A/N: here is chapter 2. While I can't promise the same fast updates as before I will attempt every other day. NCIS makes an appearance in this chapter. If Gibbs seems OOC, it's on purpose. I don't watch the show, never did and never will. I remember his behavior in the pilot which aired on Jag. It is how he acted in those two episodes. I hope you all enjoy, let me know good or bad. Thanks for all the reviews. I hope I got back to anyone who did review, if not sorry. Now on with the story!

Chapter 2: coming clean, sort of.

During their time at Fallon, Chuck was in continual contact with his ISA teams and his sister. White's idea had already paid off when Casey and Carina helped the DEA close a major smuggling operation down. It was some of the calls to his sister that had him concerned. It was becoming more apparent to Chuck and Ellie that Devon was not taking his advice in regards to Ellie. He received a call from her one day that raised his concerns.

"Hey Sis, what's up?"

"Not me that's for sure," she sighed. "Devon's being a pain in the ass again about everything. He's trying to get me to go on another stupid bike trip with him and his frat buddies. I love the guy but man is he dense sometimes."

"He can be rather obtuse at times," responded Chuck. "What else can I do to help? White and I already talked to him. We don't know what else to do."

"Do me a favor Chuck and talk to White. He has some crazy ass ideas sometimes; maybe it's time we thought outside the box."

"He's in the air right now schooling some of the Navy's top pilots, but I'll have him call when he finishes up."

"I need to ask little brother, don't you think it's a bit odd that a guy who claims to have been in the Army for thirty years, flies a fighter jet like he's been doing it all his life?" questioned Ellie.

"That struck us as funny too when we took down the ring," answered Chuck before he continued. "We did a complete check on him and nothing came up. All his records matched his story perfectly, there wasn't a single hit on anything, not even my brain could come up with anything on him."

"I still think it's weird but if you're not worried then I'm ok with it also. Thanks for agreeing to talk with White Chuck. I'll be home all day so White can call at any time. Talk to you later."

"Later El."

Several hours later Ellie's phone rang and it was White.

"So El, Chuck tells me you have man troubles and want my help."

"Yeah I do, so what have you got for me?"

"El, have I got a plan for you." For the next twenty minutes they talked over his plan and made the arrangements. He would need to get Eve's help for part of it, but being the romantic she was would make it easy.

A few days later

"Devon, hurry up and get dressed. I have a surprise for you and we need to get going."

"Babe, you should have told me. I would have gotten up sooner."

"No big deal we have time I just don't need you dawdling around mixing that shake you drink. We'll get something later now let's get going."

A short drive later they were at a small private airfield walking up to a small plane. They were greeted by the pilot and ushered onto the plane. Once they were in the air Ellie spoke up.

"I feel we have been neglecting each other over the last few months. So I planned this day trip for us. Sit back enjoy the sights. When we land at our destination there will be a lunch waiting for us."

"Wow El, that sounds great." Twenty minutes into the flight the plane dipped sharply and smoke appeared to be coming out of the engine. The pilot called out.

"The engine is getting ready to blow; I don't know how long I can keep us up. I'm going to head for the fields I passed earlier. You guys get ready to jump," he points to the chutes hanging on the sides of the plane.

"Come on Devon you heard him put your chute on." Ellie tossed him a chute and began putting hers on. It was difficult with the plane pitching like it was but they managed. The pilot held the plane steady long enough for them to get out. Devon looked up at the plane and saw the smoke had stopped and the plane was now flying ok. They landed in an open field about fifty yards apart. Devon gathered up his stuff and ran over to check on Ellie.

"Babe are you ok?"

"Devon, I'm fine. That was awesome. Best jump I had in a while."

"Best jump you had in a while?" Devon questioned. "The plane was gonna crash and you enjoyed the jump. Ellie you're not making sense."

Ellie took his hands and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before leading him away from where they had landed. While they were walking Ellie started her explanation.

"Devon, it was a setup. The plane was fine. The pilot is a friend of White's and he uses the smoke to simulate a crash at air shows. I tried having my brother talk to you and you didn't listen. I like skydiving and go with Chuck and the crew all the time. You never want to go; you'd rather ride a bike up some stupid hills."

