"Whistler gave us the specs on the USS Seawolf and a very, very general and redacted summary of OS2 Smiths job description," Tennant passed around the DIA folder to her team assembled in the briefing room. It had been nearly three weeks since the sailor had been murdered and they were still struggling with the case.

"Whistler came by?" Lucy blurted out the question before she could think. Besides Jesse, no one had seen the DIA officer since she had returned. The new DIA supervisor had started last week and had directed that all requests for information be called into the DIA front desk and then those requests would be disseminated by the office secretaries to the DIA agents. The team had ignored that directive and continued to directly call Whistler's work phone. Whistler never answer nor did she respond to their multiple voicemails. It wasn't until Lucy finally called the secretary line that the office had informed her that they would process the request and get her any possible information as soon as possible.

"No," Tennant grimaced in response to Lucy's question. "She sent the information through a carrier. She hasn't been responding to any of my text to her personal number either, nor has she acknowledged my official requests to meet in person."

"You think this is Whistler avoiding us or are these policies from the new DIA Supe?" Jesse asked her. He threw the folder on the desk. "This is absolutely worthless. Nothing that Anderson hasn't already given us anyway."

"I'm not sure and I really don't know which to hope for. I don't want our relationship with Whistler to be strained, but I also hope that this isn't the direction that the new office will be going to." Tennant rubbed her forehead. "When I requested it last week, the earliest I was able to get a meeting to be introduced to Officer Peterson was tomorrow afternoon."

"Obviously, we rate very highly with him," Kai scoffed.

"Her," Tennant replied. "Kandi Peterson."

Ernie burst into the room with is tablet. "I finally got something. Someone is accessing OS2 Smith's email for an IP address at the public library."

"The public library? Well, that sure seems like a criminal mastermind," Lucy said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Ernie replied tersely. "It's the first time anything has been accessed on his account for the last three weeks. Maybe if you did some investigating it will lead you to something further."

Lucy stuck her tongue out at Ernie which earned her a rebuke from Tennant.

"Jesse and Kia I want you two to head to the library and see if you can find out who is accessing Smith's account," Tennant commanded.

"Yes, Boss." They said in unison and headed out.

"You got something special for me?" Lucy asked hopefully, feeling a bit left out.

"Yes," Tennant replied. "I need you to go talk to Whistler."

Lucy let out a sigh, looking defeated.

"Lucy," Tennant began delicately. "There was nothing in policy against the two of you dating. You're from different agencies, it's not like we can regulate something like that. But obviously, you can now see how this might have not been the best of ideas."

Tennant stood up and paced a bit. "Let me clarify, I'm not trying to dictate who you can and can't see. But when it effects or working relationships and our ability to get information needed… I need you to sort it out. You have to find some sort of common ground so we can get back to a cordial relationship with her."

"You think she's doing all this out of spite for me?" Lucy asked sadly

"I don't know what to think," Tennant replied. "All I know is that I felt like we had finally got into a positive working relationship with DIA and now… we are being completely stonewalled. Whistler has been the only officer who has even showed a remote interest in assisting us and I would like to keep working with her as we previously had."

Lucy again let out a sigh. "I've texted her several times this week. I even tried to call her last night but she just won't respond to me. Not even to tell me to f-off."

"Lucy," Tennant gave her a stern look. "Will you please go down there and talk in person?"

For the first time since working with NCIS, Lucy had been stopped at the DIA headquarters front desk. In the past she had just walked in and headed up to Whistler's office. Now there were signs everywhere "All visitors must check in with the front desk".

Lucy had tried still to just walk up but was immediately stopped. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but you can't just walk upstairs. We have new protocols and all visitors must now be checked in," one of the secretaries informed her.

"But I'm not a visitor," Lucy explained to the woman and flashed her badge. She knew the secretary recognized her and Lucy was growing increasing frustrated. "I'm NCIS, I work on base."

"But you don't work in this building, thus you're a visitor to the DIA office." She handed Lucy a clipboard. "If you could please sign in and put the name of the person you are meeting with."

Lucy rolled her eyes, but scribble almost illegibly on the clipboard before handing it back to the woman.

The woman smiled, pleased, "I'm sorry but Kate Whistler is unavailable at this time."

Lucy groaned. She was getting angry and was on the verge of losing her temper. "I don't care if she is available or not, I'm going up to see her."

