Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters!

"Kate!" Jethro screamed as he hurriedly unlocked the door to Kate's townhouse, silently thankful she had given him a set of keys.

"Jethro!" Kate yelled back as Gibbs burst through the door, and found a disheveled Kate standing in the front hallway in a red satin robe, her hair falling out of the bun she had it in.

"Katie! Oh my God...I"m so sorry, I should have believed you." Gibbs said as he wrapped Kate in his arms.

McGee and DiNozzo burst through the open doors with Ducky following right after them.

"Is she okay boss?" McGee asked in a breathless voice.

"Where's Abby?" Kate asked in a muffled voice, her head still buried in Jethro's shoulder.

"What?" Tony asked in surprise.

"She's the only one who's not here...he knows who we are...he probably knows everything about us." Kate said frantically.

"I'll find her." McGee said as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Abby's number.

"Really? On a weekend night?" McGee asked in surprise.

"Well...stay there...and I'm on my way." McGee said as he rushed back out the door to go get Abby.

"Kate...tell me everything." Gibbs whispered as he ran a hand through Kate's messy hair.

"He really was in the basement...and at the pizza place, and here..." Kate said in a shaky voice.

"Oh my God Kate....I thought it was just..." Gibbs trailed off.

"Bad dreams...anxiety...a serious head injury, I know." Kate muttered as she broke free of Jethro's embrace suddenly angry at him. She felt it was strange, but warranted, and she suddenly didn't need the comfort of his embrace.

"But...at the same time...as an investigator, you should have listened to me. Where was your famous gut when we needed it?" Kate asked as he cheeks burned bright red and Gibbs could see the anger rising.

"Honey, I'm sorry, but I didn't have any reason to believe, and what's this thing about the pizza place?" Gibbs stopped with a confused look on his face.

"You didn't tell him?" Ducky asked with concern as he eyed Kate.

Kate shook her head no. Now she was the one to blame. If she had fessed up about the pizza incident to Jethro, he would have dug deeper. Now Kate had done more harm than good.

"When I went to get the pizza today...he was there, waiting on me, and he knew about McGee's pepper intolerance. He's been in your house, he's been in my house." Kate said warily as she eyed Jethro.

"Next step. We assume he knows everything about everybody." Tony said quickly.

"Damn straight." Gibbs replied.

"Ducky, where is your mother?" Gibbs asked quickly.

"At home with her care nurse for the evening." Ducky said as he caught Jethro's gaze.

Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and dialed McGee's number.

"McGee, while you're at it, pick up Mrs. Mallard too." Gibbs said curtly before he hung up the phone.

"Ducky...a moment." Gibbs said as he pulled the older Medical Examiner off to the side.

"What do you think their talking about?" Kate asked as she eyed Tony.

"I'm not sure." Tony said as he stared at Kate, a wide grin on his face.

"Pay attention...we're investigators." Kate hissed in a loud whisper.

"I am paying attention." Tony replied as he glanced at Kate's appearance.

"Honestly DiNozzo!" Kate yelled as she smacked the back of Tony's head.

"Sorry Kate." Tony said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm going to change." Kate said as she pushed herself between Ducky and Gibbs so she could make her way to the bedroom.

Kate took two steps into her bedroom when she realized that she had left the water running. Kate ran into her bathroom and was shocked to see that the water had been turned off. The tub was completely full, but the water was off. Kate looked at the faucet and she saw it in black felt-tip pen on one of the tiles.

"You're welcome." The message read in simple block printing.

"Jethro!" Kate screamed, realizing that Ari had made the time to stop into her bathroom somehow, without being noticed.

"Kate?" Gibbs said as he poked his head into the bathroom.

"I was getting the tub filled while I poured my wine. It should be overflowing by now, but it isn't. He turned the water off." Kate explained as a shaky hand pointed towards the tub.

"Your whole house is an active crime scene." Gibbs said as he ushered Kate out of the bathroom.

"I know." Kate replied in a half-daze as she put on pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt.

"Kate...tell me what you know, about him." Gibbs said as he took Kate's hand in his and gently led her to the bed. They sat down and Kate took a deep breath.

"He's Middle-Eastern. He has a different sort of an accent. I've never heard it before. It sounds like Ducky, but thicker, and more muddled. It's so hard to describe. His name is Ari. I don't have a last name, but right now I'd like to call him Ari Bastard." Kate said as she squeezed Jethro's hand and sighed heavily.

"That's more than we had before. It's a place to start. Do you think you could sketch him?" Gibbs asked as he wrapped one arm around Kate's shoulder.

"Definitely. Three good looks, and trust me...his eyes, he has really beautiful brown eyes, but they're creepy, there's something behind those eyes that terrifies me. I could definitely sketch him." Kate explained.

