The next day Tony and Ziva were in by half ten, having slept late. Ziva had been shocked when she woke up and looked at the clock to see that it was nearly nine o'clock; she hadn't slept that late in years, although she guessed that having Tony's arms around her had made her feel warm and safe. Going by the smile on his face as he slept he felt the same way.

They sat at their respective desks and Gibbs looked between the two of them. "You ok Ziver?" he asked looking at her as he spoke.

Ziva nodded. "Yes Gibbs," Ziva said, glancing at Tony before back to Gibbs.

Gibbs saw the glance but didn't comment, instead he looked towards the lift as McGee exited and headed towards his desk.

Once McGee was seated Gibbs said, "Well get on with it, we need to do the paper work for yesterday."

"I don't think so," Sam said as she walked towards Gibbs' desk, having just got off the lift.

"Sam," Gibbs greeted, "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm alright," Sam answered, "I just needed some sleep."

Gibbs nodded and then gave her a small smile before he asked, "So why are you here today?"

Sam sighed, "To apologise to your director for yesterday, not that I remember much of it."

"Why not someone else?" Ziva asked, "Surely you have some time off after yesterday."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "I could say the same thing to you Ziva." She smiled at her before she answered the question, "I'm here because Mitchell and Teal'c took Ba'al back to Colorado and Vala and Daniel went back last night after they knew I was ok, and General O'Neill was summoned to the White House so he can't do it, which leaves only me."

"Is he in trouble?" Tony asked, "I mean, no one talks to the President like that and gets away with it."

Sam couldn't help it and laughed lightly. "Sorry," she said after a minute, "But if you knew him you wouldn't say that. He called a roomful of Russian diplomats morons and now they love him."

Tony, Ziva and McGee all stared at her. "Is that what Doctor Jackson meant yesterday when he said that it was like old times?" McGee questioned.

"Umm," Sam said, trying to remember.

"Just before you left Sam," Gibbs prompted gently, knowing that she was struggling.

"Oh," Sam said, looking at the sheepish looking McGee, "Yes, among other things. Diplomacy was never his strong suit, he prefers the shot first ask later method of getting things done."

"So why aren't we doing paper work for yesterday?" Ziva asked as McGee nodded in response to Sam's answer.

"Because Ziva, this never happened. Reynolds death was classed as a heart attack on the pathology report and so no investigation was carried out," Sam explained, "Our little episode with Ba'al never happened, at least not on paper."

Ziva and Gibbs both understood quickly while McGee and Tony didn't look so sure.

Sam sighed lightly and said, "Well I better get this over with."

Gibbs nodded but then had to ask, "Why aren't you in uniform Sam?"

"Because Leo," Sam answered, "I'm on two weeks of downtime, I only got it this morning after Jack's secretary dropped it off after picking up Cam's car and the jacket won't go over the bandages on my arm from where Ba'al dug my chip out, since Vala could only partially heal it."

"Ah," was all Gibbs said, noticing for the first time that one of Sam's forearms was a lot bigger than the other. Sam followed his gaze and shrugged before she gave the four of them a smile and then headed up the stairs and towards where she had been informed, by the guy at the downstairs desk, the director's office was located.

Gibbs watched her go and then looked at the rest of his team and said, "Well since we don't have yesterday's paperwork to do I'm sure the three of you have outstanding paperwork from one of our recent cases." He was speaking to all of them but he was concentrating mainly on Tony as he spoke.

Ziva smirked while McGee chuckled lightly under his breath. "I'm going to get coffee and then go and see Abby," Gibbs said, standing. He glanced towards the director's office before he headed to the lift and got in.

Sam walked up to the secretary's desk and waited for the woman there to finish on the phone before she started speaking. "Colonel Carter; I'm here to meet with Director Vance, if he is available."

"Do you have an appointment?" the woman asked looking up from the computer screen where she had been making notes.

"No," Sam answered, "This is a very last minute thing, to do with the events of yesterday."

The secretary nodded and pushed the intercom button. "I have someone to see you director. A Colonel Carter, she says it has to do with yesterday."

"Send her in," came Vance's voice, "And hold any calls until we're finished."

The woman nodded, even though Vance couldn't see her, and then said to Sam, "Go on in Colonel Carter."

Sam nodded and headed to the door. She placed her hand on the knob and paused for a brief second before she opened the door and went in. Vance had just stood up and was heading towards the long table by the plasma when she opened the door and he gestured to one of the chairs, "Make yourself comfortable Colonel Carter, if the way you were yesterday is anything to go by then you could use it."

"Thank you Director," Sam said, taking a seat one up from the one Vance was now occupying.

"So," Vance said, "Why are you here?"

Sam wrung her hands for a pregnant minute, wondering how she was going to start. "I'm guessing that Leo told you as much as he could, how a team mate of ours was murdered and that in the process of finding the killer myself and Agent David got kidnapped by the killer."

Vance nodded, "He explained that yes."

Sam nodded, "Well that is really all you can know unfortunately."

"I am the Director of NCIS," Vance retorted, "I think I deserve to know what happened yesterday."

Sam shook her head, "No Director. As far as Reynolds family is concerned he died of a heart attack and there was never an investigation, yesterday never happened. I know that you think you need to know but you don't Ba'al is gone, for good this time," she added quietly to herself, "And it is unlikely that you will ever see any of my team again."

Vance frowned, "Is that the only reason you are here?"

"No Director," Sam said with the shake of her head, "I am also here to apologise and say thank you on the behalf of the President for letting him take over MTAC yesterday evening."

"Can you tell me why the President and General O'Neill seemed to be so angry at each other?" Vance questioned, expecting to be shot down, "I mean no one walks away from the President when he is speaking to them."

"All you need to know about that is that General O'Neill is head strong and in love and wants to retire and the President doesn't think he can manage without him." Sam was proud that she kept her voice steady; she was more than ready for all of this to be over, including the debate over Jack's retirement.

Vance detected a hint of something in her voice but he couldn't quite place it so he ignored it. Instead he asked, "What is it that General O'Neill does that makes him so indispensable?"

"Classified," Sam answered shortly. Vance nodded while Sam continued to say, "We also wanted to apologise for not informing you of our involvement yesterday, any of us, but we knew that the guy who did this was unlikely to stick around so we had to act fast."

Vance nodded, "I can understand that."

Sam stood and reached out a hand for him to shake. "If you don't have any more questions then I will let you get back to your work."

Vance shook her hand and said, "I have one more Colonel, who was this Ba'al character? Gibbs said yesterday that he was torturing you and Agent David, although you took the brunt of it, goading him when he headed towards my agent."

"Ba'al is a bad guy who has been a thorn in our side for too long and who holds a personnel grudge against General O'Neill and probably me too, along with the rest of the team to a lesser degree."

"Can I ask why?" Vance asked, also standing, "He holds a grudge I mean."

"The General made it his aim to piss him off Director while he has a grudge against me because he believes that women are weak and I proved him wrong, as well as nearly broke his nose the last time we met." She figured that would be enough to answer his question but still keep him in the dark too.

Vance nodded and shook her hand once more, "It seems to me he was wrong to mess with you Colonel, and the rest of your team."

"Yes Director, but he won't be doing it again," Sam said, heading to the door and opening it.

"Thank you Colonel," Vance said just before she crossed the threshold, "For explaining some of yesterday's events to me personally rather than sending a paper pusher."

Sam smiled, "You're welcome Director Vance."

She then crossed the threshold and shut to door behind her. Vance headed back to his seat and pulled another stack of paperwork towards him. While he hadn't gotten all the answers he wanted he had gotten most of them so he was happy.