Leah whipped the car into her driveway, shut off the engine and rested her head on the steering wheel for just a moment. Come on girl, she thought, get inside then you can lay down and try and beat this headache. With effort, she dragged herself from the car and went through the ritual of disarming her alarm and checking the small cottage for intruders. Finally she made her way to the bathroom, took a decent dose of pain relievers and laid down on her bed, weapon out of sight to everyone, but a mere hands breadth away. She never slept without her weapon anymore.

Tony, smug from having manipulated two of the better but more stubborn document analysts to get the work done ASAP, if not yesterday, punched the button for the elevator and waited. As the doors slid open they revealed Kate, who looked up from a few sheets of paper.

Hey Tony. Documents working on our mystery papers?

Yep, I managed to finesse two guys to get on it. I just used a little ego competition and..... He noticed Kate giving him that look. The one that said he should probably shut up. What have you got? Just then the doors to the elevator opened one more time and in stepped Gibbs. He looked more irritated than he had when he left and he was carrying fresh coffee. 2 cups. Tony and Kate exchanged a look; Gibbs caught it.

One's for me, the other's for Abby. I need that evidence analyzed yesterday!

They exited the elevator and headed for their desks. Kate and Tony exchanged another look, and Tony shrugged. He knew Abby sometimes drank coffee, but not usually this late at night. What was really bugging his boss?

Gibbs, we've had Abby on the evidence since you left earlier this afternoon. Tony's got two guys down in documents working on our papers. She glanced over her shoulder at Tony and continued, I wasn't sure, but something in the paper and the way the light caught the seals didn't look right. I think they might be forgeries.

Gibbs rubbed his hands over his face once. Then he picked up his coffee, took a long drink, and said, What else?

Abby's running fingerprints from the documents through military databases and LEO as well. We also got very lucky. Our shooter, we hope left a pretty good partial on one of the shell casings. We're running that too.

Gibbs looked up. Why LEO's? He didn't think they were wrong, just wondered what made them do it.

Tony looked at Kate and shook his head ever so slightly, Kate gave a slight shrug back, as if to say, why not tell him? She looked at Gibbs and said, Detective Hecht kept it out of her office for a reason. So what if that's the reason?

Gibbs nodded. IA. Exactly. Okay, what else?

Kate flipped to the last sheet she had and told them that while Abby hadn't yet finished the DNA scan, the fabric was some sort of canvas. Most likely the type used in bags. And she told me to tell you, that yes, it does match the type used in diplomatic courier bags, but the canvas isn't exclusive to that use.

How'd she know I was going to ask that?

Kate smiled in response. I knew you were going to ask that.

Gibbs finished his coffee, and chucked the cup in the trash. He sat and thought for just a moment and then suddenly said, She didn't bring us the body did she.

Body, boss? She didn't say anything about a body. Kate?

Not to me either. Where do you suppose it is?

I don't suppose it matters, Gibbs replied glancing at his watch as he opened the second coffee. Then he picked up his phone and pulled out Leah's card from his shirt pocket.

As Gibbs began to dial Kate ventured, Isn't it a little late for......

Gibbs just gave her the look and finished the number. Two rings, three, then a very groggy voice answered. Leah Hecht.

Leah, it's Jethro. I need to......... She'd hung up on him. She'd actually hung up on him. He slammed his hand down on her card lying on his desk and fumed for a moment.

Meanwhile, Tony's eyebrows had climbed nearly to his hairline and Kate's eyes were wide as saucers. Jethro? In that voice? Who on earth was Leah anyway?
Gibbs voice, much harsher than it had been on the phone a minute ago, call Detective Hecht and get me my body. NOW! Gibbs reached down and grabbed Leah's card off his desk and handed it to Kate before she could turn to search her desk. Here. Cell phone. She always answers, no matter what.

Leah lay half awake in the semidarkness of her bedroom. Bad enough she'd had a migraine from the man. Worse still he'd invaded her dreams, no, with him....nightmares, now. But to have to wake up to that low voice like that? If he called again, she was just going to have to shoot him! As if on cue, the phone rang. Leah Hecht

Detective? It's Kate Todd. We met earlier today.

Nice to see Gibbs has some brains after all. Leah smiled and dragged herself up to a sitting position. What's the old sourpuss want?

Kate had to choke back a laugh with a cough. Um, he'd like to know if we can have the body. The street punk you mentioned when you were in.

The body? You don't need the body. It's immaterial to the case. Leah rubbed her neck and then rolled her shoulders while she listened to Kate relay that bit of information. Then she heard Gibbs snapping. Hey Kate. Kate! Leah tried one last time with a piercing whistle.

Ow! What?! Gibbs is having kittens over here about the body thing.

Yeah, I know, I can hear him having kittens over here. Without the phone. Put me on speaker, Kate. I'll explain it to all of you as best I can. Leah exhaled in disgust. What she wouldn't give for all of this to have happened in someone else's sandbox.

Okay, Leah, where's my body? Gibbs' patience was on a very thin leash right now.

The shooting was reported yesterday. I was first on the scene by about 10 minutes and I was able to get a good look at everything. Be damn grateful it was me Gibbs. I knew immediately your gang needed what I had. I also knew if I tried to call you in both you and I would be cut out of this investigation. And I can't afford to be out of the loop just yet. So I bagged and tagged everything I could for NCIS, stonewalled as much of the rest of the investigation and had the body sent to Curtis. He's done the autopsy, which is useless, and is sitting on everything associated with the corpse.

Gibbs, Kate and Tony just looked at each other for a moment. Each had half a dozen questions to ask, but only Gibbs spoke up. So, how do I get the body from Curtis? And the rest of it? Dammit Leah, if you were in trouble, why didn't you just call me?

Leah pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief. You don't get the body. There's been a shooting here and that's the victim. You want the rest, you get Ducky to call Curtis and they arrange it somehow so neither your team nor my name is involved. You screw up my investigations and I will come screw up your life, Gibbs. And as far as being in trouble, I'm not. Rest easy, Gibbs. If I were in real trouble, and you were my only hope......I'd shoot myself first.

Kate and Tony were staring open mouthed at the phone as it clicked off after Leah's last words. Gibbs' jaw merely tighten as he checked his watch. Then phones started ringing as forensic results became available. Kate looked up as she finished her call and told everyone that Abby had her DNA and fingerprint results. Tony concluded his and said that the document guys had some preliminary results. They'd like to study the papers further but what they had so far should be more than enough to get started.

Gibbs nodded. Get on it. I'm going to see if I can arrange this bit with Ducky and Curtis. Then I'm going for more coffee. He finished the second cup, the one supposedly for Abby, and then headed off. The cup Leah had brought him still sat exactly where she'd set it.

Hey Tony, Kate's voice made the man pause and look up at her. Why do you suppose Leah gave us one card, and she gave Gibbs a different one? Kate was holding both cards in her hand. The one Leah had left with her earlier had a different set of phone numbers than the one from Gibbs. In addition only the one from Gibbs said Internal Affairs. Tony, looking over Kate's shoulder at the cards, had no answer. He shrugged as he looked at her.

You want to ask Gibbs what the deal is? Go for it. I'm not touching this one. And with that, Tony headed off to get the document results. Kate, after copying all the info for Leah in her PDA, put both cards next to each other on Gibbs desk, removed the untouched coffee and then went to see Abby.