Ziva?" Gibbs asked her.

"I recognize the bomb. It is a signature I know, let me think…Abdul Kahlil!" She exclaimed. "He was a wanted terrorist for over ten years in Pakistan, never found. I don't know why he would target Dr. Cranston, though." She told Gibbs. "I mean, there's no reason for any terrorist to be going after you, right?" Ziva asked, turning to Rachel.

"Well…" She started to tell Ziva the truth, but Gibbs broke in.

"There sort of is a reason, Ziva." He said. "She's Kate's sister."