Uploading from a new apartment! And as always life gets busy so I have yet another delay. I do what I can and I hope I delivered. This one was pretty fun to right.

...

...

Tony tentatively reached up and felt his lymph nodes, humming in the back of his throat.

"Tony you are not sick. I think you're just a little paranoid." Claire tried to soothe. Tony wasn't convinced.

"Well I just sniffed contagious blood and we may all be infected anyway. Plus the rats…..little devil carriers."

"Did you get bitten by one." Tony frowned.

"…no." he admitted. Claire reached up to pull his hands away from his self-examination.

"You're going to be fine. Don't stress yourself out more than you need to." She insisted gently, keeping hold of his hands. Tony glanced down at the contact, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Ok, I'll try." He nodded, albeit hesitantly.

...

...

3rd Person POV:

NCIS had taken control of the Chimera; despite protests from the commander. Their lives were in danger so they had to know what they were up against. No one was there to stop them. So the team gathered in the lab to talk strategy.

"We've been through almost every room on the ship." Ziva commented as they hovered over the map.

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." Gibbs muttered. Tony jolted in surprise but had no time to comment as loud thudding was heard on the deck above them.

"Could….. be a rat." McGee weakly suggested. Claire shot him a dubious look.

"That must be a pretty big rat."

"Or a ghost." Tony chimed in.

"Are you done?" Gibbs inquired, looking at his team in exasperation.

"Done searching the ship?" Tony's inquiry earned him a blank stare.

"We could always search it again." He relented sheepishly.

"I could stay here with Ducky." The others stared at him knowingly.

"Well, so he's not left alone." He insisted, his voice raising in pitch as he tried to convince them of his plan.

"I'm not alone. I've got Takada to keep me company." Ducky insisted from where he was doing his autopsy.

"Duck." Gibbs called, holding up a walkie-talkie. The ME nodded in understanding, allowing the agents to exit and search the ship more thoroughly. Tony winced as he followed behind the others, rubbing his arm anxiously. Claire glanced back and grabbed his hand, keeping hold of it as she dragged him behind her.

...

The five agents quietly made their way through the ship, keeping eyes and ears out for anything unusual.

"Anyone else feeling itchy?" Muttered, staring at his arm and scratching fervently.

"It's probably just a bug bite."

"Or a rat bite." Claire's eyes widened as she reached over and smacked McGee. The man flinched at the sudden attack. However, Tony was already running with that thought.

"No, no, no look at that spot." He worried, shoving his arm in Claire's face. The woman had to jolt her head back to avoid getting smacked.

"It's a freckle." She hummed, nudging Tony down the stairs.

"It's not a freckle."

"Freckle." Ziva insisted, not even looking at the mark. Tony shook his head.

"I've never had a freckle there."

"You've always had that freckle." Claire huffed, her voice raising slightly.

"Uh, how would you know whether I had or didn't have a freckle?" Tony shot back. Claire paused to stare at him pointedly. Tony cleared his throat, not needing to press any further.

"By the way, I never had that freckle." He insisted. Meanwhile Gibbs had reached the lower floor and pulled called Ducky over the radio.

"Ducky."

"Yes, Jethro?"

"Give me the symptoms of hemorrhagic fever." Tony's head shot up from where he was staring at his 'freckle'. Gibbs walked the radio over so he could hear.

"Well initially one might experience a feeling of paranoia and a growing sense of dread. Then more obvious physiological symptoms would manifest themselves." Tony grasped the device with both hands.

"Such as?"

"Such as the appearance of atopic melanosomes." Claire winced, knowing this would not go well.

"Come again?"

"Spots, possibly itchy." Tony raised his arm, staring at his doubting teammates bitterly.

"Then a fast-rising fever of course."

"I knew it. I'm gonna die. I inhaled it. God!" Tony shouted in frustration. The rest watched quietly as he began to spiral.

"Definitely didn't picture my demise like this. I always figured I'd go out like Cagney in White Heat, fiery explosion. Or Redford and Newman in Butch Cassidy, a hail of bullets."

"Or Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush?" Gibbs suggested. Tony frowned, not recalling that reference for once.

"How'd he die?"

