I renamed the chapters to give you a better idea of the time-scale we're looking at. Also I'm not from the US so excuse any mistakes I make when I'm taking about 'blocks', 'pants' and 'cells' etc. I hope what I said sounds realistic, let me know if not and I'll change it!

"Jethro." Jenny called out Gibbs' name to alert him of her presence as she walked down the stairs to his basement. The photographs from this afternoon's 'autopsy' were still on the floor of his boat, but she pretended not to notice them.

Gibbs was leaning against his workbench, drinking a beer. She noticed that there was a second one sitting next to it – he'd been expecting her. She took a drink from it, before sitting down on his chair.

"Yeah?" he questioned.

"What? I can't just visit with my old partner."

"Never said you couldn't." for a few moments they fell into silence.

"If you don't stop harassing my agents, I'm going to have to suspend you."

He smirked. "I'm just doing my job."

"By lurking in a part of the building you have reason to be in all day?"

"I'm just observing." he took a swig of her beer.

"Did you observe anything of interest?" she cocked an eyebrow.

"Should I have?"

"I just thought that you might have overheard a conversation between a few other agents saying that they found DiNozzo's blood in the store room they found Petty Officer McMilligan's body in."

He waited, staring at her.

"Or perhaps you overheard them saying that a stronger radio signal was used to overwrite the security footage both on board the ship and externally in the dock so we have no way of knowing how DiNozzo left the ship, or where he went."

"Do you know what I did hear, Jenny?" said Gibbs quietly, "I heard them saying that they're investigating my agent!" His tone got harsher as he spoke.

"You can't deny that it looks bad, Jethro! Both men were that store and only one of them left alive and now he's gone AWOL! My men swept that place from top to bottom and they were definitely the only two people in there."

"Petty Officer McMilligan died of a heart attack!" he shouted back at her.

"Healthy marines don't just drop dead, something caused it!"

"And your men think it was my agent?"

"Yes."

"Do you?"

"I don't know what to think, Jethro! Anthony had the intelligence to overwrite those tapes and the opportunity."

"But he doesn't have a motive." Gibbs' voice had taken on a strained tone.

"He thinks McMilligan is torturing and killing women in the DC area, and I can think of at least one woman whom he's particularly close to that he'd like to protect."

"…Ziva?" Gibbs sounded incredulous.

"I know that Ziva can handle herself, but does Dinozzo? He's not exactly known for his respect of women."

"Why would he run instead of coming to me?"

"Maybe he knew he was in the wrong and there was nothing that even the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs could do."

At that moment Gibbs' cell phone rang. The shrill metallic ring cut Gibbs off before he could defend Tony further, and although he wouldn't admit it, he was secretly grateful, because even he knew it looked bad.

"Gibbs." He pressed the phone to his ear.

"Gibbs, there's someone in my house." On the other end of the line Ziva David hissed into the phone under her breathe.

"I'm on my way, Ziver." He hung up and started up the stairs.

"Jethro?" Jenny called, reminding him of her presence.

He didn't reply, just motioned with his head for her to follow before setting off up the stairs.

~.o.~

Outside Ziva's apartment Gibbs opened the door to his car and stepped out. They drove fifty blocks in five minutes and Jenny was looking a little shaken. Gibbs noticed instantly that the streetlight closest to Ziva's apartment was out, he imagined that it had been broken, perhaps shot, but he didn't stop to investigate. He strode quickly across the garden to Ziva's apartment building.

"On your six." Said Jenny as she jogged to keep with him and drew her gun from her holster.

Gibbs knew that Ziva could handle herself but he still wasn't going to leave her without back-up for any longer than he had to so he shot the lock and pushed open the door. He took the stairs to Ziva's floor two at a time and jogged down the hallway. He braced himself to kick open her door when it flew open and a short man in his late twenties ran right into him. Behind him in the doorway stood Ziva David, wearing nothing but her t-shirt and underwear, brandishing a kitchen knife with a manic look in her eyes.

Gibbs grabbed the man, who was looking more and more terrified by the second, by the shoulders and pushed him back into Ziva's apartment. "Where do you think you're going?" He snarled, and the man emitted a whimper.

"She's crazy… she's crazy!" He babbled.

Jenny raised an eyebrow at Ziva, who just shrugged, "I only scared him a little." She set down the knife, before disappearing through the door to her bedroom and returning a second later wearing a pair of pants and with her hair tied back.

Gibbs had pushed the man on to the sofa and was towering over him menacingly with Ziva and Jenny close behind him. Jenny's hand was rested on her hip with her fingers lightly touching her gun and Ziva, who had picked her knife back up was using it to clean beneath her nails. Looking franticly between the three people before him the assailant couldn't decide who he was more frightened of. He hadn't signed up for this.

He tried to look anywhere but the eyes of the man who was staring at him. He felt himself begin to sweat under the power of his gaze. He began to speak, hoping that if he broke the silence this moment would end, "I…" but the older man leant forward and rested a hand on either side of him so his face was only inches from his, in a mockery of listening to him intently, so he trailed off instead.

"Ziva!" He suddenly shouted standing up straight, "have a shower, get changed and eat something. I don't want to see you near the naval base until the morning." The Israeli woman looked as though she was going to protest, but then she closed her mouth again and nodded.

"Yes, Boss."

