Author's notes:

1.This is not really my favourite chapter. Writing and developing interesting cases is not my forte but please bear with me. If you have nay suggestions I'm open for advice and ideas ) I just need my plot to work out.lol

2.I hope nobody is too uncomfortable with kink of this kind to stop reading my story. If it is beyond your comfort zone, please tell me. What I'm going to develop will be very mild and nothing hardcore whatsoever :-) Thanks

SparklingCatseye: sry for the long wait. I did what I could do but RL life was a bitch this week. Hope you like it )

super-em: welcome.lol. hope you don't mind the (slight) kink )

Curiosity killed the cat

Tony could tell that something had changed between him and Gibbs that very moment. Maybe it wasn't earth shattering but it was important to the young man. He needed Gibbs, yeah but the older man needed Tony too and God did he love that feeling. Again his thoughts were interrupted when the elevator doors opened and Gibbs entered autopsy through the sliding doors. Tony was, as usual, one step behind him. Always on his six.

"Jethro, young Anthony. You certainly didn't waste any time coming down to see me."

"You called Ducky. What can you tell me?"

"Of course. Well I'm very sorry to say that our initial assumption have been confirmed. Young Petty Officer (PO for future reference lol) Robert Sanderson was indeed raped. That's not all though," he continued before Gibbs could interrupt him. "You two saw the bruising on his back and the welts but I also found bruising that went back at least a week and a half. There were also scars that, and I'm not a hundred percent sure but it's a very high probability, result from a whip."

"You are saying?" Gibbs expression was unreadable but Tony could practically see the turning wheels behind the forehead.

"Well Jethro it looks like the marks on his back result from very rough sex play. My personal guess would be Sado-masochism. I assume that it was consensual since the scars are from different dates and they were tended to, not left to heal on their own."

"Ducky, he was raped." Tony felt compelled to point out. He had a hard time wrapping his mind around all this being consensual. He could imagine all the pain that had been inflicted and as open minded as he was, this was way beyond his comfort zone.

"I know Anthony. All I can give you are the facts. How it is all tied together is your job to find out. However I'm still not finished Jethro!" he spoke up as Gibbs moved to leave. Not at all phazed by his behaviour which seamed a bit more extreme than usual he continued.

"Come a little closer gentlemen. We all have been concentrating on our PO's back haven't we? I now want you to have a look at his torso. Do you see anything?"

Gibbs and Tony leant forward to look for what Ducky wanted them to find. Tony was the first to be successful. "Duck there is some very slight bruising here on his torso." DiNozzo tried to point out without actually touching the body.

"You are right indeed, Anthony. What you can see here would be the result of CPR administered post-mortum. My guess is that the person who found our poor victim tried to reanimate him but it was already too late. I sent some saliva samples up to Abby. If he or she left traces while mouth-to-mouth reanimation I'm sure Abby will find it."

A curt nod and "Thanks Ducky, that's good work." DiNozzo and Gibbs were in the elevator again but this time on their way to Abby's lab.

Since the lab was only one level up, the ride was short and didn't leave much time to ask some of the questions Tony was itching to get answers for. He couldn't make heads and tails out of his boss's strange behaviour.

The music that assaulted their eardrums when they got out of the elevator couldn't really be qualified as music in both their opinion. It was more like very loud noise but if their favourite goth needed this to be on top of her game then so be it

"Hey Tony, Bossman. How's it going?"

"We got a dead Petty Officer Abs." was Gibbs short answer but the look on our lab tech told us that she understood.

"Yeah I saw the pictures. Bad scene, huh?"

"Very."

Somehow he got the feeling they were talking about more than just the case but Tony couldn't quite explain what else they could be hinting at. There was no use in asking, he knew that too. For now he would wait and maybe later when he was alone with Gibbs he could ask some questions.

"Do you have anything on the samples Ducky sent up?"

"Sorry Gibbs but science takes time. I'll need another 3 hours." It was obvious that their boss wanted a different answer but the apologetic look on Abby's face stopped him from barking out. He knew that this stuff couldn't be rushed but that didn't mean that he couldn't grumble a bit about it.

"McGee, agenda entries. Tell me you have something!" finding a new target for his wrath Gibbs turned to his probationary agent who was typing furiously on his keyboard. "I'm still working on it boss. No ideas yet as to what they could mean."

Without any further orders Gibbs left the lab and went up to the bullpen. Tony was quick to follow, he wouldn't antagonize his boss any more.

He continued working Sanderson's military records for any incongruities but was as unsuccessful as before. Their marine was squeaky clean; there was nothing that could be used as a lead.

"Kate, talk to me. What do his financial records say?"

"Not much. He had normal savings, nothing extraordinary for a Petty Officer. There are no suspicious on-goings with his account."

Tony could see the frustration on his Boss's face. It was unusual for them to have almost nothing to work with. There were fingerprints in the house but those who weren't from Sanderson himself were from marines currently deployed over-seas. They couldn't have been involved with this murder case. Military and financial records turned up clean too. All that was left was the piece of paper McGee had found since the rest of the agenda yet failed to turn up.