"Silently." Tony wilted a bit. Suddenly Ziva bolted down the hall, hot on the trail of something. The agents quickly jumped into action, chasing after her. Ziva ignored their calls as she turned the corners hard. However, she backtracked in one area. Spinning around she deflated in frustration as the corridors came up empty.

"Didn't you see that?" she asked when the others caught up to her, guns at the ready.

"See what?" Claire asked, glancing through the doorways.

"Someone…..something, was running." They all stared at her quietly.

"Surely I'm not the only one who saw that." She insisted.

"The Chimera?" Tony suggested skeptically.

"I swear there was something there."

"It's not here now." Gibbs pointed out.

"It ran down the passageway, it made a right here, and then it…." Ziva threw her arm towards the empty hall.

"And then?" Tony pressed. Ziva pursed her lips in annoyance.

"It disappeared. I know there was something there."

"Like my freckle." Tony shot back as he walked around the stairwell. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Uh….boss." Tony called, stopping in front of a marked door.

"Biohazard. Sounds inviting." Gibbs walked up and jiggled the handle. Locked.

"McGee."

"It looks like some kind of cyber-lock with a bar code and touch memory." Tim explained as he examined the lock.

"That's right up your alley, McGeek." Tony pointed out.

"It's gonna take time." McGee looked to Gibbs.

"Not like we're going anywhere." Claire muttered. Glancing her way Gibbs nodded, giving McGee the go ahead. The man quickly set down his backpack to get to work. However, Gibbs peeled away, waving for the others to join as he continued searching. McGee looked up in alarm as they left.

"I thought you said you weren't going anywhere."

"Good luck." Claire waved as she was the last to disappear.

...

...

Claire's POV:

We made our way single file through the narrow corridors of the ship. Some lights around us began flickering on an off but not enough to raise any alarm just yet.

"Ziva, I can check you for spots." Tony commented from his spot behind me.

"No, thanks." Came her quick answer. As if it wasn't obvious.

"How about you? Feeling itchy?" he continued, leaning close to my ear. I shifted as I felt his warm breath.

"Nope, I'm just peachy."

"I'm sure you've got hot spots and warm spots…." He murmured, keeping his voice low. I kept my gaze straight ahead, unwilling to let him get to me. Thankfully Gibbs broke his train of thought.

"DiNozzo." He called, shining a light on a dead rat atop a power box. I grimaced at the sight of the blood leaking from it's mouth. Definitely similar to the man on the table back with Ducky.

"Get this to Ducky."

"Me?" Tony blurted in alarm.

"That's a dead, diseased rat." He whined, staring at it warily. Gibbs turned to look at him. Tony sighed in resignation.

"Which is why it may aid Dr. Mallard in his investigation. Which is why I'd be pleased as punch to walk back through this ship with a dead, diseased rat." He groused.

"Conners, stay with him."

"I'm not touching it though." I commented, making sure Tony knew I was serious.

"You can show Ducky your freckle." Ziva pointed out with a wicked grin as she trailed behind Gibbs. Tony glared, snapping his glove. Clenching his eyes closed he sucked in a shuddering breath before reaching for the tail. Holding it far out in front of him he stared at the limp rodent in disgust.

"Gross." I muttered. Tony shot me an unimpressed glance.

"Yes, Alex, I'll take Horror Films That Take Place on Ships for 500. Thank you." he muttered sarcastically.

"Things could be worse." I weakly pointed out. Tony's eyes widened in alarm but that was all I saw before the lights went out in one go.

"Oh, goody, Double Jeopardy." He huffed. We both stood still in the dark, waiting for our eyes to adjust a bit.

"For the record…..I blame you for this." Tony pointed out. I reached for my flashlight and pointed it at his face. He yelped before glaring at me.

"Why is it my fault?"

"You broke the cardinal rule of every horror film. Never say those words." He muttered. Knowing I couldn't argue with him, I redirected the beam to the stairs. This was going to be a long walk back.

...

...

3rd Person POV:

With very little light Ziva and Gibbs pressed on, pausing only when the sound of slow thuds was heading towards them.

"I don't suppose you hear footsteps?" Ziva inquired.

"Yeah, I hear them." The two silently pulled out their guns, lowering their flashlights as they approached. Another light came around the corner and the agents pointed. At the other end Tony and Claire glanced away from the lights in their eyes.

"It's just us….and Ben." Tony deadpanned, raising the rat sadly.