They reached their destination and a small picnic had been set up. Ellie pointed to it and commented, "Courtesy of Eve, she didn't want us to go hungry as we talked."

"So this is all a setup so we can talk? Why not back home?"

"Because out here we can be ourselves and not worry about getting loud if we have to. Help me get the food out." Once the food was out Ellie began again, "I'm not the person you think you know. Well I am mostly, but it's complicated. I fell in love with the person you are almost as soon as we met. You fell in love with the college girl you wanted not the real me. I've kept the real me hidden for a long time because it was who you wanted. Sarah and Eve convinced me to be myself." Ellie paused to get a drink.

"So who are you?" asked Devon.

"I'm still me Devon; just more open about the real me. Look at my family Devon, my Mom and Dad are spies. Chuck is one of the best Spies out there. Their sense of adventure and confidence is the same as mine. It's like I was bred for it. Devon my friends are spies, would I fit in with them so well if it wasn't part of whom I am?"

"You're trying to tell me you're a spy?"

"And I thought Chuck was dense," Ellie sighed. "I'm not a spy, I like what they do. I love jumping out of planes into a hot zone, repelling down the side of a building while the bad guys are trying to get you and sneaking into buildings to steal a computer from an arms dealer. Do any of them one time and you'll want more. It's the ultimate adrenaline rush. Your hobbies are great for staying in shape but the danger and rush is so much less it fails to compare."

"You do that crazy shit for the rush? Are you nuts Ellie," Devon was not only freaking out he was getting louder.

"I guess I do. I don't do it often but when I do I love it. I love what we do also. What I want is for us to do things together we both like. One time we can do the bike things you like so much and the next time repel off a bridge. We do it together, and not with your frat boys. Maybe one time we all get together, my friends and yours. I want us to work out so bad it hurts sometimes. That won't happen until you accept who I really am."

"Ellie, this has been a lot to take in all at one time. I'm just glad you decided to tell me everything. Now that I know we can get back on track," Devon suddenly had a thought. "When exactly did you repel down a building and jump into a hot zone?"

"Some of the other things I need to tell you about." Ellie then went on to explain she had gone on several missions with Sarah and Eve, and about her helping out the DEA. It would take her a while and at the end of the day it was apparent to both Ellie and Devon that they would have some work to do on their relationship but in the end they would be better and stronger because of it.

After Fallon

Things had settled down quickly on the home front for Ellie and Devon. Back at ISA Chuck's team had just received the word from Beckman that some classified data was stolen from the Kitsap Naval Base. The data had a list of the nuclear fleet and their locations. They could not allow the information to get into the wrong hands.

The team was discussing the parameters of the mission and who they wanted to go under cover and who would meet with the NCIS agents in charge of the case.

"White, I want you and Eve to be our inside people on this," Chuck began, "Sarah and I will work with the NCIS team and Casey will actually be himself for a change, an agent for the NSA."

"Chuck you do remember I'm an Army guy right? Casey would know more about the Navy, his being in the Corps and all."

"That's true but you were Navy once, and we're going to use that to our advantage."

"I was an Aviator for that mission, not a bubble head. Kitsap is home to the Pacific Fleets Submarines. I don't think there's a carrier there at the moment."

"Exactly White, chances are you have never met any of them before. Most of them should be retired by now anyway."

Hearing this White turned to Casey and said, "He doesn't understand it's a small world does he?" Casey just gave a grunt and shrugged his shoulders. "That's what I thought."

"I have the contact at NCIS and we'll meet up with on base. Casey you come in a few days later after we call you in. This is one mission that we need to report everything in as we find it. Every agency will be looking into this so we can't afford our normal cloak and dagger stuff."

"Care to fill me in on my cover identity then Chuck?"

"Beckman just sent them over, you two will be Captain William Reynolds and Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Woods, welcome to the Navy." Both his agents groaned at this. "You will be filling the spots left open when the officers in place were relieved of duty."

"You don't have another Intersect in your back pocket that just has the Navy regulations do you? I really envy you some days."

"Sorry Reynolds, not yet, Ellie and my Dad are working on a mini Intersect that most people could handle. They're about six months away from that though."

"Come on Eve we better go pack and we have to go to get some uniforms set up. I'm gonna get him back one day, and it's gonna feel good." They left the others to finish up.

