A/N: Here's the update, and let me tell you, writer's block is NOT fun, and I have the scars to prove it. Hope you like. Thank you for the reviews, they help heal the scars.
You know how I feel about reviews, favorites, follows, and constructive criticism.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I also don't take credit for actual dialogue used in the episode, "Frame-Up" (3.09), even although most of them have been altered to fit this story. Any resemblance to dialogue from other TV shows, movies, or elsewhere is purely coincidental.
Chapter Twenty-Five:
The Past Out of Frame
By GallaudetLurker
"This is harassment!" A harried George Stewart, also known as Petrie, protested when Gibbs entered the Interrogation room, holding a file folder in his hand.
"That's what they all tell me." Gibbs took a seat across from the forensic technician, flipped the folder open, and began thumbing through the documents. The sooner he got this over with, the better.
Stewart threw his hands up. "I told your agents everything! What more do you need?" Apparently, Ziva had done a pretty damn job drilling the medical examiner. The man had tried to put up some resistance at first, but he'd quickly folded in the end.
Gibbs fixed him a look that made Stewart fidget in his chair. "An explanation why you cut the Jane Doe's legs off." He placed two photographs, one normal and one infrared, in front of Stewart, whose eyes widened at the sight of the legs.
"I didn't do it! Why the hell would I do such a thing? I was as surprised as these agents of yours were!" The man looked up, a bewildered expression on his slightly pudgy face.
Gibbs knew perfectly that the man was telling the truth. Outwardly, he continued to look at Stewart, who squirmed slightly under the scrutiny. "The Jane Doe was in your morgue."
"I know, but I didn't do it! I-I would tell you everything and then some, I swear!" Sweat began forming on Stewart's forehead, and whatever satisfaction Gibbs might've felt evaporated when the man's foul breath wafted across the desk. He clenched his jaw, suppressing the gag reflex. "But I don't know what else to tell you other than that I'm innocent!" Stewart shook his head, wiping his brow. "Man, this is like the last time."
"What happened?"
Stewart looked at him, a glimmer of hope in his beady eyes. "Cops wanted a quick look around without a warrant. A few questions, they said. The next thing I know, I'm arrested, I get fired, and my life is ruined!"
Gibbs nodded, not really feeling sorry for the man. "Why were you fired?"
"I apparently messed up some blood samples," Stewart replied with a shrug. "But I didn't do it! I sent them to a lab. They're the one to blame, not me."
Now they were going somewhere. "What's the name of the lab?"
"Pemberton Medical Analysis."
Now satisfaction came over Gibbs, and he noted the name in the back of his mind. "How'd you get found out?"
Stewart grimaced. "A cop reported me, accused me of screwing up a case. Name was DiNozzo." He spat the name out as if it was venom.
Just what he thought. Gibbs opened his mouth to say, "You say you're innocent, but framing a NCIS agent isn't the way to prove that." He rifled through the folder once again, pretending to read through them.
The medical examiner stared at him for a long moment, looking like he was trying to figure out what he meant. "A NCIS agent?" His eyes widened. "You mean to say...that bastard's in NCIS? What else did he say about me now?"
Gibbs had to hold back a smirk as he looked up at Stewart's angered face. "Nothing, actually. Somebody's trying to frame him for the severed legs, and we found the body in your morgue. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together." The implication hung heavily in the air.
Sweat glistened on Stewart's face as he frantically shook his head. "No! I already told you, I didn't do it! I-I...Look there, I know this looks bad, given my...views toward that bast—DiNozzo, my profession, and the body, but I swear I didn't do all this! I'm not trying to frame anyone here, honestly!"
Gibbs squinted a little. "You sure?"
"Absolutely positive!" Stewart nodded emphatically. "The body arrived at the Medical Center a few days ago, and I can tell you that she was in one piece when I signed off on her."
That was a rather interesting choice of words, Gibbs thought. "When?"
"Last Tuesday, after I did the autopsy. The body arrived the day before," Stewart replied, having calmed down a little.
"You think something might've happened to the body afterwards?"
Stewart shrugged. "It might've. Whoever did this is the true culprit."
Without a word, Gibbs stood up, put the photographs into the folder, tossed the medical examiner a foil packet containing two mint gum pallets, and left the room.
"What's your take?" He asked when Kate and DiNozzo stepped out of Observation.
