He woke up to the sun shining and the sound of birds chirping. Glancing half-asleep at the clock on the wall, Jethro was pleased to note that he still had some time before he genuinely needed to get out of bed and get ready for work.

He didn't have to go into the office right away, which meant he had a bit more time.

Taking advantage of the minutes that remained, Jethro reached over to cuddle with his wife who was beginning to stir now as well. "Looks like morning happened again."

Shannon gave a little hum at Jethro's comment and then moved onto her left side so that they were both face to face. Locking eyes for a moment, the pair kissed.

When the couple finally broke apart, Shannon was the first to speak. "So, babe, when do you gotta be at FLETC this morning?"

"Field training class's at 0800," he informed her. "And no meetings scheduled for this morning, which means -" He kissed her on the neck. "- I don't have to be at the Navy Yard until after my class."

"That works for me," she said with a pleased little smile before she pulled him in for a kiss. She didn't leave until around that time, so they'd actually be able to spend nearly an hour more together that morning.

They fooled around for a bit and then it really was time for the pair to get up and get ready for work, whether they wanted to or not.

Thankfully, Jethro's field training class had gone off without a hitch. There was some definite improvement since the last time he'd taught them. That was a huge relief for several reasons, although Jethro stood by the assertion that a few of them were a lot better suited for cyber than fieldwork.

There was always one or two of the sort in every class.

As for the case his team was working, given that Sergeant Dempsey had lied to them about being alone during the incident, she was brought in, as was Gary Tolin.

Abby had, thankfully, been able to eventually identify the victim by using the databases of liver transplant recipients. It turned out that their robber was actually a hired hitman by the name of Paul Glover. Someone had placed a hit on Dempsey.

In the end, it was revealed that Dempsey seduced Tolin to get information out of him regarding the whereabouts of a local drug dealer, Derek Abbott. Abbott was convicted for shooting and paralyzing Dempsey's brother when he got caught in the crossfire of a drug turf war while trying to help at a local shelter.

Tolin cut the man a deal with a new identity if he gave up his supplier. Once Dempsey found out Abbott's location from Tolin she went snooping around Abbott's house. Abbott got wind of her snooping and hired Glover to kill her.

"Tobias, what do you got?" Jethro asked, the other man having just asked him to video conference with him in MTAC.

He was admittedly a bit surprised by the man standing beside Tobias. Gary Tolin. "I apologize for disappearing, Agent Gibbs. I needed some time to sort some things out."

"You want to tell us what really happened between you and Heather Dempsey?" Jethro pressed, really needing the information.

"I wouldn't admit it at the time," Tolin said, "but I let myself be used. I should have known something was wrong. A woman like Heather coming on to me? All she really wanted was information."

"Gene Abbott's new name and location," DiNozzo said knowingly.

"You gave it to her," he said, already knowing the answer.

"I wasn't thinking," Tolin admitted. "Clearly."

Tobias finally chimed in. "Abbott's living on a farm in Eldersburg, Maryland."

"Agent Gibbs," Tolin said. "I want you to know that I'm preparing a letter of resignation detailing everything that's happened. It will be on the Director's desk by the end of the day."

He nodded, starting to turn and end the call.

"I'm not excusing what I've done," Tolin continued, "but... Heather did say that she just wanted to confront Abbott."

"And you believe that?" he pressed.

All of a sudden the other man didn't look so sure of himself. Turning to the left slightly, Jethro signalled for the MTAC Control Officer to end the call.

His team then raced to Abbott's house. They quickly searched the main house which was empty and made their way to the barn where Abbott was strapped to a bomb with the sergeant holding what was clearly a detonator.

Jethro holstered his weapon and turned his gaze to the sergeant. He didn't think that he was in any real danger and Ziva still had her SIG on Dempsey if things did end up going south. "So, how long has he been here?" he asked unsympathetically.

Sergeant Dempsey gave a little shrug. "Couple of days."

"Boss," McGee offered, "I can call the bomb squad if you need."

"I don't know," he said with a slight shrug. "We got our own EOD tech right here."

"Call the bomb squad!" Abbott cried out.

Jethro turned to the sergeant once more. "Heather, you don't want to ruin your life for this guy," he told her. "Go on. Take it off."

You can do it," Dempsey told him, passing him the detonator. "It's a fake." He eyed her and Ziva started to go take the man into custody. "Yeah, I wanted him to suffer. To feel a little bit of what my brother feels every day. Stuck in a chair. Constant pain. Unable to do the simplest things without help. At the mercy of others."

It was definitely an interesting twist to the case, but Jethro was just glad that the young sergeant had opted to not throw her entire life away.

He had a brief conversation over coffee with Tobias at the office and then his longtime friend headed to pick up Emily and Jethro made his way home to his wife. Before that though, Tobias had wanted to discuss with Jethro what was going to happen with the rather gutsy Sergeant Dempsey.

Walking into the house, he was immediately greeted by a kiss from Shannon and their dog leaping onto him to get his attention. Jethro smiled, leaning down and petting the dog. "Someone's excited."

"She's been like this since I came home," his wife told him with a chuckle.

"Noted," he said, straightening up before pulling his wife in for another kiss. "So, how was work today, Care Bear?"

"Had a couple of little incidents with some kids during recess," she said, "but otherwise it went well. The kids are liking the art project we started this afternoon. I still can't get a handle on that new teacher though."

Jethro gave a little shrug at that. "Maybe she needs a little more time to settle in. She is rather green." The teacher in question had just graduated and it was her first year teaching and having her own class.

His wife eyed him pointedly. "Yeah, well, I'm seriously hoping that's it." Shannon then pulled Jethro into a one-armed hug and looked up at him, smiling. "Anyway, how d'ya feel about some pizza and a western tonight, Tiger?"

He smiled down at her. "Sounds perfect, Shan."