I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter :-) I'm having a few troubles writing the next chapter but I'm giving my best to continue as fast as I can. Thanks again for all your reviews, I smile about every single one!

A few days. It wouldn't take them more than a few days, hopefully, till the damn case was closed. It wasn't that hard to close a case. So why now? Why now? All she wanted was to finally go back to Minnesota.
"How have you liked the day with Tony?" Ducky asked in the evening when the three of them sat in the dining room.
Lexa looked at him, "Yeah, awesome", she replied sarcastically.
The doctor smiled, "I knew you would enjoy it."
"The better question is if he enjoyed it", Brooke said.
"Why?" Ducky asked and instead of an answer from Brooke, the brunette just looked at Lexa, who then looked totally innocent.
"What", she asked as if she did nothing, "All I did was telling him that he should stop staring at me like that."
Brooke rolled her eyes, "You remember him on her."
Lexa looked at her, showing her friend how obviously that was, "I noticed that, thank you very much for that very informative information, Brooke."
"Don't be too hard on him, my dear. He is having a hard time", Ducky explained.

"Have you find anything now", Gibbs asked when entering the bullpen the next day.
McGee looked up, "Yes, and there is one new postman working in Washington D.C. who appears to be our murderer because his identity is fake and so is the picture. Still trying to find out who he really is."
Gibbs nodded before turning to Ziva who then told her boss, "Petty Officer Brandy and Petty Officer Smith were working together and they hung out in their free time."
"You and Tony go to the base. Talk to their boss, find out whatever is necessary", as soon as he said that, the two agents got up and headed to the elevator, "You McGee find out more. I'll go to Ducky's now."

On the marine base, Tony and Ziva found Commander Jones, a tall and muscled marine in his forties.
"Commander Jones? Special Agents DiNozzo, David, NCIS", Tony introduced him and Ziva.
The commander nodded, "It's about Don, isn't it?"
"Not just him. It turned out that a colleague of him, Petty Officer Smith was murdered, too", Ziva improved him.
"Smith is dead, too? Oh boy..."
"How close where the two Petty Officers?" Tony asked.
"Really. They were best friends, knew each other before joining. They grew up together."
"But didn't die together..."
"How did they die?"
Tony looked at him, "Petty Officer Brandy was stabbed in his armpits, Petty Officer Smith shot in his heart."
"Why that exactly?"
Ziva answered, "While Petty Officer Brandy was tortured a little, because stabbing in the armpits does not kill you immediately, the Petty Officer who was shot in his heart did die immediately. So two very different kind of murder, but yet it is probably one murderer only."
"How can you be so sure?"
"There are no signs for a second murderer so far. Have they had any problems, Commander?"
"No, they both did great jobs. They were good marines."

In the evening, Gibbs, Lexa and Brooke sat in the dining room, eating pasta.
"How is Special Agent DiNozzo?" Lexa asked, looking at Gibbs.
Gibbs looked up from his plate, "Why?"
"He asked her if she was related to a Caitlin Todd", Brooke answered, looking at Gibbs, trying to get information.
Gibbs nodded, "He's alright", he said before looking at his plate again, taking another bite.
"Is it really that bad? Who was she?" Lexa asked.
"She worked with us. But she was killed..."
The eyes of the blond widened, "And I look like her?"
Gibbs nodded, "He'll be okay."
"What if not?"
"He will be okay, don't worry."
The door rang, "I guess it's him", Gibbs said before getting up, answering the door.
"Hey boss", Tony greeted his boss, walking inside, "Ziva and I talked to Commander Jones. He could confirm that the two Petty Officers were friends. Actually they were best friends, grew up together."
"Anything else?"
Tony shook his head, "McGee has troubles finding out who the new postman is, Abby can't do a lot with the bullet and the card isn't very informative either, and Ducky and Jimmy are still looking, trying to find something on the bodies."
Gibbs nodded, "Alright. Then you can get some food now", Gibbs said before leaving.
Entering the dining room, Tony greeted the two women before taking a plate and putting some food on it.
"I'll take a shower", Brooke said, getting up, bringing her plate in the kitchen before walking back in the dining room.
"Who made this?" Tony asked after sitting down.
Brooke stopped before walking towards the stairs to get into the bathroom to shower, "Lexa."
After Brooke left, Tony looked at Lexa, "Really? And I thought you'd be the master of flowers."
Lexa laughed, "The master of flowers? So that's why I can't cook?"
Tony took a bite. After finishing he shook his head, "No, no, you can definitely cook."
"I'm so glad you like it", she sarcastically answered.
"I know, everyone is happy to get a compliment from me."
Lexa tilted her head, giving him this look that showed that she was doubting that.
"What? I'm lovely", Tony said as if it was the most logical thing in the world, making Lexa laugh.
"Of course you are."
"I am, really. And not just that, I also am very strong."
Lexa rolled her eyes, "You forgot to say how narcissistic you are."
"I'm not."
"Are too."
"Not."
Lexa just looked at him instead of continuing that conversation.

