Disclaimer: I own nothing that looks or sounds familiar except for the vivid thoughts and imagination.

A/N: I know i said I was going to be on leave for a while but it got cut short so I'm back with a new story. I'm trying my hand at writing a case type thing so be lenient and patient with me please. Now on with the show.

This is set after Twilight but as I said I am in twilight denail so Kate is still alive and I just watched the episode Probie and I do not like the new Director hence I am bit mean to her.

Ulterior Motive

Chapter 1

The sound of sandpaper scraping on wood filled the basement, breaking the easy silence the two occupants in it were sharing. With each stroke the pressure on the sander increased, sanding on the wood until the wood felt exceptionally smooth to his touch. Gibbs had been at it for over two hours already and it looked like he had no intention of letting up anytime soon.

Sitting in the corner reading and occasionally looking up to admire him work was the attractive redhead who sometimes dropped him off or fetched him from work. Once in a while when he got home from work she would be there waiting for him so they could have dinner together and then retreat to the basement for some 'bonding time'.

This usually meant he would work on his boat and she would read or complete the workload she had brought home from the office that day or she would just sit and watch him work on his boat, and they would discuss how their days at work had been, whether it was good or in this case how crap Gibbs's day had been.

Tonight, however, Gibbs seemed unusually quiet and more distant than he normally was. Dinner was eaten in silence and he did not even offer to help clean the kitchen or wash the dishes, opting to shower first and then go straight to work on his boat. When she had eventually finished cleaning up the kitchen and came down to the basement she sensed something was bothering him.

She worked on her papers for a while before broaching the subject, "bad day at work Gibbs?" she asked politely. He kept sanding, not answering her question immediately, and debating on whether he should keep the conversation going or not. When he found no reason not to answer her he replied, "Yep". He did not say anything else, prompting her to ask a second question, "do you want to talk about it?" she sounded concerned. "Nope!" he said finally in a tone that suggested the conversation was over.

Flashback…The Beginning of the Day.

His day had started out nice enough not to be grumpy, but that changed about an hour after he had walked into the bullpen, coffee cup held securely in his right hand. Kate and DiNozzo were at it as usual, but for some reason he did not find it irritating or annoying as he usually did. McGee was sitting at his desk looking amusedly at his two co-workers, and smiling to himself as he heard Kate lecture Tony on his behaviour toward women or the lack thereof.

As he settled down to read the casefile they were currently busy with he saw Director Sheppard walk up into his bullpen and made her way to his desk, coming to a halt only when she could not get any closer to him owing to the desk that now stood between them. This caused Kate and Tony to stop their bickering and the three agents turned their attention to their Boss and the Director.

"Is there something you need Madame Director?" Gibbs asked as he looked up from the file in his hand. The smug smile on her face made him feel like telling her to get out of his face but he controlled the urge. "Actually Agent Gibbs I wanted to have a word with you!" she answered. When he made no effort to stand or even move form his desk she added, "In private". "Anything you want to say to me you can say to my team" he responded nonchalantly.

Just as she started speaking the phone on his desk began to ring and he held up his index finger indicating her to be quiet as he answered the call. "Gibbs" he grunted into the receiver. This was followed by a short silence and a series of nods and uh-huhs and finally he said "We're on our way," and placed the receiver back into the cradle. He ordered the team to gear up and threw the keys of the sedan to DiNozzo and said "you're driving."

Before the Director could get another word out of her mouth the team was already at the elevator and on their way to the parking lot heading toward the crime scene. Damn she would have to wait until they returned from wherever they had been called to. At this moment she hated that she was The Director and not a field agent who could accompany Gibbs.

When they got to the scene, an alleyway in a down trodden part of the city they were met with a gruesome find. A young woman was lying on the floor; her limbs splayed in what they knew were uncomfortable positions, cuts and bruises covering the parts of her body where her clothes had been ripped open. There were blood stains everywhere and it looked like there had been a major struggle, with a fatal ending for the girl now lying on the hard snow covered ground.

After taking pictures, sketching, taking measurements and Ducky estimating the time of death, the team had seen enough to want to just leave the scene. They tried talking to witnesses in the area but nobody seemed to know anything or they just did not want to talk… and so they gave up trying… for the moment.

Back at HQ they went down to Abby's lab to see if she had found anything out of the ordinary, but it was too soon to tell, even though she had got the evidence bags long before the team had returned. It would still take a couple of hours to get any results. "Abby" Gibbs said as he walked into the lab followed by the rest of his entourage, "how much longer?" he sounded impatient. "You can't rush science Gibbs!" was the reply he received from his lab rat.

"Kate" he turned around to face her, "pull up the records on the victim, Commander Cameron Smith. See whatever you can find and get back to me as soon as possible. McGee and DiNozzo I want you guys to search her apartment and see what you guys come up with," he added as he walked up to Kate invading her personal space. He loved doing that to her, he knew it made her somewhat uncomfortable and extremely self conscious.

The moment was cut short however, by the arrival of the Director and he saw her fixedly watching the interaction between himself and Kate. She was not happy about it, and he could tell by the way her facial expression had changed but lasted only a few minutes.

"Agent Gibbs" she had started again "I want one of your team members to assist me with something very urgent," she stated in a non debating tone. "We're busy on a case Madame Director" he replied in the same tone "find a team that has people to spare" he added. "Agent Gibbs this is not a request it's an order!" she said forcefully impelling him to send one of his agents.

"DiNozzo assist the Director with whatever she wants to do," he ordered Tony. "Actually Jethro I want Special Agent Todd and not DiNozzo" and she left the lab and no room for any further discussion. Her use of his first name put him in a bit of a compromising position but he would deal with that later as he saw the look on his three agents' and one lab technician's faces.

He nodded for Kate to follow the Director out of the lab and assist her with whatever it was she needed help with. Kate did so with no protest knowing it was pointless to do so at the moment. His day had gone all downhill from that point on.

End of Flashback

The search conducted by DiNozzo and Mcee did not produce any results and he was no closer to catching the dirtbag who was responsible for the dead Commander now lying on a cold slab in Ducky's Autopsy room. Well at least it couldn't get any worse… he thought to himself.

The ring of his cellphone brought him out of his thoughts, and the silence was once again broken. Looking at the caller ID he saw Fornell's name blinking on the screen. Why on earth would the FBI agent call at this hour of the night? Nonetheless he answered the call "Gibbs" he said into the receiver.

Without saying hello or any other pleasantries Fornell said "Gibbs I need to come to this address!" he sounded distressed. "Right now?" Gibbs was by now very surprised. "Yes Gibbs right now and don't tell anyone where you're headed until you get here!" "I'm on my way" Gibbs grabbed his coat and keys and made his way up the basement staircase.

"Where are you headed at this time of the evening?" the redhead asked. "Work" he replied giving no other explanation and was gone. He sped to address Fornell had given him over the phone was surprised to see squad cars blocking the area and the perimeter was sealed to civilians. Showing his badge and ID he was allowed access to the scene, walking on until he reached Fornell.

"What do you got?" he asked the other agent. "Woman, early twenties beaten up, not sure what provoked the attack, nothing stolen," Fornell summed up the scene in front of them. "She a marine, or belong to the Navy or military in any way?" Gibbs asked. "No" was the reply. "Then why'd you call me Fornell?" Gibbs asked exasperatedly.

I think you should take a closer look…

Thats it for now. I am currently busy with Chapter 2 but I'm not sure where I wan to take this just yet so it might be a while before the next chapther comes.

As usual feedback is greatly appreciated and the more the reviews the more it will prompt me to do the next chapter.

laterz

hellraiser.

TBC