"DiNozzo, bag that thing." Gibbs insisted.

"I didn't have any more on me." Claire admitted, looking to the other woman for a bag.

"Ziva." She nodded, holding it open so Tony could place the animal inside.

"Thanks."

"Well this moment is almost perfect. All we need is a storm." A thundering crash caused the group to flinch and turn towards the source of the sound. Quickly they headed down the corridor. Around the corner McGee was on the ground next to a large barrel.

"McGee."

"Yeah?" the man grunted, blinking heavily. Gibbs reached down to help him stand back up.

"You all right?"

"I've had better days, boss."

"I tripped over a barrel and it make this kind of…."

"Bangy, crashy sound like thunder?" Tony inquired. McGee frowned but nodded.

"Yeah."

"You crack the lock?" Gibbs asked. Tim floundered for a moment.

"Uh, no, not yet. The touch screen, it's a bit…."

"I'm working on it." He whispered, knowing that it was no use to give excuses.

"Why don't you work on turning the lights back on?" Tony suggested.

"I think we just passed the electrical room." Claire added helpfully, glancing back down the hall. Tony held his arm out for her to take point. With a fond eye roll she led the way. Soon enough Tony began to regale them with another movie reference.

"It's like Aliens Numero Uno. Ripley, light in hand, moving through endless corridors, searching for a hideous monster." He whispered in an effort to seem eerie. Gibbs glanced at him.

"You ever see Run Silent, Run Deep?" Tony asked, looking to his boss.

"The 'run silent' part sounds good." Gibbs mused.

"Okay the room should be…..right here…." Claire read off the number before opening the door. Instantly a man lunged at her, slamming her into the metal wall behind. He took off running but Ziva quickly closed the distance and turned his back to the wall, gun at his chin. The man stared at the group with wide eyes, shaking as he was clearly petrified.

...

While Gibbs and Ziva broke off to interrogate the man left behind, the other three worked in the electrical room. McGee threw his hands up in frustration as he looked over the open electrical box.

"I don't get it. No breakers were tripped, no wires cut. The conduits are fine….." he muttered in confusion. Looking around the room he gestured to another box.

"Can one of you check behind that panel there." McGee suggested; turning back to the main breaker. Tony stepped forward. However he merely stared ahead sadly. McGee and Claire took notice.

"Tony…."

"Feel my head." He whispered.

"Why?" McGee asked skeptically.

"Just feel it."

"I don't want to, it's all sweaty." Tim shot back. Tony nodded, smiling bitterly.

"Exactly…..I got the frickin fever. I'm burning up." His swallowed thickly.

"The ventilation is out Tony, we're all sweating." Claire pointed out, drawing attention to how wet their faces all were. Claire had pulled her hair up into a high bun to try and release some heat. Tony shook his head.

"This is different…..I'm dying."

"You know the last time you were dying because of a horrible disease you were a lot more stoic about the whole thing." McGee commented, working on the breaker box still.

"I was younger then…..carefree."

"It was two years ago…" Claire deadpanned.

"The last time I almost died someone blew up my car. So I've almost died twice, and bad stuff happens in threes. This is the third time and I'm out of almosts." Tony insisted, his voice straining. McGee and Claire turned to fully look at him, realizing how serious and scared he was.

"I'm telling you I'm dying. I know it." Tony whispered.

"You're not dying." Claire insisted sternly. He vehemently shook his head.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"I'm not….and I can prove it." She countered, her brows furrowing in thought.

"Oh yea? How?" Tony snipped. As an answer, Claire jerked him forward and pressed her lips to his. The man jolted in shock before he relaxed into it. He had nearly forgotten what her lips felt like. The kiss wasn't heated or passionate…..but soft and reassuring. Claire held him close, not letting him pull away if he tried. McGee watched with wide eyes as they lingered for a few seconds longer. Claire stepped back licking her lips while Tony tried to process what had just happened. She cleared her throat.

"There…now if you are dying, so am I. And I don't plan on dying today." She nodded, acting as if she hadn't just kissed Tony for the first time in almost a year. Tony remained speechless.

"And what if that happens…" he trailed off, now anxious for her life as well. McGee tactfully chose this moment to add his own support.

"If or when it happens…until you two may or may not be actually dead. Can you please help me fix this thing?" He requested gently. Tony nodded.

