"Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere." ~ G.K. Chesterton

The squares of paper inked in colour blossomed with a simple phrase that was also complex. It was simple because it had only a few words. It was complex because it gave off two feelings: friendliness and horror. Abby placed each paper individually on her evidence table while Tony, Gibbs, Fornell, Lawrence, Jones, McGee and Bishop stood around her. The message read: We are going to be great friends Lily! Jones looked away she could not stare at it any longer. Her breathing stuttered in a million little pieces. Fornell looked over at her. He held her hand tightly as she looked back at him.

"What do I do now?" she asked. Fornell could feel her shivers through her delicate hand.

"We will have your family go into a safe house, and you will remain here with us," Fornell said. "Gibbs, can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah."

Gibbs joined Fornell out in the hall while the others remained in Abby's lab. Fornell scratched his temple while the colour in his face darkened. "Can you watch over her?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I will."

"I would do it… but… I definitely failed with Marie… so…"

"She will stay here with me. Here in NCIS. No killer can get to her here. This building is secured and safer than my own home, than anyone's home!"

Fornell nodded and shook Gibbs' hand. "Thank you, Gibbs."

The two men rejoined the crowd of agents as they watched Abby look for any DNA or fingerprints on the paper.

"Ugh…this is so frustrating! I can't find anything on here! and having all of you watch me isn't helping either!" Abby exclaimed. "Sorry, I'm just a little stressed by this, guys."

Bishop placed her hand on Abby's shoulder. "It's okay Abby. I tried to compare the last messages to the previous ones but I see no connection."

"Any connection with the victims at all?" Gibbs asked. Bishop walked up to Abby's computer and began to type in her findings. Pictures of each message that every victim received was shown on the TV screen across from her.

"Each message would seem like a friendly message if let's say someone you knew sent them. For John, some of the messages kept asking him how his kids were doing and how his arm is in terms of baseball. All of these messages ask or talk to the victims about personal things that I would assume that no one knew much about or only their friends and family would know about. I just… if the only connection with the victims is that they are or were federal agents then how could the killer know these things? "

"So you're saying, that I will get messages about my kids and my hobbies and my husband and my life outside of work?" Jones asked nervously.

"It seems so," Bishop answered.

"Jones, you are going to stay here at NCIS. You will not leave this building; we will have agents with you 24/7. Nothing will touch you or harm you, I will promise you!" Fornell explained.

"Yeah, like you promised Marie? I can't stay here forever! I am a mother of three boys! If this case is going at the same rate as it has been for the past two months I will be here forever! You will not let me go home till you catch him, Fornell! I know you!" Jones left the room in protest.

"She was always stubborn," Fornell commented as he too left the room to chase after her.

"Jones! Jones!" Fornell yelled out as he ran for the elevator with Gibbs behind him. The doors closed right as the two men got in. Jones did not even bother to look at their faces. Gibbs grunted and pressed the stop button as the elevator stopped and lights dimmed.

"look! This killer slipped past your surveillance cameras and who knows how many agents to get to Marie Collins. You can see that this guy is fucking good! Hell, he is fucking fantastic, slipping past each of our fingers as this case draws on! Do you want your boys to lose their mother?" Gibbs argued. Jones faced him. Her eyes were red and she closed her eyes as she thought of her boys. Her beautiful boys. She answered Gibbs' question with a shake of her head.

"So, as a federal agent I need you to do your job and follow orders. Your orders are to remain here at NCIS. Your family will be watched over, and by the evidence we have so far I know that this killer doesn't target families he targets who he messages. He talks about their families but doesn't lay a finger on them. We will still take care of your family regardless in case he does surprise us, but right now his only interest is you!" Once Gibbs finished he pressed the button on the elevator and the elevator continued to go back up. Both Jones and Fornell remained silent.

-x-

"Okay so I hope that you will be comfortable here sleeping in MTAC it is the safest place in our building. You have a mattress, sleeping bag, pillow, some snacks and water. I will be joining you for the first six hours and then McGee will take over for the next six," Tony explained as he sat next to Jones.

"Thank you, Tony." Jones hugged her pillow tightly as she looked ahead at the big screen in front of her.

"You know, if you're not tired we could watch a movie," Tony suggested.

Jones laughed. "I warned by Agent McGee that you are quite the movie lover."

"Well, it's been a love affair of mine for quite some time! Okay, so I've got The Deer Hunter directed by the one and the only Martin Scorsese starring the beautiful and young Meryl Streep along with Robert De Niro, and Christopher Walken. It's a very sad movie though but a great one. If you're into comedies there is Monty Python and the Holy Grail a classic and hilarious movie. If you're more of a chick flick person there is the Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as well but she is more dangerous in this one. Or a cult classic, The Goonies! Loved this movie when I was a kid!" Jones admired Tony's passion for the movies he showed her. He pulled out many more explaining the pots without spoiling and mentioning which movies had one the most awards and who did the best acting.

"Or we could talk too if you're not into movies…but come on you have to see at least one of these!" Tony added.

"I've seen them all already."

Tony's eyes widened to her response.

"My husband is a movie lover, too. He would make me stay up all night when we were dating just to have a marathon of his favourite movies. He then got me hooked too," she explained.

"wow. You did not come across as a movie lover to me."

"Well I haven't seen much anymore after I had the boys. I just never had the time. All I've been watching is the wiggles, elmo, and the Muppets."

"Ah, well the Muppets are great though."

"They are! I was rather impressed with them."

Tony began to chuckle and Jones joined him.

"Oh I haven't laughed this much in a long time."

"The case really brought you down?"

"Yes, I've been working on it with Fornell and Marie ever since the first victim. Even my family noticed how much it has changed me. And now that I am to be the next victim…well it just adds to all the shit."

Tony sighed as he studied her expression. She was broken even before the messages came to her.

"Here, let's watch one even though you've seen it. Just to get all of this out of your mind," Tony suggested. Jones smiled.

"I would love that."

The night grew longer as the two agents watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was picked because Jones wanted to laugh she didn't want to feel the pain and fear she was feeling. As the movie finished she fell asleep and Tony lay next to her waiting for McGee to show up to take over the next six hour shift. He did not close his eyes for one second even though he knew that it was safe in MTAC he still did not.

The next morning Jones woke up with McGee asleep on the chair next to her. She rubbed her delicate eyes and sat upright. She looked down to see a piece of paper at her feet to which she assumed was left there by Tony. She grabbed it and gasped. McGee instantly woke and fell out of his seat.

"What? What?" McGee said. Jones held out the paper that read: finding a new place to sleep are we?