I know it's been a while since I've updated. I'm sorry! But there's been projects and finals and a bunch of junk I didn't want. So now here's my next chapter. Hope you like it

Chapter 8

Class Reunion

The NCIS team got out of the car and headed up the walk to Elaine's front door. The yard was dotted with flower beds. A few trees were in the front yard, protecting Gibbs, Ziva, Kitty, and Tony from the hot sun. Ziva walked up the steps and knocked on the white door.

The door opened and Elaine Richards was now facing them. She looked at them curiously. "May I help you?"

"Elaine Richards, we have some bad news," Ziva said. "May we come in?"

Elaine stepped aside to let the four of them in. She stared at Kitty, trying to recognize her. The she stared at Tony. He ignored her and continued to follow Ziva to the family room. They stood around until Elaine came in. She gestured to her seats. Ziva, Tony, and she sat but Kitty and Gibbs remained standing.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ziva David, this is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, and Agent Gibbs and… Agent Gibbs," Ziva said. She scowled and turned to Kitty. "We're just going to call you Agent Kitty, alright?"

Kitty shrugged. "Whatever."

"Kitty Gibbs?" Elaine repeated. She stood up to look better at Kitty. "Did you go to Maryland's School of Criminal Psychology and Crime Scene Forensics?"

"Yeah," Kitty said.

"Nice to see you again," Elaine said.

"Great to see you, too," Kitty said.

"What are you doing with these agents? This is your dad? You're at NCIS now?" Elaine was asking questions before Kitty could answer. So she shrugged. "What news do you have to say?"

Tony stood up. Elaine went back to ogling him. Kitty found it annoying how Elaine was staring at Tony. Then she kicked herself mentally. She wasn't supposed to be jealous! Kitty wanted her dad to smack her in the back of the head at that moment. Maybe that would bring her to her senses.

"Are you seeing Jacob Walters?" Tony asked her.

"Well… yes I have been," Elaine said.

"I'm sorry to say this, but Jacob was killed almost a week ago," Tony said.

Elaine sat back down on the couch. She stared at a spot on the floor. Tony saw that she had already taken it hard. Either that or she was faking it. The NCIS agents watched her as she recovered from the shock. Finally she looked back at them.

"Who… who killed him?"

"We don't know yet," Tony said.

"Do you mind if we have a look around to see if there's anything we can use to find his killer?" Ziva asked.

Elaine nodded. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you need."

"I'll go outside with you," Kitty said. She went out to the hall with Elaine.

Gibbs first went to the kitchen, leaving Tony and Ziva in the family room. Ziva turned to Tony. "Okay, lover boy, what's going on with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Tony demanded.

"Doesn't she fit the qualities for one of your 'Perfect Ten' list?" Ziva asked.

Tony took out his camera and turned away from Ziva. "Sure, why not," he muttered. He started to look at a pile of magazines.

Ziva couldn't believe it. Tony wasn't even registering what was going on. He had hardly noticed Elaine. She finally got out a camera and gloves and started to look around as well.

Tony kept shuffling through the magazines. Most of them were Good House Living, Reader's Digest, and a few catalogs. He glanced at where Ziva was examining a few pictures of what looked like her family. He picked up the magazines and walked over to her. Ziva turned to face him before going back to the pictures.

"I don't know about you, but a girl like this wouldn't be a killer," Tony said.

Ziva nodded, still looking at the pictures. "She cares about life and her family." She touched the frame of a picture of two girls. "These look like her nieces." Another picture was of a wedding. Elaine stood there with who looked like her sister. Her sister was in a wedding dress. "I don't think she could be a killer either."

Some other pictures were of her with other people. Jacob was with her in a few. Some were with her sister or her nieces. Another picture was of her standing next to a tree in fall.

Ziva glanced at Tony to see if he was ogling the pictures. He wasn't. It was really starting to bother Ziva that Tony wasn't being his usual idiotic self. Something was going on with him.

Outside, Kitty was standing with Elaine underneath her largest tree. She watched her as a few tears fell down Elaine's face. Kitty put her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Jacob," Kitty said. "He was my friend, too."

