Gibbs paced the room as McGee dug deeper into their mystery, periodically glancing at the clock. Having moved back to NCIS headquarters to use their vast resources to solve this mystery, they found themselves no closer to an answer than they were the day before. He knew that Director Sheppard was expecting an update soon, and she would not be happy to know that something weird was going on, aside from the dead sailor. "Well, maybe not a sailor after all", he thought bitterly to himself. "SECNAV will want someone's head if we screw this up."

He also knew that it was only a matter of time before another agency would either get involved or get in the way. Finally, McGee's computer beeped its "I've got something" tone, grabbing Gibbs' attention.

"McGee, what do you have?" The computer tech turned NCIS agent turned toward his boss, his expression equals parts apologetic and confused.

"Well, boss, I've been going over the Navy's records from the Battle of the Coral Sea, including the crew lists for all the ships involved…"

"And?"

"And our lieutenant was a gunnery officer, manning an anti-aircraft battery on the Lexington. Seems he was killed when the ship rolled on its side; his entire gun crew was thrown overboard as they tried to abandon ship, and they were crushed when the carrier capsized before sinking."

"Helluva way to go, McGee." Tony finally joined in, having been listening close by. "I imagine it's pretty painful to be flattened by 30,000 tons of steel. Kinda like being in an office building when it comes down on top of you."

"Well, it could've been worse, Tony. At least he wasn't standing on the flight deck when the ship exploded." McGee stated matter-of-factly.

"I am not so sure; the after action report says that the flight deck was 'peeled back like a sardine can'. He probably would have been thrown clear off the ship." Ziva poked her head around from behind the laptop screen, uncomfortably close to McGee's face. Rearing back a little, he started to continue.

"Maybe-"

"But he would've been sliced up by pieces of wood and steel from the deck and probably ended up head first in the water." Gibbs finally joined in as well. "Not a good way to get off the ship, Ziva."

"No." She conceded, after a brief pause. Finally seeing an opening, McGee continued.

"But here's what's really strange, Gibbs; according to surviving members of the neighboring gun crew, Lieutenant Peterson was not among the bodies recovered after the battle was over. That means he either went down with the ship or was unrecognizable because of his injuries."

"So maybe he's not a sailor. So what? He's still dead and we still don't know why." Thirteen poked her head between Gibbs and Tony, who both turned to look at her. Foreman looked over toward the group tiredly. He and Chase were sitting at a table nearby, Chase's head buried in his arms on the table as if he was asleep.

"Thirteen, it's their job to figure out who this guy is; it's our job to figure out why he died." The atmosphere had taken a gloomy turn; every time a lead came up as to what was going on, it turned out to be a dead end.

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way, then." She continued, trying to think of something, anything that would help them.

"In what way?" McGee queried almost apologetically.

"Maybe we should focus on how he got here; trace his steps back to wherever he came from."

"That would be great, if we had a time machine and could go back to when he first got here." House finally spoke up. He sat alone at a table near the door, twirling his cane while he thought about everything.

"Well, it can't hurt to check security tapes, can it? See if he shows up on any of them." The brunette persisted.

"I'm sure they thought to do that before we got here." Taub chimed in, mindlessly staring out the window at the dark clouds that were rolling in.

"Never hurts to be thorough. Uh, what's your name again?" Gibbs stumbled a bit, eying Thirteen from her new position next to McGee.

"Dr. Hadley." She replied, seemingly uncomfortable giving out her real name to a stranger.

"Dr. Hadley, you and McGee look back through the tapes; see if we missed anything the first time."

"On it, boss." McGee grabbed his laptop and went to stand up, only to find Thirteen hovering over his shoulder. Nearly hitting his head on her chin, he half sat back down as he turned to look up at her.

"Um… do you mind if I…" He pointed to her, making a "back up" motion with his empty hand.

"Oh, sorry." She smiled slightly as she got out of the way, watching with interest as the technophile lifted his pack over his shoulder.

"Come on. We can use the main screen in MTAC." He smiled slightly as she nodded, perhaps not seeing the gleam in her eye as she smiled bigger. As the two walked out together, smiling a little at the sly smirk on the woman's face as they entered the elevator, Gibbs came over and grabbed the candy bar out of DiNozzo's hand, making him squeal softly in protest.

