They stood in silence as the elevator slid close.

Gibbs glanced at their reflection in the metallic doors and shifted. He subtly pulled on the hem of his suit coat and lifted his chin.

Kelly tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "Had I known this is how the day would go I might have worn something different."

Gibbs made a face, "You look perfect."

"So do you." She replied immediately, a knowing grin pulling at her lips.

His mouth hung open a beat before he relaxed, breathing out an admonished chuckle and shaking his head.

The tension dissipated, replaced with the absurdity of the situation and Kelly laughed. They were looking at one another with foolish grins when the elevator stopped at the floor for the main entrance.

Leon Vance spared half a second to note who was in the cart before he stepped in. His eyebrows rose before tightening in a frown as he focused on Gibbs. "What's going on?"

Gibbs blinked, grin not fading, "What?"

"You okay?" Vance tilted his head, casting a glance to the unfamiliar Marine before he stepped in enough to allow the doors to close behind him.

"Absolutely." Gibbs nodded, grin morphing into a sideways smirk.

The director narrowed his eyes, "You sure?"

Gibbs just shrugged and Leon pointed to his face, "You're smiling."

He pulled his head back and scoffed but the small smile remained firmly in place.

The director stared a second longer before shaking his head, "You might not be smiling long once you hear what SecNav has to say about our friend down in holding."

"I figured as much." Gibbs shrugged off the warning.

"SecNav?" Kelly looked at him, curiously.

Before Gibbs could reply, Leon turned, looking at her and then directing a silent, pointed question to Gibbs.

Gibbs swallowed, "Uhh...Leon? Kelly. Kelly? Leon."

Vance's eyebrows rose and Gibbs shifted, "I mean, Captain Howell, meet NCIS Director Leon Vance."

She swallowed and squared her shoulders, "Director, Sir." She nodded in greeting.

"Captain." He returned the acknowledgement. "Here to help with the Grayson case?"

"Uh, Not exactly." Gibbs interjected. Leon stared back at him and the grin on Gibbs' face grew, "Did you know only 15% of middshipman at Annapolis are accepted as Marine Officers?"

Leon's brow furrowed, "What?"

The Captain rolled her eyes at Gibbs, "It's closer to 20%."

"But it's harder as a woman." He retorted with pride.

Vance frowned, mouth hanging open a beat as he visibly struggled to decipher the non-sequitur, "Well...that's very impressive..." He stared back at Gibbs, "I need to know if there is anything I could tell the Pentagon about our impostor."

"Don't know yet." Gibbs dismissed.

Leon crossed his arms, "You have nothing? I assumed there would be something given that Ms. Scuito and Doctor Mallard signed in at 0600 this morning and Dinozzo and McGee stayed overnight."

"They did?" Gibbs blinked.

Vance frowned, "You didn't know?"

"Nope." He shook his head.

At his boss' continued stare, Gibbs held up his hands, "I'm not the one holding them Leon."

Suspicion creeped across his features, Vance crossed his arms, "Then what are they working on?"

The elevator door opened to the squad room, and Gibbs gestured, "That's what we're about to find out." He stepped off the car, not looking back to see if the director or Kelly were following. "De-nuuzzo! What do you got?"

Tony's head snapped up, "Uhhhhh, who now?"

Gibbs smirked as he entered the bullpen, coming to a halt when he noticed the 5 cups of coffee and a Caf-Pow aligned on his desk as well as Abbey and Ducky hovering by McGee. "What's this?"

"That's yours…" Abbey stepped up, pointing to the first one, "But we didn't know what Kelly would want so there's another black, one with cream no sugar, sugar no cream, cream and sugar and one hazelnut with coconut milk and of course, one Caf-Pow in case you're not a fan of liquid bean." She sent a broad smile to Kelly as she gestured to each drink.

Kelly's mouth hung open as Gibbs picked up the first cup. He tilted his head that she should go ahead and take one as well.

"Thaaaank you…?" She looked around the group who watched with interest as she reached for the other black coffee.

"Ahaha..." Ducky smirked, holding out a hand. Abbey, Tim and Tony each grumbled and placed a ten dollar bill in his palm as they stood to take one of the remaining cups.

Kelly rolled her eyes but smiled, gratefully grasping the warm cup with both hands.

"That will not be happening again." Gibbs warned, casting a glare before tilting his head at Tony, "Coconut milk, DiNozzo?"

"It makes my tummy feel better." He defended petulantly into his cup.

Vance stepped in, crossing his arms, "You know what would make me feel better?"

"Answers?" Tim suggested, backing to his desk.

"Go." Gibbs pointed to the tv screen and sipped at his coffee, waiting.

Nothing appeared as Tony and Tim made eye contact with one another, holding a silent conversation until Tim relented, "Uhhh Boss?"

"Yeah, McGee?" Gibbs looked at him.

He winced, looking between the case file on his desk and the Marine Captain standing alongside his boss, looking curiously at the screen, "On which case?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, "Which do you think?"

"Actually..." Kelly shrugged with a small smirk, "I'm kind of interested in what happened to the Lance Corporal..."

"Oh." Gibbs looked at her, blinking. "Okay." He nodded in Tim's direction, "Grayson first."

Everyone but Vance smirked at Gibbs' immediate acquiescence. Tim clicked a few buttons and a service record appeared on the screen as Tony stood, grabbing the clicker, "The man in the brig is former PFC Karl Fisher. Dishonorably discharged in 2011 after he was caught dealing meth."

Tony gestured to a line in the file, "He too had once been stationed at Pendleton and we think that's how he knew Grayson. Credit cards have him on a flight from LA to Reagan a day before Grayson was killed."

Gibbs nodded, "Okay, so opportunity. Means? Motive?"

