About an hour later, the team was in the boathouse watching Commander Rally on the monitors. Kensi and Tim had brought him in after finding out about his suspicious actions the night Commander Jackson was murdered.

"So Rally not only had the opportunity to at the very least help the killers get the body on base, but he also stole the security footage. I'd say that makes him suspect number one," Callen said.

"So how you wanna play this, G? We going in together or taking turns?" Sam asked.

"Neither. We're sitting this one out. Tim's taking this one," Callen said.

"W...what?" Tim stuttered. He was more than a little bit nervous. He'd handled a couple of interrogations, but they were either with someone else or suspects that people would consider easy. Also, the fact that he was new to this team didn't help matters. He was afraid he was going to make a fool out of himself in front of his new team.

"You need more experience in interrogation. The best way to get that is to just jump right in there. So go on. This one's yours," Callen said.

"But I... I..."

"You'll be fine, Tim," Kensi assured him. "And if you're not, we'll be here to help."

Tim took a deep breath and started towards the interrogation rooms.

"Hang on," Callen said. He then handed Tim an ear piece. "Put that in your ear so that if we have to talk to you you'll hear it."

Tim did so and headed down the hall

"Maybe one of us should go with him," Kensi said once her partner was out of sight. She had complete faith in him and all, but she knew he would've felt much more comfortable with someone there to step in if necessary.

"No," Nate said. "Callen's right. He needs to do this on his own. He needs to know that he can."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim entered the room Rally was stashed in and sat across from him. He did his best not to show his nervousness. He knew if he did, it was all over. He felt sort of ridiculous being so nervous. It was almost like he was a Probie again. And in a lot of ways he was. He was very inexperienced, especially for someone who had been a field agent for over six years.

"Are you going to tell me why you brought me here, Agent McGee?" Commander Rally asked.

"We've determined that Commander Jackson was already dead when he made it onto base," Tim said.

Commander Rally shook his head. "That's impossible. We have top notch security. Someone would've noticed."

"Someone did notice. You," Tim said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were on duty for security the night Jackson's body was brought onto the base," Tim said.

"That's ridiculous. I'm a commander. I don't do security anymore," Rally said. He sounded quite nervous though. It was obvious that he was there

"Yet according to the surveillance log, that's exactly what you did," Tim said.

Rally shook his head. "No."

"You also removed the security footage from that night," Tim said.

"Why would I do that?"

"You tell me, Commander," Tim said.

"This is ridiculous. If I had done that, don't you think I would've been smart enough not to leave my name on some log?" Rally asked.

Tim shrugged. "You wouldn't be the first to make a mistake like this while covering up a crime."

"I didn't kill them!" Rally yelled.

"You didn't kill them? I don't recall mentioning a second victim," Tim said.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh, he's good," Sam said as the rest of them watched the interrogation. "Why did no one put him in an interrogation before now?"

"Because he worked for morons," Kensi answered.

Soon Callen's phone started ringing. He saw that it was Eric and answered it. "What do you got, Eric?"

"Callen, LAPD just finished with forensics. You were right. Commander Jackson's blood was found at the scene. He was killed there along with Myers. There's something else though. Commander Rally's fingerprints were found at the scene," Eric said.

"Okay, thanks, Eric," Callen said before hanging up. He immediately contacted Tim through the ear piece. "Tim, Rally was there when Myers and Jackson were killed. Get him talking."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"So answer my question. How'd you know we had another victim? Because you were there, weren't you?"

"No," Rally said.

"Really. Because we have evidence that says you were," Tim said.

"I think I want a lawyer now," Rally said.

"Unless you tell me what happened, you're really gonna need that lawyer. Right now we have enough evidence to put you away for the murders of two sailors," Tim said.

"I didn't kill them!" Rally exclaimed again.

"Then who did?" Tim asked.

"I can't be sure."

"But you have an idea," Tim said.

"They were both dead when I got to the scene. James had called me and told me he'd found them dead in Nathan's apartment," Rally said.

"They were both there when you got there? So you moved Jackson's body," Tim realized.

"Yes. James and I did. We thought we could make it look like a serial killer did it. That way no one could trace it back to the real killer," Rally explained.

"And that would be?" Tim pressed. He had a feeling he knew though. Only one of the four musketeers had yet to be mentioned.

"Richard Pruett. He was always the hothead of the group," Rally said.

"Why'd he do it?" Tim asked.

"Something to do with a Black Ops assignment they all had back in the day. James wouldn't tell me what it was and I didn't really wanna know. Two of my friends were dead. That's all I cared about," Rally said.

"Then why protect Pruett for killing them?"

"I wasn't protecting him, I was protecting James. We were both afraid that because he was there, he would be charged with accessory or something," Rally explained.

Tim got up and left the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, the team was heading home. They'd wrapped up their case a couple hours earlier. They'd found Pruett getting ready to flee the country and they'd had to shoot him in the pursuit when he fired at them.

Callen approached Tim once the others had gone. "Not bad for your first case." Of course Callen knew that it wasn't his first case, but it was with them and it was the first case he'd really had a major part of.

"Thanks. Something tells me they're gonna get harder though," Tim said.

"Oh, you can count on that. I would consider this one of our easier cases," Callen said. "So did you learn anything today?"

"You mean about the case?" Tim asked.

"No," Callen said simply.

Tim chuckled a little. "Yeah, I did. I learned that I wasn't wrong to leave Gibbs and that you were telling the truth when you said things would be different here. I know I should be happy about that and I am, but..."

"But it's hard to realize that you were screwed over so royally by the people who were supposed to have your back," Callen finished for him.

"Yeah. I mean, I already kind of knew that the way they were with me was wrong, but that was really driven home today. The way you and the others treated me... I would never have gotten that from Gibbs. That made me realize that it wasn't me. It wasn't something I did or didn't do to make him act like that. And while that is good, it's bad too. Because it means that someone I trusted did as you said, screw me over," Tim explained.

"You want my advice on how to deal with that?" Callen asked.

"Please," Tim said. He would gladly take some advice on this. He didn't want to feel like this. He wanted to move on with his life.

"Let him go. Don't think about him or the rest of them. Forget they even exist," Callen said.

Tim snorted. "You want me to forget Gibbs. Why don't you just ask me to grow wings and fly while you're at it?" Nobody could forget Gibbs. Good or bad, he was just the type of person you remembered for the rest of your life.

"Well, obviously you won't actually forget them, but you can let them go. Let go of the anger and the pain. Not for them, but for you. Make them almost insignificant to you. Because that's what they are now. They're not important in your life. They're just a bad memory that you need to shrug off. Let them go," Callen said before heading out.

Tim just stood there as Callen's words sunk in. Could he really do that? Could he really just let go of the last seven years. He thought about Callen, Sam, and Kensi and how they'd all treated him better than his old team ever had. Yeah, he could do it. He could let them go. He couldn't really forget what they did to him, but he could move past it. And that was what he intended to do. It might take a little bit, but he would get past it all. It was time to do mentally what he'd already done physically. It was time to let them go.