Bishop only took a week off work to mourn, and it wasn't even to mourn actually; she only took the time off to make Qasim's funeral arrangements and clean out his apartment. As soon as she got back, her focus was on finding Chen, and everyone else's focus was on repeatedly asking her how she was doing. Her consistent answer is, "Fine, ready to get back to work," and she really believed that was true. Yet she pulled Reeves aside to ask for intel on the hunt for Chen as soon as she got to NCIS.
"Hey, any news on Chen?"
"Gibbs told you not to get involved, but I'm working on finding a translator I can trust to show Qasim's flash drive you gave me."
"Okay," she said, nodding and walking away to her desk.
She continued to work like she usually would, with the addition of constantly checking up on Reeves, in attempts to get more information, every chance she had without people noticing too much. Luckily the team was somewhat preoccupied working, so they didn't notice exactly what she was doing; however, they were not too preoccupied to notice that something was going on. Quinn could especially see that her mind was on revenge, but never expected her to act on the impulse.
Gibbs, however, could see it coming from a mile away, he just had to find the right way to address this concern, in a way that will prevent her from making a mistake not push her towards it; he himself knowing what wanting that revenge felt like. Unlike everyone else, Gibbs did not push her and repeatedly ask how she was doing. Did he think she was okay? No, but he also didn't believe repeatedly asking her how she was doing would fix that. For now, he needed to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid.
Reeves was very skeptical about how involved Bishop should be because Gibbs had made it very clear to him that Bishop was not to get involved in the case; yet when he finally found a translator for the information on the flash drive, she was the first person he told about the song lyrics the communications translated out to along with all other information he had. He still insisted, however, on following the leads alone, up until he found something and then immediately got her more involved. At that point, Bishop was on a case but quickly came up with a lie to tell Gibbs, not that he bought it, and he let her leave.
Reeves and Bishop were able to acquire another lead to run down, and once again, Reeves insisted on following it alone, telling her to go back to NCIS before anyone got suspicious about how long she had been gone, unfortunately, people were already getting a little suspicious. But she didn't listen and go back to work; unfortunately, work came to her. The NCIS case and the lead she and Reeves were tracking down led to the same location at the same time. Which meant Bishop got caught doing the exact thing she was told not to, working on the Chen case, forcing Gibbs to face his suspicions.
That night Gibbs decides to call Bishop, knowing she is meeting with the director about getting involved in the case after being ordered to stand down so he can leave a voicemail saying to come over when she is free. After she got out of her meeting and listened to the voicemail, she went right over to his house to try and get it over with and goes down to his basement where he is.
"If you had me come here so you can lecture me, can you just do it in the morning?"
"That's not why I had you come over." Bishop gives him a look of disbelief, "I want to talk to you as a friend, not as your boss, and I thought a less formal location would be better for that."
"So, you are gonna lecture me."
"Not right now. Right now, I just want to see how you are doing."
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'M FINE."
"We ask because people aren't usually fine when their boyfriends were just murdered."
"Well, I'm not most people."
"I know." Gibbs opens his arms for a hug, but she just looks at him skeptically. He nods and gives her an understanding look, so she walks over and accepts his embrace. She is stiff at first but slowly melts in his arms. His embrace makes her feel safe like she is home. It feels good to have her in his arms, even if it's because of another guy. She starts to cry, and he holds her tighter, rubbing her back softly to comfort her. After a while, she pulls away, and they share an understanding look not saying anything. He walks over to the stools in the corner pulling one out for each of them, and they both sit.
"I just need to find Chen."
"And what exactly do you plan to do once you find him?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you clearly have some idea of what you think will give you closure, and it takes more than finding him to do that." They exchange looks, a silent conversation telling Gibbs what he already suspected, "Let me warn you, revenge will not help."
"Everybody keeps saying that, but there is no way to actually know."
"When my wife and daughter were murdered, I thought that making the man responsible pay would lessen the pain and feeling of hopelessness that comes with this type of loss. So I hunted him down and shot him. It didn't take away the pain, but it did leave me with the weight of what I'd done. A burden that I have to carry with me for the rest of my life; I do not wish a similar burden on you."
"Don't worry about me, Chen being dead won't keep me up at night. We aren't the same."
"I know that we are different, and I can't guarantee that you will feel the same way I did. I just want you to be careful, who died isn't going to play a factor, you will only feel the weight of taking another life. You've felt that before when we were in Afganistan when we met Qasim for the first time. Remember how that tore you up, and that time you had to keep all of us safe. Imagine what it would feel like to commit cold-blooded murder."
"Chen dying would save lives, he is a dangerous man."
"So was the man in Afganistan, it didn't stop you from feeling the weight of it then, why would it be different now."
"I'm a different person then I was back then. I'll keep your concerns in mind but no promises that if the opportunity arises to take Chen out. I can promise, however, that I will never be okay with standing aside and letting Chen get away with more horrendous deeds."
"I've been told, we don't have enough evidence to hold him yet."
"So you are just going to stand there and let him get away with it." Gibbs gives her a look. "You aren't just standing there. You've got a plan."
"Working on one. I've kinda hit a wall, thought maybe you could help."
"What do you got?"
"Well, I was thinking we arrest Chen anyway and worry about what comes next afterward. Rule 18."
"That works for me, but we will have to find him first."
They hear the sound of Gibbs' front door opening.
"You come alone."
She nods.
