……………Thursday 10th of July………….

"I'm not familiar with this but why are those two lying on the floor." Nick asked Gibbs when he came into the office.

"They're too stubborn for their own good." Gibbs told him.

"Just like you." Nick then said but after seeing Tony's face he quickly regretted that comment.

"You learn soon enough what not to say…And I'm here because I got a cold and both my wife and Gibbs thinks resting for a while is a thing I should do right now. I can get really sick if I get a cold since I have some chronic injuries." Tony then said. He hated explaining this because it made people think of him being sicker than he appears or feel but he knew the consequences of not telling people and not resting…If something happens they don't know what to do…The other reason he hated explaining this was because of who did this to him. The same guy who is probably after him and Kate now.

"So how are things going on for you two?" Kate then asked Nick and Isabella. None of them answered and Lauren who was there felt obliged to answer.

"It could be better…Isabella's father and stepmother are getting a divorce and since there is no one who can take care of Isabella right now she has to stay with us a while longer. Nick's parents are moving and Nick doesn't want to go with them and his parent's said he could stay with us until Nick said he would do whatever they say. He didn't go home yesterday as he promised so everyone agreed that if we all knew he was safe he could stay a few more days with us until he has accepted the idea of moving." Lauren explained.

"Why don't you come with me so I can show you how things go on in the lab?" Meagan then stated.

"That seems interesting." Isabella answered.

"I'll come with you." Lauren said. Then all four of them went to the lab.

……………….A few minutes later……..

"So it was Lauren's idea." Kate wondered.

"Lauren is going back to New York on Saturday and I don't know what will happen after that. I take it one day at a time. When you live in the military it is normal to move a lot but Nick finally had enough…It didn't help that Isabella and Nick suddenly decided to break up...I had enough…I thought my life would get easier but no…Ari comes back and two young people need my help and Lauren loves acting like a mother again…" Gibbs complained.

"I heard that." Lauren suddenly said.

"It wasn't against you." Gibbs apologized.

"Great because I decided to take them with me to New York. They've never been there and they need to getaway and I need some company. I already cleared it with Nick's parents and Isabella's father reluctantly said yes to it." Lauren said.

"How could you do that in only a few minutes?" Gibbs asked very surprised.

"I asked yesterday and now Isabella's father just said yes. If everything works out maybe we can become Isabella's temporary guardian." Lauren then told him.

"Slow down…How come I'm hearing all these plans just now? Have you the same plans for Nick? I'm not up for it! Have you told them?" Gibbs quickly asked now worried and upset at his wife.

"I'm not stupid. Of course I haven't told them. I thought I'd ask you before and New York…Well you weren't coming so I thought I could make that decision alone." Lauren explained.

"Well you can't…We're married now…You're bonding with them…" Gibbs protested.

"I thought you would never realise those things…And they are coming with me to New York." Lauren stated not changing her mind.

"Fine…" Gibbs said angry.

"I'll go back to them." Lauren said quickly walking out of the room.

"Let's start to resolve our cases." Gibbs said while going back to his desk. He hated having fights with Lauren but lately he had done that a lot often. Gibbs knew he had to find out why.

………………..Later that day……………

"Everyone has done great today. Dinozzo and Dinozzo you can go home early if you want." Gibbs said thinking that having them lying on the floor isn't good for them and isn't helping so much. They weren't working anyway.

"Gibbs, sir…"Palmer suddenly said to him.

"Yes." Gibbs said turning around.

"Dr Mallard's mother just passed away. He went home. He said he'll be gone a few days." Palmer told him and the rest of the team. Everyone was shocked. Kate and Tony went up so they now sat up.

"That's so sad. We need to call him and tell him our condolences." McGee said.

"I agree and say that we can visit too." Kate then said.

"Yeah…" Gibbs said now speechless and often he isn't that way.

"We can stop by on our way home." Tony then said since they were going home early.

"I'll go call him now." Gibbs said.

The silence in the room said pretty much. Losing someone close to you is really hard and they knew Ducky was hurting badly. His mother lived with him for so long until she ended up in the hospital a week ago. No one thought she would die just get better in the hospital.

………………The next day Friday 11th of July…………….

Everyone was in the room and still shocked over yesterday's news. Not much was said but the workday needed to be started and it was Gibbs' job as the boss to start it.

"Ok, this is how it is…Palmer is alone until Ducky is back. That means everyone has to help him as much as they can. Kate and Tony have desk duties for the time being and can't leave this room until I say so. McAllister and McGee have both inside and outdoors duties today. So if we go to a crime scene it will only be us three there." Gibbs said just before McGee's phone rang. He answered and took some notes. Everyone waited what he was going to say.

……………..