"If I didn't know better, I'd have said that he was lying, based on the way he was acting," the brunette replied, standing close to him. The vanilla-strawberry scent that swirled around him was a very welcome change. "But his statements seem to correspond with the evidence that we have so far."
"I don't know, Kate," DiNozzo said, glancing at the closed Interrogation door. "He seems particularly bitter toward me, especially when I outed him in the first place. I think he might've done it." The last time around, Gibbs had thought the same.
"Well, sometimes things aren't what they seem, DiNozzo." Kate glanced at Gibbs, a knowing look in her eyes. This didn't go unnoticed by the Special Agent, however.
"I know that look...you know something, something that you aren't telling me." DiNozzo gave the brunette an accusing look, and Gibbs knew he wouldn't let go of this anytime soon.
"I only know what you know," Kate replied with a casual shrug of the shoulder. DiNozzo looked like he didn't believe her.
"We're working on putting the pieces together, DiNozzo," Gibbs cut in before the Special Agent could say anything else. "I want you to check out Pemberton Medical Analysis, get its employment records. I want files, logs, reports, everything. Have McGee help you out as well." The tone in this voice brooked no argument.
"On it, boss." DiNozzo gave Kate one last look before heading down the hallway.
A short elevator trip later, Gibbs and Kate entered the Lab. Thankfully, Chip was nowhere to be found. "Any luck on the DNA search so far, Abs?" He asked, going over to a stationary pig-tailed form that was sitting in front of the monitor.
They had spent the better part of the night finishing processing the evidence bags (and recording them as well, just in case). That took some time, and so did searching the various databases (now including the Armed Forces, fertility clinics in the DC metropolitan area, blood donors, and so on). When they yielded no concrete results, Gibbs had let them go for the night.
The DNA search wasn't strictly required, given that they already knew Stewart had signed off on the body, but it would nevertheless prove that they had been doing some work – and hopefully mitigate the Director's wrath when she found out what they'd done. And not to mention, it would prove Stewart's claims and perhaps save him from a prison sentence as well.
Not that he cared for the man, of course.
Abby shook her head, her pigtails moving with the motion. "Nothing so far. I've tried everything else," she replied with a sigh as she rested her chin on her hands in front of her computer. "Chip's really good at this."
As much he was loath to, Gibbs had to agree with that, given that Chip had so nearly gotten away with it the last time. The Hell he was going to say that aloud, though. "Not as good as you are, though," Gibbs said, glancing at the mass-spectrometer. "What about the sticky stuff that Ducky found on the victim's ankle?"
Abby perked up. "Oh yes! I chemically and instrumentally examined it, and found that it's an adhesive that's commonly found in duct tape. I discovered an anomaly in the material, though. It's a carpet fiber and I determined its chemical composition through the mass spec and the FTIS. It's a DuPont fiber from a Mustang."
"Which DiNozzo drives," Kate said, glancing at Gibbs.
Abby nodded. "Yes. At first, I thought it was from his car, but I tested it some more to be sure. The stain resistance indicated that the fiber had a coating from a 2004 Mustang. Tony drives a 1966 one, and I got a fiber there."
"Any matches?" Gibbs hoped that wasn't the case. That hope was quickly dashed when the Lab Rat nodded.
"It was a match, all right." Abby had a downcast look on her face. "Tony must've redone his carpeting or something. Oh my God, I'm so stupid! I shouldn't have gotten Chip to move Tony's car last weekend. If this gets out, Tony could go to prison or something—and I'll be the one who put him there!" Her panic-stricken face brought back memories of consoling her in the darkened Lab at night.
Kate rubbed her back soothingly. "It's going to be okay, Abby. You didn't know."
"But still, I should've known better!" Abby cried out.
"Don't beat yourself up, Abs," Gibbs reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze. Looking at the monitor, he noted that there were several windows indicating failed DNA matches. "We'll keep this on the down low. We focus on our work, and everything'll be fine in the end."
"I hope so..." Abby sighed, seemingly calming down a little.
"It will. We're a team, after all," Kate said. "Anyone picks a bone with DiNozzo, they deal with all of us." Gibbs couldn't agree more, giving the brunette a lopsided smile, which she returned.
