Disclaimer I don't own any NCIS teams, Gibbs' team, Director Vance, Tobias Fornell, FBI, or any other characters in the Series. I do however own My OC, other character's I bring in, and the idea for the plot.

Author's Note Thanks to DS2010, UnForGettable323, cheether and my favourite reviewer/reader Mad Scientist 007 for your fabulous reviews.

NCIS

Chapter 10 - The Truth's Hard To Swallow

Gibbs, Fornell and the two NCIS agents could only watch as Alfie took after a member of the crowd who took off running, Tony followed a few seconds later. The group grew worried as shooting began, when it stopped everyone was silent, thinking the worst had happened. The tension was broken by Gibbs' phone ringing, he answered it and the agents waited anxiously.

"Where did you run off to, DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned, and the others relaxed.

"I just found Detective Inspector Giles, boss. She's alive, but she injured." Tony informed him.

Gibbs was quiet for a moment; he looked towards the others and told them Tony had found DI Giles, "We're on our way, DiNozzo."

"It's alright, I got her. She doesn't have the strength to fight back," Tony replied, Gibbs heard some rustling and a groan of pain. "We'll be there in a minute." - And hung up first.

And a minute it was, because it didn't take Tony long to appear from out of the forest trailing the white haired DI Giles with him, literally. She couldn't stand on her own two feet. She looked battered and weary, with slight purple circles beneath her eyes. Her hands were cuffed securely behind her back, and her clothes weren't in any better shape.

"Boss, Detective Inspector Giles." Tony introduced her - he didn't know why, but even though he knew he'd never met her before, he felt a sort of protectiveness towards her.

"Nice work, DiNozzo," Gibbs said as he looked up and down the British DI. "Let Ducky give her a once over before you take her back."

"Right, boss." Tony replied and he walked DI Giles over to the black NCIS van, he opened the back doors and placed her on the step.

It wasn't too long before the medical van skidded to a halt beside them and Ducky stepped out first with his examining bag, Palmer was at the back of the medical van getting a gurney out when the ME spotted the white haired young woman being guarded by Tony.

"Anthony, my dear fellow, who is this young woman?" Ducky smiled up at the Italian agent before looking at the woman and wondering how odd her white hair was for someone who looked of her age.

"This is Detective Inspector Alfie Giles, one of the suspects," Tony informed the old doctor. "Gibbs wants you to give her a once over to make sure she won't collapse or anything when we interrogate her."

"Ah, I see," Ducky studied DI Giles' face closely before calling over to Palmer. "You go on ahead, Mr Palmer, I just need to make sure Miss Giles is healthy."

"Of course, doctor." Palmer complied as he made his way over to Gibbs and the others.

"Follow me, Anthony," Ducky instructed, and Tony pulled the DI to her feet and followed Ducky to the back of the ME's van. "Could you uncuff her so we can get this hooded jumper off of her."

Tony hesitated for a brief second before he unlocked the cuffs and slid them from around her wrists, he had a feeling she wouldn't hurt any of them. He was right, the most she did was flinch when her arms became free.

"Miss Giles," Ducky addresses her kindly. "Could you please remove your jumper for me?"

The DI didn't reply, but she stiffly raised her arms and pulled the raggedy neon hoodie off over her head, leaving her in a light grey tank top. That was when Tony spotted the collar that had been hidden beneath her jumper before, Alfie's collar.

Tony felt angry, he hadn't been able to find Alfie, and here was this possible murderer wearing her collar. What kind of sick person was she?

"Where did you get this?" Tony growled softly as he grabbed the collar and yanked it over her head, accidentally hitting her nose with the back of his hand. The knock had been hard enough to cause her nose to start bleeding, her hand flew up to grasp the assaulted area to try and stop the blood-flow, but she hadn't been fast enough and a few scarlet drops had fallen onto her abdomen, but she never answered his question. "Where. Did. You. Get. This?"

"I found it..." she breathed out weakly, not making eye contact with him.

"Anthony, if you don't calm down then I will have to ask you to wait at the front of the van," Ducky warned as he handed a tissue up to the DI, she took it gingerly and used it to wipe the blood from her upper-lip. Tony clenched the leather collar tightly in his hand, but said nothing else. "Good. Now, Miss Giles-"

"It's Detective." she interrupted him softly.