"Motive is still pretty murky." Tony grimaced, "But his single deployment had been to a forward operating base outside of Bagram so best we can guess is that he was trying to get back for some unfinished business. Exactly what that is we still don't know."

Abbey jumped in pulling the clicker from Tony's hand, "But we've got means!" She clicked open a picture of the dead Marine's hands, "Ducky found these callouses on Grayson's palms. They're indicative of someone who kayaks, like a lot, and something the shape and weight of an oar would be consistent with the bruising on his chest."

McGee nodded, "Considering he was found on the side of the creek we reached out to local boat rentals."

"He wanted to spend a day on the water before heading into the desert." Gibbs murmured, scanning the information being presented.

"That's what we thought." Tony affirmed, taking the remote back from Abbey, "Grayson rented a kayak from 10th State Boat Rental a week ago Thursday and it never came back. We put out a B.O.L.O. for the boat with Virginia parks and wildlife services."

Abbey smiled, "If we can find the boat and oar I can pull fingerprints and the circumstantial case of Fisher being the murderer will get a whole lot stronger."

"Good work, people." Vance praised, leaning on the cubicle partition, "Get all that together ASAP. We can hold Fisher on the impersonation charges but we need to know what he was trying to do in Afghanistan and it would be helpful to have more than a circumstantial case before we pull him into interrogation."

"Agreed." Gibbs nodded. He took a breath and looked to Kelly. "Good?"

"Pretty cool." She smiled at him.

He smirked, turning back to Tim and Tony, "Okay, now...tell us what we want to know."

"Right, Okay." Tim flipped files and took a deep breath. "Shannon and Kelly were first taken to Pendleton's military hospital…"

"Wait...Shannon and Kelly?...Gibbs?" Vance's eyes went wide, looking first to the Captain and then studying Gibbs who returned his evaluation with a smirk and a shrug.

"Okay..." He blinked with a slow shake of his head, "I guess I'll just get caught up later..."

Tim winced but continued, "Kelly, you mentioned calling the corps from the second hospital. That didn't make much sense to us; military hospitals are equipped to deal with every kind of trauma. Why transfer someone for a broken leg?"

Kelly shook her head, "I was kid. Pediatric surgery is different than adults."

"That's...that's a good point." Tony frowned, "But we have a different theory. Boss; you remember Benson Long?"

Gibbs just stared at him.

"Ooof course you do." Tony swallowed. He looked to Kelly, "Long is a stateside drug dealer with ties to Pedro Hernandez. He helped distribute the Renosa Cartel's product through the Southwest and recruited military to help with his activities."

Tim stood up, "Who better to help peddle drugs then a doctor?"

Gibbs tilted his head and pursed his lips, thinking, "Long recruited a Pendleton doctor as a distributor and Hernandez reached out to that same doctor to help hide Kelly because she was a witness?"

"That's what we think." Tony nodded.

Ducky stepped up, "Any ideas about which doctor?"

"Nothing concrete." Tim shook his head.

"But you have an idea." Gibbs looked between them.

Tony gestured to Tim and an image appeared on the screen, "Meet former Naval Doctor Lieutenant Miguel Fulkroad. Worked at Pendleton from '88 to '96 when he was court martialed for being high on duty. He avoided discharge but was reduced in rank and assigned to be trauma doctor afloat. He went UA in 2000."

Gibbs stepped up to the screen, eyes narrowing as he looked over the picture and personnel file, "Anything from him since 2000?"

"Nothing."

He looked to Tim, "But he was working in the Pendleton emergency department that day?"

"According to the files I was able to pull." McGee confirmed, "And he participated in exchange programs with other area hospitals. Without computerized medical records he could have easily transferred a patient with minimal questions."

Kelly crossed her arms, "You think the hospital transfer was unnecessary? That he did it for Hernandez?"

"You weren't supposed to survive the crash..." Gibbs whispered, "When you did they needed to improvise..." His eyes tightened, and looked to her, "Anton and Alicia. Do you remember their last names?"

She made a face, "No. I don't..."

"How about where you were with them? San Diego?" Tim prompted.

"No." She shook her head, "Los Angeles."

Gibbs pointed to McGee, "Hernandez's known associates; Alicia or Antonio in the LA area?"

Tim shook his head, looking at the computer screen, "Nothing in the dossier."

Gibbs exhaled and crossed his arms, looking over Kelly and then back to the Doctor on the monitor. "A Naval Lieutenant picked Kelly up from the hospital."

"...Anything more specific than that, Boss?" Tony tilted his head.

Gibbs sighed and looked to Kelly.

She winced, "I..." She sighed, "He had me call him Lieutenant Joe...I really can't remember a last name. He had dark brown hair and told me about how he liked the Navy because he got to travel. He enjoyed South America." She shook her head, "I wish I could give you something more."

"That's something." Gibbs lifted his chin to McGee, "Naval Officers in South-Com, Lieutenant or lower, from 1990 through 1992, first name Joseph."

Tim shook his head, "That's still going to be dozens of names."

"If he was actually Navy and not just faking it." Tony crossed his arms.

Gibbs scowled, "It's all we have right now."

"To what end?" Ducky stepped forward, "Jethro..."

"Duck..." Gibbs' jaw clenched, "Someone took..." He swallowed, reigning himself back and exhaling. He turned his back on his friend to look at Kelly, "We can drop this if you want. Let the past be the past and move on from here."

She bit the inside of her lip and looked him in the eyes, "Do you think you can find the people who did this; after all this time?"

He stared back, "It might take some time."

"I can wait." The corners of her lips turned up, "But now I know this much, I need to know the rest."

Gibbs nodded, and looked back to Ducky, "Me too."