Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas.

A/N: I won't be posting the next chapter until next weekend at the earliest I'm going to be enjoying Christmas instead.

Chapter 10

Boston

Early in the morning

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

"There has got to be a way to get more footage of these two areas," Jenna was saying to no one in particular.

"What do you mean," asked Carson. The NCIS agents were gathered in around a table drinking coffee. They were taking a quick morning break from the investigation. The nine people had commandeered a table and were just sitting around talking.

"Well, Nell and I have practically gone through every inch of video that we have gathered so far but we still don't have a good look at whoever planted those bombs. I mean the angle is all wrong."

"Yeah, I've seen some of that footage," spoke up Jim. "She's right."

"Maybe not," came Nell.

"You got something Jones," asked Davis the team leader from Newport.

"Well, I noticed a lot of spectators with cameras and cell phones out taking pictures of the runners back on Monday," she was saying.

"So did I," said Carson.

"Wait, she's right," spoke up a few more voices from the group.

"I noticed it too, while we were tracking you guys," spoke up Andy another member from Newport.

"So you're saying," asked Bill.

"People who were taking pictures of the runners at the finish line may have caught the bombers faces," Nell spoke confidently.

"Holy crap she is onto something," replied Jenna. "Why didn't we think of that Monday night!"

"Because we assumed that the street cams may have caught a look at their faces. But they didn't."

"Oh, hell," came Jim's reply while there were a few more groans.

"So what if a call is put out to those who were at the finish line around the time that the bombs went off to give us those pictures, those people may have a picture of them and no one realized it," Nell continued.

"She's right," came Davis.

"Sure is," said Carson.

The whole group erupted into conversation as to how to approach the head of the investigation with the idea and get the call out for pictures. Finally Carson and Davis agreed that they would do it while everyone else went back to what they were doing until the pictures started coming in.

"Hey," asked Andy. "Where does our agency find all these geniuses anyway?"

"Dunno," replied Stacey another member from Newport. "I know the DC MCRT has one and LA OSP has her," indicating Nell. "But I'm not complaining.

"Neither am I," said Jim. "As long as they don't end up at FBI."

"Here here," came a chorus of voices as everyone got up to get back to work while Carson and Davis went to discuss the plan with the lead investigators.

NCISLA

Los Angeles OSP

Early afternoon Pacific Daylight Time

Ever since the bombing in Boston back on Monday, the TV in the main area has been on ZNN non-stop at OSP. People were stopping to check for updates as ZNN was providing coverage from Boston 24/7. Callen, Kensi, and Eric were going absolutely crazy. Being grounded to desk duty and Eric banned from OPS meant that they really couldn't do anything but paperwork. Eric especially looked lost not being able to use the systems upstairs. He was able to get some work done but the paper work Hetty had him doing was not only boring but putting the techie to sleep in the process. For Kensi, the mountain of papers on her desk was rapidly disappearing as she caught up on her load while Callen's didn't seem to go anywhere earning stern looks from Hetty that could kill. Deeks it seemed was fairing a little better. At the moment he was back at LAPD. He was put to work immediately helping out in a minor sting operation that was in progress. For him it was better than being stuck at a desk all the time.

Sam at the moment was in Hetty's office. They had just heard the news about the call out for pictures anyone took at the finish line of the marathon back on Monday. Nell was on the speaker phone as she was givng Hetty an update on how things were going in Boston.

"Never thought of that one," Sam was saying.

"Same here," replied Hetty. "But it does make sense. You can't go anywhere these days without your phone and since they have a camera it is likely that someone did catch a picture of the bombers."

"Come on Sam, haven't you ever pulled out your phone to take a picture of your kids or Michelle doing something in the spur of the moment," came Nell's voice from the phone.

"Yeah a couple of times and of course we do it a lot when we're on a case too."

"Precisely, so it stands that someone might have inadvertently caught a shot of these bastards," spoke Hetty."

"Yeah and it's going to take time. There're going to be quite a bit of footage coming in,"

"So you and the other agent that was with you saw a lot of people with phones and cameras back on Monday," Sam asked.

"Yeah we did, and believe me, I wouldn't be surprised if we were snapped crossing the finish line almost an hour before the bombs went off."

"I see," said Hetty. "You all might have ended as part of the background in anyone's pictures and not have known it. Guess the bombers didn't think of that one."

"Precisely, and the others noticed it as well all along the race route."

"I still don't understand why people have to document everything about their lives like that," Sam was saying. "Call me old fashioned I guess."

"That's technology for you Sam." Said Hetty. "You young ones tend to make use of it whether good or bad but in this case it is a good one."

"Yeah, and we're making full use of it right now."

"So who's idea was this anyway," Sam asked.

"A group of federal agents whose agency's first initial happens to start with the letter N. But Boston PD was also getting the same idea as well."

A smile grew on Sam's face that went from ear to ear. "Well, we do have the best people."

"We sure do," chimed in Hetty. "Miss Jones keep us updated."

"I will."

Hetty ended the call and the two nodded. "Well, hopefully they can close this case quickly," Hetty said.

"You know Hetty, me too. It would be nice to have our genius back here. She's surprising us every day."

"Indeed she is Sam. Indeed she is."

NCISLA

Marty Deeks was at his desk doing some serious thinking. The sting was over and some major drug dealers in the area have been put out of commission since they were all now in the LAPD lockup at the moment. Instead of doing the paperwork, he was thinking about what Sam and Hetty had said the other day and was now mentally kicking himself.

They were right. He was telling himself. In fact thinking about the whole thing, Not once did Kensi say a word about Deeks volunteering at homeless shelters or he give her a hard time about those fried Snickers she likes to eat. Okay he did tease her a little but stopped after realizing that she loved the things. But why was he having such a hard time believing that Nell ran marathons. Maybe it had something to do with nobody asking about what she did in her off time. Come to think about it, he really didn't know much about her. He had noticed Eric's interest in Nell and his awkward way of trying to impress her over sports or other stuff but Nell just brushed it off. Nell was guarded about her family as well but from what Deeks could gather, she had a close knit family unlike himself and the others on the team. Marty had told himself that one day if he ever started a family that he hoped they would be like Nell's. Of course, Nell is a genius too, she could out-think all of them period. Maybe that's why they didn't think or even wonder over the fact that she did have a life outside of work. But the discovery that she was a runner blindsided him. Nell never gave any indication that she ran at all, just like the rest of her life that no one knew about.

Deeks finally came to the decision that he needed to fix this. He needed to apologize to Nell and hopefully make things right with her. But he couldn't do that now. She was on the other end of the country in Boston. He suspected that the case she had been working on in San Diego ultimately ended up with her in Boston because of the marathon there. So when the bombings happened back on Monday, she was already there and had been assigned to help In the investigation. So no one knew when she'd be back in LA.

Marty decided he needed to talk to Sam as well, maybe try and pave the way since it was apparent that Sam and Hetty were the only ones kept in the loop as to what was going on with her. So his mind made up, he would talk to Sam and apologize to Nell when she got back, whenever that would be. His conscious cleared now, he went to work on the paperwork with a slight smile on his face.

Until next time.