AN – Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm sorry about the spelling of DiNozzo in chapter one. Its not like I haven't seen it written down hundreds of times but I'm dyslexic so sometimes I just see things that just aren't there!

To the world that swarmed around him in the busy departure lounge Gibbs gave every impression of being totally absorbed by his newspaper and his extra large coffee. In truth his attention was firmly focused on his young Agent who was flirting, a little too obviously, with a blonde flight attendant in a very short skirt. Inwardly, Gibbs sighed. He knew DiNozzo was anxious about seeing his father again. But empty distractions would only make him feel even more worthless. What he needed was focus and a sense of purpose.

"So, did you get her number?" Gibbs murmured, without looking up, as he felt DiNozzo flop into the seat beside him.

"You even need to ask?" Tony sounded smug

"When you're doing it on agency time I do," Gibbs reprimanded mildly. "This is not a field trip DiNozzo."

"Just practising my skills Boss. A well trained NCIS Agent is good at extracting information."

A ghost of a smile drifted across Gibbs face as he acknowledged that. Still.

"She in the service Tony?"

"Um. She's wearing a navy blue uniform?"

The smack upside his head wasn't entirely unexpected.

"Here," Gibbs reached into his bag and pulled out a brown folder. "Make yourself useful and look through that."

"I thought we didn't have anything current."

"Cold case," Gibbs took a gulp of his coffee. "One I've been trying to figure out for a good long while now."

DiNozzo could understand that. He knew how much it grated when he couldn't close a case. He remembered the first time Gibbs had caught him looking over one of his old cases from his days in Homicide in Baltimore. He'd expected a swat for goofing off when he should have been catching up on his paperwork. Instead, Gibbs had pulled up a chair and gone through the evidence with him, helping him to look at everything from a new angle. He still hadn't closed that one yet. Wasn't going tostop him from trying though.

"So, is this the victim or the suspect?"

"You tell me."

"You want me to profile them?" DiNozzo frowned. "Isn't that more Kate's line of work?"

"You see Kate anywhere around here?"

"I'm on it, Boss."

Settling back Tony opened the folder and started leafing through the papers. And frowned, no picture, no service history and the biography was obviously incomplete. Names, dates and places had been efficiently censored.

"Um, Boss. There's not much here. Just some testimonials and stuff."

Gibbs raised his head and fixed him with a level gaze. "If the information was freely available DiNozzo, don't you think I'd have solved the case before now?"

"Right," DiNozzo ducked his head. "I'll just be sitting here reading Boss."

They were several thousand feet up and about thirty minutes out of Las Vegas when DiNozzo finally sat back and closed the file with a frustrated sigh. Gibbs hid his satisfaction. The dazzling smiles and casual charm might be as natural to him as breathing but underneath that DiNozzo was a dammed good investigator. And this case was definitely an enigma.

"Well?"

"Well, if he's a murderer I will personally come to work in one of Kate's suits. Like Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot. I'll even wear the heels."

"The scary thing is DiNozzo, you would probably look even better in them than she does."

"I have been told I have great legs," Tony agreed, before sliding Gibbs a look. "Even better, Boss?"

"Kate has nice legs. Not in your league of course .."

Tony opened his mouth to make a comment. Then closed it again as he realised he didn't know exactly how to take that. Was Gibbs suggesting that Kate was out of his league? And was he still thinking about physical attractiveness or did he think that a former Secret Service Agent was simply smarter than a former cop?

He could ask but then he might find out the answer.

"DiNozzo, stop resting on your laurels and tell me the rest of it." Gibbs' voice demanded.

"What?" DiNozzo stared at him, thoroughly distracted.

"You were right, he's not the suspect, now tell me the rest."

Automatically focusing his attention at Gibbs order DiNozzo glanced down briefly to gather his thoughts before replying.

"Well, according to this the guy was close to perfect. His SATS were in the top 95 of the whole country. He won a Sports Scholarship to College. Graduated second in his class from the Academy – I'm guessing that must be Annapolis, right? And these testimonials are pretty glowing stuff. If there is a problem here, I'm not seeing it."

"So, he was a high achiever, respected by his employers and well liked by his co-workers?" Gibbs summarized. "None of this sound the least bit familiar to you DiNozzo?"

"I'm thinking he might be an ideal blind date for Kate."

"You really don't see it, do you?" Gibbs sighed.

"Um," Tony resisted the urge to flick through the papers to see what it was that he had overlooked. "See, what exactly Boss?"

"The guys not dead, Tony. He's you."

Tony waited until they had checked into the Hotel, too emotionally off kilter to even think of charming the receptionist into upgrading them from the two standard rooms booked for the conference and too busy reeling from Gibbs' revelation to notice or care what threats of death or violence his Boss employed to get them moved when their allocated accommodation turned out to be either side of the service elevator.

Still the suite was pretty nice.

And the bowl of fruit and the champagne was a neat touch.

All things considered though the flowers were probably going a bit too far.

"You OK?" Gibbs asked.

Tony looked around and realised that they were alone in the suite and that he hadn't said a word since they had got off the plane. Which even he had to admit was pretty out of character.

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright," Gibbs didn't look convinced. But he didn't press it. "I'm going to take a shower."

Not until he heard the water running in the shower and knew that Gibbs was safely occupied, did Tony dare pull out the folder again and cast his eyes over the various missives, almost tracing the words with his fingers. Now he knew he could see it. But who could blame him? He had always thought that his High School Principal hated his guts. His Coach in College had never done anything but yell at him to go faster or jump higher. And he had been totally convinced that if his instructor at the Police Academy had had his way they would never have found his body. Not to mention he'd always assumed that Petoria, Philly and Baltimore had been glad to see the back of him. How could they all have written about him in such glowing terms?

"I left one out."

He looked up to the realisation that the water had stopped running and that Gibbs, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, his hair sticking up and a towel draped around his neck was sitting himself on the couch next to him. With shaking fingers he reached out to take the hand written memo Gibbs held out to him, instantly recognising the familiar scrawl.

"Boss?"

"Just read it, Tony."

Like the others, names, places and dates, were blacked out, but certain words "Outstanding" "Brilliant." "Dedication." "Good instincts." "Courage under fire." leapt out at him. He swallowed hard.

"You know why I smack you upside the head, DiNozzo?"

Because you never let me get away with being less than I can be. Because I think maybe you are trying to do a better job of raising me than either of my parents managed. To remind me that you care what I do. He couldn't say any of that though. Perhaps, if he had been lying on the wet ground, struggling for breath as the EMTs tried to stem the lifeblood from gushing out of him, but not here surrounded by overstuffed cushions, Egyptian cotton throws and Chinese silk hangings. So, he did the best he could. Not looking at Gibbs as he said it.

"Yeah, Boss. I know."

"Denial can be a good thing, Tony. It helps us lock away so parts of life we can't deal with on a daily basis so we function," Gibbs sighed quietly. "Believe me, I've been there. But if you are ever going to get past that then you have to stop focusing on what you were and think about what you've become. When we walk into that funeral together I want my Lead Field Agent at my side. You got that?

"Yes Boss." Tony nodded.

And for the very first time he began to think that he might even get through this.