A/N: And so Ducky has to answer some questions.

Thank you, everyone reading and reviewing.

Sarah x

A video link connected the UCOS office to the Washington Navy Yard, and three people stood in a room before them. The first was Leon Vance – the man who succeeded Jenny as Director of NCIS. He looked very stressed indeed. The second was a tall woman in Gothic clothes and almost-black lipstick, her pitch black hair tied up in pigtails. That was Abby Sciuto, the forensic scientist attached to Gibbs' team.

And then there was an ageing man, about the same age as Gerry, who dressed with a bow tie and was definitely not American. Dr. Donald Mallard. Ducky. And Sandra couldn't help but think he had just worked out the enormity of the events on the other side of the pond right now.

"What did the prints tell ya, Abs?" Gibbs asked, as they all huddled around McGee's laptop.

"The woman in St. Thomas' Hospital definitely is ex-Director Jenny Shepard," she said. Despite the knowledge Sandra had that Abby had been quite upset by Jenny's death, she couldn't see any jubilation in the woman's face. "I'm so sorry, Gibbs. I don't know how I let this slip through the net."

But before Gibbs could open his mouth, Tony spoke. "Don't worry, Abby. We all trusted her. We all made the same mistake."

He was still angry. Furious.

"Apart from your medical examiner friend, of course," Gerry chipped in. Sandra smacked his chest and glared at him for opening his big mouth. He was only going to make matters much worse.

And Sandra was right. It only got Tony much more wound up. "Yeah, Ducky!" he said in a horribly forced, false and hearty tone. "What's up with that?"

"Don't, Tony," she quietly cautioned him, but he was having none of it.

"No, DSI Pullman," he retorted. "Oh, have you met DSI Pullman yet?" he asked Vance, Abby and Ducky. "And her team? Brian, Gerry and Jack?" he added, gesturing towards the older men, who somewhat nervously raised their hands. "One hell of a team. Brilliant record behind them. Kinda like Gibbs though. Not a fan of convention. That's true for you as well, though, isn't it Ducky? And Jenny."

Sandra made a face at Gibbs, silently telling him, ordering him, to reign DiNozzo in. Why wasn't he doing something? Or Ziva? Timothy, even? They were all letting Tony run riot.

Tony was rounding on Ducky again, and it made Sandra feel a bit uncomfortable. "So, Ducky? Whose body did you autopsy when Jenny pretended to die? Or did you just know it wasn't her and turn a blind eye? You're quite good at letting her run away with herself. A bit like when you let her go crazy over Grenouille."

At that, Ducky finally snapped. "You know full well I could not pull her in when it came to La Grenouille. Even Gibbs couldn't stop her."

"La Grenouille?" Jack asked, just as confused as Sandra was.

"He was a French arms dealer," Ducky explained, looking worn and fed up and frankly quite exhausted. "Jennifer risked her own life and the lives and well-being of those around her in her attempts to lay her hands on him. She was completely convinced he murdered her father, despite what the death certificate stated."

Sandra was not particularly interested in that, though, because it seemed it had no bearing on her case. And Tony seemed to share her feelings. "Anyway. Back to that day. When did you realise it wasn't Jenny's body?"

Ducky sighed, giving away to Sandra the general idea of what was coming. "I knew all along. She came home from London the day before William Decker's funeral, but, when Jennifer was supposed to be hovering somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, I got a telephone call," he explained. "It was Jennifer. She was still in London. She explained to me that she had a sister, a twin, who was dying. She told me Jocelyn was at the point that she wanted to go to Switzerland, to be able to have an assisted suicide. Painkillers were the only thing keeping that woman functioning, and the doses weren't small."

It was finally dawning on Sandra.

Ducky continued his recount of the day Jenny was meant to return to the US; "She said she had told her sister to meet me at Jennifer's home before she flew out to Los Angeles. I must say I was astounded by how alike they were. If I hadn't known otherwise, I would have said it was Jennifer I was talking to.

