Donald "Ducky" Mallard is a bit surprised when the phone rings just as he enters Autopsy that morning. He answers it and then he hears the Director's voice say, "Conundrum. My house in two hours." There is an audible click and he puts the telephone down, and picks up his mac and derby from where he'd just set them down. That short sentence was surely an indicator that something was about to hit the fan, Ducky just wasn't sure what that something might be. The elevator dings and he smiles as Abigail Sciuto bounces into Autopsy.

"Ducky, have you seen McGee? He was supposed to call me after lunch yesterday and he never did."

"I have not seen Timothy today, but I will pass along your message if I do."

"You don't suppose he forgot. No he wouldn't forget, he knows that I would kill him if he did. Well, not really, but still why wouldn't he call me?"

"Probably just got busy Abbs." Gibbs says as he walks into the room.

"He's in Cyber-crimes, Gibbs! How busy can he be?" Abby says as she accepts his peck on the cheek before bouncing back to the elevator and her lab to get her babies ready for the day to come.

The two men stare after her and share a chuckle. Gibbs shakes his head, and then looks at his friend who is still standing there holding his mackintosh and derby.

"Just getting in Duck or early dismissal?"

"I just came in to make sure nothing new had come in over the last few hours, Jethro. I have an appointment that I had forgotten about, and it will take me out of the office for most of the day." He turns to where Palmer is cleaning equipment in an effort to stay busy. "If you need anything I am fairly certain that Mr. Palmer here will be quite capable of helping you."

Gibbs raises an eloquent eyebrow, as he watches Jimmy trip over his own two feet.

"Yes, well, he will try to assist you anyway." Ducky says with a wry chuckle as he heads for the elevator.

Gibbs watches him go, sipping thoughtfully from his ever present coffee cup. He looks over his shoulder to where Palmer is rinsing out the sink and leaves without ever revealing his presence to the younger man. Gibbs isn't sure what to think as he enters the elevator; it's rare that Ducky leaves in the early morning hours and the fact that McGee didn't call Abby when he finished lunch with Langer yesterday is a bit unusual, but not something he's going to worry about immediately. He has more important things on his mind right now.

He steps out onto the catwalk, and sighs as he looks down at the three numbskulls as he calls them, wishing he could just wave that magic wand Abby sometimes accuses him of having and get his team back. DiNozzo, McGee and David are his team; not these three and definitely not with a mole hiding in amongst them. Langer, Keating and Lee: his current MCRT and his bigger worry; which one is going to prove to be the mole? The difficult part was going to be how to prove just who the mole is and how to flush them out of hiding.

He didn't think it was Langer no matter what McGee's financial search has found. His gut still believes in the former FBI agent. Keating wasn't intelligent enough to be the mole. He was a computer geek and nothing more. McGee at the greenest stage of probie could still have run circles around him in the field. Then there was Lee; lawyer now part of his MCRT and his gut has never trusted lawyers. Not since the first ex-wife, and definitely not now.

He looks up at the Director's office door, noting that while the secretary is in, Vance has yet to make an appearance. Just then Pam's telephone rings and she answers it with a smile. She listens to the voice on the other end and says "Yes sir, I'll tell him." before hanging up. Spying Gibbs on the catwalk, she glides over to where he is standing and tells him that Vance has a meeting that will keep him out of the office all day.

"Sec-Nav?" Gibbs asks and Pam shakes her head as she smiles.

"I'm not sure what the meeting is. He wasn't scheduled for anything until tomorrow; we were just going to work on going through more of the files that Director Shepherd left behind. In fact, there's Cynthia now."

She excuses herself and he watches thoughtfully as she and Cynthia work together. Cynthia's eyes aren't as red and swollen as they had been after Jenny's funeral. The fact that Vance had taken enough time to find her a position where she wouldn't be staring at the familiar door of her employer hadn't impressed Gibbs at the time, but now he can see that the woman is starting the healing she needs to get over Jenny's death. The two women chat amiably as Cynthia walks Pam through the computer programs that she'd been using and Pam nods as she makes notes and asks questions about things that only secretaries would know.

Gibbs turns his attention back to his "team" sighing as he watches Langer sail yet another paper ball at Keating who has no sense of humor whatsoever. His cell phone rings and he gratefully answers it, "Yeah Gibbs."

Two seconds later he's bounding down the stairs, shouting "Gear up! Dead Marine, Rock Creek Park!" as he throws Langer the car keys. He watches as the team, aside from Langer slowly get their backpacks and follow the other agent to the elevator. All three of them start squabbling and Gibbs smacks each one in the back of the head before they even get to the garage.

"Hey! Forget the petty issues amongst yourselves. We have a case to solve." He says and storms off the elevator, wishing once again that he had "his team" back.

NCIS-Seven Days

Day Two: Vance's house, two hours later:

Ducky pulls up to the house and is a bit surprised to see Tim's car already there. Surmising that whatever is going on has to do with the wording Vance has used, he shuts his car door and is about to head up the sidewalk to the front doors when Vance opens the side door of the garage and motions for him to follow him inside.

Ducky does so, still wondering why he's been called to this house and not another location. He'd thought that Operation Backstep would be in a more secure area, and for him to be called to the Director's house is a bit bewildering.

Vance leads him into his private office and offers to take his coat and hat. Ducky passes them over to him just as Timothy McGee and Brent Langer enter the room. Low playing music is turned on and Tim turns to him saying,

"Hey Ducky, I'd like you to meet Frank Parker, chrononaut."

"Oh, my. I take it this is why I've been called in? We have a Backstep in progress?"

Vance is glad he's already put the tea set down on the table. Jackie would never have forgiven him if he'd broken it. "Does everyone at NCIS know about this except me?"

Ducky smiles as he turns down the coffee that the others are drinking and turns to the semi-outraged Director. "No Director, I feel certain that the only two, now three of us who do are the ones in this room. I don't recall seeing Timothy there, however that might be due to the nature of his qualifications versus mine. I say Mr. Parker, is Dr. John Ballard still with the program?"

Parker nods, "Oh yeah, that sphere is his baby. I have to almost promise not to get anything spilled in it every time I backstep, but it can't always be helped depending on where the sphere lands. It's not a precise landing, I just hope that I don't end up buried in a hole they can't get me out of." He shudders remembering one such mission.

"Hmm, yes, we had to be very careful on choosing our chrononauts. Not everyone can take the pressure, let alone survive it."

Vance looks at the sad expression on Ducky's features. "Lost a few before it began I take it."

Ducky nods in solemn remembrance , "It was not an easy selection process. We lost a lot of good young men and women just in selecting the type we would need."

Parker frowns, "Yeah, remind me to complain about that."

Ducky's eyes twinkle, "You must have a very hard head Mr. Parker."

Parker laughs, "That's what I keep trying to tell Olga, Dr. Vukavitch. For some reason she just won't take a hint."

All of them laugh at the sexual innuendo, then sit down and start discussing what they are going to do to bring down a traitor and save a life.