"One last thing, NCIS has called in hits heavy hitters for this. Agents Gibbs and David are in route along with forensic expert Abby Sciuto. I know David personally and that might help us out."

After they arrived at Kitsap it was a rough couple of days for the teams. White and Eve were having a tough time just getting into their new offices. The entire base was on alert because of the theft of the top secret data. Everything had to be checked and rechecked before they could even in process. It was a good thing that Orion was very good at his job.

Chuck and his crew were not having much better luck. NCIS was stonewalling them, led by Gibbs. His 'I'm the best attitude' was not getting them anywhere. Chuck finally got Ziva alone for a chat and found that they had no information or clues. All they could come up with was the thief was highly skilled.

With the investigation going nowhere the two teams began sniping at each other and tempers flared up several times. It wasn't long before word from vehicle registration made its way to the team that a captain was seen driving around in a car that nobody in the navy should be able to afford. A Captain Reynolds had just registered a Lexus hot wheels concept car. They researched the car found out that only three were ever built that year and they were used only for car shows. None were ever going to be produced for sale. They further found out the captain had been telling people he had suddenly come into some money. Under Gibbs' direction they went to talk to the captain in question.

"Captain Reynolds we would like to have a word with you," began Gibbs.

"Gentlemen, ladies take a seat. How can help you?"

"How did you come into the money you are tossing around?" asked Gibbs. He knew right away he would have trouble getting information from Reynolds. Naval aviators were a tough bunch to deal with.

"Why is that important to you?" Reynolds began in a cocky tone. "Unless you think I have something to do with the information that was stolen. Now if that's the case why not just come out and ask me?"

"We'll play it your way Captain, for now. Did you have anything to do with the missing information?"

"Last month I was on carrier duty in the Med. I come here to replace the Captain that was relieved for cause and you think I may have been involved? I think your reaching here because you can't figure it out." To say that Gibbs was getting angry would be an understatement. He was used to running the show and being in complete control. He was again being flummoxed by a naval aviator. Chuck was tired of White goading Gibbs and intervened.

"Captain, you sound like you know something so please fill us in."

"Gibbs, you were a Marine, start at the beginning and work forward. You're working from the end and going backwards. If you were planning this what would you do? That's all I can offer you. I can tell you I'm not your guy. Good day people." Reynolds pretty much ended their discussion. The NCIS team left the office and pondered what Reynolds said.

White called Eve right after they left, "I passed on what you said to. You have anything else I can pass on?"

"No, only what I overheard in the locker room about some Petty Officer's boyfriend acting different."

"Do you think your hunch will pay off?"

"Only time will tell. I'll keep poking around and see if I hear anything else."

When they got back to the office they were using during their investigation they began to go over what Reynolds said.

"Gibbs, what do you think he meant by that start at the beginning?" asked Sarah.

"We know when the files were found missing. We checked out everyone that had access to the files and found nothing. We searched all their rooms, houses and vehicles. We have nothing. Even the samples we gave Abby didn't give us anything."

"Thinking back to Reynolds statement, what if we are going about it the wrong way?" questioned Chuck.

"What do you mean Chuck," this was asked by Ziva.

"If I was going to steal top secret documents, why do it all at once and make it so noticeable? I think that's what Reynolds meant. I'd take the information a little bit at a time. My guess is that whoever took the files still has them and it was set up by the person they were working with," stated Chuck.

"That's a good theory but still leaves us with nothing," Gibbs commented.

"No Gibbs, it doesn't. Taking the files in pieces doesn't help anyone. They need it all at one time. One person makes a copy of the file and hides it somewhere on base. The second person makes the file disappear. When it's found missing all hell breaks loose. When the file can't be found they relax the security on base and they can get it off base," suggested Sarah.

"I'll get my people started on checking out the gym lockers and post office boxes. You guys check the base storage area used by deployed sailors. It's not much but it's a start."

