A/N: Thank you for the kind feedback! It's my first NCIS story and only my second Criminal Minds one (and "Reckoning" is still going on!), so I'm always a little hesitant on whether I've captured the characters. For those wondering, don't worry, all the NCIS characters will appear, so Abby will be popping in soon. Hope you enjoy and please leave a review if you have a chance.

Sergeant Bailey looked like a stereotypical career Marine. He was in his mid to late-40's, his hair was in a gray buzz cut and there was not an ounce of fat on his wide, muscled body. He greeted Gibbs and Prentiss politely, his eyes lingering on her with open admiration. His look of admiration turned to stunned surprise when told of his corporal's death.

"Damn, poor kid," Bailey said in his gruff voice.

"Good soldier?" Gibbs asked.

"Wouldn't have won any medals, but yeah, overall, good soldier. Good kid. Solid. Followed orders. Did his job. Wasn't a screw-up. You said you found him in Southeast DC? What was he doing there?"

"We were hoping you might be able to help us with that, sir," Emily interjected, earning her a sharp look from Gibbs. He had expected her to stand by silently and observe, but obviously the agent had other ideas.

Bailey shrugged. "No idea. Maybe he got lost?"

"Was he particularly close to anyone in your unit? Friends?" Emily continued. Gibbs simply stood back, watching her with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity.

"Hanson and Miller!" Bailey bellowed out. In less than ten seconds, two men in their twenties came running towards the Sergeant.

"Sir!" they said simultaneously.

"NCIS," Bailey gestured towards Gibbs and Emily. She didn't bother to correct him. "They, uh, have something they need to tell you."

Emily glanced at Gibbs who stared back stone-faced at her. She sighed inwardly, death notifications were always hard. She tried to strike that perfect balance of concern and sympathy, but also professionalism as her next words would be all about prying into the private lives of the deceased.

"I understand you both are close to Corporal Dennis Finch?" she began.

"Yes ma'am," Hanson acknowledged. Miller was giving her a sharp look.

"I'm sorry to inform you that Corporal Finch was found dead today in Southeast DC," her voice had softened.

The men's eyes widened as they struggled to maintain their stoic demeanor as they were rocked by this news. "Ma'am?" Miller asked hesitantly. "Are you sure?"

"It's still pending official confirmation, but the fingerprints and ID matched. I'm so sorry." Gibbs noticed how her voice held so much compassion and sympathy, but still maintained that slight distance to allow her to do her job. He approved of what she was doing so far.

"Do you have any idea why Corporal Finch would be in that area of DC?" she continued.

The two Marines shared a look and Hanson spoke for them both. "A girl. Denny had a girl who lived in Southeast DC. They'd been dating about a year."

"Do you know here name?" Emily asked.

"Sheila. Sheila Anderson," Miller supplied. "I think she's a part-time student and works at a clothing store. One of them pricey women's places."

The name Sheila Anderson and women's clothing store stirred something in Emily's memory. She frowned slightly and Gibbs caught the look. He inched closer, his body tensing just a fraction.

"You mean a boutique?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Hanson said uncertainly. "Kind of an expensive place Denny said. Designer brand stuff."

"Is she in her early 20s, about 5'5", African American, leaves her hair naturally curly and it's usually pulled back in a clip?" Emily continued.

When both Marines nodded, Emily supplied the name of the boutique. "Is the shop called Bella's Closet?"

"That sounds about right," Miller said.

Emily nodded and asked a few more questions. No, Finch wasn't the type to get into trouble. He wasn't into drugs, Hell none of their unit could be, the Sergeant would have their heads and you didn't get anything like that by Sergeant Bailey. One thing did make Emily tilt her head to the side and her eyes crinkle slightly, a tell of hers Gibbs was starting to recognize as an indication that something had caught Emily's interest.

"No, no money troubles. Denny didn't gamble though we had our penny poker games or we played for snacks. Pretzels, candy, that type of thing. None of us really gamble. No money and again, it's something Sarge wouldn't approve of," Hanson had said.

"Though he did get that new watch," Miller added. "I think he saved up for it."

Emily and Gibbs thanked them and walked back to the car. When Gibbs had pulled away and pointed the car in the direction of where Bella's Closet was located, he finally asked, "What was significant about the watch?"

"I noticed it at the crime scene. It was an expensive one though you couldn't tell by looking at it," Emily said almost absently. "I had wondered how a corporal could afford it. But I guess if he had been saving his money for a long time, he could have splurged and bought it on credit, but from what Hanson and Miller told us, Finch didn't seem like the type."

