AN: Reviews welcome.

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR NICOLE BELONG TO DONALD BELLISARIO/BELISARIUS PRODUCTIONS/CBS. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED, NOT GETTING PAID, YADDA-YADDA. ON TO THE STORY.

Chapter 2

"Ah, another patient," Ducky said the next morning, as Nicole and Gibbs entered autopsy. Nicole smiled as she followed the elderly Scot through the room. "Looks like there's someone ahead of me, Doc," she quipped, glancing at the body that ME's assistant Jimmy Palmer was prepping.

Ducky chuckled. "Not to worry, my dear – the lieutenant isn't going anywhere." He motioned for her to

sit on one of the tables. "Now, let's see how you are."

He picked up a chart, explaining, "I took the liberty of having a copy of your medical records faxed

from your doctor in San Diego, and also from the doctor at the shelter in San Francisco. I understand

you had the flu when you arrived? Also a dislocated shoulder?"

She nodded. "Yes, the shoulder was courtesy of Aguilar; the flu came from sleeping on the streets."

Gibbs's face tightened when he heard this. Nicole had told him briefly about the beatings she'd received

while a "guest" of El Lobo Negro, but hadn't gone into detail. It infuriated him to know that she'd been

mistreated.

Ducky busied himself taking the young woman's temperature, pulse, and blood pressure. "Oh, dear," he

said as he looked at the blank blood pressure monitor. "You have no blood pressure."

Nicole raised her eyebrows and looked at Gibbs. "Told you Nicole Charles was dead."

The physician smiled. "Let's see if we can revive her." He inflated the cuff again, and this time got a

reading of 138/92. "Do you have high blood pressure, Agent Charles?"

She shook her head. "It's usually pretty much a textbook reading. I've been under a bit of stress lately,

as you can imagine."

"Yes, I can imagine." He turned to Gibbs. "Aside from her blood pressure and residual pain from the

dislocated shoulder, she seems to be in good health."

"Thanks, Duck. Ready to go upstairs?" he asked Nicole. "Director Vance wants to meet with you."

"Let's go." She smiled at Ducky. "Thank you, Dr. Mallard."

"You're quite welcome, dear. And please call me Ducky."

"All right... Ducky. And I'm Nicole."

The two agents went upstairs to the director's office. Vance stood as they entered, holding out his hand

to Nicole. "How are you, Agent Charles."

"I'm as good as I can be, considering. Ducky just gave me a clean bill of health downstairs, and Gibbs

is about to take me to my new home for the forseeable future."

"DiNozzo, McGee, and Ziva have been setting up the surveillance system. Ziva will be spending the

nights in the house, DiNozzo will be patrolling the perimeter, and McGee will monitor things from

MTAC."

"Sounds good to me. Keep me informed."

After a few more pleasantries, Gibbs and Nicole went out to his car. "Got any instructions for me?" she

asked him.

"Just do what my people tell you as if Agent Tarkington or I were giving the orders. I'll be coming by to

see you once in a while, and you have my phone numbers."

"Fine." She was silent for a few minutes, and Gibbs looked at her. "Permission to speak freely?"

"You usually don't have a problem doing that."

"Look, Jethro, you know I'm not used to being babysat. I can understand why you and Director Vance

are concerned, but I highly doubt that Aguilar would come after me again."

"So do I, Nikki, but that's not why you're here."

"Something I should know?"

"Why did you ditch your team to meet with Aguilar alone?"

She stared ahead, lips pressed together. "They told you about that, huh?"

"Did you think they wouldn't? Of course, no one knew where you were, but it was pretty easy to figure out when word came that you'd been abducted by him."

She sighed. "One of his goons contacted me and said Aguilar had information about Atlantis. Aguilar wanted to meet with me and turn over the info – for a price. I agreed, we met at a prearranged place, I got a knock on the head, and found myself tied up in the basement of his house. Turns out that he's the one who wanted information."

"Only you don't have any information."

"Nope. My father took 'need-to-know' extremely seriously. I've tried to get information about it several times over the years, but no one will tell me anything. Must be pretty damn important for it to be covered up for almost twenty years."

"So you're going to keep trying to find out about it?"

"Wouldn't you? I'm positive that my father didn't have to die. Is Atlantis really that important?"

Gibbs shrugged. "People have been murdered for a lot less, you know."

"Yeah. But I'm not gonna rest until I find out what the hell's going on. You knew my dad, Jethro. You know he was a wonderful man. It doesn't make any sense, the way he died; the reason for it. I want to know why."

"His bosses and coworkers at Lilley and Associates said it was a freak accident. An explosion. You don't believe that."