"Pardon?" Ducky asked, watching her as her almost glowing eyes looked slowly at him.

"It's Detective, Doctor Mallard." she repeated softly, she looked exhausted. Tony wanted to know how she knew Ducky's name, but he'd have to wait to find out.

"Yes, quite right. My apologies, Detective," Ducky replied, and she nodded her head gently in approval. "Could I examine you for any injuries you might have?" - She nodded her head again - "Can you stand up straight for me?"

The Detective slowly slid out of the van and rigidly stood up straight, her 5' 11" body was four inches shy of Tony's 6' 2" build. Her jumper was clutched tightly in her right hand, while in her other hand was held the blotched bloody white tissue.

Ducky placed one of his hands onto the side of her ribcage, where he could feel every one of her ribs sticking out. He prodded gently at her shoulder blades, she winced a little but said nothing, he did a few other tests afterwards, "She's malnourished, and dehydrated," - was what the ME concluded first. He made sure to disinfect the long gash on the back of her neck and between her shoulders before taping a bandage over in - "You are free to take her back to NCIS now, Anthony."

"Thanks, Duck." Tony said as he slid the dog collar into his jacket pocket and took the neon jumper from her hand, he slung it over his forearm as he cuffed her hands behind her back again.

"Make sure she eats something, and give her a drink." Ducky suggested as Tony walked away.

"Will do." Tony called back.

Gibbs threw him the keys to the black car and Tony placed the Detective into the back seat before climbing into the front, he brought the engine to life and drove them to the NCIS headquarters.

There were so many questions swimming around in his head; how did the Detective know Ducky's name? How had she actually gotten a hold of Alfie's collar? How long had she been out in the woods for? Why did he feel something for her when he barely even knew her?

The elevator ride up was silent, the Detective stood with her head bowed and Tony rigidly beside her, patiently waiting for the doors to open. When the doors eventually slid open after the elevator had stilled, there emerged Abby with her hands placed on her hips.

"I found-" Abby had started.

"You can cross Chief Petty Officer Mane off of our suspect list, he's dead," Tony informed the Goth after interrupting her. "This is-"

"Detective Inspector Alfie Giles, I know," Abby finished, looking at the Detective with an excited look she tried to hide. "If you don't turn out to be a murderer, can you sign your book for me?"

"You've written a book?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow down at the Detective, she didn't reply.

"It's fantastic. It's about these supernatural beings going about everyday life, but they work as officers of the law and all," Abby grinned as she told Tony about it. "The first one was called 'Dog Days', the second was 'Sleeping Dogs Lie."

"No third?" Tony asked as he stepped out of the elevator, bringing the Detective with him.

"She disappeared before it was due to release, so it wasn't brought out." Abby frowned.

"When I'm cleared, I'll sign whatever you want - or better yet, I'll dedicate my next book to you." the Detective replied softly to the Goth as Tony started dragging her past the quad room.

"Thank you!" Abby waved enthusiastically before she was blocked by a set of stairs before they reached the interrogation rooms.

"Can I see my brother?" the Detective asked Tony as she looked over her shoulder at him, she noticed he was about to disagree. "Please? Just five minutes, and then I'll tell you everything."

"How do you even know he's here?" Tony questioned.

"It's a twin thing…" she replied after a moment of biting her lip.

To be honest, Tony had been about to give in to her as she stared up at him with her watery pleading eyes, but the thought of Gibbs' wrath for breaking one of his rules changed his mind and he looked down at her sadly.

"Sorry, I can't. Against the rules," Tony replied, and watched as her gaze cast downwards towards her feet, her shoulders slumped as she nodded her head in understanding. He stopped at a grey door and pushed it open; the Detective walked in without a word and sat down. Tony did however unlock her cuffs and remove them from her wrists; he set her jumper on top of the table. "Can I get you anything? A sandwich? A bottle of water?"

"A sandwich is fine, thanks. A bottle of Pepsi max would be brilliant, if you don't mind." The Detective replied softly. At first her voice had sounded like it hadn't been used in a while; it still sounded like that, but it was beginning to loosen up.

"I'll see what I can do." Tony said before he backed out of the interrogation room and closed the door. He went in search of the vending machines, sticking his hand in his pocket to see how much money he was carrying with him - $9 and 52 cents, which was more than enough for a sandwich and two drinks.