"Dinozzo, you and Ziva go back and dig into the files that McGee just went through. I want to be able to tell the Director that we didn't just spend 45 minutes screwin' around and didn't find anything." As both agents got up to leave, House sat up slightly.

"Taub, you and Kutner go with them. I'm not paying you to sit and watch from the sidelines when there's a game still going on. Gotta earn your keep; Thirteen's working her well-toned ass off helping Agent Nerd look at nothing." All four of them left together, leaving House, Gibbs, Foreman and Chase to sit and stare at each other uselessly.

"Maybe we should do something too, House" Foreman suggested.

"C'mon. Let's go see if Abby's found anything." Gibbs ordered, not waiting for them to follow him. All but House followed him to the elevator, who took his sweet time joining them.

…

"Okay, so he's here in the ER at 0845. That's when we see him last before he dies." McGee found himself the only one talking; the past 30 minutes had been an exercise in getting a reaction out of a silent partner. Thirteen was practically bored to tears, wishing she hadn't suggested this in the first place. She sat in the first row of chairs in MTAC, watching McGee dart between the huge main screen and the computer he was using to bring up the footage. A feral grin slowly spread across her face; she eyed the nervous young man with the look a wild animal might give its prey before pouncing. She slowly stood up, swaying her hips as she innocently draped her arms over his shoulder, nearly startling him in the process.

"Agent McGee, maybe… maybe we should take a break. I think we've seen all there is to see up there." She smiled widely, her eyes aglow with a mysterious desire as Tim chuckled nervously.

"Well, maybe we have been going at it a little too hard…"

"I think we have, McGee…"

"Y-you can call me 'Tim'."

"Remy…"

"What?"

"It's my name… Remy…" Her half-lidded eyes revealed what the young agent thought he heard in her voice; lust. For whatever reason, she had taken to him, and she seemed almost irritated when he nervously pulled away to give himself some space.

"Well, R-Remy… I think maybe we should check back in with the others; let them know we haven't found anything." Thirteen took off her lab coat, revealing her sweat-soaked green top. McGee averted his eyes when he realized he could see her nipples perking up under her shirt.

"Why are you so nervous, Tim? I'm not doing anything to make you… uncomfortable, am I?" The young woman smiled knowingly, making him gulp a little as he struggled to find words.

"I am, aren't I? Well, let's just see what we can do about that, shall we?" She moved closer, growling under her breath when he kept his distance.

"Remy, I-I really think we should check in."

"Why? So they can interrupt us, Tim?"

"Inter- what?" She suddenly closed the gap, planting her lips over his as his eyes went wide. Pushing her away as she struggled to keep her mouth over his, he gasped for air.

"Dr. Hadley, what are you doing!?"

"In a moment… you." She lunged for his neck, biting down as he cried out in pain.

"Oww! What the…!?" He finally pulled her away, seeing blood trickle from her smiling lips. She kissed him again, a rough, feral kiss that left the taste of blood in his mouth as he once more wrenched himself free of her.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you out of your mind!?" She chuckled lightly, swaying her hips as she sidled closer.

"You know you want this, Tim. Playing hard to get won't help this tension." She still seemed very calm and rational; although she now had a bloodied smile on her face, her voice was just the same as it always was.

"Okay, I'm calling for help; you're clearly not thinking straight!" As the panicked young man started to dial security, his new friend slammed her hand down on the receiver, smiling at him as she roughly grabbed his neck.

"Now, Tim, we don't need anyone ruining this for us. I have you all to myself, and I'm not sharing you with anybody." She slapped him across the face, a blow of such force that it drove Tim to his knees a few feet away. Wincing in pain, he gasped in panic as she put one hand under his chin and turned his head up to face her. She smiled bigger, kissing the air between them as he tried to get free from her surprisingly strong grasp.

"Tim, don't struggle. This won't hurt a bit." She went to kiss him again, only she never made it. Halfway down, she fainted, collapsing in a heap on the floor next to him and leaving a very shaken McGee to call for help as blood began to trickle out of her ears.