"Okay….thanks." He whispered, dazedly turning to go open the panel. McGee turned around and glanced over at Claire who was watching Tony in concern.

"So…"

"It's not up for discussion."

"Fair enough." The room lapsed into silence as they each scanned their own area of the room. Tony broke open the panel and scanned the wires using his flashlight.

"I think I found our problem." Tony called, finding a bag filled with batteries. Picking it up he walks back over to join the other two.

"Assuming this ship runs on tiny little batteries. McGee frowned, holding one up.

"Lithium….like camera batteries."

"Why would they been in here?" Claire inquired.

"Someone must have hidden them in there." McGee shrugged as he rifled through the small sack. He pulled out a small orange device.

"Transponders."

"From what?"

"Well my guess is EPERBS."

"Yea, that was my guess too." Tony nodded along. Claire rose her brow, glancing over at the man.

"You don't know what those are do you?"

"Nope, what's an Eperb?" McGee rolled his eyes.

"They're from the life jackets. That's why we can't find the crew." Claire explained.

"Ahhhh. That's not good." Tony muttered.

"We need to get this over to Gibbs." She suggested, packing the bag back up.

"Right behind you." Tony quickly followed her out of the room. The man, who was the ship's cook, was still handcuffed to the stair railing with on watch. Claire handed the transponders to her boss silently. The man then held it up in front of their captive.

"What's that?"

"The transponders you took off the life jackets." The man looked up at him in confusion.

"Why would I do that?"

"You didn't want the crew located once they abandoned ship."

"I didn't sabotage any lifejackets." He countered, a frown still plastered on his face.

"There's no one else on the ship." Tony barked.

"There has to be."

"You were in the electrical room when the power went out." Claire added.

"I wouldn't even know how to shut off the damn power! I told you I'm just the cook!" Tony chuckled humorlessly.

"Just the cook? That's what Stephen Segal said in Under Siege. And look at the havoc he wreaked, huh? What about the Hunt for Red October? The saboteur…was the cook." He declared. His grin dropped at the blank stare his boss was giving him.

"I'm sorry boss….I'm just saying that…..just because he's the cook doesn't mean he's any less potentially guilty. He could have slipped poison into Takada's food." The man shook his head tiredly, looking up at Gibbs.

"I swear. I didn't kill Takada."

"Not with poison at least." Ducky announced, having found his way to join them.

"So what's the news?" Claire inquired.

"The good news is that I have confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that Takada did indeed die of hemorrhagic fever." Tony visibly paled.

"That's great news Ducky."

"However, the virus was injected into him. It was not airborne." The older man finished. Claire smiled, looking over at Tony.

"I also examined the dead rat that Tony so heroically brought over to me. Apparently it died from having bit Takada." Tony beamed.

"So I'm not gonna die?" he asked.

"Well the bottom line is there was no outbreak on the ship." Ducky clarified.

"He was injected without knowing it." Claire gathered.

"If I could do a proper and thorough toxicology on him then I think we'll find that he had first been drugged. Takada was murdered." He finished.

"Why would someone do that?" Tony inquired.

"As a scare…..whoever it was wanted everyone off the ship." Claire realized. The ship whirred to life, bringing light along with it.

"What's so valuable on this ship that someone would kill for it?" McGee jogged in, gathering the team's attention.

"About time McGee." Gibbs mused.

"Boss, I had nothing to do with it. Someone's messing with us."

"Maybe Midas is right. Someone else is aboard." Tony commented.

"Gibbs up here!" Came Ziva's shout from the upper deck.

...

Outside Ziva was rushing down the stairs, her eyes darting across the dark deck.

"I saw something running on deck." She explained as everyone came out to join her.

"Something or someone?" McGee asked.

"I don't know, it was moving fast."

"It or him?"

"I don't know! I seemed to have lost it." She hissed in frustration.

"I'll say." Tony muttered.

"Gibbs, I swear…."

"I believe you, Ziva." He cut her off, his eyes searching along with her.

"See, someone else who believes in what they cannot see."

"Nope. I believe in what I can see that wasn't there before." He countered, coming to a stop as he stared down at the floor. There was a black powerline running along the ground over the side of the ship. Looking over the edge they spotted a flashing light attached to the wall.