Gibbs puzzled over this for a moment. He didn't recognize the watch, it looked like a normal watch to him, but then again, he relied on DiNozzo to pick up on things like that. However, at this last crime scene, Tony had been doing recon on the surrounding area and hadn't spent much time with the body when they were there. He thought back to the other cases.

"At least three of our victims had something pricey and designer on them," he told Emily. She turned curious eyes towards him. "Another one had an expensive watch, one a bracelet and one shoes. I'm told it was stuff their pay grade wouldn't like be able to afford. One officer had on a fancy suit, but he came from money, so we didn't think anything about it."

"It might not be anything," Emily replied, though something told her that it was significant. "Men generally have a tendency to splurge more on one specific item of dress if they're going to spend the money at all on something like that. A watch or shoes." She looked at Gibbs. She was certain that her wool coat probably cost more than the entire outfit he had on right now. It was middle of the line clothing he wore, not cheap, but not designer. Unlike the suits that Hotch preferred, Gibbs dressed in separates that gave him a less intimidating, federal agent look, though the man's presence alone made up for any lack of intimidation his clothing could have given him.. The clothes were bought solely for practicality. It made him look professional for job, but comfortable enough for long hours and gave him the ability to move about. The one thing that Emily knew that probably did cost him a lot were his shoes, but again, she suspected they were for practical purposes. He needed good, comfortable, waterproof shoes that he could run in and spend hours standing in if necessary in all sorts of different environments.

"I believe in going with my gut," Gibbs replied, not unaware of Emily's thoughtful look. "If you think the fancy watches and stuff are important, they might be."

Emily's expression turned more thoughtful and her head tilted once again. "Really? Well, that's refreshing." She smiled softly.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her. "What? You profilers don't believe in instinct?"

The smile left her face as she remembered how just a few short weeks earlier she had practically begged Hotch and the rest of her team to trust her gut in Matthew's death only to have those plea fall on deaf ears. With the exception of Rossi, no one had really listened to her or given her instincts the benefit of the doubt. JJ, Reid and Garcia had tried, but they followed Hotch and when the almighty Aaron Hotchner said "no", the rest of the team listened. She got even less help from Morgan who seemed determined to poke holes into everything she said. And Hotch…well, she had thought he looked upon her less as an interloper and she had proven herself to him. Obviously she was mistaken.

From the corner of his eye Gibbs could see her face slip into a cool mask and her eyes become shuttered. A part of Gibbs felt sad seeing that. He had liked watching the expressive warmth that lit up her face, the puzzled little frowns that showed him her mind was working. To see this detached, expressionless look on her face, well, seemed a bit like a crime against nature to Gibbs.

They heard Emily's phone ring and she fished it out of her coat pocket. He saw her frown at the caller ID. She pressed a button and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"Not going to get that?" Gibbs asked casually.

"It's nobody I need to speak to right now," Emily replied tersely as she turned to look at the window.

Gibbs fell silent, not wanting to pry further. He respected a person's privacy and if it wasn't going to impact his investigation, he really had no right to ask anything further. However, he did get a glance at the name that came up on her phone.

It was "Hotch". Her supervisor was calling her and it was clear, Emily didn't want to speak to him.

Hotch heard Emily's voicemail pick up and he smothered a sigh of exasperation. "Prentiss, its Hotch. Strauss informed me about your consult with NCIS. I'm sure you'll do your normal stellar work. You're more than capable of handling a consult on your own. However, if you feel the need to just talk or bounce anything off someone, know you can call me. Or anyone on the team. We're uh, dealing with a family annihilator here in Montana or one of us would be there backing you up right now. But, uh, if you feel you do need us, please call me. Anytime. Just call me. Even if it's just to talk."

He hung up and sighed, realizing he had rambled a bit at the end, but Rossi's words came back to haunt him. He had never meant to make Emily feel like she was less than a full member of the team or that he didn't have her back. He remembered the last time a woman accused him of that and how badly that had turned out. It was Elle and how she felt he had failed her when she got shot. In some ways, he had, but Hotch thought Emily had a stronger case than Greenaway did. Either way, it resulted in Elle executing a suspect and then quitting the Bureau. He didn't want that for Emily. He didn't want that for their team.

JJ poked her head into the office Hotch was using and her expression told him it was the worst news possible.

"There's been another one, Hotch."

He nodded and sighed, pushing thoughts of Emily Prentiss out of his head for now. The sooner he found the maniac killing entire families, the sooner they could all get back to DC and assure Prentiss she was as important as any of them on their team.