The forensic scientist nodded slowly, a pensive expression on her face. "Yeah..." her eyes began narrowing and her lips began moving wordlessly. "Bone...bone..." She suddenly straightened, giving them rounded eyes. "Bone marrow! There's a national database for bone marrow donors!" Her fingers began moving across the keyboard, and the computer rapidly beeped when a new window popped up.
"Seems we found our Jane Doe," Gibbs commented, seeing the words 'Carla Johnson', along with her address, flash on the screen. Abby nodded, a relieved smile on her face.
Gibbs was about to turn around when a thought struck him. "I want you to do a search on Pemberton Medical Analysis." At Abby's furrowed brow, he continued: "Lab that Stewart sent his works to. Check for anyone who had worked there for the past couple of years." He knew he had gotten DiNozzo and McGee to do the same, but he figured out that a third person would get the job done faster.
"On it, Bossman!" Abby began dialing on her Polycom Voicestation speakerphone. He had to smile at that nickname.
As he walked out of the Lab, he noticed Kate looking at him with a knowing smirk. "What, Katie?"
"First DiNozzo and McGee, now Abby?"
Gibbs shrugged. "Gotta keep them busy."
"Mhm, so you say. You're a great delegator, aren't you?"
A rumble of laughter escaped his throat as they entered the elevator. "Would you like me to delegate you some work as well?"
Kate's smirk widened. "I can handle whatever you give me, Bossman." Gibbs involuntarily swallowed a little at her tone, and particularly the way she was looking at him. The dream flashed in his mind for an instant, and his mind began to swim a little as her scent filled the elevator.
"We'll see, Katie."
"Boss, I got something!" McGee stood up from his desk as soon as Gibbs and Kate entered the bullpen. "It took a while, but—"
"I can see that," Gibbs interrupted, going over to the plasma. McGee sat back down, ignoring the smirking DiNozzo, and an employment roster popped up on the screen a couple of seconds later. One of the names was highlighted before zooming out.
Charles Sterling.
The sight of that name was a great achievement in itself, Gibbs thought. Not only was DiNozzo not in a FBI holding cell, but they were now a step closer to apprehending the forensic assistant for once and for all. And hopefully without causing a physical confrontation this time. The destruction of much of the carpet fiber evidence during the scuffle with Abby the last time had considerably complicated the case against Chip, and he didn't need that headache this time around.
"Who's that?" DiNozzo squinted at the screen. Gibbs hid a smirk, knowing that the Special Agent either didn't know or care about Chip's real name.
"You'll find out." He turned to McGee. "Run a background search on him."
With a nod, McGee's fingers rapidly clicked all over the keyboard and an identification record appeared on the screen. DiNozzo's eyes widened in recognition. "Chipper? As in Abby's weird assistant?" The Special Agent got up from his desk and walked over to the plasma. Gibbs noticed that a few agents were looking at him, aware that over half of the agency, if not all, knew about the frame-up.
"Born and raised in West Virginia, father left the family, and mother raised him all by herself," McGee recited, ignoring DiNozzo. "Attended medical school at Georgetown University. Interned for a couple of years at Bethesda during that time, and worked in a few labs before landing a job at Pemberton Medical Analysis. He was laid off two years ago."
"Do you think he has something to do with all this?" Ziva asked, furrowing her brow as she glanced at DiNozzo.
"We won't know until we find out," Gibbs replied vaguely as he made his way to his desk.
"You know, Stewart mentioned that he sent the blood samples to a lab, which happened to be PMA," DiNozzo spoke up, still looking slightly bewildered. "Now that Chipper worked there before...something doesn't feel right." He turned to Kate. "Isn't that what you were holding back from me before?"
The brunette shook her head. "I only said that I knew what you knew." Gibbs had to smile at the 'innocent' look on her face.
DiNozzo narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why, then, do I not believe you, Kate?"
"You never do!" she retorted.
"Anything on cases he worked on?" Gibbs piped in before things could escalate any further.
Sensing the impatience in the Boss' tone, McGee nodded and several reports appeared on the plasma. "He was responsible for conducting independent testing in a number of cases between 2000 and 2002. That's where it gets strange, though: quite a few cases were dropped or otherwise invalidated because of insufficient or negative evidence processed by Chip's lab."
"And that is not all," Ziva said in turn. "PMA was not the only one to conduct work of that kind: there were several other such labs, and they performed excellent work. Only PMA was...lacking in this field, as far as Chip was concerned."