"Grab your gear, we're going back to Quantico. I want to talk to Sanderson's CO."

Hurrying to the marine base, Gibbs made it in record time. This time even Kate and Tony had lost some of their colour. Gibbs didn't hesitate and the first person they crossed was practically menaced into telling them Sanderson's Commanding Officer and where he was to find. Tony actually felt sorry for the kid. He had time to get used to his boss's moods… couldn't exactly say the same thing for everybody else.

Commander Louis Guerra was, thank god Tony thought to himself, in his office. He didn't seem intimidated by Gibbs's usual gruff behaviour. Gibbs was in bastard-mode but Guerra couldn't have cared less. Takes one, to know one was all Tony could come up with as explanation and he assumed he hit pretty close to home.

"I'm Special Agent Gibbs, this are Special Agent Todd and DiNozzo. We're here to ask some questions."

"I take it, your visit is linked to Sandersons death."

"We prefer to refer to it as what it is, murder in this case, Sir."

"Of course Special Agent Gibbs."

Guerra was not in the least phased. Neither the icy glare nor the harsh answers and tone intimidated him. After all he wasn't CO for many marines because he was easily thrown!

"Commander what can you tell us about Sanderson?"

"He's a good marine, sir, if that's what you mean. Obedient, tough as nails and with a sharp mind. He could have become one of the best, believe me. The potential was there."

"We got that by reading his records. Tell us about his private life. What did he do when he was off duty, did he date, etc…?"

Gibbs was aggravated and Tony could see it. The man's body language was completely off. He was tense and stiff. One would think that would be normal for Gibbs but Tony knew better. Usually he kept a straight posture but never was he tense. As he was about to analyze and profile further his attention was captured by what Sanderson's CO told them.

"As for his free time occupation I can tell you that he was a sports freak. I don't know if you have found all his equipment yet but he had a lot of stuff. He coached the football and basketball team on base. The kids liked him and he always watched out for them. Foul play and cheating was prohibited. He was popular with everybody."

"So popular that he's dead now, commander." Gibbs pointed out. He knew there was something Guerra wasn't telling. Sure it wasn't outright lying but lie by omission was just as bad.

"Well it is a tragedy,sir."

"Sure it is. So, was he involved with anybody?"

"I couldn't be sure, sir. I didn't ask and he didn't tell. As far as I know he was single."

Raising her eyebrows, Kate sat a little straighter in her chair. So their Petty Officer was gay. That opened new leads like nothing else ever did. She knew about hate crimes. Also that they were prohibited. "Don't ask Don't tell!" stood with "Don't pursue, Don't harass" for a reason. She remembered hearing about different man killed during service because they were either found out to be gay or suspected to have homosexual tendencies.

"So you don't know who he was seeing or who he had been seeing?"

"No sir."

"Thanks for your time, commander." was all Gibbs said before leaving the room. Gibbs not being one for social niceties, even this was a bit extreme in Kate's opinion. She had realized that there was something that bothered Gibbs but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She didn't think he was homophobic. Of course she couldn't be sure but Gibbs struck her as the sort of man with little to no prejudice and a high tolerance. He didn't seem to care about what gender people preferred. It was not what made a person. She knew it, Gibbs probably knew it too.

Now it was the question to find out who probably hadn't know it and let Sanderson pay for it.

"You think it's a hate crime?"

Tony's question startled her a little. Not because she had forgotten that he was there, no, but because he seemed to know what was going on in her head.

"Maybe. Could be but could be something else presented like gay bashing."

"What makes you think that? Not that I want it to be a hate crime but… how do you know it is not?"

Surprised, Kate faced her Co-worker who teased her and got on her nerves endlessly. What she saw however was genuine interest and curiosity in her observation and profiler skills. It was a pleasant surprise and a nice change.

"Well, normally gay bashing never turns into murder. A gay basher thinks that the person he is beating up is wrong in his or her opinion and that he or she needs a wake-up call. They want the person to rethink their way of life and become a better person so to speak, so in their logic killing would defeat the purpose. It would be simple murder without the chance for the gay person to become normal again and lead a life that is acceptable to the assaulter's norm." She finished her explanation. That Tony was shocked by what she had said was obvious. He had a frown on his face, eyes had become dark and his shoulders were tense.

"Hey Tony." She placed a hand on his arm and rubbed it soothingly "I know this is hard stuff but it's what's going on in some people's heads. They don't think like we do and act as they see fit. I have a job because people like that exist and need to be stopped. We have a job to do here. We can talk about it some more if you want but right now we need a murderer to catch. Ok?" her voice was calm and reasonable. She knew that this was sometimes the only way to get through to Tony.

She too was aware of his overactive imagination. It made him the good agent that he was but sadly it mad him also more vulnerable. Just like now. She knew there was something he kept from her and she wouldn't be surprised if NCIS's self-proclaimed playboy for life was playing for both teams. She would look further into this when their killer was caught.

TBC

Reviews are always welcome )