"Someone's sending a signal." McGee announced. The group began to slowly spread out, looking for any other leads. As Claire stepped along the edge of the ship a click from the rigging above was heard.

"Look out!" Tony leapt forward, knocking her out of the way of the container of barrels being dropped above her. They both grunted as their bodies hit the metal deck.

"Still think there's no one else?" Claire huffed, rolling over to push herself up.

"Okay, I believe." He grunted, following her lead. The others had spotted a crewman running off the deck and sprinted after him. The runner flew down the steps and ran down the corridor, only to be cut off by Ziva and McGee. Turning around he was swiftly met by Gibb's fist, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Looks like Midas was telling the truth." Ziva hummed as they hauled the man up to cuff him.

"It's not exactly a ghost but he's got a certain B horror flick thing going on." Tony shrugged.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with." The man warned.

"Oh I think we do…..Lt. Ferris. Communications officer." Gibbs mused, reading off the man's tags and ID card.

"Well he sure doesn't do his job well. Failing to communicate that his crewmates abandoned ship." Claire taunted with a small grin.

"You're wasting your time." Ferris groused.

"No I think we're wasting yours. The Navy is it's way, you're going to the brig." Tony countered. Ferris grinned.

"You'll be dead before they arrive."

"Save it, we know about the virus." McGee retorted.

"The outbreak was a fake." Claire added. She frowned at the chuckle that followed.

"It's not the virus that'll kill you." he warned. The team shared a curious glance. Clearly something else was going on.

...

...

Claire's POV:

We had spotted the assault craft heading out way just at the break of dawn. The director was able to give us a few minutes warning to get the ship and a plan prepared. Guns locked and loaded we each made our way to the upper deck, spreading out as we went to get more surround coverage. Ziva and I watched from among the boxes above deck as the heavily armed men began to make their way around the ship. A shout from inside caught the leader's attention, sending him running to the lower decks. We made our way down towards their boat. Ziva quickly disposed of the guard left behind, giving us a clear path.

...

What they didn't know is that while they went down to check out the fake virus that 'killed' Ferris, we borrowed their boat. By the time they came back up to find it missing we were long gone.

"Ducky how long before Ferris wakes up?" McGee inquired over the roar of the engine.

"A couple of hours. It'll take him considerably longer to wipe off the fake blood." The man chuckled.

"How'd you disable the ship McGee? Spew all over the engine." Tony teased, looking over at Tim.

"The steering has several non-linear effects. Saturation, dead zone rate limiting…..bottom line is the ships still able. Able to sail in one big circle." During the explanation I had picked up a book left on the floor of the watercraft.

"It's Russian." I commented, showing it to Gibbs.

"Yea, orders from the Russian Navy." He read off.

"Not pirates?" Ziva inquired.

"Probably state sponsored pirates. But why?" Ducky explained. Gibbs gestured for McGee to open the large box they found in the biohazard room. I gasped at the sight inside.

"Russian Nuclear Warhead." Zive hummed, just as surprised as I was. I thought the ship was hiding some kind of chemical warfare. Not this.

"There's your ghost, Ziva. The ghost of project K629." Gibbs elaborated.

"So this whole thing was a Russian black Ops mission to recover their nuke?"

"So pirates, that weren't really pirates, were on a covert mission to steal from a Navy research ship…..that wasn't actually a Navy research ship…in order to get back nuclear weapons that we thought they didn't think we had retrieved?" I asked, confusing myself as I verbalized this whole mess. Gibbs grinned in amusement.

"Uh huh." I just nodded.

"I suppose that we should call the Navy. Tell them that we're on the Russian black ship and the Russians are on theirs." Ducky suggested. I flinched at the sound of a missile coming in towards us. However, it flew right over top of us and hit the Chimera, sending it up into a ball of flames. We all stared at the scene in silence.

"I guess the Navy didn't want anyone to know that their black ship ever existed." McGee suggested.

"How did they know that we were off the ship?" Ziva inquired. Gibbs tilted his head in thought.

"I don't think they did." Taking in the thought that we could have easily been caught in that explosion, we all nodded dumbly.

"Well, safe to say you have definitely made it past three near misses with death." I mused, looking over at Tony as the wind whipped my hair around. Tony plopped down, eyes staring ahead. Guess it was a lot to take in.