When Tony found the vending machine, he realised he hadn't asked the Detective if she wanted anything in particular, so he just chose a plain ham and cheese sandwich. Luckily, the drinks machine beside it had one bottle of Pepsi Max left; he bought that and a bottle of water for himself. As he headed back to the Detective, he looked into the observation room first to see what she was doing. Lying on the table in front of her was a photograph; it was too far away for him to see what it was of though.

Tony closed the door and walked into the interrogation room; the Detective quickly grabbed the photo and hid it beneath the table out of Tony's view.

"Anything important?" Tony asked as he set the sandwich and bottle of Pepsi Max in front of her before sitting down on the opposite side. He watched her hesitate for a few moments, he thought she wouldn't show him it before she slowly lifted up the photo and slid it across the table towards him; he picked it up and looked at the five people in it. He spotted the Detective and her brother immediately, but he didn't recognise the other three in the photo.

"The other three are my younger siblings; Sonny, Riley and Jonah," The Detective explained as she opened the bottle of Pepsi Max and took a sip, she let out a small sigh of pleasure before she could stop herself – but then she frowned and reached her hand up to wipe away a tear that had been trying to escape with the sleeve of her jumper before dropping it back onto the table. "I haven't seen any of them for over a year… I miss them…"

"I'm sure," Tony agreed as he opened his bottle of water and took a gulp of it, he leaned over the table and stared at her. "I'll make you a deal, you tell me everything, and I'll let you see your brother."

"He hasn't done anything," the Detective said first, looking up from the sandwich in front of her as she gently took the photograph of her family back and slipped it back into her pocket. "He didn't even know I was in Washington 'til today."

"Do we have a deal?" Tony asked instead of arguing with her, or questioning her about how she knew that her brother knew she was in Washington, DC.

"We have a deal," the Detective agreed after she thought about it for a second, and took a deep breath before staring straight into Tony's eyes. "You won't believe what I'm about to tell you. But, before I do, could you do me a little favour? It'll only take a few seconds, I promise."

"What is it?" Tony asked curiously with a raised eyebrow.

"I need you to tell my brother that I have to tell you guys everything." She replied.

"That's it?" he questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion now.

"Please, I can't say a word until he agrees. And even if he says no, tell him I'm going to anyway." She continued.

With a sigh, Tony nodded his head and stood up, he left his bottle of water on the table as he made his way out of the room, closing the door securely behind him before he entered the room one over, holding Griffin Giles.

"Can I see her?" was the first thing he asked, but then paused and cringed after realising what he'd just said.

"Let me guess, twin thing?" Tony suggested, and Griffin nodded eagerly. "No. But she wanted me to say to you that she has to tell us everything."

"What? No-" Griffin had begun to protest as he jumped to his feet angrily.

"She said she's going to anyway." Tony interrupted him.

Griffin stood there tensely before sitting back down with his head bowed, "I know…"

Tony walked out again and back into the Detective, who had eaten the sandwich already and drank half of the bottle of Pepsi Max.

"What I'm about to show you needs to be off the record, if this gets out I could get into a lot of trouble. Could you stop recording? And ask the guy to leave, just for ten minutes?" the Detective asked, and after a moment Tony looked around at the mirror and nodded his head. She waited for a few moments after the light from the camera had gone off to talk again. "I'm Alfie."

"I know you're Alfie, Detective." Tony looked at her with an odd look.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean I'm Alfie, the German shepherd, the dog that's been a part of your team for almost the past week," the Detective tried to explain, Tony grew more and more disbelieving by the second. "And I can prove it, but you have to trust me."

After a silent minute had gone past, Tony nodded his head in agreement, what's the worst that could happen? He watched as she stood up and moved the chair back against the wall, she stood there for a second, trying to collect her thoughts before a faint, silvery light crossed her body and she disappeared beneath the table. Tony jumped as a white furred German shepherd padded out from under the table, it's eyes two different colours – it was Alfie.

"No…" Tony breathed out with his mouth hanging open. "There's no way this is happening." – He scooted the chair he was sitting on backwards and looked under the table, but there was no one there. When he looked back at Alfie, the Detective was standing there. – "I-I don't believe this is happening."

"Please, Tony, you have to believe me," the Detective pleaded before she smoothly shifted back into Alfie before his eyes, and then back to herself. "Someone is framing me for murders I didn't commit."