"Jocelyn told me she had used Jennifer's passport at Glasgow Airport and in Amsterdam, and got away with it without a problem. That she planned to go to California and die to protect her sister and..." he hesitated. Sandra found herself glaring at Ducky to continue. "To protect Jennifer and the man her sister loved." She glanced at Gibbs, who looked at the floor, probably to hide any emotion he might accidentally display. "When I spoke to Jennifer, she seemed convinced the only way to protect Gibbs was for her to die, and when I met Jocelyn, she was gravely ill. She was in a huge amount of pain and she was ready to die. It had been Jocelyn's idea. Jennifer had argued with her for two hours over it, until Jocelyn took her passport, her ID and her belongings and didn't give her the choice. She said it was only fair after Jennifer risked her life for so many years to protect her sister and the rest of the world from some of the worst monsters in existence."

All eyes were on Ducky. Even Director Vance was staring at him, awestruck by the thorough and undoubtedly truthful explanation. "So, why, when this came to light and Jocelyn went and got herself murdered," Sandra began, "didn't you say anything?"

"She swore me to secrecy. If I breathed a word to anyone, it would put Jennifer in danger. The Russians were after her blood, and Jethro's."

Ziva looked puzzled, and Sandra urged her with a small smile to speak up. "How did she know to find Mike Franks, though? How did she know what to do?"

"Jennifer gave her very strict instructions. Decker was dead, Jennifer and Jethro were next. She was to get hold of Mike Franks and tell him of the danger while masquerading as Jennifer."

It was planned. Right down to the letter, it was planned. These sisters were highly intelligent, and both were as devious as the other. It was actually terrifying, how well they had done this. Sandra could also understand why Ducky did what he did – Jocelyn was at peace and Jenny was safe. Ill, but safe. And was using the NHS with her sister's name, which was necessary so as not to give herself away. But their conditions were so similar that she got away with it.

Ducky spoke again, almost like he had read Sandra's mind. "It's worth noting that Jennifer and Jocelyn have two very different versions of the same disease. Jocelyn deteriorated rapidly, and when Jennifer became ill, we thought the same would happen to her. However, when I spoke to her over the phone that day, she was feeling fine. She seems to have relapsing-remitting MS. Her sister had the very rare type that sent her very quickly downhill. She was frequently in a wheelchair and it caused her great pain to give up that wheelchair for her last two days. That said, we discovered just before Jennifer left for London that MS has had serious effects on her mental health, for about eighteen months before she was diagnosed. Triggered, it seemed, by the emotional distress of what happened to Jethro and the subsequent consequence of him disappearing to Mexico with Mike Franks."

So, if Jenny's mental health had gone with the wind, that would explain whatever happened with the arms dealer – if that obsessive behaviour had been a symptom. Stress was a trigger, obviously, which would mean that her knowing the police were looking for her probably made her ill when her sister died.

Despite her lies, how she deceived the closest thing she had to a family, Sandra couldn't help but feel for Jenny. It sounded like Jocelyn had pretty much strong armed her into staying here in the first place. If, of course, what Jenny had told Ducky was to be believed. Sandra's gut said that that particular story was true, though, and her instincts were usually pretty reliable.

"Alright," Sandra sighed. "We're holding Jenny here on immigration charges, for now, and we'll see what she says and what Strickland and I decide to tell the CPS."

"OK, DSI Pullman," Vance spoke for the first time. "Keep us in the loop."

Abby and Ducky smiled slightly in a silent farewell before the connection was cut and McGee closed the laptop. What worried Sandra was that Gibbs had not said a single word since he had asked Abby what her results were. He had only listened. What was he thinking?

It was nearing five o'clock, and Sandra felt that both teams could do with disappearing to the pub early tonight. She hoped her boys and Fornell would give some sage and honest wisdom to Ziva, McGee and Tony, because they had had a massive shock and needed it. She, however, needed to go down to St. Thomas' Hospital and formally arrest Jenny.

"Right, you lot just call it a day and get down the pub," she ordered the seven of them. "We've all had a long day. I'm going to Lambeth to arrest Jenny for remaining in the UK without a visa." There was only one question left, and to ask it she had to turn to Gibbs. "Jethro, are you coming to see Jenny with me?"

Please feel at liberty to tell me your thoughts on the chapter!
Sarah x