"I can't believe he's really gone," Elaine said.

Kitty hugged Elaine gently. Elaine relaxed her head against Kitty's shoulder. Kitty pulled away first. She looked at Elaine closely. "Do you have any idea who'd want to kill him? Did he get in any trouble with some gangs after school?"

"No," Elaine said. "Not unless you count Ivan. I mean, he was mad when Jacob and I got together. But other than that… he didn't tell me anything."

"Did you know Jacob was going to join the army?" Kitty asked.

Elaine nodded. "Yes, I did. I was so upset that he was leaving." She wiped her tears. "I thought he was already gone. So he never got to his training camp?"

"No, he didn't," Kitty said.

Elaine sighed and closed her eyes. "He told me he was ready to help his country. He told me it was his duty as an American."

Kitty remembered the bloody tissues at Jacob's apartment. If Jacob was ready to go to Iraq, why would he cut himself. She looked back at Elaine. "Uhh… Elaine. We found bloody tissues at Jacob's house. Was he cutting himself?"

Elaine turned her left wrist over. Scars and fresh cuts covered her arm and wrist. Elaine sighed. "It's my blood. He told me that he'd gotten his letter. I said I had to go to the bathroom. I just cut myself… I was so upset." More tears spilled down her face. "I loved him so much!"

The door to her apartment opened. Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony came out. Gibbs walked over to Elaine. "Do you mind if we take this?" Gibbs asked, holding out a cell phone.

"It's Jacob's," Elaine muttered. "I meant to give it back to him. Sure, you can take it with you."

"Thank you," Gibbs said.

Kitty waved to Elaine. She turned and walked with Ziva back to the car. Ziva had nothing in her hands.

"Anything?"

"Nothing," Ziva muttered.

Kitty sighed. "Have you had harder cases than this?"

"One time we had to prove that Tony didn't commit murder," Ziva said, grinning. Kitty smiled, too. "That was hard enough. We should get this."

"Maybe we'll get more at Ivan's," Kitty said.

"I hope," Ziva muttered. "I have vacation to a spa this weekend."

"I hope you can get your money back for that spa," Tony said. "I don't know if we'll be done by Saturday."

"And I hope to be at Lang's house before Saturday," Gibbs said. He pulled the car door open. Sighing, Ziva, Tony, and Kitty got in as well. Just when they closed the door, Gibbs pulled out and started driving down the street quickly.

Tony turned to Ziva. "And I thought your driving was terrible."

At Ivan Lang's place, Tony and Gibbs were standing in front of Ivan in his kitchen while Kitty and Ziva stood back to let them handle Ivan. He was as tall as Tony, with dark brown hair and eyes. He didn't like them being in his home but he agreed to let them in after Kitty introduced herself. Tony had just gotten through telling him about Jacob's death and asked if he remembered Jacob.

"Yeah, I remember Walters," Ivan muttered. "I didn't kill him if that's what you're wondering. But when you find the lucky guy that did it, give him my thanks."

"I take it you weren't on good terms with him," Tony said.

"I hated the bastard," Ivan said. "He was my best friend. Then he stole my girlfriend from me! He stabbed me in the back. But I wouldn't kill a guy over that."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows at Ivan. "We're not saying you killed anybody."

Kitty sighed and leaned against the counter. "Ivan, I thought you broke up with Elaine. Jacob didn't steal her."

"Kitty, I saw her kissing him in them chemistry class a few minutes before class started," Ivan said. He glared at her. "I broke up with her before she could with me."

Ziva rolled her eyes. People were so stupid when it came to dating. She found it simple. If you're with someone, don't cheat on them. It couldn't be much simpler than that. Going away from her thoughts, Ziva turned to face Ivan. "Have you talked with him much since then?"

"Why would I?" Ivan snapped, his dark eyes glaring at Ziva.

"Do you mind if we have a look around?" Tony asked. "Just to clear you that you didn't do anything?"

"Got a warrant?"

So how'd you like it? I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Please review!