Later that night White and Eve were hanging out at a club frequented by the base personnel. She had passed by the sailor's desk as she was leaving and heard the name of the club in passing. They decided to go there in hopes of learning something. Eve spotted the Petty Officer enter the club and join a man already seated in a booth. It wasn't long before she was involved in a very animated conversation with the man who was clearly upset about something. Eve nudged White and pointed out the couple. White snapped a quick picture for later. They hung out and followed the man when he left the club and headed to a down town post office and checked a box. They followed him in and went to the stamp machine and bought some stamps. He removed all the mail except for a large manila envelope. As he was leaving he made a call, when he spoke it was in Russian, not English. They allowed the man to leave and relayed the information to Chuck. Now it was up to the team to come up with a plan.

The next day Gibbs was barking out orders like it was his team members had found the person they were looking for. This caused Chuck and Sarah to roll their eyes in disbelief. Chuck glanced over at Ziva who just rolled her eyes along with them. Chuck wondered why a Mossad agent would want to work with this Larkin Shaw half breed. In typical Gibbs fashion he went for the quick arrest. They recovered the missing files and in a few hours and had their suspect in custody. After putting the sailor in the brig to await transportation back east where he would stand trial in Falls Church they went back to their temporary office to report in.

It wasn't long before Beckman was on the Video screen addressing her team.

"Agent Gibbs, explain your decision to make the arrest today and not wait on my teams assessment."

"General we had all the information on the suspect we needed and the location of the missing files. I did what I was supposed to do."

"Chuck, what is your assessment of the situation?"

"Ma'am, we believe Gibbs acted prematurely. We had more information on the case that he chose to ignore. It is my opinion that he plans on the short term and not the long term. My people that gave us the information are on the way here with the additional information."

"When can we expect them?" asked the General just as a knock came from the door. Casey opened the door and Captain Reynolds and Commander Woods entered the room.

"Agents White, what do you have for us?" Gibbs was in shock that he had been left out of the loop concerning Chuck's undercover team. What bothered him even more was the way Reynolds had treated him during questioning.

"From what I could gather the suspect mailed the files to himself the day prior to them being found missing. That's how he got them off post then destroyed the originals. The suspect made a call as he was leaving the post office last night. He was speaking in Russian which raised my suspicions about him even more. Nothing he said made any sense. His main concern was getting in touch with the Cartel." When the General heard the word Cartel she broke into the conversation.

"Put extra guards on him immediately, lock down the brig and keep him safe at all costs. Do it now people." Chuck's team had never witnessed the General bark out orders like she was doing. Gibbs was on the phone as fast as he could. When he got off he had a hard look on his face.

"General, the prisoner is dead. When they went to his cell to check on him he was unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival."

"Gibbs get your sorry ass out of my teams office. Your continued belief that you are always right has just cost us a valuable person of interest. Chuck, call me when your team returns to the ISA." The ISA team had never seen the General so pissed off before. What ever happened to Gibbs when he returned home would not be good.

"Gibbs, before you go I have one thing to say," White began. "Rabb warned me about you. He was right. You don't look at everything before you make your move. You screwed up with him and you royally fucked up now. Good luck when you get back, you're going to need it."

Gibbs gathered his team and they left. Each member pondering what would happen when they returned home. They had followed Gibbs for years and to some he was a father figure. To see him dressed down like he was, left them with a sour taste in their mouths. Chuck's team packed up their stuff and made plans to head back.

Later that day the Panel had a conference. Beckman addressed the Panel.

"Our enemy is on the move. It was the Cartel that attempted to steal the information on the fleet. We retrieved the files but can't say for certain that no information got passed on. Gibbs screwed up and went in too soon and the agent was killed."

"So we lost our first credible lead to the Cartel. This is not good people," stated Frost.

"They went old school on this one. They just used hard copies of what they wanted, nothing electronic we could trace," added Beckman.

"Put the team on alert and fill them in. The fact they were talking in Russian concerns me," Smith said. "There are still a few people left in power that would favor a return to the old Soviet Union. If they were tied into the old Volkoff network this could get messy in a hurry."

"I'll inform the team when they return."

Siberia

"Our contact in the Air Force was successful in getting some or their fighter information to us. One of our people failed to deliver the nuclear fleets information. We are still waiting on the others to report in," one man informed the group.

"Good, once we have all the information we can move on to the next phase of our plan," another man said. "Within the year we will have the Americans under our control and we can take our country back and become the power we once were."