Disclaimers: I do not own NCIS or its characters. Those belong to CBS and show creators. I'm just borrowing them.

Warnings: Spoilers for "Borderland"

A/N: Here is the first chapter to the sequel for "Safe and Sound". It starts about three months after Kaitlin's birthday. I hope you enjoy it just as much! Please let me know what you think and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!

Held

Kaitlin DiNozzo had learned the word no. And it was her response to almost everything her father asked her to do. Her language had blossomed in the last three months. She was trying to talk to everyone and everything and she parroted him even more now. Generally, she was just curious about her world.

It made life more difficult for Tony, that was for sure. Every time he turned around Kaitlin was trying to get into something, despite the house being baby proofed. He was exhausted at the end of each and every weekend and he thought about the stack of nanny applications on his desk that he should be going through to get a live-in nanny. Abby had taken her a couple of weekends to give him a break, but she was in Mexico this week and he was sure she didn't want to be taking care of a toddler when she got back. Tony was just going to have to power through this next phase of his fatherhood... and find a nanny in the process.

"Dada," Kaitlin called as she came into the kitchen, her stuffed penguin at her side. "Cookie?"

"Eat this first," Tony told her, handing her a piece of cheese. He'd found bribing her with cookies got her to eat her lunch. Did that make him an awful father?

Kaitlin gobbled down her slice of cheese and then turned her eyes towards him. "Cookie?" she asked, sweetly.

Tony reached into the cookie jar and fished out an Oreo. He broke it in half and handed her one. She plopped down onto the tile floor and ate her treat, which had been discovered recently to be her favorite.

Behind her father the backdoor opened and Gibbs stepped inside, carrying a newspaper and a case file. Kaitlin smiled up at her father's boss and waved her little fingers, "Hi Ibbs."

Gibbs reached out and ruffled her hair, making her giggle. He dropped the newspaper and the case file onto the kitchen island and sat down at stool. "Got any coffee around here, DiNozzo?"

"Ah, yeah," Tony replied, pouring his boss a fresh cup. "What are you doing here on a Sunday?"

"Picked your Sunday paper up off the back step."

"Thanks... is that the only reason you stopped by?"

He shook his head. "No," the team leader said, simply. "Something about this case is bugging me. Wanted to pick your brain."

Tony nodded and went to sit next to Gibbs at the island, but Kaitlin stopped him by screeching, "Dada! Cookie!" He remembered that he had the other half of the Oreo in his hand. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and handed her another slice of cheese, which didn't go over well at all. She screamed and stomped her feet for the rest of her cookie. He reminded her to eat the cheese first.

Gibbs chuckled to himself as the toddler shoved the whole slice of cheese into her mouth, causing Tony to jump off his stool and scoop about half of the cheese out of her mouth into a napkin. He reached for the half of cookie on the counter and handed it to her. "It's Sunday... nothing wrong with an extra treat."

"Yeah," Tony grumbled as he tossed out the napkin and went to wash his hands. "This toddler stuff isn't fun."

"No one said it was," Gibbs replied, leaning down to pick Kaitlin up off the floor. He settled her into his lap. "Just remember... she's worth it."

Kaitlin finished her cookie and with a little finger pointed to the plate of lunch meat and cheese on the counter. "Dada... eese?" she asked, wide eyed.

Tony grumbled and handed her a piece of cheese, watched as this time she took bites. When she finished the cheese he handed her bites of cut-up turkey and shook his head as she ate that with no complaints. If he survived the toddler years it was going to be a miracle. "So... what did you want to discuss?"

Gibbs pulled out the case file and flipped it open. "You and Erin talked to the bartender Friday, right?"

"Yeah. She seemed concerned that someone was killing her patrons. Was willing to talk to us privately," Tony said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Had the victims names run through AFIS," Gibbs said. "All ten were suspected of dealing drugs and were on the DEA's watch list."

"Called the DEA yet?"

"Meeting with them in the morning."

"But that's not what's bothering you..."

He smiled, it was the whole reason that Gibbs had come here. Tony just knew him, knew that something was bugging him and it wasn't the obvious that all their victims were drug dealers. "No. That's not what is bothering me. Collins had his feet removed before he died. And he wasn't killed with poison."

Tony paused while he ate his sandwich. "Killer changed his MO. That's unusual."

Gibbs nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Dada," Kaitlin interrupted them. "Juju?" she asked pointing to her sippy cup. Tony handed it to her and she sucked her apple juice down.

"If all ten of those guys were poisoned instead of Collins... are we looking at a copy cat?"

