Warnings: Same as usual

A/N: We're getting closer to finishing up the P2P arc. Any suggestions of what you would like to see (or not to see) feel free to PM me :) I hope you enjoy this next chapter! As always I appreciate your feedback!

Guest: True, the skylight does echo. So, Gibbs probably does know; he knows everything!

amaia: I know I haven't actually written EJ in a favorable light here, but I did like her on the show. Wish she hadn't been sacrificed at the alter of Tiva and we got to see a real relationship develop between Tony and EJ. I think Tony really cared for her. As for my story, EJ isn't going to ruin Tony and Natalie :)


"Beautiful spring day," Tony said, snapping a photograph of their crime scene. "June's perfect for all kinds of events, graduations, back yard parties, weddings..."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs huffed, glaring at the senior field agent. "Less chatter, more work."

Tony walked away silently and got back to work canvasing the crime scene. He noticed the little shake of the head that he got from Natalie as he went past her and began to check out the perimeter of the area they had roped off.

Gibbs joined Ducky, Palmer, and Tim, asking if they had any information for him. He knew hat Tony had discovered the wedding invitation, and he knew that Tony wasn't going to let it go; the senior field agent's curiosity sometimes was curse just as much as it was a blessing.

Palmer was bubbling about his girlfriend when Gibbs arrived, apologizing about talking on the phone with her while they were working because apparently Breena liked to have someone to talk to too when she was embalming. "You should marry that girl, Palmer," Gibbs said.

Tim silently laughed and pulled something from the victim's pocket. "Boss, I found the victim's identification—Lieutenant Commander Patrick Casey; Defense Intelligence Agency. Cash and credit cards are accounted for. This doesn't appear to be a robbery."

The team leader was sure that their victim could have been killed for his secrets alone. "Ducky, do you have a time of death yet?"

"I would say around 11 P.M," Ducky replied. "He has multiple gunshots wounds, and the one in his neck suggests hollow point rounds—but I won't know until I get him into autopsy."

"Is there an exit wound?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky asked Tim to help him roll the body onto its side, only to discover that there was not an exit wound on their victim. "That's odd," the M.E replied, "I don't see any. What goes in should come out; or so I thought."

Gibbs made a note on his pad and sighed, "Me too, Duck."

Natalie stood up and pointed to the blood trail on the grass. "I think Commander Casey tried to crawl, Gibbs. I found a blood trail; it appears he was trying to get to the road, maybe to try and find help."

"Boss!" Tony yelled from a bit of a distance. "You might want to come see this."

Both Gibbs and Natalie walked over to where Tony was standing in front of a large boulder. As they got closer, the SFA added, "Commander Casey left us a message."

Natalie read the word written in blood out loud, "Birdsong."

Tony glanced at Gibbs. "It's probably written in the Commander's blood, boss."

Gibbs quirked his eyebrows in a silent agreement.

"What does birdsong mean?" Natalie questioned.

"Well," Gibbs told her, "that's what we're going to find out."


At some point during the afternoon, Natalie realized that Tony had disappeared. She had noticed him snooping around the recycling bin earlier, obviously looking for the invitation that Gibbs had discarded earlier. She had a pretty good idea where her husband had disappeared too once Tim had left to pick up the publisher that had been poised to publish a book based on the operation they had found written in blood at the crime scene and Gibbs had gone to get more coffee after speaking to Lieutenant Commander Casey's commanding officer at the DIA.

Natalie looked around the empty bullpen, finished up her BOLO on the woman they had learned who had been seen with Casey the night before he died and then got up, following her gut to find Tony.

Pushing the door to the women's locker room open, she heard a shower curtain close but no water running. Peering around the corner she saw Tony's fancy Italian shoes peeking out from underneath the curtain. Yanking it back, she startled him. He was standing there, facing her, with the invitation in his hand outside of its envelope.

"Dear God!" Tony gasped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Tony. You're in the woman's shower, fully clothed by the way, and holding Gibbs mail," Natalie pointed out.

He climbed out of the shower and walked towards the mirror, fixing his hair. "What's your point?"

She turned and glanced at him through the mirror. "You shouldn't be reading that; it's not addressed to you."

Tony sighed and continued to play with his hair. "I know, but there are some many questions that need to be answered. The happiest day in someone's life and they need Leroy Jethro Gibbs there to seal the deal? Doesn't make any sense."

Natalie crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, since we're alone, let's be honest. If we had a normal wedding ceremony and had not eloped, you wouldn't want Gibbs there at our wedding?"

"Well, I don't if a head slap coming down the aisle is the ideal Kodak moment. What would your parents think?" Tony replied. "Maybe you're right, maybe I would want him there."

"Okay, so I have another question," Natalie said, moving closer to him. "Why such the sudden interest in weddings? Are you upset that we didn't have the traditional one?"