"A marine officer was found dead at the base 20 minutes ago." McGee stated.

"Looks like the new duty schedules are getting tested straight away. So Palmer, McGee and McAllister go with me and the rest stay in. Tony if you are up for it maybe you can go with me to talk to the officer's family later on. McGee and McAllister need to be here to investigate." Gibbs asked Tony.

"I'm up for it, boss." Tony answered.

"Good."

"I can do it too. I have just as much experience as he has." Kate said wanting to feel useful.

"Desk duty Dinozzo and Tony has done this a few more times in Baltimore." Gibbs stated so that Kate didn't feel bad about Gibbs not wanting her to work..

"No, he hasn't. He told me so." Kate said looking at Tony.

"I'm so sorry…I just didn't want to look bad when I acted like that the first time we did it together…It was before we were together and…"Tony said before being interrupted by his angry wife.

"And what!" Kate wondered. Her hormones had made her a lot angrier than she usually got over things like this.

"I love you really much…Gibbs I think I can follow to the crime scene too. I'm not that sick any longer." Tony said.

"What!" Kate almost screamed.

"You know what. Why don't you take Kate to my place where Lauren and the kids are and then come to the crime scene? You won't be alone there and there is a bed there too which we don't have here." Gibbs suggested so they would have some time alone to talk even though he also suggested it because he needed Tony now. It was a little selfish but the best way to sort this out as smoothly and fast as possible. Kate and Tony didn't object and they did what Gibbs suggested.

…………………………Late that afternoon………………………

"Ducky, thanks for coming in but you don't need to be here." Gibbs told his medical examiner.

"There isn't much I can do at home. I've called everyone and talked to everyone. I'll be seeing everyone at the funeral next week. I just want to do this. My family isn't coming today so I can at least be useful now…So what have you done here Palmer?" Ducky asked his assistant. His assistant had called and asked him about doing the autopsy alone and he decided that he at least needed some supervision. One day Palmer needed to be able to do this alone and today was the day even if the timing was really bad.

"I'll let you get to it." Gibbs said as they both already had started the examination.

………………..

Gibbs went back to the office and to his surprise Lauren, Kate and the kids were there. It just reminded him about all the problems he had and how great of a stress reliever his boat was.

"What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked them.

"Let's see. You said you wouldn't come home at the time you promised. If you don't come then we come. What's so urgent about this case?" Lauren said to him.

"It's unclear how he died and if someone killed him we don't want a murderer walking around, don't we?" Gibbs replied.

"I see…You know agent McAllister has children don't you?" Lauren asked him.

"Agent McAllister you are free to go home!" Gibbs said. He was actually going to tell her to go home just as he came back to the office but somehow Lauren beat him to it. He wasn't happy about that.

"What about the weekend?" agent Amanda McAllister asked him. Gibbs had talked about working some overtime this weekend.

"If something comes up I'll call. As for now you have the weekend off…Well everyone can go home. If the medical exam shows he was murdered I'll let you all know. " Gibbs said frustrated. Right then and there he decided to have a talk with his wife. The kids were left with Kate and Tony and the rest of the team including Abby and her assistant went home. Palmer and Ducky were still doing the autopsy.

……………..A while later………….

"Is he a good boss?" Nick asked. He was wondering after seeing the recent events.

"The best…"Tony answered.

"Then why don't I get that vibe from you?" Nick continued.

"We're not so good at showing it always." Kate answered.

"Is he a good dad?" Isabella asked. This was the question Nick had actually wanted to ask.

"I don't know but I think so…Why don't we go to the cafeteria to see if there is something there to eat?" Kate quickly answered. She didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah, they will probably not be finished for a while." Tony stated.

Everyone knew Gibbs and Lauren were probably having an argument.

……………….A few minutes later…………

"Where is everyone?" Lauren asked looking at the empty office.

"Let's see if they are in the cafeteria or something." Gibbs suggested.

……………..At the cafeteria………………

"Not much to choose from." Tony told the teenagers.

"I see…A soda will be fine then." Nick told him.

"For me too." Isabella told him.

"And water for you. I know. Along with cookies for everyone" Tony told his wife.

As soon as he had given everyone their drinks and food his phone rang. It was an unknown number. He answered and the look on his face was indescribable. Just then Gibbs and Lauren walked in. Gibbs saw the look on his face and knew something was going on.

Then suddenly Tony put down his phone.

"A guy said he knew we were all in here, in the cafeteria…He said a bomb was here and under our cars too…I don't know if I should believe him or not but how could he know we all were here?"

"Through the cameras and internet." Nick suddenly said.

"We better get out of here and then call Abby." Gibbs said to them hoping that it just was a false bomb threat.