"Yeah, basically, if you sent your evidence to Chip, your case was pretty much guaranteed to fail," McGee elaborated.
"Any reasons as of why?" Gibbs asked.
McGee cocked his head in thought. "It could be incompetence."
"Or deliberate negligence," Kate supplied.
"I'd put my money on incompetence," DiNozzo piped in, heading back to his desk. "What I don't understand is why he's doing that. I've never even met the guy before!"
"There are some people who simply hates you," Kate replied knowingly. DiNozzo shot her a glare.
"You ratted Stewart out for the tainted blood, didn't you?" Gibbs directed his gaze at the Special Agent.
"Well, yeah. He sabotaged my case, or so I thought, but I'm not exactly sure...wait a minute..." the Special Agent trailed off, and Gibbs could see the wheels turning in DiNozzo's head. "PMA contaminated the blood samples, not Stewart. That means...my accusation got him fired, which caused him to sue the state..."
"And when he won the lawsuit, in early 2003, the lab Chip was working in got shut down," McGee finished.
"In short, Chip was gunning for both you and Stewart. Planned it in a way that even if he failed to get either one of you, the other would get sprung up." Gibbs' gut coiled a little at the look that came across the Special Agent's face. "Hey, it's not your fault. You did what you had to do."
DiNozzo smiled weakly, looking over at Chip's head shot. "Well, y-yeah, but still—"
"No buts. You did what you had to do," Gibbs interjected firmly.
"So Chip is framing DiNozzo because...he lost a job?" Ziva said, her dark eyes hardening.
"Some people've done a lot worse for the same reason," Gibbs said.
"Gibbs!" He and the others looked up at direction of the voice. Jenny was standing on the mezzanine, looking right at him, and dread began coiling in his gut at the cold mask she had in place, nevermind the fact she had used his last name. He knew it would happen one way or another, but this soon? "My office, now!" She walked away.
Gibbs exchanged looks with the others, particularly Kate, as he got up from his desk. "Get me camera feeds from PMA for this week, anything to prove Chip was there several days ago," he ordered as he headed for the stairs. When he entered the office a moment later, she was looking out the window, her hands clasped behind her back.
"When were you going to tell me?" Her voice was calm. Deadly calm.
Deciding that playing dumb wouldn't be the most wise thing to do in this situation, Gibbs walked toward the desk. "I was doing my job, Jen." He inwardly winced at the way he sounded.
The Director turned to him, and had he been a lesser man, he would've crumbled under her Glare. "Yeah? Screwing me over? NCIS in general?"
"Jen—"
"Imagine my surprise when I found out about Agent DiNozzo's framing, especially for cutting off a woman's legs!" Jenny continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Which happened yesterday, might I add."
Gibbs took in the hard expression on the Director's face, his mind trying to figure out how she had found out. "Like I said, I was doing my job. DiNozzo was framed for something he didn't commit. What else was I supposed to do?"
"Tell me right away," Jenny replied, her eyes hardening. "I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but NCIS policy stipulates that the head of a MCRT team inform the Director right away if one or more of his or her agents get implicated in a crime. The case is to be suspended and turned over to an outside agency, alas, the FBI. Had you done so, it would've been handled promptly. But no, you had to go ahead and jeopardize this agency!"
Gibbs felt himself tense up. "I'm not about to jeopardize one of my agents, especially if the perpetrator's getting away with it!"
"I don't think you understand the severity of this situation, Gibbs," Jenny said with a weary sigh, her mask of anger slipping away a bit. "If word of this got out, not only about Agent DiNozzo's implication but what you've been doing over the past twenty-four hours, it would ruin the agency."
Gibbs watched her slowly pace around the office. "So we don't tell anyone."
The Director let out a bark of laughter, turning to Gibbs. "Oh, we don't tell anyone about this! Like that's gonna work. Over half of NCIS, if not all, already know about this – and it's only a matter of time before things leak out. If that happens...I'll have to explain to the SecNav as to why NCIS is orchestrating a cover-up!"
"I'm sure you'll come up with something," Gibbs quipped. He knew he shouldn't play with fire, but he couldn't help it, it sometimes. "You're good at politics, after all."
Jenny's glare returned in full force. "I'm also good at dragging certain others down with me if things start going south."
Gibbs gave a light shrug, a smirk tugging at his lips. "That's only if you let it, Madam Director."