"Good. Kate, I don't say this often, but I'm serious. I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to describe just how sorry I am. I should have been more careful. I was worried about you after the accident, and everybody told me not to worry, but I guess I really let my guard down this time." Jethro said as he rested his head on Kate's shoulder.

"Jethro...it's fine. I understand, really I do. I can't lie and say that I wasn't upset, because it was frustrating when nobody would listen to me, but it's all over with now. What matters most of all is finding this guy and figuring out why he is such a creep." Kate said as she maintained her grip on Jethro's hand.

"You're right." Gibbs said as he stood up quickly, and helped Kate up.

"We have work to do." Kate said as she flashed Jethro a genuine smile.

"What a relief!" Kate said as she attempted to scrub the wine stain from the beige carpeting in her living room. Kate had glanced up from her intense scrubbing to see Abby's platform shoes standing right by her.

Kate stood up and she and Abby exchanged a glance. McGee had explained everything to Abby in the car, and the two women hugged tightly. They didn't need to say anything.

"Are they a couple?" A female Scottish accent chimed from somewhere in the living room.

"Unfortunately not." DiNozzo replied as Kate and Abby ended their hug just so they could punch Tony.

"Mother!" Ducky scolded sharply.

"Don't be so...old-fashioned in your ideals Donald." Mrs. Mallard said as she looked at her son.

"Mother! That's not the point...this is not the time!" Ducky reprimanded.

Something in Ducky's voice had piqued Kate's interest.

"Ducky...do you sound like that when you're mad?" Kate asked. His voice had been a bit gravely, and combined with his accent it had sounded odd.

"I am not mad Caitlin, I'm just frustrated!" Ducky said as he guided his mother to Kate's couch where she sat down.

"Frustration! That's it...I should have recognized it." Kate said as she looked at her co-workers. Tony was busily dusting the sliding glass door for fingerprints while McGee and Gibbs were getting the camera ready to photograph the bathroom.

"His voice, he's guarding his emotions, he's frustrated." Kate said as she stared at Abby.

"Kate, frustrating a man, like that's never happened." Tony teased.

"Enough!" Four voices yelled in unison.

"This one's on me." Tony said as he smacked his own head.

"Ducky, how many languages do you speak?" Kate asked quickly.

"Seven." Ducky replied.

"Do you speak Hebrew or Arabic?" Kate asked hopefully.

"Both." Ducky replied.

"Speak Hebrew please...say something, anything, but try to be correct in your pronunciation, please." Kate asked politely.

Ducky spoke a bit of Hebrew and Kate's eyes lit up.

"Now Arabic if you will." Kate said as she stood there and listened for anything familiar.

Ducky rattled off some words that Kate didn't understand, but apparently Mrs. Mallard did.

"Donald! I never left you on that bus!" Mrs. Mallard defended herself sharply, and in English.

"That's it! His accent, it's muddled because it's European and Middle Eastern combined. It's a very distinct sound." Kate explained.

"It is a very distinct accent my dear. You're perceptive to have noticed." Ducky complimented.

"But how?" Kate asked.

"Family of course, that's where it all begins." Ducky explained.

"Yeah, maybe one parent is European, and the other isn't." Abby said as she plugged her laptop into an outlet in Kate's dining room.

"Makes sense, he was raised with the customs of more than one culture." Gibbs added.

"He probably speaks several languages." Ducky added.

"I know this is going to sound stupid...or lame or weird or whatever, but he just seems intelligent. It's hard to describe. It's like hanging out with Ducky, or McGee, or Abby....they're so smart, you can just tell."

"Kate, after you sketch him do you think you can put together a profile?" Jethro asked hopefully as he approached Kate.

"I can, and I will." Kate said triumphantly as she headed to her bedroom to grab her sketch pad.

Silence fell over Kate's house as everybody went about their respective tasks. McGee, Tony, and Jethro collected evidence, while Abby used her laptop to begin searching for any clues. Mrs. Mallard and Ducky sat on the sofa in relative silence until Mrs. Mallard nodded off and her loud snoring resonated through the house.

"Okay...we're done here." Gibbs announced shortly after midnight. He had collected all the evidence he could find, and Abby and Kate had scanned a copy of Kate's sketch to all the law enforcement agencies they could think of.

"Campfire, in the living room." Gibbs added.

The team groaned as they all huddled into Kate's living room.

"Ducky and I have already discussed this. It's not a perfect plan, but it will do for now. I'm really hoping this is a one time only occurrence. We're assuming this guy knows everything about all of us. We're also going to assume he's dangerous. Until I can think of something better we're all staying at Ducky's tonight." Gibbs announced.

He was greeted by a series of groans.

