It was almost daylight when Greta finished the last of the details and she carefully straightened the down pillows on the bed. This would be a perfect home to start her new life with her little boy. All she needed now was to bake some cookies so he'd have a snack when he came home from school. It wasn't as good of a kitchen as she'd had before Tyler's father had left them, but she'd made the small kitchenette work.

Happily she touched the petals in the bouquet on the table. The hills outside were covered in wildflowers and soon her little boy would go outside to pick more flowers for her. The timer on the toaster oven dinged and she pulled out the small tray of special cookies. It felt good to be making her special cookies again; it had been a sad day when Tyler refused to eat any more of them. She carefully lifted the cookies with a spatula onto the plate and set it next to the bouquet. Now she was done. Now it was time to go get her boy and nothing was going to stop her.

-NCIS-

Unlike his partner, McGee was a quiet guest, so Gibbs didn't even realize he was up until he smelled the coffee brewing. He rolled off the sofa with a grin and padded into the kitchen just as the pot was finishing.

"Morning, Boss."

"Morning, McGee." Gibbs carefully eyed the coffee as he poured his cup. At least it didn't look like the watery brew DiNozzo would make before he was banished from coffee duties, but the first sip would tell the story. Hot, strong and just this side of bitter, just the way Gibbs liked it. "Not bad, McGee. Might make a Marine out of you yet."

Tim grinned and sipped at his own cup while Gibbs looked him over. He looked more relaxed and refreshed than he had since this whole thing started. He was dressed, the only thing out of place was the loose shoe lace on his right shoe. He'd been slipping them on and off, but now it needed to be retied. Gibbs topped off his cup, noting the dishes in the sink that showed McGee had eaten at some point, before sitting next to Tim. The younger man flushed slightly, but didn't argue when Gibbs bent down and retied both of his shoes.

Not used to feeding so many people as he had the last few days, Gibbs' cupboards were seriously bare. They had plenty of time to stop for breakfast, but Gibbs thought of something that might be more fun. "What do you say, should we shock DiNozzo this morning?" Without explaining further, he stood, taking his coffee in with him while he showered.

Sure enough, DiNozzo was stunned when Gibbs walked into the squad room carrying a box of donuts. Even Jenny joined them as they quickly went through the treats. Since Gibbs was in a good mood with his coffee in one hand and a chocolate cruller in the other, she decided to make an introduction, waving a tall, lanky man over to join them.

"Jethro, this is Special Agent Matthew Page. He just finished up a tour as an Agent Afloat before transferring to the Navy Yard. Since Special Agent McGee will be on desk duty for the next few months, I'm going to temporarily assign him to your team as a TAD. That will give him a chance to get used to the way we do things around here and give you a full team out in the field."

Seeing the looks on both Gibbs' and McGee's faces, she turned to her injured agent. "Ducky tells me that you should make a full recovery as long as you don't push yourself too hard. This will give you plenty of time to heal and get your strength back."

Tim gave a small nod, but he didn't look totally convinced. Gibbs was more direct. "McGee is still part of my team, no matter how long it takes to get him back out in the field."

Jenny was pleased with herself to have not rolled her eyes. "Agreed, that's why we refer to the position as a TAD."

Gibbs just gave a grunt and Tony moved closer with a folder. "Umm, Boss, we may have found something about Rollins' ex-husband."

Before he answered, Gibbs picked up a maple bar and handed it to Tim. "Why don't you take this down to Abby and let her complain about the repair technician leaving fingerprints all over the lab?" Once the napkin covered treat was safely in McGee's hand, Gibbs ruffled his hair as he sent him on his way. Tony and Ziva grinned at the exchange while Page looked troubled.

As soon as the elevator closed, Gibbs was all business. "Okay, what have you got?"

"Pete Rollins dropped dead of a heart attack when he was thirty-two in the middle of a custody discussion with his ex."

"That was convenient. Let me guess, no autopsy?"

Tony laughed, but his heart wasn't in it. "Not only that, she had his body cremated less than twenty-four hours after he died, claimed it was his wish."

"Riiiight." Gibbs wasn't convinced the death was from natural causes, but she'd managed to cover her tracks. "Hopefully we'll get something off the son's body."

Page chose that moment to get involved. "If your suspect had her ex-husband's body cremated, why didn't she do the same with her son's body?"

"This is why." Ziva put a picture up on the plasma of a very large and elaborate headstone with fresh flowers arranged at the foot of the statue. Near the foot of the gravesite was a marble bench.

Jenny moved closer to study the details. "So the ex is disposed of like last week's garbage, but the son is treated like an Egyptian Pharaoh."

"I gotta say it's kind of creepy, Boss." Tony added his own search results to the mix. "I checked with the cemetery. Until she went off the grid, Greta Rollins visited her son's grave every day, sometimes twice in a day. She may not have liked her ex-husband, but she was pretty wrapped up in her son."

Gibbs glanced over at Jenny before returning his attention to the team. "That's good work, but I don't want Tim to know the details."

-NCIS-

Abby was recalibrating the Mass Spec when McGee walked in. "Hey Abby, Gibbs and I stopped for donuts." He set the maple bar down on her workbench, making sure it was centered on the napkin. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her angry by smearing the maple glaze on her clean work surface. "Did the tech guy do a good job?"

"I guess, but he just wasn't you." She scooped up a chunk of the frosting and popped it in her mouth before loading the last of her samples. "So, did Gibbs let you out today or are you AWOL?"

Tim carefully checked the new wiring harness before closing up the side of the machine for her. "They're talking about Greta, so he sent me down here."

"Are you supposed to be taking a nap, or can you work one handed?" She grinned at him as she bounced on her heels.

Tim never could resist that look. "What ya' need Abs?"

She was already herding him toward the door. "I just need you to hold a light for me, that's all."

Fifteen minutes later McGee found himself in the Evidence Garage, holding a work light over Abby's head as she cut apart a car with a blow torch.

-NCIS-

Not finding Abby and McGee in the lab, Gibbs next went down to the Evidence Garage, knowing that Abby was dividing her time between the Rollings case and one Balboa's team was working on. Upon arriving, he had to grin at the sight of his wayward agent holding a light over Abby and trying so hard not to look at her backside as she worked. His amusement turned to horror, however, when he saw the burning metal hitting McGee's leg as it splattered.

"McGee!" Dropping his coffee, Gibbs grabbed Tim around the waist and pulled him back.

Suddenly losing her light, Abby quickly turned around. "Hey, where's my light, mister?"

She stopped yelling at McGee when she saw Gibbs there, obviously not happy. "Gibbs, what are you doing?" Obviously surprised at the arrival of the senior agent, she watched in shock as he tossed the light aside and marched McGee over to a table and forced him up onto it.

McGee had just barely hopped up onto the table before Gibbs grabbed his ankle and lifted it, almost knocking Tim off balance. "Boss? Boss, what's wrong?"

Gibbs batted at the smoldering fabric before pulling the pant leg up to reveal a chunk of bright hot metal melted against the nylon sock and blistered flesh. He yanked at the sock, popping the metal loose as Abby's eyes grew large.

"I'm sorry, Gibbs."

Ignoring her, Gibbs tugged McGee off the table and marched him to the door, heading for Autopsy, as Abby followed behind, still apologizing.