It seems all my author's note lately start with apologies, and for that I am truly sorry. :)

Yes, this chapter has taken so long that you have probably all lost interest with the story, but I swear on the remaining waffles in my bread bin that the next chapter will be up within the next two days. Promise.

Hope you like.

The sight of the desk that had once been hers brought Kate to a halt.

"What's wrong?" asked McGee.

"Imagine the worst sense of déjà vu you've ever had, McGee. It's like the past six months haven't happened." She glared down at the visitor's pass round her neck, "Except this wouldn't have been here six months ago, of course."

"Well, you always hated writing reports. Now you don't have to bother," pointed out Gibbs.

Kate tried (and failed) to take consolation from the fact.

"Okay," continued Gibbs, "Now that you two," he looked very pointedly at Tony and Kate, "Have finally decided to grace us with your presence, we need to start working."

The words brought with them the briefest second of inner confusion, in which everyone wondered whether or not the word 'we' included Kate. Well, everyone except Gibbs, who, blunt as ever, had not finished his orders.

"Abby hasn't been able to find anything on the card so we've got almost nothing to work with. Tony, I need you to take Sophie to a hotel, and keep an eye on her. Like I said, if this guy is really a friend of Ari, we don't know what he's capable of. McGee, start making calls in the area surrounding the scene. See if anyone suspicious has been seen around lately. Check hotels and restaurants especially. Ziva, help McGee. Kate, look through everything we have on Ari, and see if you can unearth anything that could possibly help us. Oh," he added, after a second's thought, "And under no circumstances are you to leave the building alone."

Everyone except Kate went to go and begin on their various tasks.

"What do you want, Kate?"

"Thanks…boss."

"What for?" asked Gibbs innocently.

"Oh, you know," smiled Kate, "Not making me go to the hotel."

"Well," continued Gibbs, in the same tone as before, "Didn't think it was wise to trap you and Tony together twice in an evening."

Their eyes met, and in a moment of understanding, each said silently what they could not say aloud. "Thank you for making me part of the team again." "No problem, we missed you."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Due to the ridiculously event-filled night, Kate had completely forgotten how tired she was. However, the dawn was creeping up, and after a mere twenty minutes of work, she found her eyelids drooping uncontrollably.

"I'm going to make some coffee," she announced, "Anyone else want some?"

Various grunts from the others told her that they were all okay on that front.

"Alright, well, I won't be long. Oh, and if Gibbs asks, tell him not to worry, and I'm staying in the building."

This time her words were met with grunts of an affirmative nature. She grinned to herself. They were all hard at work again.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Okay Sophie, I'll be just outside the door here."

Tony and Sophie had arrived at the nearest hotel to NCIS HQ. They had talked very little on the journey, each taking advantage of the first quiet part of the night to try and get a grip on the various events of the evening.

"Erm, Agent DiNozzo,"

"Tony."

"Tony, do you mind staying in here for a bit?"

"Sure." He took a seat. "Do you want to talk about something?"

She nodded. "I want to talk about…Kate. God, I still can't get used to that name."

They smiled at one another.

"What about Kate do you want to talk about?"

"She's Catholic?"

"Yeah."

"She likes stuff like tofu?"

Tony shuddered at the word. "Yeah."

"And she hates action movies?"

"Oh yeah."

"She's really kind, and hard working, and she hates sexist men?"

"Well, that's Kate in a nutshell, but why are you asking?"

"Because, I needed to make sure that Charlie really hadn't gone."

"Ah. Well, of all that stuff you just said is true of Charlie, then she really is just Kate by another name."

Sophie nodded, and for a few minutes they were quiet again.

"Well, I think you should try and get some sleep, Sophie. I'll be just outside the door."

"Okay. And, Tony," she added, as he started to leave, "If you what you said is true, I know Kate just as well as I know Charlie, and I think it's safe to say that, yeah, she did have a bit of a thing for you."

That stopped Tony in his tracks.

"What?"

"Well, I'm fairly sure that you were her old colleague, "Tom" – The cute, if ever so slightly chauvinistic guy, who ate junk food and loved crappy macho movies. She mentioned you over a bottle of wine…or two one time."

"She called me cute?"

"And chauvinistic. And lazy, if I remember rightly. But, yes, she did call you cute."

Tony's chest puffed out. "I'll be just…ah, you know where I'll be."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Boss, I think I've found something!"

Gibbs turned to see who was shouting for him. It was Ziva.

"What?" he asked, as he walked over.

"Well. I called a motel a few miles from the crime scene and asked them if they had had any suspicious visitors."

"And?"

"I'm getting there, boss. Anyway, a "Mr. Smith" checked in with them last night. Nice enough, polite guy, but he left again at three in the morning, and when the cleaning staff went into his room this morning, they found a sealed envelope on the pillow addressed to Gibbs and team."

"Did they open it?"

"No. It's waiting for us behind the reception desk."

"Okay. Arrange alternative protection for Sophie. Then call Tony and tell him to meet us at the motel. Actually, on second thoughts, McGee, go pick Tony up. Meet us at the motel."

McGee nodded.

"Where's Kate?" asked Gibbs.

"Here," came a voice from the other side of the bullpen. "Sorry I took so long. I got harassed by everyone crazy enough to be working this early. Apparently I'm 'a very healthy looking corpse'. What's up?"

"We know where our killer spent the night."

"Am I coming?"

"Of course you are. Just make sure you're careful."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Though she didn't know it, Sophie's premature awakening that morning, was almost identical to her roommate's earlier in the night.

"Hello, Tony."

"Hey. Sorry to wake you up. I've got to go. These guys," he gestured to the agents standing behind him, "Will be looking after you now."

"Why do you have to go?"

"We've found out where Martin's killer stayed last night."

"Catch him, Tony."

"We will."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Thanks to McGee's ability to follow directions, the two halves of the NCIS team arrived at the motel within seconds of each other.

They made a formidable sight to the poor manager of the motel, struggled not to cower behind his desk as the five tired, serious looking agents approached him.

"Can I help you?"

"We talked over the phone," explained Ziva, "You have a note for us."

"Ah yes," said the manager, immediately recognising her distinctive accent, "You are NCIS. Well, here's the note."

He handed it to Ziva.

"We're going to have to take a look in the room Mr. Smith stayed in, last night," stated Gibbs, as Ziva slipped on a pair of gloves and opened the letter.

The manager nodded, and Ziva began to read.

You owe me a life, NCIS,

A friend of Ari.

"Short and sweet," she said, grimly.

Gibbs was frowning. "Okay, bag it up. We've always got the room to provide us with leads.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Nothing?" barked Gibbs, "How can there be nothing?"

"Well," said Kate, "It's not exactly nothing. It's too much. The room hasn't been properly cleaned in months. There's DNA and fingerprints everywhere. The only thing in here that isn't dangerously filthy is the bed, and that hasn't been slept in."

"Right," said Gibbs, wearily, "Back to HQ. Hopefully Abby will find something on the note."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Did I ever tell you that I love you Abby?"

"No."

"Well, I do."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs smiled ruefully as he told his team the news.

"Abby found a partial on the note."

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