"Or someone trying to make it look like he was killed by a serial killer."

Kaitlin turned in Gibbs' lap and looked up at him, still drinking, her hazel eyes locked on her grandpa. He felt his gut tingling with a fear that he wasn't sure where it came from. Gently he smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead. It was probably the stress of the case, the lack of sleep because they were down an agent while McGee escorted Abby to Mexico... he was being a worry-wort, wasn't he?

Tony must have seen the distress in Gibbs' eyes, he put his sandwich down and asked, "Everything okay, boss?"

Gibbs shook his head and shrugged it off, giving the toddler one more kiss. "It's fine. Stress."

"Sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Nah. I'll be fine. Besides... taken up your time with your daughter."

"Almost time for her nap."

"No! No nap!" Kaitlin sputtered before she burst into tears.

Tony got up off his stool and took the toddler from Gibbs' arms and smirked, "See... naptime," he teased as he carried the sobbing toddler upstairs to her room. She was asleep by the time he laid her in her crib and with an exhausted sigh, Tony made his way back downstairs. He was happy that Gibbs was still there because something was obviously bothering the boss. "Got a couple of hours before Cyclone Kaitlin wakes up... need to talk?"

Gibbs shook his head and sipped his coffee. "Told you. Stress."

He wasn't buying that for a second. Something was tingling on Gibbs' radar because normally he wouldn't just stop by wanting to talk shop. "You wouldn't happen to be checking up on me and Kaitlin now would you?"

"Nope."

"Boss..."

"Promise, Tony," Gibbs said, ending the conversation. "If there's something you need to know... I'll bring you in the loop."

Despite his upset stomach, McGee needed to speak to Tony... and speak to Tony alone.

On their way out that evening, Tony mumbling about how he had to get to the daycare center to bring home a raging toddler, McGee made his move. "Tony, I need to talk to you."

Tony sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah. Guess I can talk.. means I can get less time with a screaming kid. What's up?"

"It's this whole cold case that Abby brought back from Mexico. We're headed it by the government and then a drug dealer happens to show up, with the bullet from the very crime... it seems a little too..."

"Coincidental."

"Yeah."

He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Reynosa cartel is one of the most powerful cartels in all of Mexico. What does a dead drug dealer mean to them? From decades ago?" Tony raised his eyes to look at McGee. "What was the drug dealer's name?"

McGee paused for a moment, and then said, softly, "Pedro Hernandez."

Tony was sure he'd heard that name somewhere before... of course it was a popular hispanic name, maybe it was nothing, but judging from the look on Tim's face, he knew he wasn't that far off base. "Why is the Mexican government so interested in this cold case being solved? I doubt they'd care much for a drug dealer's killer."

"Well, that's the thing, Tony. I did some research. Pedro was the head of what is now known as the Reynosa cartel. Paloma was his daughter," McGee said, stiffly.

"She wants to find out who killed her father," Tony surmised.

"Yeah. Here's the other piece that Abby didn't want me to find out about... Pedro Hernandez shot and killed a U.S Marshall assigned to protect Gibbs' family."

"He caused the car accident that killed Shannon and Kelly."

"Yep."

"Son of a bitch," Tony cursed under his breath. He began to pace the small area in the elevator. Suddenly he was sitting on Gibbs' porch, Kaitlin in his lap, trying to coax some information out of Gibbs about the car crash that had killed the former marine's family. Tony glanced at McGee. "What kind of bullet was used?"

McGee licked his lips and Tony persisted. "Same kind that was commonly used for marine snipers back at the time Pedro was killed."

Tony felt his face pale. His hands shook slightly. Gibbs had killed that man in revenge. Was it right? Probably not... but now that he was a father himself, Tony could understand why the lead agent had done what he'd done. He'd want the same kind of justice if someone were to hurt his daughter. "You don't tell anyone what you found, Tim, got it? Not Erin, not Ducky or Jimmy... not even Abby."

"We... we have to say something..."

"No! No we don't!"

"Tony..."

"I am not about to send Gibbs to jail!"

Silence fell over the cab. McGee stood there looking sympathetically at Tony. It had to hurt, just a few months shy of sending his biological father to jail... to now face the possibility of sending Gibbs to jail as well. "I'm sorry, Tony," he whispered. "But if someone asks me... I... we can't lie. We'd lose our jobs... and what about Katie? Do you really think Gibbs would want you to go to jail over him?"

Tony swallowed the bile in his throat. "No," he whispered, "I just... I just can't be the one to send him." But it was starting to look like he was going to be the one to send his mentor to prison... and that was killing him inside.