Jenny shook her head as she circled toward her desk. "Damn you," she muttered under her breath before her voice resumed its normal volume. "You're pretty good at cornering me, aren't you, Jethro?" She was back to using his preferred name, which hopefully was a good thing.
"You never complained." He was definitely playing with fire when her eyes flared up.
"Give me one reason why I wouldn't suspend you from the investigation for real," Jenny growled, sitting down at her desk and crossing her arms. "And it damn better be a good one." He hoped that he had to say next would convince her to let him continue the investigation, or at least go easy on him and his team.
"We think we might've found who had been framing DiNozzo all along."
Despite herself, Jenny quirked an eyebrow and raised her chin. "You think?" He nearly smiled at her use of his words.
"Charles Sterling." As soon the name passed through his lips, he realized who had probably tipped Jenny off.
The Director's eye widened a bit. "Ms. Sciuto's assistant?" She asked, uncrossing her arms.
"That one," Gibbs said dryly. "We bought Stewart in, and he said he contacted his blood work out to a lab, which actually contaminated it. Turns out Chip worked in that lab before it got shut down."
Jenny remained silent for a moment, and he half-expected her to demand for solid, verifiable evidence like she'd done when he'd said something about Ari Haswari (cue jaw, gut, and fists clenching with hatred).
"You've been doing some work," she finally said. "That's still circumstantial evidence, though I suppose that'll be collaborated by the Stewart court case, which's still pending by the way. You find something?"
"We did. The Jane Doe was found in Stewart's morgue. He claims he didn't do it, and I believe him," Gibbs replied.
Jenny nodded before letting out a sigh. "There's the matter of procedure. You went behind my back and put the integrity of this agency in great risk, so I have half a mind to actually suspend you from investigating any further and leaving it to the FBI."
She wasn't kidding. He hoped it wouldn't come down to that, though.
"Or at least, that's what my Director side would do. My agent side? I would let you continue on the investigation and nail the bastard who did this. And I'm not referring to you this time."
Gibbs chuckled, feeling himself relax a little – although his gut continued to tense up. Jenny always had his back for the most part, even if she disagreed with his actions most of the time. "You were a good agent, Jen."
Jenny's lips curled a little. "Let's see if I'm good enough a Director to do some damage control. You're not off the hook, though."
"Ever when am I?"
Jenny shook her head a little at that. "I'll 'suspend' you for appearance's sake, and let you do what you gotta do for a while before I contact the FBI." He opened his mouth, but she beat him to it. "And I'll see that Fornell runs the investigation."
Gibbs nodded. "Not what I wanted to ask." When she raised her eyebrows, he continued: "But appreciate it, Jen."
"You better. I'm putting my neck out for you, and I'll be damned if I lose it. And what was it?"
"Don't bring Sacks into this."
FBI Special Agent Ron Sacks was a...difficult person to work with, to put it lightly, and he knew what he was talking about. Sacks held DiNozzo in contempt, and the last thing DiNozzo needed was someone who would undoubtedly paint a negative picture of him. It didn't particularly help that Sacks continued to insist on DiNozzo's guilt long after his name was cleared.
Jenny's eyes were full of questions as they searched his, and he hoped she wouldn't vocalize them. "I'll see what I can do," she said finally. Nodding, Gibbs made for the door.
"Remember, Jethro," she called out. "I go down, I'm taking you with me."
Gibbs gave her a half-smirk. "I know." He left the room, the door closing behind him.
Over the next several hours, and with some difficulty, they were able to procure the security tape feeds from the Hampton Medical Center, Stewart's workplace. The front desk receptionist answered in the negative when questioned about a man fitting Chip's description, leading Gibbs to deduce that he probably went there at night.
"We could use the feeds to check if someone snuck there after closing time," McGee was saying as his fingers rapidly danced all over the keyboard. "The Medical Center upgraded their security system a couple of weeks ago, so we could use the cameras in the lobby, elevators, stairwells, hallways, and the garage to—"
"Yeah, yeah, get on with it, McSpy," DiNozzo interrupted with a grimace. McGee rolled his eyes. Several video-feed screens were displayed on the plasma, depicting the aforementioned locations in the building. The date and time blinked on the bottom of the screens.