Tony turned to face her, standing just centimeters from her. "No. I'm just merely honing my investigating skills, trying to figure out what makes Gibbs tick."

Natalie grabbed a small portion of his blazer. She ran her fingers up the fabric and brushed them against his collared shirt. "I like it when you don't wear a tie. You make business casual sexy."

He smiled at her, seductively. "Really? I'm going to have to dress in business casual more often then."

She pulled him down for a quick kiss. "I like that idea."

"I should stop this," Tony whispered before kissing her again.

"Stop what?" Natalie whispered back, slipping the invitation out of his hand and tossing it aside.

"This. We have a case."

"Tim isn't back yet, Gibbs was going to get coffee. We have fifteen minutes, maybe twenty."

Tony smiled and wrapped her into his arms, hungrily kissing her. Gently he edged her towards the empty shower stall. Once inside, he came up for air, and gasped, "Wait. We should lock the door."

Natalie grinned. "Already did," she said before passionately kissing him again and yanking the curtain shut.


Tim stepped out of the conference room quickly and crashed into Tony.

Tony stumbled a bit, straightened his tall frame, and snapped, "Hey! Where's the fire?"

"Sorry. The publisher recognized me and was trying to finagle a book deal," Tim said, brushing some imaginary dust off shoulder. His brow furrowed as his eyes narrowed in on Tony's collar. "Is that lipstick on your shirt?"

"Huh?" Tony questioned, glancing at his shirt. He pulled the collar out so he could inspect, saw Natalie's lipstick, and grinned. "Oh, yeah, guess it is. Better go change my shirt before Gibbs finds out."

Tim rolled his eyes and began walking away. "Gibbs will kill you if he finds out you're fooling around with Natalie in the office."

Tony jogged to match his pace and when he did they fell into a even stride. "Would you believe that today was only the second time it's happened here?"

"No."

"Believe it. It's true."

"I really don't want to talk about my two best friends getting it on."

"You don't have to be so crass about it."

Tim resisted the urge to roll his eye this time and proceeded towards his desk. "Have you and Natalie found anything out about our victim between the last time I saw you and your little quickie?"

Tony chuckled. "Nothing new; we still can't access what Commander Casey was working on; it's all classified. Admiral Hindley is being very, very secretive and doesn't seem to be willing to give us access. What did Ms. Dumont tell you?"

"Admiral Hindley confiscated a manuscript she was about to publish," Tim said.

"Let me guess—Operation Birdsong," Tony countered.

"You guessed correctly. The anonymous author was a former intelligence operative and requested that two other people receive an advanced copy," Tim informed his partner. "One was Commander Casey, the other was FBI agent Elise Archer."

Tony sighed. "So, Commander Casey was killed because of this book. I wonder what's in it."

Tim shook his head. "Dumont would only tell us that it was about weapons sales, corruption and intrigue."

Natalie returned to the bullpen, hair clearly more wild than earlier. "Sounds like one of those James Bond movies you're so fond of, Tony."

"Well this isn't a Bond movie," Gibbs snapped, joining them. He gave Tony an address. "Go pick up Elise Archer; take Callahan with you."

"On it boss," Tony said, pocketing the address in his jeans pocket. He reached for his trench coat and slipped it on, revealing the very evident lipstick stain. Tony immediately knew his mistake, braced himself, and took the head slap with a little squeak.

Gibbs glared at both Natalie and Tony. "I told you two to keep it out of the office."

Natalie blushed, slightly, as she silently grabbed her badge and weapon.

Tony winced. "Sorry, boss. Won't happen again."

"It will happen again," Gibbs said this time with a chuckle. He grabbed his coffee off his desk and turned to go, "because I know you, DiNozzo, you can't resist her. Next time, just make sure you hide all the evidence."

"Yes, boss," Tony muttered, following Natalie towards the elevator. He rubbed the back of his head as he climbed inside the cab. "You need to stop wearing lipstick."

Natalie smiled at him, sweetly. "Maybe you should wear darker shirts."

Tony glared at her. "Maybe you shouldn't follow me into the women's shower."

She still smiled. "Don't go into the women's shower then."

He growled. "Why do I find you arguing with me like this extremely hot?"

"Because you're always thinking about sex."

"Not true. I think about sex maybe ninety percent of the day."

"What do you think about the other ten percent?"

"Movies."

Natalie gave him a mock glare. "That's why you get into so much trouble with Gibbs. If you devoted a little bit more time to things other than movies and sex—you might not get slapped on the back of the head so much."

Tony moved closer to her, his eyes falling on her lips. "You mean to tell me, Agent Callahan, that there are things in this world other than movies and sex."

She stepped away, laughing. "Yes, Agent DiNozzo, and if we're not careful, we're going to be caught by the wrong person."

He sighed and leaned against the elevator wall. "I know. We have a job to do. We have to go pick up Agent Archer."