"Listen...we all can have our own rooms, there's plenty of space and it's relatively secluded." Gibbs added.

Abby raised her hand.

"Abby?" Gibbs said as he called on the young forensic scientist.

"So, we're abandoning our homes so this creepy Ari guy can possibly pillage through them all night while they are unoccupied?" Abby questioned the only flaw she had found in Jethro's plan.

"NCIS already has a surveillance car sitting on every house. I called Director Morrow an hour ago. He gets pissed when I don't share this kind of stuff with him." Gibbs explained.

"So if there's a car with Agents why can't I go home?" Abby asked slightly angry.

"Because if something happens the Agents in the car won't get to you quick enough." Kate said pointedly, she had worked enough protection details to understand the flaws.

"Fine." Abby finally said with a pout.

"Clearly, nobody really has any clothes, so we're just going to have to sleep in what we've got." Gibbs added.

"Like any of us are actually going to sleep." McGee muttered.

"We're going to try. We can't let him win. He wants to control us and we will not let it happen." Kate explained.

An hour later the entire team was at Ducky's house and Ducky quickly assigned everybody their rooms. Kate blushed slightly when she realized that she and Jethro were indeed sharing a room.

"Scream if you need anything." Jethro instructed as everybody made their way to their assigned rooms.

"I hope you don't mind." Ducky said as he stood in the hall with Kate and Jethro, just outside the door to the largest guest room.

"Not at all. I don't think that McGee should have to suffer doubled up with Tony." Kate replied quickly as she kissed Ducky goodnight, pretending that there was no ulterior motive.

"It looks like a magazine." Kate said as she flicked on the light.

"His house is really something." Jethro stifled a yawn and looked at his surroundings.

"Sure is." Kate said as she fell back onto the bed.

Kate couldn't believe how quickly she fell asleep. She thought for sure that she wouldn't sleep at all, but in a large comfortable bed with Jethro by her side, she drifted off.

Kate rolled over to see the faintest rays of sun peeking through the heavy curtains. She closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep. Her eyelids were heavy and she was startled by an ear-piercing scream.

At once, Kate and Jethro both jumped out of bed and drew their weapons. They burst into the hallway to find Tony with his weapon drawn, and he was clad in socks, boxer shorts and his undershirt. Ducky was in a pair of pinstriped pajamas, and he had a large knife. Abby was in her full length nightgown, and she was armed with Bert the hippo. The screams continued coming from McGee's room.

"Tim!" Jethro yelled before he flung open the door.

"What the Hell?" Jethro yelled as he saw Mrs. Mallard curled up, next to Tim.

"Make it stop! I don't want any part of this! I'm not that kind of guy!" Tim said as he shrieked.

"Jealous Matthew?" Mrs. Mallard asked wryly as she kept the covers pulled up over her chin. She was eyeing Gibbs in a way that made the whole room uncomfortable.

"Mother!" Ducky yelled in horror.

"What? Can't a girl have some fun?" Mrs. Mallard asked.

"Mother...garden club is fun, bridge is fun, cocktail hour is fun...this is harassment!" Ducky scolded.

"Let me fetch you a robe." Ducky said as he shuffled out of the room.

"Show's over." Gibbs said as he emptied out the room, just as Ducky returned with a robe.

"Come on mother, back to your own room it is." Ducky said as he led Mrs. Mallard out of the room, her robe tied firmly around her.

"McGee, are you all right?" Tony asked as he peeked into the bedroom.

"Fine." McGee said dryly wishing he could forget the whole incident.

McGee really didn't need Tony's teasing right now, and Tim was happy when Gibbs ordered everybody back to their rooms.

"What was that all about?" Kate asked with a small smile as she and Jethro climbed back into bed.

"Mrs. Mallard wears Chanel to bed." Jethro murmured as he snuggled up to Kate.

"They have lovely pajamas." Kate said. She had seen them in a boutique once, and they were far from affordable.

"Chanel Number Five, and that's it." Gibbs elaborated.

"Oh my God." Kate said as she suppressed a giggle.

"Poor Ducky, he always has to be careful during sleep-overs." Gibbs lamented.

"What...wait, how do you know all of this?" Kate probed.

"I slept her for seven months, while I fought for a house that was rightfully mine." Gibbs explained quickly, eager to move on with the conversation.

"Wow." Kate said as she nodded off.

It was just before ten when Kate's phone rang. She expected her mother, or a friend.

"Hello Caitlin...I trust you slept well...Mallard Manor is rather comfortable." Ari said in his haunting accent before the line went dead.

"Jethro!" Kate hissed.

"Yeah..." Gibbs asked groggily.

"He knows we're here." Kate said as she handed her phone to Gibbs.