Gibbs remained silent as he watched the video feeds that McGee had fast-forwarded slightly. Several personnel went about their business, but Chip was nowhere in sight. As the feeds continued, the Center steadily emptied out and its hallways doused in dim lights. It would be pretty difficult to get a lock on anyone there at that time, especially if they kept their faces away from the cameras.
"Somebody's pulling into the garage," Kate pointed out, and Gibbs saw what appeared to be a dark Chevy SUV cruise into the largely-deserted garage's vast parking lot.
"See if you can't zoom on in." Gibbs watched someone get out of the car. The person was wearing a maintenance suit, cap, and dark glasses that obscured much of the face, and was carrying what looked like a black bag.
Given the different angles of the cameras in the garage, one would be forgiven for thinking that they would get a good look at the person's face. No matter how much McGee zoomed in, the person seemed to keep his face away from the camera as he strode across the garage into the building.
"That's definitely him," Abby said, staring intently at the plasma. "I'd recognize that gait anywhere." Gibbs smirked at this, remembering her incredulity when she'd ran into the bullpen, exclaiming her discovery only to find that the others already knew.
"He seems to know what he is doing," Ziva said, glancing at the others.
"Yeah. Get his license," Gibbs instructed, and McGee zoomed on in the Chevy's license plate. It was slightly blurry, even after McGee ran a magnification program, but most of the numbers were visible. As the probationary agent ran a search on the plate on a separate program, Gibbs watched the figure walk through the various hallways on the other screens. When one of the screens switched to a room, he recognized it: Stewart's autopsy room.
"Pity there's no camera in the freezer," DiNozzo remarked as the person entered the morgue, the back of the head to the camera.
Kate quirked an eyebrow. "Would anyone want to watch corpses dangling from the ceiling all day long?"
DiNozzo grimaced slightly. "Good point."
"The car appears to be a rental," McGee said, looking up from his monitor.
"Find out who rented it." Gibbs continued to look at the video-feeds, hoping that Chip would somehow slip up. Turn his head a bit or something. That would go a long way in conclusively placing Chip at the scene of the crime, and thus put the last nail in his coffin.
His hopes were answered a moment later. Chip must've removed his glasses while he was in the freezer; part of his face was visible to the camera as he left the freezer, putting the glasses back on. Gibbs didn't need to order McGee to do his thing; the agent had already magnified the face and was already running a facial recognition search. After a couple of moments, the computer beeped and Chip's head shot appeared.
Gibbs felt satisfaction settle down in his gut, more so when Abby gave him a wide grin. "You were right the whole time, Gibbs!"
"He's always right," Kate smirked, a twinkle in her eyes. DiNozzo and Ziva nodded in agreement.
"Bring him in," Gibbs told the Lab Rat, who saluted with her left hand. "On it, Gibbs!"
"Wrong hand." Abby's grin widened a bit as she saluted again with the correct hand.
"Found the rental agreement," McGee spoke up, and said form appeared on the plasma. "He used a fake name and address."
"Good." That was another strike they had against Chip, one that they could use to batter him down. McGee gave him raised eyebrows as he printed out the agreement form, several screenshots of the incriminating videos, and other relevant evidence and put them into a folder. Gibbs took the folder and skimmed through it as he went to the elevator. There was only one thing left now, and he hoped to end it before the FBI got involved.
"Thank God this is almost over," DiNozzo sighed as he entered the elevator with the others.
"Yeah, you won't have to go to prison, after all," Kate said.
DiNozzo nodded. "Prison changes people, or so I've heard." Gibbs tried not to think about what would've happened had the Special Agent been thrown into prison, especially the way cops were treated there. He'd heard some stories that could curdle the blood of even the most hardened persons, and the hell he was going to let DiNozzo suffer that fate.
"It does," Gibbs said, watching Abby bounce slightly on her feet. A thought came to him. "Ziva, you go with her." The Israeli raised her eyebrows slightly but nodded. Gibbs gave Abby the ghost of a smile as he stepped onto the second floor, where Interrogation was located. Chip would think twice about trying something.
"Speaking from experience?" Kate grinned.
"No...but I've come pretty close to it at times." He tried not to think about how close their hands were to brushing each other as they walked through the hallway.
"Why am I not surprised?"
Gibbs' only reply was to smirk at her as they entered Observation.
A/N: So ends this story. Er, I mean chapter. I'll let you imagine what happened to Chip in the end, more fun that way.