"No, no, no…" Tony disagreed as he stood up and covered his face with his hands. "This kind of stuff only happens in movies, it's not real."

"You've got to believe me, I stayed at Gibbs house, and then Tim's house, and then Abby brought me home with Pilate," the Detective reminded him. "And then you brought me home last night after winning a coin toss with Ziva, we watched 'Magnum'. You told me all about the show, more than I wanted to know. And then you put 'Doctor Who' on and joked about me being British and liking it."

Tony didn't want to believe what he was hearing, he wanted to believe she had been stalking the team, finding out where they lived and spying on them. But he couldn't. He believed what she was telling him. All of it.

"So… all this time… you've been with us? That's why you were angry with me?" Tony questioned as he peeked a look at her through his fingers.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter. What matters is I can't' be the murderer, I was with Gibbs when the first murder happened, and with Tim when the second murder was committed." The Detective tried to explain to him.

"You were with me last night; you couldn't have committed the three murders we're working on now…" Tony wiped his hands down his face as he slowly sat down. "I can't just release you; we have forensic evidence linking you to some of the murders. And you're the only one with a connection to Argent, I'd definitely get fired."

"I'll tell Gibbs, and the others. There's something not right going on here," The Detective told Tony. "I told you everything, and confused you. May I please see my brother now? I won't try to run, I want to help."

Tony watched her for a moment before nodding his head and standing up; he wrapped his hand gently around her bare elbow and escorted her out of the interrogation room towards where her brother was being kept. He opened the door and expected her to run in, but she didn't move. As soon as he let go of her arm, she flew in and was quickly wrapped in a hug from Griffin, who had stood up and swirled her around him before setting her on her feet.

"I told him." The Detective informed her brother.

"I know." He replied solemnly, not happy about it as he hugged her tighter to him.

"We need them to trust us." She replied, and he nodded his head in understanding. "How's Sonny and Riley been? Is Jonah alright?"

"Sonny's been working non-stop; she really wants to find you. Riley been devastated. Jonah is the worst of the three; he can't forget the last conversation he had with you. He keeps saying it, over and over." Griffin replied, and the Detective nodded her head, knowing what conversation he was talking about. The one she and Jonah had been jokingly discussing what would happen if she'd went missing, he must have felt awful.

"I'm safe, I'm fine, and when you get home you tell them that," the Detective pulled out of Griffin's hug and held the sides of his face between her hands. "Don't tell them anything else. Not about the murders, or the kidnapping, just say I had somehow wound of up in a hospital… or something. I don't want them to know. Okay?" – He didn't do anything, so she shook his head and his eyes focused on her – "Okay?"

"Okay." He agreed and sat back down after the Detective let him go.

Tony stood at the door and watched them, the Detective worried about her family far more than herself, she didn't want them to fret about what had happened to her.

"Come on, Gibbs and the others will be back soon. He'll want to talk to you." Tony told her, and she kissed her brother on his forehead before following him back to her interrogation room. On the way there Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out Alfie's collar, he handed it to the Detective and she took if from him gently. When they were back in the room she set it on the table beside her jumper and sat down, she lifted her bottle of Pepsi Max and took a drink.

"Will Gibbs not be mad that you turned off the camera?" the Detective asked, she was beginning to get her voice back steadily.

"Gibbs will be very mad that he turned off the camera," said silver haired Agent answered for Tony as he threw the door open and stepped in. "Gibbs is also wondering where his senior Agent and Suspect just were."

"Boss, I can explain. She told me everything." Tony defended himself.

"Everything?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow and looked from Tony to the Detective.

"She isn't the murderer," Tony continued. "And she can prove it."

Gibbs, after a doubtful thought, decided to trust Tony – who brought Ziva and Tim into the interrogation room as well. Tony watched as the Detective transformed flawlessly from a human being into the dog they'd all grown attached to over the past few days and back into their suspect, at first none of them believed their eyes. Gibbs was wordless. Tim was amazed. Ziva, however, thought she was a demon.

"You trusted me when you thought I was just a dog. You can still trust me now. I'm not your murderer." The Detective defended herself.

"I knew there was something odd about you." Was all Gibbs could say.

If I get great reviews, a sequal will be lined up when this is done!