Later that day, eleven p.m., Brooke was already asleep when Lexa sat outside on the porch.
"Do you really think it's so good to sit all by yourself here in the night?" Tony said when stepping out, sitting next to her.
"I can defend myself", she simply said.
Tony just looked at her, thinking about how much she looked like her.
"Special Agent Gibbs told me who Caitlin Todd was."
Tony looked down for a moment before looking at her again without saying anything. Lexa laid her hand on his, "I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's not your fault."
The blond smiled a little, "But still..."
"It could've been worse... if you looked like her murderer", he explained.
"So I should be glad to resemble her?"
"Well, she was pretty, a good person and she gave everything to protect the people in her near", Tony whispered.
It made her sad. It was a sad story. And to hear what Tony said made her fight against some tears.
"She didn't deserve to die", he finally said.
"I bet she was nothing but happy to get to work with great people like you", Lexa responded.
"I don't know. Before NCIS she worked for the Secret Service. You know... saving the president and all that..."
"Who says that working with important or famous people is better than working with people who do an amazing job?"
Tony grinned, "Right now we're doing an awful job."
"You're giving your best. That's all you can do. I think it's good to reach one's aim, but it's not about getting to where you wanna get. It's about trying and giving everything you can possibly do."
"I didn't do everything I could to save her", Tony said, looking down, thinking about the moment Kate was shot.
It took her a moment to answer that, "Ducky told me what happened exactly... there was no way you could've saved her."
Tony looked at her, "If either Gibbs or I would've seen Ari on that other rooftop, she would've stayed down and wouldn't be dead now."
"You don't know that", she said with a soft voice, lying her hand on his back, rubbing it softly.
"It's just that... I feel so bad because I didn't thank her."
She looked at him, not understanding. "Didn't think her for what?"
Tony looked at her, "Well... A couple of days before she was... killed... I had the plague."
"Plague?"
"Yeah... At first we didn't know whether she had it, too, or not, so we both had to stay in an isolation room. The doctor told her that she didn't have the plague, but she stayed, telling me that she had the plague, too. I never understood why she did that for me. That was the best thing someone has ever done for me. And the most important thing as well. And I never thanked her for that."
Tears came into Lexa's eyes, "She knows that you appreciate that", she whispered.
"How would you know?"
"Because from what I've heard she seems to be not stupid, and only stupid people would not think that you appreciate what she has done for you."
Tony nodded, "Thank you."

The next day, in Abby's lab, Abby and Gibbs looked at her computer, "Alright, so there are those three different fingerprints on the card, and only one is from the murderer. The others must be from Brooke and Lexa, so I need their fingerprints to find out which one is from the murderer."
Gibbs nodded, "Tony is with them I'll give him a call."
"Why are you always sending Tony their?"
Gibbs looked at her with that innocent look, "I don't. I was their, too. And so was Ducky."
"Well, Ducky lives their, and you've just been their so Tony wouldn't be their the entire time. But why do you never send McGee or Ziva?"
Gibbs sighed, "It's good for Tony to be there."
"But she looks just like Kate, isn't that killing him?"
"No, it's good for him."
"Alright, you're the boss."

A half hour later Tony arrived along with the two women.
"Hi, I'm Abby", Abby said when the three entered.
"I'm Brooke", the brunette said, smiling.
"Lexa."
Abby smiled, "Nice to meet you two. So, don't worry, it won't hurt."
"Hey, Abby, did Gibbs want me or so?"
Abby shook her head and looked at Tony, "No. Oh, wait... McGee said that you owe him twenty bucks for the lunch you two had a month ago. And he said that if you don't give it to him today, he'll get on your computer and hack your accounts."
"He didn't forget about it? Why does Probie have to be such a McKnow-it-all?" Tony asked before leaving.
Abby giggled about his comment and took the fingerprints of the two women then.
"Okay, so actually we are about to get the murderer", Abby explained while taking the fingerprints.
"Great, it will feel good not to have a babysitter around me all the time", Lexa responded.
Abby grinned, "You'll miss it here."
"It's alright. But I think having a little bit more freedom is better", Lexa smiled.
"I'd miss it."
"You've been working here for years, of course you'd miss it", Lexa countered.
"True. But Tony was mostly with you in the last few days, so it might be weird to suddenly not having him around."
Lexa nodded, "I can imagine that", she said, more to herself than to Abby.
"Alright, so now that I have your fingerprints", Abby scanned the fingerprints before walking over to her computer, "I can tell them apart from the ones we have from the murderer."
"How long will it take to find out who it is?" Brooke asked.
"It can definitely take some time. But actually it must be less than a day."

After Tony came back to get the women to drive back to Ducky's house, Abby was alone again and sighed. She liked her. And she really had to say that this Lexa was definitely not just looking like Kate, but her personality was quite alike as well.
This was so weird. But they'd fly back to Minnesota in maybe a few days and then everything would be back to the way it was before. Well, in fact there was no difference. And it actually felt really good having Lexa around. It was more comfortable than Abby thought it would be. But it really did feel as if Kate was around. She really missed her. They were best friends and now she didn't have her around anymore. She could be best friends with Ziva but... no. Ziva was... Ziva. She wasn't hanging out with them a lot in their free time, unlike Kate. Kate and Abby were often hanging , even beyond their job. She really missed her.

Okay, this chapter wasn't as weird or crazy as the last one, because I managed to finish it before midnight :D But well, Tony once said „Crazy is good."