Gibbs paced the conference room; not knowing what to say to the agent that would meet him there in seconds. Her brother had been murdered then brutally dismembered and left for them to find. There was one thing he was certain of; whoever did it, knew who he was, and who would find both victims.

"You wanted to see me boss?" Kate asked, opening the conference room door.

"Come in," Gibbs began, "you better sit down."

"What's going on?" Kate asked, sitting in one of the chairs around the table. Before he continued Gibbs took the seat across from her.

"Abby identified the remains we found in the pantry," Gibbs began.

"That's good right…" Kate said, eyeing her boss suspiciously, "why are you looking at me that way?"

"Well…it is…but it turns out it's someone close to home," Gibbs said, his voice dropping. Kate's throat went dry; she couldn't comprehend who it could be, what did "close to home mean"?

"Who is it?" Kate managed to choke out.

"Well…" Gibbs said, unable think of the right words, "it was someone related to you, Kate."

Kate's mind and body went numb, and tears had already begun forming in her eyes, threatening to fall.

"Who?" was the only word she could manage to get out.

"Joseph…" Gibbs said. At that moment a chain reaction began within Kate. She wanted to scream, cry and kill whoever did this all at the same time. Before she knew it she could hardly breathe. She tried standing but her legs gave out on her and Gibbs rushed to catch her before she fell. She gasped for air as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Why…" was all she could think of to say; she knew that this job came with a list of risks, but she never dreamed someone would want to hurt her through her family.

"Kate," Gibbs began, "if you want to be excused from this case, we will totally understand…"

"NO, I want to kill the sick bastard that did this to him," Kate said, cutting Gibbs off.

"Ok…" Gibbs said nodding, walking out of the room, leaving Kate to deal with the thoughts racing through her mind. As he exited the room, he saw Tony approaching him.

"Where's Kate?" Tony asked.

"She's in there…" Gibbs said.

"Ok…" Tony said opening the door without looking back. He saw Kate standing in the corner, and noticed she was shaking. He walked up to her quietly and slowly trying not to scare her. When he touched her shoulder she jumped; when she turned and saw him there she fell into his arms.

"Tony…Joe…he's gone…he was…" she said between sobs, "he was the one we found…in pieces."

"Shhhh…we'll find whoever did this," he said, his throat dry, "he'll regret the minute he decided to murder your brother."

Kate tried to smile, wiping away the tears as best as she could. When Tony reached to brush the hair from her face, she turned away. It was a simple action but it put a whole in his heart.

"Kate…don't…" Tony said, beginning to feel tears in his own eyes.

"I know you want to be here for me…I just can't be with you like that right now. There's a lot that was thrown on my plate just now," Kate said, fresh tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He nodded slowly knowing she could take care of herself. Unable to think of anything more to say that would comfort her he turned and left the room.