"Not when the SECNAV tells NCIS to back off, no."

Gibbs slammed on the brakes. "How did you know that?"

"I've got my sources, Jethro. Do you still keep in touch with Mike Franks?"

"Why?"

"He was the senior agent on the case. I want his file on it, if he has it. I've been denied access to the one in the archives. They claim it disappeared. There's not even a record of it."

"You know Franks retired in '96."

"I also know that he was suspicious of the run-around you guys were getting during the investigation. Maybe suspicious enough to have copied the file? Please, Jethro. This is very important to me."

Gibbs looked at the young woman seated beside him and nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Oh, is this it?" she asked, as they pulled up behind a small frame house.

"This is it. Your stuff is inside, and Ziva and Tony should be waiting for you."

"Okay. You headed back to the city now?"

"I am. Remember, you're to do everything Tony and Ziva tell you. I'll see you soon."

She got out of the car and waited until it disappeared down the road. Then she went into the house and greeted the two agents who were to guard her before glancing around.

"Nice," she commented. "Where's my room?"

"This way," Ziva said, leading her down a short hallway. Her bags were at the end of the bed, her laptop case on a small desk. Nicole nodded approval.

"Where are you and Tony going to sleep?"

"We do not sleep. We are here to guard you."

Nicole raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. "Good luck trying to do that for very long. The no-sleep thing, I mean."

"In Mossad, we often go days without sleeping."

"I'll take your word for it. I know little about the inner workings of Mossad, unfortunately."

"That is not surprising." Ziva gestured toward the front of the house. "Are you hungry? Tony and I fixed lunch."

Nicole's stomach rumbled, and she chuckled. "There's your answer. What are we having?"

"Are you accustomed to Jewish food?"

"One of my coworkers in San Diego is Jewish. I've eaten dinner with her and enjoyed it. Let's go!"

Soon the three were sitting down to a meal of what Ziva called Holishkes Huluptzes, Lokshen kugel, Israeli salad and warm Challah, with Kichel for dessert. After eating, they did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, then sat down in the living room with mugs of coffee.

"So, tell us about yourself, Nicole," Tony invited. "We can call you Nicole, right?"

She burst into laughter. "I feel like I'm being interviewed for a job, or by my boyfriend's parents," she joked. She took a thoughtful sip, then said, "Well, my parents met when my dad was stationed at Quantico in '68. They were married in 1970, and I was born at Bethesda in '72. I have a sister who's two years younger than me, her name is Samantha, and she's a writer for the Miami Herald. We moved around when Sami and I were young, ending up at Camp Pendleton when I was a sophomore in high school. He was sent to Kuwait in late 1990, when I was in my first year of college at UCSD. He came home eight months later. He was discharged from the Marines in '92 and went to work for a defense contractor called Lilley and Associates, who were in the process of developing something called the Atlantis Project. He was killed in '93, and Gibbs was involved in the investigation."

"And you have no idea what this 'Atlantis Project' was?" Ziva asked quietly.

"None. I've spent almost twenty years trying to find out, but with no luck. That's part of the reason why I joined NCIS. I want to know the truth about what happened to my dad."

"If there's a way off finding out, Gibbs'll help you," Tony said confidently.

"I know. I've known him for a long time, and he never made me a promise he didn't keep, except the one about finding my dad's killer – and that wasn't even his fault. I learned years later that the SECNAV ordered NCIS to close the case. Why, I don't know."

"Gibbs'll find that out too. He's good at getting answers."

"Don't I know it!" Nicole smiled and glanced at her watch. Standing up, she said, "I'm going to unpack and then take a nap. Talk to you guys later." She disappeared down the hall to her room, Tony's eyes following her. When he turned back to his partner, he found her watching him with raised eyebrows and a smirk on her face.

"What? She's an attractive woman."

"Yes, she is. But we're here as her bodyguards, remember? Do not let Gibbs catch you flirting with her."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Flirting, I mean."

She gave him another sly smile, then walked outside.

NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS

"Everything quiet, McGee?" Gibbs asked, walking into MTAC later that evening.

"Nothing to report so far, boss. They just finished dinner and now it looks like Nicole's headed to bed. Tony's outside, Ziva's in the living room, and they'll call in if anything happens."

"I'm heading home myself. Talk to you tomorrow." The senior agent left the room and nearly ran into the director, who was just leaving his office.

"How's it going, Gibbs?" he asked.

"Agent Charles is in bed, and Tony and Ziva are on watch. All quiet," he replied.

"You on your way home?"

"Yes, it's been a long day. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, then. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Leon."