"And you…" Gibbs grabbed him by the hair and dragged him into a standing position, "are coming back to DC with me." He whimpered in response, both out of fear and pain, but allowed himself to be half-dragged out of the apartment by the older man, closely followed by the woman with the gun.

Ziva stood still in her living room until she heard Gibbs' car pull away, then she pulled on a pair of shoes and a jacket, before grabbing her keys and heading out the door of her apartment.

She opted for the elevator; the small space gave her a false sense of security. It took a little longer than the stairs but she still had hours before she needed to head to work and she knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep again anyway. The elevator doors opened with a ding and she stepped inside. Thankfully it was empty.

As the doors closed she squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands. She was shaking. How had she been so stupid? She never forgot her gun; she should not have let her guard down like that. Her eyes prickled with tears, but she fought against them making her eyes burn and her throat ache. She swallowed and regained her composure as the lift doors opened.

She jogged the entire way to her car and checked that the back seat and trunk were empty before sliding into the front seat of her car and picking up her gun. She held it to her chest, comforted instantly. She knew that she could defend herself without it, but perhaps not so effectively as usual given that she was starving and sleep deprived. Thank god that man had been as puny and inexperienced as he was.

She considered not going back up to her apartment, but Gibbs was right: She needed a shower and food. So, she slipped her gun in between her belt and the band of her pants, before locking her car and heading back up the stairs.

Once back inside she locked the door to her apartment then checked in every room and cupboard. Once she was certain that there was nowhere anyone could be hiding she went over the entire apartment again making sure there were no bugs, cameras or bombs. Once satisfied, she went into the bathroom. She was still shaken but hopefully a shower would make her feel a little better.

She hadn't realised how tense her muscles had gotten until she felt the warm water soothing them. She rubbed her shoulders, but it didn't help very much. No amount of warm water or massaging could bring DiNozzo back, and so no amount of warm water or massaging could make her feel better. It did make her muscles ache a little less though, so it helped in that respect.

She had meant to use the shower as an opportunity to clear her mind, but she found that she couldn't stop her mind from spinning: In the space of a day DiNozzo had gone missing and a man had broken into her apartment. "I don't believe in coincidences." She heard Gibbs' voice echoing in her head. So, they were connected; she was almost certain of that.

But how? She contemplated this as she shampooed her hair. She was none the wiser by the time she finished, but she had no doubt that Gibbs would be finding out at this very moment.

~.o.~

"You gonna tell me who you are?" Gibbs sat across the small interrogation table with his eyes boring into the small, crying man. He pinned his lips shut and bit into them with his teeth to keep them closed.

"Hey!" Gibbs stood up from his seat, which went flying out beneath him and clattered across the floor. He slammed the palms of his hands down on to the table and leant forward. "I asked you a question."

He saw the lips of the man in front of him begin to quiver. This was going to be easier than he had thought.

"No? Let's try another one then: Why were you in Ziva David's apartment tonight?"

The man glared at the table before him and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands. He was trembling.

Gibbs walked slowly around the table until he was standing beside the man. Then he leant down and stopped a few inches from his ear and in a voice so low that only he could hear he whispered, "I am going to make you talk. It's up to you whether I'm nice about it or not." The man flinched as he processed the meaning of the words.

"I'll talk." He whispered, in a husky voice.

Gibbs walked back to the other side of the desk and picked up his chair before sitting down again. "Who are you?" he questioned in a harsh tone.

"M-my name is Samuel Brannigan." The man stuttered out.

"Where were you on Wednesday night between 1600 hours and midnight?

"Work." Samuel whispered.

"Where?!" Gibbs was losing his patience.

"The Navy Base, sir. I'm a medical assistant." He still hadn't made eye contact.

"Can anyone vouch for that?"

"The chief medical examiner and about a dozen other staff members." So this man couldn't have been on the ship at the same time as DiNozzo. That doesn't mean he wasn't involved though. I don't believe in coincidences.

"Why were you in Officer David's apartment?" At this Samuel clammed up again. He furrowed his brow and squeezed his lips shut.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted again, it had worked last time so he was hoping it would work again, but he just shook harder and started to cry. "…alright then." Gibbs stood up and slowly took his jacket off. For the first time since they had left Ziva's apartment Samuel looked up at Gibbs and watched his every move. Gibbs moved slowly, never taking his eyes of Samuel's as he hung him coat over the camera in the corner of the room and began to roll up his sleeves.

"I was going to kill her!" He blurted out suddenly, as he started sobbing.

"Why?!"

"I needed to stop you investigating Petty Officer McMilligan…"

"Keep going!"

"Because I drugged him with steroids to enhance his performance… in bed… with me." He looked back down at the table, with his face glowing red, and streaks of tears running down his face. "Then he flipped out and killed those women." He finished quietly.

"So you were going to kill my agent to cover your ass?" Gibbs shouted, moving closer to the man again.

"Yes, Sir."

Gibbs didn't say another word. Instead he grabbed his jacket from where it was hanging from the camera and walked out of the interrogation room. As he walked past the door to the observation room it swung open and he was joined by Director Jenny Shepherd. "Was that a confession?"

Gibbs remained silent, his jaw set and his eyes determined.

"You don't believe him?"

"Nope."

Thank you so much for all your reviews. They are all appreciated. Sorry this chapter took a few more days than usual but it's a little longer to make up for that. I'll work my hardest to get the next one up asap.