Lucy started to turn around towards the stairs, when a tall brunette woman stepped in front of Lucy. She was wearing a business skirt and blouse similar to the ones that Whistler wore and had very distinguished features such as a pointed chin and a large but thin nose. Lucy couldn't quiet decide if she could be defined as pretty, but she was at the very least striking. She carried a tan folder in her hand and seemed comfortable in the DIA environment, even though Lucy was sure she had never seen the woman before.

"Is there a problem here, Samantha?" The woman was speaking to the secretary but kept her eyes on Lucy.

"No, Ma'am. NCIS Agent Tara is just insisting on seeing Officer Whistler." The woman had stressed the 'NCIS' part of Lucy's introduction which both confused Lucy and placed her on edge.

"Oh, right." The woman replied. "I'm afraid that Kate has gone home for the day."

Lucy balked at the woman. Obviously she did not know Whistler at all to firstly call her Kate and then to suggest Whistler would ever leave work ahead of schedule. "She went home at 2PM? On a Tuesday?"

"We had a very busy week last week with all our new transitions. I gave all the DIA officer's the afternoon off except of course Officer Thompson who is on call if NCIS needs something pressing." Lucy finally realized who she was speaking to. The new Officer in Charge of the DIA, Kandi Peterson.

"Right," Lucy replied sheepishly. She really did not want to piss this woman off on their first meeting. "Then I'll guess I'll just go see him."

"I'd prefer if you stuck to our policies and called in your requests. Our officers are very busy and the secretaries are trained to help prioritize and process requests by importance. I'm trying to make this office run a bit smoother since we service multiple agencies and not just NCIS."

"Of course," Lucy said slowly backing away from the woman. "I will be sure to call in the future." With that Lucy turned and rushed out the door. Her brain was still turning. If she knew Whistler, she would be brooding at home about being forced to take the afternoon off. Whistler didn't do well with deviation from her routine.

After driving just a few minutes, Lucy found herself knocking on Whistler's door. She hadn't been here since the Cara incident, and Lucy found her stomach in knots as she knocked on the door.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when she heard shuffling on the other side of the door. But that turned to shock when the door opened to reveal DIA Officer Anderson, shirtless and in shorts. He seemed equally surprised to see her.

"Agent Tara? What are you…" He couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Oh God," Lucy couldn't help but mutter. She straightened her shirt and tried to regroup. "I need to see Whistler."

"Do you make it a common habit to frequent DIA Officer's personal homes during working hours? That could be misconstrued. I know my office has already told your agency multiple times this week to contact the DIA office by phone for future requests."

"Listen you…" Lucy actually felt immediately proud when she held the 'pompous ass' in. She took a deep breath. "I just really, really need to talk to Whistler… Please?"

Anderson studied her again, "She doesn't live here anymore. I sublet from her until her contract is over. I moved in over the weekend."

Lucy looked at him in shock. Whistler loved this apartment. The views, the windows, the balcony; she wouldn't just move out. "She moved out? Is she being transferred?"

Anderson laughed, "No. I think she moved closer to the beach. Where Peterson rents. Now if you don't mind, I'm taking advantage of my rare time off."

Lucy stood there in shock. She could not have heard that right. Whistler had left her coveted apartment to move closer to a boss that she'd known a week. That did not sound like the compartmentalized Whistler who liked to keep each aspect of her life separate and far, far, far apart.

Lucy sent a text to Whistler's personal phone. "Please call me. We really need to talk." Lucy then returned to work feeling completely dejected.

"Well?" Tennant asked the minute Lucy walked in. "Is it all sorted?"

"I couldn't find her at all. She's not at work and she's moved."

"Moved?" Tennant seemed just as startled as Lucy. "She loves that placed."

Lucy was about to replied when the boys walked in.

"Another dead end," Kia explained. "It was a girl he's been seeing. They've been together for over a year. She's just trying to get answers for both her and his family. Said the Navy refuses to release anything to them. No property, no remains. Just like us they won't even tell her a cause of death."

"They are completely stonewalling us," Tennant appeared calm on the outside but Lucy could tell Tennant was extremely angry.

"At this point it has been three weeks. Who knows what kind of information and time we have lost because we cannot get access." Tennant let out a deep sigh, thinking. "Of course, the first two weeks I can only blame the previous DIA administration. Peterson has only been here a week so I will give her the professional courtesy of meeting with her tomorrow to voice my concerns, and after that… I'll have to go up the chain."